Panting for breath, I continued to chase the creatures. I could have sworn I was in better shape than this…
Getting a better look at them, they seemed to be wolves of some sort. I couldn't tell much else while running through the trees. The wolves were snarling as they closed in on the fleeing figure. Suddenly the person stopped running and turned around. The trees in front of them were too tightly packed together to run through. As I caught up I finally got a good look at them, and…
Shit. It was a demonkind woman, about 5 foot eleven, with pale white skin with a slight reddish tint which almost caused her to look pink, and horns protruding from the top of her head and curling back over her blonde hair. She was unmistakably Belle's character, Reita. I was not sure whether this was good or bad. On one hand, it was someone I knew. On the other, she was about ten seconds away from being mauled to death.
Without thinking, I shouted, "Belle! It's me!"
She shot a panicked look in my direction, but she wasn't the only one who's attention I caught. I dove behind a tree as the wolves took notice of me.
Fuck. That was stupid. I had no way of defending myself. What could I even do in this situation? Think, think.
Then it hit me. If I have Merek's belonging's, I should know exactly what tools I have available. After all, I created him.
I reached behind me into my coat and pulled out a dagger. I had no absolutely no experience in knife fights, but this was a hell of a lot better than nothing.
I heard the wolves growing and Belle shouting, "Stay back! Get away from me!"
I still wasn't sure that this was real, but what I did know was that my friend was about to die and I would be next. Screw it. It's now or never.
I dashed out from behind my cover and charged at the wolf closest to me. There seemed to be three of them in total. As the wolves turned back towards me I raised my dagger above my head with both hands and desperately swung it down as hard as I could towards the closest wolf.
* SCHLCK *
* AWOOOOOOO *
The wolf howled in pain as I sank my blade into its back. It jerked away from me, taking my dagger along with it, still lodged in its back. It gave me a death glare and snarled at me, ready to pounce, taking its first step towards me. It didn't make it far, however, as it's eyes rolled back and it fell over, dead.
Yes! I did it!
I didn't have long to celebrate as the other wolves dashed towards me after seeing what I just did. This was not good.
The first wolf jumped at me and knocked me flat on my back. The wind was knocked out of me as I made impact with the ground. This most definitely did not feel like a dream anymore.
The second wolf pounced as well and bit into my left arm. I tried to scream but only a pathetic squeak came out as I was still gasping for air. I heard a terrified yell and rushing footsteps, followed by a pained yelp from the wolf biting my arm. The wolf which knocked me down jumped to the side and the other wolf released its jaws. I looked up with blurry vision, still in immense pain, and saw that Reita had stabbed the wolf with her own dagger. It growled and jumped at her, scratching her across the waist and causing her to shriek. As soon as the wolf landed, it turned and leapt at her once again.
This time, however, she sidestepped the attack and slashed her blade across the wolf's body, it's own momentum helping her to cut through its exposed side, and when it landed, it didn't get up again.
I finally managed to recover a bit, but my arm and my head were throbbing. Coming from my side was the last wolf, growling viciously and preparing to finish me off.
In this moment, a realization came over me. If I had truly taken on the form of a character I created, and if this was all truly real, then there's something I knew that I could do. No, I had to do it, otherwise I was about to be torn to shreds. I raised my hand towards the creature as it's jaws got closer and closer. If this didn't work, these would be some very embarrassing final words.
"Fuck it! Fire bolt!" I called out.
* FWOOSH *
A sudden flash of heat hit me as a stream of flame shot from my extended hand and blasted the wolf in the face, stopping it in midair and causing it to fall to the ground. Holy shit.
I turned to Reita and started to stand up. I began to ask, "Are you oka-" as my world spun around me, and as I lost consciousness, I could faintly hear Belle calling my name and crying. Then everything went black.