True Heroes - Chapter 1

The wind whistled through the window as Zach rode through the empty highways of Hano. He worried the old pickup would need some gas soon if he wanted to make it all the way to Sollice by the end of the day. Though he wasn’t to scared. The old tub could run on fumes for miles if it needed to. There was also the worry of finding his way through the city streets once he got there, but somehow, he knew he’d be okay. If anybody could navigate a city, it was him.

As he rounded a curve, Zach looked on at the huge plot of green that lay before him. No more than 4 miles ahead laid the largest stretch of forest he had ever seen! The summer colors spread across the horizon with the fields sprawled out in front of it. It was something he had only before seen in photos and movies. City life, even in the suburbs, hadn’t really let him see tree’s like this before.

In a split second decision, he decided he would stop for lunch and see what this forest had to offer. With tree’s like that, no doubt it had something cool hidden among the shrubs.

As he pulled off to the side of the road, he pulled out his map. If he was correct, this was Westwood Forest, which was just on the outskirts of the Sollice. “I must be pretty close, if this is Westwood.,” Zach mused as he hopped down from the driver’s seat. He nabbed his lunch from the bed of the truck and started looking for a place to sit down.

As he wandered along through the forest, he couldn’t help but notice the lack of people. A place like this should be crawling with tourists, or at least some locals looking to get out. But yet, there was nothing. Despite himself, he didn’t mind the peace a place like this offered. Even if he prefered the city, he could see coming here as a fun distraction every once and awhile. The scenery was nice, and their weren't as many bugs as he had thought.

As he admired the forest, he finally found a big maple in a clearing to sit under. He contented himself to studying the land around him as he ate. Their was a river off down the hill, and he could just make out a bird’s nest high up in the treetops. He was glad he had stopped. Through all the panic of moving, and the monotony of driving, he had forgotten the simple pleasures, like relaxing in a place like this.

He jumped a little as he heard some noise coming from the tree’s. As he prepared for a deer or even a bear, he found himself looking into the eyes of a girl. Not quite his age, she looked around 20. She had long brown hair and wore a red t shirt and blue jeans. As the girl noticed him, she seemed startled, but immediately put on a shy smile. “Hey there!”, she said as she walked over to the tree. “Hey” Zach responded, not quite sure how to react to the newfound company. The girl plopped herself down next to him and opened her notebook. “My names Rose. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Mines Zach, and uh, same.” Zach really didn’t know what to make of this girl. He had not expected to meet anyone new today.

“So what brings you out here?” Rose asked with a smile. “I’ve never really seen anyone else here before. Though I can’t see why. This place is so pretty!” She looked him up and down and then thought for a moment. “Let me guess, you're new in town?”

Zach gave her a surprised look. “Yeah. I’m moving in from Holand. How’d you know?”

“Well, you have a bit of a southern accent, not to be rude. And i've never seen you here before, so I just kinda guessed.” Rose glanced down at her notepad, “So you're moving here?”

“Yeah, I’m moving into an apartment in the city. Don’t really have a plan though.” Zach said as he thought for a moment. “So what’s up with the 20 questions? Not that I mind, but what are you doing here?”

Rose’s smile widened as she pulled from her notepad a drawing of what seemed like a large bear with big claws and teeth. “This is why i’m here, at least today. There have been reports of some strange activity in these woods, and I wanted to see what the heck is going on. The picture is just my thoughts though. The reports described something like a bear, so that’s what I’m assuming it is. It is weird for a bear to roam so close to the city though….”

Zach gave her a look of confusion, “So what, you're gonna catch the thing?” He couldn’t see that happening, as Rose didn’t exactly look like the strongest person to walk the earth.

Rose blushed. “No, I just want to see it up close, and maybe get some good sketches for my journal.”

“That sounds dangerous.” Zach frowned. So far, Zach liked this girl, and didn’t want to see her getting tangled up with some bear. She probably shouldn’t be out here, but then again, neither should he.

“Yeah, but isn't it awesome seeing all the wonders of a place like this? It’s like a whole other world out here, just waiting for people like you and me to come and look at it! To explore, and see what few people have seen!” Rose said as she glanced at her drawing.

Zach couldn’t help but smile. Her enthusiasm was contagious. “An adventurer, then?”

Rose’s cheeks reddened, “N-No, I’m more like a tourist. I want to see everything, but I’m not the dangerous type. I’ll be sure to keep my distance whenever I find this bear.”

Zach was about to respond when he saw movement coming from the tree’s. It was an owl, and a big one at that. It was grey, with a snow white face and eyes like big black marbles. Rose followed his glance and saw the bird. “Oh, wow! An owl of that size in broad daylight! I would never have guessed they could appear like this!” She was furiously scribbling in her book, constantly looking down and then back at the bird.

Rose was right about one thing. That bird should not be out at this time of day. What was it doing here? Why was it so close to them? “Why is it here?”

“Why not?!” Rose replied. She was obviously happy to be able to draw something like this up close, but it bothered Zach. It couldn’t be normal for an owl to be out and about during the day like this.

“I don’t know about that bird, but I’ve got to be going. I have to be at my new place before sundown.” Zach said, picking up his lunch. He would have to return to investigate this area and it’s weird birds. “I was nice to meet y-”

The ground shook. Hard. Not like when you slip and fall, but minor earthquake levels of shaking. Zach slipped as he was getting up, and looked up just in time to see the bushes shake before it entered the clearing.

This was no bear, that’s for certain, but that’s about all Zach knew as he stared at the feet of a beast at least three times his size, if not more. It was big, black and ugly, with it’s mouth as its defining feature. The creature had no eyes that Zach could see, and its legs were short and stubby. It was like an elephant sized pig!

As it walked closer, it seemed lost. Like it was searching for something. Then it turned and looked directly at them. Then, faster than they could have anticipated, It reared its hind legs, gave a menacing roar, and charged.

Zach shot up from the ground, found Rose’s hand, and yanked her to her feet. As he did so, he glanced and saw a look of pure terror cross her face. “We gotta go!” He yelled as he pulled her out of the path of the monster. The big behemoth charged right on through anyway, running headlong into the giant maple they had been sitting under. With a violent snap, the tree itself fell over, and the beast fell on its face.

“Come on Rose, we have to run!” Zach said as he cleared out of the clearing. Once he had escaped, he turned, only to realize that Rose was still standing in the clearing, staring directly at the monster.

She was terrified, petrified even. There’s no way she could stay there for long. The monster would get up any second now and she wouldn’t be able to run…

She would die if he didn’t do something. This was bad. Then the thought crossed his mind. Should he risk his life for a girl he just met? His brain said no, but the rest said yes as he sprinted back into the clearing.

“Come on!” He yelled as he grabbed her hand, firm this time, and together they ran back into the forest.


---

Authors Notes: Just so you all know, authors notes (if I have any) go here. i'll normally just explain my writing processes, what I found hard, easy, or just fun about writing the chapter, and any inspirations for the characters and the lore that goes with them that you might not notice.
For this first chapter, my main goal was just to introduce 2 of the main characters, of which their are 5, so don't worry about them seeming flat at first. It was very hard for me to get their meeting to feel "natural." Writing the sections with just Zach was by far the hardest part of this chapter, as I cant exactly make his thoughts ultra interesting to read, so I had to add someone to shake things up. Thus, Rose appears. The other main problem I had was making their dialog flow. I had no trouble explaining their characters, but making their words sound real and natural was really hard. I'm pretty proud of this chapter though. It's gonna get a lot easier now that I can write scenarios with multiple characters in them. Also, in case you were wondering, the monster is based off of The Imprisoned from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

P.S. These first few chapters are being backed up from my deviantart page (under ColesWorks). I have to note that this first chapter is much shorter than those that follow it. I didn't notice it while writing, but expect longer chapters in the future.

Cole