Heroes and Wolves [book 1]

Chapter three

Layla

I stuff my sketchbook and some pencils into my backpack before picking some drawings from the wall to sell. Placing them neatly in the bag, I walk out with it slung around my back and go over to my three training katana swords in protective casing. These are held in a peeling red-painted stand on a small rectangular wooden boardwalk opposite my shack. I'm proud that I also built this using the leftover planks of wood from my shack. I never wasted anything. Even the hammock that I sleep in was sewn with patches of material I found.

Whenever I venture into the woods, I always carry one of these swords to protect myself. Stories and whispers of oddities surround this forest. One time, I was attacked by this bizarre being. It looked human, but there were things about it that were not. It had four gigantic wings in the shape of an 'x' and it could move so fast. I ran far away from that mutation of a so-called human being and haven't seen it since but that was real. There was a physical structure moving about but there is nothing like that with the coloured orbs. I don't know if they are just a twist of my mind and figment of my imagination or worse; real and every one of those options plagues me every day. Continually thinking that something's out there or being produced in my mind is driving me insane but maybe I am already?

Some myths have lost their hold with time but more always rise out of commotion and fear. It's a constant ebb and flow of stories but there's one myth that has circled Lakeintown for a good twenty years. It's rumoured that there is a supposed large and vicious monster within these woods which is quite ridiculous, but it's caused the people of Lakeintown to steer well away from these woods which is probably how this monster myth has rooted within the city for a long time. No one ventures in to solve it so it's just me, alone and in the middle of this conspiracy. Many articles are published with possible sightings of beasts, but the Guardians claim all of them to be false which calms the majority of people until another picture comes up again. Most hoaxes are completely fabricated by the news and everyone believes it to be true until told otherwise because they are too scared to go into the woods to find out for themselves.

Maybe these coloured orbs are this monster?

However, it couldn't be the yellow orbs because there are multiple at once and there's only this one mythical monster. What about the red orbs and the growls? No. Stop it, Layla. It doesn't exist. It can't. This myth has been around for twenty years and the orbs only started to appear within two of those years. It's not possible. It's not real. These orbs are just a part of my mind. I have to accept that now. They aren't even mentioned in any newspaper, but I can't deny the strange, unnerving feelings I get when I enter these woods. My neck prickles and every hair stands on end in an anticipation of the unknown – almost as if I'm being watched. All these thoughts have raised my heartbeat a few bars and it's not going to get any lower because I have to go through these woods to get to the city.

Slipping my sword so that it slots in the gap between my bag and back, I build up the inner strength and bravery I need to face whatever could show; imagined coloured orbs and odd non-human beings. Great. Just great. I inhale deeply and enter, picking up pace as soon as the light dips from the branches blocking sunlight. It's this darkness that chills my spine. Tingles of anxiety nip at me so I keep moving to stop it from advancing, knowing that once I'm out the other side and in Lakeintown I'll be safe.