CHAPTER THREE- THE FOREST OF BEASTS

Hunger woke Monster; he sniffed the air and lumbered into his forest. Scratching old wounds and scars he followed my nose, how fortunate must he have been to happen upon such a smell.

Approaching a clearing in the woods, Monster found his prey, a group of two humans, and an elf amongst them. The closest human wore clean armour that made the light seemingly dance off of him, in one hand was a large shield that could easily covered his entire torso, while in his left hand was a morning star made from an inferior metal to his armour and shield. The two behind him wore cloaks; the elf even had a staff readied in his hands. They meant to challenge Monster, what insolence.

Monster gave a roar; the enormous sound hit the surrounding trees and greenery like a gust of wind. The two behind seemed shaken by Monster, Monster supposed the metal man was the strongest. Monster charged forward at full speed and was upon them faster than any deer or rabbit could react. Yet they were not normal prey, the two cloaked men had already left Monsters’ line of sight, his nose and ears informed him that they were to Monsters’ left and right respectively, he even heard an unintelligible babble from the elf, and the elf’s words seemed to flow into a visible light that embraced the metal man. The metal man was the most impressive, he did not run, he stood tall, braced his shield and took the brunt of my charge, like a tree he resisted all attempts to move him. Even with all of Monsters might he the metal man held steady. By some miracle he received Monsters charge entirely and would have held him there had the ground beneath his feet not surrendered. With the metal mans left hand he raised his morning star and bludgeoned Monsters’ side. The blow reached his side, bouncing off of his thick furry hide having little affect. Monsters’ response: he raised his paws and brought them to the metal mans side, Monster would have crushed him then and there had the elf not spoken. With a word the elf shocked Monsters’ limbs without even touching them. Monster stumbled to the ground, unable to feel his legs. The metal man's shoulders fell, and a sigh escaped his lips, he had relaxed, did he think Monster could be so easily defeated. In Monsters mind this itself was a grievous insult that he would not allow this. Pushing past the numbness and forcing his limbs to work.

With a roar Monster leapt towards the elf. This elf would die in my jaws. But the other cloaked individual had other thoughts, He ran, until he was adjacent with Monster, then turning and in a perfect arc, fully utilising every muscle and all his momentum, raised his arm. His blade followed, and in a perfect arc, preying upon Monsters’ throat.

Screaming, his dream passed, he found himself back in the little room. The dark little room. Monster remembered the forest from his dream, he recalled how beautiful it was and how it felt to run. As the beast, Monster had ran.

He stood up, possessed by the bear that ruled the forest. No more. No more of these walls. Monster struck a wall, leaning into it as he did so. The weight of the bear was immense, and the wall caved into itself. With that, Monster strolled up along the corridor. At the end was another locked door, another wall to crush. Monster struck it too, shattering the wood into splinters.

Monster walked through the opening, into the blinding light. The world was so bright, so very bright. Monster looked at the ground, at all the pretty flowers and bushes. He kneeled down, the bear all but gone, and held them in his grey meaty hands.

Monsters cell opened out to the back of ‘Muther’s garden. Naturally it wasn’t long before he was spotted. A group of guardsmen surrounded Monster, “What’s a grey troll doing here?” one commented as he tipped his spear towards Monster.

“He’s a bit small for a grey troll, if not for the colour, I’d say he was a man.” Another said.

“Don’t be stupid, look at its face, its just an infant troll.” A third guard chimed in.

“Then where’s the mother?” A fourth guard asked in legitimate terror. His question had the other guards stop in their tracks. If they hurt a baby troll and its mother went berserk, it could kill them all and then some. The prospect of signing their own death warrant had all the guards hesitate a great deal before moving on.

In the commotion Muther, accompanied by an angry looking man, came out of the large house. Monster got up and started heading towards her, but the guards stopped him.

Taking it as a sign of aggression, and with no other choice, the guards attempted to shoo Monster away. He stumbled back at the sight of the sharp blades and for a moment he looked past them to plead with Muther. That’s when the angry man stepped forward, “KILL THAT THING RIGHT NOW!” he ordered. The guards still hesitated.

In the light of day, Monster could see Muthers face clearly for the very first time. There was no hiding it, she hated him. Muther hated everything about him.

And the realisation hurt Monster more than any spear could.

So he responded in kind. Monster retreated inside himself, allowing the bear to take over again. At the drop of a hat, everything had changed. Monster roared, a bestial savage roar. One so forceful it threw back the closest of the guardsmen. And Monster fled. With a threatening amount of speed, Monster began running on all fours, down the hill and through the field, in minutes he was in the forest having long out paced anyone that dared pursue him.

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Robert with his face buried in grass, half of his face was wet with dew. Getting up, he took note of my surroundings. The blue sky seemed to break through the cracks in the green ceiling that was the overbearing trees, it was morning.

Then there was the plant life around him, on the ground, the grass seemed brighter than normal. Then there were the mushrooms that sprouted out from the dirt only to bloom outwards with a rainbow of colour, oranges and purples sparkled together. The florescent flowers seemed bigger than it should be, reaching as far up as Roberts shoulders. he rubbed the dew off of my face and started my march again.

The mushrooms seemed to be a festering with magic in a way that would make the old pastor excited. Knowing this, he made an effort not to poke the intriguing products of nature.

Robert found that my reckless parading through the forest did not go unheard. The bushes rustled and for the moment the thought of fighting or running again made his muscles ache. First, there was a slight hiss. Then naked little green men sprang from the bushes, with sharpened sticks, they chuckled like madmen as they sprinted for Robert. He sized them up, turning a full three hundred degrees to find that he was completely surrounded. The impish creatures chuckled in their high pitched voices as a way of egging themselves on. Roberts heart pounded, sweat flowing from his brow, the tips of his lips curled into a smile. This made them pause.

Robert whipped out his knife and pointed it at one of them, he wasn’t the biggest or the smallest, this green man just happened to be in Roberts line of sight, “Make this fun for me,” Robert told him.

With that, he charged, the sight of which most have seemed so outrageous and suicidal, that the goblins assumed it was a trick and backed away. Though Robert wouldn’t let up, he plunged forward into the closest little green man. The blade sank into the creatures flesh and scrapped against bone, an attack aimed at his chest was almost pushed down by the presence of his ribs, so instead of piecing the little fools lungs, Robert lost his knife in its gut.

Four of the closest goblins converged on Robert before he could dig his knife free from the fresh corpse. So, abandoning it, he dashed out of the way. They gave chase for a moment only for Robert to skid back into the fastest amongst them. Roberts fist followed the goblins stick, pushing up at the last moment. Robert drove his fist into its nose.

With a crunch, the goblins nose was buried into its own bony head. The child sized creature fell onto its arse as blood trickled down its jaw line and dripped over its own lap. In the process Monster had dropped its weapon, a sharpened stick that Robert was quick to adopt.

Between the growing grin on his face, their two injured comrades and the pointy stick facing them, the three goblins stopped for a moment. Robert took the time to twirl, getting a good look at the goblins behind him before they could mount a surprise attack.

It was all a show really, that last punch was really the best Robert would could muster and the last of his strength. His muscles ached and even now Roberts stomach was nagging audible complaints at him. So, realising that he needed to end this quickly, Robert rattled his brain for ideas.

That’s when a roar thundered through the forest. The sound was immense, swaying the trees like a gentle breeze.

The sound sparked something in the goblins, they ran way, dropping their bags and weapons as they did so. Leaving the their injured ally.

Robert sighed in relief for a moment, then regarded his new friend. “I wonder how much you can take?” The goblin, clutching its broken nose stared up at Robert its eyes widened. Robert pointed the sharp stick at the goblin, “Now,” Robert breathed in heavily, “Let me enjoy this.” He took the edge of the spear and, with everything he had, buried it into the goblins thigh, pinning it to the ground. It screamed, and cried and bled out. Robert didn’t stop there. He circled around it, taking it in from multiple angels. Once he was behind the creature, he quickly turned to the copse and pulled his knife free. “I’m one unbelievably lucky fella.” He took the blood knife and walked up behind the writhing goblin. He put the edge of the blade against the goblins throat. At this point it had given up entirely, “How boring, its no fun if you don’t fight back.” Robert notes, and slits the goblins throat. He takes a minute to watch it bleed to death.

Robert sat down and considered this as he took out his own pouch of food.

From the loaf of bread, Robert tore off a small chunk and from the block of cheese he broke off a small piece. He then pressed the two items against each other and shoved the result into his mouth. The strong cheese was complemented by the soft bread and Robert savour this as he considered eating more.

In the end he choose to conserve his food and walked on while snacking on the berries the goblins had gathered. The goblins would surely know what was save to eat, Robert supposed.

All the while, he was being watched by the shadowy agent above. She watched him with unblinking eyes, studying his every move. The roar that had saved the boy could only be the product of magic. The agent knew that much. But she seemed puzzled by this unfamiliar magic that had so easily scared the goblin pack.

That’s when it dawned on her, the goblin pack fled! She took a mental note of Roberts location and heading and she turned to the direction the goblins had come from.

Why was she so anxious to find the goblins? Well she understood that they were intelligent creatures. And with a threat like the boy in their territory its very likely that they could regroup in greater numbers. There have been reports of goblin armies numbering in the hundreds, and should even a fraction of that force decide to confront Robert there would be very little the agent could do about the it.

However, if there are no survivors to tell the tale, then there won’t be a goblin army looking to pick a fight. The agent concluded that as long as Robert encountered them in small enough groups, he would overwhelm them. She was sure of that much, but an army, that was a different story.

As to why she didn’t just drag him out of the forest? Well there’s a simple reason for that. The sound originated from outside of the forest and she didn’t want to consider facing the source.

The agent jumped from one tree branch to another so quickly and fluidly it appeared as if she was running on the air between them. It wasn’t long before she caught sight of the group of goblins, now no less then five in all. She would make this quick, dispatch them all in a manner of seconds.

That was her intention at least. She touched down onto the ground, slap bang in the middle of them. Before they can react, she extends her arm, causing the dagger in her sleeve to slip of its sheave and, with practised precision, she plucks it out of the air.

In a matter of seconds, the agent makes her move dismantling the group of goblins. Then she hears a hissing noise. The sound causes her to stop in her tracks. That’s when someone began to move from behind the bushes.

The agents brow furrowed as she rebuked herself internally, how could she be so careless. She moves to attack the stranger, but can’t, the hissing noise turned out to be the mumbled words of this stranger. The agent was under someone’s spell.