Tricked and Doomed

"What the fuck?"

The moment I spoke those words the knights had already pointed their halberds at me. I mean, they were indeed vulgar but no reason to point blades at me.

But thankfully the Queen waved them off, that calculated smile never leaving her face.

I was confused, but she didn't let me finish my thought process.

"Let her be. It's natural that she is irritated. I mean, she is being sent to scout, practically risking her life. That's nothing short of infuriating if you ask me. But,"

She took a step towards me and extended her arm to help me up, then she grabbed my chin softly. I locked eyes with her.

Her eyes were white, almost icy. Like a cold snowfield. My thoughts from there on out were only rubbish.

But she kept on speaking with her soft voice.

"it has to be. You are the only one I can trust enough to go there."

Well she is saying the truth, who else could go but me? If the Queen wants it...

The Queen kept pushing with her persuasion, but my mind was already too foggy to follow.

"You are experienced with monsters, your senses are sharpened because you keep hunting monsters. You are also an excellent swordfighter."

She lifted my head up a little with a smile on her face.

"Can I entrust you with this mission? I believe in you after all"

Something about her urgency to hand me this mission of all people seemed off. But how could I dare doubt her Majesty? She who is as kind hearted as no one else.

Seemingly spaced out, I extended my hand and shook hers.

"Yes my Queen. I shall go on this mission and come back with satisfying results."

She let go of me and stepped back. In this commotion I completely forgot about asking the King too, since I also need his approval.

But he was taking a nap, completly unaware of what is happening right now.

My mind was still foggy, but I could remember the Queen reassuring me that it is okay, she would explain it to him later.

I found myself on a new horse, and was already riding back to the village.

It took only half the time it took me to come here, since I now had a fearless horse that doesn't just run away from its duty.

I rushed through the village, my eyes noticing that I arrived, but my mind somehow not really following. As if I was drunk.

The chef probably felt funny and added some alcohol to my proviant.

Finally, I arrived right infront of the forrest. But this forrest... it looks different.

The ground was yellow, the trees have already started to wither away, and I couldn't even hear a single insect, animal or whatnot.

I jumped off my horse, since I can dodge better if I'm on my own two feet and entered the forrest.

Coldness

It was the same type of cool that you feel when touching a corpse. As if any warmth contained within that body has left. Everything in this forrest was dead. 

The only living beings were that thing and me.

My hands started trembling and despite the cold, sweat started forming on my forhead.

Like a reflex my hands flew towards my twinblades Vaelor and Vaeloria, seeking guard against this.. this feeling.

But it didn't stop there. The second I took another step, I felt something on top of the fear.

An immense pressure, as if someone put some extreme weights on my shoulders.

But no one is in sight. Am I really feeling fear towards something I haven't even seen yet?

Pathetic

I came here to check out the location and if possible even strenght of that thing. Without that information, Bordertown and this Kingdom are doomed.

But I can't even take more than two steps inside a damn forrest?

I forced myself to keep walking, as the pressure just kept getting stronger and stronger.

Finally, I found the source of this immense pressure.

A cave in the middle of this forrest.

But the thing that really astonished me was the surroundings.

The ground was greyish black, as if something burned all life that was once contained in this place.

Souless. Yeah, that is the perfect expression for that place. And in the middle of that soulless clearing, was the cave.

First I took one, then two steps towards the cave. Step by step I got closer to it. After some time I stood at the entrance of that cave.

By now every single one of my senses screamed at me, shouting that I should flee, run away as far as possible and somehow survive.

But this was to important to run away from. A single glimpse. That would be enough.

I got close to the cavewall and pressed my Body against it. Slowly I bend my head and I could finally see the inside of the cave. 

There it was. Lying on a hammock made of ropes and leaves. One of it's arms was tucked behind it's head, the other hung lazily down to the side.

At first glance he almost seemed... human.

The black, short-sleeved shirt he wore clung to his frame, ordinary in a way that made him seem deceptively normal. But that illusion didn't last long.

It was because the very air around him was wrong.. it was hick, heavy, like space itself was bending.

He had brown skin, something I had never seen in my life, and that was the least unconventional part.

He had a single horn on the right side of his forehead, curved upwards, rough and dark, pulsing faintly with a creepy black glow. Shadows clung to it, shifting unnaturally, defying the light.

Suddenly I jolted up scared becaue he moved a little.

But he was only repositioning himself for more comfort.

Calming down, I went back to observing.

His right arm, now resting against his chest, was covered in thick, black scales. His clawed fingers curled slightly, the sharp tips glinting like obsidian blades.

Then... there were his wings.

Sprawled slightly over the hammock's sides, their sheer size impossible to ignore. They were black, their leathery surface streaked with traces of white feathers, an unsettling contrast, like divinity stained by something far beyond human understanding.

I have seen what I needed to see. This will be enough for her majesty. 

Suddenly he vanished. That thing vanished from the hammock.

I fucked up, I need to run. Now!

I turn around, and run away as far as possible. Until the cave is out of sight, until I had placed some distance between me and the cave.

Finally, I arrived at the end of this forrest. I wipe of my sweat and sigh, relieved.

I started chuckling. I must've looked like a maniac but it helped. The tension was slowly leaving my body.

"I rarely have visitors, so it hurts seeing you run away so fast."

A scaled Claw brushed my neck. It felt rough and leathery like the skin of a beast, yet colder than even ice.

With these very claws, he grabbed me so tight that I was choking. I could feel my warm blood flowing down my neck.

My face slowly turned pale, and my skin was suddenly just as cold as his claws.

I instinctively knew.

I will die.

Then, I hear it again. His voice, so deep and rough.

Like a ferocious beast, trying to imitate human language

"What were you doing in my Lair"