Light blinded my eyes as I woke up. A wake of disorientation and nausea flooded over me. I turned on my side and shaded my eyes from the light. I was in the middle of a forest meadow. Light shone directly in the center where I lay. I gagged, bile came up the back of my throat. Something horrible had happened here, but I couldn’t quite remember the details. Closing my eyes again for a moment I waited for the feeling to pass. When it finally did, I pushed myself to my feet and looked around.

On one side of the meadow was a cliff wall with a cave entrance seemingly beckoning me inside. Nothing else seemed to stand out, so I moved toward it and found torches lighting the way deeper inside. Strange, but yet it seemed expected. Had I done this before?

At the end of the cave, it branched out into a vast cavern with a figure, hooded and cloaked standing facing away from me. A sword rested on an altar over a crevasse. I stopped short. This was all too similar. I looked back towards the cave entrance and then back at what I could now see was an old man as he turned towards me, holding the sword resting between his two hands.

“Take it,” he whispered. “For it’s dangerous to go this without it.” He outstretched his hands towards me, and I reached out for the blade. I hesitated right before taking it. Electric-Like energy radiated from it, I could feel it against my fingers before touching it. Looking up at the old man his eyes looked sunken and gray. Concern and worry was the closest expression I could place, that and resignation.

“Why should I take it?” I asked him, already knowing the answer.

He pushed it closer towards me. “Without it, you are in danger. Take it.”

Looking down again at the sword I reached out and took it this time, the hilt was wrapped in leather, and the grip felt natural in my hand. I looked back at the old man, but he had vanished. Wind from outside the cave began to blow down into the room in a large gust. There was something there.

Slowly, I made my way up the stairs and back towards to meadow. A dark figure stood at the far edge. Eyes and claws shining in what little sun reflected upon it. The sun itself faded as clouds obscured the sky.

I knew then it would charge me. Its claws sweeping toward me. This was simple to dodge, I did it as if I had a thousand times. Taking the advantage, I swung at its side and heard a scream of pain from the monster.

It reacted by jumping in a zigzag manner which made it difficult to predict until it was almost on top of me. The monster slashed at me with its claws, and I parried with the blade. The foul breath of the beast reminded me of something, death? I had fought this before, but when? Where? With little time to think I dodged backward, avoiding another round of attacks.

Quickly, it began to run in a circle around me, after that it used a tree to propel itself towards me in another leap. Unable to dodge this time I parried one set of claws while the other into my side making me scream in agony. I lashed out with my sword, stabbing up into its chest. The beast howled but used its other set up claws to dig into my kneck, darkness quickly gripped me and all faded, again.