I could hear footsteps approaching the door once more. I stood behind the door, ready to pounce. My heart was in my throat, I only had one chance at this. If I missed, I’m sure he wouldn’t hesitate to blow my head off.

Something was off though, the footsteps sounded too light to be a man, and there was the sickly sweet smell of perfume in the air.

I heard the lock click open, and the door slowly opened. I felt frozen on the spot, do I attack?

“Hello?” a young woman's voice rang out as she peered her head into the dungeon.

A woman?!

I chuckled internally, as I pounced out from behind the door and pushed the woman to the ground. As she fell, I dashed out the door and started down the long, narrow hallway.

The woman let out a shriek as she slammed onto the ground. This scream must have alerted guards nearby as all of a sudden I heard the clanking of armour coming around the corner.

“Duchess Marta!” one of the guards yelled, pulling the young woman up to her feet.

I tried to dash around a corner to disappear from the guard’s line of view, but as I turned the corner I ran headfirst into a wall. Or at least, what I thought was a wall.

Powerful arms gripped my shoulders and I looked up into the angry face of the young knight.

I flung my fists at his face, but he easily caught my hands. Twisting my arms behind me, I dropped to my knees, “arrgh!” I yelled out in pain.

The young knight quickly placed his hand over my mouth and whispered into my ear, “shush, be quiet.”

A woman's shrill voice rang down the twisting corridors, “Don’t let her escape! Find her!”

He started to slowly back us down the dark hallway, I could hear the guards panicking and shouting orders at each other to find me. The clang of swords banging against armour and metallic shoes scraping against the smooth cobblestone echoed menacingly.

The young knight dragged me down the dark hallway, until finally, we came to a small door, about half my height. He leaned down and opened the door, ushering me inside.

Desperate to get away from the guards and whoever that lady was, I complied and crawled inside; the door led into another hallway, at least this hallway was lit.

The second I could stand upright, I tried to run away from the young knight but he grabbed my hand before I could get away. I turned towards him and lifted my leg to kick him, but he also easily caught my leg.

Dammit, I am really out of shape.

“I’m not your enemy.” His voice rang clear and loud down the hallway, I turned around panicked, half expecting guards to come running down the corridor and spear me to death.

“Don’t worry, this is a private passageway. Not many know of its existence.” I wasn’t sure whether to believe him or not.

“Why are you helping me?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.

He crossed his arms and glared at me, “Well, I wasn’t planning to until you went and threw Duchess Marta to the ground. If I hadn’t saved you, she would have had your execution planned within five minutes. Although I’m not exactly sure why she’s prowling around down in the dungeon, to begin with…”

“I thought she was you-”

“So you were planning to attack me?” the young knight snickered, the glare replaced with a look of amusement.

I fumbled with the sleeves on my dress, suddenly feeling embarrassed by my foolish plan.

“Look-” before the young knight could finish his sentence, the building suddenly rumbled violently. I was thrown down on the ground and the knight fell against the wall.

Dust began to fall from the ceiling and the lights lining the hallway started to flicker.

“What’s happening?” I yelled over the rumble.

“I don’t have time to explain, we have to go.” Before I could say anything, the young knight had picked me up off the ground and we started running down the corridor.

The hallways twisted and turned, I could barely keep up with him, the building shaking intensely the whole time.

Finally, we reached a door at the end of another long corridor. The young knight flung the door open and bright sunlight blinded me.

I could hear awful screams echoing through the sky overtop the sounds of rumbling.

It’s not an earthquake!

Panic gripped me, I had experienced this before. I felt like I couldn’t breathe, fear washed over me and I fell to my knees, grabbing at my throat.

The young knight looked back at me, fear in his eyes. Without speaking a word, he picked me up and started running. He ran towards the thick forest that surrounded the King’s castle.

I looked over the knight’s shoulder back at the castle. My worst fears had come true; massive black, slimy creatures were clambering all around the castle. Their webbed feet slamming down and breaking apart the castle wall. The screams that I heard were a mixture of human screams and the inhumane screams from the demonic creatures.

My heart was pounding so hard I feared it might burst out of my chest. I gripped the young knight tightly and buried my face in his neck, my worst nightmare was coming true right before my very eyes.

We’re all going to die.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up in a small room, laying on a soft bed of hay. There was a fire crackling in a fireplace in the corner of the room. I sat up and surveyed my surroundings, I could no longer hear the screams of the castle.

Why are the Black Demons back? I thought we eradicated them all in the Black War…

Before I could finish that thought, the door to the hut flew open and the young knight strolled in. I gripped the bed sheets and pulled them close to my chest, feeling embarrassed about having fainted at the sight of the Black Demons.

The young knight tossed a few logs into the fireplace before turning around to look at me.

“Oh! You’re awake now. You were asleep for quite a while.”

I blinked at him, unsure of what to say or how to act.

“Are you hungry?” he gestured towards the table, where there were a few apples and a loaf of bread placed on a plate.

I stood up and sat at the table, feeling slightly more at ease I asked him, “where are we?”

He took a seat across from me and picked up an apple, “this is my cabin, it’s pretty deep in the Kosta Woods so that’s why we can’t hear anything from the castle.”

I noticed that the young knight wasn’t wearing his armour anymore. He had on a simple white linen shirt and brown cloth pants. He looked kinder without all that armour and weapons.

“Hmm..” Kosta Woods, I was surprised, we were pretty far away then, “Did you run all the way here?”

He munched on his apple before answering me, “Yup! You passed out pretty much right away so I had to carry you all this way. I’m pretty tired from that…” He sighed and stretched his arms up, cracking his back.

I scoffed and turned to look out the window, I’m not that heavy.

If you imagined the King’s Castle as the middle of the country, then the thick forests that sprawled this vast landscape formed a circle all around the castle. The first layer of forest that surrounded the castle was aptly named ‘The King’s Forest’, but its real name was the Kranen Forest - that’s where I lived.

The next layer of the forest, even thicker than the first and teeming with dangerous animals and monsters, was called the Kroelle Forest. And finally, the absolute thickest and most dangerous layer of the forest, where almost no man or mythical being dared to enter was the Kosta Woods.

Why was it called Woods and not Forest like this rest? I had no idea. These forests were named millennia ago before I existed.

“Oi, you okay?” I snapped out of my daydream, the young knight was leaning over the table looking intensely at my face.

I pursed my lips together, “So why did you take me here? Why did you save me?”

“Because I need your help.” He said as he flicked the last bit of apple into his mouth.

“My help? Your friend back there took my powers away.” I crossed my arms and leaned back into the chair, this guy was up to something and I wasn’t sure that I wanted to be part of it.

“We’ll just have to get it back! After all, aren’t you a Sister Earth?” the young knight raised an eyebrow at me.

I looked at him in shock, how does he know what I am?

He chuckled, “Pretty hard to hide something like that once you show yourself and show what you’re capable of. I had also heard that the Faeie Villages crops seemed to magically replenish itself each month, no matter how much food the knights took.”

That village was called the Faeie Village? I didn’t even know it had a name.

He continued, “Once I saw you hiding up in that tree, I knew that you had to be a Sister Earth.”

I gasped, “You saw me even before I fell to the ground?!”

“Yup! You should probably hide better than that if you don’t want anyone to see you!” he smiled through his words.

Outside, it was turning into night. This day had passed by quickly, although I had been asleep for most of it.

As much as I wished to escape from this knight, I wouldn’t dare to travel by myself without my powers through the Kosta Woods, who knows what horrors might meet me… even more, terrifying than the Black Demons.

I closed my eyes and concentrated, but without my powers, I couldn’t see anything outside; I was essentially… a human.

“What’s up, you still tired?” the knight leaned back in his chair, his hands clasped behind his head.

I ignored him, “How can we get my powers back?”

He paused, eyebrows furrowed together, “I dunno!”

I stood up and slammed my hands down on the table, causing an apple to fall off the plate and roll off the table. The knight caught it just before it hit the floor.

“You don’t know?! Then why did you take me here?! Why didn’t you just leave me to die!”

“I already told you, I need your help.”

“Insolent human! All you can ever think of is yourself! You want my help for your gain. Well, you can forget that I would rather perish in the Kosta Woods than help you!”

I picked up the small wooden chair and hurled it at the young knight, as he smacked the chair out of the way I took the opportunity to run out of the cabin.

I might not have my powers, but the Earth should still respect me as a Sister Earth and help to keep me safe. I dashed out into the pitch-black woods, hearing the young knight yelling for me to come back.

It was impossible to see through the starless woods, I relied on my diminished senses to guide me through the thicket, praying that I wouldn’t fall some ditch and break my leg.

I could hear the young knight behind me, he was quickly gaining on me; it seemed that he was very used to traversing the rough terrain of the Kosta Woods. Panicked, I started running in a zig-zag pattern to throw him off.

The young knight did not dare to call out to me, out of fear that an unknown creature would swoop down and swallow him whole. I could feel his absolute fear and determination to find me, it was palpable in the air.

Running as fast as my weak human legs could carry me, I came across what I assumed was a clearing. I stepped out into the clearing, only to realize much too late that it was a lake, a deep lake. I plummeted straight off the edge of a small cliff and down into the inky blackness.

The water was so cold, ice cold. My muscles locked up and I began to sink into the jet black depths. I sensed a creature swirling around beside me, watching me sink deeper and deeper into nothingness.

And who might you be?

I could voice inside my head. A cold, croaking melody - as if this creature spoke in a sorrowful song.

I felt another presence beside me as a thin, skeletal finger brushed against my cheek.

A human?

Human? In our lake?

I wanted to scream. Was this really how I was going to die? I continued to slowly sink, feeling my chest tighten and desperately wanting to take a breath.

I want to go to sleep, I thought to myself. As my eyes started to close, I felt a strong hand grab my arm and start to pull me towards the surface.

Human!

Another human!

Get them!!

All of a sudden, there was a bright flash of light that illuminated the lake for a split second. I managed to catch a quick glimpse of the horrific half fish, half skeleton creatures that were circling around me before I passed out.