Flight of Eden

Chapter Two

"Let me go!" I screeched at the creature, banging my fists against its foot. Once I saw we were several feet off of the ground, I clung to the claws of the creature and stopped beating against it. I watched as the other creature sprung into the air to follow close behind, its eyes tracking me every so often. As I watched the ground below us get smaller and smaller, I became more and more convinced this all was some kind of dream. There's no way that creatures this big existed and no one in the village had ever seen them. Their fighting had been so loud, surely someone at home had heard and would come looking?

Then again, what would they be looking for? I could see the mountains below us, and the forest surrounding Aikendal was getting smaller and smaller. They were taking me further into Valdara, a land that was likely full of even more terrifying creatures. Even worse, they were flying me over the mountains, probably another cave for me to rot in until they were ready to eat me. No one at the village would ever be able to find me on the other side of the mountain range.

I didn't get much time to think before we started to descend again. I couldn't see where we were going because the creature's leg was in the way, but I saw the trees below us. The landscape looked very similar to the forest surrounding Aikendal, but I knew it wasn't the same. After a few minutes, instead of landing, the creature opened its claws and tossed me onto the ground from a few feet in the air. I let out a yelp as I hit the ground, and I felt the wind rush out of my lungs and a sharp pain in my chest. For a moment there was only blinding pain, and all my other senses disappeared.

"Come on, Henrik, be more gentle. She's only a human."

A voice above me startled me and me scrambling to my feet. I clutched the dagger in my right hand, and held my injured one over my stomach. Each breath I took caused a stabbing pain in my chest, but I did my best to ignore it as I took in my surroundings.

I was in the middle of a village, though it was different from my own. The houses were bigger and well structured, and there were so many of them. I was standing in the middle of a clearing that seemed to be the center of the village, and immediately around me were some larger structures that must've been community buildings. But past that, there were large, well constructed houses of all shapes and sizes as far as I could see. It must have taken them years to build it all.

"What's your name?"

The question reminded me of the man who had spoken. I spun around to find the source and found him behind me. I thought I might have found more humans to defend against the creatures, but he looked nothing like the humans I grew up with. He was taller than me by at least a foot, and he had more muscles than even the best hunter in my village. His hair was dark and his skin a deep tan, a stark contrast to my pale skin and blonde hair. He looked unlike anyone I'd ever met.

Still, he was a stranger, and he seemed eerily calm about the two large creatures that had flown overhead. I held my dagger in front of me, looking over him to see if he had any weapons of his own. He didn't seem to be armed, and actually chuckled when I pointed the dagger at him. He may have been tall and muscular, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't go down without a fight.

"You're frightened, so I won't take offense to that. But there's no need for weapons. We have no intention of hurting you." He told me with a shrug, as if that was obvious. I narrowed my eyes at him, refusing to lower the dagger. I kept him in my sights, but glanced around in search of the creature that brought me here.

"You may not, but the flying creatures who dropped me do." I told him, my eyes scanning the sky, wondering how two large creatures had disappeared so quickly. The man laughed again, which made me glare at him.

"Henrik and Sandra weren't trying to hurt you. They rescued you, in fact." He claimed, nodding his head to someone over my right shoulder. I spun around in time to see another man and woman heading towards us from the direction of one of the large structures. The second man, Henrik, looked similar to the first: tall, dark hair, tan. His hair was a little lighter and more brown than black, but they shared many similarities.