Puffing, they looked to their left where the head of the "arm" , already seemed to be running parallel to them about twenty meters away. Nai cursed inwardly, he had also slowed himself down a little so that Domnik could keep up with him. He was the reason Domnik was out here in the first place.
Domnik was in a worst state. His breaths coming and going heavily and like they hurt. His arms swang Infront of him completely uncoordinated to his running. His chest was burning and his mouth dry and open. Now and then Nai would catch Domnik from the corner of his right eye. The realization made things worse. Domnik would not keep up for much longer, and him not much longer after him. All the while, the WeildKrita seemed to be jogging to complete a circle around them.
Looking to their right, Nai realized the weildkrita on this side along the bank had remained still, or rather not gave chase. It was the only thought that came to his mind, on land they had no chance against the krita. In the river , the weildkrita's hooves would handicapp their swimming, and this river was no shallow one. There was a problem with this as well, Domnik could not swim! It would mean he would have to support him from drowning.
"Go! The river!" His voice booming and hot, he pushed Domnik to guide him to their right. The krita that had not given chase had remained further up the river, so, it was open run for them down the valley. The krita's giving chase to their backs, they did not realize the weildkrita's were slowing down some already having come to a stop.
As the got close, Domnik tripped and fell. Without hesitation, Nai turned to help him up. His head back up, to his right coming from further up, hide tight to its bone and pale and blood clot red eyes, the deathly krita was running towards them. Frozen for a moment, Nai nearly let go of the panting Domnik. He stutterd words he himself could not hear and forcefully pulled Domnik up. His plans had not changed.
Nai had to hold on to his friend right now, they were slower but Domnik could not help himself, he felt nearly half dead exhausted. Eyes sharp and focused Nai ran. Just then he felt the resistance of his friend's weight disappear. His head jerked back.
' How? How did it close that distance? ' was his first thought as he watched Domnik being carried away impaled to his side by the krita's horns. Reality slowed down and without averting his eyes, he watched the grotesque horror of his friend's gory wails and bloodied bodied being dragged ruthlessly against the ground.
He could see it, Domnik's face contorting, mud entering his mouth and covering his body, a bloody trail left behind as the krita dragged his body further and further.
Nai watched it all. The deathly krita stopped and removed its horns from the now silent nearly dead Domnik. It circled on spot and for a moment seemed to have locked eyes with Nai. Facing Domnik again, it raised its upper body and front hooves like a goat would. They came down fast and heavy crashing Domnik's skull in.
Nai heard it all. The breaking skull and spluttering brain matter of his friend. Veins formed on his face and neck and smaller ones seemed to form in his eyes. He let out an inhuman growl. The deathly krita turned to him slowly. It seemed to have done everything calculated. Nai did not have time to consider the intelligence of the WeildKrita, getting up from where he had fallen to after witnessing the ugly death of his friend.
The krita observed, still as stone, as Nai started running towards him, shouting and face red. About ten meters out, another krita came crashing into Nai's from the left. It, surprisingly, did not impale him. Nai was sent flying from the river's bank and into the river. In the air his perception distorted, he had forgotten the krita that had earlier given them chase and even thought for a second there were two deathly Krita.
Splashing into the water, he was submerged into it about half a meter in. Trying to overcome the pain assaulting his side, he was quick to swim back up. The current seemingly increased out of nowhere and was getting unreasonably fast. At the surface, the rushing water constantly assaulting his face, he caught sight of the deathly krita standing over his friend body.
The water burnt his eyes but he did not care, he wanted to get back to that creature. Back to it and kill it. The current, however, had other plans for him. It made it impossible for him to swim towards the bank, as it carried him further down with great force. Nai tried screaming, massive amounts of water entering his mouth, nose and eyes. Even then he caught a glimpse of the blood clot eyes of the krita calmly gazing at him.
Eventually, exhausted, Nai gave up struggling against the current. A tearless silent cry accompanied him. The deathly krita and other Weildkrita, had long disappeared from sight by this time.
Drowning, both in mind and body, he guiltily gave up. Submerging further and further.Just when the current had seemed to be getting normal to him, it's speed chaotically picked up again. This time, though, Nai did not care much as his body twisted and flowed with the water. Just then a force seemingly spat him out and he was now falling vertically.
Nai's eyes went wide open at the sudden development. He had become one with the flow of the water, and now that support was disrupted abruptly. He did not fall for long, though, he splashed into calmer waters. The shock, dragged him back to reality, and this time he made to swim out the water.
With the weaker current, he managed to get to the bank. Falling to his back, completely exhausted, his hands grabbed his head by the temples and he shook it roughly. The image of his friend's death was carved into his mind. He lay there for what would have been half an hour till his tearless sobs that had not stopped slowly died down.
Opening his eyes, bright sunlight clashed his vision and he had to bring up his right hand to cover his eyes. He pushed himself up with the left elbow. Blinking rapidly he looked around. He heard the sound of chirping bird, the tusling of tree leaves and branches but the most prevalent sound was that of the waterfall.
If he had not just gone through what he had gone through, this realization would have been a great shock and wonder to him. ' A waterfall? Where? it's all plains and savannah down here. ' he muttered lazy thoughts to himself. Raising his body further so that he sat on the rocky ground, he looked around taking in more of the surrounding.
The sounds he had heard seemed to get brighter, the birds, the trees the waterfall, The smells also got richer. He could almost smell the saturated colours of the vegetation here, even the water seemed to have its own refreshing smell. ' This! ' it intrigued his exhausted mind, it was nothing like anywhere that would be Tens of kilometers anywhere near Zanzy.
Without the strength or willingness to do much of anything, Nai silently sat there, taking in and even appreciating his immediate and calming new environment. Eyes closed and with a calmed controlled breathing, he heard muttering voices and steps approach from behind the trees. Nai still did not care much to open his eyes or look around to examine.
A surprised and high pitched "Yelp!" sounded as the footsteps and voices that had been getting louder suddenly stopped. Hearing this, Nai exhaled and looked over his shoulder. Seeing what he saw, an almost forced like laugh escaped his mouth and he fell back to the ground on his back, body still twitching from laughter.
Just that moment's glance, Nai had taken in more than a dozen "individuals". Really he had taken in the foremost front ones. Classically robed, clean, some with fluffy curly hair, some with jelled like wavy hair. They had small markings like tattooes on their glabellas but you could tell it was formed and a part of themselves. It was a sword embraced by wings. Each of the individuals he has seen had one, each matching the color of their eyes, hairs and robes. Angels! These were Angels.