vjoogerperson
07-19-2016, 03:54 PM
The Squirrel in the Forest
By Adam Szava
She steps carefully across the forest floor. Medila the archress has been lost in these woods for days, surviving off of rodents. As she walks, bow in hand, the tree her back faces gives off a sound. The sound of nails gripping onto bark, a squirrel. Her fast reflexes let her pirouette quickly around to where she heard the noise, without making a sound herself, moving to the other side of the tree. She spots her prey, a medium sized squirrel, with a big bushy tail, climbed halfway up the big oak tree.
She has an arrow ready and begins to pull back on her bow, the squirrel stays put. The forest is silent, all she can hear is the faint sound of her breathing, and the sound of her bow. She takes the shot.
Just as she lets go of the arrow, a gust of wind miraculously intercepts the arrow mid flight, sending the arrow way off past the tree. The squirrel jumps at the sound, and scurries up the tree.
“Fantastic” Medila says sarcastically as she pulls out another arrow from her quiver, five left.
Her eyes try their best to keep a lock on the rodent, climbing up the tree, then onto the branches to run from it’s hunter.
Medila walks slowly, without making a sound, onto the next tree, following the squirrel. The forest is silent, the squirrel makes itself obvious by rummaging through the branches.
Finally, the squirrel has lost it’s luck. After running down a line of trees, the squirrel reached a more open area, one of the few areas where there are no trees covering, and sunlight can pass through. The squirrel can either jumps off the tree, or goes back towards the huntress.
Medila continues to walk briskly, with perfect posture, following the rodent. Bow and arrow in hand. She watches as the rodent jumps from the tree, onto the ground. Now’s her chance.
In this open area, the squirrel is completely exposed, and has nowhere to run. Foolishly it runs straight into the middle of the field.
Standing at the edge of the field, Medila pulls back her bow, and fires into the sky. She has been trained for years and years with a bow, for as long as she can remember she’s had a bow in hand and a quiver behind her. As the arrow flies through the sky, the squirrel stays put. Finally, to end the chase, the arrow lands directly onto the top of the squirrel’s head, piercing it from the top, and coming out the bottom.
Medila starts to walk over to her dinner, giving herself a pat on the back as her long red hair begins to sway in the new wind, a fresh breeze she hadn’t felt in days.
Once she reaches her squirrel, she kneels down and looks at her kill. Observing the straight pierce through the head. She begins to hum a melody as she pulls out a piece of cloth from her pocket to put the dead squirrel in. Just as she reaches for the tail of the squirrel, she takes one more look at the face of the kritter, arrow still through the head.
This moment Medila will never forget, never has she seen such inexplicability happen in such a terrible way. As she takes one final look, the squirrel opens it’s eyes and exposes it’s great big fangs.
In an instant, Medila throws the squirrel a meter from her, dropping the cloth. The rodent begins to hiss, loudly. The wind suddenly picks up even more and leaves begin to be torn from the trees. A black smog begins to form around the limp squirrel body, a smog that begins to form into a spiral. This spiral keeps growing until it becomes more than four times Medila’s height.
In a gasp, Medila stands back up onto her feet, and grabs her bow off the ground. She quickly pulls out an arrow from her quiver as she scurries backwards to get away from the giant swirling smog.
A shape begins to form, that of a moose? No, not quite. That of a human? No, not quite. That of a tree? A little bit.
After just twenty seconds, the beast has appeared. What stands before Medila is a giant with the face of a moose but the body shaped like a human though very thin and frail looking. On it’s head it has a giant top of branches, almost like a head of broccoli.
Medila stays low, as if to try to evade the beast, but it is useless. The beast raises its head and stares directly at her with it’s bright red eyes.
“You stand in my forest”, a booming and powerful voice shakes the ground, “you try to kill one of my people”.
“What are you!?” Medila screams, trying to speak over the wind.
“I am the keeper of the woods, I am the protector of animals, I am here to defeat the threat that harms my forest.”
The beast’s gargantuan voice echoes in the trees. Suddenly, the beast begins to move, it’s giant leg stomps slowly forwards towards Medila. The trees shake and the birds fly away.
Medila begins to plan her fight, although still stupefied by the beast. She notices how frail the body of the beast appears, it’s arms look like four sticks tied together, she could easily break that with a dagger she carries around as her arrows are useless for now.
She runs around the beast, looking for a tree to scale so she can jump onto it. The keeper of the woods uses it’s giant fist, and tries to swipe Medila as she runs, though unsuccessful.
She reaches a tree, one tall enough to leap onto the beast, she must be quick. In a matter of seconds, she scaled the tree, branch by branch, and positioned herself facing the beast, the beast who is walking steadily towards her.
As her foe approaches, Medila jumps at the most optimal moment, the beast tries to swing, but Medila is too fast for the giant. She uses her dagger to attempt to strike the arm of her foe.
At first she sees success, breaking through the first three sticks holding the beast’s arm together, but at the final stick her strike comes to a halt and her dagger bounces right off sending her falling backwards.
Medila’s strong legs let her run fast, jump far, and in this case, land hard.
A menacing laugh echoes.
“Foolish brute, you thought I was just few twigs. Let me tell you what I’m really.”, the beast’s voice rattles Medila’s ears as she kneels there for the moment, “you strike me in my arm, and you break my first three bones. But then what you don’t think of is that my final bone now contains all of the energy. The strongest sword is too stupid to figure that out, and the smartest mind is too weak.”
“So why do you tell me this?” asks Medila as she steps up.
“Because now you know you have no way of defeating me, I’d love to see what a human does in the face of inevitable defeat.”
The menacing laugh continues. The forest echoes the laugh back and the wind begins to get stronger.
As the beast has his head back, looking up to the sky, Medila notices something. A weak point. Only one stick, under his chin but above his shoulders, his throat is but one stick, just a bit bigger than the ones that make up his arms. Since there is only one stick, no energy is wasted in destroying others. Medila begins to think.
She scans the beast for any more weak points she could strike, something that would raise his head up. As the beast lowers his head back down after a good laugh, she immediately notices it’s red eyes, like gems.
Immediately, Medila pulls out two arrows. As the beast begins to approach, she places both bolts into her bow. She takes a deep breath, kneels down, aims for the eyes, and fires.
In an instant, the arrows go flying, no wind, no animals, nothing can stop these bolts from hitting their target.
The red of the beast’s eyes shine their final shine.
Pushed back by the shock, the defender flails its head backwards, exposing its neck. Medila doesn’t spend a second coming to action. She jumps onto the hand of the beast that is still flailing, and quickly climbs it. She uses the many sticks and branches to climb, some breaking off, almost making her fall. She climbs onto the shoulder of the beast, with its head still pushed up. The wind is strong as the gargantuan boom of the beasts deep scream pulsates through the air.
Medila draws her dagger, holding on for dear life as the beast flails around, she screams into the defender’s giant ear,
“Inevitable defeat you say!?”
The forest rumbles as the crack of the giant’s neck lets out a huge noise. The sound of a thousand animals gasping for air. The giant body falls the the ground, only adding to the noise.
Medila jumps off the neck of the beast as it falls, she lands hard on the ground, near to the beast’s head. As a black smog pours out of the head and neck of the decapitated beast, the painful animal noises don’t stop.
The giant head of the dead beast somehow rolls it’s self over to face Medila. With it’s now small dying voice, it murmurs some words.
“What have you done?”
“I was just trying to survive” Medila responds quickly, slowly turning her head.
The beast closes his eyes, though they still have two arrows in them. The wind begins to free up, and the gasps start to die off. The beast’s mouth open for one final time.
“So were they.”
In that moment the head and body finally dissipate, exploding into a cloud of black dust.
In a minute, the dust settles, leaving everything covered in black. Everything except a squirrel, a squirrel with it’s head chopped off, laying there, finally dead. And in the dust, is written the words, “Still want to eat?”.
Medila stands up, and does what she should have done since the beginning, she runs, she runs and never looks back.
By Adam Szava
She steps carefully across the forest floor. Medila the archress has been lost in these woods for days, surviving off of rodents. As she walks, bow in hand, the tree her back faces gives off a sound. The sound of nails gripping onto bark, a squirrel. Her fast reflexes let her pirouette quickly around to where she heard the noise, without making a sound herself, moving to the other side of the tree. She spots her prey, a medium sized squirrel, with a big bushy tail, climbed halfway up the big oak tree.
She has an arrow ready and begins to pull back on her bow, the squirrel stays put. The forest is silent, all she can hear is the faint sound of her breathing, and the sound of her bow. She takes the shot.
Just as she lets go of the arrow, a gust of wind miraculously intercepts the arrow mid flight, sending the arrow way off past the tree. The squirrel jumps at the sound, and scurries up the tree.
“Fantastic” Medila says sarcastically as she pulls out another arrow from her quiver, five left.
Her eyes try their best to keep a lock on the rodent, climbing up the tree, then onto the branches to run from it’s hunter.
Medila walks slowly, without making a sound, onto the next tree, following the squirrel. The forest is silent, the squirrel makes itself obvious by rummaging through the branches.
Finally, the squirrel has lost it’s luck. After running down a line of trees, the squirrel reached a more open area, one of the few areas where there are no trees covering, and sunlight can pass through. The squirrel can either jumps off the tree, or goes back towards the huntress.
Medila continues to walk briskly, with perfect posture, following the rodent. Bow and arrow in hand. She watches as the rodent jumps from the tree, onto the ground. Now’s her chance.
In this open area, the squirrel is completely exposed, and has nowhere to run. Foolishly it runs straight into the middle of the field.
Standing at the edge of the field, Medila pulls back her bow, and fires into the sky. She has been trained for years and years with a bow, for as long as she can remember she’s had a bow in hand and a quiver behind her. As the arrow flies through the sky, the squirrel stays put. Finally, to end the chase, the arrow lands directly onto the top of the squirrel’s head, piercing it from the top, and coming out the bottom.
Medila starts to walk over to her dinner, giving herself a pat on the back as her long red hair begins to sway in the new wind, a fresh breeze she hadn’t felt in days.
Once she reaches her squirrel, she kneels down and looks at her kill. Observing the straight pierce through the head. She begins to hum a melody as she pulls out a piece of cloth from her pocket to put the dead squirrel in. Just as she reaches for the tail of the squirrel, she takes one more look at the face of the kritter, arrow still through the head.
This moment Medila will never forget, never has she seen such inexplicability happen in such a terrible way. As she takes one final look, the squirrel opens it’s eyes and exposes it’s great big fangs.
In an instant, Medila throws the squirrel a meter from her, dropping the cloth. The rodent begins to hiss, loudly. The wind suddenly picks up even more and leaves begin to be torn from the trees. A black smog begins to form around the limp squirrel body, a smog that begins to form into a spiral. This spiral keeps growing until it becomes more than four times Medila’s height.
In a gasp, Medila stands back up onto her feet, and grabs her bow off the ground. She quickly pulls out an arrow from her quiver as she scurries backwards to get away from the giant swirling smog.
A shape begins to form, that of a moose? No, not quite. That of a human? No, not quite. That of a tree? A little bit.
After just twenty seconds, the beast has appeared. What stands before Medila is a giant with the face of a moose but the body shaped like a human though very thin and frail looking. On it’s head it has a giant top of branches, almost like a head of broccoli.
Medila stays low, as if to try to evade the beast, but it is useless. The beast raises its head and stares directly at her with it’s bright red eyes.
“You stand in my forest”, a booming and powerful voice shakes the ground, “you try to kill one of my people”.
“What are you!?” Medila screams, trying to speak over the wind.
“I am the keeper of the woods, I am the protector of animals, I am here to defeat the threat that harms my forest.”
The beast’s gargantuan voice echoes in the trees. Suddenly, the beast begins to move, it’s giant leg stomps slowly forwards towards Medila. The trees shake and the birds fly away.
Medila begins to plan her fight, although still stupefied by the beast. She notices how frail the body of the beast appears, it’s arms look like four sticks tied together, she could easily break that with a dagger she carries around as her arrows are useless for now.
She runs around the beast, looking for a tree to scale so she can jump onto it. The keeper of the woods uses it’s giant fist, and tries to swipe Medila as she runs, though unsuccessful.
She reaches a tree, one tall enough to leap onto the beast, she must be quick. In a matter of seconds, she scaled the tree, branch by branch, and positioned herself facing the beast, the beast who is walking steadily towards her.
As her foe approaches, Medila jumps at the most optimal moment, the beast tries to swing, but Medila is too fast for the giant. She uses her dagger to attempt to strike the arm of her foe.
At first she sees success, breaking through the first three sticks holding the beast’s arm together, but at the final stick her strike comes to a halt and her dagger bounces right off sending her falling backwards.
Medila’s strong legs let her run fast, jump far, and in this case, land hard.
A menacing laugh echoes.
“Foolish brute, you thought I was just few twigs. Let me tell you what I’m really.”, the beast’s voice rattles Medila’s ears as she kneels there for the moment, “you strike me in my arm, and you break my first three bones. But then what you don’t think of is that my final bone now contains all of the energy. The strongest sword is too stupid to figure that out, and the smartest mind is too weak.”
“So why do you tell me this?” asks Medila as she steps up.
“Because now you know you have no way of defeating me, I’d love to see what a human does in the face of inevitable defeat.”
The menacing laugh continues. The forest echoes the laugh back and the wind begins to get stronger.
As the beast has his head back, looking up to the sky, Medila notices something. A weak point. Only one stick, under his chin but above his shoulders, his throat is but one stick, just a bit bigger than the ones that make up his arms. Since there is only one stick, no energy is wasted in destroying others. Medila begins to think.
She scans the beast for any more weak points she could strike, something that would raise his head up. As the beast lowers his head back down after a good laugh, she immediately notices it’s red eyes, like gems.
Immediately, Medila pulls out two arrows. As the beast begins to approach, she places both bolts into her bow. She takes a deep breath, kneels down, aims for the eyes, and fires.
In an instant, the arrows go flying, no wind, no animals, nothing can stop these bolts from hitting their target.
The red of the beast’s eyes shine their final shine.
Pushed back by the shock, the defender flails its head backwards, exposing its neck. Medila doesn’t spend a second coming to action. She jumps onto the hand of the beast that is still flailing, and quickly climbs it. She uses the many sticks and branches to climb, some breaking off, almost making her fall. She climbs onto the shoulder of the beast, with its head still pushed up. The wind is strong as the gargantuan boom of the beasts deep scream pulsates through the air.
Medila draws her dagger, holding on for dear life as the beast flails around, she screams into the defender’s giant ear,
“Inevitable defeat you say!?”
The forest rumbles as the crack of the giant’s neck lets out a huge noise. The sound of a thousand animals gasping for air. The giant body falls the the ground, only adding to the noise.
Medila jumps off the neck of the beast as it falls, she lands hard on the ground, near to the beast’s head. As a black smog pours out of the head and neck of the decapitated beast, the painful animal noises don’t stop.
The giant head of the dead beast somehow rolls it’s self over to face Medila. With it’s now small dying voice, it murmurs some words.
“What have you done?”
“I was just trying to survive” Medila responds quickly, slowly turning her head.
The beast closes his eyes, though they still have two arrows in them. The wind begins to free up, and the gasps start to die off. The beast’s mouth open for one final time.
“So were they.”
In that moment the head and body finally dissipate, exploding into a cloud of black dust.
In a minute, the dust settles, leaving everything covered in black. Everything except a squirrel, a squirrel with it’s head chopped off, laying there, finally dead. And in the dust, is written the words, “Still want to eat?”.
Medila stands up, and does what she should have done since the beginning, she runs, she runs and never looks back.