Knall was running as fast as he could towards a nearby bush. He dove into it and let his antenna poke out of the bush to sense his surroundings. The humans were no longer chasing him. Knall reached behind him and pulled out the arrow that was stuck in his…
Knall stood up and looked around. It was defiantly a clear field. He stood up to his full eight feet and stepped out of the bush and continued to head for the Rythrin Forest, checking the map he had recently stolen.
He finally made it to the edge of a large tangle of dark trees. Knall’s blank yellow eyes surveyed the dark forest. He stepped into the darkness, his eyes automatically utilizing its night vision capability. He easily found that there were no clearings big enough to settle in permanently. A very small amount of light poked thought the tops of the trees that were very far away. It very quickly became dark as he continued his walk through the forest.
Knall was surprised he didn’t meet any of the usual creatures he found when he traversed a normal forest. Strange noises echoed through the thicket of trees. Knall cocked his head to the side. One sounded like a screech the other a flapping.
Knall ventured deeper into the thicket of tangled trees, almost crawling over them. He eventually found a very small clearing with a large, magnificent tree in the center. Knall gazed higher to find the tree disappeared into the darkness. He lightly touched the mangled bark and thought Sorry. Knall dug his claws into the bark and started to climb the behemoth.
He was about eighteen thousand arms lengths up when the tree looped around into a knot and shot out into several different branches. There was a platform at the intersection of all the branches big enough for a fair sized tent to stand on. Knall sat down and surveyed his surroundings. When he confirmed that there were no immediate dangers present he lightly touched his head down upon the soft bark of the tree and closed his eyes…
~*~*~
Khor awoke with the faint taste of smoke in his lips. He leaned up to look around. The smoldering fire beside him let up a small string of smoke wrapping around the sky. He packed up his blanket and stamped out the remains of the fire. His eyelids were half closed as he covered the traces of his stay there.
Khor continued on his way. Little did he know three weeks ago that he’d be running through the outside world, trying to avoid capture by the Shades? It was true he hadn’t seen another Shade since the night Jhere died but he’d stopped in a tiny outpost by a river and a ship captain said the Shades were sighted everywhere Khor had been.
Of course the poor man didn’t know this but Khor had been keeping close track of where he had most recently visited. A couple of weeks latter it was found to be burned to the ground.
Khor stepped out of the small forest into brilliant sunshine. He saw a tall building through slitted eyes. He smiled and continued at a brisker pace. He soon discovered it seemed to be one very large tower with many other small buildings gathered tightly around it. At the top of the wooden tower seemed to be a spire at least twice as long as the tower itself. At the tip of the spire was a platform probably only large enough to comfortably seat three people and a few supplies. Though Khor couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to live that high.
As he approached the town he saw a variety of livestock. There was a tri-horned beast, roughly the size of a cow. It had pale yellow skin with small flecks of grey. As he examined one closely he saw it had utters as one a cow.
Also scattered around the field were large birds that would come up to Khor’s waist. They were leathery black with long brown legs that had no feathers. Its beak was very long and sharp.
As Khor stepped further from the small forest he saw the small town was nestled in front of the Rythrin Forest. He continued through the fields and saw he was getting closer to some small houses made of wood. As he continued walking the buildings got closer together and were more numerous. They also became built of more durable material such as iron or scrap metal.
He gazed into the sky again. The tower stood tall and proud in the center of the small city. Light reflected of off large silver nets hanging out of the small platform on top of the spire. There were tiny glimmering object dangling in the nets. Khor bumped into a man because he wasn’t watching where he was going. The man kindly said,
“Sorry.” And ran off.
Khor smiled.
Khor saw many different shoppers bustling around the busy streets. As Khor passed the windows of shops he found many strange and amusing items. Sorcerer’s gauntlets, warrior’s robes, magician’s caps, and weapons, lots and lots of weapons.
Poleax, quarterstaff, halberd, triton, heavy axe, med axe, light axe, throwing axes, long bows, short bows, metal tipped arrows, hallow arrows, crossbows, broad sword, cutlass, bastard sword, long sword, short sword, rapier, scimitar, katana, long knife, short knife, club, spiked club, metal club, hand club, mace, chained mace, flanged mace, morning star, shuriken, kunai, wizard staff, wooden staff, metal staff, slingshots, shields, helmets, chest plate, arm guards, leggings, boots, gauntlets, torches, lanterns, oleo, and brass knuckles.
Unfortunately Khor had no money. He continued to wander the busy city street when he accidentally knocked into someone else and sent their bags flying all over the street. He bent down to help the person pick them up. With his face down Khor said “Really sorry about that.”
“That’s all right. Didn’t see where I was going.” Replied a sweet girl’s voice. He looked up and saw a beautiful girl about his age. She had black hair and green eyes. “Uh…” came Khor’s voice stupidly.
“See ya.” She replied as she continued on her way. Khor stood there, watching her leave. He turned around and started to walk away. With one last look back he left the busy streets and entered a weapons shop.
