Alone in the Woods
Chapter 8 - Life and Death
I shouted and raved to get its attention and its rage fixated on me. I ran. I ran north.
I tripped it, tried to bind it, anything to keep it from catching me. It worked and I managed to remain a step ahead, though I was tiring. The monster was not. My mind desperately searched for a solution. The elemental was too far away to help. No animal would or even could help. Wolf mom was the only beast around that could even scratch it.
Except she wasn't. There was the grumpy bear she told me to stay away from. He lived in the norther woods. At her old den. I even knew the spot I had long avoided.
I turned to head that way and my foot slipped on the wet mud. Everything hurt. I flared the last of my healing. I had found my limit.
The monster reached me before I could run. Its claw tore into my back I screamed. Pain so much pain. It let out a triumphant roar.
I cried. My fear, sorrow, and anger overwhelming me. I began pulling magic into me. I felt it. I felt it in the trees. The trees groaned and withered as I drained them.
I surged the stolen power into the ground and from it grew a root so fast and strong it skewered the monster. I used the little remaining stole power to mend my wounds before I succumbed to them.
The bear, I had to find the bear. My head light from blood loss. My hands shaking from the feeling of death I had dealt. My mind ached having shared the experience death through another, death by my own hand.
My mind cleared when I saw the cave. My legs gave out at the entrance and I my pleading rang through the bear's den.
Growls of displeasure cut me off. From the shadows of the cavern emerged a grizzly bear with paws bigger than my torso. Hostility oozed from its body language. I'd never met a beast so hostile to me.
He lowered his head that could almost swallow me hole, and sniffed me. He finally inquired as to why I would so foolishly disturb his slumber. I told him of the monster that preyed on everything in these woods. A monster rivaling him in size that was nearby, slaughtering everything in its path.
I begged.
The monster injured but very much still alive managed to finally free itself in the distance. As I succumbed to exhaustion I tried to lure the monster this way.
As my consciousness gave out I told the bear I'm sorry.
I woke up lying on soft. Was it all a dream?
I opened my eyes. I was in an unfamiliar den, and I was lying against brown fur, not grey fur. I was sleeping against grumpy bear.
I jumped at the realization which in turn awoke the bear. I sheepishly offered my sincerest apology for waking him. He grumbled but didn't seem actually upset.
"What happened?" I spoke with my voice. Something that had become rare as of late.
My question was answered with a mildly embellished tale of him encountering the monster as it approached his den and striking it down in an epic battle. With extra emphasis on how big and strong he was and how weak and puny the monster was. I knew they were about the same size. The monster might have been bigger if it didn't hunch like a dinosaur.
I didn't call him on the embellishments. I was far too worried about wolf mom. She was in rough shape last I saw her.
I told him I had to find my mom and make sure she was okay, and he scoffed saying a little cub like me shouldn't be wandering alone.
As he shifted upright after I stood up I noticed the wounds. He might have won but he took a bad beating. I gently reached out and tried to heal him. It worked but I was still drained from earlier, the healing was slow and less soothing.
Grumpy bear seemed less grumpy with the wounds faded. I did stop before he was fully healed as I wanted to make sure I could still heal mom when I found her.
I walked out the cave followed by the world's largest bear, and I saw it. The monster's mangled corpse smashed through a tree. The area was a mess, and I began to doubt how much the story I was told was embellished. It occurred to me that the bear would have probably lost if the monster had not been so thoroughly injured before they fought.
The forest was in shambles and as I talked to the many trees that had saved my life, it became clear that they were not doing well. I felt tears well up in my eyes when I saw the husks of the trees I had killed.
Mom, I had to find mom. I forced myself to go on, fear and worry slowly poisoning my mind. My stoic companion didn't say a word as he followed me through the trail of my fight.
I found her, she was lying there. I ignored the growling from the bear as I ran to my mom's side. I started pouring healing into her before even confirming she was still with me.
I felt her torso rise and fall while I healed her. She was alive. Wolf mom was alive.