The gears in Michaels head turned as a plan began to formulate. Glancing between the bear, the tiger and the night beast, something finally clicked.
A plan had been formed, a plan so risky it seemed less of a plan and more of a gamble. A gamble so high that the stakes were his life.
If his plan worked, he would be able to escape with his life, if it didn't... Well he didn't need to think about that.
A faint smile crawled up his face as he realised how bad things looked.
GRuarrrrr
The bear roared loudly, snapping Michael from his thoughts. From how tense things looked, it didn't seem like he would have much time left. Whatever was going to happen, had to happen now.
Michael lightly squeezed rain, his trusty sword which had not left his grip throughout the whole ordeal, it's hard but smooth sheath giving him comfort.
Just the mere thought of the blade being in his hands, Michael could feel his breathing become stable and his heart settle down.
Sigh!
It was now or never.
Michael struggled to his feet, the last of his energy reserves flooding into his muscles. As he stood up, his muscles burned, screaming at him to lie back down and rest.
The feeling was overwhelming as he couldn't even stand up straight. The wind blew backwards, almost sending him back onto the floor, the only thing holding him up being rain.
Feeling his strength escaping his body, Michael steeled his heart for the last time before charging at the bear.
The bear whose focus was on the two other animals, saw something rushing towards it from the side. Turning it's head, it saw the human who it has considered dead rushing towards it in a suicide charge.
Confusion flashed past it's eyes, quickly being replaced by rage.
How dare the human it considered food charge at it!
It raised its paw in the air, ready to strike down the stupid human as a beastly roar escaped it's throat.
Time seemed to slow down for Michael as he saw all this in slow motion. From the bear recognising what he wanted to do, to it preparing for an attack.
To the side, he saw the tiger launching itself to the now distracted bear, while the night beast slowly backed away Into the darkness, it's intent unknown.
With his plan moving in a direction he mostly anticipated, Michael's grin widened as a crazed look could be seen on his face.
When he got into striking distance of the bear, the huge paw suddenly launched itself towards his head like an arrow being released from it's bow.
Moving at such high speeds, Michael barely saw the paw approaching his head in the dim moons light, instead what he used was his head splitting headache, a trade mark of his danger sense telling him where the blow would come from.
Wasting no time, Michael hurriedly ducked under the blow, effectively dodging the attack and exposing the bears side.
Although tempting, Michael was sure that with how tired and out of strength he was, his blade wouldn't go deep enough to kill the bear or even heavily damage it.
Coming to that conclusion, Michael planted his foot on the floor, using his body's low position to the ground to spring himself forward into the distance
The bear was shocked when the human once again avoided it's attack. The first time could have been a mistake, but now it had happened again on the same night.
It's anger exploded as it saw the human running into the distance, the thick trees starting to block his view from it.
Before it could give chase, the Injured tiger attacked the now distracted bear, it's razor sharp teeth easily tearing apart the flesh on the bears hind leg, causing it to stumble to the floor.
Because of how unexpected the attack was, the bear could only roar in pain, while leaving other parts of it's body open for another attack. An opportunity the tiger wouldn't allow to pass it by.
It quickly rushed towards the bears neck, ready to end it all. It's swift attack plan seemed to have worked as it's jaws got closer to the neck, when it's vision saw a rapidly increasing paw approaching it's face, before being smacked aside, it's body flying away like a kite.
Listening to the roars and trembling, Michael knew his plan had succeed as they were now fighting each other and we're not after him.
Feeling proud, Michael spurred his body more hoping to get as far away from the action as soon as possible, when his danger sense warned him of danger to his right.
On instinct Michael launched himself onto the floor, the rough uneven floor adding to the list of scratches he had on him.
Although painful, Michael's full attention was on the night beast that just landed where he had been, claws sinking into the dirt with a soft crunch.
It raised its head slowly, two glowing orbs peering through the shadows like coals in a dying fire.
His thoughts raced.
It's not like the others.
The bear and tiger were creatures of pride, always trying to brute force their way through the everything most of the time.
This one, it was something else entirely. Silent, cold and patient.
He remembered when he acted on the plan, everything went according to what he had considered possible, everything but this particular beast.
It had disappeared into the darkness. At that time he didn't really put much thought into it's action, thinking it was still focused on the bear, waiting for its chance to strike. now, he realised it had seen through his plan and was actively hunting him.
Realising the kind of beast he was facing, Michael felt a chill crawl across his back.
The forest seemed to grow quieter around them, the sounds of the nearby battle dulled by distance or drowned in blood. Only the sound of his own ragged breathing and the beasts low growl remained.
Why?
Just why?
Michael turned and ran, branches whipped past his face, leaving small marks. He didn't care.
Only one thing plagued his mind, and that whas why?
Why was this world so unfair?
What was everything going against his will?
What sin had he committed that was so brave that even the world itself was against him?
Danger!
He threw himself left, narrowly dodging a swipe that came from the trees above. The.
Splinters rained upon his being, but Michael kept running.
The darkness around him seemed to thicken, ready to devour his being while.
He rolled, stumbled, got up and smashed I to trees, but he kept running.
His eyes darted around his surroundings, looking for something, anything that could help his cause.
Spotting a clearing ahead, Michael felt like hope was not far away. He rushed I to the clearing, only to have his hopes extinguished.
Michael stared ahead, the light in his eyes dimming, slowly slipping away into the night sky.
"Haha... Hahaha hahahaha!" Michael cackled into the night sky, the last semblance of sanity draining away. He continued laughing even though he heard the night beast slowly approaching from behind.
His danger sense assaulted the back of his head, warning him of the danger coming, but he didn't care.
He just kept laughing, at some point, tears and saliva got mixed in with the laughter, making the scene look messy.
Michael didn't care about anything. He just fixed his eyes on the cliff in front of him.
"Is this how it is!" He roared, his laughter stopping abruptly. "What'd I do! What did I ever do to deserve this! Arrrghhhhhhh!" Michael roared into the night sky, releasing all his pent up emotions.
Like a faulty dam, his emotions spilled out uncontrollably.
The night beast that was a pit to pounce paused its steps. It warily watches the human before it as it's actions were strange.
Feeling drained and empty, Michael turned around and faced the beast, this time his eyes utterly and completely dead.
An ominous smile plastered on his face.
This scene could send shivers down anybody who observed this sights spine, the beast not excepted.
It unconsciously took a step back, pausing when it realised what it had done. Series of emotions crossed its eyes before settling on anger.
Michael watched all this, his expression unchanged. With his battered body, he slowly turned around, his movements unhurried, before making his way towards the cliff.
The beast sensing Michael's intentions tensed it's legs, before pouncing at him.
As if unaware of the danger behind him, Michael took shaky steps towards the cliff, each step each one shedding a piece of himself.
When one step remained before he fell into the black abyss beneath, his danger sense flared one final time, worse than ever before.
The pain it sent more painful than it had ever been. Michael knew the implications of what it meant.
He turned around, in front of him was jaws wide open, ready to tear into his throat.
The smile on his face widened to creepy proportions. He then stepped backwards, the feeling of weightlessness swallowed him.
Wind roared past his ears.
The roar of the night beast sounded above, this time sounding pained.
The sound pleasing to Michael's ears.
"We both lose," he whispered, before the night swallowed everything.