Chapter 5_Tailed Beast

Chapter 5

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Neither Roman nor I dare to break the silence, scared to even breathe to loud. Only minutes ago we were both belittling the dangers of the forest, thinking we no longer had anything to fear. How wrong was I. Fear is all that fills my body as my eyes are still locked onto this black beast. I realise now that cartas’ are nothing more than simple rabbits of the forest, their true purpose to be hunted by the real beasts that lurk the forest.

The beasts still staring us down, well staring me down, Roman being completely ignored. Something tells me that this beast wouldn’t even give us a second glance if it wasn’t enraged by my arrow sticking out of its hind leg. The beasts release the dead carta’s neck from its jaws, the carta lying flat on the ground, blood pooling around its body. I can see the gaping holes on the carta’s, all that runs through my head is what will happen to my body if it’s trapped between that beast’s jaws.

The beast takes a step towards us, lowers its body, ready to pounce at a moments notice. A deep rumble comes from the beast’s chests, the sound alone sending chills down my spine. What were we thinking coming alone into the forest? The adults obviously knew better, shit this has costed me. I see movement from the corner of my eye from Roman, I quickly glance to see what the movement was, not wanting to take my eyes off the beast for longer the necessary.

Roman is slowly drawing the short sword from his hip, trying not to make sound. Fuck, why didn’t I bring my sword? Wait, would a sword even help me against this beast? I can’t even best Roman with a sword, but my archery on the other hand. I glance at the arrow protruding from the beasts rear leg, blood dripping down its wound.

Judging by the beast’s stance, it seems as If it can put too much weight on that leg. That should vastly limit its movability and speed. Thinking about this, we don’t need to kill it, just escape it. If I can hit one of its other legs, it shouldn’t be able to keep chase with us. I look over at Roman, who’s staring right back at me. I can tell by his eyes that he’s thinking the exact same thing as me. I’ll hit the beasts other rear leg and then we’ll run, Roman covering from the rear as he’s the only one with a sword.

Oh god, this is the stupidest thing we’ve ever done. I slowly draw an arrow from the quiver on my back and knock it on my bow, keeping it aimed down as to not alert the beast. However, the beast seems to understand exactly what’s going on as the rumbling from its chest has escalated to a deep growl with its fangs bared. Holy fuck those are some sharp teeth is all I can think right now. Argh concentrate! I can’t afford to miss this shot.

Following my usual routine of taking a deep breath and calming myself, I slowly lift my bow up to aim. The second my bow even moved in the slightest, the beast let out a ferocious roar as it dashes straight for me.

“Now!” Roman shouts beside me.

Shit! Shit! Shit! I pull my bow up and take aim, however I can’t get a clear shot. This beast’s freakishly fast, I’m struggling to track its movements with my eyes let alone my aim.

“Fire already!” Romans panicked voice sounds out, rushing me to fire.

The beast only a dozen away now. Fuck it, I release the arrow which heads directly for the beast’s leg. However, at last second the beast suddenly jumps out of the way of the arrow, which ricochets off the ground. I missed. The beast just mere metres away from me. Turn and run god damn it, I have to turn and run! My mind screams at my body, but fear holds my body from movement.

The beast jumps at me, claws out and fangs dripping with saliva. The beast knows it made its kill, as do I. My mind strangely calm as I watch my impeding death fly towards me. The beast’s fangs lining up directly to clutch my throat, going for the swift kill. Well shit, hopefully Roman can at least escape as the beast feeds on my body.

A sudden impact against my side sends my tumbling out of the beast’s way, to which I hear Romans shout telling me to run. I look up to see the beast landing where I was with a bloody gash running across its back, and Roman holding his now bloody sword.

“Run! I’ll hold it off!” Roman shouts at me as he swiftly rolls to the side, dodging the beasts claw by a hair.

I know this is the part where I’m supposed to run and sacrifice myself for Roman, and be the hero. However, that’s not how the real world is. Every single fibre in my body is telling me to run, my instincts screaming at me to leave already. My mind is telling me that I have to at least try and help Roman even if it means death, but my body is telling to escape with my life. The end result is I stand there uselessly, neither running nor helping.

Maybe father is right in his judgement. When things get down to it, I’m failure. No matter how many tails I have will change this, I’m useless. All I can do is stand here and watch my friend slowly get killed by this beast which I angered in the first place.

I watch as Roman slashes a deep cut into the beast’s side, sending blood gushing out. I then watch as the beasts claws rips across his left arm, which he now can’t hold up. He continues to dodge and weave, swinging the sword with his right arm. Even now he hasn’t given up, he continues to fight even as his injuries continue to grow worse.

Suddenly the beasts paw smashes Roman across the body, sending him flying into a nearby tree head first. His not moving, he lies there listlessly as the injured beasts moves to finish the kill. The beast has already labelled me a non-threat, and knows the human laying in front of it is the dangerous one.

Fuck! I have to do something! Anything! I look around for my bow, I can at least draw its attention away and try and lure it away from him. I see my bow a metre away, splintered in half from when Roman pushed me out of the way. Shit! The beast and Roman are over 10m away but the beast is already nearing Romans body.

Fuck it! I draw an arrow from my quiver and hold it like a dagger. I charge towards the beast, letting out a roar just in hopes that it ignores Roman and charges me instead. The beast see’s the arrow in my hand and ignores me, realising it can kill me anytime it wants after it finishes Roman off.

If only I was faster! Wait, faster? That’s it! I put all my unused stat points into agility as I continue to charge the beast.

Status Screen

Name:

Ares

Level:

Gender:

Male

Race:

[1] Tailed Fox

Stats Screen

Strength:

Wisdom:

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Agility:

Intelligence:

Endurance:

Charisma:

Dexterity:

Luck:

Suddenly my body speeds up to what feels as if double my previous speed. The beast suddenly turns its head, shocked at my sudden increase in speed. The beast forgets Roman and charges me, apparently the increase in speed is enough to warrant me as a threat now.

The beasts massive body is charging directly for me, it’s fangs and claws as sharp as daggers. I tighten my grip around the arrow in my hand asking myself what the fuck was I thinking. However, I can no longer back out, I’m committed. I glance at Roman’s body still listlessly laying there, the sight concretes my resolution. The beast and I only a metre or two away from each, we both jump at the same time. Holding the arrow overhead, I bring it down for in all or nothing strike. I feel the arrow pierce flesh but an unable to confirm where it hit as my body is sent flying into a tree, my chest feeling as if a hammer had just swung into it.

I struggle to breathe, but I force myself onto my knees, coughing up blood as I do. The beast has its back to me, but it’s walking, probably shaking off a wound. Fuck. I pull another arrow out from my quiver and hold it, ready for what will be the final clash.

The beast still walking with it back towards me, slowly starts to stagger until it collapses on the ground. I see my arrow protruding from the beast’s eye socket, dug so far in, the end is just barely visible.

Congratulations! You have leveled up!

Agility has increased by +1 Wisdom has increased by +2 Luck has increased by +3

I release my death tight grip on my arrow and let it drop to the ground. Pain soared through my body reminding me how much I’d been through. My ribs and head will still aching thanks to my sister, and now my chest is in absolute agony.

Forgetting about my injuries, I run towards Roman and kneel over his body. I slap his face a few times and call his name but he’s still unresponsive. I look over his injuries and they’re all quite bloody, his face pale. I’m not a healing expert, in fact I know nothing of it, but I diagnose that he’s bleeding out.

“Somebody! Anybody! Help! Please!” I scream at the top my lungs, coughing up blood from the strain. Okay, probably not the smartest thing to do, making a whole lot of noise in the forest which is filled with beasts. However, currently I’m not thinking straight, I’m frantic to help Roman.

Looking up at the sky, I see the sky is starting to get dark. Soon the forest will be filled with more dangerous beasts than the now dead black cat lying a dozen metres away. Making up my mind, I sling the quiver off my back to make room. Carefully lifting Roman on to my back, cautious as to not rock his head in the case of a head injury.

I nearly buckle under his weight, my body already sapped of energy. However, I can’t afford to collapse here. I take the first step and feel a burning sensation around my chest. Fuck that beast did a good one on me. Pushing through the pain, I take step by step, heading the village.

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I can see the tree line just a few metres away. It has taken me at least an hour to get here, the sky already dark. I’ve been lucky that I haven’t come across any beasts, but it makes sense as all the beasts tend to stick deeper into the forest. It was shit luck to come across that black beast when we were only a few hundred metres out from the village.

My legs barely leave the ground between each step, the only thing keeping me going is knowing that Roman is counting on me. I can hear his laboured breath beside my ear, as a constant reminder to not give up.

I can see the village through the trees, finally. I try shouting for help but my voice comes out cracked and distorted. Too weak to be heard from a few metres away, let alone the village. Fuck, guess I’ll just have to keep going.

I finally step out from the trees where I hear a little scream. I turn to my left and see Lilly standing there, her eyes filled with tears. Poor girl, she must have realised something was up and waited for us, only to see her brother unconscious on my back.

“Lilly. Lilly, listen to me. Everything’s alright. I need you to go get an adult.” My voice is so weak, not at all commanding as I intended it to be. I see Lilly still staring at me without blinking, tears still running down her face.

“Lilly, your brothers going to be alright, you’ll be playing with him in no time. Right now though, I need you to go get an adult for me. Can you do that?” I only ask her because I honestly don’t think I can last any longer. Lilly wipes the tears from her eyes and nods her head resolutely, before running off to the village.

I watch her run off, relief flooding over me. I try and gently lay Roman down, before collapsing to the ground myself. Man, who knew the ground could be so comfortable. All the pain from my injuries seems to be fading away as well, this is true comfort. Unable to keep my eyes open any longer, they slowly close. It should be alright if I sleep here, I mean it all in the adults hands now.

I slowly drift to sleep.

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“..ke….p.” Hmm I think I can hear someone.

“…ay..a..ake.” I can hear the voice a little clearer this time, and I think they’re slapping my face. It’s not like I can really feel it, but it’s more of an irritation. Damn it, can’t they just let me sleep, I’m mean I’m so comfortable right now.

Whoever it is continues to keep slapping me, forcing me to open my eyes. I can’t really see much, it’s almost like everything is hazy. I can make out that there’s two people standing over me, but one is really small in comparison.

“That’s it boy. Keep your eyes open.” I can tell the voice comes from the larger figure, because there’s no way such a deep voice could come from such a tiny figure.

My sight seems be adjusting and I can start seeing clearly again. The little figure is Lilly, tears streaming down her face as she stares down at me, her hands clutched onto the jacket of the larger man.

I recognise the man as Dax, Roman’s old man. He’s my father’s good friend and also an officer for the imperial forces. His large, incredibly so, his arms alone are as wide as my waist. He sports an unruly beard and a short cropped military hair style. He’s still wearing his apron from his job as the villages top blacksmith.

I sigh in relief that it’s Dax and not father that Lilly ran to get. Father would already begin lecturing me on how irresponsible it was for me to be out in the forest. Dax on the other hand, he shouldn’t mind if I take a quick nap. I close my eyes again and begin drifting back off to the comfort of sleep.

“Don’t fall asleep boy.” I’m rudely awaken with a slap the face by Dax’s monstrous hands. I now notice that Roman’s currently hung over Dax’s shoulder, still unconscious.

“Lilly, run ahead to Ms Aerie’s home. Tell her to get the table ready, now go!” Lilly obediently nods her head, glancing at me through tear filled eyes one last time, before running off.

Dax scoops me up in both arms, one supporting my legs and the other my head. Ugh, being princess carried by Roman’s old man, I’m not going to live this down.

The fatigue still hasn’t let go of its hold on me, I closed my eyes for what seemed to be a few seconds. However, upon opening them my eyes are immediately blinded by light.

“Fuck, what were those boys thinking?!” I hear Dax’s voice rumbling through the room that I seem to be in. My vision still not focused enough to see exactly where I am.

“Now’s not the time Dax. Any later and the boy wouldn’t have made it.” I hear a mature feminine voice respond to Dax. Judging by what she said, it seems that Ramon is alright.

“Argh I know, but now it’s up to me to tell Agnar why his boy is currently lying unconscious on your table. You know how he gets.” Oh shit, he’s going to tell father. My vision mostly returned to normal, I try and sit up to reason that there’s no need to tell father. However, the second I tried lifting my body, excruciating pain shot through my chest.

It took me a few seconds to realise that the shout I can hear ringing in my ears, belongs to me.

“How’s he awake?!” Dax’s voice sounds out.

“His reopened the wound, he’s bleeding out! Damn it, his blood levels are already dangerously low!” Frustration lining the feminine voice.

However, my brain couldn’t process those words, as my gaze is fixed on my chest. Where there are 5 long gashes running across, three of which are neatly stitched shut. However, two are torn open, where I could see my ribs through.

Oh fuck! Shit! I’m going to die! My mind started to reel from the shock, my breathing quickened. My heart feels like it’s beating a 1000 beats a minute, ready to beat out of my chest. My vision fades.

“Hold him down, he’s going into shock.”

Is the last thing I heard.

Chapter 5

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