Book 2: The Adventures of Blue and Epsila

Chapter 4

The wind blows hot against Epsila's face, she crouches behind a tree. The sun is at the top of the sky and beams hot rays onto the land. Epsila listens to the environment carefully, it is still with the momentary sounds of the ocean of leaves swaying in the wind. Epsila takes quiet, low breaths; inhales and exhales. She hears and feels movement from 10 feet in front of her; Epsila draws her bow back in the direction of the noise. Her heart pounds in her chest as she waits for the next movement, leaves crunch again a foot from the original location, Epsila moves slightly and lets go of the string. The arrow flies through the air and Epsila hears a yelp, she runs to the spot and lays her hands on the fresh corpse of a rabbit. Epsila pulls out a small knife and slices the corpse from the belly to its bottoms. Epsila places her blade on the breastplate and her thumb underneath the blade. Epsila reaches into the body cavity ripping out the organs and entrails. Epsila clips the rabbit to her belt, it carried the corpses of several rabbits. 

The sound of a branch breaking grabs the attention of Epsila, she turns around and follows the direction of silently. She creeps around the tree, in her blurry vision she sees an empty field with a single tree next to the chasm. I've never been here before. Epsila walks out into the open area, it's quiet. That's when Epsila feels hot breath on her shoulder, she turns around slowly. She is face to face with a cavern panther. They are all black with purple eyes and a lean body, a low deep grumble comes through its chest. Epsila froze in place, fear coursed through her veins. It sniffs her carefully, it sniffs the rabbits she has collected in the last hour. The panther nudges the rabbits and Epsila causing her to stumble backward. The panther steps over her sniffing and nudging the rabbits.

"Are you hungry?" Epsila asks the panther, it looks at her carefully and steps back. Epsila takes a rabbit from her belt and throws it at the feet of the panther who devoured it in seconds. The panther stares at her eagerly letting out a long meow. Epsila grabs another rabbit and throws it to the panther, this time taking its time to eat the rabbit. Epsila gets to her feet and walks to the panther slowly. The panther watches her carefully, Epsila squats and puts her hand towards the panther. It sniffs her hand and then licks it, a large rumbling sound and vibration came from the panther and threw itself onto her lap. Knocking Epsila to the ground, she laughs while the panther rubs itself all over her. 

"You're so friendly!" Epsila laughs and exclaims, the panther calms down and sighs heavily. Its eyes locked onto Epsila as she strokes the head of the panther. "You're pretty far away from your home aren't you? People say you creatures are mean and dangerous but you're just a big baby, aren't you?" the panther purrs loudly, snuggling itself in Epsila's lap. 

Epsila suddenly then feels running footsteps on the ground, Oh man I totally forgot I was supposed to meet Blue. Before Epsila could react, something smacks into the panther's neck and it's startled, Epsila rolls out of the way to avoid its huge claws.

"Epsila!!" Blue screams at the tops of his lungs. "Are you okay!? Run!" You run idiot, you hit him! The panther then bounds towards Blue, Epsila can feel his footsteps receding but the panther continues chasing him. She puts her hand back and feels a sturdy type of long branch. It was taller than her and weighed a few pounds. Epsila jumps to her feet quickly and throws a small rock at the panther to get its attention, the small rock hits it's back and the panther turns quickly to look at Epsila who is bounding towards it with a long branch. 

The panther leaps at Epsila, they tumble towards the edge of the cliff, and the panther pins her to the ground. Epsila shoves the branch into the panther's mouth using it to keep the panther from mauling her. They struggle back and further, drool drops onto her face and she can feel the teeth of the panther against her face. Her heart is beating against her chest and sweat runs down her neck. I don't know what to do. 

Epsila's elbows dig into the ground beneath her, she grips her hands around the branch tightly, feeling parts of it break away. Epsila inhales deeply once, then pushes the panther up off her body and over the cliff. The panther hangs onto her, pulling Epsila over with off the cliff. That's when things go dark. 

The next thing she knew, Epsila is hanging onto the branch that was shoved into the side of the cliff. Epsila looks up and can barely make out the edge of the cliff, it is a foot away from her hand. 

"Epsila!" Blue yells over the cliff, he extends his hand to her and she grabs it. He pulls her out of the cliff and the roll onto the grass. Everything is bright, Epsila's stomach is whirling, and her arms and legs vibrating. "What... happened?!" Blue asks out of breath. 

"I guess..." Epsila takes in a deep breath, "it was hunting inside Cascadas." she exhales painfully.

"There's no way! They only hunt outside of this place." Blue argues.

"Well, it was here!" Epsila yells. 

"I'm sorry. Are you okay? Are you hurt?" He asks. Epsila shakes her head.

"I'm fine... just..." Epsila closes her eyes and puts her hands on her face. "I thought I died."

"What happened?"Blue asks.

"I don't know. I just wanted the thing off of me and the next thing I knew I was hanging from that branch." Epsila explains, she sits up quickly and crawls to the edge of the cliff. Blue grabs her by the back of her shirt and pulls her back.

"What are you doing? Do you have a death wish?!" he screams. 

"I need that branch!" Epsila yells back. "It saved my life! Hold onto my legs if you are so worried!" Epsila pushes him back and crawls forward again. She leans over past the cliff and reaches for the branch. Epsila tries to pull it out of the cliff but it's really stuck in there, she pulls three more times, each with more force than the last. It suddenly gives and Epsila falls forward. Blue holds onto her arm and shoulder then pulls her back. 

Epsila has the branch in her arms, they both move away from the cliff. Epsila feels over the branch, it's broken in some parts from the panther biting into it.

"It saved you?" Blue asks with skepticism.

"Yes. It did, it was randomly on the ground behind me and I was able to keep the panther off of me with it." Epsila explains, holding onto the staff fiercely. Blue looks at her with a raised eyebrow and disbelief. 

"Well... maybe Yon Vinn can fix it." Blue suggests. 

"You think?" Epsila asks sadly, hugging the branch.

"It's perfect for a bo staff." Blue says softly putting his hand on the branch too. 

"Bo staff?" Epsila asks with curiosity. 

"It's a weapon. Mostly used for defense and blunt offense. Not very popular." Blue clarifies.

"Not very popular?" Epsila challenges, "You mean Blessed Warriors don't use them?" Blue nods with a smile. Epsila looks down with some worry, how did I push that thing off of me?  'To be Blessed the person would have to have incredible strength.' Blue's words stick in Epsila's mind. 

"But there were people who mastered it and were considered extremely deadly." Blue points out. "What do you think?"

Epsila stares down at her staff, If I am Blessed... does that mean I need to learn these things? I practice magic and archery. Should I learn to fight too? Epsila thinks to herself all the possibilities of what the staff could bring her. She speculates how the branch seemed so fated to be in her possession. Then she decides, "Guess I am learning how to use a Bo Staff." Epsila smiles.