My story starts with cheap hiking boots, some worn-out jeans, and a pair of swords. The beginning of this adventure is still very blurry, so please be patient if I don’t describe everything as it was exactly. My fellow monster-killer will correct the story (Hopefully).

The dirt path in front of me looked the same as it had for several agonizing miles. Its gravel-mixed mud sucked my boots into the ground, making squishing noises every time I lifted a foot. It didn't help that the heavy rain from last night flooded most of the grass and woods around, turning everywhere else into a quicksand-like minefield, threatening to swallow my barely waterproof boots into the depths. The most exciting thing about my mission so far was seeing another human about five miles back. Before I had left, everyone thought it would be an adventure; Right now it was all just hiking.

Pausing my oh-so-fun walk, I dug a bracelet from the bottom of my pocket. Its pendants gleamed like they had been newly polished. I held it to my wrist, studying how it looked next to my other bits of jewelry. The charms had never made much sense to me, but I liked to come up with elaborate stories for each one. With a deep sigh, I slipped it back into my jeans and continued my trudging through the mud. This trip gave me lots of time to think.

By the time I noticed the forest go quiet, I had begun to consider how much better being homeless could be than this job. I paused only when a deafening roar interrupted my thoughts. I instinctively pulled my swords from their sheaths, my body shaking. I noticed an area of trees, snapped in half like toothpicks. Taking an uneven breath, I trembled my way to the treeline, my feet mushing into the mud, my socks becoming soaked in dirty water.

As I peered through the woods, I noticed a sort of trail, shown by the broken trees leading a path into the forest. The surrounding trees had their branches snapped off, like they had been forcefully broken. My attention snapped back to the lane of broken wood when a frantic yell rose from nearby. I pushed through the bushes, my arms and legs being cut by thorns and brush., which had only been partially stamped down by whatever had lumbered through the woods. 

Eventually, I saw an open field, and stumbled through the trees, lightly tripping over what seemed like every single large stick my feet could find. My breathing ragged from the hike, I did a half look around while leaning against a tree, catching my breath. I examined my arms, which had been cut by thorns and scraped by surrounding trees. Another guttural howl, much closer this time, came from what I would later learn was a cyclops. Underneath it, a much smaller figure was running away.

“Hey!” I yelled.

 Both turned to face me in confusion. I realized I hadn’t meant for the cyclops to look over too. The smaller figure (Or the other human, whichever you prefer) tripped and fell to the ground. The cyclops looked back to the person and gave a deep laugh. In case you weren’t familiar with cyclops, they are basically overgrown adults with one giant eye instead of two normal ones. They also had very small brains and very small tempers.

This particular one seemed to be at least a bit smarter than the rest, because he managed to break a tree in half to use as a deadly weapon. He held half a tree in each hand, which seemed like an insult to the way smaller swords I was still grasping.

“Another hero! Lunch will be great today!” He exclaimed, bellowing it across the field.

I shrugged my bag off of my shoulder and began to cautiously make my way towards him.

“Come faster! I hope you fight well!” He began to lumber his way, trying to meet me halfway.

I may have smiled or given a laugh, but I'm pretty sure I was too nervous to think about how dumb I looked.

I began to pick up the pace, priming to strike his eye, which I assumed was his weakest spot. Unfortunately, I didn't account for how fast a cyclops could swing a tree. Luckily, having one eye must have really limited his depth perception, because he swung high. I ducked, narrowly avoiding him. Coming up from under him, I slashed at his wrist, aiming to disarm. It sort of worked, because he dropped the tree, but I forgot about the other one, which came around behind me. His poor sight seemed to betray me, and I only had time to slash at the tree before it came crashing into my back. My hit must have slightly changed its course, but I was still knocked to the ground. I sucked air, trying to regain my breath; Several things cracked in my chest as a response.

The cyclops reached for me, grinning with triumph, when he stopped. He looked into my eyes with surprise. His face then crumbled away to dust, leaving a boy behind him, one of my swords in hand. He was breathing heavily, his arm still in a thrusting motion from stabbing the monster. He looked at me, his face torn between shock and terror. After almost a minute of staring, he seemed to regain control of his body and ran to my side. I was on my stomach, every breath a broken wheeze.

More later!