The Shield Of Broverold (Book 1)

Chapter 8

We walked down Nature-Top hill discussing and confirming our plans for the quest. Monica was dressed in a black top and jeans, she had her bow and arrows reduced into a small size enough to fit in her pockets. It can change into any size Monica wanted. Lara was wearing a full-sleeve top and jeans. She had her sword disguised as a pen and her shield as a pink watch. "Hey, how come you have a shield and I don't?" I asked Lara feeling a bit annoyed. "Well, you have to find yourself a Blacksmith to get one." She replied smiling. "A Blacksmith? Where do I find those?" I was interested as I knew I was going to need it. "Deep underwater, there is a place where Protectors who are born with the talent for Blacksmithing goes. They learn to make all sorts of weapons and offer them to nature. It is those items we receive, Mark." She explained. "You can't just get one when we want, Mark, Nature will give it to us when the time is right." Monica answered. "I hope I get it before we start to fight, I am going to need it." I muttered.

We went past the park and I remembered the fight I had with Lucus months ago. "There are tons of graveyards, which is the one we are looking for?" I asked as we stopped at a graveyard. "No silly, we protectors don't bury the victims after their death! Monsters will bury them out and create duplicates of them as monsters. As Protectors die, they are taken by Nature and stored in a special graveyard where monsters can't reach." Monica replied. "Where is that?" I continued. "It is on top of a hill that is guarded with a lot of animals." Monica said looking around. "AAA! You mean we have to climb?" Lara exclaimed.

The bushes moved nearby, and made a sound. We looked at the bush at the same time. A dog-like creature with red eyes and extremely sharp claws (ouch!) drew near. Its eyes were fixed on us. "A common monster, this is easy." I heard Monica whispering. It opened its mouth and I got a glimpse of its teeth. It was two rows of sharp teeth (double ouch!), good for cutting meat.

Lara and I drew our swords, while Monica moved back with her bow and arrows ready to strike. The creature gave a roar and jumped straight at me. I did what anyone would do, slash the sword at it. It got cut near its nose and fell down. I thought I finished it off, but it got up again. Then Monica released an arrow and it hit the creature on its face. It gave a light howl and lay dead on the floor. Then its fur began to fade away and soon there were only bones left, a few seconds later, that too faded away and there was nothing there. "Come on! We can't stare at it all day!" Monica said walking towards a hill. The arrow that had killed the monster appeared in her hand and she reduced it to the size of a peanut and placed it inside her pocket.

The hill was filled with animals which surrounded us as we were climbing the hill. It was very easy, for us, as we are Protectors. But if monsters try to climb this hill, they won't survive a minute. There was a graveyard at the top. It wasn't a normal one. Each grave had vines and flowers on it and beside it. We spread out trying to find a grave with the name of Paul Moflies. I noticed that all graves had notes on them; telling about their life and achievements. I knew I was going to be here one day, I wondered what achievements I would have achieved. A shout from Lara broke my thoughts. "I found it! Paul Moflies! Here is the grave!" She shouted in delight. Monica and I ran to her and looked at the grave she was pointing at. The note read: Paul Moflies was a Destined-One who helped Nature when she needed it the most. He fought many monsters and even used The Shield of Broverold in the battle between the Olimusus and the Protectors. He was considered Nature's favorite. "Well, are you sure that reviving memories is correct? I mean he is considered Nature's favorite. If what we are doing is wrong, we are insulting Nature!" I spoke nervously. They ignored me. Monica knelt near the grave and closed her eyes. She muttered something and put her palm on the center of the grave. After a while, her expression changed. I didn't know what was going on, whether this was supposed to happen or not. The expressions kept changing. Then after several minutes she opened her eyes and stood up. She was silent and a tear ran down one eye. "What happened, did you get to know where the shield is?" Lara asked impatiently. She nodded. "His life was...terrible, he...was tortured by King Vitomanus to tell where he hid the shield." She said. She told us that his life was full of miseries and was attacked by endless number of monsters during his lifetime. She told us that he died being tortured in the Netherlands. "No wonder he was nature's favorite." I said. "Anyways, the shield is hidden in a cave in the next forest we come across if we go north." Monica answered the question we were dying to know.

We walked north and came to a small area of woodland. We were really tired and hungry. We decided to camp for the night and eat the food that was given to us. We set up our sleeping bags and built a fire. So far, our quest was successful; we have only come across one monster that we defeated easily. I secretly hoped that the entire quest was like how we had our first day. We ate our food hungrily like a pack of dogs. We talked and laughed in the warmth of the fire until our eyes gave up. We crawled into our sleeping bags and said the goodnights. I fell asleep, reviewing the day and once again hoping that the next day would be as good as this. I couldn't have been more wrong.

The fire was out. There was nothing around but darkness. It was a moonless night. A noise came from a nearby bush. I stirred, but continued sleeping. The noise grew louder. I woke up, startled. I looked around and saw that Lara was also up. She had a concerned look on her face. She was trying to wake Monica as quiet as possible. "Hey what happened?" I whispered. "Shh! Quiet!" Lara replied whispering. She pointed towards a nearby bush. I looked at what she was pointing at. There was a creature hiding behind it. Well, trying to hide. It was clearly visible. I took my phone and held it tightly in my hand. Monica had been woken up. Monica signaled to us that she was going to climb a tree to get a better aim at the monster. She scampered up a tree as quiet as possible. She took aim but suddenly stopped. She looked all around us and screamed. "Monsters are surrounding us! There are about 30 of them!" She shouted her face contorting to fear. I slid my phone. The green glow had lit the place up. Lara did the same. She pressed a button on her watch and it became a yellow colored shield. There were markings carved on it, but I couldn't see them. I really wanted to have a shield also right then. There were different noises coming from all around us. I looked up at Monica. She was rapidly shooting arrows trying to kill as many monsters as possible. I looked ahead.

The attack was perfect, for them. The monsters closed in on us from all angles. The worst thing was that they all had swords with red glow on them. As they came closer, I noticed all had one-eye, and were in dark black robes on. I took a deep breath and ran in to attack.

The monsters were pretty easy to defeat. But more and more came. I had killed around 5 and they all died the same way as the dog monster we killed the day before. It was still dark. I realized I was doing pretty well. I saw Lara at the corner of my eye as I was battling a monster. She was doing fine, but was tiring out fast. I killed the monster and ran to meet some more. One monster came behind me while I was battling and tried to kill me from the back, but an arrow sprouted at the back of its head. I looked behind and Monica gave me thumbs up. I smiled and returned to my fight. Dawn was approaching. We continued fighting and I was getting tired. I had one more monster coming after me. As I was fighting that monster, I heard a scream. It was Lara; she was on the ground with her sword and shield around 10 feet away from her. A monster was in front of her with his sword raised in the air and I realized what was going to happen. I was still fighting but my concentration was on Lara. I looked at Monica but she was fighting three monsters at once- there was no way she could do anything. A few other monsters ran to Lara. My full concentration was on Lara now. I didn't realize that I had a monster fighting me that moment. I felt a burning sensation on my chest and immediately pain arrived. The cut was big and deep; the pain was intense and my anger stirred immediately. I smelt fresh water again. But I was in no mood to find the source. The feeling was like how I felt when Lucus played the water balloon trick on my birthday. An insult to my dignity. Yes, that's how I felt. My vision was blurred; I felt another burning sensation as I got cut again by the monster, on the chest once again making a bleeding cross on my chest. I knelt on the ground and screamed in pain. But it was no ordinary scream. Birds flew off. I was screaming with full pain and with all my might. Anyone would have been dead with two huge, deep cuts on their chest by glowing red swords. But I was in a different state. I somehow got up and slashed the monster with as much power as I had and the ground shook at that very moment. I once again screamed in pain. The earth shook again. All the monsters that were after Lara disappeared and bones were the only remains of them. Monica had fallen down from the tree she was on. There was something wrong with me, besides the anger spell I had achieved. I noticed a green glow as an outline of my body. I saw Lara and Monica gasping at me as I fell down, my eyes shutting. I was exhausted and I had no idea what I had done.