Soul Lovers

A thin, green-glowing teenaged boy ran through the foggy woods of the mountain in the dead of the night, breathing heavily as he fled his pursuers. He wore a sleeveless garment with a V-shaped, low cut neck and a pair of shorts. A small orange bag hung from his back. On his feet were a pair of fine leather sandals he’d made himself.

“Hey! Boy! Come back here!” someone yelled. “You sneaky… “ The owner of the voice was joined by five other shadowy figures following the green glow.

“Leave me alone!” the boy yelled back.

He skidded to the left, sliding across the grasses down the side of the mountain, and hid himself within a crevice. He clenched his fist and closed his dark brown eyes tightly and the green glow disappeared from his brown skin.

They stopped and stood at the edge of the mountain, scanning the whole area.

“Where is he?” A lady asked, panting slightly.

They heard the unexpected clanking sound of heavy footsteps from behind and turned to see a hairy, middle-aged man with a scar slashing through his left eye, adorned in a glowing suit of armour with that iconic symbol of the nobles on the breastplate come forth out of the fog.

“Lord Jared?” they cried in shock, bowing.

They parted to allow Lord Jared to pass through them. He raised his right hand.

“Sniffia, go get him,” he ordered.

A blond, teenaged girl came forward, clothed in a fur vest, skintight trousers, and leather boots. She knelt down on one knee and lowered her head causing the end of the plaited braid that crowned her brow to fall forward over her well-muscled shoulder. “Yes, Lord Jared, the Divine Humane.”

Standing up, she raised her chin, sniffing the whole area as the fog flowed in her flared nostrils and out again. She looked down the mountain with her venomous little eyes. “I scent him. He is below us.”

Jared smiled. “Bring him here; we need him. Dead or alive.”

She nodded, then slowly walked down the mountain, sniffing.

Meanwhile the teenage boy swallowed, shivering within the crevice. “Grandma, what should I do?” he said.

Above, Lord Jared and his underlings watched Sniffia as she slowly slid down the same grasses the boy had only just escaped down.

Suddenly, they heard a deep roar in the distance, thundering continuously. Jared looked at the direction of the loud, deep, cry. His eyes dilated as the tremendous figure lit up the whole place with its majestic light.

“A dragon… How? I thought they were still in hibernation?” he said, backing away from the beast.

“Incoming!” someone shouted.

Suddenly, a ball of fire flew at them from the dragon’s mouth. It burst onto the ground where they stood, disrupting Sniffia. She slipped, almost falling off the grassy cliff. Sniffia caught herself on a small crack caused by the impact of the ball of fire.

“Ughhh!” she grunted, looking up at the vast flame separating her from Jared and his underlings, unable to see them through the growing inferno. The fire reflected in her similarly orange eyes, catching the warm brown stripes and setting the green streaks aglow. Her upturned eyes immediately went round in alarm. “Lord Jared!” she cried.

Jared tried to rush to her aid, but the flames pushed him back. He clenched his teeth, raising his hands towards the flames. A strong wind blasted out from his hands to the flames but to no avail, the flames refused to be quenched. He marveled at the monster, a crazed look in his eyes, while his underlings shot every element they knew of at the dragon.

“Stop. It has no effect. Dragons are immune to our potencies,” Jared said as he knelt down in front of the flame, its colors changing each time he shot his air into it. He could fly over it, but the shock that a dragon was right above him overwhelmed his desire to do anything but to anxiously call out to her, staring at the vast fire’s changing shades. “Sniffia? Are you still there?”

Below, Sniffia tried to pull her body up. “Yes, my Lord… I… ” Her voice was lost in her efforts.

The heat of the flames traveled through the crevice. As the temperature rose, the teenage boy shakily crawled towards the exit, exposing his head and half his upper body.