Ugh, Drauxie, why do you always love getting yourself into these situations?
I swear, I never can understand him. One minute, he begs to leave the cave, and when he finally gets that opportunity, he decides to slug around in the cave all day.
Maybe it’s just me. I don’t know. He can stay here all day if he wants. I’m going outside to explore, this is pretty much my chance to, after all. I waved off to Drauxie, who just waved back and curled back into his covers, his wings barely sticking out.
I navigate myself back to the cave entrance, which isn’t very hard since I know it like the back of my claw. The light was blinding at first, but my eyes adjusted. I am now overlooking the cliff that the cave rested on, giving me an amazing view of the forest. I scan the horizon for any storm clouds that might threaten a peaceful day. Even if it doesn’t rain much in the mountains, it is still a hassle. That’s pretty much proven through all the landslides along the face of the mountain range.
I wonder if Nautilus would want to go for a hike today? I mean, sure, last time he almost got amputated by that serpent, but it was sort of his fault. He’s the one that went all gung-ho into the swamp without any care in the world. I think his wound is healed up though, us dragons do have that special regenerative trait anyway.
I still remember the look on his parent’s face when I took him home. If I would’ve stayed just a few more seconds, I would probably be vulture scraps right now. I think Nautilus’s parents are a bit overprotective. Sure, your son just got heavily injured by some unknown beast in the wilderness, but don’t go trying to kill me for it.
Maybe I’m just being melodramatic again.
Well, regardless, I should check up on him. He’s probably all miserable stuck in his cave, snacking on his parents endless horde of gems. He is so lucky that he’s royalty. Good trait about him is that he doesn’t go parading around like he owns the place. Otherwise, I would’ve ditched him years ago.
I extended my wings and flew off towards his side of mountain, hoping I wouldn’t get snared by his gods-for-parents. He did tell me that they were off on some huge raid/expedition or whatever. I’ve always wanted to go on one of those, yet my folks would never let me. Probably because most of the dragons that go don’t come back.
I know they have the best intentions. They’ve always been pretty considerate people, even if they like to be a bit more greedier than the rest of the dragons. I could never submit to greed, too much work and it leaves you with a horrible conscious. Here and there, there has been fights regarding more... personal issues, but I still loved them. They’re family, y’know.
Dad is quite the interesting character, now that I look back at it. Every year, he would make up a new ‘tradition’ and force the family into complying. We didn’t really have any say on the matter, considering that Dad was ten times bigger than me and Drauxie combined. Mom never complained that much, but I could tell she hates it.
Mom is really the top gun when it came to family events and such. When she heard about the whole ‘tradition’ thing, she knew why. Dad was always a giant suck up to authority and when he saw the royal families doing this whole ridiculous ordeal, the idea just popped into his head. Still, she was somewhat interested at the idea and decided to give it a try. I think she regrets that decision.
All this time I’ve been thinking to myself, I didn’t realize that there was a giant mountain in front of me, just waiting for me to crash into it. I quickly scissor rolled and avoided the imminent collision. Not gonna get me today, mountain. I was relatively close to Nautilus’s cave as I could see it just a few miles ahead. I wanted to see him as quick as possible, so I can have more time to explore for myself. If he wants to go, fine, but he better hurry up.
I landed near the cave entrance and stepped in, thankfully not having to grab a torch and light it. Nautilus always liked the light, which was sort of ironic in a cool way. Considering a normal dragon’s behavior is to sit inside a dark, damp cave, Nautilus was different. He liked to be high and dry. Did that come out right?
I heard the usual cooing of his pet phoenix, Lars.
Oh man, I remember when Nautilus first got that bird. It was the first thing that would pop up into his mind whenever I tried to have a mutual conversation with him. If I remember correctly, his dad snagged one of their eggs before it had time to hatch. Apparently, it hatched right when he was going to eat it and the bird started causing trouble. Nautilus came and calmed the bird down with one command and he begged his dad to keep the bird. After an hour or so, he finally agreed and the phoenix is where he is today.
I still wonder about that name, Lars. It’s a really weird name for a pet bird. When I asked him about it, he would get pouty and be like “And Razzie isn’t a weird name?” or something like that. I hated when he would get all snooty like that, but I endure.
Still, it’s pretty impressive he managed to get a pet phoenix. Seeing one around here is a rarity, let alone managing to tame it and keep it locked in a cage. Well, not locked up necessarily. I’ve seen Nautilus flying around with Lars on his shoulder a few times before.
I rounded the corner to see Nautilus feeding Lars while keeping his attention averted to the infinite mountain of gems he had stacked in front of him. I could tell he was pretty much in a trance, since he was overfeeding Lars and he was drooling like a dog.
I snapped my two digits together, only getting wind between my fingers as his undivided attention was still focused on those gems. I waved my hand in front of his face, only to get dead air once again. As a last resort, I got up behind him and plucked one of his loose scales, making him wince in pain. He looked over to me in anger, which made me laugh a bit.
He realized the bag of bird food that he completely emptied out in his hand and went to picking up the abundant amount of food and placing it inside the bag.
I saw he was wearing his usual red scarf around his neck, which he always wore as an accessory. He said something about it giving him good luck. Clothes as good fortune wasn’t exactly a thing for me.
“Yo.” I shot him one of my two-fingered salutes, which he returned back. “How’s your leg holding up?”
He finished picking up all the food, leaving the appropriate amount for Lars to eat. He looked over to me, setting the bag down and rubbing the spot that I ripped the scale off. “Eh, I can walk. Also, you didn’t have to rip off one of my damn scales. A simple ‘WAKE UP!’ would’ve been polite.”
“If I did that, we would be buried from head to tail with snow. Anyway, I was wondering if you were willing to go on another expedition. I got the day off from all my chores and I know your parents are away at the northern lands.” I looked at the red scale in my hand and held my hand out to him. “You want it back? Maybe the scale fairy can give you a gem in return.” I snickered a bit at him, which seemed to make him frustrated.
“Dude, you know that’s for hatchlings. Besides, I’m already rollin’ in the gems.” He looks at his leg, which had the scar from the serpent incident. “I don’t know man. I like this foot, I use it all the time.”
“You say that putting a scale under your rock is for hatchlings, yet you act like one.” He looked at me in anger again, which made me giggle a bit. “I’m kidding, cool your jets. I promise we won’t go near the bog again. We won’t have another chance like this, y’know...”
That was especially true, especially since the way our family has been since the whole Dragon Migration thing. Dad was devastated when he heard he wasn’t eligible. Mom, me, and Drauxie have been trying to cheer him up since. Thankfully, he’s recovered, he just regrets all the time he wasted training. Since then, he’s been a bit more strict on us leaving the cave. Drauxie doesn’t mind that at all, but I’m a bit more different on that topic.
“Alright, fine, but if I get hurt, it’s on your ass.” Weird, Nautilus rarely cursed.
“My body is ready.” We start laughing in unison, as he gives me a quick playful punch on the shoulder.
I saw him lock up Lars’s cage as we left the cave and started flying over to the forest.
We were having idle chit-chat about random things, mostly about the more recent events happening around the lands. Same old stuff every year, I grow bored of the topic and change the subject quickly.
“Hey, Nautilus.” I gave him a quick tap to get his attention.
“What’s up?” He looks towards me, while still keeping some of his attention flying.
“You ever wonder...” I point a claw over to the uncharted areas that most dragons have never been to. “What’s out there?”
He rubs his chin in deep thought, delaying his answer as much as possible. “Never really thought about that, Razzie.” He gave me a look of seriousness. “When did you start thinking about that?”
I look over to the vast unexplored area again. “I don’t know, it’s just...”
“Look, promise not to tell anyone?” He gave me a smile, assuring me that I could trust him.
“Alright, listen.” I come a bit closer. “I’m tired of the dragon lands. It’s gotten way too boring for me and lately, I’ve just been wanting to... leave, y’know?”
He looks at me with a stern expression. “Look, Razzie, I can’t stop you from doing what you want and neither can any other dragon. But what you’re looking for may not be what you’re expecting. I know you just want to know more about the world, but be careful about it.”
He is right, who knows what might be out there? Dragons that go beyond that point don’t usually come back and they don’t send any search parties either. Still, it’s tugging at me violently. What is out there that dragons can’t see? Just thinking about it was urging me to go bulleting over, but for now, I had to tend to Nautilus.
I playfully punch him in the shoulder, making him recoil a bit and smile. “When did you get so much insight, know-it-all?”
“The moment you mentioned the word ‘insight’.” He laughs at bit at his own pun.
“Ey, Nautiluuusss.” I give him a sly smile before extending my wings to full length and rocketing off. “RACE YOU TO THE CLEARING!” I yell as he tried to catch up.
“You freakin’ cheat!” I hear him yell back at me. I smirk as we got to the usual clearing in record time, of course, with me ahead.
We were both panting heavily, until it came to the point where we were breathing a light fire out of our mouths. I laid down on the grass as I saw him cross his legs and sit in front of me.
“Good... race...” I say while still hyperventilating. I hear him groan lightly.
“Well, no shit, you got an unfair head start.” he said as he slumps a bit.
“Maybe if you quit snacking on gems so often, you might just be able to barely catch up to me.” I snicker a bit at that comment as he just calmly sighs. Nautilus always has been a sore loser when it came to competitive events. “I’ll let you choose where we hike, I’m too beat to think.”
He starts scanning the clearing, looking at the past spots we’ve been before. The springs, Deadpoint Hill, and the bog. He shudders as he looked back at the bog and put his claw on his leg. I feel a wave of guilt wash over me, but quickly shrug it off. He comes back to me with disappointment.
“We’ve already been everywhere, where else are we gonna go?”
Hearing that makes me a bit curious. I always knew we would end up exploring everything eventually, I just didn’t think we would do it so fast. I start rubbing the back of my head while still trying to think of an answer. I can tell Nautilus was growing impatient, the stomping on the ground is obvious enough.
The truth was, I couldn’t answer that question for the life of me. My nervous face is enough to tell Nautilus I have no idea.
“Well, what now? Should we just book it back home?” I get up and stretch out a bit. I don’t want to waste a perfectly good day on the account that there is nothing to do. Yet, I have no choice. We’ve explored every single nook and cranny in this area and we can’t exactly go anywhere else. Defeated, I look towards Nautilus. He is a bit disappointed too.
“You’re right. Let’s go. Maybe we can get a nice ruby to eat or something.” Nautilus nodded and he flew off ahead of me. I slowly started to ascend after him, still looking over the place. It sucks that this place didn’t have anything else to offer. At least it’ll make a nice place to hang out. I gave the place one last scan before I flew off after Nautilus.
I was really looking forward to that hike, too.
While I was still thinking, I didn’t realize I was way behind Nautilus. He yelled at me to pick up the pace. I increased my speed a bit, until my attention got diverted back to the forbidden lands.
Why was my mind drifting off towards that place again? I couldn’t wrap my head around it, but something about that place just seems so... mesmerizing. Even with all the rumors revolved around it, it still seemed to haunt me. My mind was flustered in ways I couldn’t even imagine and now it was just getting worse. Nautilus was getting impatient, I could tell by the way he’s practically screaming at me.
Was I really going to do this? Was I really going to take this foolish feeling and encourage it?
The answer is yes.
“Hey, Nautilus, you go on ahead, I... uh... left something at the clearing.” I waved over to him as he kept flying slowly, but still in shouting distance.
“Alright, meet me at Red Ruby when you find whatever you need!” He shouts back. I feel so bad just ditching him like this. He’s royalty though, if something were to happen to him, I would get blamed and I might be executed. I almost was from before, and that was sheer luck.
Alright, I already sent Nautilus off, too late to turn back. For some reason, as I started to head over there, the feeling of curiosity starting turning into a feeling of dread. Funny how I was roaring to rocket over there in a few seconds and now I’m hesitant. I guess that’s expected.
The flight over was slow, I’ll give myself that. I didn’t know where I can land, so I stop right by the small boundary line that the founding dragons had set up here. Of course, I doubt anyone has ever bothered to clean it up and fortify it. Just looking at it, I can tell it is ancient. It was literally a big, rusted, chain link fence covered with barb wire at the top. Looks like they forgot about dragons having wings.
I do a quick leap over the fence, using my wings to get a bit higher and gracefully land on the other side. Simple, right? I am so wrong. When I reach the top of the fence, I feel something shock me. It is almost instantaneous, and the pain is still lingering inside of me. There is obviously something covering the top of the fence, I can’t tell what it is though. How am I supposed to get through now?
Wait, there is one more option. If I can’t go through the fence and I can’t fly over it, what about under it? I’ve got my claws out, thankfully I got them sharpened last week. I go over to the bottom part of the fence, where the chain meets the ground and I start slashing at it. The dirt is relatively easy to pull out, considering it is old. Then again, it’s dirt. Of course it’s old.
After about 5 grueling minutes, I manage to make a small tunnel for me to crawl through. Just to be sure, I grab my tail and start patting the dirt down. It’s looks easy enough to squeeze through, I guess.
I put my head first, that is the hardest part, considering the spikes on my head made it that much harder to get through. The ones on my back are much shorter, so I manage to get those through easily enough. I pull my tail out from the hole and I stood up, while wiping dirt off my chest.
I look in front of me and the first thing I see are some really gloomy looking woods. There is no light coming through at all, and that is making me even more anxious than I am now. I’m not gonna be able to navigate through here without some source of light. I really should’ve prepared before coming here, but I’m stripped of time.
I look around a bit, without stepping foot inside the woods, for some source of light. The only thing I find was a large stick that seemed to be covered in tree sap. It’ll have to do for now.
At least it is covered in sap, making it that much more flammable. I inhale deeply and I can feel the familiar tingle coming up in my throat. I breath out my emerald green fire, which ignites the stick as soon as it has contact. The stick is now burning, the light reaching out a few inches in front of me. It isn’t the best light source, but it’s something.
I keep the stick a safe distance in front of me, so the light can reach out farther. There is a small pathway that I could see. I don’t want to go wandering in the deep part of the forest, so I’ll just take the beaten path for now. I start walking, keeping a careful pace. There’s something about the smell of burning tree sap, though, that I’m already starting to dislike.
A few minutes in, and I’m already getting bad vibes from this place. The burning sap smell isn’t helping either and I keep hearing noises behind me. Why did I want to come here? Was it really that interesting? I’m really starting to think that this was a giant mistake. I could be home right now, but instead I’m … I don’t know where I am. Maybe if I turn around, I can find my way back by simply backtracking.
Wait, what is that noise? And why do I feel something breathing down my neck...
It’s definitely time for me to be anywhere else but here. I hear a small roar, before I start booking it down the path. I don’t know where I’m going and I don’t care, as long as I’m far away from whatever is behind me. I can hear its footsteps, I need to hide. I can see a small bush just next to me, so I jump to it, hoping whatever is chasing me doesn’t find me.
I can hear it stumbling around, sniffing, or at least it sounds like sniffing. I cannot move a muscle, mostly out of complete fear and exhaustion. At the same time, I know that I have to do something to get out of here. Nothing makes that much noise unless it’s dangerous. I could try to take it head-on, but I don’t think that’s a very good idea. I can’t even see two inches in front of me and I had already thrown my stick outside. Plus, it sounds like it’s ready to kill. Maybe there’s something I could feel with my hands around me that I could use.
I pat the ground next to me, just outside the bush, in search of anything. I feel something prickly in my hands and I pick it up, not knowing what it is and not caring. If this thing isn’t going to leave, then I’m going to have to distract it. I throw whatever is in my hand at the opposite direction of the bush and I can hear the thing chasing after it. I can hear it chewing on something a distance away. Now is my chance to leave, and I am so taking it. I jump out and the bush and start running as quickly as possible. I use my sense of hearing to detect wherever that thing was and went in the opposite direction.
This is bad, I can’t see anything and now I’m in potential danger of dying. It doesn’t help that the only reason I’m even able to move is sheer panic pushing me forward. I can’t even stop moving my legs, adrenaline is taking full control of them. I try to calm myself by taking a few deep breaths and...
Wait, breath! I can use my fire!
I inhale a bit and breathe out a small stream of fire outside of my mouth. The light isn’t much at all, but it is the only thing I have at the moment. One of the things that goes through my mind as I spew the fire is whether or not that will bring the attention of whatever it was that had made that noise earlier. Survival instincts aren’t exactly my thing, but boy do I wish I had some right now.
If I get out of here, I’m never coming this far ever again. I bet Nautilus is gnawing away at his endless stash of gems right now. Oh, how I wish I was him.
At least, now I’m a bit more calm, but I’m still beat. Ok, what to do, what to do...
Find shelter is obvious, but how? How am I going to build a tent or something when I can’t even see my own damn hands? Maybe if I take a little nap, I’ll get the energy needed to make anything at all. Then again, there’s always the chance that taking a nap in the middle of nowhere might turn out to be a horrible idea. Maybe I can find a safe place to hide for now, just until I can rack up enough energy to navigate my way out of here.
The fire isn’t going to help me very much, I need to find something else. I doubt I’m going to get lucky and find another sap cover stick on the ground. That might not be such a bad thing, I just got over the stench of it last time. Maybe this is why I’m not quite so good at this sort of thing, I can’t even get over a little stink. However, at this point, I’ll pretty much light a bag of manure on fire just to get some light. The darkness has a way of annoying me and creeping me out at the same time.
Of course, I’m not likely to find a bag of manure anywhere around here either.
Enough thinking about manure, this is serious. I guess I could ignite the fire a bit more, but that will make me more exhausted. I doubt lighting a tree on fire would be a good idea. Though, I would love to see this place burn to the ground at any point, but that still wouldn’t help. I wish I could just fly out, but that damn fence is there. Also, the trees here are super thick, so flying out isn’t an option. I can’t fly out, I have nothing to use as a light source, it seems like my two biggest advantages have quickly been thrown out the window. Combat isn’t an option, I can’t see and I don’t have a weapon. I don’t even know what I’d be fighting anyway.
Ok, ok, Razzie, don’t give up just yet. Maybe if I just continue on, cautiously of course, I can maybe find some shelter. Then I can rethink things and figure things out from there. I doubt that thing has given up on finding me, so I better hurry up. I jump when I hear a sound, but it turns out to just be the wind. This whole thing is really starting to get to me.
I should’ve just believed all the myths and stayed out. That’s what Nautilus did and look at him now! Safe and sound in his cave while I am about to be some demonic creature’s lunch.
Wait... cave...
A cave!
That’s it! I just have to get into a cave and I’ll be safe. If I’m lucky, he’ll be way too big to fit into the cave. I doubt that noise just now is from a bird. I better find that cave, considering there even is one out here.
Ok, now I’ve got another dilemma. Either increase the light and get exhausted or stop the light, but not be able to see. Why can’t there just be an easy decision today? It seems like no matter which decision I make, it’s likely the wrong one. Light is important, and so is being able to get away in one piece. I’m not known to be a religious dragon, but if I get out of here, I’ll start believing in whatever it is that priest shouts every day on the street.
And no, not that the end is nigh … though it very well could be for me.
I’ll keep going like this, and if I feel tired I’ll turn off the fire and rest for a few seconds. Rinse and repeat. That seems like the only way to have light while not making myself feel like I’m about to pass out.
I wake my legs up and start moving, while hugging the trees next to me. Bad idea, but at least it keeps me from stumbling around like a damn idiot. That makes it a better idea than everything else that I have come up with so far.
I swear, when I entered this forest it was complete daylight. I don’t even see one ray of sun going through the leaves. Another downside to that is that I have no clue how long I’ve been here or how long I’ve been walking. Navigation is another problem I can add to the pile, along with time and many others.
As I am walking, I could feel something different from the trees. It feels like... rock? I rub the surface a bit to confirm my suspicion. Sure enough, it was rock, I could tell from when I punch it. That makes absolutely no sense, though. If I am feeling rock, then does that mean I’m out of the forest? I can’t even tell anymore, but I’m sticking to it. If it’s rock, then there’s gotta be some formation of a cave around here. I keep following the rock, until I don’t feel anything.
What? What happened to the rock? I backtrack to the rock I am feeling to discover that the rock curves a bit. That can either be a great sign or a bad one, and today’s luck is telling me that it’s a bad one. I really have no other choice at this point, and being rational has gotten me nowhere. I have to follow this and see where it goes, hopefully it leads somewhere promising.
My exhaustion is starting to really kick in and I can feel my muscles growing more and more tense with each movement I make. I have to stop and rest, and pray that nothing attacks me. I put my back against the rock and slowly slid down, landing on my rear and putting my knees up.
I am used to resting against rocks. It’s what I do every day. This isn’t anything different, nor is it any special. In fact, this is worse, considering my situation at the present moment. I remember when I was just a hatchling and how my mom would let me rest against her stomach. How I miss those days. That’s probably going to be the first thing I do when I get out. It might not sound tough to be like this, but at this point I don’t care. Funny how I was teasing Nautilus about being a big baby and now I’m fantasizing about when I used to be a hatchling.
I am seriously thinking about sucking my claw at this point.
I am not going to tell him any of this. Depending on if I get the chance to tell him.
Ok, I think I’m good to go now. I just really wish I didn’t have to...
I got up, picking up my tail and perking it back behind me. Maybe I only have to go a little bit farther. I really hope so.
Whatever is ahead, I really can’t determine that. There really aren’t a lot of good options, though, so I have to move forward. Story of my life, I guess.
I start moving again, breathing out the small fire I had earlier. I think I rested longer than I thought, I feel pretty energized. Maybe finally something is looking up.
I put my hand against the wall and continued my progress.
The sounds I was hearing earlier seemed to have stopped. Maybe I’m out of the forest? Then where am I? This rock feels a lot more smoother than before. Wait... I know this rock...
It’s limestone...
I’m in a cave!
Does this mean I might be safe for a little bit? I have no idea, but now we move on to bigger questions. Like the most important one, what the hell is in this cave besides me? If I’m using this cave for shelter, then there’s a chance that another animal that’s bigger than me is also using the cave.
Or maybe this forest is just having an effect on me.
Either way, I still can’t efficiently look around without a source of light. Maybe I can pick something up around here as a source.
Or I could just yell and listen to the echoes like a bat, but that probably isn’t a very good idea if I don’t have a death wish. And I really don’t have a death wish. Not yet, anyway.
I squat down and start feeling the floor under me, only to find what anyone would find in a cave. Rocks, rocks, and more rocks. I doubt there would be any wood anywhere. Think, what is flammable inside a cave?
Wait, that’s a dumb question. Oh no, don’t tell me I got nothing else. Well, I could just pump up the fire, but like I said before, I would get exhausted. Is it really worth the risk?
There’s gotta be something, this can’t be it. I doubt I’d be able to light a rock on fire, and trying to do that would drain me of all my energy. I doubt I would find a rock covered in sap. What I would give for that right now...
I need to start focusing on things that actually have a chance of happening, though. Wishing for tree sap won’t do much of anything to help me survive.
Maybe if I- Wait, what the hell was that?!
All of a sudden, I hear a giant roar ring out from out of nowhere. The roar echoes throughout the cave wall, making it hard to determine where it came from. Ok, screw the sap, screw the light, I have to get the hell out of here!
I run back from where I came from, hoping I’m going in the right direction, and keep feeling on the rock. Something was off though.
While I am running, I hear the roar ring out again, and what is weird is it seems to be a bit closer and it doesn’t echo. If knowledge serves me right, then that means, in a cave, I’m close to the source of the sound.
This is bad, this is real bad.
Right when I think that, I can feel something behind me. Not directly behind me, but it is there alright. And it was big. Really big.
I can feel whenever it takes a step, and I can also hear it huffing and puffing. I am too paralyzed with shock and fear to look behind me. I know I can just run away right there, but what if it comes behind me? It isn’t just something I hear, but soon enough I can smell it too. The sap had smelled pretty good in comparison to this and that’s saying a lot.
If it’s getting closer, then there isn’t much I can do. I have to get out of here right now.
I hear something... groaning? Almost as if something is bending over. That stench was now completely filling my nostrils and I can feel something breathing down my neck. I think this is the second time tonight, if I am remembering correctly. Could it be the thing from the woods? No, impossible, this is definitely way bigger.
It’s right behind me, I can feel it’s ominous presence behind me. The weird part about it, though, was that there was something glowing red behind me. I mean, thank goodness for the light, but I don’t think the source of the light is all that nice.
I don’t know why, it might’ve been impulse, but I stupidly take a step forward. That seems to trigger whatever is behind me. The roar is right by my ears, making me recoil a bit. I snap out of paralyzation and start running for dear life, not caring whether I bust my face on the wall or not. The worst part is that I start to hear it coming as well, I’m barely able to keep ahead of it as the sheer fear of dying makes me move faster than I ever had before.
This is one of those things that makes me feel horrible for not being in shape, I really need to work out more. If I ever get the chance, that is. I can’t describe what is chasing me, but I’m not exactly going to stop and find out. It is huge, I know that. Every single step it takes makes the ground shake under my feet. Every so often, I almost fall on my face as it continues to stomp forward towards me. It sounds angry, maybe I stumbled onto its resting place.
It’s actually more than a little surprising that I don’t trip, really. All I’m doing is charging forward, there’s no time to do anything else. If I stop for one moment, it definitely will not be pretty.
There is one strange thing about this, though. Whatever is behind me is glowing off a weird red light, which let’s me see. This is a good and a bad thing. Good, because I can see. Bad? Because that means it’s right behind me...
Even if I couldn’t see the glow, the sound is getting closer and closer. I have to run faster, but at the same time I think I’m running as quickly as I can. My legs are starting to hurt as I continue, I’m just starting to notice it. I don’t know how my legs didn’t give out before, maybe it was just the rush of knowing you’re about to be killed.
I can see the trees! I must be leaving! I just gotta escape whatever this is and... I make the foolish mistake of looking behind me. I look back and I see a giant red paw coming towards me. What am I supposed to do? There’s no space to dodge it, and if I do, it will probably catch me. Maybe if I try to outrun it?
It only takes that second, that one that I had just used trying to think of something, for the worst to happen. I feel agonizing pain as I go flying through the air, several things trying to stop me as I go crashing through them. I think they’re trees, or at least they were. Whatever I am crashing through feels like bark, I hope. Is that blood I’m feeling? Please let it be some sort of tree sap. There I go again, thinking about tree sap.
I think I’ve stopped slamming through trees. Right as I am thinking that, I slam against another tree, this time coming to a stop. My mind can’t even wrap around what just happened. I’m sure I slammed headfirst into those trees, that much is obvious due to the giant migraine I’m having right now.
I can feel myself slowly losing consciousness. My eyesight is blurring, my ears are ringing, my muscles are shutting down... Is this what it’s like to die? I hope not, there’s still a lot that I want to do. Then again, I’m sure everyone has said that before. I never really expected to go down this way. In the middle of a dark forest, about to be consumed by who-knows-what just got me. To think, this all started because I was bored. I can hear the thing roaring like a maniac, probably just waiting to finish me off.
As my vision finally starts to go, there’s one thought that goes through my mind. I wonder what my family will think, if they will ever figure out about what is happening to me right now. Maybe they are just frantically looking for me right now. Oh, there go my insides. I cough up a bit of blood, or so I think. Wait, did the roaring just stop? Or did I just go deaf? And why do I hear someone yelling?
Can’t think straight anymore, starting to... Ugh...