The blue eyes glinted as they stared only meters away from Touji's face. His legs began to tremble and his mouth became dry.

A massive paw appeared beside him, moving so fast Touji's eyes barely caught it's movements.

"Nnnggh!" He screamed while launching himself backwards, narrowly dodging the extended claws.

The monster's giant form finally took shape as it emerged from the shadows.

"Oi! Get away from me! GO AWAY!" Touji's yells echoed throughout the forest.

The beast paced around on all fours before it came to a stop. Its eyes bore into Touji as a growl escaped from its throat.

Touji was frozen on the spot.

-Dammit, did it regenerate or are there hordes more waiting in the forest?

The creature unleashed a lightning-fast sprint in his direction causing his heart beat to stop for a instant. He quickly sidestepped and jumped, dodging the blow, it's claws digging deep into the earth where he had stood.

-I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die.

Touji's thoughts raced as he tried to think of a way out. His body suddenly jerked upwards as he was lifted into the air.

-What happened?! Why am I in the air?

He was then caught, suspended in midair between the monster's jaws. He felt the grip loosen for an instant. Then with tremendous force, he was thrown into the trunk of a tree with such a heavy impact. His body slid down leaving behind a dent in the shoulder of the tree.

"No . . . I . . . have to get up."

The monster lunged at him, mouth open and eyes glowing fiercer than ever. Mustering the last of his strength Touji rolled over in a last effort to survive. He successfully evaded the pounce letting the fenrir to instead hit the tree it had thrown him against, uprooting it completely. A large chunk of earth was wrenched out of the ground with its roots strangely leaving a gaping hole in the ground. Though Touji had succeeded in preventing his body to be ripped in half by it's gaws, there was another sensation of claws raking his stomach and chest. It was only a matter of time before the full force of the pain would kick in leaving him unable to think sanely.

He felt the ground tremble as it started to become uneven. He fell asleep the ground opened below him.

Touji heard a loud bang, ringing his ears and making his vision get fuzzy. He lay there, dazed and unresponsive, unable to process anything. Once his eye had finally cleared, he was enveloped in darkness.

Only a small hole gave him a small glimpse of the stars above. Touji tried to stand up but quickly collapsed again. His bones ached and he was losing blood fast. He felt his chest and stomach area to see how much damage was taken. His figures touched something unlike he had ever felt before. It wasn't skin. Something was sitting on his stomach. He lifted it and there was a light sloshy sound as he brought the tube-like object above his head. As blood dripped over his face it was then that Touji realized how far gone his mind actually was. He dropped his intestines, terrified of the discovery. Blood spewed from his mouth and into his lungs, choking whatever life he had left inside of him.

With his hands Touji grasped the hard soil and pulled himself away from the opening above him. He bled out, streams of hot liquid gushing from his bowls. He kept pulling himself along the ground in hope that he would somehow survive, but eventually, his hands and arms failed him, letting the light slowly drifted from his eyes.

"I . . . Can't . . . Anymore-"

***

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

As his eyelids slowly opened, Touji could feel a certain numbness creeping up his arms. He blinked twice and a blur of light danced through his vision.

"Ugh."

He coughed, clearing his throat. He groaned trying to sit up as a sharp pain leaped across his ribs. He winced as he held his stomach, feeling dizzy and nauseous. He let out a long sigh and stood up unsteadily.

Suddenly it all disappeared leaving a strange sensation of wellness which felt unnatural. He examined his surroundings. The small towns houses and shops of the village flanked him on either side, illuminated by the aposs. It was so quiet.

He pulled up his shirt and hoodie to check on his wounds. They were missing. He had completely healed.

It almost felt too many terrible things was happening to him that it quite possibly could all be a series of nightmares all leading to death, something Touji had experienced a few times when he was younger.

But it was way too real to be a dream. More real than he could describe his days before the dream.

He began to feel tired, his eyes and legs seemed to be failing him as his shaking mind barely held on. As he stumbled and fell but quickly caught himself on a black pole which jutted out from the ground beside him. Picking himself up Touji felt a peculiar texture on his hands. Glancing down he noticed that his palms were covered in a black powdery substance. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that he was standing on a pile of black dust, lying scattered in a direct circle around him.

-Ash

Immediately Touji realized where he was. It was the exact spot where he had been executed.

The vivid memories of his execution once again surged through his mind.

-They're going to kill me again if I stay.

He then turned over his hood and sprinted, causing out of the silent town. He ran as fast as he could heading in the direction of the outer gate.

Eventually, he was greeted by the sight of two men sitting outside a hut. They appeared to be guards seemingly nodding off too the late night shifts. Touji ran past them without slowing. As they noticed him pass by, they called out to him to stop but were again ignored.

"Hey, you there young lad! There's a Fenrir stalking the forest outside so I'd suggest you turn around."

But without heading their warnings he instead approached the horse's station. Unlocking a horse from its stall, Touji swung himself onto its back and dug his heels into its stomach.

The animal quickly sped off down the dirt road. The guards chased after him, shouting threats and insults since he definitely didn't own the pack animal, but Touji paid them no heed, holding on for his dear life as the horse galloped into the forest trail. Touji swayed violently back and forth on the horse’s back as tree branches and debris threatened to unseat him.

A bend in the road was fast approaching and Touji knew that not far behind it was where he had last been attacked by the beast. Grabbing hold of the horse's mane with both hands he mounted his foot onto the horse's back and jumped to the side, narrowly missing the pebble road.

A moment of airborne, lasting for what felt like an eternity, then an instant blackout.

Touji rolled and bounced, hitting rocks and roots until a tree trunk ended his journey abruptly. Touji's hands and arms were covered in scratches and his face was heavily bruised. He quickly jumped up examining himself to see if any bones were broken.

-I probably broke a rib or two.

In actuality, Touji was quite lucky with his injuries. To have survived a fall from a galloping horse without breaking a single limb was a feat in itself. Though he was not wrong about the fractured rib.

Holding tightly onto his chest, he picked himself up and dragged his feet onto the road, keeping his body close to the ground. Directing his gaze down it, he saw the horse had been knocked onto its side with the fenrir towering over it, claws embedded into its back.

-Perfect, it took the bait. Hopefully, I can get past this time.

While the beast was busy consuming the pack animal, Touji cautiously snuck beside the path to where he had last discovered the tunnel and quietly slipped in. Falling several feet he hit the ground and let out a loud moan. The adrenaline was wearing off and with the sudden force of hitting the ground, he was beginning to understand the severity of jumping off of a horse.

He heard a growl from outside as the monster above heard him cry in pain. Its footsteps pounded the ground above. Then it fell silent again with only a loud sniffling sound.

Touji held his breath not daring to move a muscle, hoping that somehow it would lose his scent. A minute passed, then two. Touji let out his breath. It was quiet.

He slowly moved one leg forward as silently as he could, but as he did two frighteningly large jaws gnashed right behind him, barely missing him by an inch.

Touji screamed and jumped and rolled down the passage with the Fenrir clawing its way through the hole above.

-Holy shit! That was so damn close.

Thankfully, while the fenrir could dig through the roof of the tunnel, it was much too large and could not fit between the walls, making it only a matter of time before it would give up or get itself stuck as long as Touji kept moving.

Relieved after the sudden shock though still not out of the park, he crawled on his hands and knees for a good forty minutes until he reached the end of his stamina. Touji collapsed on his side, exhausted.