Guardian

Chapter 22

With Dark's presence urging me to go further, I ran through the dark field. I would have smiled and laughed if our lives weren't at risk. I have never felt so alive! My feet were flying so fast that it seemed they had a conscience of their own! The wind in my face, whipping the stalks in my path, but I just brushed past them. I could see my breath coming in short puffs as I got into a good tempo.

"We're almost to the end of the feild."

It was strange, instead of hearing Dark say that from my shadow, it was almost like....like he was...like I was the who said it. Does that even make sense? Then again, how much do I really understand about Dark and his abilities?

I didn't have any time to think about that because at that moment another spine-chilling howl swept through field. More howls joined and the wind grew stronger, swirling around me and pushing me every which way. The courage I had instantly disappeared and was replaced with fear.

"It's okay, I'm here."

Dark's words comforted me deep within and I was able to drown out the howls and focus on the task at hand. As I was running though, the stalks suddenly stopped and I stumbled out into the open. I stopped and looked back, I really ran all that way!

"No time to admire the scene, Jason," Dark interrupted, "we need to keep moving."

I felt his presence start to lift and I knew that he was trying to leave my shadow. "No, stop," I ordered, "I can keep going. Only come out when you really need to."

I heard Dark sigh, obviously not a fan of this plan, but yet he didn't argue any further. I nodded and turned to the dark forest ahead. It turned out to be harder than I thought. With the trees blocking the only light source, I could barely see anything!

I pushed myself to go faster, but since I had stopped earlier, everything was catching up to me. After all, I had walked a good part of the day and I hardly slept at all tonight before we had to get going. I started stumbling as I ran, my foot catching on a rock or something once in a while. I kept going though.

The howls had stopped, but I could feel Dark's uneasiness mingle with the fear that still lingered in the pit of my stomach. Suddenly, I tripped on a large tree root and started to fall!

A large purple hand appeared out of the darkness and caught me before I hit the ground. I watched as the rest of Dark's body materialized before me as he put me back on my feet. His wild hair partically covered one of his eyes, which made it even harder to make out all his features.

Both of us froze as we heard another howl, this one unnervingly close. Dark's eyes grew wide in fear as he stared in the direction we had come from. The sound of pounding footsteps, like those of a charging herd, resounded through the forest. I yelped as I was suddenly in Dark's arms.

"Hold onto me tightly okay?" Dark muttered.

I heard the fear in his voice and didn't question him. Instead, I wrapped my arms around his neck and gripped a little fistful of his long hair. Then, the world became a blurr. I think I might have blacked out for a few seconds because the world had suddenly become black, with flashes of darkened colors here and there.

At one point, I looked over his shoulder and my eyes widened to see what I feared most. A pack of shadow dogs was chasing after us. What was even worse, was that the bigger ones had people riding them. In the center, riding the largest of the shadow dogs, was Steros.

Even from a good distance, I could tell that those cold eyes that now haunt me were staring straight at us. His long white coat flapped in the wind as the shadow dog he was riding galloped towards us with hungry white eyes.