The Unwanted Beast

The mist came up out of the soft earth with such a grace that any being would just wait for it to become an image, an image of a monster, or maybe a god. It was unknown to what future resided on the other side of the river. It was more of a long lake then a river, you couldn’t even see across it. The earth, of which I’ve rarely touched, was a dark rich brown color, it was hardly visible from such a distance up, but still close enough to see any movement.

The morning river watch was the worse time to be on watch duty. Now that the sightings of Nephalins had started again, it was an unanticipated time of the day. The Nephalin favored the morning; it was a perfect time to find an unaware human off guard. Even though humans rarely were seen on the ground at this time in of the year. A Nephalin, was just like a human, but was two to three feet taller, which makes them about thirteen feet tall. They were more felt then seen, and used something that was also rarely seen on this side of the river.

“Jah, did you hear that?” a quiet voice came out of the mist with an alert tone.

“No, where did it come from?” I answered with an equal tone of voice.

I strained my ears a little more and waited. There it was, something was jumping from shadow to shadow, trying not to be seen. I moved through the tree I was stationed in trying to get a clearer sight of the ground.

I had never seen a Nephalin before, and don’t really want to either. The sound came again, but this time a shadow moved with it. I moved a little more, and there it was. It was clothed in a dark brown robe and it had a long shiny thing on its back. It moved fairly fast and was heading deeper into the woods. Which wasn’t very good.

“Go get Alnilam, there’s one down the, it’s heading towards the village.” I said to the voice out in the mist. I heard a small sound as he moved out to the next tree, and then disappeared.

He had better move quickly, that Nephalin was moving fast. I had to make sure he didn’t get far enough into the woods to see anyone, so I followed it. I crawled out of the tree I was in and into the next one, the Nephalin was nowhere to be seen, but I could feel his prevalence in the woods. As I quickened my pace going from one tree to the next, I caught sight of him. He was still moving, but slower now, he most likely knew that I was right behind him. A Nephalin wasn’t mindless, they were much smarter then humans and aren’t truly killable on earth, but in heaven or even hell.

He stopped, turned around and made very little noise. He seemed to be staring at me, but I had the feeling deep down inside, that he didn’t really know if I was there, so I stayed put. He then turned back around and slowly continued into the woods. I waited a few moments before going on, so that he would have the feeling of moving away from a danger, other then being followed by one. I then slowly continued to follow him as he journeyed in the one direction I didn’t want him to. I grabbed a branch that gave a loud creek. At the sudden noise that came out of nowhere the Nephalin spun around, now fully aware of my presence he jolted into my direction. With a leap that sent me nearly fifty feet higher and almost out of seeing range I ran in the one direction that the Nephalin didn’t want to go, back to the river. He also climbed up into the trees and with an astounding speed headed into my direction. I didn’t look back but with him on my path I could lead him to the river bend and then maybe taunt him into the water. I ran through the treetops making a lot of noise so that he could continue to follow me, even though he wouldn’t be able to see me through the thick tree limbs. Then as I gave one more leap I came out into the open air with nothing but mist all around me I started to fall. Then I crashed into the rushing river, now drenched, but without a sense for the Nephalin to follow. I waited a few moments to see if the beast had followed me this far out.

“Jah!” I heard a cry come out from the mist in front of me. I still stood where I was in the shallow water.

“Jah, where are you?” the voice came again, but this time closer. I knew that a Nephalin could mimic a voice, so I was unsure.

After a moments silence, an image came out of the mist, I couldn’t make out what it was, but it didn’t feel right to do anything. It moved a little closer and then more until I could clearly see whom it was. My conscience was right; it was the Nephalin that had called me.

I just stood there without a thing to do now, but to pray, and to pray hard. The Nephalin just stared at me with small yellow eyes that seemed to look straight through my. Then as I began to notice he was looking through me, and at something behind me. I turned to see what, or who it was.

And there stood a figure, about ten feet tall and clothed in white. He seemed to be giving off a calm soft light from his cloak. I turned back around and the Nephalin was gone.