Umil Esliktuma knew that traveling alone at night was a bad idea. That fact has been hammered into his brain ever since he was a little boy. But he thought that he could make it there to the camp and back to the in time, that he would be fast enough to avoid the monsters he knew would come out at night, even though he was quite fatigued and drowsy from his previous adventures. As he saw the sun much too quickly going down over the horizon, he knew he was wrong. Now, blinded by the darkness, he began rushing back to the direction he thought the hamlet was in.
Then he heard the cackling.
He looked around his barely visible surroundings, and saw the vile figures coming out from behind the foliage. He was no longer alone. They looked even worse than the stories described them. He stood panicked for a moment, then started running, but to no avail, they just kept reappearing, or maybe there were just so many of them? He did not know. Knowing that this was going nowhere, he hurredly removed the dagger from his backpack and threw it at one of the fiends. Nothing happened. Still running, he tried a couple other items from his backpack, still with little success. He even managed to get a hit on one of them with his whip when it came close, but it did nothing. He continued running, until he came upon a cougar. He was displeased at first at the prospect of having another bloodthirsty enemy chasing him, but then he realized the animal wasn't eying him, it was eying his pursuers. As soon as one came within range, it charged at it with a leap and bloodlust in its eyes. Its bravery caused Umil to stop for a moment. It was taking on all of the horrid beings by itself, when it could have just left them alone and escaped while they chased him down. Inspired, Umil turned around, facing the boogeymen which were now advancing in on the cougar, and started rushing straight toward them. He ran behind the cougar, blocking the way of a would be opportunistic attacker, but was then attacked from the side, by another one of the cursed things. The fight raged, and although his whip was not the best weapon for harming them, a few boogeymen fell to him after having their skulls crushed. At times, he became seperated from his inspiration and could only hear the sounds of its combat with the beings through the darkness.
After a while, though, things looked grim. There was little progress being made against these creatures, and the two brave souls were just getting exhausted and weak from endless fighting. The cougar was the first to collapse. It fell, and was promptly killed by one of the foul beasts. Umil saw his partner's death, and knew he was the next to go, he could not take much more strain. With what energy he had left, he fought his way to the cougar's side, falling twice but miraculously managing to get back up without harm, and, as soon as he made his way there, fell for the last time. As he lied there, waiting for the kick that would crush his skull, he felt content in knowing that he was going to die lying next to one of the bravest warriors he's ever known.
And that is why I will from now on have second thoughts when killing cougars.
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Topic: How have you been dying recently? (Read 164115 times)