“You know that moment when you start talking to yourself because you think you’re gonna die?” Heel drives into the rock - body arches to the right - left leg rolls under the stinger - dive roll - *WHUMP* of air passing by - continue running.
“Why yes, me. I think I do. If I’m not mistaken, maybe now is one of those times.” Spin left - *whump*. Spin right - *whump*. Duck - *whump*. Hop - *crack*. Twist in the air - *whump*. Roll on landing - *whump*, *crack*.
“Incredible! What an astute observation, me! While we’re here together, perhaps one of us has some idea?” *Whump* - *crack* - *whump* - *whump*.
How long have I been dodging this damned monster? Lucky me it’s not smart enough to realize it doesn’t have to sting me and could just run me down. Or, maybe it does need to sting me? Digestive acid or poison or something? It could run me down and stomp me into a sieve and then sting me. Wouldn’t that work?
“Hey me, how long have I been running for my life now? Shouldn’t I not have the presence of mind to crack jokes and think with how hard I have to concentrate to --” Reflexively I throw my body at the ground, then push sideways and spin roll to my feet before kicking off hard against the ground again. “Dodge these attacks like this?”
“Well, me, if you hadn’t noticed, which you did, this creature thingy has a rhythm to its movements and attacks that you can predict. Also, that many-legged-brain in there doesn’t seem to be able to track and predict where you’re going to go. It's fast, sure, but not smart.”
“Alright me, I owe me an apology. That is a very astute observation and I shouldn’t have ridiculed you in the past for the obvious. In-fact, this gives me an idea. The idea being that I might just be able to keep dodging it until one of us gets too tired and gives up. Since I’m running for my life, I may have the advantage?”
Maintaining my life by literally dancing on the edge of a cliff, I’m managing to make good time to the pylon in the distance. I’m winded and dying, but good time is good time.
As I hit about the mile mark from where this chimeric abomination started chasing me we finally break out of the ridge and the gorge suddenly slopes up to a flat plateau area. Something about this is giving me a really bad feeling.
Cresting the hill and hitting the plateau I notice a few large rocks. There’s three by the slope and a lot more dotting the wind-blasted-flat rocky outcropping. As the rocks unfurl into literal stone covered lizards with twelve legs and scorpion tails - ok, seriously, what is with Vorben and scorpions? - I almost turn back towards the ant-rachno-pion. At least there’s only one of it.
Each of these creatures is somewhere between eight and sixteen feet long (feet? I’m still on that weird imperial system right?), with a deep maw full of long sharp teeth and three pairs of double legs on each side of its sleek whip-like body - a body made of flexible stone that tapers at the end before curving up into a wicked looking broadleaf serrated metal spike. Vorben, I gotta give you credit for your aesthetic and how beautifully intimidating these things are, but what in the hells man!?
“Awww, to hell with this.” I growl at the world. “BRING IT!”
Pulling my knives I dive forward and increase my speed even further. A strange sensation of familiarity, almost like a forgotten memory, tugs at the corner of my awareness. Reaching deep into my mind I grab hold of the sensation and let it spread across me.
As the feeling spreads, all thought just slips away. Suddenly, I’m aware of every minute detail, the movement of the wind, the sensation of breathing, of the blood(?) pumping throughout my body, the smell of stone, of dirt, of sun, the very energy of life and air flowing all around me.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
With roaring laughter and a thrill that can only come from dancing on the razor edge of death, “I am alive!”
Claws swipe at me only to be parried and used to increase my speed. Maws bite for my neck, my arms, my legs, but find nothing. How could they? The air gives them away. Their sound and smell, the pressure on the ground, tells me where they’re at and what angle to move. For every inch these creatures move to attack me I only move a hair’s width to evade.
Left, cut the angle, parry and let the force take me out of the bite of another, slip under a tail, pivot and step again to put one between two. Can’t see but can feel the ant-rachno-pion. I circle my right foot to a half spin as the stinger strikes where my back was, then slide my left foot back and lean a touch as the stinger slides past my chest, brushing my vest. Lifting my daggers in a reverse grip, I punch out to meet the pincers and, pushing hard against them while lifting my knees to my chest, I shoot back as a curled ball, right under the stinger of the rocklizardthing striking from behind - but right over it’s back.
Kicking off the head of one of the other two I continue to shoot past them across the plateau. Out of the corner of my eye I see a couple dozen more large rocks unfurl and join in the pursuit.
Grinning like the maniac I am, I quickly sheath my daggers and scoop up some loose sand and rocks - as I narrowly roll past another bite attack. Coming to my feet I start slinging rocks at the eyes of some of the largest beasties.
That did the trick. “Oh YEAH! You like that?” I taunt at the ones now charging past and literally bowling over the creatures in their way. Glancing around I realize that Mr. Invisible Monster has decided this is not worth it, as I see one of the smallest of the lizard things webbed up and being drug away. Huh, that’s neat.
Intuitively, there’s no way my knives are going to be able to cut off the stingers or claws in one swipe, and killing these boyos one by one is not an option - too time consuming and too much standing still.
Conclusion - keep running! Maybe, just maybe, they haven’t eaten and are lower on stamina than I am. Ha! Like magically mutated monsters need to eat. Who knows what the fuck these things run on, because I’m damned certain that whatever digestive tract they have can’t be biologically sound. More than that, there’s nothing for miles to eat besides each other, and there are way too many clustered together for regular cannibalism. This is like a colony of some sort.
“Running~~ Runnnnin~ It’s just a dodge to the left, and a skip to the riiiight. Pull your knees in and keep that roll real tight. The looks of those spikes can fill me with paiaiaiain.” Unsure where the hell this random song is coming from, all I know is I’m now singing while I dodge. This is easily the most fun I’ve ever had!
Without any thought I tilt my head to the side, reach up, and grab the tail of the largest monster-thing just behind it’s stinger and jerk it forward and down. As it’s legs buckle from the sudden shift in momentum I skip back and kick it right in the snout. Without hesitation I yank on the tail as this monster recoils backwards and use that to hop up on top of it, kicking it in the snout again as I pass.
A *clang* resounds, accompanied by a burst of sparks as one of the other creature’s spiky tails cracks against the back of the big boy I’m now on top of.
“Huh. Now I know why they’re not cannibals.” I joke aloud.
Curious… I have a sudden sensation that I can just… dance? I start to shuffle back and forth as my intuition tells me which one is going to attack where. Even as the creature I’m standing on starts to buck and twist I swear I can feel exactly what it's about to do.
Riding the momentum I get a sudden dumb idea. Flipping off of him - very unnecessarily and showily because I’m that arrogant now - I land and turn to face the colony of rocky double legged lizard thingys and start to shuffle slide backwards in the direction of the pylon.
Unsurprisingly, they circle me to try and make it harder to move… perfect. “All according to plan.” I cackle aloud. Like I have a plan. I mentally reply to myself.
As the ones encircling me start to move in I put my ‘plan’ into action. I dive-roll backwards underneath one of them and thank my stars it didn’t think to open its mouth, lay down, or grab at me with it’s anything. Twisting as I exit my roll to my feet I take off sprinting full-out for the edge of the plateau.
As I reach the edge there’s a good 40 ft gap between this plateau and the next one. I plant my foot on the very edge, coil my knees, and leap with everything I have. As I rise up I tuck my knees towards my chest while throwing my arms up to gain height and kick my legs out in-front of me to push my distance further.
I sail out across the ravine, which, looking down, is very very far. Pulling out my knives, windmilling my arms and bracing my legs I slam into the far cliff face with all the force and grace I can muster; *thwack* “Oof” ~sob~. Thankfully the knives bury themselves to the hilt and I manage to hold on despite my legs hitting an outcropping of rock that broke away at just the right angle for me to swing my face and solar plexus into the cliffside.
Hanging just over Death’s embrace, working to catch my breath, I can’t help it. This body, this world, is amazing! What else is here? Laughing like a man possessed I start ripping my knives out one by one as I free-hand climb towards my destination.