August was frozen in fear.
Sitting on the branch, staring down at the creature frantically climbing up below him. He felt his breath become uneven and his heart pounding in his chest.
August had lost his focus, something he had known better than to do while sane. The bear must have noticed him due to the falling berries, and he was not quite hard to spot when looked up at, the area Around the black tree had been flattened after all.
August quickly checked the area around him, the branch he was on was quite thick, but there was nowhere to go, and there was not much chance of it supporting both him and the beast.
Certainly not while he was being mauled by it.
The bear looked to be about three times his height, and August was comfortably above six feet, so the beast was not small by any means.
August shuffled to his feet, barely managing to keep his balance on the shaking branch. He gripped the trunk with both hands and pulled himself up, scuttling up a tad bit faster than the bear to gain some distance.
Though there was really no point in trying to run.
He found himself on an upper branch of the tree a few minutes later, then moved to look down once more August had hoped the beast in his persuit would give up after seeing his superior mobility, but it clearly shared no such intent.
Instead of wrapping its arms around the tree trunk and shuffling up as it was doing before, upon reaching the lower branches, the beast had taken to ascending as if it were some subspecies of feline.
August watched on in horror as it leapt from branch to branch, eventually reaching a point where it realized that the thinner branches would snap under it's weight. Then the creature started to display further intelligence and maneuverability.
'Just what in the world even are you?'
It let out a bone chilling roar and violently slammed it's body into the tree repetitively. It was not until he felt the branch sway greatly under him, almost causing an ungraceful dismount, that August realized what the bear was attempting to do.
'This damn bear, it's trying to shake me out of the tree!'
August clutched the tree trunk and squeezed, wondering if he was going to die. No human was meant to be in this situation, how was he meant to survive?
August had never really thought about the implications of crossing over, and why some people died while others remained totally unharmed. He had assumed it was simply an unfortunate coincidence, that those people had drawn the short stick in the game of life.
But right now, his life flashed before his eyes, and he saw it all from the top of the swaying tree.
~~~
He recalled walking with his father down the early morning streets, the snow crunching beneath his feet.
August looked up at his father, and a skeleton gazed back.
Blood poured from where his eyes had once been and seeped into the snow. The wind suddenly forced him back into a wall, and he saw a familiar scene in front of him.
There his brother Hart stood, arms out in front of him with his back facing August. In front of Hart was their mother, wailing like a banshee as she chucked pots and pans across the room at them, but Hart stood steadfast. He protected his younger brother with everything he had without so much as a second thought, just as he always had.
"Why wasn't it you?!"
Then the scene changed once more.
August stood under the eaves of a small house, watching as a few men carried boxes into the new house Hart had managed to get them. Hart was only sixteen however, only two years older than August at that. And August had no idea where the money could have come from.
"See, I promised you, it's alright now. Just leave it all to your big bro."
August trusted those words, he always had. Hart was his greatest protector.
The scene shifted once more.
August sat in a familiar classroom, and almost immediately, a question was posed to him.
"Cross, do you believe there is a good and evil?"
August stared at the familiar older man, his eleventh grade philosophy teacher, Sir Grant– whom some students affectionately referred to as 'Thinky'. The man was rather tall and burly, golden blonde hair and he had a grin that surely could reflect enough light to blind someone.
He thought about the question for a few seconds, then responded.
"Yes, I do."
"Why?" The larger man didn't miss a beat in his response.
"Because some people are just bad."
"I never referred to just people Cross," Sir Thinky began "but do you believe then, that it is the existence of bad that creates the perception of good?"
August thought some more before giving an answer.
"I believe that evil creates suffering, resentment, and hate, which in turn makes good the percieved antithesis of all those things."
August watched as Sir Grant smiled.
"But what about those with good intentions that bred suffering, resentment and hate? Are they evil?"
Realizing the man could do this all day, as he was paid to. August conceded the argument and asked.
"What are you trying to say?"
"simply that two things could be true at once, good and bad is truly a matter of a person's moral compass. Now what morals do-"
The bell rang, and August didn't stay to let him finish.
The scene changed once more, and this time, August saw a lavender flash of light as it did.
August grit his teeth. "So what do you suggest? Staying here to die?"
Alia set her glare on him. "Giving it a reason to be afraid, we're going to kill it."
"Excuse me?" He said bewildered "what part of that behemoth back there looked killable to you?"
"It's a living, breathing creature, they die all the time."
~~~~
August was once again looking down at the beast climbing the tree, however this time, there was a lavender screen in front of him.
____
"August Cross"
"Skills:
[The great collector]- This world hears your call for protection and security, and will not turn it's back on you, all that you collect may be stored here for future use.
[Master of None]- The talent you long for will forever elude you, but the knowledge you cast away will embrace you with open arms.
[One among many]- your power and knowledge belongs to you and you alone, never to be taken or stolen.
—-
August stared at it for a brief moment, too panicked to read it all but too mesmerized to look away.
He stared at the semi-transparent screen, pondering the meaning of it all, but quickly cut his questions short, opting for a much more direct line of thought.
After watching his swords fail to do so much as a scratch the armored behemoth, August had begun to distrust the power he had been gifted with. But he also remembered the tree, the only one strong enough to withstand the destruction wrought by the collision of creatures in the clearing.
And his sword had pierced it.
if he couldn't trust his own power right now, then what could he trust?
The words of all the people who led him down this path? People who were either already dead or missing?
No, this time he was going to have to trust in himself.
As the bear slowly reached the branches below his feet, using it's claws to maneuver the way up— which was now much more precarious and challenging for its weight and size. August asked himself one question.
'I wonder if it's squishier than a tree trunk?'
This was the part they never wrote about in the fantasy stories he used to read, those heroes were always stoic, brave and insurmountable, taking on the challenge without fear or doubt.
August however, was afraid, terrified in fact. He was scared of death, but too scared to run away as well.
Not like he could, the monster blocked his only escape.
Two things could be true at the same time.
He stared down at the beast that had just managed to gain footing on another branch.
Suddenly, four swords appeared at his sides, the tips of their blades pointing at the bear beneath him, hovering in the air. He pushed down his fear and put on the most confident smile he could, letting go of the tree trunk and staring at the bear whilst sitting just outside of it's reach, before speaking.
"You're a living, breathing creature. Those die all the time."
He felt the claw of the bear press into his shoe, but then, the sound of splitting air whistled in his ear.
The four swords shot off, tearing violently through the bear and spattering August with blood as they passed through it, leaving gaping holes in the creature.
The dead bear fell backwards out of the tree, hitting a few branches on the way down, the shaking almost throwing August from the tree.
But he remained steadfast, watching the creature fall and letting it a shaky sigh.
It was done.
Then he turned his attention to the scenery in front of him and let out a long sigh of relief, then he picked some berries and continued to satiate his hunger.
For the first time since losing Alia, August was once again able to silently enjoy this view.