I thanked the men for coming to the meeting to discuss how best to operate the royal kingdom on Alpazon. Hastily, I raced back to the room where I’d left Marissa. I was ready to recite all the thoughts that had been building up in my mind to convince her that I wasn’t the bad guy here and that she should stay with me.

When I threw open the door, Marissa was nowhere to be found. The room wasn’t very big, but I still panned the area.

“Marissa?”

Silence.

Where the fuck was she?

I raced up the stairs, two at a time. Panic was creeping in and setting up camp in my hot nerves. She wasn’t in my bedroom.

I threw open all the doors, barreling into them left and right, screaming her name. She was gone.

The yelling alerted the guards and I found them as soon as I belted back down the stairs, real agony over the situation contorting my movements.

“Where is Marissa?” I demanded an answer of them. One of my guard’s blue skin went white as a sheet at the question.

“Sorry, sir,” he mumbled.

“Well? Have you seen her?” I shrieked.

“Yes sir, we saw her walking toward the forest.” The guard pointed a shaky finger out the window and out to the tree line behind the palace.

Fury erupted inside me. “What the fuck?” I screamed at them as the veins in my neck bulged. “Why didn’t you try to stop her or chase after her?” I nearly spat the words in their faces.

They cowered under the pressure. “You know how dangerous the forest is, sir, especially at twilight.”

“That’s when the animals come out to feed,” the other one added as a pathetic and weak excuse.

I looked out the window. Even in my rage at how they hadn’t diligently done their job as I’d asked, worry and fear crippled me. If Marissa was still alive, there wasn’t much time left to try to save her from the ferocious beasts that lurked in the shadows of the dense forest.

I ran back to my throne room where my most trusted guards were still cleaning up after the meeting. “Come with me at once!” I shouted.

They looked at me with fear in their eyes.

“What is wrong, sir?”

I grabbed my golden sword from its encasement that I had locked away in a vault under the floorboard.

“Marissa’s gone into the forest; we have to try to save her,” I shouted and ran from the room, not looking back to see if they were following me because I knew they would be.

Once we made it to the edge of the woods, I was sweaty and a wreck of nerves, hoping and praying Marissa was still alive out there…somewhere.

I scanned the area, but it was growing increasingly darker by the minute.

“Should we split up and look for her separately?” one of the guards asked me.

I shook my head. “No, we must stay together; it’s too dangerous to split up.”

They both nodded their heads in agreement to the order and we trudged our way into the woods, swatting aside tree limbs and trying to dodge anything ominous that moved other than ourselves.

“I brought a flashlight!” one of the guards shouted as we made our way deeper and deeper into the forest.

I ducked through cobwebs and glanced over my shoulder every few feet, making sure to step carefully.

I kept my sword drawn and ready at all times. I didn’t know what I would face out there, but I knew I had to be prepared.

“Okay, turn on the flashlight!” I yelled back to my guard who switched on the bright light, illuminating the forest.

I heard a female scream, a bloodcurdling wail that made me freeze in my tracks. My breathing was hollow and my heartbeat pounded in my ears.

I threw a finger up to silence my guards and make them stay still and quiet. After a few moments, I heard the shrieking cry for help again. I knew it was Marissa because I recognized the sound of her voice.

“It sounds like it’s coming from that direction,” I whispered to my guards as I pointed to the eastern side of the woods.

“I agree, sir,” they said in unison and we all bolted in the direction of the shouts.

“Marissa!” I called out in an attempt to let her know I was coming to rescue her. I only hoped my attempts would not be in vain, that I would be too late to save her.

As long as I was hearing her screams, no matter how much they tormented my soul, I knew it meant she was still alive out there.

I had little time left; I had to find her fast.

My feet carried me swiftly as I listened to the sounds of her pleas. The twigs and leaves under my feet made heavy crunching noises with each step. My heart beat nearly out of my chest.

Then I heard it, the sound I’d feared as soon as I’d stepped foot in the forest. I stopped dead in my tracks, and my guards crashed into me as we all came to a grinding halt.

I looked at them in the night sky, under the harsh glow of the flashlight. “It’s Panthigons,” I hissed as their faces turned white.

Panthigons were the most dangerous predators in all of the forest…in all of Alpazon.

I had lost a good friend of mine several years ago after they fell under attack from a Panthigon that came on the edge of the tree line and attacked. They were horrible beasts and I feared even more now for Marissa’s safety.

“We could already be too late.” I looked at my guards for support, but I felt like the situation might already be hopeless. Panic crawled up my skin like wildfire.

“We still need to try,” the guards said with determination still etched on their dedicated faces.

“Thank you for coming out here with me,” I told them as I developed a plan in my head. “We have two choices. We can either barrel through the forest to get to her quickly, or we can sneak up on them and attack from behind.”

“Which one should we do?” My guards looked to me for answers and instruction.

“Well, let’s see,” I contemplated. “If we run through the forest, they will most certainly hear us with their sharp senses. But if we try to be shifty about it, even though we have a better chance of defeating them, it might be too late for Marissa.”

I looked at my guards to see whether they would offer their own advice. Finally, one spoke with the same agreement. “We need to go fast, no matter how loud we are. We can’t wait any longer.”

I nodded, thinking it was our best option. I wiped the sweat off my forehead. “Come on, it’s now or never.”

We ran as fast as we could, feeling the depth of exposure out there in the dark forest. The Panthigons most certainly knew of our existence by now and would not only be hunting Marissa, but the three of us, as well.

We charged through the trees, not willing to waste a single second of precious time.

When we got to the clearing, I gasped in shock and my body trembled in fear. Marissa was lying on the ground, unmoving. There were three Panthigons circling around her like vultures, ready to dive into their human meal.

I turned to my guards. “I’m going to create a diversion to distract them,” I whispered and pointed to where they licked their lips and chomped their teeth in the air in hunger. The horns on their heads stood up at attention and their forked tongues slithered out of their mouths, ready to gobble up Marissa.

I had to stop them before she died, if she wasn’t dead already.

I took a deep breath and plumbed bravery from within myself. With a roar, I charged toward the beasts, ready for battle.

My plan worked. The animals turned and glared at me as they growled, ready for a feast no matter who they killed for the food.

Before I knew what was happening, I saw a blur of black whiz past my side. It was a Panthigon and its claws were razor sharp, swiping at me.

I used my golden sword to plunge it into the beast’s skull. It made a whining shriek as it fell to the ground and died in a heap in the leaves and dirt. That had been easy, but I still had two to go, and they looked enraged.

They circled me as I held my sword high and proud. I screamed at them. “Go on you fools, try to kill me!”

I nicked them with the edge of my sword and pointed the blade at them in a threatening manner. They growled and showed their sharp teeth as they drew in closer to me.

I plunged forward and sliced through the forelimb of one, while the other attacked me from behind. I screamed as its claws ripped into my back. I rushed behind the beast and plunged my sword into its neck.

It collapsed on the ground, bleeding and dying.

Only one left.

My guards came up behind me with their own swords drawn, ready to take out the final Panthigon.

Its demeanor changed, but it still looked aggressive. It had lost its pack, but it wasn’t about to give up and run into the forest. It was still hungry, and we were its food.

A guttural cry escaped my lips as I got a second wind of confidence. I raised my sword high above my head and forced the tip of the blade directly through the top of the Panthigon’s head.

It fell to the ground, dead.

I stood there panting for a few moments, unable to believe that we had just taken out three of the most dangerous predators on the planet.

I remembered Marissa lying on the ground a few feet from me. I ran to her, praying she was still alive and that I wasn’t too late. I hoped the epic battle wouldn’t have been for nothing.

“Marissa?” I lifted her head and hoped she would open her eyes.