I shot up quickly, backing away from what ever was near. I could hear it’s labored breathing on the other side of the cave. I inched slowly backwards trying to reach the edge of the cave. My finger tips touched something rough, assuming it was the caves wall I curled up trying to become as small as possible.

I had tried to calm down as much as I possibly could . I was probably over thinking, I though to myself. As soon as I thought that, I felt a drip of water fall upon my head. I was more than confused. I hadn’t seen water in days. I reached to the top of my head, and my fingers were met by not water, but saliva. It was warm and thick, and there was lots of it. Before I could even register what just happened, I slowly tilted my head to see what it had come from. There shining back at me were a pair of giant, glowing, yellow eyes. I leaped onto my feet, running as fast as I could. On my way out of the cave I made sure to grab my bag. I couldn’t forget it. No matter what happened I had to get the key to the palace. I quickened my pace as I heard the creature approaching. My throat burned us the crisp morning air entered my lungs. The stitch in my side worsened with every step I took. My thoughts were racing, but I knew my goal and nothing was going to get in the way of that.

I had no idea how long I had been running but I didn’t hear anything behind me anymore so I slowed down just a little. I looked behind me and didn’t see anything, so I decided to rest on a fallen tree not too far from the path. It was only when I sat down that I realized that my whole leg had been scraped up. I must have brushed past a thorn bush, or maybe a tree. It didnt hurt too bad though, so I decided it would be fine. I took some berries out of my bag and ate a few, before continuing on the path again. This time though I was a lot more calm since something wasn’t chasing me.

The sun was beginning to rise and it was warming up a bit, as well. According to my calculations the palace was still two towns over, not including the stretches of forests I was going to have to trek through. That would take at least five more days. I had already been on my journey for at least a month now, and I was exhausted, but extremely thrilled that I was almost there. The king would be waiting there for me, along with the riches that would save our village from poverty! Our village had been struggling for like forever, and our leader picked me to return the Lost Key of Zuron back to the palace. I had no ideas what kind of trouble I was getting myself into when I agreed. This journey had been nothing but hard.

*_Crunch* _I shot my head up to see where the sound was coming from. I looked all around me, but still couldn’t see anything. Was I hearing things? I couldn’t be. It had to be something. All of a sudden a branch from the tree above me snapped and wacked me right in the side of my head. I couldn’t hear anything, nor could u see anything. This was only the beginning of the silencing.