Chapitre 30: Death Trap (1)
The sun had yet to fully rise in the sky, casting a soft, muted glow on the surroundings. The autumn air carried a chill that nipped at Talon and the other members of the gifted division as they marched in unison. Several teams, each comprising six to seven hunters, joined them, each wearing a strange black cloak with a golden thread that closed it around their neck, their eyes filled with disgust as they observed Talon and his fellow gifted.
But none of the team members seemed to pay any attention to it at this point because most of them were already accustomed to this sort of treatment.
"What's up with you today?" Inquired Rokara who saw Talon lightly caressing his left eye, his messy long hair did not cover the left side of his face as it usually did, it was covered by a simple black eye patch, gifted to him by Thorn.
Talon responded with a slight shrug of his shoulders, asking, "What do you mean?"
Rokara observed, "You always seem like you could fall over and die at any moment, but this morning, you appear more energetic than ever." She paused briefly, glancing at her own equipment and then back at Talon. "And why is it that only your gear looks high quality?"
Rokara donned a grey uniform, identical to the ones worn by the other team members. Two steel hatchets were secured at her waist, serving as her primary weapons. Behind her, Quinn stood with his longbow, and beside him was his brother, Orion, carrying a steel longsword in a leather sheath on his back. Aria had an iron morning star mace at her waist, an unusual choice for someone of her size. Thorn wielded two daggers."
Talon replied with a broad grin, executing a light spin. "Because mine is, while yours is not. Even before reaching a capital, I hunted beasts. This coat was crafted from wolves I killed, and this spear... I'm thrilled to have this spear because it's from a blue rated beast that I killed."
Talon chuckled, his hand firmly wrapped around the spear. The shaft emanated a subdued reddish glow, suggesting a gentle warmth. As for the spearhead, it bore wings, razor-sharp, with their tips adorned in a deep red hue. The most intense heat radiated from these crimson-tipped points.
"And you know the best thing about this spear? You helped a lot in it's creation, thanks to our spar, it had a little bit of an upgrade to it." Laughed Talon while walking besides Rokara, the others from the team tiredly walked beside them.
"Don't get over yourself kid, that equipment of yours is bellow average when it comes to hunter gear, only that spear of yours worth something." Said one of the hunters that walked behind a muscular middle aged man.
Talon was ready to hear Rokara's mocking laughter, but to his surprise, she was silently glaring at the hunter, silent rage deep in her eyes. The air was filled with the croaking noise of ravens, one of the hunters whispered, 'Death birds...'
As Talon and the others marched forward, they reached the Forest of Decay. The air hung heavy with the stench of rotten meat, assaulting Talon's keen senses. The landscape was mostly dead, with skeletal trees and decaying foliage painting a grim picture.
'This stench… it's awful.' Thought Talon as he put his hands before his nose, trying to filter out the rotten smell.
"Everyone, be careful for now on, we are marching into the southern edge of the forest, but the beast's here are no laughing matter so be on edge." Said the middle aged man.
"Understood captain Grayson!" Said the soldiers behind him while saluting to him.
Venturing into the woods, Talon noticed a raven, the likely culprit of the previous noise they heard, it's eyes were under attack by another one of it's kind.
Silent Rage enveloped talon as he stared at the raven whose eyes were getting packed away, blood gushing from it, coloring the other ravens beak into a deep crimson color.
'I can't stand by and watch this any longer!' Talon thought to himself as he activated his gift, summoning a small amount of red mist around his legs to enhance his physical prowess. With one powerful kick, Talon obliterated the raven that was assaulting another of its kind.
The other members of the special division stared at Talon in dumbfounded disbelief, but he simply ignored their reactions. Crouching down, he inspected the injured and half-blinded raven, lying weakly on the ground.
"Talon murmured with a quivering voice, "I understand your pain..." He weakly caressed the still-bleeding raven, then removed the ring from his finger and gently touched the bird with it. The bleeding from its eye gradually slowed down before stopping entirely.
The raven weakly stood on it's own too feet before gazing at Talon with it's remaining eye, it's pupil shaped like a half moon.
Talon murmured to the raven, 'I'm sorry that I can't heal your lost eye...' He removed the eye patch from his left eye, revealing the worst part of his ugly scar and the emptiness of his eye socket.
Talon extended his hand, indicating no harm. The raven hopped closer, studying it closely. After a while, the bird rubbed its head against Talon's outstretched hand, then with one last caw, the raven flied away.
Talon's fellow members stared at him strangely, while the hunters did too, but their gazes were focused by greed as they stared at the ring that Talon used at the raven.
"Captain, there wasn't anything about a ring like that in the report about the catastrophe." whispered a soldier standing behind the captain. The captain furrowed his brows, responding without turning his head back, "Indeed, there wasn't anything about it, but I think I know the source of that ring, and how that boy got it." He chuckled and then murmured to himself, "Pigs."
"Then what should we do, Captain?" asked one of the soldiers, his hand resting on the handle of his sword.
"Wait and stand ready. We aren't close enough to the edge of the forest, so we wait." instructed Captain Grayson.
Talon and the others felt the strange gazes by the hunter, but it wasn't the same that they always received. "I believe this is what Damian mentioned. What are your thoughts, Thorn?" Talon murmured silently as he walked beside Thorn and Rokara.
"We shouldn't talk… they are everywhere." Whispered back Thorn before looking back and nodding to Aria who nodded back in understanding and activated her gift, creating a mental link between every member of the team.
"Can all of you hear me?" Asked Aria, her voice echoing inside the mind of everyone.
"We can hear you just fine.' replied Talon, his thoughts carefully concealed. To the hunters marching alongside them, it appeared as though they were simply walking together in silence.
"They are observing us closely… we are going to be attacked, I'm almost sure of it." Said Quinn, his voice full of concern.
"What should we do? There are too many of them, and none of them seem weak... Are we going to die here?' Orion asked with a quivering voice. His body trembled slightly. Without uttering a word, Quinn stepped closer to his brother and placed his hand on his shoulder in a consoling manner.
'Not without trying our best,' said Talon, determination evident in his voice. He continued, 'But we need a plan... and we need it soon, I don't know what the hunters planning, but they are getting restless… does anyone have an idea here?"
"Maybe I do…" Murmured Thorn, which made the others stare at her, waiting for her to explain the details of her plan.
We should run further into the forest. I can set up my strings to slow them down, and maybe Quinn could cover us with his arrows. I know this is not a great plan, but it's the best we've got. If anyone has any other suggestions, speak up, because even I don't want to go with my plan,' said Thorn, lightly observing the hunters around them.
The others just remained silent, none of them had a better plan. "Okay, then we go with Thorn's plan." Said Quinn as he did the same way as Thorn. "There is about forty of them, and the worst thing is, I'm not concerned with their number, the one who concerns me the most is their captain."
"I agree, he has… a strange air surrounding him, and his smell… he smells like blood." Said Talon with a grave expression, he tried to conceal his feelings to not show weakness at the presence of the hunters, but it was too late.
"Capitan, I think they are aware of our plan, or the very least, they suspect something, we should act as soon as possible." Said the hunter who was walking behind captain Grayson.
"I agree…" Said the Captain before calling for two of his soldiers, this time, his voice was loud enough for Talon and the other to hear. "Derek, James, lets began the hunt." His words echoed across the forest.
"Run!" Shouted Thorn at the top of her throat as she began to run deeper into the woods, fallowed by Talon who enveloped his legs in thick red mist to enhance his running speed, just like him, Rokara activated her gift as well, an invisible force knocking the hunters that stood the closest to them.
While Running, Quinn shot a couple of arrows at the hunters that came the closest to them.
"Kill them!" Shouted one of the attacking hunters that swung his sword, aiming for Aria's neck. The moment his sword could reach it's target, a spear suddenly collided with the sword.
"Just continue to run!" Shouted Talon as he pushed the hunter away with the handle of his spear, as the hunter fell back, instead of finishing him, Talon began to run again, catching up with the others.
Invisible and razor sharp threads cut a couple of the hunters that helped Talon and the rest of the team to distance themselves even more from the chasing hunters.
"As Talon looked back at his pursuers, he discovered something disturbing. The Captain of the hunters was not chasing them; he stood far back in the forest. From a distance, it seemed like he was smiling.
Suddenly, before Talon could even say anything to his fellow members, a hunter appeared before them, making Talon and the other stop abruptly.
"There are even more of them in the forest!" Shouted Quinn to the others before drawing an arrow from his bow and aiming it at the hunter's head who stood before them, the hunter was different from the others, instead of a weapon, he held an oak flute, the only thing that was the same as the other hunters was the strange cloak with golden threads in the neck are that every one of them wore.
The arrow flew in the air at breakneck speed, but shockingly, before it would collide with the hunters head, it stopped mid air, just floating there.
The hunter began to play gently on the flute, as he did so, loud growling of two bears could be heard.
Then, the floating arrow slowly turned, pointing directly at the direction where Quinn, the one who shot it, stood.
Cadeaux
-- Cadeau
reçu État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone