Henry Shuddered at Mikhael's comment, but nodded reluctantly. "Of course..." He mumbled, keeping to the back of the grouping with his spear at the ready. Although he wasn't eager to face conflict, Henry had no intention of abandoning rank... He'd just prefer to stay as far back at possible! No need to get in the way of his Knights, especially not with his spear. Mikhael might've been right to worry. Henry had a habit of enacting [i]friendly fire[/i] on accident.

	The knights poured into the village square where many of the northern civilians had gathered in lieu of the oncoming threat. Lucas followed the central platoon forward, past the square without stopping, keeping to his sister's side. Their ranks were 100 men and women strong, and flooded with both weapon masters, and mages. Whatever was headed their way was going to have to fight through steel and fire before getting anywhere near the castle, or the people of Kale.

	"Sounds big," Lillian shouted over the sound of armored footsteps. She was one of the few knights who did not wear any protective gear, and for good reason. Usually she could be seen wielding a bow, but she was without a weapon of any kind. In most situations, she relied on her magic, anyways. But without arrows to use as a focus for his arcane manipulation, how would she fare? It'd been a month since the last serious monster attack, perhaps long, since even Lucas had seen her fight. "Did you hear me?"

	"I'm more concerned with how [i]smart[/i] it may be," Lucas retorted, keeping his pace up, "If it's intelligent, this may be far less routine than we're used to, especially with so many new Squires flooding our ranks."

	"Mhm.." Lillian turned back to see Henry and Mikhael bringing up the rear. It'd been a while since she's seen either of them fight. Mikhael, because she refused to accompany that dolt anywhere, and Henry because... Well, he was Henry. She sighed and nodded to her brother, who hadn't seen her motion.

[center][color=black][h2]~[/h2][/color][/center]

	By the time the platoon reached the northern watchtowers, one of the buildings was already torn to shreds, fallen into a ditch created by some unknown entity. It was too chaotic to be caused by earth magic. It had to be a burrowing creature, which lined up with the consistent quakes. Come to think of it, the quakes were still going at a very subtle pace. They didn't shake the ground violently enough to upset anyone's balance. It had to be this creature, tunneling through their village. But where was it now. Before anyone could ask, the ground burst open between the two watch towers, and a massive snake-like creature flew into the air before stopping nearly 80 feet off the ground. Its body was thicker than the width of the watch towers surrounding Kale, and its underbelly appeared to be rough, as were its translucent grey scales. But something was off. Its serpent-like face was pointed skyward. Had it not noticed the Knights? There was no way!

	[center][h2]'YEEEE-HAWWWW!'[/H2][/center]

	A male voice echoed loudly across the village, louder than the call of a wild wolf. He voice was gruff, deep, and [i]oddly jovial.[/i] Suddenly, the underside of the serpent's face exploded, sending chunks of flesh and bone into the ranks of the Kale Knights. Lucas, Lillian, and nearby knights moved aside to make way for the oncoming debris, but several knights were struck, and sent to the ground in a daze. As this happened, the serpent's body fell back into the hole, but through the opening that had just been created in his head, there was a faint yellow flash peering across the village. Two of them. Almost like.. [i]Eyes.[/i]

	As the serpent disappeared from sight, the knights approached the hole cautiously, stopping several yards short, and waiting for something- Anything to happen. Several moments later, a massive hand slammed against the ground and grasped the dirt, coming from within the hole. The arm behind it was massive, and further back, a mane of yellow hair began to rise. Soon, it was clear that this was not another beast. [i]It was a man.[/i]

	"What in Maya's Name?" Lucas rasped under his breath. Lillian tried to make her way past the knights in front of her until she caught a clear glance of the man's face. Or rather, [i]didn't.[/i] As he rose his massive upper body out of the hole in the ground, it was clear that his face was covered by a mask that ended just below his jaw, where his neck began, as if it were melded to his face.

	"Whew!" The strange man huffed, pulling himself further out of the hole, "That's one [i]hell[/i] of a snake!"


[hr]

[center][h1]~ End Of Chapter 1 ~[/h1][/center]