Chapter 2: The Adventure Begins

Talus, Lupia, and Tilly found themselves in great danger. They were surrounded by a dozen armed humans, with no place to run or hide, and their only ally was on the ground, dead.

"Heh heh! You’z freaks’re dead!" exclaimed one of the humans.

"Who are you calling freaks?!" yelled Lupia, her eyes gleaming with rage. "Only beasts, like you, would do something as heinous as kill something just for the sake of killing it!"

Laughter erupted from the humans. One dressed in leather armor, obviously the leader, was the first to recover and took a few steps forward.

"That’s correct, wolf, we do and we shall do it again. Attack!"

The humans let out a bloodcurdling battle cry as they closed in. Tilly drew her knife as Talus and Lupia braced themselves for battle, knowing that if they were to survive they’d have to fight.

Lupia suddenly lunged at two of the attackers, impaling one in the throat with her dagger and raking the other across the face with her claws. Meanwhile, Talus and Tilly took more defensive positions, back to back, waiting for the humans’ first move. Two of them charged at the foxes, one on either side, just to find their blades clashing against each other as the foxes ducked. Tilly and Talus simultaneously thrusted their weapons into the bellies of their opponents, killing them.

But their luck ran out as the leader joined the fray. Lupia clashed blades with the human she raked. She caught his wrist as he swung and slit his throat when the leader picked her up from behind. He threw her clear across the clearing, with unnatural strength into a tree, to try to kill her by breaking every bone in her body.

Tilly screamed as she watched her friend fly overhead. That was Tilly’s downfall. As she watched, another human took advantage of the distraction and threw his sword at her. She cried out in pain as the sword drove itself deep into her side, before she collapsed into a small pool of her own blood.

Talus glanced over at his fallen friends as he drove his dagger into the skull of another human.

"This can’t be! They’re all dead!" thought Talus to himself as he defended against the humans.

"Give up, fox! You’re as good as dead anyway! You’re all alone now with no one to help you!" the leader boasted over the noise of the fight.

"I’ll never give up! I’ll avenge my friends!"

Just then a horn sounded from the west, from the village.

"Well, it seems as though vengeance is the only thing left you have to live for!" the leader yelled as he pointed to the west, laughing.

Talus quickly looked at what his enemy thought was so funny. His jaw slowly dropped as tears started to form in his eyes. He saw black smoke coming from the village, the only home he ever knew.

"I don’t know why the master had us draw you four out like this while the others burned the village, but it has been fun. Men, kill the beast." The leader ordered as his men closed in on the lone fox.

No one knows why it happened but it changed the life of young Talus forever. Maybe it was seeing his friends lifeless or the thought of his home in flames. Maybe it was the hopeless situation or a bit of it all. Whatever did it, it cause his destiny to start to manifest itself.

The humans stopped in their tracks and gasped at what they saw happening before them. Talus’s fur was standing on end and his eyes were glowing bright red. There was fear in the eyes of the humans as waves of heat rippled around the fox. Part of the heat started to take the form of a fiery creature that looked like a dragon and started to spin around him, faster and faster, until it became a sphere of flames. Similar spheres started to form around his lifeless friends. This all happened before the humans could even think of running.

Talus started to float a couple inches off the ground before throwing his arms out to his sides, causing the sphere around him to quickly expand to more than cover the entire clearing in a massive explosion. In less than a second after the last order to attack, all the humans were dead. Only their charred bones and swords remained.

Talus landed on one knee as he regained his senses, only vaguely remembering what he had just done. He looked around and saw the bones of his enemy, which proved that it wasn’t a dream. As he got up he noticed his friends were untouched by the flames.

"You have been avenged my friends", he said as he ran toward the village, grabbing one of the humans’ swords on the way.

* * * * *

Unknown to Talus, someone had been watching the fight from the shadows. He was a cloaked figure who stepped out into the clearing as Talus left.

"Everything is going according to plan. We shall meet soon Talus, when I wish it."

The figure looked down at Victor’s dead body.

"I may have use for you. When the time comes, I’ll give you what you desire."

"That’s what you said to me many years ago", a voice came from the trees.

The figure didn’t even look up as a raven landed on his shoulder.

"And you’ll get it when I say so. Now let’s go get ready for our guest."

He reached down to the corpse and grabbed it with his blue right paw before they all burst into blue flames and disappeared.

* * * * *

Talus ran back to the village as fast as his feet would take him. His heart felt as if it were ready to burst as the images of his friends stayed clear in his mind. He had to get back to see if his mother and sister were alive. His left hand felt as if it were on fire as he held the sword tight, ready to fight again.

He stopped as he entered the village but it was obvious he was too late. The village he had once called home was burned to the ground. Only a few homes were still standing, still burning. Tears slowly ran down his face as he saw the bodies of those he grew up with. Almost everyone he ever knew was on the ground, dead. He looked over at his home, engulfed in flames, and ran into it to try to find his family.

Walking out of his home, Talus carried out the only body inside, his mother. He walked over to the well and put her body next to it. For what seemed like eternity, he looked at her face, the face of the one whom had loved and raised him, the one who took care of him and was always there for him. Her face was peaceful as it always was. With all his heart, he wished to see some sign of life in her, to tell him that she and everything would be alright like she had done in the past. He screamed with fury before dropping to his knees, weeping for his dead mother.

Talus’s grieving was interrupted as he heard a noise from one of the buildings. He picked up his sword and wiped away his tears as he went to investigate. As he got closer, he noticed the sound was of someone crying and it was coming from the raccoon family’s house. Entering what was left of the house, he saw little Rick crying next to his parents, who were as dead as well.

"Rick?" Talus called to him.

The little raccoon turned around, startled. Tears were pouring down his face. He jumped up and hugged Talus tight around his waist.

"They’re all dead! They’re all dead!" cried Rick.

"I know. I know." Talus comforted the boy as best he could and hugging him back, "Can you tell me what happened? How did you survive and where is my sister?"

* * * * *

Starla ran through the forest as fast as she could. The dreams she had the night before clear in her mind. She knew that her dreams were more than dreams, they were visions of the future. The second dream was just like the first, the shadow destroying the village, but this time there was more. She saw Victor being shot, the humans, Lupia being thrown, the sword in Tilly’s side, and Talus surrounded and alone before she woke up.

"I must find them to warn them!" she thought to herself as she ran.

Suddenly, she was grabbed from behind and pulled off the ground. She struggled to get free and see who stopped her. Before she could say a word, humans stepped out from behind the trees.

"Good eyes. We wouldn’t want her ruining our fun, now, would we?" said a cloaked figure as he stepped out from hiding.

Starla couldn’t tell if the figure was human or not but for some reason he seemed familiar to her, though she was more worried with something else about him. Somehow she knew that he was powerful and pure evil.

"You three!" the figure pointed at three of the humans, exposing his blue right paw. That told Starla that he definitely wasn’t human, but she had no clue what would have blue fur. "Take her to the keep. I have plans for her."

"Why can’t we just kill her after a little fun, master?" one of the humans asked.

"You dare question my orders?!" the figure screamed, sending shivers into all those around. "I said I have plans! You will do nothing unless I say so! If you ever question me again, you will not live long enough to regret it! Now take her to the keep!"

The three humans trembled as they slowly left for the keep. Starla was able to watch and hear the master giving orders to his men before she was to far away.

"Now, the trap has been set. Wait in hiding around the clearing ‘till you hear the bells. Then kill the hunters so no one will get in my way."

Just then a raven landed on his shoulder.

"Good, you’re here. Are you ready?" the master asked the bird.

"But of course my liege. I’m always ready to do your bidding" a human in leather armor replied with a bow as he smiled slyly. He sounded more refined and cultured than the other humans did.

"Good" the master laughed as he looked at the human and the bird flew off his shoulder.

The last thing Starla heard was the laughter as she was taken away.

* * * * *

"So I followed as they took her away. I saw where they were going. Then I heard the horn and ran back here and everything was like this." Rick said, holding back his tears.

Rick had followed Starla through the forest and had watched the whole thing as he hid.

"So where did they take her?" Talus asked.

"Into the mountains to the west. I’ll show you."

"Alright, but let me handle things when we get there."

"No! I’m going to make them pay for what they did! They killed mama and papa so I’m going to kill them!" Rick shouted. "I have nothing else left!"

"You have your youth. Don’t waste it by getting yourself killed for revenge. Now, take me there. I’ll take care of them."

Rick reluctantly nodded and helped Talus up to lead him to the keep. As they left the village, they knew they’d never be back. Their home was gone and they knew nothing of what the future held for them. All they knew that the peace they had once known was no more.