The desperation was fully setting in. Exhausted, Grayson tried to rip another Krivel off his arm, but he couldn't muster the strength. A good majority of his flesh was gone and a lot of blood had been lost. An insect clung to his chest with its acidic venom dripping from its mandibles. He tried reaching for it but his fingers were too weak. This time he reached for his dagger and slashed at them, but there was no energy behind his attack. It didn't penetrate.

“I can't keep doing this.” he thought to himself. His survival instincts told him there was no point. He'd lost too much of himself to fight. His only choice now was to converse as much energy and run hoping some miracle occurred or simply drop dead from his wounds piling up.

All he could do was run and that was easy. As he ran, his mind flashed with imagines of those he'd left behind, the faces of people he thought he might see again. He thought of the teacher who helped him during the worst period of his life, and his mother who cared for him no matter what he did or went through. In the case of his father, simply being there and pretending everything was normal was enough.

One Krivel bit onto his face burning the skin off his cheek. Even in all the desperation and pain he was in he smiled.

I might die here today, but I am grateful for all of you.

He felt a deep, painful ache in his heart, longing for the life he once had, and the people in it. The world grew darker around in, he felt alone, alone in this storm of chittering sections. Grayson wondered if this was how it all ended—if there really was no hope left for me.

Just as the despair seemed to take hold of Grayson's mind, the air was pierced by a deafening roar, a sound so powerful it shook the ground beneath him causing him to also fall onto himself. The roar was raw, primal, and filled with pure ferocity. No, it wasn't just a single roar, it was a cacophony. Grayson stopped dead in his tracks, his heart jumping into his throat. He ignored the swarm of Krivel pressing down onto him. He wasn't sure whether what he saw through the small sliver of light, was a threat or a savior, but he knew it was a chance.

One more chance, I can't give up like this. One last piece of energy flowed through his body. From the sky above, a group of ravenous, aerial hunters emerged. Large, sleek creatures, with massive wingspans, and sharp predatory eyes. Their sleek black feathers shimmered under the sun's light. They dove, straight at the swarm of Krivel, each one emitting a menacing screech. These creatures were unlike anything Grayson had seen.

I remember those things. He thought back to the first time he'd looked outside after the transformation of Earth, he saw them flying out in the distance hunting a gigantic beast. These pterodactyl bird-like predators extended their talons with terrifying intent. They swooped down upon the Krivels at high speeds.

Just like Grayson, the swarm of Krivels were just as surprised to see the new threat feasting on them. Their attention shifted from Grayson as he felt a large majority of them ignored him and fought back against the flying beasts.

Grayson wasn't going to miss this opportunity. It might be his last, he knew he couldn't waste it. The air was a chaotic flurry mess of wings. Mandibles snapping, and high-pitched screeches echoed in the air. The Krivel used their numbers advantage to smother the pterodactyl-like birds, but the monstrous strength of their new foe seemed to equal them out. Grayson watched stunned silent, his pulse raced with excitement and vigor. But just as he felt this flicker of hope he saw a group detach from the swarm of Krivel having remembered he was still alive. This snapped him out of his trance, as he saw the lunging bodies flying at him with malice. One clung onto him and with the sudden flux of energy in his veins he cut and ripped it apart.

He knew this energy wouldn't last, his body was already telling him to stop after a single swipe. There was no point in fighting them, his goal now was to escape the chaos and survive. Like time and time before, Grayson did the one thing he knew best in this world, and that was to run.

High above the sky one of the pterodactyl birds saw a strange scene taking place. It had stopped to watch as it ripped apart the last Krivel that attacked it. There it saw a strange two-legged creature being chased by a group of lone Krivel. It wondered to itself what the strange creature it had never seen before. It then remembered that it had seen the creature lead the disgusting insects into its home territory.

The creature looked to be running away from the inferior insects. It thought to itself in the simplest of logic, "There's no way those insects would dare charge into our mighty home unless the thing it wanted was of truly special value." Its over-inflated ego as a master of the sky would never guess that they were unaware that they had accidentally entered its territory whilst chasing the human. Even so, to enter the home of the mighty Virodrake was sin enough.

That being said it decided that it would kill all the Krivel and the strange creature too.

Grayson avoided any large groups. He dodged out of the way of the falling Krivel bodies and narrowly escaped being crushed by the Virodrake corpse that almost crushed him to death. From what he could observe, the Virodrake seemed to be on the winning side. There simply wasn't enough Krivel to contest this large Virodrake nest.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"Over there!" Grayson exclaimed as he spotted a forest in the distance. Its thick trees and a large amount of flora would help camouflage him if he needed to hide. It was his best bet at survival. At this moment he needed a place to rest more than anything.

He was so close to his destination, that he mustered all the strength left in his bones and ran forward. The Krivel chased after him, but with the chaos of the battlefield, they seemed to struggle to gain any distance from him. Just as he swatted a dead Krivel corpse flying toward him, he saw in his periphery a Virodrake descending toward him. Up close he realized just how menacing the creature was. He hesitated for a second but knew he couldn't waste time sitting here. He ran forward raising his dagger at the beast, and sliced toward its wing. Unexpectedly though it did something he could have never guessed, and canceled its momentum, and changed its course. Instead of aiming for his chest, it swept across Grayson's shoulder leaving large marks.

"Shit's strong," he exclaimed not expecting that. it to do that. He had to make it to the forest before more began deciding he might be a good target. The Krivel were dying rapidly.

He cut apart a few Krivel that made its way toward him, only to find the Virodrake, flying toward him again.

Damn, it's smart. It's using the Krivel to attack me in my blind spot.

Grayson slashed at it one more time and this time he rolled as it changed its direction once more. He wasted no time and rushed toward the opening he saw in the forest. Right before he could after all he'd encountered, lose his enemies, the Virodrake blocked its path. He swore he could see it smirk.

Grayson paused for a second and eyed the creature. He saw it flap its wings in quick succession and fly at him again. You think you're smart? Grayson focused on it and expected it to do the same maneuver again. It dove at him and when he drew his dagger in an arc it indeed did pause. Grayson swerved to the side expecting it to do the same attack again, but instead, it waited another second. It eyed Grayson swerving and then dove at him.

His eyes went wide as he realized what it was doing. It wanted him to go and attack him while he was stuck in motion. Grayson had been vigilant and didn't underestimate the Virodrake. He quickly halted his steps and dodged the other way, narrowly dodging its Talons.

Grayson's eyes panned toward the battlefield and saw that it would be wrapping up soon. I need to end this now. He ignored the Krivel that were watching the scene ready to swoop in on the winner of the battle.

The Virodrake and human eyed each other one more time and aimed their weapons, or talons in the case of the drake, at each other. Both knew this would be the final attack.

The drake flew high into the sky and once it felt it was high enough, it began to dive. It flew fast, faster than a falcon, aiming at Grayson with deadly intent.

"Will I even be able to kill that," he said to himself. He raised his blade in a defensive position.

Firefly don't fail me now.

He trusted in himself and instead of preparing to dodge the drake, he stepped in fully expecting it to halt and swerve.

Either he was wrong or he died or he lived and won. This was real life though, it indeed halted, but it never planned on doing the same routine all over again. Instead, as it stopped its momentum it flapped its wings in a strange motion causing a dust storm to fly across Grayson's face.

He did not expect that and covered his eyes in surprise. He tried opening them but he saw in front of his eyes the flying Virodrake seconds away from cutting him in half.

He did not hesitate. "I wasn't expecting you to have the same idea as me.”

He opened one of the clenched fists and there was a single firefly. floating. Grayson didn't have much mana, but he didn't need to do damage. "Explode!" he felt his hand erupt in pain as he almost dropped the dagger onto his shoe. He bit down on his teeth and fought through the burning sensation.

Looks like all the acid has helped me in that aspect.” he smirked.

His gamble paid off again. If his strength wasn't enough to normally take out this enemy, then he'd have to force it into his favor with his life on the line.

The drake screeched loudly as the bright light exploded in its eyes. It practically did almost no damage with the pathetic amount of mana behind it. It was the light.

Who would have thought, you would be weak to light? I did and that's why you lost. I had a hunch after looking at how they fought with the Krivel's. I wondered why it would always stop whenever I waved my dagger around. It shouldn't be much of a threat considering their size, it was until I noticed the glint.

Grayson ran at the beast who had grown completely enraged and charged straight at him. He raised his blade shining it in the sunlight but this time it didn't seem to react. It must have been still under the effect of the sun, but still charged in Grayson's general direction. His dagger cut through one of the Virodrake's wings causing it to go off balance. But the Virodrake would not go down without a fight, it used the last of its energy to twist through the air slicing Grayson's stomach before it crashed into the ground.

He felt the second rush of energy leaves his body. He was dying. The Krivel's watching the fight began to fly at him once again and the Virodrakes who'd been angered by the light gave up on chasing him after seeing his wound. They knew he was going to die.

They saw the creature moving its two legs, trying to run toward the forest. It was losing its speed exponentially. That was the final straw for them. "Pathetic," they thought. The Virodrakes lost all interest in the figure and turned back to their actual enemy.

Grayson felt the blood leaving his body, he ran nonetheless. With each step he took he could feel the blood flowing out of his gaping wound. Weakily he cut apart the last of the few Krivel that chose to still fly at him. The majority had split off to finish off the Virodrake, having decided he wasn't much of a threat. They had understimated him Grayson thought to himself as he squished the last of Krivel to death.

He had finally escaped and made it to the forest, but he could no longer run. All that was left to do was die.