"I'll distract it, you should run back to the corner." Angelo carefully eyed the aggressive creature, the gray stick firmly in his hand.
"Oh- uh, but, ok, what about you?!" Duncan's head danced in all directions.
"I'll fly back once you're far away enough. Don't worry about me." the winged boy peeked towards Duncan, gave him a short smile and focused back to the yellowish green animal with a frown.
'Aargh!' the survivor turned tail, tightly held his backpack and blasted for the towering canopy in the distance.
The large feline's ears twitched and it ran for the boy.
A pale feather cut its path, causing the animal to athletically jump backwards with a flip.
The feather imploded with an earth quaking bang and ignited a patch of tall grass beyond.
'I'm literally a burden! Useless! A pack mule! He would've gotten away by now if it weren't for me!' Duncan heard the explosion from behind but didn't dare look back.
'Aaaaargh! Body mods!' he received a drastic increase in speed and began jumping high enough for his head to poke out of the sea of grass.
The large feline let out a bone shaking roar aimed towards the winged boy. Its opened jaw was lined with spiky titanium white fangs larger than a palm. A lean muscular body stood on its four long slim legs growing razor sharp claws.
Angelo patiently watched the glare coming from the cheetah like feline.
The beast sneakily lowered its body and burst forth with incredible speed that violently waved its monochrome fur. It zigzagged around the winged boy with short jumps and hops, hiding and emerging from the tall grass.
The angel's white wings spread further and he lurched to the side to dodge the incoming animal.
Angelo and the savage feline continued to dance along the tree's perimeter, both with unnaturally sharp movements.
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*Tussle* *Tussle* *Tussle*
'Half... way there...' Duncan panted as he sprinted across the bright green plains.
Amidst the bird's singing and distant mooing, the boy heard a loud shriek coming from above.
He faced behind and above and saw a vibrant blue falcon with two thin crescent sickles for feet diving down.
"AHHH!" he threw himself down to the side to dodge.
The feathered creature swiped with its sickles at the grass and flew up again.
"Haa... haaa..." the survivor crawled back to his feet and continued to run.
As the boy rushed for the titanic canopy, the deadly bird circled above.
It dove once again, its sickles eager to pierce the boy's flesh.
'Dang it!' he slid off the left strap of the backpack and held the sack in his palm by the right strap like a sling.
He spun around and expected to see the pursuing bird, but it was nowhere to be found.
His brief confusion ended with a sting to his shoulder.
Out of pure reflex, he shook off the blue falcon and smacked it on its side with the heavy backpack.
The fowl tumbled away with a pained screech.
The survivor wasted no time and abandoned the twitching bird to be embraced by the bright grass.
'Haaaaa!' he squeezed his nicked shoulder with one hand, his backpack hanging on one strap.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
He slowly lifted his palm with gritted teeth and saw it covered with small lines of blood.
'Damn it!' he peeked at his injury.
Two cut lines of skin slowly oozed blood beneath his equally cut shirt.
'I hate this, I hate this, I HATE THIS!' he held his bloodied arm to the side, careful not to stain anything else.
His heart sank when he heard the same intimidating shriek multiple times.
"Guh! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Duncan halted and turned, determined not to let a single member of the small flock slip from his sight.
As the three sickled birds circled overhead, he prepared to attack with the plumb green backpack like he did before.
From the corner of his eye he saw a blue raptor attacking.
He spun his torso right on time to deflect the bird with a single strike.
As the momentum of the impact ended, the weight of the improvised sling became too great and it escaped from the survivor's grip. It flew off and was consumed by the sea of grass along with the bird.
'No!' his shocked breath came out as a small cry.
He eyed the other two circling above for a slip second before ducking down to search.
"HA!" he instantly made out the heavy sack between the countless fibers of grass.
He crawled on fours to reach the backpack and returned it to his grasp.
Just before he rose back up, he felt a crushing tiredness pushing him back down. His head spun and his muscles ached.
'No... It ran out.' he sat on his knees.
A woosh in the nearby grass startled him and he covered his head. Soon he curled up into a ball as the bird's attacks continued.
'Aaaa...' he silently cried as the throbbing from his shoulder grew.
The grass weaved itself around and between his form, completely enclosing him from above.
'How do I get out of this...' his eyes watered as the birds kept missing.
'I shouldn't have used it again, I have no strength left... I was so close too...'
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Angelo propelled himself to the side, swiftly dodging the large greenish feline.
His feathers spun and rotated with sharp and precise movements along their stem, occasionally letting out a small jet.
The beast grew impatient and sloppy as it blindly focused on the winged boy.
'He should be far away enough by now.' Angelo looked over to the immense gray trunks.
"Bye bye!" he waved at the monochrome cheetah as he launched himself in the air with a woosh.
The animal leapt in fury but didn't even come close to catching the angelic boy.
He elegantly spun in the air and shot for the corner of the oversized trees.
From above the grassland looked like a wide ocean of green with small waves rippling around on the surface. He carefully scanned the ground with a scowl.
'I don't see him...' he looked along the path he expected Duncan to take and spotted two birds with sickles prodding in the ocean of plants.
"Oh no!" his wings unfurled as he homed in on the raptors.
He gently glided lower, just above the grass and catapulted with a burst from every feather.
He prepared his staff and swatted one of the sickled fowls like a fly.
Circling around, he did the same for the other one after a few tries.
"Duncan?!" he floated above the stalks of grass.
A bloodstained hand crept its way up from the sea of green.
"What happened to you?!" he said in horror.
The angelic boy was about to land near the hand when he noticed an unusual wave in the ocean of greenery. A fast approaching dot left a trail behind like a comet as it swivelled left and right.
"RUN, QUICK!" Angelo screamed as he lifted his hands, showing the top portion of feathers stuck up like needles while the lower portion lifted him higher.
'I can't... what's going on?' Duncan retracted his hand and hung the sack on his side as he walked as fast as his pained body allowed.
The angelic boy carefully watched the head of the comet. When he felt the time is right, he sent out five feathers to cut its path off.
The pale feathers detached from their stems and propelled themselves with a small jet. Upon hitting the ground they ruptured, letting out light yellow oil that ignited into a wide fireball that consumed the vegetation and stopped the comet dead in its track.
The angel watched from above and noticed how slow and weak the ripple Duncan made was.
'Is he really hurt???' his eyes knitted with worry.
Beyond, the waves of perturbed grass twisted across the line of dying fire and kept their pursuit.
'He isn't gonna make it...' Angelo scrambled his brain for a solution.
"Put your hands in the air!" he yelled, gliding behind Duncan.
"Like this?" he stuck his hands up as if he were surrendering.
"Yup!" he flew right above him, his body perpendicular to the ground.
"Hold on tight!" Angelo clamped to Duncan's forearms and lifted him off the ground.
"Wah, AHHH!" in a panic Duncan did his best to also grip Angelo's forearms and dodge the stick that was being held alongside him.
The angelic boy's wings let out a woosh and they were sent flying higher and faster.
Duncan blankly watched the greenery below turn into a blur as he held his breath in terror. Nearly instantly, they reached the bare dirt and started losing speed.
"I'm gonna land here- Wah!" the winged boy lost balance for a moment but quickly corrected it.
"EEEEK!"
"Ah, I can't land like this... I'm gonna drop you off." he glided close to the ground.
"And... NOW!" he released the survivor a little of the floor.
"Ahhuff!" Duncan landed on his feet but tripped and fell on his hands.
Angelo stopped short of hitting one of the big trees.
'I'm in one piece?!' the boy breathed heavily.
"Are you alright?!" the angel ran over to Duncan.
"Ah!" he spotted the wound on his shoulder. "Oh no, what do I do- I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have dragged you with me, ahh-" he rambled.
"It's- fine." Duncan sluggishly stood up. "I brought first-aid stuff, let's go back first."
"Yea, okay. Here let me carry it-" the grass shook fiercely.
A charred feline emerged and roared towards the boys.
"Ahhh, not you again!" Angelo defensively stood in front of Duncan with every feather on his wings standing up on edge like the spikes of a porcupine.
The large beast warily stared him down.