~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Chapter I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Note from the author: Galnahord and co are all fictitious characters. There is no background information on them anywhere, as they are all figments of my imagination!]

David, Christopher, Jalil, and April crept through the chilly night air. Nothing was there to guide them, except the small amount of moonlight.

Then, an orange light broke the night's powerful force.

"Fire," David whispered.

"Good, I'm freezin'," Christopher replied bluntly. He shivered, and walked on.

Then, the four teenagers saw a man. He was impossibly tall, at least 8 feet. He wore crude looking boots, with rope tied around the upper-shin, to hold them around his massive feet.

His other clothing consisted of what looked to be rags. But a huge metal plate covered his chest, decorated with small-embedded dragons and lines.

His face was completely covered by a silver helmet, which had more various embeddings of other vicious animals and designs.

He gleamed in the cold light of the moon, every article of armor shone like a small torch.

"Who goes there?" He barked in a harsh voice. The teenagers stood, petrified, their eyes wide open in fear. The figure drew a sword out of a leather holster, and held it tightly in his enormous hand.

David stepped forward. "I am David," he said shakily. "These are my friends, April, Christopher, and Jalil." He pointed backwards at us, not taking his fearful eyes off the man.

"I am Galnahord. I protect the bridge." He stepped aside, revealing a wooden bridge over a river. The river was quietly trickling over rocks, and far away beyond sight.

"No one may pass." Galnahord said, firmly.

"And why is that?" Christopher chimed in.

Galnahord looked confused at the question.

"I -" He stopped dead. He looked down on them, his eyes troubled. "I'm not certain." Christopher blurted out a snigger, and everybody froze.

"You dare mock Galnahord?!" He roared, sword above his head, ready to make a corpse of Christopher. Christopher backed away, desperately stuttering words of apology.

He loomed over Christopher, sword to his neck. Christopher could feel his breath against his face. He noticed a black beard across Galnahord's dark face, rippling over every muscle.

"Don't be a fool, boy," Galnahord hissed at him. "Or you might find yourself in an early grave." He drew back from the trembling Christopher, breathing heavily.

"So," David said nervously. "May we pass?" Galnahord looked at him. Stared.

"I do not see why not."

They hurried over the unstable planks, before Galnahord might change his mind.

Everybody looked at each other, grinned, and said it together. "W.T.E."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Chapter II~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They had found suitable grounds to spend the night. Soft ground, covered over with a couple of branches from nearby trees.

"Nice," Christopher grumbled flatly. "From what I've seen in Everworld, it's great," Jalil answered, eyeing an extra soft looking part of the ground.

With that, they promptly lied down, and rested their aching bodies. They fell asleep immediately, too tired to stay awake and think over the events of the day.

April's eyes snapped wide open. She was sitting about 10 meters away from a school building, under a big oak, which was providing shade for 3 other people underneath. David, Christopher, and Jalil. "Okay, April's here," David said.

"Huh?" She grunted. She rubbed her eyes as the memories from the Real World flooded into her mind. "Ooh, an A on chemistry," she grinned.

Snap! She was awake in Everworld again. Someone had trodden on a stick. A glint of silver in the moonlight. "Argh!" She screamed, and dodged the blade. The holder of the sword was Galnahord.

She shrieked again, and Jalil was wide awake, drawing the Excalibur. He cut down on the blade of Galnahord's sword, the end of it falling to the ground with a thud. He roared, and punched Jalil's knife away. Blood rushed from Galnahord's closed fist, but he kept on bellowing.

David was now awake, too, and yanking Galahad's sword from the hilt. He swung the weapon stiffly, and missed the giant man. Galnahord pushed David into a nearby branch of a tree, the branch stabbing him in the back.

"No one crosses the bridge!" He yelled. "I, Galnahord, protect it with my life!" April scrambled along the muddy ground, and snatched the handle of Galnahord's sword. He turned his head towards her, and charged at her.

She slid underneath him, between his armoured legs, and jumped to her feet.

While he was turning around to face her, she shoved what was left of his sword into his back. The blunt steel painfully broke through his flesh. He collapsed, and stared into space. Dead.

A wave of nausea washed over April with the knowing that she killed a living soul. She staggered to some bushes, and vomited.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Chapter III~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Woo!" Christopher joked. "April, you sure kicked that guy's ass!"

"Fantastic," she grumbled, her face unhappy with a tinge of green to it.

Suddenly, a noise broke the silence of the dark forest.

"You!" One snorted. "Maiden! You took Galnahord's life! You crossed his bridge! You have done the unspeakable!" He took a gulp from what the four scared teenagers saw was a clay mug. Full of alcohol.

"And now you must pay with your sorry life!" The rest of the men lunged at the four.

"Argghh!" They threw their hands up in front of their faces. David slashed wildly with Galahad's sword, and managed to cut about one of the men.

Suddenly, the group lost their footing. It was caused by the ground to suddenly cave in, like an old mine shaft. They all fell at least 100 meters, but were not hurt due to Everworld's changing gravity.

"Arrrrggggghhhhh!!!" They screamed, waving their arms and legs in mid air. "Arrrrrggggggggggggggghhhhh!!!" Everyone hit the ground lightly, and fell to the dirty cavern's floor. The speaker of the armed men was the first on his feet.

"Maiden, you -" He was cut off. Dirt flew upwards, as a huge beast ripped through the ground. It was darkened green, and glared at everybody with red eyes. It was like a giant snake.

"You stupid, ignorant fools!" It hissed at them. "How dare you wake me from my rest!"

I opened it's huge jaws and ripped through four of the men. The others broke into a run. It wrapped it's huge tail around 20 of them, and squeezed their bodies until the sound of snapping bones rocked the cavern.

David, Christopher, April, and Jalil stood there, frozen. "Stupid mortals," The monster muttered. It lunged.

Suddenly, the roots from the walls of the cavern sprang to life! They wrapped their way around the beast, and finally cut through it's reptile body, splitting into a thousand pieces of flesh.

Merlin stepped out from the shadows. "I still have uses for you, children," he slightly smiled. Woosh! A bright light. Then they were back on the border of the forest, where they had began.

"Well, that was fun," Christopher said shakily.

"Let's never stuff around with 8 feet tall boys again."

All he got were four sarcastic smiles. They walked on, carefully avoiding the 100 meter drop, and continuing North.