1 Chapter 1: Thram

Joseph ran with all his might calling out to his younger brother William, "Come on slow poke it's tag day!" Joseph's long brown hair bobbed in the wind as his brother chased after him. Grinning, William's jog became an all-out sprint.

William was in the small village of Thram with his family on their farm. His brother Joseph called out to him to come play tag as they usually did with the other kids in the nearby oak forest. As they weren't supposed to go past the border of the Wildlands, they stayed within sight of the rustic village.

The adults often warned of going too far into the forest in fear they would encounter a wild beast, but many kids often ignored the warnings because no one, even their parents, had ever witnessed such a thing. Regardless, William, a short haired redhead with a wily smile, knew that there wasn't much to worry about since they were so close to the village and often played in a small clearing about a mile into the forest.

Joseph and William ran as fast as they could and met up with the other children and began to play as they would any other day. Clara, a rather tall girl with black hair, would often tease Joseph for his small size, and today was no different. Joseph angrily chased after her outside the clearing deeper into the woods. The children laughed at the usual occurrence and most of them believed that Clara and Joseph secretly had crushes on each other.

William and his friends continued their game, but two problems seemed to surface: the sky began to grey in an unnatural way as if a great storm were about to hit, and Clara and William had been in the forest longer than normal.

"Guys looks like it's going to rain we need to get back to the village!" One kid shouted.

William began to grow worried and began to shout into the woods calling out Clara and Joseph's names. Dumbfounded, William and his friends looked at each other confused and began to search for their friends. Slowly, the grey fog began to roll in, and some children were beginning to grow nervous since it was the furthest the children had gone into the forest. As they ventured around another mile into the woods and out of sight of the village, they heard a shout for help.

Joseph burst out from behind a tree and was crying, "William, Clara is gone!"

"Is she lost?" responded William concerned.

"I don't know something is wrong.." Joseph trailed off as the group of children could now tell that the darkness around them was becoming thicker and a strange screeching, rumbling noise could be heard in the distance.

"Was that thunder?" William asked himself. Suddenly a monstrous inhuman screech thundered from inside the darkness a few hundred feet away.

"Run!" screamed Joseph as the group ran back towards Thram. By now everyone there had realized that the sound was a beast. The usual smiles on the brother's faces were replaced with serious ones as they sprinted as fast as they could with the screeching growing louder behind them. "We have to find Clara Will" Joseph panted out.

"Don't worry we just have to make it back home and they'll find her." William responded in a tired and quieted tone.

As the group reached the tree line to village, it was as if the fog had become black and the darkness could be felt against their skin. The sound behind them grew fainter, but now, they were barely able to see anything. They wandered toward red lights in the fog that they believed was the city. Upon further inspection they realized that the city was on fire!

Just then, a bloodied town guard stumbled on the group of kids holding himself up with his spear.

"Yo…u need to g…et out o..o..of," and before he could finish his sentence, the guard collapsed onto the ground. William saw some of his friends started to cry, but Joseph spoke out,

"Let's get to the barracks and see what's happening and if we can get the guard some help." Although William could see Joseph was shaking out of fear, he knew that Joseph was like a leader to the group and admired his leadership while almost everyone else was freaking out. They walked slowly towards the barracks, but there was no one in sight, although it was hard for them to see anything to begin with because of the fog. He knew the emergency protocol of the village was to meet inside the barracks, but not once did William ever think that a strange situation like this could occur.

A guard opened the door of the barracks and shouted to the kids to get inside. Instantly, William and Joseph locked eyes with their mother Emily. The children who ran in started to break down, but it seemed as though most of the village was inside and everything was okay. Parents rushed and hugged their children as William stuttered out, "What iss ha a a pening?"

Emily knelt down next to William and said, "There seems to be a monster attack. Don't worry the town guard is here. Everything's going to be okay." She started to pet her child's head and stroke his hair hoping that what she had said was true.

Meanwhile, a battle could be heard in the distance near the city square where the guards were attempting to keep the threat at bay. The captain of the guard knew it was pointless. Throughout the entire assault on the village, the monsters had been hidden in the fog, and not one guard who was alive knew what they looked like; there were only shadows of gigantic creatures shifting around their torch lit final stand.

Minutes went by, and then an hour, and then screams of the guards were heard and then fighting stopped. Emily covered Joseph's ears, but the agony of the guards couldn't be blocked out. All at once, the demonic screeching of the creatures and the shouts of dying soldiers ceased. An eerie silence grew in the barracks and not a person spoke.

From inside the lit barracks, the last of the guard had used desks as a barricade and the men all held various tools and weapons, trembling as the doorknob of the barracks began to turn and the door creaked open. The fog filled the first floor and giant thundering steps entered the room. The men violently urged the women and children to hide and panicked shouts were heard in the two-story barracks. Chaos erupted as the shrieks of monsters were heard and people pushed each other out of the way to the second floor.

William and Joseph lost their mother in the mess and found themselves hiding underneath a worker's desk as the deafening screams of people and monsters grew closer to them. Since the building was rather large, they had the room all to themselves, but they knew it was not enough. Fog seeped into the room, and Joseph grabbed his brother's shirt knowing it was over.

Shaking and lightheaded, William wanted to save Joseph and said, "Joseph run I'll distract them. He stood up and saw the monster. Black as night, the monster had glaring red eyes and stood around seven feet tall. Its very presence froze William as Joseph stood up about to run out of the room. With one foul swoop, the creature raised its arm from the shadows revealing a hand with three dark encased claws aiming for Joseph.

William's eyes bulged and he threw himself with all his might in front of the claw to save his brother. He limply fell to the ground as darkness seemed to flow into his veins and his vision began to blur. His brother ran against the wall as the creature grew closer and made a disturbing crackling sound. Was the monster laughing at his sacrifice? It didn't matter now, closing his eyes, a great white light entered the room and his consciousness left him.