Beyond the tall grass. Beyond the tall trees. Beyond the light.
Maybe there wasn't a 'beyond' to begin with.
That's what Yohan believed when he saw what he was about to fall towards. He had considered 'the end' to be a more appropriate term
*****
After his close encounter with death against the white monster, he managed to jump his away out of danger, finally escaping the tall grass.
The calm air pushed against him as he ascended and soon descended along the air. His hair fluttered, and the droplets of blood scattered in the air after they dripped from his wounds.
Unbound by anything. Unharmed by enything. Untouched by anything.
In that moment where he flew, he truly felt safe. He felt free like a bird soaring, soaring with its wings, leaving the dreadful earth behind. An ecstacy so pleasing.
However, that ecstasy was short-lived, as he laid eyes on a new danger before him, or rather below him.
There it was, a line. One that separated the tall grass and the darkness past it. That was the 'end' he had now been faced with. 'The end,' which he was soon to fall into.
Yohan: Shit! Shit! Shit!
He had expected to be greeted with a hard ground surface that he would painfully fall into, not a cliff so high up that he couldn't see the bottom.
That leap of faith he had taken earlier was a jump towards freedom. He never thought that he would be jumping towards his own doom.
Yohan: Come on!
He needed to think of something quick, or else he would plummet god knows how many meters downwards to his death. A fate where he fell until he was crushed by gravity into oblivion.
Falling down, he couldn't do that. He didn't want to.
Though, he couldn't really do anything. There wasn't a foothold in sight. The only foothold available was the tall tree he had abandoned not so long ago.
As he made his descent, he had curled himself into a ball and covered his eyes, unable to bear witness to the peril he was in.
What was he to do other than plummet downwards?
Thud.
He could feel it. He had fallen. That shouldn't have fallen. There were still plenty of meters to go, and he was aware that falling down so far wasn't necessarily a fast track, even though he was falling straight down.
So where did he fall?
As soon as he hit the ground, he spread out his arms, allowing him to see his environment.
Somehow, he was still on the surface, and through a quick glance, he realized that he was placed just before the edge. Though, it didn't mean that he stopped there.
Maybe instead of falling beyond the edge, he ended up falling on surface level because he had curled himself. Maybe that increased his weight or changed his center of gravity, bringing him further downwards, and he fell through faster. He had managed to fall right before the edge, the edge which would've been the death of him, and survived yet another close death situation. However, that wasn't the end.
Thud!
Somehow, maybe because of the way he fell, he rolled. Maybe it was the momentum behind his fall, and that perpetuated his movement involuntarily.
He was rolling off the edge. He couldn't stop his momentum at all. He was only 2 meters away, but that gap was being closed. He was rolling very quickly, so he had to think of a plan at lightning fast speed.
Thud!
Yohan: Grh!
He had continued to roll, unable to stop, so inevitably, he ended up beyond the edge. Fated to plummet towards his death.
Yohan: Grhk!
He had now been below the surface, but surprisingly, he hadn't gone further below. There was a bottom that couldn't be seen clearly from afar. Though, his sight of it hadn't improved at all. After all, he wasn't being brought closer to it in any way possible.
Yohan: Ah! Aaaah!
There he was, past the edge, dangling in the air, looking down at the bottom he could've fallen into.
Death seemed to follow his every move ever since he entered this place. Though, he kept surviving. How did he survive this time?
Instead of looking down, he now looked up to where the edge was, and there was his hand. Almost immediately, before he fell, he placed his hand onto the ground and held himself up. He was grasping onto the edge, with only hand to do that with.
He felt himself slightly losing his grips, so he sunk his nails into the ground, plunging his nails even further into the ground. He was now stuck on the edge.
He would've tried to pull himself, but he only had one hand to use, and it was already keeping him from falling and couldn't provide any other use. He had no choice but to stay there, unable to move, as flailing around might affect his grip.
Though it seemed that he would have to stay there forever, and hope that someday he'd be saved. Either by the hand of someone or something kind, or by the deadly poison known as time.
To wait forever until he died, either from starvation, thirst, old age, or something else going on in his body. He would die later on. At least he would die later on.
Not only that, there was the matter of his wounds. Every second that passed, blood was trickling downwards from his shoulder and fell to the bottom. If this continued on, that meant that eventually, he would run out of blood and die from it. It was only a matter of time.
It didn't matter to him if he died 3 years later or 2 days later
One thing he knew was what he didn't want to die today...
It was honestly surprising how calm he was about it. He could die at any moment. Sure, he knew that full well and wanted to do whatever he could do avoid that. However, that meant pulling himself up above the cliff, and he knew that that wasn't possible.
*****
Again, he hit a roadblock. One where he had run out of options. He had probably run into those sorts of situations in the past. These were the toughest situations where defeat was inevitable. However, his situation was far different from any of his past troubles. After all, his life was on the line. Four times, within the span of less than an hour. That was how many times he had been thrown in front of deaths door. By meer luck and fortitude, he managed to remain alive until now. He couldn't afford to lose this time.
To survive 4 near-death moments with almost instantaneous action, it was like reflex. Maybe that was the action. If that were the case, then...
That would mean that his previous adventures had been a danger to his life.
*****
He continued to stand between the cliff and the ground meters below. He was really out of options. However, since it was Yohan, then the future was looking bright. It was likely that he would come up with a plan soon and act on it immediately.
However, he took no action at all. After all, his singular arm was busy keeping him from falling, and he didn't have another hand he could use to grab onto the cliff. So, of course, he chose not to do anything because he had nothing to do.
Well, except for calming down, that is. Though nonetheless, this was better. He tried his absolute best to look at the bright side of things, and rightfully so. At least now, he wasn't being pursued by fang-baring enemies.
Yohan: Phew. I'm glad that was taken care of.
He finally got a break.
Thud!
Yohan: What... was... that?
A sound that shook the earth with each step. Along with each step, it grew louder and louder. It was increasing in volume very quickly. It was getting close...
He looked to where the sound came from, as it came closer towards him. Dashing without pause was...
Yohan: Never mind! This is a terrible cliffhanger!