Prologue

The blanket of darkness settled upon the vast area of trees naturally, there was no sound, no wind, no birds chirping, nothing. The area was pure darkness, an empty void. The air was chilly and crisp; leaves fell ever silently to the ground, an array of different colours, like a falling rainbow, a dead rainbow. Among this void running footsteps could be heard, a fast moving blur sprinted past carrying with it an air of fear. Pursuing this figure was a number of other shadows, Silent and as fearful as death itself.

'Damn I have to get away from them bastards! But where?! Where!?' thought the first figure. They hopped up into a tall, ancient tree and hid among the remaining leaves that were still glued to its branches. The figure looked on through the leaves as a number of shadows appeared in the clearing below them. 'Shit!' screamed the figure in their head as they held their breath hoping not to be discovered.

"Where did she go?!" questioned one of the figures dressed in black.

"Oh man boss isn't gonna be happy if he finds out we lost her!" replied another figure covered in black nervously as he breathed shakily.

"Then we need to find her!!!" shouted another figure.

"Need to find who…?" hissed another figure but it came from behind a tree. The woman who was hiding in the tree above the men gave a silent gasp and her eyes widened. 'Shit he's come!' she thought clearly terrified.

"Err the girl sir, we err lost her sir" bowed one of the figures as he stood forward. A guttural growl emerged from the feared figure.

"You fool!" He snarled. The figure who stepped forward was suddenly shot back by his throat and up against the tree that the woman was hiding up in. The tree shook a bit causing her to have to grab hold of the trunk. The figure that was hid behind the tree held the man up by his throat.

"What do you mean you lost her!?" he growled.

"Well you see sir we err *cough* we were chasing her and *cough*err we only just recently lost her erm sir*cough*" choked the man, he made no attempts to loosen the hold upon him unless he wished for a painful death.

"Well you need to find her then don't you Kale" whispered the figure as his long tongue licked the side of Kale's face.

"Otherwise I might just let my pets play with you" he chuckled and then turned sharply to the other men "Find her!!" he snarled as he turned to walk away. The woman gasped silently in the tree and turned a bit to make a quick exit but her foot caught a bit of bark causing a slight snap to be heard. 'Oh no, no, no, no' thought the figure. The man looked up slightly into her tree and smirked slightly.

"She can't have gotten too far away from you fools, especially with the gift I gave to her before she left" laughed the man. The woman glared and grabbed a hold of her neck where a red pulsing light could be seen faintly as she grimaced. The man disappeared into the trees laughing.

"You heard him! Split up and find her!" yelled Kale as he stood up rubbing his neck, "Groups of two. Go! Now!" and with that the group split up and hopefully searched an area far enough away from the figure.

"Kuso!" the woman jumped down from the tree and crouched down, still holding her neck she growled. "I'll kill that bastard one day!" she whispered harshly as she disappeared into the trees, creeping silently, weaving through the trees like an animal on high alert. Her senses heightened as she quivered. Yes she may be frightened. Yes she may be hungry and yes she may be weak. But that kind of animal is always the most dangerous when threatened and no one was going to stop her from reaching her goal, no one.