An unwelcome encounter

Dáire's first encounter with a Korcai

Home to the wildest breeds of flora, Ninraih's entangled jungles cover southeastern Khy'eras. Ajteire, city of the Fae, is situated in the middle. Here, an overwhelming amount of magic and unexplained phenomenon has materialized. Read more...
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Dáire
Character
Level
03
48 / 48 HP
32 / 32 MP
0p / 0g / 1s / 10c
Race: Kerasoka
Class: Ranger and Rogue
Posts: 119
Joined: September 23rd, 2019, 12:02 am
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An unwelcome encounter

Post by Dáire »

It was a cool crisp night, the winter months closing in on them fast and frost threatened to coat everything in it’s glittering embrace. The towns folk had gathered once again in the courtyard outside the hall, a bonfire having been erected in the middle of the space, benches and stools encircled it. One of the older men, a fisherman, was recounting a story from his youth, a time at sea aboard a ship that obviously chilled the man to the bone to even recollect.

Dáire took a seat on one of the benches beside Artemis, wrapping an arm around the man as he snuggled in closer. An indulgent smile spreading across his face as he looked down at him. The feeling of belonging still so foreign it still surprised him each time.

“I’ve one to share,” He said, following the lull in conversation as the fisherman settled back into an unsettled silence, “it was the first but certainly not the last time i ran into their kind.”

The memory felt as though it swallowed Dáire whole in those minutes, as though he was reliving every moment again, in all its stomach churning details.


96 AoN
21 years old
Dáire was running. His heart hammering so hard within his young chest that it was a miracle it hadn't yet burst free. The grunting, animalistic sounds that trailed behind him were bone chilling, and they were getting closer with every moment that passed him by. True, primal panic coursed through the young elf as he hurtled through yet more dense foliage, the overgrown, gigantic leaves of the jungle floor were slowing his escape by a devastating degree.The jungle inhabitants ahead had gone silent at the approach of the predator currently hot on his heels, snarls and angry grunts were the only sound other than his pounding footsteps for what could have been miles around.

Dáire, being the naive and foolish youngling had unknowingly stumbled right into it’s path. Too lost in his own guilt and grief to have been paying attention, to remember the many lessons his parents and sister had spent the last several years trying to instil in his drifting mind. He was beginning to realise with dawning horror, that this may be his final, and fatal mistake.

The predator was gaining. Rapidly. Just in time for the last vestiges of light breaking through the dense forest canopy to wink out like candles. One flickering ray of hope at a time.

He’d known that after sundown, things were going to get a whole lot worse, but this was not what he had envisaged at all. No sooner than he had recalled his dire situation, than the beast trailing him let out a deafening roar. The shrubs and branches surrounding him seemed to vibrate with the sound.

A putrid smelling mass collided with his back, knocking what little breath he had clean from his lungs, the large body taking him down hard into the damp, decomposing foliage that blanketed the jungle floor. A high pitched, strangled sound of dismay tore from the young elfs throat as he bucked and thrashed, trying to throw the hulking weight bearing down on his back off, but with little success. The first frantic jolt of his body seemed to catch the creature off guard but it easily recovered, moving with practiced ease to pin it’s prey beneath a body of pure muscle, meant for hunting those such as he.

Dáire whimpered, the adrenaline pumping through his veins making his limbs twitch and shake as the coppery smell of old and new blood coated his airways. The creature leant forwards, its hot breath skating across the back of his neck as it inhaled deeply. It cackled maniacally, the vibration shooting fresh terror through him as he waited for what he knew would be his last breath.It was then, just as he felt the razor sharp points of its fangs graze his neck, that new rustling came from the south, another hulking shadow broke through and into sight.

‘Nythra save me, another one.’ Dáire inwardly whined, closing his eyes, unable to watch the death barrel towards him. There was a pause, the air still and silent as the second creature seemed to take in the situation, the one on top of him withdrew slightly and growled deeply at the intruder. The sound was returned by another knee weakening growl. Deeper, more vicious than the first and the creature atop him stiffened, snarling in open hostility before making a lunge for Dáire’s neck. The expected bite never landed. Instead, Dáire found his body flying weightlessly through the air as white hot pain tore down the right side of his face, hot blood welling and dribbling down his cheek as he landed in the dirt behind the second creature in a jumbled heap of limbs and arrows.

Arrows! He thought to himself, reaching blindly for the bow strapped to his back but finding it lost. Frantically he looked around the small clearing they were in and found his bow. Snapped. The lovingly carved piece of wood lying in two distinct pieces beneath the feet of the first Korcai. It’s eyes seemed to glow as it stood off against the much larger and bloodier of its kind. His body quaked as he tried to quietly rise to his feet, anything to allow him to remain unnoticed by the two predators. He had a blade,but he was useless in hand to hand combat. It was for skinning, so sharp but not much use to him in defense if his very life! He withdrew it from his waist, despite the futility of the action and began to ease away from the confrontation.

Sounds in the forest around him seemed to erupt, bird song flew from all directions and he couldn't recognise a single song. Movement in the undergrowth to his right caught his attention, but as soon as he looked that way, there was nothing, as though his desperation had conjured it. ‘Trust your instincts boys, you’re elven, the forest is a part of you.’ His father's words rang through his head, simultaneously focussing him and sending a sharp jab of guilt through his soul. Dropping into a crouch behind a fallen tree, Dáire listened, waiting and watching for whatever he just knew was in the surrounding undergrowth to show itself.

The wispy mist that had hung around the forest floor all day, was quickly rolling into a dense blanket of fog, hindering even his keen eyesight. There were more of those creatures out there, and it was going to be a long, long night ahead.
Word count: 1123
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