Novel Prologue - Man & Beast
There was a rustle amongst the brush on the forest floor, an incompetent creature that was neither Anari nor animal emerged into the small clearing. Ryla couldn’t help but tut as the human caused such a dishonourable ruckus in a place of peace, a place that should be far from the reaches of man. Knowing this would have piqued her interest were it not for the distaste his presence brought, she could feel the forest in the breeze and the very air seemed to be repulsed by the man.
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Ryla continued to quietly observe from her perch high up amongst the coverage, she had never seen a human before and this one in particular wore very strange attire. His clothing glinted in the little sun that made it through the canopy, it was definitely made of metal which amongst the Anari was only ever worn by royalty or the Queens Guard. It was also incredibly bulky and definitely the cause of his obnoxiously loud footsteps, the plate covered his entire torso with large shoulder guards to protect his neck.
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It wasn’t until Ryla noted the number of weapons that he carried that she became anxious about this new arrival, on his hips he bore a hand-axe and an ornate sword. A strange looking half-spear was tied across his back and strapped to his chest where a number of pouches and odd-looking wooden tools that were beyond Ryla’s knowledge. This wasn’t just a human lost far from home, it was a warrior with violent intent but for what Ryla couldn’t imagine, as she turned to make her way back to bring warning; she was stopped in her tracks by a vile sounding screech.
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The sound stopped her breathing and made her nauseas, no beast within these forests has ever or should ever make such a sound. A suffocating greyness seemed to descend, and she willed her body into turning to see what had caused such foulness, she could not have predicted what she saw nor the sudden loud crack that shocked her to fumble her footing and come crashing down onto the forest floor. Right between the man and the monster.