Ha
Ha
Fear laced breaths travelled through air, although quiet, it was still loud enough to echo across wood and grass.
A steady stream of blood flowed from the right side of Tiju, at first nothing, but slowly, the void in his right side regenerated and stopped the bleeding.
Eyes spun and shook, heart beat across the rib cage, racing faster than race cars on asphalt.
Vigor slowly returned back, clarity moved in along with it, allowing movement to be taken.
Due to the sudden shift in balance, he staggered back down. That didn't stop him from forcing his way up again.
'Did, I lose it?'
He asked himself, genuine worry scratched against his expression.
Forcing his torso up, he almost fell down to the endless fog that encapsulated the entirety of the forest.
'I ran so muc-h, there is no way it caught up to me'
His speed was boosted incredibly after all.
Even if it were a true monster, it couldn't just surpass Tiju's powerful insight, could it? Unless.. It had its own.
Cough!
Tiju clutching the gaping hole in his guts coughed up a deep black-red blood.
Blood still poured from his wounds, but eventually, the bleeding stopped, though the pain remained as a stark reminder of foolishness.
'That thi-ng, just what in the world was it?'
It was a complete and utter monster, not only did it eat its way out of its mother, it also seemed highly intelligent. Of course, Tiju ran away from the scene the moment he woke, feeling that it wasn't anything like its mother it fought moments prior.
And right he was.
Not only was it faster than its mother, it also matched equally in speed to Tiju's buffed state. Forcing Tiju to having a wrestle with an oversized tiger with weird tusks and small horns right above its eyes.
Which was the gravest mistake he could make. And the worst part? He couldn't do anything about it, the moment that baby ate its mother, he was trapped till one of them killed each other.
If his and that thing's deaths in this situation were in a gambling den, Tiju's was right now the highly betted option right now.
'It.. ate my arm the moment I attacked, knowing exactly my timing and habits in just after a few exchanges'
Tiju wasn't experienced in fighting, so he tried to find a sharp and long durable stick to keep his distance and chip at it away. Short story, there were none, every branch was either too short or just to fragile to prove of any use.
Resulting in his current and pathetic state.
Grind
Teeth grated against each other, neurons shot and fired to locate a solution. But instead, only more foolishness followed thereafter.
"Hel-Help me!"
"Anyone!"
He screamed out, his mind already having been hazy from the beginning, and was in no state to make sound judgments.
There was no such thing as an insight with truly no penalty, even if it did seem like it did not have one. It did, the bearer only cleanly avoids it and is blinded by the benefits it could reap for him.
For example, even if one had the ability to become stronger proportionate to how deadly the poison they digest really is. It never meant they would become immune to the poison itself, just resistant to it. They are still both mentally and physically affected by the after effects of consuming large amounts of poison directly.
It is similar to the concept of drinking water, humans are not affected by drinking it, however, too much can kill them or have severe side effects.
This was why balance was important, especially when throwing insight to the mix.
That fine line of balance could not be simply ignored.
"Ah"
Eyes craned upwards, staring into the gaping hole in a nearby tree, silhouettes of figures could be seen.
"H-hic"
His throat constricted and forced out pleading words.
"H-help!"
Desperate and severely fatigued, Tiju naturally pleaded and begged the mysterious figures to save him.
It didn't matter if they were monsters like the ones he killed off like insects, he was beyond desperate for help, and he'd grasp any dim light that screamed a twisted hope.
The leaves rustled, a roar in the distance quickened the heart.
All sound disappeared, the cicada's chirping ceased, male birds danced to impress the female birds but were firmly rejected, the silence kept being added and added as more sounds disappeared.
Thwack
'Huh?'
Finally, Tiju looked down.
'When?'
Cough!
Black sickly blood smashed against his lips and broke free from their veins.
A foreign cold object impaled and skewered him like butchers would for their customers.
'A-A tusk?'
From below, piercing the thick branch with no sound passing, was a tusk that shyly cloaked the audacious animal from needing to reveal itself. Like an assassin swiftly killing the target without them knowing due to how shy they are to reveal themselves.
Blood slowly flowed from the guts to the tusk and into the mouth larger than any wolf's.
A sharp, prickly tongue briefly licked the ill blood, as if tasting whether the taste was still as good as when it ate Tiju's arm.
It dangled from the branch, pupils dilating in agreement with the taste test.
A paw from the side rested at Tiju's torso, fear kept breaking his interior with each movement the predator made.
'Oh... I'm gonna die, aren't I?'
Seeing it flash its teeth and licking them as if it were a hungry child excitedly and eagerly awaiting for its favorite food to be served on its silver platter. Made Tiju so frightened by nature, he practically could feel his heart banging itself on his ribs.
His pupils shook like an earthquake predicted to happen. Mind completely doused in terminal turmoil.
Even the air being inhaled spiced the insides of his body.
Though he screamed and begged to be saved, the silhouettes did not move.
He was truly going to die, even if he somehow survived, it would be a miracle if he only became insane.
But, something worse occurred.
Fwiiippp
A hooked vine latched onto Tiju. Shocking him further.
'What? Wasn't this thing born just a few hours ago?!'
The pain that shot out from his abdomen made him clutch it, poison dripped in a steady stream from the hook.
Tiju shot a glance at the monster in front. It held the vine firmly in its mouth, refusing to let go.
'How is it even intelligent enough to know how to handle it?!!'
Mother Nature worked miracles to make this abomination and monstrosity such a feared adversary to the rest of the predators that resided.
But to Tiju? It was utter bullshit.
The young and playful platys swayed like an innocent blushing girl to the right and left, mouth gaining more and more momentum.
Then, as if the required threshold of idling had been reached, its head, in a swift snapping motion, flicked to the right, the vine in its mouth, like a fishing rod was launched into the air. The bait at the end, like a true and working squirming bait, spurted blood on the ground and trees nearby.
Prompting for the hungry and fearful prey to slowly come out with the poisoned scent of blood.
Tiju rolled against the hard floor till the vine tugged him to a stop. Torso barely connected with the lower half.
"Ha! Ha!"
His breathing turned labored and desperate for survival, he inhaled all of the fog, regenerating him quicker.
Whilst regenerating for god knows how long, the vine slowly tugged him.
'No, no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no! no!'
Tiju's head grimaced to pure horror at every gentle tug made that scraped his body and mind.
Every small pull threw his heart into disarray, he wanted to run away, so far away from this place that he would eventually hope to forget it.
It was scary, so so so scary. Each regeneration hurt, each crashing impact hurt and every single bit of pain deeply wounded and left a gaping mark on him.
He was suspended in the air, slowly getting dragged up as strange creatures ate his intestines on the ground like it were for charity.
The distorted, grinning smile that marred the platys recorded in front of him.
Eyes were hollow with pain and misery, though they still had the vigor to shake and tremble in submission.
It only stared back at the fear directed at it.
Whiskers twitched, tongue twisted and licked through the gaps of pointy shards that shredded through all.
Opening its gaping maw, it once again begun munching on half of Tiju's arm.
He winced and arched in pain, trying all sorts of desperate methods to damage it in any sort of way.
However, his strength having already been spent and depleted from having to forcefully regenerate wounds. Showed futility.
Gulping down all the torn flesh, its grotesque smile traumatized even the 'prey' down below, eating happily and caused signals of retreat to silently resound between them.
Peasants avoiding the dangerous rascal noble, that solidified to be the platys.
If the platys in this situation were to be a sadist of a noble that enjoyed instilling fear in others, then the victim would obviously have to be Tiju, the defenseless outsider with no support from anyone.
Truly a hopeless situation, yet even in that hopelessness.
His eyes, still delusional, were filled with some kind of false hope.
He had long realized he had no shot of survival, the only reason he was still alive remained to be purely for sport.
The entire anatomy of his body was frozen and paralyzed from head to toe, slowly foaming at the mouth.
Thoughts wrung dry, his brain steamed to find a solution, but due to the immense poison consumed, nothing useful could be thought of and it wouldn't have made a difference anyway.
"h-help..."
His dry lips kept repeating the same words over, and over and over again with no stop.
Ears rang like old telephones.
Every limb numbed with a feeling of static.
Murmurs for help kept strangling outwards of his throat.
The gaping maw, like a curious child that can't use its hands with much dexterity, opened, ready to snip away half- if not all the body in front.
But that wasn't what happened, instead. A truly incomprehensible sight occurred before him.
A wolf had appeared, not a normal one obviously, but one that slightly resembled a grey werewolf.
In its claw, a cylinder-like object could very faintly be made out.
'H-huh?'
It latched onto the platys, claws gripped at the durable fur.
Then, it shook the cylinder object, rhythmically?
These motions took a span of a few split-second moments.
The platys, focused on satiating its fervor desire to play with its prey, couldn't even perceive who was on top, perched like a bird on its back.
The spray bottle leaned first to the right side of the platys.
Sprrrr
Slowly, but quickly, the contents inside were spritzed away at the eye socket, and in the next instance, Am had already sprayed the left eye with the liquid still sloshing inside.
Guaaaa!!!!!!
It roared. The platys roared so loudly in pain, it fell from the branch from flailing around like a little girl finding a dirty and perverted insect in her bath robes.
Paws scratched against the swollen eyes of the platys as he fell down to another branch.
Am walked up to Tiju and spoke with elegance not befitting the playful and rhythmic movements he showed beforehand.
"Were you..scared?"
The contents of his speech were incomprehensible, a monster worried about whether one was scared or not? What kind of nonsense was this?
Tiju's vision remained blurred, but clarity returned and moved back to its apartment that was the mind. Despite the clear nonsense he heard, he still found himself nodding away.
Slowly his vision, still overlaying multiple images tightly together, cleared like when a sudden downpour clears after returning home soaked from work.
He saw the grey wolf looking down on him with a solemn and sad expression. Am opened his mouth, carefully choosing his words.
"You were scared, right?"
Am said, with an expression tired from the many he had to ask this to console them all, fatigue and frustration accumulated from the sheer number that needed this question to be asked to them.
Resolutely, he proclaimed like the proud noble of 'Am' he was.
"Have faith"
"For I will save you and carry you away from this hell"
'Like the martyr I am destined to be'