Here's Chapter 8 of my book, Prove It. Links to previous chapters are on my profile. Enjoy c: Chapter VIII Avianna and I had been walking for about 10 minutes before she suddenly stopped. "Avianna? Something wrong?" I asked. "Did you hear that?" She asked, her voice filled with worry. "Hear what?" "It sounded like..." She paused for a moment, appearing to be deep in thought. "Never mind. I can't tell you." "Why not? Is it bad?" "Ethan, you need to focus on the quest. Distractions will lead to your death." "Avianna, how can I prepare for what I'm going to face if I don't know what to prepare for?" "You have to trust me Ethan. I can't tell you yet." "Come on! Why not? I have to know, or else I ca-" I was cut off when a creature lurched from the brush and pounced on Avianna. She let out a scream as the creature slammed her to the ground. I panicked. I unsheathed my sword and swung it like a baseball bat, bringing the blade into the creatures abdomen. It let out a strange sound as it backed away from Avianna. I stepped over her, standing in between her and the creature. "Stay back!" I yelled. "Don't touch her!" I studied the creature. It resembled a wolf, with pointy ears and a dogs nose, but it had big, bright eyes. It barred sharp fangs, as it snarled at me. It's body was long and muscular, with 4 small feet with sharp claws. It's short fur was a creamy white, with strange black designs around its body, almost like face paint. Except everywhere. "Stay back!" I yelled again. "Ethan.." Avianna moaned. "That's a Lufor. You can't beat it alone." I noticed that the Lufor didn't seem that fazed by the giant cut I had just put in its abdomen. In fact, it seemed like it was closing. The Lufor snarled again, and took a step forward. Avianna slowly got up next to me. Blood was dripping from her arm. "I've only fought these once. They're tough to kill. I'm not 100% sure about this, but I believe they have special cells which can repair damage extremely quickly. " "Great. I hate unbeatable creatures." Avianna drew her bow, but she struggled do to the pain in her arm. She fired an arrow, but the Lufor jumped over. Once it landed, it ran towards us with alarming speed. I tried to sidestep, but I wasn't quick enough. The Lufor tackled me. I tried to wrestle it, but there was no hope. It was much too strong. I heard a whack, and the Lufor was suddenly off of me. Avianna had hit it with her bow. The Lufor shook itself, as if it was startled from the hit. It lunged at Avianna. I intervened, thrusting my sword into the side of its chest. The Lufor made a pretty gruesome sound, and crumpled. Avianna and I both stared at it for a second. It suddenly jerked, making an odd noise. Avianna and I both jumped back. The Lufor slowly got up. The hole where I had impaled it was already gone. "The worse the injury, the quicker it heals." I said in a frightened voice. "What's it gonna take to bring this thing down?" "I have no idea." Avianna said, which wasn't much help. "We can't keep this up forever." She drew her bow, and fired. The arrow sunk itself into the Lufor's upper leg. It didn't even attempt to dodge. Instead, it simply ripped the arrow out using its mouth. It snarled at us. "Nice." She said. "Only made it angrier." The Lufor charged. "Get behind me." I told Avianna. She did so, with a confused look on her face, as if she was pondering what I was about to do. The Lufor lunged at me, barring its fangs. I bent backwards a bit to avoid getting bit, but I let it slam into me. I used the momentum I had already gained to do what was probably a pretty terrible backwards somersault, and thrusted my legs up into the Lufor's body. It whimpered as it went flying through the air, and landed against the ground, hard. "Shoot it!" I barked from the ground. "Now!" Avianna had read my mind. She already had her bow drawn and fired before I finished my sentence. The arrow lodged itself in the head of the Lufor. It didn't die, but it was dazed, unable to move. Before it could recover, I got to my feet, and ran to it, stabbing it in the chest multiple times. Eventually, the Lufor died. I stared at it, breathing heavily. Avianna was doing the same. Her arm was sill bleeding. Her hair was a mess, and mine probably was too. Her shirt sleeve was torn. I realized that I wasn't in the best shape either. My chest was now hurting, due to being tackled by the Lufor. I stroked some of my hair from my eyes, and looked above me. There wasn't much to see, as the trees of Malum were blocking The Sky.I hardly remembered what The Sky even looked like. I had lost track of the time I had spent in Malum. I was tired, aching, and sick. I hadn't gotten much sleep ever since I had arrived. All of this. All of this was for something I didn't do. I hated Domum. I hated Carcere. I hated this stupid quest, I hated all these creatures, I hated- "Ethan? Are you okay?" I had been so wrapped up in my thoughts that I hadn't realized I had fallen to the ground. I didn't bother trying to get up. Instead, I covered my face with my hands. "Avianna.. I just.." I sighed. I couldn't bring myself to tell her my thoughts. I just wanted my freedom. I just wanted to live my life. Was that too much to ask for? Why did I even have to go on this quest?" "I think I might just be losing my motivation." I admitted. "Why? This is for your freedom! You could be a hero!" "Being a hero doesn't matter to me!" I snapped, a little more harsh than I intended. Avianna looked at me, her face filled with surprise. "This was never even supposed to happen! I was just living my normal life, and then everything was taken from me! Do you know how that feels? I never wanted this!" The words just spilled out. I couldn't control myself. "Ethan..." Avianna looked like she wanted to say something, but he couldn't find the right words. I sighed. "I'm sorry. Let's just keep going."
