Herald's Haunting Halloween 01: Chapter 1

The sun was slowly setting over the horizon as a large grey silky raptor made his rounds on the trail he frequently travelled on. Coming up to a cliff top opening he watched as the final rays of light were setting over the landscape, lighting what little leaves hanging on the tips of naked deciduous trees glow on fire below. He squinted his eyes as the rays of sun hit them as he drank in the view below. 

Fog was starting to roll over the valleys below and into the forest making visibility low. He was waiting for the warmth of the day's sun rays to cool and allow the mist to rise as the cooler air moved in and raised the droplet clouds. 

It was still dusk out, in the middle of his patrol, when Talon ran into a creature called by humans a corrupt wisp. The fog had rolled up into the mountainous terrain where he was now making it hard to see. 

He had decided to travel further down the mountain to escape the rising fog above when he heard the snap of a twig behind him. A small red glowing ghost-like creature hid behind a tree peering at him. 

It floated in the air, it’s one large cat-like pupiled eye watching him intensely. A forked tongue wiggled at him between its gaping mouth full of teeth. It floated there watching him before it realized it had been spotted. It pounced to attack! 

Talon jumped back as the ferocious little thing tired to clamp down and latch onto him. He knew better than to let it even if it was so small! 

He snapped his jaws, impaling the red glowing wisp. It gave out a loud high pitched screech for something so tiny! Talon covered his ears with his wings, gritting teeth until finally the noise stopped and the tiny thing dissolved into thin air. He shuddered as a cold air dispersed through his teeth where the corrupt wisp once was held. 

At the same time Pitaya dashes down the mountain side, swerving past thin, spindly trees and fruitless bushes as she searches for more small red monsters. She had spotted one of the things while exploring, but was not sure what it was. 

The monster was red much like her, but wispy like a flame. Wings occasionally popped out from its sides when it moved, and it only has one eye and many sharp teeth.

When she first spotted it, it snapped at her. With her large size, she has no fear of this tiny monster and snapped back. Unfortunately, the monster disappeared in a cloud of smoke. 

She leaps over a rock, spotting something ahead. As she pushes past some trees she realises that it's another stryx. 

Another snap of a twig alerted Talon to the presence of another. A smaller red raptor Stryx stood before him. 

At first he thought it was Soliel, his recently gained smaller companion, but as he focused he realized a little too late when he called out to warn her of the danger that it was not her. 

Raising his hackle-feathers on his head he eyed her up and down waiting to see how she would react now that he made himself known.  

Pitaya recoils, bounding away from the other raptor. She looks the male up and down before huffing and turning away. She has zero interest in the stranger. 

Before she can make it far however both raptors are surrounded by the tiny red wisp-like creatures. 

Talon moves towards the smaller Stryx and together they stand back to back. A small pact has been made, however temporary it is. They needed each other to deal with the vast number of these things. 

Pitaya runs at the swarm, snapping her teeth shut on one of the wisps. It pops, vanishing into smoke.

She leaps back as another flies towards her, its fangs narrowly missing her arms. 

Pitaya dashes forward once more, snapping her teeth at any wisps that come close mindful of keeping her back towards the strangers.

Talon soon follows suit as he charges the swarm. Teeth snapping continuously through their thick numbers. He did not like the cold chilled feeling they left behind when they disappeared. 

Annoyingly they clung to his thick feathers, groping him. In a sense he was glad he had an extra layer of fluff as it filled up most of their gaping mouths instead of his flesh. 

It felt like hours fighting these things off. There was no end to these creatures as one would be killed off, and two more would take its place. 

Talon growled as they started to lose the last of the sun's rays. The red glow emitting from the wisps lit the majority of the forest floor, only small pockets of moonlight shone bright where the canopy was thin. 

The amount of wisps around them is overwhelming. There are too many!

Annoyed that they were getting nowhere, Pitaya hisses and turns tail, bolting down the mountain. 

Talon would not say he was shocked that the red Stryx left him and bolted. He agreed wholeheartedly quite frankly. He himself bolting down the mountain side after her to escape the hoard. 

It did not take him long to maneuver himself to be running in front of her due to his larger size. He was much older after all.  

In the distance a scream is heard from a human followed by a pained screech from a hawk Stryx. Talon stops in his tracks to listen and looks up searching. 

The tree tops above them have a thick layer of fog obscuring their view of the sky above. A strange red glow is placed upon the fog above before the white stryx and it’s rider is seen plummeting to the ground. A trail of blood following after them as they descended. They are hurt!

Pitaya continues onward, dashing past the grey raptor. Screams in the night? Best to ignore that! 

Talon looks at his newly acquired accaintence’s back before darting towards where he believed the rider and stryx fell to. He owed humans a second chance as they had saved him once before. 

Not waiting for her to slow down or reply he darted off in their direction through the forests undergrowth. She was fast, she will be okay, he told himself. 

Pitaya did however pause, and watched the other raptor dart away. She hesitantly follows, eager to avoid the swarm of wisps behind them. 

Talon could smell the human and hawk just up ahead. He burst out of the undergrowth into the clearing with Pester and Rhett just up ahead. 

He paused in his tracks however as he saw what had attacked them. His blood ran cold as a massive corrupt wisp stood over the human and hawk. 

Just what was this thing?Their leader! Talon thought, the King! Either way it had multiple heads, three if he counted correctly in the seconds he sized the creature up. Its body was a billowy mass of limbs and of red ribbon-like wisps. 

Multiple eyes scanned the surrounding area before spotting him. He noted its pupils are cat-like as the smaller corrupt wisps that attacked him and Pitaya before. Predatory thing! 

Talon snarled as he charged forward ready to attack. 

Pitaya had little time and no choice in the decision, the thing noticed them! She lunges at the monstrous creature. 

She dodges one of its three heads and snaps her teeth shut along one of its wings. Her victory is cut short when its second head chomps down on her hide and tosses her away.

She tumbles, rolling in the damp grass. She gets up and shakes herself off, snarling. Large gashes are in her side from her opponent's attack but she pushes onward, running forward to attack again. 

Talon has his eyes locked on the wisp king! He runs past Pester and the humanoid Rhett. A distraction, allowing them time to escape! Jumping into the air he gracefully lands on one of it’s many limbs. 

The king is far larger than the small wisp army! Talon’s namesake scratched the hide of the creature as he ran up it’s body and neck. He bites into his first head's nape to attach himself to it. He needed to time this correctly!

Sure enough the second head came after him. It came with such speed that he was barely able to dodge as it came crashing down upon itself and inflicted great wounds to the first head. 

The third head, the one Pitaya was battling, now came after him. Talon was not able to avoid it, as it bit into his shoulder. It shook him like a rag doll before discarding him. He fell to the ground with a large thud. 

He wanted to scream as a wave of pain like he never felt before coarsed through him. Peering at his wounds a thick glowing ectoplasmic substance oozed out of the gashes. Is it venomous?!

Talon stumbles, trying to keep himself upright. He lets out a screech at the King! He would not go down without a fight! 

Pitaya had fought off the second head well even with her wounds. With the first head taken out, there were just two of them left! One for her and the silver Stryx! 

Where was the raptor though? She had lost track of him while she was fending off the beast. She quickly scanned the field and saw he was hurt on the ground. 

She darted towards him as he stood up on shaky legs. Those wounds do not look good!

He let out a screech at the beast and she followed suit. Maybe we can scare it off! 

The King seemed annoyed at how these Stryx before it would not die easily. Instead of retaliating, it slowly disappears before them, fading into the night. The eerie red glow it casted over the landscape disappeared along with it. 

Talon was sure it would not be the last they saw of the King, but he hoped it would be for a long while.