Shards of Hope

Unison III 2011 by Isabelle Louge.
==Teaser==
Hayden Tanner shook his head, “You’re crazy, Skarrow,” he said, with a look of fear stuck on his face, “You don’t know what’s out there.”
 
“Well that’s just it isn’t it? For all we know, there could be help out there; food, water, something to help us survive. ANY shard of hope.” Skarrow said irritably as he gestured to the wall of trees surrounding the village.
“You could die.” Artemis Winter said softly, her eyes fixed on the forest.
The phrase stopped Skarrow in his tracks. When they turned to look at him, he looked them in the eyes and said: “I didn’t escape the Belau war to trade fear of true danger and bloodshed for fear of monsters we only know from fairy tales. I came here to live.”
The next day Skarrow took his dagger and left, saying he’d return in three days time. No one knew if they’d ever see him again.
...
Crack!
Skarrow bolted awake and reached for his dagger. He scanned the thick darkness of the canopy, but the leaves blocked all the light from the night sky. It was the second night of his journey, and he hadn’t encountered another living creature since he had left Requiem. Through the silence all he could hear was his own beating heart.
There couldn’t be anyone there, Skarrow thought to himself in a vain attempt to calm down, nothing lives out here. The more he tried to calm his thoughts, the more they turned to the stories of monsters rumored to rule the forest.
He waited. Nothing moved, but he could feel eyes watching him through the darkness, he knew someone or something, was there.
Skarrow held his breath for a moment, tensed and then ran. He got up faster than he ever had in his life and bolted through the forest that clawed at him with gnarled branches and vines.
hissssss-THWACK!
Skarrow felt the dart hit his neck, and his thoughts went dark.
Category:Games