Mythical Guardians

♧14. Unexpected Calling♧

  Gordon galloped across the lands, his legs carrying him for dozens of kilometers as he passed through the perimeters of Baracca back into Denaur, his prize wrapped up neatly in a sack that he carried on his back, the roughly spherical object bouncing up and down his back as he galloped. He tried not to imagine the face of the thing inside, the first time he tried that, he almost vomited.

  By the time he had reached the wilds of Denaur, it was already nightfall, but he could still see the city of lights in the distance from the mountain he was standing on, wrinkling his nose in disgust. The humans were invading their lands, reducing their territories, and burning down trees to build their glowing houses and towers. They were responsible for the sudden drop in the numbers of prey, and some centaur deaths, when they wandered too far into the human lands.

  Once, the entire country of Denaur was for the centaurs alone, as they roamed freely in the woods and grasslands, doing as they pleased, and now, the humans had almost taken up more than one fourth of their lands. Most centaurs wouldn't had cared, but Gordon was not one of them. He disliked most of those two legged creatures.

  What Gordon didn't get, was why didn't the centaurs fight back. Centaurs can definitely rival humans in terms of strength, speed, and stamina. Their minds were just more primitive, but were still sharp, nonetheless. The problem had to do with the centaur clans, that they didn't interfere. As long as nothing directly bothered with their clan, they ignored them, and that was something Gordon despised.

  He was too small, too insignificant to make a change, to let the centaurs make a stand. And besides, who would listen to a him, of all people?

  He had to admit, he was indeed the runt, shorter, skinnier than most others, lacking the bulging muscles they possessed. Still, he made it up with his skill and determination.

  The centaur galloped through the forest, feeling the night breeze against his face, the slightly chilly air that lingered in the air. He felt branches and leaves crunch under his hooves, and he suddenly cringed, as at the image of his mother not making it flashed through his mind.

  He hastened his pace, not wanting to be late.

  A rumble in the sky drew his attention as he looked up, to see storm clouds gathering. He frowned. Sure, he had seen the storm a few minutes ago, but there was no way it had travelled that quickly.

  He had to hurry, rain was bound to fall any minute, and Darkkris hated his bounty hunters bringing spoiled items. Especially stuff that was soaked or had withered away.

  He's not going to make it before rain fell, he knew it, he could literally smell the rain in the air.

  Lightning arced through the sky, lightning it up, the light so blinding that Gordon flinched.

  Then suddenly, a large bolt of lightning, unlike anything he had seen before, struck the ground, approximately a couple hundred meters away from him. He was almost certain that it could had caused a forest fire, and he waited, but strangely, his keen eyes spotted no flames.

  Curious, he made his way towards where the lightning struck. If he remembered correctly, it was one of the few places in the centaur territories that he never went to. The chief of his clan told them all to stay away from that particular spot, saying that it was cursed.

  And if his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, he could had sworn that he saw something inside that massive bolt of lightning.

  His hooves made almost no sound against the forest ground, his heart pounding in his rib cage. He felt no fear, but slight unease. He could feel his muscles tense at the prospect of a fight, silently and slowly unslinging his bow from his back, as undetectable as another shadow in the dark forest.