The tiger growled as it eyed us, blood dripping from its mouth.
"Big cat…" I mumbled, trying to get some sense into Lia. But the girl was a lost cause, she hadn't moved a fucking inch. At one point I thought she might have become a stone or something but no, she just frozen in fear.
The goat eyed me, and I eyed it back, we clearly understood the situation but it was basically too late.
Either run now while using Lia as bait or die together. I was technically already dead and I had no idea if I was going to be reincarnated again if I died but… but- I liked this damn life and I liked how things were right now. I didn't want to lose it all.
So, the most optimum solution was to run for my life, and run with the goat.
Yet- "MOOOOM!!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, grabbed a stray branch, and braced myself. She always wanted to hear that word but, but now she was probably never going to… so technically, my farewell. 'No, no what the fuck am I thinking. Get your fucking head outta the gutter! We gonna survive this!'
Grrr… the tiger however just glared. It was big, bigger than a typical tiger. I'd seen them in zoos. Those cats were obviously big but this damn thing was bigger than a cow and it had two fucking heads. Both almost sneering at us.
Ba- the goat slammed her hoofs on the ground. Buzz… electricity streaked in the air, no, it streaked near her horn and grew a ball of streaking light.
"Magic-" I mumbled, grabbing Lia firm, but she wasn't moving… slap! So, I slapped the hell out of her and pulled her back.
CRACK! The electro ball of whatever it was, flew and crashed into tiger. Electricity buzzed all around the fucking tiger but… but it wasn't affected. "Rrr…" It was almost as though the tiger understood our powerlessness and was laughing at us…
"It's a fiend…" the words escaped my mouth. And although Lia had moved, her shaking legs couldn't carry her weight so she again fell on her behind.
This was hopeless.
Fucking, hopeless.
I had no real talent. When I first popped up in this world, and got carried home by an elf, I distinctly believed I'd have magical powers and an adventure when I grew up. But reality often hits hard, and I got fucked in the ability lottery. Now I probably wouldn't even be able to grow older. I was afraid mother would stop being mother after I grew up. But fucking hell, I was going to die here.
However- 'The least I can do is go down in style.' Last time I got murdered by a fucking train and my own best friend. This time though. "ARGHH!!!" I screamed, throwing the stick as best as I could.
Thud. But it just fell on its feet, powerless.
Fuck.
BAAAHHH!
But- I'd distracted it. I'd successfully distracted the damn thing and its heads for one second. And that was enough for my goat mother to impale the same thing with her electric horns. Or so I thought but the tiger jumped and as a foreboding familiar feeling coursed through my spine, time almost came to a halt.
I could hear the sounds; I could feel my fleeting heart going crazy. And I could tell, the damn thing was jumping over me, but I wasn't its target. The shivering girl behind was instead.
'You could die.'
'No, after her, you're next.'
'That's why you should run.'
'Run and go where? It's going to kill us both!'
'Mother would come!'
'But it will be too late by then!'
It was almost as though I was having a conversation with my own fucking self while the tiger just hung in the damn air. What the actual fuck was happening? I didn't know. I didn't quite understand it. However, … I could move- very slowly, but I could move.
And I moved- just enough to… get in the way.
"ARGHH!!!" it fell on me, bringing those damn teeth down on my feeble arm, impaling my skin like there was nothing there.
Burning, stinging- stabbing pain!
"Arrggh- arrgh- aHH!" Drops of blood dripped down, as I flailed my powerless arms and legs trying to not let it cleave the damn arm off. Yet… Yet it didn't let go, it enjoyed everything. But- but I hadn't given up. The pain was strong enough to make me go crazy and faint. But I didn't. I'd already died. I knew what dying was like. And this wasn't it. This wasn't nearly enough to kill me. "You want my arm? You can have it!" I punched the damn thing's eye with my other hand, and tried poking it. "Do it, goat!" I screamed.
And the goat?
She rammed her horns into the tiger. Yeah, straight into its fucking asshole.
RAAAA!!!
It roared heinously, letting me go; I fell on top of Lia, barely able to stay conscious anymore. Too much blood loss, I was pretty much out of commission and at this rate, the goat too. But…
I hope this was enough. I hope this was enough for mother to be proud.
I heard their conversation even though I shouldn't have. They were probably talking about how I was possessed by demons or something like that. Meaning, even if I kept pretending, it was only a matter of time before she considered I wasn't who I was and… that was probably the reason I hadn't run to her first thing when Lia ran away. Instead, I ran after Lia… because I didn't want to confront mother, because I didn't want to confront that topic.
And now… I was never going to be able to-
"Sol!" Mother.
She was here.
She was… she jumped past me, and cleaved the tiger's head in two with her short sword. And she immediately slid down on the ground, grabbing me to her chest. "Mothe-" I managed but things just went dark. I vomited some blood and felt my life leave… a very familiar feeling, the same one as before. the same terrible feeling from that back then.
Mother, no, Mom was here.
But in the end, I never really got to call her Mom huh? In the end, I was just haunted by my previous mom and her stranglehold.
"It'll be okay," she said. My vision was gone but I could still hear her. Everything was going cold yet I could still feel her warmth. So comforting… so… warm.
Perhaps one last time- "Mom…" I mumbled, before everything just… went cold.