The Death Bridge

But the fall never came.

Instead, that strange yet soothing burning feeling in her veins returned. When she opened her eyes, she nearly fainted from shock.

She was floating just above the sharp rocks that would've insured her demise.

She could not believe her eyes. A golden mist surrounded her.

"What the heck? What's going on? No,no,no,no…I need to get on the ground!....need to get on the ground!" she thought, panicking.

Just as she thought that she was yanked back to the ground.

"Aah!" she yelped in surprise.

And just like that the burning feeling in her veins and the golden mist disappeared. She sat there for quite a while, trying to process what just happened to her.

"What just happened to me? Maby this is one of my nightmares. Yes, it must be…this can't be real. Can it?" she thought, confused.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loud hiss.

She jerked her head up and saw it on the other side of the bridge.

She felt the blood leave her face.

It looked straight at her.

She felt a shiver running down her spine when she saw its figure. Even from this distance, Raven could see the hunger in its fiery red eyes.

Then it dropped to all fours. She started to shiver, fear engulfing her. It started to walk towards her direction.

Still, she couldn't move. It started to speed up and was now running in full speed! She jumped up but couldn't run away.

The fear took her strength away entirely.

It jumped and would've crossed the river. But, as if there was an invisible wall, it bounced right back to where it was before.

Relief and shock hit her and she fell to the ground, having no strength in her body left.

After a few minutes, she looked up and saw it walk towards the border. It seemed furious that it couldn't reach her.

She felt the air turn icy.

She had forgotten that it cannot cross the river. Remembering this gave her some reassurance. She felt her strength slowly returning and started to get up. Lucky for her, the magic in the river also prevented it to enter her mind and drive her to madness.

"That's right Beastie, you can't hurt me while I'm on this side." she thought with a gloating look on her face.

Suddenly the faint death-like, earthy smell entered her nostrils. She saw the Blue Death surrounded by a black mist. Then realisation struck her.

She felt her mouth fall open in shock and surprise.

"You've got to be kidding me…so it can hurt me on this side, just in a different way…Shadow Beasts."

Although Raven knew how to hunt and fight them she never faced more than two at a time. The Shadow Beasts lived in small packs of ten beasts. Even though they weren't many, they were extremely dangerous.

"And by the smell of things, I'd say Beastie just summoned a whole pack of them," she thought.

She slowly took off her bow and turned around readying an arrow. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Oh, smoke….I'm in serious trouble."

She was surrounded by Shadow Beasts.

"Oh boy, three packs…at least…" she thought as her eyes scanned over them.

The beasts started to close in on her, forcing her to retreat step by step.

"They are pushing me towards the bridge…Guess Beastie is really mad for not getting me." she thought, regretting her gloating earlier.

She tried to change her direction, but a loud snarl stopped her. She looked at the Shadow Beasts and then she glanced back at the creature and saw it was still surrounded by the black mist. It seemed to be controlling the Shadow Beasts every move.

She felt her face go pale.

"Ok Raven, you need to step up your game. They were smart before. But with the Blue Death controlling them, they are even smarter."

Just then she stumbles over something.

When she looked down to see what it was, she saw that it was the bag she tossed away when she fell. In a slow movement, she picked it up and held it behind her back. The beasts growled at her movements but didn't attack her.

"Hmm…guess Beastie doesn't consider the bag a threat. Anyhow, I need to get on higher ground…luckily I've still got my whip…"

She slowly loosened the whip that was tied around her body, careful not to make any sudden movements.

She was now very close to the bridge and started to look frantically for a thick branch to coil her whip around. She saw one nearby. Taking in the situation around her, she realised she had to move quickly.

She surrendered to her instinct and lashed at the branch and her whip coiled tightly around it. She started to sprint towards the tree and jumped.

In one swift motion, she put the end of the whip in her mouth and grabbed onto the whip, climbing at lightning speed.

When the Shadow Beasts saw her quick movements, they attacked but she was too fast.

She was safely up in the tree in a matter of seconds.

She tied her whip back tightly around her body and looked down at the beasts trying to climb up the tree in vain. She chuckled softly, a smug look on her face.

"Bet you didn't see that coming, eh, Beastie? she thought.

As if the creature could hear her thoughts, it let out a frustrated and terrifying sound that sounded like both a hiss and a roar.

It gave her one last look and with a loud hiss, it turned around and disappeared into the vegetation…