Will and Robert walked to the gates of the castle waiting for Gale. Gale's small stumpy legs moved like a hurricane as he approached them. "If Robert would have waited only 5 more minutes, Robert I would have been with you guys sooner" Gale yelled out. Robert laughed at Gale who was looking exhausted from running down the steps to the gate.
"We leave now?" Robert seemed a little bit better speaking in the common language. Will gave a nod to Robert and started walking out of the gates and to a door. Will opened the door and a thick fog seemed to escape from the door revealing nothing but mist and tall grass. Gale hopped on the back of Robert. Will stepped in through the door followed by Robert and Gale. Will seemed as though he was not in the slightest bit happy about going into the Canyon of the Lost.
Will lit a torch illuminating nothing but fog and the shadows of his two friends. Will handed the rope to Robert who then wrapped it around himself and Gale. Will Took the rope and wrapped the rope around his waist. They were all connected by the rope attached to their waist; the rope was about 30 feet in length from each other if they decided to split up to search around.
"Tug the rope once if you find something. Tug the rope rapidly if you're in trouble and twice if you find who we are looking for." Will whispered to Robert and Gale. They both nodded their heads in understanding. Will set off in front of them following what seemed like a brick pathway since it was the only thing visible to his eyes. Robert followed behind, watching the path carefully looking for any signs of people or enemies. Gale who was very good in the sense skill Could look through some of the thick fog blocking the path and would call out any obstacles in the way before
Will and Robert fell on them.
Gale pulled out his flute that seemed to be old and battered looking from long use. Gale played a beautiful tune that had made the fog's thickness reduce and Gale looked shocked. Will noticed the expression on Gale's face and asked him what was wrong. Gale responded by telling him that the spell he used was meant to make the fog disappear.
A long everlasting howl broke the sound of silence; the fog grew even thicker than before. Gale played his tune to reduce the fog but it seemed to have an opposite effect: it was making the fog thicker. Now even Gale couldn't see Robert who he was standing on top of. The Howls seemed to grow louder and louder until the howls abruptly stopped. Gale and Robert and felt the rope around their waist being tugged rapidly they rushed to Will who looked as though he was mindlessly tugging the rope.
Gale looked into Will's eyes and noticed it was glossy white. His mouth wide open, his skin pale white. He looked as though he was on the verge of death. The voice of what seemed to be angels began singing.
"A long these roads, where monsters sleep,
The lost will hear a song that's sweet.
And through the fog, the lost are weak
But come with us and you'll be free.
We tell no lies, since we are Meeks
For those that travel on our streets
Bring your friends and you will see
That Meeks will speak the truth you seek."
"What we do Gale?"
"These are sirens; they will kill us if we get drawn to them. We must plug our ears. Both Gale and Robert put their fingers in their ears attempting to block out the singing voices. For some reason the voice seemed clearer than usual.
They stopped singing and a man's voice echoed in their head. "We Meeks do not lie; we Meeks protect the innocent. This canyon is for none of your kinds. We cannot kill unless we defend ourselves or others. We want peace but the fog only brings death."
Gale looked at Will who was now lying on the ground unconscious and said to Robert "we will go with these Meeks and hopefully they will help Will." Robert grabbed Will and tossed him over his shoulder lifting his dead weight with ease. The Meeks began singing once more and the small party followed the voices. Through the thick fog. They began to see silhouettes of gigantic bear-like creatures that seemed to be bigger than giants. The party paused for a brief moment and took a step back. Robert began sweating and Gale hopped into the satchel that Will was carrying.
Robert proved to himself that he was not afraid of anything, ran through the fog to the titan like silhouettes and emerged through into a beautiful forest that was untouched by technology. Robert looked around and saw not titans but little bear-like creatures that were as big as the size of the palm of a human hand. Robert bursted out laughing Gale peeked out of the satchel and noticed the tiny creatures bunched up together singing.
One of the Meeks seemed to look different from the others; it looked as though it had seen battle, its fur coat was white, its eyes glistened blue and it had defined scars that could have been made by a sword. "Sit your friend down please." The meek announced to Robert. Will was carefully placed on the floor. The meek stood over Will's head and said "Ni fow da remene, naptu norda tiptu." The white meek sprinkled purple dust over Will's body and he began to seize. Robert and Gale looked shocked as they saw his mouth, eyes and ears spit out fog which manifested into a demonic shape. The creature began to shapeshift into a woman and began to breathe in one heavy breath. The Meeks surrounding the creature raised their hands and created some sort of barrier from earth. Faint cries could be heard from the mound of dirt that was covering the creature. The white meek took a pinch of the purple dust and flicked it at the dirt mound.
The dirt mound collapsed, and a flower spouted out from the dirt. Gale and Robert notice Will opening his eyes as though he had just woken up from a deep slumber. The Meeks surrounded them, and Gale hopped out to stand eye to eye with the Meek who he believed was the leader. "I am an ambassador from the Guild known as the Chosen Ones. We are here to look for a man that lives here known as The Cloaked Man. He uses ghostly robes to hide his true identity. If you could help us find him it would be very much appreciated." Gale stood straight as if he were a royal authority. He spoke with an elegance that even the Will seemed shocked with Gale.
The white Meek looked up at Gale and asked, "What can you do for us?"
Gale responded quickly "Whatever you need we are willing to help. We have one-of-a-kind weapons and armor. We have spells created by our top sorceress, warlocks, witches, and magicians. We have powerful allies that are willing to help you with anything that you need."
The white Meek looked at Gale with a slight glee and asked, "could you kill the monster of the fog?"
Gale looked at Robert and Will, they both nodded their heads in agreement. Gale looked back at the Meek "We can defeat the monster of the fog, but we would like one thing in return." The white Meek looked thrilled with Gale's answer.
"I am king Tulati, and I hear by announce that we have an alliance with our new friends and their group the Chosen Ones. To our friends I would ask you to follow me to the map room." The group did as king Tulati asked.
They walked through the beautiful, lush forest that seemed to be flourishing with life. But around the forest it seemed to be covered with fog. The fog did not dare move any closer to the forest. The forest seemed protected by something. When the group reached the center of the forest, they saw a gigantic magical tree that seemed to have a bright light illuminating at the tips of the leaves it carried. Carved into the tree were too large wooden doors with etching of symbols of ancient spells. The doors opened wide to allow the group to enter with king Tulati.
At the center of the tree was a map of the canyon that was once seen as a beautiful piece of land that many animals thrived in. The king asked the group to take a seat. "Our canyon was a land of peace. Animals never harmed each other, not even the predators that were looking for prey would hunt in these lands." Tulati lifted his pouch and took a pinch of purple dust and lightly spread it across the map of the canyon. The map began to show miniature figures of animals and Meeks all living in harmony. "We lived in peace until a creature brought by a ghostly man entered this land." A miniature figure of the cloaked man appeared walking into the canyon carrying an egg. "This man asked us to watch over the egg to take care of the creature. As a peaceful race we did so." The Man lifted an egg that was as small as the Meeks. "He said once the creature was born it would be destined for great things. We Meeks were naive and trusted this man." The miniature egg began to hatch.
"We nursed a monster you see. It creates souls to damn other souls." The wails of our sirens began to change into the screams of a banshee. The little animals began to feast on themselves. The creature showed no mercy to our people or the lives of the animals. Predators become prey as it feasts on them creating a thick mist around its body." The egg slowly started showing a creature that was out of the world. This creature had four arms as it crawled out of the egg, its face looked snake-like, and its mouth looked only like a slit going vertically. It had two legs that seemed strong and the first living thing it saw was killed. The creature seemed to show no remorse for the creatures it was killing. Its smile was that of a horror movie. As the vertical slit opened up revealing shark-like teeth about 4 or 5 rows of jagged serrated teeth. As it grows the mist around it grew. Until the fog hid the creature completely.
"You might think the creature's greatest weakness is that you would not be seen." King Tulati stated. "But this creature was not born with eyes. It senses the fear we all have. This creature has adapted itself to hunt any prey.
Robert laughed. Gale looked at Robert frightened but there was a slight hint of satisfaction in Robert's eyes. "We hunt it now." Robert demanded. Will looked at Gale hoping they could find a way of contacting their friends or allies, but they knew that they would have to dive into the fog to look for an exit anyway.
"We must do this on our own." Gale said to Will who seemed displeased with both Robert and Gale for suggesting going through with the fight alone. "We will die." Will said, hoping to talk some sense into Gale.
"It's the only way we can find the Cloaked Man, Will." Gale responded.
"We need time Gale. We can't rush this. We have no clue what the creature is capable of." Will said sternly.
"I agree with you on that." Gale said while looking at Robert who had begun lifting his axe as though he were victorious already. "King Tulati, where is the creature now?" Gale asked, hoping for an answer.
"He tries getting through the border every night. It will be the best time to strike." King Tulati responded happily. "If you need any of our men to aid you with this fight we will happily do so." King Tulati added.
Will and Gale simultaneously said "No, we will not have your people suffer from fighting this creature." The Meeks all cheered hoping to see the end of the creature's terror.
***
The nightfall came, it seemed almost like days waiting for the creature to start breaking through the barrier the Meeks had put up. The light of the magical tree began to slowly dim. If it weren't for the imminate fight that the group was about to have, they would have been in awe. Blue lights began to shine as the magical tree became less and less bright. Movement in the fog became fierce. The creature moved at impeccable speed. Matching some of the fastest players in the world.
"Gale, prepare the slow time spell we will need." Will whispered. Gale nodded, staring at the spot they planned on having the creature break through. Robert was waiting at the top of one of the trees to jump on top of the creature with his large battle ax. King Tulati waited on the treetops to bring the barrier down for the group to attack.
"On my signal!" Will shouted. "3… 2… 1… BARRIER DOWN!" The Meeks dropped the barrier in the one section that Will and Gale asked them to, and the creature ran straight through it. Gale shot out a spell that was red and green in color causing the creature to slow down. The creature seemed to move as fast as a slug. "Now!" Will shouted at Robert. Robert jumped from the tree top. The creature twisted its head toward Robert as if it were looking straight at him. Robert flinched as he dropped the ax toward its head. The creature moved lightning fast away from Robert's attack.
"What in the world was that?" Gale yelled out as he lifted his musical instrument to his lips and blew a tune which gave out a light pink color. This time the creature seemed stunned. Gale held the tune. Will grabbed his bow with no arrow and pulled the string back. As Will released the string he shouted "FROST!" and the bow magically shot an arrow out. The tip of the arrow seemed as cold as ice. When it hit the creature, it was stuck in a block of thick ice.
"We did it." Gale stopped his tune to take a long-needed breath. The creature looked as still as a statue. "Killed it?" Robert asked.
"Yes" answered Gale. The three walked to the block of ice and Gale enchanted it so that the ice block could not melt. "We really need the information, and I don't want this thing getting out. It could mean safe passage through the Canyon." said Gale looking directly at Will. Robert lifted the block of ice with the giant creature inside of it and put it near the tree. Gale felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
"No!" Gale yelled. "Robert grabs your axe, Will shoot a paralyzes arrow!" They both grabbed their weapons and turned to the block of ice, but the creature was not there anymore. Mist began to rise as the area became white with clouds. Robert lifted his ax and began swinging wildly at the shadow of what seemed like a fast-moving object.
A loud tune that began to drown out the echoing roars of the beast started, and Gale hastened his fingers to play a melody to reduce the fog. The fog began to die down and the creature could be seen charging at Gale. Robert jumped to Gale's rescue and took the blunt of the hit as Will shot his paralyzes arrow at the creature.
Robert's body laid lifeless; arms spread open like an angel. The creature looked at Gale and Will, as they walked cautiously closer to get a better angle for an attack on the creature before it moved. The creature's face darted at Robert who seemed to have gotten up from the floor. "It's mine." Robert called out to Will and Gale.
Both of them stopped in their tracks and Robert moved his hand to his great axe. The creature roared at the group. Robert roared louder than the creature. Both Robert and the creature ran at each other, Robert lifted his axe and slid under the creature. The creature jumped up and lunged a swipe at Robert. Robert stood up and held his axe on his right shoulder facing away from the creature. The creature began running to Robert and it began splitting into 2 halves.
The crowd yelled in triumph as the creature was finally slain. Everyone ran to Robert to congratulate him, but a shriek came from some of the Meek women. The cheers slowly faded as they realized what had just happened. The Meek men gasped as they looked at Robert. Robert's intestines were hanging out of his stomach, his face was pale green, his orcish skin looked void of life. Robert with a smile silently exclaimed "Meeks are free". Will and Gale ran to Robert as he collapsed on the floor.