Chapter 3: Fateful meeting

Màu nền
Font chữ
Font size
Chiều cao dòng

Please don't bother translating the wing dings. I'll put the translations at the end of the chapter. 

WARNING! This chapter contains some violence and a bit of gore. It's not THAT detailed, but I feel a warning should still be put in place. The gore starts from "One glowing blue, the other red." and continues till the end of the chapter.

2nd POV

You couldn't believe your eyes, but they weren't deceiving you. Standing on the path, small and angry, was a skeleton monster kid. His hand was raised, a blue glow around it, exactly the same as the one holding you up. His right eye socket was empty, while the left one shone in the same bright colour as his power. How was a kid using such powerful magic at such a young age? He looked as if he would barely reach your hip and yet he was holding you immobilised like it's nothing.

The child's eyes narrowed, the magic lifting you higher.

"answer me"

You couldn't. Even if you'd like to, if you were to say the truth, you had no doubts it would end in your untimely demise. Again. Lying didn't seem like a smart idea either though. There was nothing coming to your head that could be a good enough explanation for your high LV that would not besmirch you just as much as the truth would.

"last chance human! you either answer right now, or i'll throw you off the cliff"

To back up his words and show he's serious the magic moved you away from the solid ground, hanging you above the open chasm. Your already tense muscles tensed even more, your breath catching in your throat. If he were to let go of you now, you wouldn't have enough time to spread your wings and break your fall. You really were at the mercy of a kid willing to kill.

"Hey kid- let's not be hasty! There's a very good explanation for my high LV that... makes absolute sense!" You spoke out in panic, yet your brain was unable to come up with anything on the fly.

The kid raised an unimpressed brown bone, the magic lowering you more over the cliff. You wanted to raise your legs and try to catch onto the ground, but it kept you just as frozen in place as before, able only to speak.

"somehow, i don't believe that." You felt the magic weaken on you as he said that, the pull of gravity making itself known.

You tried to say something smart, or anything at all really, but all words died in your throat. This... this couldn't be the end. Out of all the ways you could have been killed, a fall to your death was a disgraceful way to go. From the hands of a child too no less. A very powerful kid that could immobilise your entire body and keep you in place, but still!

You were about to close your eyes and brace for the inevitable death, when a terrified scream rang out through the forest. It was high pitched, clearly belonging to another child, probably even younger than the one currently holding you up. Said kid seemed to know who the voice belonged to though, as his head whipped around towards the sound.

Carelessly, he let go of you, already sprinting away. It caused the magic to throw you at an angle and let you land on the solid ground with a roll, barely a metre or two away from the cliff that was going to be your deathbed. You took a few shaky breaths, gasping for air and clutching your chest with your hand. Your heart was beating frantically and you blinked a few times, trying to calm yourself down.

Standing up on shaky legs, you turned your head towards where the scream came from, seeing the silhouette of the small kid still running, his short legs making his pace look laughable when compared to one of an adult. You hesitated, glancing towards the bridge. With the child distracted, you could probably escape now and hide somewhere, but that scream, it was clearly someone in danger.

You cursed under your breath and darted off, the bridge and cliff getting smaller and smaller behind you. You easily caught up to the small kid and, without stopping, picked him up. He tensed in your arms and his magic ghosted against your skin, but then dissipated when he realised you were running towards the scream. He went slack in your hold, making it a lot easier to fix your grip and dash through the trees.

Soon, you found the source of the yell from before. Pressed against a rocky wall, with his arm hurt and bleeding, was another kid. He was surrounded by what looked like a pack of rabid wolves, all of them thin and starved, froth dripping from their maws. Clearly, they were desperate enough for food that they attacked a monster, even though they are made mostly of magic and will just turn into dust when killed.

One of the wolves at the side lunged and, without thinking, you jumped in between the child and animal, raising your arm. The jaw clamped down on your forearm and you winced when the teeth easily tore through the thin material of your shirt and your skin. You had forgotten your armour was gone.

Gritting your teeth, you swung your arm as best as you could, the animal letting go of it and sliding against the snow, snarling once it found its footing and joined its pack again.

The kid that you ran with joined you in standing between the wolves and the younger of the two children, his magic flaring to life. A bunch of bones -short and thick- materialised in the air and then flew forward, impaling themselves between your trio and the pack.

You raised your fists, getting into a fighting position, eyes scanning the wolves and watching their every move. The one on the furthest left side changed its focus from the hurt kid to you. It lunged, claws and teeth out, saliva dripping onto the snow. You ducked, only to raise up when it was above you, throwing it back and against the rocky wall behind you. It whined at the impact and scrambled off, joining its pack at the back again.

The older of the kids also had his hands full, holding back three wolves with his magic and the bones. He wasn't aiming to kill, which was a relief. Even if they were attacking you, they were just hungry animals and you felt bad for them.

That feeling was soon overshadowed by dread quickly though, as two of the wolves managed to sneak by both of you, now coming for the little kid you were trying to protect. You rushed forward, picking him up easily and turned around, shielding him with your body. The claws barely grazed your skin, not yet deep enough to leave any marks, when a bunch of tiny bones hit the two creatures, sending them off course and into the snow.

You put the kid back down and urged him behind the other one, who you assumed was probably his older brother. He was very quiet, still holding onto his arm, that you now could see had a deep fracture right in the forearm that was dripping blood onto the ground. It was probably what attracted the starved pack.

A bone materialised in front of you when you turned to focus on the wolves that cornered the three of you. It was longer than the ones the kid in blue was using and a lot thinner. The glow around it seemed dimmer too. You glanced sideways to him and he gave you a nod, his focus still on keeping the animals away with his magic.

Hesitantly you reached out, grasping it with your dominant hand. The moment you did, the blue shine dimmed almost completely, leaving you with an impromptu weapon to use. You swung it a few times in a test towards the wolves both to force them back and to check its weight distribution. A lot lighter than your sword, closer to a spear size wise and even then, it was a shallow comparison, but it would make due.

You cracked your neck and switched your hold on the bone to a proper one, changing your footing to accommodate the new weapon. When one of the wolves tried to lunge again, you easily jabbed it forward, hitting it right in the underbelly. It fell to the ground with a loud whimper, but soon got up and joined its pack again, unhurt other than the phantom pain from the blow.

The next few minutes were spent doing exactly the same. The wolves would try to attack and you and the older kid would stay on the defensive and push them back without causing any lasting damage. It felt almost freeing to go back to fighting. It had been a part of you for so long that at this point it became a second nature, something you didn't need to think hard about. It was all in your blood, in your instincts. The ease of reading your opponent's next move and counteracting it with one of your own.

Soon, the wolves realised the effort was not worth the risk and scrambled off, bruised, but otherwise with no permanent damage that could endanger their pack. You sighed in relief and the bone in your hand disappeared in a poof of blue mist.

You turned around to the children, finding the older one looking over the little one's injury, though he was shooting you wary glances every few seconds, even more on edge than he had been by the bridge. You couldn't really blame him for that though. Not only did he know you have a high LV, now you also showed you have experience in fighting.

In one word, you were dangerous.

The other kid didn't seem to hold his brother's fears though, as he beamed up at you happily while having his fractured arm inspected.

"THANK YOU NICE HUMAN!" He was uncharacteristically loud for such a small child, yet you couldn't help but adore his energy.

"You're welcome kid. You should be more careful though, how did you even end up in this situation?" Although you wanted to kneel down beside him to check him over for injuries too, you kept your distance, not fancying to put the other kid on edge. He seemed protective of the younger, there's no need to antagonise him by hovering around his brother.

"yeah paps, how did you manage to get yourself in so much trouble? You promised you'd stay close to the house!"

The younger one, Paps it seems, grinned sheepishly.

"I WAS GOING TO SANS! I PROMISE! BUT THEN I SAW THIS CUTE BIRD AND FOLLOWED IT! AND THEN I SAW SOMETHING SHINY ON THE TREE SO I CLIMBED IT! I COULDN'T GET OFF THOUGH AND FELL... THEN THE WOLVES CAME AND TRIED TO EAT ME!" You chuckled softly, while Sans shook his head in resigned fondness.

"you broke your ulna. it's just a small fracture though, so it will heal quickly." Was Sans' judgement on the wound.

You frowned and looked around, trying to spot if there's any village or city nearby. Even if the crack was small, it should be treated as soon as possible.

"You should get it fixed kid. Do you have any parents? Or live anywhere nearby?" You asked, leaning down to pick up Paps, who nodded quickly and jumped to his feet, pointing in some direction.

"WE DO ACTUALLY! SNOWDIN TOWN IS REALLY CLOSE AND WE LIVE THERE WITH OUR-" He stopped mid sentence in confusion as you were lifted into the air.

You turned to glare at Sans, something along the lines of 'if you wanted me away from your brother you could have just asked' on the tip of your tongue. Sans looked confused though, both of his eye sockets having small white eyelights instead of the bright blue one. Clearly, it wasn't him that was using magic.

"oh" Was all he said, having some sort of a realisation and you managed to catch a glimpse of the force holding you up.

The magic was purple instead of light blue. A deep blue-violet shade. It lifted you high up, a few metres at least, much higher than Sans ever did. In the distance you managed to notice a silhouette for a brief second. It was tall and slim, dark from the shadows of the trees, making you unable to see any details. The only thing standing out were the eyes. One glowing blue, the other red.


You didn't even get a chance to say anything as the magic flung you backwards towards one of the trees. Your eyes widened when you noticed that one of the branches was broken off. It left a sharp stump with uneven edges and full of splinters, one you were getting dangerously close to. You closed your eyes and braced for the impact.

The stub dug into and through your waist, tearing apart your skin and muscle. You screamed, the pain flaring through your entire body.

The figure didn't seem to care as the magic pulled you off it with one, sharp jolt. You heard the wood break off from the stump, pieces of it staying in your muscles and barely avoiding tearing apart your tendons. Blood oozed out of the wound, seeping through your clothes and ruining them completely.

Just as you were about to be thrown at the tree again, Paps and Sans rushed over to the figure, stopping them in their tracks as you floated inches away from the sharp wood. You could see your own torn skin hanging from it, along with bloodied chunks of meat.

The figure paused and you think they knelt down, but the world was starting to spin, your gaze getting unfocused as blood dripped freely from your wound, starting to make a puddle on the snow under you.

"💧✌☠💧📪 🏱✌🏱✡☼🕆💧📪 ✌☼☜ ✡⚐🕆 ❄🕈⚐ ✌☹☼✋☝☟❄✍✏" Even if you were to be fully conscious and not slowly dying, you wouldn't be able to understand what they said.

"DAD! STOP! SHE SAVED ME FROM A PACK OF WOLVES! SHE DIDN'T HURT ME!" Paps frantically explained, but the words started to sound far away to you.

"💧☟☜ 👎✋👎 ☠⚐❄✍ 💧✌☠💧 📪 ✋💧 ❄☟✌❄ ❄☼🕆☜✍" Blacks spots began to form in the corners of your visions but soon spread to your entire sight, so you didn't see Sans hesitantly nod.

The words stopped registering in your brain, merely some sounds in the back of your mind. Your head lolled down, your eyelids suddenly heavier than a warhammer. You fought yourself to stay awake, but it was futile.

In mere seconds after, you passed out from blood loss.

"How do you stay so strong-"


TRANSLATIONS:
"💧✌☠💧📪 🏱✌🏱✡☼🕆💧📪 ✌☼☜ ✡⚐🕆 ❄🕈⚐ ✌☹☼✋☝☟❄✍✏" - "Sans, Papyrus, are you two alright?!"

 "💧☟☜ 👎✋👎 ☠⚐❄✍ 💧✌☠💧 📪 ✋💧 ❄☟✌❄ ❄☼🕆☜✍" - "She did not? Sans, is that true?"

I tried to find a way to not use emojis in the wing dings, but nothing seemed to be working, so we're stuck with them. Sorry.

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: Truyen2U.Pro