Alastair's body ached all over, it felt like he had been running forever. He had been running through the woods but had no sort of path or direction. All that he knew was panic and fear, and that he must get away from this danger. Death is behind him, chasing him and if he stopped she would take his life.

He was surrounded by large dark trees. His feet slipped on the dew covered ground. The sporadic light that shined through the trees did little to nothing to show Alastair where he was going. As the sound of large tree branches broke and fell to the ground behind him, it sounded like each one grew closer to him then the last, despite his speed and determination to get away. Momentarily blinded by sweat that ran down his forehead; he quickly removed his glasses to wipe away the blinding sweat. Once his vision cleared, he realized that the sound of falling branches had stopped. Shock ran through his body that made him stop dead in his tracks. Stunned by the silence, he was still able to calm himself enough to control his breathing. He snapped out of his frozen state and quickly jumped behind the nearest tree large enough to hide his body, and scanned the forest behind him. He leaned with his hands on the tree's thick coarse bark, he heard nothing but the sound of the wind blowing the leaves that canopied over him.

The scratches on his chest burned as the wind blew through the holes of his shirt. Three shallow slashes ran from his right shoulder down to his left side. He was trying to control his thoughts, afraid of what might happen if he was not able to steer that thing away from his friends. Even if he could get away, he knew they would not be able to. They were both unconscious back at the R.V., and he did not know when they would come out of it. Just his luck that he had been the one to be driving when all of this started. Thinking of how this all started he remembered he had a bottle of water tucked in one of his jacket pocket. He opened it and downed more then half of it. He then placed the bottle back in his jacket pocket for later. He continued scanning the woods around him until a clearing in the trees caught his eyes. Past the clearing it looked like the trees began to thin out. He leapt up and rushed toward the break in the trees, hoping there was a house or a road that might lead him to help.

Reaching the clearing he left the darkness of the trees and was blinded by the sunlight. He covered his eyes to shield them from the sun, as his eyes adjusted to it. Once his eyes fully adjusted to the light he realized that there was no house to be seen, but a large round clearing with a statue in the center. The statue appeared to be of a fairly old, of a warrior in armor on a pedestal. Its face looked to have weathered half away and much of its back was broken off or chipped away. Lay on the pedestal beside the warrior's feet was two objects; a sword and a shield. Alastair searched the clearing further, learning that the clearing he was in had two entrances. One he had came through, the second looked to lead to a dirt road.

Hearing the crash of a tree falling Alastair knew he did not have very much time to think. At this point he understood that he could either keep running or stand his ground using the sword and shield to fight back. He inspected the shield as he picked it up. He was able to hold the weight of the shield and felt that it could protect him. He then grabbed the sword, again inspecting it and feeling comfortable in being able to hold both of these objects. He stood beside the statue in the center of the clearing with the sword in his right hand and the shield in his left. He felt comfortable holding the objects but then realized that he did not know how to actually use them. Just as he came to this realization he heard another tree fall right beyond the tree line, at which time the large dark form that had been chasing him joined him in the clearing. Loaming a few feet about him, she stared at him with unblinking blue eyes. Her lips were curled in to a menacing smile showing off her sharp teeth. Unable to blink he starred back into her eyes and he muttered.

"Fine if this is the way it has to be, then so be it."

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Sara was startled awake by the loud sounds of a trees crashing. Still sitting in the passenger side of her friends car and realized they were parked on the side of the road, in the woods. Evan who was behind the wheel, didn’t show signs of waking up. Sara reached over to push him with no success. Getting out of the car she looked around the area. She found herself along a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. She was left with no choice but to investigate the surroundings and find someone that could tell her where they were.

Sara grabbed the car keys and checked on Evan; who seemed to still be in a very deep sleep. She felt compelled to take a lot protection then leaving the car. Holding he bow in one hand and her arrows over her should, she walked down the dirt road. After walking a short way, without warning she heard the sound of a large tree falling to the ground near by. Sara realized that there was a path leading off from the dirt road up ahead. Feeling she’d found the help they needed, Sara hastened her steps. Turning down the path she could see that at the end of the path was what look like a large clearing with a figure in the center. She realized there was a man just past the statue. She couldn’t see his face yet, because he was facing away from her. But she could see what he was wearing; a camouflage jacket, blue pants, black boots, he had short brown hair and he looked pale. The oddest thing about him was that he was holding a sword and a shield. Before she could evan consider weather or not she’d be asking him for directions, a large dark form stepped into the clearing. It looked to be at least 8 feet tall, if she didn’t court the wings that were folded against it’s back. It had pitch black skin except on the inside of the wings which were red, it had long arms and short legs there was long brown hair on its head with white horns sticking out. Sara had just noticed "it" must be a female. She was wearing what looked to be white armor and she was holding a large sword in her right claw. A smile showed off her long sharp teeth. Then Sara saw it’s eyes, bright blue cats like eyes that were focused on the man who was steering up into them. Sara heard the man speak for the first time. That’s when she figured out two things, one was this was really happening and that she knew the man.

"Alastair"

Sara whispered to herself, trying not to be heard. Sara didn’t understand how he was there and how did she manage to find him when she didn’t know where she was. She knew that she needed to help Alastair. Sara knew there was no way he or she could get away unless they worked together.

Alastair swung his sword at the creature standing in front of him.. In mid swing the beast grabbed the blade with her large claw left hand. Alastair couldn’t move it at all, it looked as though the sword was held in a vice. Blood such a dark red almost looked to be black ousted down the blade, yet the creature didn’t show any signs of concern. Alastair shrugged to pull the sword free, when she force fully pulled it, breaking the grip he had on it. Mocking him she dropped the sword at his feet. Before he could reach for it she attacked with her sword. He managed to hold the shield while she repeatedly struck at him. Sara could see that he was starting to look weak on his feet. Sooner or later he wouldn’t be able to sand up to this. She know she had to distract that thing long enough for them to get to the car.

The idea struck her and she knew exactly what to do. She lifted her bow then reached for an arrow and placed it on to her bow. Sara searched for a good target, choosing carefully. She aimed for the beast’s shoulder of the arm holding her sword hoping she could get it’s attention off of Alastair long enough for them to get away. At the same time she knew it would take more then just the one shot. Sara know what to do, she felt she had the right target for the shot, she took th shot, she took the shot, letting her arrow fly.

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Alastair felt pain shot through his arm with every strike form the impact of the blade on his shield. He was already tired from the run there, he couldn’t move away enough to run away. He couldn’t get to the sword, it was just there laying on the ground. She was toying with him, she had been since he ran into the woods. Alastair didn’t know what would happen if she’d tired of this game. Anger, rage and frustration were now the only things keeping him on his feet. His eyes never left the evil thing standing before him. This wasn’t even a fair fight. If he could have been able to fight back it would have been different, but he couldn’t and sooner or later she would break him. Alastair began to wonder what would be better; to live or die. Without warning his opponent let out a horrible cry of pain. Stumbling she was grasping at her back. Alastair saw that she was grabbing her back, he saw an arrow that had pierced her right wing. There was no time to think, this was his chance. He took a deep breath he dropped his shield, ducked and rolled, he grabbed the hilt of the sword, now he was laying right below the thing that had been tormenting him. Holding his sword with both hands Alastair struck before she could recover. All the strength he had left was put into plunging his sword into her abdomen below her chest plate. The cries stopped, he realized she was starting to fall forward. Before he could be crushed Alastair threw himself back wards and landed on his butt.

All if his strength was gone and he slumped back on to the ground in exhaustion. A feeling of relief came over him, he’d survived the encounter with the beast. From behind him the sound of foot set could be heard and they were getting closer.

"If you want to kill me too then get it over with, I’m to tired to fight back?"

Alastair said in a tired snarl. Silence was all the reply he received the foot steps stopped. Slowly Alastair rolled over on to his chest and looked up. He found that in stead of a strangers face looking down at him it was some one he knew.

Shocked Alastair gazed up in to the eyes of a person he never expected to see. At first