Just because you're tall and strong doesn't mean that you can sprint endlessly as I found out to my detriment when I fled the village. In my initial sprint I had covered good ground, I was now almost out of sight of the village - headed North, the direction of the mountains. But when the adrenalin stopp­ed coursing through my body I felt like my lungs were on fire.

I risked slowing down to glance back and see if I was being pursued. That action almost killed my escape. As soon as I slowed, I started cough­ing with hard, hacking coughs that threatened to expel my lungs along with phlegm. Luckily my quick peek in the direction of the village revealed no rectangular monster following me.

I fell to my knees with my head bowed as I continued to cough and struggled to draw breath. Eventually though I felt my breathing slow and weariness settle over my bones.

That's when I heard an almost comedic whistling noise. It was shortly followed by a loud blast off to my left. I screamed from the sound, the flash, the heat and the spray of dirt that hit my face. A quick succession of three more blasts followed, bursting all around me. The noise was incredible. The infernal machine, the infernal Prids had not given up the chase and I couldn't halt either. I continued running.

I was faster than the machine but unlike it, I couldn't maintain my movement indefinitely and the damned contraption just kept coming. What was worse was that, it seemed to be able to target me with its fireball barrage from a mile away. Instead of firing its cannons horizontally, it would fire them in an upwards arc. I don’t know how the Prids were able to judge where the projectile would land but they did it with frightening accuracy. The only warning I had of the incoming fireball was the whistling sound. It was impossible to see the fireball against the mid-day sky.

While I ran, the barrage was only two-fold, probably from its fewer front cannons. I also managed to keep ahead of the disastrous impacts of the fireballs although I once caught the explosion on my right heel as I ran. My foot was burned to a crisp. In pain, and tired, I had to keep limping forward, because I knew if I slowed I faced the side b­arrage of the Pridish machine which would be four cannons in succession.

I was far away from the village now, almost near the forest where I had consumed the poisoned berries once upon a time. As I took one of my few breaks to catch my breath and watched my foot heat completely I knew I had to make a choice. Stay­ing on even terrain would be my death. Eventually I would be too tired to keep moving and then the Prids would catch up to me and end me.

I could either head into the forest to my left and maybe even up the mountains that lay beyond the forest or cut across the river to my right. I almost made an instant choice to head to the river. It was hot, I was weary and thirsty. But some part of me suspected that the demon vehicle would be able to traverse the river. On the other hand, I figured that it wouldn't be able to enter the thickest part of the forest.

My choice made, I stumbled directly into the shrubbery and sparse trees that marked the beginning of the forest. As I brushed past trees and entered deeper into the jungle, I felt a trickle of hope. These were densely packed hardwood trees. No amount of magic or metal would be able to easily move through this jungle. I might finally be safe. As the forest grew thicker, the foliage became thicker as well and mercifully the tree canopy kept the sun off me.

I had covered about a mile, when the gradient of the forest floor started ris­ing. This was probably the beg­inning of the mountains. I decided to keep going, maybe higher ground would provide additional security. There had been no barrage for quite some time by this point and my heart rate had dropped to a somewhat normal level. A big part of me began believing I was safe.

When I came crashing into the clearing, I scared away a herd of deers that were drinking from a small pond. The pond with fresh albeit murky water and the Kos trees growing near it finally convinced me that my luck had turned.

The Kos was a godsend. The villagers used the large, fleshy Kos fruit in their vegetable preparations. It didn't have any taste on its own but it was considered nutritious and had a pleasing mouthfeel. It wouldn't have been my first choice for a meal, but beggars can't be choosers. I picked off five of the large oblong fruits, slaked my thirst from the pond and settled down on a large boulder near the water.

As I peeled one of the fruits to expose the off-white coloured flesh an image of a lolling, slobbering fat dog came to my mind. Her eyes would have been wide as she waited for me to feed her a piece of the treat.

A great rasping sob escaped me as I felt my heart and face twist in grief. The tears came freely... the loss of that dumb loyal creature felt like it would cause me to implode. I cried loudly with no one to hear me in the forest. familiar.

"Hmm..." came the voice suddenly. I almost fell off my boulder seat as I quickly turned in the direction of the voice. A wizened, small woman sat on a smaller stone near me. Her visage was deathly pale. The fruit dropped from my hands.

"How....'' I spluttered.

The old woman raised an eyebrow.

“How is this possible?" I asked the apparition.

"Hmm..." replied the apparition. I stared at Kishni’s face.

“I saw you. You…died," I told the apparition, my voice breaking.

“Did you?" she replied.

I sat silently absorbing this new absurdity... or trying to.

"Are you a ghost? "I finally asked. She shrugged in reply.

"Or are you a figment of my imag­ination?" she shrugged again.

Fresh tears sprung from my eyes. “Please… no games. Just tell me if you're a ghost."

"Why does this matter to you so much?" she asked me not unkindly.

"Because I wouldn't be all alone then," I said heartbroken.

"Hmmmm..."

I cried silently with my face in my hands.

"Lions are always alone boy," I heard from in between my sadness.

"I'm no lion elder," I said sobbing.

"Hmmm..."

When I had gathered myself again, I checked to see if she was still there.

The ghost of Kishni was still sitting there placidly.

"And what of the mechanical beast?" she asked me.

"It can't follow me in here, elder. There are trees and rocks."

"Hmmm, you seem so sure about that, but so unsure of yourself. So str­ange the way youngsters think."

There was silence in the forest as I pondered her inscrutable words.

Silence, then whistling. And the world exploded.

I remember curling up on the ground near the rock as fireworks lit the sky. Trees simply exploded flinging splinter everywhere including into me.

I covered my eyes and ears tightly and screamed, willing the horror to stop. But it didn’t. Eventually I had to let go. My hearing was gone and all I could see was the awesome firep­ower and the smoke and the fire. Eventually I started laug­hing at the bright lights and the way the trees seemed to bulge and explode outwards. Like some sort of festival.