after running for hours he finally arrived at where he stopped yesterday, he could still smell the dead corpses that littered the path. in fact, that was the only thing he ever smelled since as long as he could remember, he forgot every other smell other than the smell of death, rot and benny's breath
he walked in the darkness and realized that the path he was on was cut into 2 other directions like many others before. he sighed and walked towards the one that smelled the foulest. he realized long ago that the harder the path, the most likely it was the one closer to the center of the cave.
after all, his agony was a mere entertaining play for the sadistic being that watched over him.
and as if the being read his thoughts it spoke for the second time today
" you seem to be getting good at this without your ears''
the man suddenly stopped in his tracks and closed his eyes tightly as a foreboding feeling clouded his mind
'please.. no more i beg you' he wanted to say but he couldn't
his hands shook in dread as he waited for the dooming words
" that is why it's getting boring for me, you see'' it said mockingly
"YOU MOTHERFUCKER! I WILL DESTORY THIS FUCKING CAVE AND YOU WITH IT ONCE I FIND YOU" the man yelled at the ceiling, but it wasn't purely out of anger. he just wanted his angry yells to engulf his obvious fear, he thought that facing death day after day would dull him to the sense of fear but it was the opposite. he knew how real drath is and how it would truly be his end if he ever let it get a hold of him. he was no brave knight, nor a strong minded hero, he was just a small scared puny human.
he remembered how in his first 2 years he used to cuss the voice out all the time, describing every way he would like to kill it. but the man never seemed able to taunt it. and after that, he became tired of yelling at the walls and even more tired at dealing with the consequences of being loud enough to attract hoards of beasts. so after that he decided to threaten and cuss at the voice silently.. but now he threw caution to the wind
"you will now lose your sense of smell" it responded shortly not bothered by the man's desperate threat
" good luck, child"
the man tried to smell the air immediately but couldn't anymore. fear penetrated deep inside his heart the same way it did the last 2 times he lost a sense. now he only had touch and taste, but taste could not help him at detecting beasts nor killing them..
he cried in exasperation
" why?? why why why why WHY?! dammit it's so dark!..i-i'm.. i'm so scared" the man sobbed and fell to the ground
he kept repeating the word 'why' over and over again as he rocked back and forth. he eyes were wide open but he couldn't see anything but darkness. the cave was never well lit but there were sometimes soul stones that give off a dim light throughout the lengthy paths.
it was never pleasing hearing the howls, whines, cries and many other noises that the different kinds of beasts made but it was still better than not being able to ever hear ones own heartbeat or the barks of his loved puppy
the man could not smell but rot and shit in this cave but at least it was better than not being able to smell the treacherous perfum of death that loomed over his head 24/7
now he was left with only his fists and his battle crazy instincts. he cried more and more until he felt a chill run down his spine, and automatically jumped up towards his right. and as he did so he felt some rocks bouncing on his skin
"shit! what was that?!" he said out loud with his usual hoarse and scratchy voice.
he took his usual beast like fighting stance. his back hunched forward, knees bent and he put his arms out this time instead of letting them dangle by his side. he tried to find the wall and once he could feel the its cold dampness, a sharp pain ran through his uper left arm. he was sent back a few meters before crashing into an opposing wall.
he spat out a mouthful of blood as he stood up
" okay, that sobered me up" he slapped his face with both hands
" those bastards won't let you cry in peace, handsome. so just destroy them all!"
he tried to encourge himself, focused his mind and soul on the beast that attacked him. he started feeling his surrounding without being able to sense it.
another chill ran down his spine and this time he immediately listened to his instincts and dodge the beast's huge claw that came down to rip his head off
he then jumped towards it before it could launch another attack
he hugged its body and felt soft feathers and firm muscles under his touch, his hands went up towards what felt like large wings. he jumped backwards immediately when he felt like it would bite at his neck
" so you're some type of bird! been so long since i ate bird meat!" he grinned cheerfully and dashed towards it.
suddenly, it took off and flew towards him too, it tried to grab his shoulders with the sharp claws on its lanky legs but failed as the man ducked and rolled on the ground
"do you think it was only luck that i survived until now in this place?" he yelled and jumped on the right wall propelling himself in the air, he grabbed one of its wings making it lose balance. he tightened his fist and punched what he guessed was its long neck
it screeched loudly and kept flapping its wings unsteadily
"i might be half mad but i'm still smarter than you, stupid bird! did you really think you were safer in the air?"
he jumped off the bird and landed safely on the ground. but he lost balance once something swooped his legs and he fell on his butt
" shit! what was that?" but the man didn't know that the huge bird like monster had a long tail and it didn't actually evade him into the air because it was scared but because it knew it could fool the creature in front of it. its tail was long enough to dominate the ground while it dominated the air.
the man realized that the bird might not be a mindless beast like the rest of the beasts he faced so far so he quickly go up and tightened his guard. he launched towards where he thought the beast was but only punched the air. he could feel a breeze coming from behind him, he did a backflip and avoided the tail that almost rammed into him, before he could land on the ground a clawed arm slashed diagonally towards his chest, he titled his body sideways and evaded at the last moment the fatal strike. unfortunately, he was too unbalanced and overwhelmed to notice the spiked tail that came towards him from the side
it struck him and one spike penetrated his shoulder. he felt immense agony as a sudden numbing pain attacked his whole body. after years of being scratched, clawed, bitten and worse he evolved an astronomical pain tolerance but the pain he was feeling was immense even for him
he staggered as he stood up, but still.. he stood up. and that fact alone surprised the bird, its tail just like its fangs were coated in a very fatal poison that would kill any creature it touches, but the one in front of it was still standing even though he took a head on strike.
its surprised expression turned into a scared one when it heard the mumbling " it's been a while i felt pain like this, you bastard bird"
even though it was still at the intelligence of a newborn, it still felt the suffocating killing intent.
the man ignored the pain and focused on his anger, like the many times he did before.
the man went running towards it and grabbing unto its body again. the bird was startled but immediately realized that its prey was too injured to do it any harm even if it emitted such a scary killing intent.
but for the first time, a beast regretted using its logic instead of its instincts. the man, still clinging unto the beast, kicked its belly with his knees and it flew backwards, it hit the wall and screeched in pain.
it regretted immediately not finishing off the creature in front of it as it flew back up in the air.
its yellow blood coated the ground as its tail followed the man who kept jumping and ducking its attacks. but at the last attack, he didn't dodge the tail like the bird thought. the man grabbed it with both arms, the spikes penetrated deep into the skin of his arms causing him more pain
"fuck!" but even with the overwhelming pain he still held unto the tail like it was his lifeline.
the bird panicked at the immense strength of the creature and tried to fly away but the man held firm, black blue veins covered his dirty face as his face contorted in joy and pain, a wide grin was the witness of his madness
" you're dead" he simply said and with all his might threw the bird at the wall. it crashed heavily making even the ground shake
the man ran towards it and punched it mercilessly until its beak broke, its face disfigured and finally it took its last breath, the eyes of the crazed creature who was smiling at its demise was the last thing it saw before it died.
..
and that's how the man ended up, his breathing became more shallow as he thought
' shit, is this it? am i dying because of a fucking bird? damn and wose of all, what would happen to benny if i'm gone? these bastards will rush in my territory and definitely overwhelm him' but his thoughts fastly faded away as he fell into unconsciousness