Return

The time Ezer had spent with Lia wasn't much, in fact, whoever he spent it with wasn't even human. But she was the only one who guided him when he needed it the most and also abandoned him when she thought he was ready.

At that time, when they parted ways in the past, Lia actually believes that they would never meet again. After all, they lived in different worlds. She had a task to accomplish and he wandered the world until he found a purpose, although her prediction was completely the opposite and their paths came together again without them looking for it.

From now on they would see and feel the same looking for each other in case of separation, because that is their nature, despite not knowing it.

Ezer sees her just as he remembered, now quickly many things begin to make sense in his head. The intelligence that was clearly reflected in what at first he thought was a simple animal, the ability to understand each other and form a bond that seemed impossible... now it all made sense.

His thoughts are forced to end when he dodges Lia who jumps right at him, or more specifically, the bird that was about to attack him from behind.

The beast tries to dodge the sudden attack, but Lia's claws prevent it and guide the neck to its jaws. Blood begins to spurt staining her teeth, though she immediately let go when she feels its breath stop. Still, the taste wasn't bad at all.

Despite having killed one, they were still surrounded and outnumbered. In this form, Lia had greater strength and endurance, although the wound on the leg affected her and this only served to widen the gap between her and the attackers.

She quickly dodges two sharp beaks that came from behind her, the third one was stopped by Ezer who provided a big help. She throws a glance at Ezer who, luckily, understands the intentions that she was trying to convey, without wasting any more time, Lia leaves him and runs to attack despite the pain that this produced in her back leg.

His incredible sense of smell and hearing, sharpened by the change, were now capable of detecting the slightest movement of birds in the middle of the grass without relying solely on sight.

Instead of escaping, the birds pounce on Lia, confident in their numbers. She takes advantage of this to kill or seriously injure many of them at the cost of her own injuries from the sea of sharp beaks that she was engulfed in. Many were scratches that barely made it through his thick skin, while others found the perfect angle to pierce deep into his muscles.

It was not a good result, she did not expect the beasts to act that way and risk their lives to kill her, but now there was no turning back and she could only try to minimize the damage and inflict as much as possible.

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She hears a struggle behind as the injured birds fly off, leaving the lifeless bodies of their companions. Lia quickly runs on her steps stained in her own blood and that of the beasts until she reaches where Ezer was standing next to the body of another bird.

“Lia! You are very hurt!” He walks over to her and briefly examines the piercings.

She shakes her head as if to say it's nothing, straining the ears for any sign of another attack.

"We have to go, now is our chance!" This time she agrees with him.

They both knew that they were at the limit of their physical and mental strength, any distraction for these causes would cost them their lives and so far they were lucky. Ezer hurriedly picks up some of Lia's clothes that still kept their shape from the ground and starts running along with her.

The skin of his arms feels irritated by the friction of the herbs and he also had a slight cut on his cheek that did not bleed, it was just a mark. Lia should have run much faster than him, but it was the opposite, she was left behind due to her injuries and exhaustion.

"Are they following us?" Ezer asks wasting precious oxygen in the process, his chest already aching from the continuous effort.

Lia nods without knowing how many did, to find out she would have to stop and concentrate while stilling her heart to be able to hear more clearly. However, she didn't want to do it as feared that wouldn't have the willpower to run again instead of lying down and rest.

"Almost there... I can feel it." His hunch was corroborated by the change in the environment and the decrease in the density of the grassland.

“Hold on a little more.” He said it for her as well as for himself.

After a few hundred meters they catch a glimpse of a monolith that stood marking the limit of that hell and perhaps the beginning of another. In any case, at that moment they do not think about what lies beyond, focusing only on escaping from the imminent danger that was on their heels.

Stones begin to replace grasses and they stop hiding the birds that moved through them. The sight of the goal added to the squawks behind their backs urges them to run, but the wound in Lia's leg is felt when she makes a bad move that destabilizes her, making her fall to the ground.

Helping her to get up, Ezer can notice the distance that separated them from the beasts and judges that they would not make it in time, assuming that the monolith really stops them.

“Run! I'm a few steps behind!” He shouts imperatively, leaving no room for a no.

Seeing how Lia follows his order, Ezer stops, taking his bow and arrow while tightening the string, taking it to the limit. The creaks made it noticeable how each fiber that made up the bow was breaking, he ignores this and puts all his concentration and strength into that shot.

He pours onto that single arrow the despair, fear, anger, and all the feelings that built up in those days of constant pressure, using them as a channel for the magic that was repressed in his body.

He lets go of the rope, freeing the fingers that were holding it while blood dripped from them without him noticing. A void occurs behind him as all the air is forced to move forward guided by the arrow that his eyes could barely follow.

The impact was such that at the moment the shot hits the ground, having missed its target due to having very little control, it makes it explode, throwing the rock fragments that were in it into the air and hitting the bodies of the beasts like if it were a hail of shrapnel.

The stones that flew higher were now beginning to fall to the ground like irregular rain, a bit of dust still hanging in the air as the birds recovered from the impact. One had lost its leg as the arrow hit very close to it and even caused some stones to embed itself under its stomach, but the others were relatively well except for their confusion.