Chereads / Fallen Times / Chapter 21 - On the Verge of Death

Chapter 21 - On the Verge of Death

'Painful!' Miguel thought through his blurred vision.

'So Painful' The pain from having his stomach ripped apart wasn't something easy to bear. He could feel himself sense at the moment, almost wishing for something at that moment.

'I want to die.' He didn't want to experience it. He wanted it to end immediately. All of it, the nightmare, those creatures, the pain, all of it. He wanted to return home.

'I…I…I… help me.' The inner him felt helpless at that moment. He wished for someone to help him. But his thoughts were leaving him at the moment.

A gray-eyed creature stood in front of Miguel. Its half torn face was proof that it had struggled for its life at some time. And its perpetrator was standing right beneath it. The crying eyes of the prey didn't suit its previous valor self. The creature didn't want to meet this one, it wanted to meet someone who had given it a fight of lifetime.

Ever since the creature had a sense of thinking, it had questioned its purpose in its life. There were many of its brothers and sisters. But all of them couldn't make sense of the torn-faced creature. It had always felt isolated. The only one who felt like itself was the leader. The leader was someone who had lived for a long time. The creature had wanted to show the leader that it was the same. But its intelligence became scornful in the eyes of others. All its life, the creature had hunted mindlessly like the others. Thinking that they might accept it, but even after all the things. It could feel itself left alone.

"Kha'zix" The half-torn face said to the lying creature in front of itself. "Kha'zix" It repeated again and again. It wanted the other person to know its name before it was killed. During all the time Kha'zix had hunted for the person in front of it. It had wondered if somehow it could leave the prey. It wanted to know more about the person in front of itself. THe person had the same eyes as Kha'zix. The eyes that showed determination and something more. Kha'zix wanted to know more about it.

"Karusto… wutasna… kill." The leader ordered Kha'zix. Even when it didn't want to kill the person in front of it, it wanted to gain the recognition of its leader. It wanted to become a part of its family.

"Kha'zix" Kha'zix called again to Miguel. Miguel blurry eyes looked at the creature. His eyes locked with the gray creature's eyes. Miguel looked again and again despite his eyes closing itself.

"Kaaza… Karusto…Kill." The leader said gravely. Kha'zix could feel the leader's presence boring deep into itself. The creature groaned under the pressure before he was pushed aside by another of the gray-eyed creatures.

Kha'zix paid the price of hesitating too much. It groaned, a deep guttural sound came out from its mouth. It looked at Miguel again. It wanted to carve the image of the person. It wanted to become like him. Being able to do something, without the fear of someone or somebody. Kha'zix had felt the strength in Miguel. It was nowhere near to its strength. But he was still able to bring Kha'zix to its death.

The gray-eyed creature near Miguel's body opened its mouth long enough, so that it could take away the head in one snap of its jaw. The creature snapped toward Miguel. Kha'zix wanted to become friends with the strange creature, who had beaten it to death. It wanted to stop the gray-eyed creature, stop the leader, but Kha'zix voice wouldn't come out of its mouth.

The instant the gray-eyed creature snapped toward Miguel. Something jumped toward its face. The eyes of the gray-eyed were immediately covered by a strange creature. The creature was very small and even when the gray-eyed creature tried with all its might, it couldn't remove the creature. It was as if it wasn't able to catch the creature. The creature could only groan in frustration. But it wasn't for long because something pierced its chest the next moment.

A buzzing sound arrived from all the corners of the flowery fields. It brought a rampage of attacks along with it. The whole peacefulness in the region of the gray-eyed creatures was shattered in an instant.

Miguel's consciousness faded in and out. He had no idea what was happening outside. Till now he could only recall the half-torn face of the creature. It looked him straight in his eyes. It was trying to say something to him. What was it?

'Kha,' What is Kha? What was he doing here? He was in his home, sleeping peacefully in his own room. Was this a dream? Or it is a nightmare. Miguel didn't know anymore. His vision darkened by the second.

Miguel had almost given up to the peacefulness of the darkness that he didn't notice a screen pop up in front of him. The same strange screen that had appeared first when he had arrived here.

[Warning.]

[User in Critical Condition.]

[Immediate Response Required.]

[Connecting to the Shelves…]

[Connection Failed.]

[Critical Healing to be activated in 10 seconds…]

[9…8...7…6..5..4..3.2.1…..0]

[Critical Healing Activated.]

In the darkness, Miguel was swimming peacefully, not caring about anything. His eyes open, his hands stretched, he swam in that darkness. He wanted to be there forever. But before Miguel could fully embrace that darkness, a warm glow developed. It lit up the darkness around him.

Miguel's eyes opened slowly under the warm glow. He could see a creature's mouth still open, its body rested onto the flowers, still as a corpse. Something that surely looked like a sting had pierced its body. A greenish liquid was erupting from the sting constantly corroding its body. His eyes shifted to see a small creature standing near the body. Its body is around the size of his palm. In the mind numbing pain, Miguel's mouth opened with a painful smile. He looked at the cute clinging creature, and remembered something that had happened while he was oblivious of clinging to his life.

"You helped me," Miguel's voice sounded like that of a dying man, a little too slow and difficult for others to hear. The clinging creature came near his face. Its little hands grabbed his hair swinging on it.

Miguel had thought he would die for sure. But somehow he was still alive. He opened the first obvious source. The strange screen. It confirmed his suspicions. The strange screen had healed him at the last moment. Critical Healing was working on him, keeping him alive.

Focussing on his stomach, he could feel the pain lessening with each second. His exhaustion was lessening too. Miguel was thankful to have witnessed such a miracle on himself. If it wasn't for that strange screen. He might have died many times till now. It didn't take his thoughts long enough to gather itself.

His ears were tingling, too loud to hear anything. But Miguel could feel that something was wrong with all of it. If the gray-eyed creature had died, then why were the others not hunting him down in revenge for killing him. His eyes looked again toward the stomach of the corpse. The sting that had pierced its body was very long, and now that Miguel was clear-headed it didn't take him to take a guess on what that sting was.

'It's like a bee sting,' Miguel tried to turn around. His body exploded in pain with every bit of movement. But what he saw next made him forget every bit of pain.

The gray-eyed creatures seemed to be in a fierce battle with what looked like bees. Bees that looked even taller than his own size. Miguel couldn't forget the sight of those bees. The terrifying speed with which they maneuvered between the gray-eyed creatures. The gray-eyed were faster, faster than anything Miguel had known, but those bees were even faster than those gray-eyed bastards. Both sides were engaged in a fierce battle and thus, they hadn't bothered with him at all.

Miguel's vision slowly returned to its full capacity. The bees weren't ordinary, similar to other creatures of this world. Their antenna sported lightning, which would travel all around the battlefield to hit those gray-eyed creatures. The creatures hit by it would get stunned for a moment, but it was enough for those quick bees to quickly end the battle, by finishing those sharp-toothed creatures with their sting.

The Gray-eyed creatures weren't helpless either. The leader of the gray-eyed creature, had made a barrier of some kind that made bees unable to fly over a certain distance, as such the bees were at a disadvantage at their own turf. The leader would jump over certain distances, almost as if it was a super being. Grabbing those bees, under its own claws, and later those terrifying teeth would make the last work out of those bees.

Miguel was immersed looking at the bees, when he felt a forceful tug on his legs. He was immediately dragged a distance away. He looked at the culprit, the half-torn face creature. Who called itself. 'Kha'. it was something he could recall from his incomplete memories.