Tect spun around and found himself face to face with a massive bird. It's talons alone were nearly 6 inches. Landing on the ground the bird stood taller than Tect, it's outstretched wings were nearly a dozen feet wide, and a crown of golden feathers adorned it's head. This was by far the most magnificent bird Tect had ever seen.
"That is an Iron Talon Eagle, it will 100% kill you. In Fact, I'm not sure but you may only be alive because it's not sure what you are. You should probably back away slowly." Azulak had bad memories of similar birds of prey from his childhood, and since Tect had no armor he was in a very bad situation.
"If it attacks what should I do?" Bullets of sweat fell from Tect's face and ran down his back.
"Try not to die." If Azulak had shoulders they would be shrugging.
The Eagle hopped towards Tect while making soft peeping and chirping noises. Tect slowly backed up while staying in a ready stance in case he had to dodge. The behavior of the bird seemed to indicate curiosity, which scared Tect a lot since curiosity probably meant it was a smart animal. As the bird hopped forward its claws slipped and it dug into a large stone to keep its balance. The knife like talons punched through like the stone was made of butter.
"Holy shit, it's got super powers too. I'm going to give it some chicken and run." Tect pulled the leftover chicken from his spatial bag, tossed it to the eagle and turned to run. The eagle did not take kindly to the sudden movement and screeched at Tect. Disregarding the chicken the eagle immediately flew dozens of feet into the air. This all happened in the time it took Tect to turn and get his second running step in.
The extremely keen eyes of the eagle read every movement Tect made and calculated his position a few seconds in advanced preparing to dive at the perfect moment.
"Tect if I say so you need to dodge left or right, don't question it just do it."
"Ok" Tect nodded, he had made it nearly 10 steps so far. Suddenly he heard a sound like a soft sheet snapping in the wind while drying.
"TECT DODGE NOW." Tect rolled to the left, and as he did the eagle shot passed, it's talons cutting two deep grooves in the stony mountain path, and it began to ascend again.
"RUN NOW! WE HAVE TO FIND A CAVE OR GET TO THE MINE!"
Tect began to run and also searched for a cave, there was no way he could keep up this dodging until he got back down the mountain.
Every 20 to 30 yards Tect would have to dodge as the eagle swooped past, he was making almost no progress and the dodging had him sore and exhausted.
"Azulak, I can't keep this up. We are going to have to kill it."
Azulak sighed, "Ok, I have a plan, but if you make even a tiny mistake you will probably die."
"Well shit. Let's hope for the best."
"Ok, so here is my plan. Stand in place, and watch the eagle. As soon as it dives, throw your sword at it and dodge. After that, hope it dies and run."
Tect steeled his nerves, planted his feet, and narrowed his gaze. The eagle reached the highest point of its arc, tucked its wings and dove towards Tect.
"As soon as it flares its wings and raises its claws, throw, and then dive."
The eagle dove at ridiculous speed, Tect's nerves were nearly shot. How the hell was he supposed to dodge it if it's this fast at such a close range. The eagle opened it's wings, it's claws shot forward. Tect threw the short sword with all his might and rolled.
"Did it work?" Tect spun around. The eagle flew a short distance then turned. The sword clutched in it's claws.
"Well it was nice knowing you kid. I really thought you would become a good king."
Tect was nearly in tears. The Eagle glared at him then dug its claws into the blade and tore it apart like wet clay.
"I can't go out like this. I still want to save my people." Tect felt an overwhelming anger deep in his chest rising to unbearable levels until he let out a beastial roar at the eagle, then charged towards it.
The eagle was just reaching down and ripped off a piece of the sword blade, quickly swallowing it. That's when Tect roared and ran forward. If we could ask the eagle what it thought at this time I'm sure it would answer something like, "The fuck is wrong with you. It's my food now, go away."
As Tect neared it the eagle took off and as it circled above it left Tect one last reminder of who was boss.
*Plop*
A creamy white and black bird turd slowly ran down Tect's face. "That son of a bitch shit on me!!!!"
A series of short squawking sounds came from the bird that somewhat resembled laughter.
"Don't yell just run, if it decides you may have more swords it may come back. Be happy it eats metal not flesh."
Tect Scowled, "You knew what kind of bird it was, why didn't you know it eats metal?"
Azulak laughed, "Do I look like an ornithologist to you?"
"I don't even know what that means!!!"
Azulak sighed, "We need to restore power to the systems and see if we can get some knowledge crystals, you need to start a school for your tribe."
Tect just shook his head and kept running down the mountain. Because of his increased speed he actually made it down before the sun set, but was so tired he collapsed and fell asleep immediately.
Tect was woken the next morning by a buzzing in his head, once he managed to fully wake up he realized it was Azulak trying to speak.
"What do you want? I'm still tired."
"Don't you realize what time it is?! Your sword should be ready!!"
Tect shot up like a rocket, in his stupor he had forgotten, today was the day. He would finally have his sword, and Azulak had told him he knew a sword art that would make killing the elementals a cake walk.
Tect ran straight to the Auto Forge on the mine's second level. The Auto Forge had a red blinking hologram on the front. *Product Ejection Failed Manual Ejection Required*
"What does that mean?" Tect was confused by the error.
"The machine usually ejects the device to the user, but it failed. Not a big deal though, just open the front of the device like normal."
Tect Reached out his hand shaking in anticipation, slowly opening the door, a hint of blue and silver shining from the inside…