The Doomshadow - Outtake

-Thinking to themselves-
"Normal speech"

THE SHADOW

A scramble of dirt, unseen and barely heard. Dev froze, knuckles bleaching; he gripped the hilt of his sword, holding it steady in front of him. He looked over his shoulder towards the source of the sound. It didn’t come again. He was lucky to have heard his pursuer at all.

Moving soundlessly, he changed direction, slipping off between the tall, smooth trunks of the trees. The midday sunlight cut through the canopy of leaves in intermittent burst, dazzling him for a second and then disappearing. Sweat ran from his hairline down his forehead. He blinked it away and ran his hand through his spiky blonde quills. He couldn’t afford any distractions right now. His enemy was too dangerous for anything less than total concentration.

Circling around, past the narrow trees, he trod lightly through the forest. Perhaps he could get behind them and then they’d see who was the hunter and who was the hunted. Coming up on the spot where he’d heard the noise, his sword held ready, he reached out and pushed back some leaves and looked.
Nothing.

- Not here? - Dev thought. - Then where...? -
There was a rumble coming from behind him, so low it was almost inaudible, but getting louder fast, faster. He looked around frantically, but the forest was calm.
- Where was it coming from? -

He looked down at the ground, the dirt and soil burst open beneath him in a shower of dirt, but he was already jumping, somersaulting through the air and landing ten feet away, his sword held before him. Poised, he waited among the falling clods of muck, eyes searching for his attacker’s next move.

A pair of enormous shadow hands reached out of the crevice and clutched the sides, pulling through the creature beneath. It came into view, first its head, then its shoulders, rising out of the ground until it stood at its full height, towering over Dev. It shook its self off, chunks of mud and grass falling from its massive shoulders, and bellowing a challenge.

Dev took a step back; it stood at least twelve feet tall, a thing of shadow, with wide trunk like feet and huge, crude hands. Its eyes were little more than holes, but they followed him cruelly as he backed away; and its mouth was a pit of jagged teeth.
A shadow golem.

"NO ESCAPE NOW," it growled.
Dev only had a moment to blink in surprise before a fist bigger than his head came swinging at him, faster than he had expected. He cried out, throwing himself aside and rolling as it crashed into the ground where he had been a second earlier. He barely had time to get to his feet before a second swing was coming his way with a force that could pulverize rocks. He flung himself down, feeling the golem’s fist whistle by inches above his head.

- This isn’t right, it’s too fast!- It was pounding him under a constant barrage, never letting him get his bearings and, sooner or later, he was going to make a mistake, and that would be the end.

Again and again; narrow misses, making him back off, not giving him room to swing his sword. He was panting, sweat falling from his brow as he tried to get away, -get enough breathing space to...-
His thought was cut short by a tree root catching the back of his heal and making him stumble backwards, off balance.

- Uh-oh-
He raised his defenses and a wall of swirling air appeared a split second before the golem’s fist slammed into him. It was enough to deflect most of the force, but not all of it. He was thrown off his feet, hurtling through the forest, smashing through trees and slammed into the flat side of a small cliff, cracking the stone. It was only the vortex of air around him that stopped him being pulverized.

He pulled himself free from the cliff. The golem was thundering toward him, roaring in anger.
"Okay," he said quietly. "Enough."

He gripped his sword tighter and started walking toward the oncoming shadow, the air around him began to swirl as he summoned the wind to his aid. He raised his sword channeling power into it. Slowly, he began to run along the aisle of trees that had been left in his wake, picking up his pace into a jog and then a headlong charge.

The golem roared a challenge, as it rushed to meet him. Dev drew back his sword, still running, air whirling around it, a battle cry escaping his lips, turning into a yell as he ran. They crashed into each other with a resonating boom.
◊◊◊◊◊◊
For a moment nothing could be seen but the haze of sawdust and gently drifting particles of dirt and leave. Then a shard of shadow hit the ground. Dev stood his blond quills in disarray. There was nothing left of the golem except for the shard. After a few moments, he fell to his knees, and then slumped to the forest floor like a rag doll.

"What held you up?" Kyra questioned as Dev can into view,
"Ah, nothing much, just ran into an old friend."

AN: Hope you guys like it this is an idea I had for the story but I didn't know were to put it. So a little mini story seemed right for it.