Fight or Flight

Morality and mercy are easy concepts to follow when there are no risks involved. But it will always come a day where it's not easy, when a person must choose; to die honorably like a hero, or to do the unthinkable and survive. So tell me this. Stranded and all alone in a cruel land inhabited by men that despise mercy and compassion, what will you choose. To die? Or to live! The Storm Riders have started their invasion! Can the Shadow Hunters Concil prevail...

Hunter set his gaze upon the thick darking of the gathering storm clouds. But even as he searched, hope rising hard, none came. No great burst of inspiration. Not a whisper of forgiveness either. Sorrow compressed the cradle around the mountain top. Hunter kicked at a few stones. The harsh sound echoed inside the cave, killing the quiet.

“You still here?” The woman's voice drifted from the rear of the cave. With a sigh, he glanced over his shoulder. A pale purple robe was worn by Lady Katherine. Eyes shimmering in the gloom, Hunter left the shadows and walked into the open cave. Moonlight fell across her face, illuminating aristocratic features. Hunter's day began like most, but it would end like none before it. Lady Katherine hugged him, pushing her cheek into his chest. He kissed the top of her head. She gazed up at him and, on tiptoe, reached to kiss him. ‘Don’t wait,’ she said. ‘I don’t like going into the camp knowing you’re out here waiting and worring. It makes it harder.’ They held each other again. She bowed her head. ‘I have a bad feeling. Why do I have a bad feeling?’

I listened as hard as I could to what she was saying, hoping I’d absorbed enough of the information to make some criticle dicessions. The cold rain stung the sides of my cheeks and soaked my clothes. The strike of my boot heels echoed as I hurried back to camp.

Lady Katherine "Sazzy" had been at it for many years and managed to survive, but her back was aching; she needed to take a break. Sazzy "The Archangel" surveyed the clouds above her as they darkened the night sky. She had been scoping their location out the last couple of days making sure it overlooked the Shadow Hunters' campsite. Surveying the dark onmious clouds Sazzy saw bright red glowing eyes shining into her's, expressing a rage that made her cringe. She blinked her eyes several times, the creatures in the dark clouds confirmed it was them even though the darkness hadn’t lifted. Within seconds her mind was crowded with the memories of the past wars. The images of the Shadow Warriors flashed in her mind, how they were able to ride the storm clouds, giving them the nickname Storm Riders and she flinched. Sometimes she wondered how much longer she could do this, and sometimes she knew it would never end. She watched as they reached the top of the mountain, hovering in the dark clouds as though debating direction, as paranoia crept at the edges of her thoughts. Sazzy laid on the wet rocks from the pouring rain, so she could listen. It took a while, but soon she heard it. She could feel them coming closer, the sound increasing. Then more solid sounds were audible, in particular footfalls, or were they hoof falls? She wasn’t quite sure, but it didn’t matter. The crashing and breaking of foliage moved closer until an outline appeared in the dark.
"Ja' Seth" She recognized Ja' Seth the Evil One.
She was right, she had heard both. Looking back over her shoulder, seeing what she could in the clouds. She remained silent, but her eyes had seen all she needed to know. She remained outside picking up each object and delivering its incantation until the chill bit into her.

Sazzy had that uneasy feeling again. There was more to the dark clouds than met the eye as she glanced at the closes ones. Standing slack-jawed, staring up at the dark formation of clouds, stray strands of rain whipped her face as the wind blows it around. Mirrored by an infinite sight of so many evil being moving around at once and saying such different things caused the alarm bells to sound for her.
As she waited for her strength to return, looking out at the vista below. The wind buffeted her, and she again grabbed at the stone for support. She was high, so high that even the tents of the campsite were tiny, the troops like little ants. She needed to get back to camp, to warn everyone of the hostile army was approaching. While the besieged were concentrating upon the attacks along the stretch of woods along the campsite, she headed back to campsite. Ja' Seth creatures were wiping out villages all along the southern edge of the wild forest, causing a panic, as they were unable to resist the growing power of the Evil Ones' army of evil demons with fire blazing from their eyes and nostrils, devouring everything in their path..

Life on earth was about to change, and it all started when the storm came to our planet. The black sky was becoming oppressive, covering every state in the USA. Hunter contemplated the fact that the night sky appeared misty, which in fact the destortions of the moon and stars was caused by the black clouds. Hunter noticed that his heart had speeded up a little, and realized he was afraid.

The chance of being alone in the coldness of the dark mountain seemed more of a bearable risk than a life with her spirit in certain and utter despair, and though she made her entrance into this dark, dismal mountain, it glowed with no sun, no warmth to be found. So Lady Katherine "The Dreamer" had traveled, but the aura of the bad feelings tainted her senses, an odor, a taste, an invisible color staining the darkness of her world.

It was a strange night, alternating between dark and light as the wind pushed the clouds across the full moon. In a dark moment, Lady Katherine aka "Sazzy the ArchAngel" considered lighting a torch, when suddenly her hand was bathed in a silvery light. The moon was brighter than she’d ever seen, bouncing off from the lake, illuminating the path to the camp better than any firelight. Sazzy shivered, and looked back at the lake, which was cut with a white path to the heavens. A tree had fallen recently by the shore. Tomorrow she’d have to cut it up for firewood. After arriving in camp she put another log on the fire and settled back to enjoy the warmth. The wind continued to roar. She heard her tent flaps waving. A tree branch knocked against the walls of it. She huddled over the flames. Finally, the rain came. The wind increased. The tree continued to knock. She was taken by the lake again. The fallen tree was gone. Maybe it had never been there, a trick of the light.

“So this is her then?’ the youngest of the Shadow Hunters spoke up. ”She’s just a woman, isn’t she?“
“I suppose she is.” Brandon said, his eyes twitching as he withheld a smile. “But she has a purpose.”
“Sazzy’s here because here is where I want her, Stan.”
Hunter slapped the young man on the back as he came between them. “The man we’re hunting is dangerous. He’s the one from the Storm Riders, and they are effective raiders. They say Dorod was fierce on the battlefield, killed dozens of ours before we took him. They probably should have killed him there but, soldiers have their orders and their orders were bring him in alive, so they took him to the headquarters.”
“And you think he’s here?” Sazzy asked.
“This is only camp within a three days walk from the city.” the other man, the tattered, scared Shadow Hunter, said this. “He doesn’t know it’s run by all of the Shadow Hunters.”
Sazzy turned to Hunter. “You said he was in a boat.” “If he’s in a boat, he doesn’t need three days,”
Hunter looked at her. “He’s already here.”
She pulled her shawls around her tighter, she realised suddenly that she was shivering from the rain.

I had that uneasy feeling again. There was more to the dark clouds than met the eye as I glanced at the closes ones. Standing slack-jawed, staring up at the dark formation of clouds, stray strands of rain whip my face as the wind blows it around. Mirrored by an infinite sight of so many people walking around at once and saying such different things caused the alarm bells to sound for me. As I waited for my strength to return, looking out at the vista below. The wind buffeted me, and I again grabbed at the stone for support. I was high, so high that even the tents of the camp were tiny, the troops like little ants.