Serenity Academy

Chapter One: Manifestation

It had been a long day, searching the forest trying to find useful herbs. It was late afternoon when the young man had found what he had only dreamed of. He was wearing simple brown pants, with a black shirt. Over that shirt was a leather jacket to help protect him from the elements. He had short spiky black hair and grey eyes that stood out against the growing darkness. Above him on a small cliff he could see the brilliant pink flowers with yellow around the edges.

It took Kyroth over a hour to climb the ridge his fingers aching by the time he got to the top of it. Taking his time the young man barely older then sixteen started to dig up the flowers making sure to not hurt the roots as he placed them in his satchel. His mother would be proud of these finds as he gathered up some of the seeds on the nearby flowers. "Maybe this can help change everything." He whispered to himself when the first howl broke the night silence.

Standing he was roughly six feet tall, a little above average for the area as he looked around quickly trying to pick out where the howl had come from. A quick burst of wind rushed past him as he scanned the area and knew he had little time. How could he let the time slip so far from him. Gathering his stuff he took off as fast as he could sliding down the side of the mountain. There were a few ledges to slide into to slow him down so it was not a direct fall but it was still dangerous and painful. As soon as he feet hit the ground he took off in a dead sprint, stumbling to keep his balance.

Pain filled the Kyroth's lungs as he sprinted through the forest, tree branches lashed his body, ripping pieces of his shirt as he barreled through, fear pushing him onward. In the distance the howls could be heard, several pitches could be made out of the combined howl. His eyes darted to every shadow and bush fearing that out of any of them the wolves would spring out.

It was foolish of him to have stayed out so late, even worse to have strayed so far from the village. Deep in the forest however was where the rare herbs grew many did not venture there due to the wolves. The hunters had pushed the wolves farther and farther back into the forest causing the deeper parts to become rather thick with them. The hope had been to get them to fight for territory dwindling the numbers but instead it had only cause them to merge into a larger more dangerous pack. It was a strange occurrence but as with most creatures when pushed, they adapt and survive as best they can.

The howls were growing closer, separating from one solid howl to several on either side, they had already started to break off and flank him. From what he can see of the terrain he was still quite a ways from the edge of the woods. The hunters had pulled back to the village to protect it better, leaving the outer areas around the village to fend for itself. The bow on Kyroth's back hit a tree throwing him off balance causing him to fall. His body rolled with the fall and came back up into a jog and then a sprint but the lost time would hurt a lot.

A burst of fresh air hit his face as he burst into a clearing roughly one hundred yards long. The breeze had been stifled while in the trees. This would be the place to make his stand as he slid to a stop in the middle of the clearing drawing his bow with a quick motion an arrow already held up to the bowstring. In that instant everything went silent, no leaves rustling, no wind, not even breathing could be heard as the world seemed to stand still.

Then the moment was over as four wolves ripped from the forest sprinting as fast as they possibly could to try and get to Kyroth before he could fire off any of his arrows. Luckily there was enough time to get at least one shot off as Kyroth let out his held breath at the same time as he released the string. The arrow sailed through the air, red feathers on the end keeping it straight as one wolf collapsed, an arrow through his eye. There was no time for another shot as he dropped the bow and drew two daggers from the small of his back they were roughly a foot long and curved out slightly. Each was black as night with a handle made out of a rosewood having a maroon coloring to them.