The panting from the creatures around Truzari grew heavier. They inched closer to him. growling and snapping as they grew closer. Then all of a sudden he could hear flapping. Truzari stepped away as the animals started snapping at each other not wanting to give him up. The flapping grew louder and now it was chorused with a large thumping shaking the ground. He stepped back from the growling and snapping and tripped over a branch. He could feel something sliding across his leg, then a hiss. It wasn't a branch but a snake.
He jerked his leg away and could hear the snake sliding towards him. He crawled backwards but it was too fast. It wrapped itself around his leg quickly but before it could wrap up to his torso, Truzari heard a whoosh and he was pulled into the sky by his leg. He could hear the thumping of something large picking up speed. He wasn't the only one surprised at being lifted into the sky. The snake hissed and he heard the snake strike the bird. Then there was a caw and a crunch. The snake became limp around his leg and the bird loosened its grip.
He was plummeting through the trees. Truzari slapped against the branches of a tree. He was able to grab onto a large branch and pull himself up. He swung his leg over the branch and crawled towards the trunk. The branch that he sat on was barely large enough to fit his body, but it was safer than being on the ground.
He could hear it. Death everywhere. Flying things, crawling things. Big fat slow things, and tall skinny fast things. He could taste the venom and blood in the air.
He had been in the tree for about an hour and the chaos hadn't subsided even a little bit. There was so much chaos, he couldn't find any way he could escape. He had to. If he didn't then Carausi would be killed. He heard flapping then a whoosh above his head. In a panic to avoid the flying creature he fell off of the tree branch landing on a boulder. He rolled off of it and gasped for air, then he heard a jaw snap so close to his face he involuntarily jumped back. He heard a shifting. Something the size of a boulder had unearthed itself and was trampling the mud in front of itself to get after him.
Truzari crawled to his feet stumbling in the opposite direction. He smashed face first into a large furry wall. He slid around it and met the smelly jaw of another creature, but jumped to the side before it could clamp down its jaw.
He ran and tripped and avoided death on each path he chose. After racing around the woods for an hour he tripped over a small body and was covered in blood. He could feel a cold spot in the distance that was quiet. There was no killing going on in that direction. He wasn't sure why but the alternative was more running and his legs were shaking underneath him. Fear and exhaustion pulsed beneath him. He had no choice but to go that way. Hopefully he could get a grasp on where he was if he only had a second.
He slowly approached the cold spot and could hear water dropping from somewhere as it crashed onto a hard surface. The sounds of the chaos started to die down and his foot steps echoed. A strange smell hung in the air that he had never smelled before. The dirt under his feet disappeared and he was now walking on something hard. He could hear his feet slapping against it, a cold surface. They echoed like they did when he was in the great hall at the Iowa. He was inside something. It must be a house he thought.
"Hello? Hello, is anyone there? I'm lost and I'm trying to get home. Can you help me?" He heard a sound and rushed forward landing his face straight into a wall and fell back. He clutched his bleeding nose. Not only was his lip busted but now his nose was bleeding. He had more scrapes over his body than he could remember, and in this place that was dangerous. He heard a pattering of foot steps, then a clicking, and then the pattering turned to a thudding. It was another beast. He wasn't going to be saved this time it was heading right for him. There was a tingling all over his body.
He could feel its breath on his face. It had stopped. To his surprise he felt the largest muzzle brush gently against his shirt. It wasn't trying to eat or kill him. It nudged him softly as if it knew him, then a large rough tongue ran its way up his front. Sharp large teeth grabbed onto his beanie, unconsciously he quickly grabbed it and pulled it back on. It snorted over him not liking this much. He knew it was large and had a large mouth full of teeth. He wasn't going to fight it but he wasn't going let it take his beanie.. He could feel it circling him and now it was behind him. It pushed him forward maybe out. Out of where? He thought about it and he realized what this was. It was a cave. He had entered the cave of this gigantic beast. Now it was trying to force him out. He didn't want to go back outside but he had a better chance of surviving if he just did whatever it told him to do unless it was leading him deeper. Deeper into the cave where he would be ravaged by more of its kind. He didn't want that either.
He had to think of something but he didn't know where anything was. He tried to veer off to find a wall or something but in between tripping over large rocks or running into stone pillars, the hardest thing to avoid was the urging nose of whatever was leading him further. They had been walking so long there was no way they were going outside. They had been walking longer than he did to get to it, so the entrance had to be behind them.
Then it stopped. The urging stopped and he heard a loud plop. Then he felt fur under his hand and another smaller muzzle touch his hip. It purred and meowed at his waist. His body shuttered away from it and found a wall. The small creature followed close behind meowing as he moved along along a wall in the direction he just came from. They were obviously keeping him around for emergency food. He heard the frightening sound of the large creature that lead him there getting up. He was about to be eaten. He was a flight risk. He was more useful dead or maimed. Instead of trying to bite off an arm or a leg, it nudged him again pushing him back into the cave.
He followed the wall inward and slid down the wall and pressed himself against the wet cold stone wall. Why was it being so gentle with him. Don't beasts scare their prey into a trap? It was acting funny like it thought he was a friend or a child. He reached for his shirt. It was still covered in blood and fur from when he tripped over the creature outside. He smelled his shirt and it was the same smell he encountered when entering the cave. The dead creature must have been another of their pack like a cub or something. It died outside, so maybe the thing that brought him into the cave thought he was a cub since he was covered in its scent.
That night was frightful but Truzari, against his will, found sleep.
There was tearing of flesh and chirping of birds. Truzari awoke with a shutter immediately remembering where he was and a weight on his left leg. He adjusted his leg slightly and confirmed there was something there. He listened and he could hear the slight wheezing of the creature in his lap and now he felt the distinct large paw in his lap. He slowly spun to his side to get from underneath its grasp. He could hear the larger taking slow deep breaths not too far away. This was his chance.
He slid up against the wall. After getting to his feet he noticed his legs weren't shaking anymore. He wasn't sure how much sleep he got but it had done the trick. If he could get out of here and avoid the creatures outside maybe he could find someone to help him. They could get word to his brother and he could run or something. Rejuvenated and restful filled with just a wisp of hope for getting out of this nightmare he recklessly stepped forward. This was a mistake as he stomped on the tail of the creature previously sleeping in his lap.
The strange creature awoke with a high pitch scream. It hopped away from him and backed into the other side of the cave. This was the last thing he wanted. The commotion woke the larger creature and it shifted. The smaller creature crept slowly towards him, purring. It seemed more weary of him than he was of it, if that was at all possible. It was still in mid sleep and was trying to get closer as he was obviously its pillow.
"Shoo!" He whispered, but that wasn't a command it was familiar with as it kept purring and infringing on his personal space, caressing his leg with its cheek. Running it's face across the leg it had just been spooked from. There was a low growl and the small beast left his side to the warmth. He could feel it. There was warmth like none he felt in the cave coming from that direction. He didn't want to follow them if he could help it but it was that or stay in the cave alone. At the very least they were confused into being friendly towards him. Maybe until he could find a way out or some people he would stay with them.
He followed them until the warmth was covering his face. Something about the sun rays this morning felt new and like he had discovered the true happiness in the world. He could have stayed there for hours filling himself with its infinite joy. But there was no difference with out here and the inside of the cave. The animals he had found himself around were confusing him with another animal in their pack. Once the sent faded from his shirt he was bound to be gobbled up. Restored to his rightful place in this food chain. Right now he was still apart of their pack and he could still hear other creatures roaming not to far away. It was still unsafe.
He was ushered forward out of the light and under the sparse shade of some trees. He recognized the smell of trees. They were pungent and bitter, and filled his senses. Suddenly his head spun and his stomach grumbled. He couldn't run in his current condition. He was dizzy, dehydrated, and couldn't remember the last time he ate anything. He had no choice but to stay with these animals that were guiding him until he could find something to eat. There had to be something edible around here. He sniffed the air again. He could smell tons of strange and new things. Parts of it was due to the trees and flowers, the rest was due to the rotting flesh that had been abandoned on his path.
He could hear the light flapping wings of something small steadily pecking at dead rotting flesh. The large beast that was leading him stopped and growled. The birds flapped their wings and scattered away into the air. He could hear a mushy sound and an overpowering wave of blood and rotting flesh flew across his face all at once. His stomach was beginning to growl but this ruined any appetite he was building towards.
There was softer purr, then he heard the sounds of large footsteps approaching. Again he felt breath across his chest. The beast was face to face with him sniffing his beanie and then it licked his eyes. He put his hands out to push it away and accidentally stuck his hands in its nose causing it to snarl. He stepped back tripping over a large branch. Again he felt something running up his leg and he was pulled up. There was a crunch and he was dropped.
He spun around on his back and blood trickled down onto his face as he heard slipping and shewing above him. There was a thud between his legs and he stretched out his leg and to his surprise it felt like a snake head under his foot. It was trying to feed him he realized. Against his will his stomach spoke and churned. He wouldn't be able to go much longer without eating something. Could he just eat anything though. He crawled forward onto his knees and touched the head pushing it forward and backwards. It was very dead.
He brought his face down to the nape and held it steady with his hands. "Down the hatch?" He took a mouthful and it tasted rancid and above all uncooked. He had eaten snake before, but it had been cooked. Prepared in a kitchen touched by herbs and rock salt. Served with wild mushrooms and steamed potatoes covered in crushed peppers. This was a mouthful of blood and scales mixed with stringy tendons and chewy muscles. It was nothing like he was used to, still he needed something in his stomach.
Truzari had diarrhea the rest of the day and was overjoyed when they came across a body of water. They had been walking for hours without running into a single person. More than that he couldn't imagine an end to the forest or they were walking in circles. The air had become dense as the sun hit its peak. It didn't take him long to realize that he wasn't in a forest but instead a jungle. His clothes were drenched with sweat. He had taken off his shirt but this only welcomed the bugs, so he put it back on. He had bulging bug bites from his stomach to his ears. He walked into the water fully submerging himself. It was cool and soothing on his bites. He swallowed a mouthful and felt an odd sensation go through his body. It felt like his insides were vibrating.
Something brushed past his leg, then clamped on tight to the side of his leg. He could feel its tiny teeth sawing at his leg. He reached down to grab it only to have another fish bite his hand. The first fish pulled away taking a chunk out of his leg, but he didn't feel pain for long. Instead after the bite, the pain tingled away and was replaced by the same vibrating feeling he felt when he first entered the water. This wasn't important as he had a fish attached to his finger. He splashed and thrashed the fish attached to the end of his finger against the surface of the water as he ran knee high towards the edge.
The giant beast and its smaller half rushed to the edge. He could hear the smaller one cooing and the giant beast growling and large snapping sounds. He stumbled out of the water onto the edge of the lake and grabbed the fish attached to his finger and pulled it off. The razor sharp teeth grated the skin from around his finger and detached his finger nail. He flung it behind him back into the lake and was tackled by a scaly creature. He rolled in the mud and heard stamping as a large creature rushed snapping its jaw.
Before it could grab a hold of him the giant creature pulled him up by his shirt and ran into the trees with the cub running ahead of them. The sounds of other animals rushed around him. It wasn't even dark yet he could feel slivers of the light passing over his face. His finger was burning and he was afraid to check and see how much of his finger he had left. Blood dripped down his hand and dropped to the ground. It was the blood. They could smell the blood. He pulled his beanie off and forced himself to wrap his finger with it.
"Ahhh!" There wasn't much finger left but it bled profusely.
He was thrown from the beast jaw and it grunted. He ate a face full of the ground tumbling into a tree trunk. He could hear the beast fighting something. He got up and the cub was standing in front of him hissing. Whatever the beast was fighting it was equally large. They crashed through trees and shook the earth as they fought.
He smelled it before it enveloped them. It was sticky on his skin and thudded against his ears. He always hated the rain. Each drop was like a rap on a drum head. He dropped to his knees and covered his ears. He felt stomping coming his way then it fell in front of him shaking the ground. He lifted his hands and heard the small one purring. It was the beast that saved him. He could smell its wet fur in front of him. The rain and blood was mixing. It was lots of blood pouring from somewhere. He could hear the small creature licking at the wound under the thumping of the rain. He moved his hand to touch the beast in front of him. It was dying he could tell.
To his surprise the pain in his finger was lessened. It had gone from a burning to a throbbing but was no longer bleeding. He touched the finger tentatively. The skin was smoothed over and no longer raw. He remembered the feeling he had in the water and reached to his chest. His stomach was no longer in knots and the bumps from the bug bites had disappeared. He pressed the beanie between his hands. It was still wet. Maybe from the rain but hopefully from the body of water. He pulled the small creature away from the gash in the beasts side. He pressed the beanie on the wound and it cried out. He could feel the warm blood slowing down. He felt a strong gust of wind pushing the rain into his face.
"What is this?"
Truzari turned around, to his surprise his father had returned. "You have to help me, she,"
"No help. Don't you get it. You're supposed to do this on your own. No help, but look at this. You're already getting help. What am I supposed to do about this?" Enol stepped towards Truzari.
"Stop!" The beast stirred at Truzari's voice coming to its feet. Truzari grabbed at fur but it did nothing to keep it down. The small creature rushed Enol, then Truzari heard a thud and it crashed into him. He shook the it but it didn't respond. He climbed from underneath and rushed towards his dad. "I said stop!"
Enol grabbed him by his shirt lifting him up and slamming him into the ground forcing the air from his lungs. Truzari could hear the humming of his fathers Glow. Enol pressed his foot into Truzari's chest forcing him down. Rain crashed onto his face as the beast roared at Enol. "What is it's name?"
"It doesn't have a name."
"She reminds me of your mother like she's inhabiting this beasts body and shielding you from me with it."
"She?"
"Yes this Tiger Queen and her cub. You've been traveling with them. Oh there are many reasons you wouldn't know this but you should. A night should have awakened your abilities." The Tiger Queen roared again and stomped its paws as it crashed down in front of them.
"Dad, please don't."Truzari pleaded with his father, his dad. Truzari's tears mixed with the rain falling over his marble white eyes. Before the words left his lips he was drenched in blood as he heard his father wave his Glow. The Tiger Queen sunk to the ground lifting stones an inch into the air as she did.
His dad killed his mother and intended to kill his brother too. Not his dad. He might be his father by all rights but not his dad. Enol took his foot off of Truzari's chest. He rolled over and crawled towards the Tiger Queen. He ran his hands over the place where the cats head used to be. Was this how he had killed his mother? "Why? Why are you doing this? She was just helping me! I found her! she didn't find me it was all by accident. She didn't deserve to die."
"What does it matter. Everything that lives in this forest is bound to die a gruesome and cruel death. That was mercy." Enol walked past Truzari not slowing down.
"Then why did you bring me here. Are you trying to kill me." Enol kept walking towards the cub. Truzari's entire body was tingling. "Then kill me! Leave the cub alone. Just kill me!"
Enol stopped walking. "I don't want you to die. I want you to live. I want you to be strong, to accept your strengths and stop crying over things you can't help. You can't help anything if you can't.."
He was swept off his feet and sent flying into the trees. Truzari pressed his face against the tree and punched him furiously. "I won't let you!"
Enol was able to force him off with ease. He stood up and his clothes were slightly tattered but he ddin't have a scratch on him. Truzari flew into the tree tops snapping branches and landed on a low hanging branch. He could see sparks of light and color red and green and purple in the darkness. Above him he heard a bird and could see sparks of blue as it flapped its wings. A snake slid up the tree toward him and he could see the path that it followed as it came towards him. He looked down and he could see sparks flying from his hands though they weren't moving. They tingled and hummed in a deep red hue like his fathers Glow sword. It was his Glow he just knew it. The intense vibrating was turning his hands numb as it traveled around his hands. He couldn't remember what Behetha said about using Glow but he had to do something to stop his father. He could hear his father making his Glow sword and he looked over to his father and saw red sparks flying up into a sword. He didn't know how his dad did it but he had to try.
He pressed his hands together and locked his fingers. He would just focus on the feeling and try to drive it upward into a sword. He could see the sparks shooting up and feel the Glow forming between his hands. He looked to the side and the snake that was running along the tree was gone. He could hear it wizzing through the air. He swung his sword and obliterated the snake against the tree. "That's wrong. I meant to cut it." He looked down at his dads sword and the sparks were shooting out the back of it where his was covered in sparks. He clutched the handle of the sword, reforming the sword. He lifted one hand and he could feel the edge and ran his hand up the side. He had done it. He made a Glow weapon.
He jumped off of the branch at his father. "Where is my brother?"
Enol released his glow and it fizzled out. He stepped to the side. Truzari's sword crashed into a tree and he turned and swung blindly. "That's useless if you cant hit me with it."
Truzari rushed him but couldn't land a single hit. He stopped and stepped back. He crawled up into a tree and stood up on a branch. He could still feel the buzzing all over his body. He focused on his feet and dashed forward again. He landed on a tree across the way crashing against it. He climbed up and did it again, until he could land on the branch on his feet. He bounced from tree to tree with frightening speed landing on the ground and taking a swing at his dad again and then retreating up into the trees again until he was able to surprise his dad by popping up behind him. He reached back and swung his sword as hard as he could.
Enol turned and caught the sword in his bare hand. "Hmph."
Truzari placed a swift kick in Enol's chest forcing his sword from his hand. He stepped back..
"That's enough. You have done well. I'll let you keep that one as a pet."
"Where is my brother?"
"You can sacrifice it if you get overwhelmed and save yourself. It's pretty weak but it can at least do that much."
"Where is my brother!"
"He's dead. I killed him. You want to kill me now?"
"Liar." Truzari charged at his father and swung only catching air.
Enol stood at the top of a tree. "Survive, make it out of here. If you do that I will meet you there. I will give you an opportunity to kill me. Goodbye, son."