*BANG* “WAKE UP! You lazy fool!”

“*grumble* DO YOU HAVE TO SLAM THE DOOR LIKE THAT!?– AAA! WAIT! Wait! Ok! Alright! I’ll get up, just don’t hit me…”

“It’s three in the evening! Just how long were you planning on sleeping?”

“Um…. yes?”

“...Go wash the dishes.”

“Wh–”

“NOW.”

“Y-yes ma'am!”

 

 。。。

 

“...My son is quite cute, y'know? Right after we finish a meal he runs off to the bathroom to prepare everyone’s toothbrushes. Though… he uses his strawberry flavored toothpaste… that has a very strong flavor that, um, not everyone enjoys–”

“But it’s tasty!”

“*sigh* yes, yes, baby, i know… 

…hold on a second– Have you been eating toothpaste again?!”

“...no?”

“Hey! HEY! Get back here you little–!”

 

 。。。

 

“...Son, look at me.”

“...”

“Son, listen… Some people may say, ‘for you, there’s nothing out there’, they’ll say, ‘you are bound to become a worthless vagabond’ don’t... Don’t listen to anything they say. They will drag you down for nothing, use you for the sake of no-one but themselves…”

“...”

“I want you to know that no matter what or who you want to be, you can. Don’t settle for mediocrity, you have more options and paths that you can take than most people can afford to.”

“...”

“No matter how high someone dreams, as long as they put enough effort, push through with determination, anyone can be anything they wish to become… that includes you.”

“...”

“You are my smartest, most talented boy, no matter where you go, what you do, I'll always be proud of you.”

“...But– When I–

…

What if I don’t… Become something to be proud of?”

“*chuckle* Don’t worry, I am sure that you will become the best at whatever you decide to do, and will always support you.”

“How…”

 

——— –– –– -- - -

‘...How could you be so certain?’

 

I watch as the beast plunges on to me.

 

Adrenaline being flushed into my veins, the world passes in slow motion. A single tick of the clock passed as the highest levels of perception and processing I have ever experienced surged from within, my entire life flashing in my head in a single brief and highly detailed moment.

 

‘Now out of all times... I wonder why I recalled that.’

 

I recall the best, the worst, and all the idyllic moments in between from everything I had ever lived and all that I experienced, unearthing forgotten things and calling back memories from the deepest recesses of my head.

From the very first memories developed when I was but a small child that couldn’t even count, the embarrassing and shameful moments, the times of glorious triumph and boundless love, the packets of knowledge from everything that I had painstakingly studied, all the stories and tales heard and lived…

…until that last day when I went on with routine and met my abrupt end, followed by the mixed memories and blurred time that flew by as I stumbled left and right to survive when I was reborn here.

 

‘Ah… this will hurt, won’t it?’ I think, accepting fate.

 

By this point I am already almost being hugged by its teeth, the yellowish gloss reflecting light right into my eyes. ‘Now that I look closely doesn’t it look like that weird panther-alligator I met?... No, this one still has both eyes.’

 

*THUNK*

 

As I contemplated the finality of life, going through the stages of denial and acceptance. I hear a noise and see a bolt of wood– no, an arrow almost as tall as I punch an enormous hole in the neck of the animal, the impact sending waves across its flesh and flinging it sideways.

 

I fall on my back and away from the creature as the weight of what just happened hits me, the few seconds that seemed so long yet were so short finally registering in my head…

 

…I was still screaming.

 

“$⩀⩕@⨽, RUN!” a familiar voice screams at me, jolting me away from my stupor.

 

I look up, seeing that elf uncle holding an absurdly long… long bow atop the tree where he was setting up camp just prior, already nocking another arrow from the holster strapped to his back.

 

The rustling of branches around me makes me jump again, the sound way too close for comfort. Looking back down, I see more… and more of them emerging from behind the trees and vegetation, the noise of low growls and soft footsteps surrounding me. I look around, searching for an exit, left, right, front, back, they seem to have cornered me in all directions except behind me, leaving only one escape route.

 

Gathering myself, I slowly stand up, walking backwards and keeping eye contact. They keep approaching at a steady pace, but they don’t immediately attack. Switching my gaze left and right as one by one they get closer when I’m not directly looking. ‘Are… are they being cautious?’

 

I notice a few of them are scrambling together trying to reach the elf up in the tree in the corner of my vision.

 

*fwip* *THUNK* *whimper* Another arrow strikes directly into the eye of one the beasts that was climbing up the tree, killing it instantly as the shaft penetrated deeply into it.

 

The noise alerts the rest of the pack to focus on him, their ears standing up and shuffling as they turn around and zone on him, clear aggression showing on their faces.

 

I hesitate for a moment. ‘They don’t look like climbers…’ I think, looking at the bundle of creatures clumsily trying to get all the way up there, some of them were managing to slowly crawl upwards using their claws, but everytime one inched closer they get impaled in the head by another arrow, ‘...i’m sure he’ll be fine’ I concluded ‘you’re the one who is surrounded by bloodthirsty predators…’ I take the moment of opportunity to bolt out of there as quietly as I can, picking up my trusty stick in the way .

 

*CRUNCH*

 

The moment I start turning away I step on a pile of fallen leaves, the dry and brittle things covering the whole floor not helping me at all as they break and crack under the weight of my food.

 

*crunch* ’god…’ *CRACK* ’I step on something hard, a stick?– FU###NG…’ *snap*

 

“HNNGRRAH!” I cry in indignance, cursing my luck.Throwing any notion of stealth out of the window, I simply start frantically running, and subsequently, the noise doesn’t help and attracts more of them towards my direction

 

I speed up and force my legs to move as hard and fast as I can, the wind from the speed I am moving at hitting my face and flinging back my hair, the sound of wind rushing by my ears muffling everything else. I briefly think about how so much exertion would be killing my previous body’s knees by now.

 

Just as I contour around a tree, I hear something crashing behind me and see flying splinters overtake me, wind and the prickling sensation of tiny things hit my back. I risk a quick glance behind and–

 

*CRASH* *ROAR* An explosion of noises blasts away the thoughts in my head, the cacophonous mix of sound echoing throughout the forest.

 

‘ohgodsh#tfu#knopenopehellnogoawayfu#kmerdegodalmighty—AAAAAAAAAH!’

 

As quickly as I looked back. I turn my head back forward and continue running with frenzied fervor, the very apparent motivation of impending painful death and scary, scary monsters with hungry red gazes doing wonders for my adrenaline as I double my speed. ‘Damn it! of course the moment I turn my back on them is when they go for the kill!’

 

*CRASH* another burst of splinter shrapnel happens behind me, the 5, maybe 6, predators on my tail, literally.

For a split second I feel the tip of my tail touch something wet and sharp before I slip under another path of massive roots for cover. “Hiii!” I shriek in panic.

 

I keep on running and running, my breath turning ragged as the chase drags on.

 

And they keep up with me, just out of reach, the sound of scraping claws and thumping gallop a constant reminder of where they are.

 

One of them overtakes me from above, jumping from an arching bridge of roots and runs besides me some paces away, but doesn’t take the obvious opportunity to strike, forcing me to take a sharp turn to avoid it, the others following suit and goading me into scurrying away in different directions as they cut my path again and again– ‘Oh god have mercy– ARE THEY PLAYING WITH ME AS PREY!?’ the underlying implications make my stomach drop, they purposefully left a way to run away when they surrounded me back then.

 

*THUNK* *CRASH*

 

‘W-what?!’ I whip my head around and catch a glimpse of blonde hair above me, the beast that was getting too close for comfort beside me falling down and tumbling violently on the ground as it got struck by an arrow. Making the other beasts halt their pursuit. ‘How the hell is someone able to accurately shoot an arrow while parkouring on trees?!”

 

Storing that question for later, I continue fleeing, not wanting to get caught. Once again jumping and weaving across the brown and green landscape filled with trees and natural caverns created from the massive roots displacing dirt and rock.

 

More whimpering and the sound of heavy things hitting the earth sound behind me as I leave the area, I keep on running.

And running…

And when the tiredness begins to hit me, just as I cross a patch of overgrown vegetation, pushing the mass of leaves and brambles, popping up on the other side…

 

Only to find out that I had gone in a full circle.

 

I Find myself inside the same clearing where it all started, multiple of the Saber-alligators –I had yet to settle on what to call the strange things– prowling around with multiple dead corpses lying across the space, long wooden shafts sticking out of the corpses in places I assumed to be vital spots, each one being struck by one or two arrows with pinpoint accuracy..

 

*KTCH* I hear the sound of another one burrowing itself inside flesh. Another one falls as I see uncle elf score a hit from his vantage point.

 

‘H-hold on… if he’s still up there, then how did…?’

 

*whoosh* Right as I finish that thought, I hear the whistling of arrows cutting through wind, the bright colored feathers and the glint of the arrowheads making a stark contrast against the dark forest as they blur past me, plunging right into the fray.

 

With the extra firepower from the unidentified interloper, the already dwindling numbers started dropping by the second, arrows and bodies falling one after the other, when one or two dozen had been slain, the beasts realized they weren’t getting nowhere waiting for them to drop down the trees, and finally left, though not without hissing and growling all the way as they retreated into the depths of the forest.

 

And just like that, the sudden fight was over.

 

“*sigh*...” *flop*

 

My heart is still beating on my eardrums, and I feel my whole body jittery as I untense, laying down and taking deep breaths to calm myself, gradually making my hands stop shaking.

 

‘Just where did they come from?...’ I think, as I look over the scattered corpses, one stood out in particular, being nearly double the size compared to the rest of them, though it died to an arrow straight through the cranium, multiple arrows, straight through the cranium, it had a nasty, festering wound on the right eye and was frothing at the mouth. ‘ah… well i’m not an animal expert… and that one is awfully familiar. Could it be the same one from way back… then?’ 

 

The phantom sensation of holding an eyeball the size of my palm courses through my hands, a sharp, but numb pain on my insides where I had been practically mauled to near-death and I feel a shiver run down my spine as I recall that particular night.

 

‘A-ah… l-let’s–’ another deep breath. I blink the tears away.

 

‘Let’s put those away for another time.’

 

The waft of blood and stenching corpses aren’t very comfortable things to be around, but I can’t help it, so I ignore the smells while I have my earned respite. I close my eyes, and wait, assured that nobody was hurt in the altercation and that things would proceed smoothly.

 

I was lucky to pick a particular spot where the sun shone through, the warmth being a happy coincidence that I welcomed glady… The pile of soft grass and fallen leaves making the hard ground bearable enough… and the stench of death being faded into the wind… I relent to the weight of my eyelids and start to snooze.

 

*zzz*...

 

…

 

“Hmnngya… another five mitut– WHU– W-WHAT?!” *stab* I wake up to something– someone shaking me and feel something poke my left horn.

 

I look up and around, rubbing the bleary fatigue from my eyes, my body and mind slowly waking up before I make sense of what was happening.

 

I turn around from the position I had awkwardly nested myself in the mound I made in the ground during my short nap, and am met by the face of uncle elf as he tossed and turned holding his eye. “W-what? Hey are you ok?!” I said, not noticing the three other people around me.

 

He grumbled unintelligible things while I fussed around him. ‘I just woke up, who–what–when– what happened?’ I didn’t make much sense of my surroundings, being just woken up and surprised with something when I hadn’t properly woken up yet.

 

I hear chuckling and muffled laughter behind me as I wrestle with the elf to see his eye, making me jump in alert and getting behind the man.

 

“⩏*@⩖#C. I do not ⩜$$⩣⫚⫙**P⫝. do you ##⩣*⫚=**?”

 

I frown, I still can’t understand most of what these people say. ‘They didn’t seem to be doing anything though… are they perhaps mister elf’s elf friends? That explains what happened earlier. Where did they come from?’

 

While I scrutinized the new arrivals, he turned around and stood behind me stead, switching places. He put his gloved hands on my shoulders and began chatting… something, with them. And since I can’t understand anything I opted to scrutinize them in the meanwhile.

 

They all are wearing similar clothes, like a uniform, that closely resembles what the man I am traveling with is wearing, aside some details here and there I assume are personal differences. They have a big, oversized cloak that reaches their ankles, thick, well-worn beige leather gloves and boots, and some sort of baggy one-piece work suit, that bulged before the wrists and around the knees, and tightly fitted around their body with a mesh of belts and hooks that held a bunch of holsters and pouches around their whole body. The suit was covered by what I assumed was a linen jacket and some sort of open skirt-pants. 

 

The third one squirmed slightly as I started to unintentionally undress him with my eyes. I can’t really tell if the elf was a man or woman, his face was an androgynous thing, and the cloak is hiding the length of hair.

 

Just as I was starting to question if all elves –or elfs?– had this almost uncanny beauty. They finished their conversation and stared back at me.

 

I didn’t know what they talked about, but from the looks on their faces I could only hope for the best…

 

——— –– –– -- - -