Conquest I held my breath, everything around me seemed to go still as I watched the witch-crow fly by, not daring to move. It circled a few times, then screeched, and flew back in the direction it had came. I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking, that was way too close. I slowly backed away until I reached relatively open ground, then broke into a sprint. I glanced back, making sure I wasn’t being followed. Control it, control it! If you turn now, they will smell you and kill you! I thought to myself, struggling to keep the inner beast in check. My name is Max, I was born and raised by the king, the oldest in my family, the heir apparent. That was until Shzrar and his army of stinking shape-shifters attacked. For some reason I had always felt a inner struggle whenever I was sad or angry. When I watched Shzrar’s right-hand man kill my father, it ripped free. I sprouted black fur, grew about a foot, and felt my strength, speed and stamina increase infinitely. Surprise and a little fear shone in his eyes, then a flash of recognition entered his gaze, turning it as hard as steel. He said two words, only two, but that was enough. “Kill him.” Somehow after that encounter, I wound up here. Being chased by some of the most dangerous creatures in the world while at the same time trying to survive in the wild, something I’ve never had to do before. A low growl snapped me back to the present. I looked around frantically, trying to find the source of the sound. I saw another witch-crow on the sky, and I promptly took cover. The crow started to circle lower and lower until it was under the trees, then it began to change. It’s feathers disappeared and it started to grow larger. It grew two more legs and it started to rapidly grow huge muscles. Within seconds, a huge monstrous panther stood right in front of me. At it’s full height, it stood 6.5 feet tall. It sniffed the ground, moving it’s head back and forth, until it came to rest, it’s black eyes staring directly at the bush I was hiding in. It looked up to the sky and howled. I got up, and I ran. Black shapes materialized behind me, hideous forms giving chase. Black bolts of dark magic whizzed past me like hordes of angry bees. I stumbled, the ground below me a ship’s upper deck, swaying and buckling under me. I fell, and I knew it was too late to keep running. I stood up, and drew my greatsword from it’s sheath on my back, deciding to make a last stand. One of the transformed witch-crows jumped at me, and I cut it down with a powerful downward slanted slash. I turned my sword and stabbed it, killing it. The others were wary after that, and started circling me. Suddenly, they stopped and backed away, snarling at me. The other hunters then stepped up. Humanoid in shape in size, but other than that, they bore no resemblance to the human. Wrinkled faces with vicious curved beak that unleashed bloodchilling gurgling screeches and gnarled hands with long, black claws. They always wore black cloaks and well versed in dark magistry. There was about ten of them in all, one with a long oaken staff with a purple orb at the top, who was obviously the creature’s leader. Behind them was a soldier on a armored horse. The soldier jumped off his black charger, and dismissed the other creatures with a wave of his now drawn longsword. The beaked creatures hissed but backed away. The soldier then spoke. “Do you know who I am? I am the king’s elite soldier. I have never lost a swordfight in my life. The new king has ordered me to kill you, and thats what I am going to do, in a swordfight with you.” I spat at the ground in front of him. And snarled resentfully in return. “You can put my father’s crown on his head, you can adorn him with jewels, you can wipe out my family, you can force everyone to bend their knee in front of him, but he will never be king, he will never be loved, he will never be respected, he will never be followed, he will never, ever, be king of this land.” The soldier laughed contemptuously, putting his sword up to waist height, obtaining a fighting stance. “So be it.” I raised my sword, and we started circling each other, looking for an opening to attack. I lowered my sword slightly, drawing him in, a motion he didn’t miss. He quickly lunged forward, but I whipped my sword up, sliding his blade across mine as I turned around and smashed the butt of my sword into his ribcage, making him double over, and I smashed him again on the back, causing him to fall to the ground, stunned. “Get up, runt.” I snarled. Angered by his loss of the encounter, he quickly recovered and rained a flurry of blows upon me. I blocked most off the attacks, but I eventually was overwhelmed. I obtained a long, shallow cut across my torso and a deep gash on my left arm. I dropped to the ground, my sword held above my head. I stabbed his foot, and he cried out. He cried out and dropped his sword, trying to lift his foot, but it was pinned to the ground by my sword. He gazed mortified at it, until shock crossed his his face as he watched his own longsword disappear into his gut. The other creatures stepped up as the man fell down, dead. Suddenly, arrows whizzed over my head, never missing their marks in the creatures in front of me. More human soldiers came out of the gloom behind me, shooting arrows. Three rounds were shot, leaving only the leader with the staff standing. A dark orb of crackling energy had formed around it, protecting it. The ball drew close around it, then I dove aside as it shot out in a beam of death. Three men behind me fell to the ground, killed on the spot. That was when the archers hiding in the trees went to action. The creature then resembled more of a hedgehog then a person. The leader of the group came forward. “Ah, Max, it’s nice to see you. now come, we need to get you to safety.” And so I vanished into the night with part of the army from a city that was still loyal to my family.