This should have been such a lovely day.

The sun is shining,

Being in a beautiful forest with very, very big trees

Enormous, actually.

Far too high to see the tops.

And it’s absolutely the perfect temperature. Not too hot, not too cold.

The whole forest is swarming with wild creatures. Cute ones, pretty ones, big ones.

Yes

This should have been such a perfect day.

So why am I being chased by giant man-eating chickens that should have gone extinct after the great chicken hunt a hundred years ago?

I really dont know.

And at this moment, I really don't care.

I just don't wanna be eaten

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH”

“HELP ME YOU STUPID DRAAAAAAAGOOOOON!!!”

I screamed at the stupid dragon, flying overhead.

“Hrmpf, why would I ever deign to help you? These inferior creatures should be no match for you human. I saw the great slaughter your kind did to these things once before”

“I WAS NOT A PART OF THAT YOU- AAAAH”

A bite near my head cuts me off, and I start running even faster. Legs pumping adrenaline like chugging water.

I quickly glancing back, seeing maybe four giant chickens.

I could probably, no, easily deal with them.

If I had any arrows

Which I of course,

Dont.

I only have this stupid small dagger. Probably not even thick enough to deal any lasting damage.

So, I have relegated myself the honour of running

Running really fast.

Which, turns out

I’m very good at.

But of course, this would have not been a problem if this STUPID DRAGON could just

“HELP ME!”

“No”

Well, as you can hear

No.

So stupid.

Well, at least I don't have to worry about losing him, he’s kinda

Ginourmes

He kinda sticks out like a big blue sore thumb.

And I take credit for inventing that word.

I am truly a genius. A master of speech.

Anyway, here are my options

Run

Which I’m already doing. The problem is that I don't know how long these chickens can run for.

If the past fifteen minutes of full speed running is any indication of how well they run

They can run pretty well.

So option number two

I stand and fight.

Not an option.

So my third and final option, which I’m leaning heavily towards is-

“Human, can you hurry it up, please get eaten, or kill them. I do not really care either way”

Shut up!

You stupid dragon.

Anyway, let’s do this.

First, I need a brief opening where I can open my bag, and as I am already running at full speed, my only option is to climb those trees.

Not the whole way up mind you. Just enough so they won't reach me

Hopefully, they can't climb.

Okay, lets see lets seeee,

Eeeerm, I choose, eer, that tree!

I choose you!

Looks so adorable compared to the others...

I mean, it looks easily climbable

Perfect fit

Here we go!

Humf

And it was a perfect fit! I fit sooo snuggly on it.

Aaaah, so nice

I knew this tree would be awesome.

Wait

I NEED TO CLIMB

CRAP!

One arm after the other, quickly!

A glance down,

Holy moly they are close, staring up at me,

Just out of reach

Phew

Very close.

Now time to fish out the explosives

Aaand there is one. Let’s aim it properly.

That should do.

And a one, and a two

And, drop!

...

I forgot to arm it.

...

Channeling my mana into the next bomb, I mentally think “a timer of five seconds”

And a one and a two,

And a drop.

Now lets see how effective those bombs really are

three seconds

four aaan-

#FWHOOOOM#

AAAAAA- Ooof

Flying out of the tree sideways, I once again crash into the ground, air forcefully leaving my lungs, gasping for air.

Lying limp on the ground

Heaving as I panickly try to breathe.

And a few seconds of gasping, some air finds its way into my lungs

Then, a wave of pain assaults my entire body.

I stay silent.

Thoughts forms, replaced by pain

Pain

Aching

Hurting.

Then, slowly, the pain slowly drifts off

Thoughts forming.

Aaaah, what happened?

It hurts

Aow, wait, health potion, health potion

Health

Potion.

Looking around, I search for my bag, only to see it a few meters away from me.

A little rugged, but otherwise perfectly fine.

I try to stand up, only for my legs to give out a wave of red hot pain.

Stopping for a second, I wait for the pain to seize.

Looking down at my legs, I see white where white should not be

Blood that should be inside

Leg turned the wrong way.

Quickly looking away, I glance to the bag.

I got to get myself there.

Somehow.

Slowly, I test my arms

Feeling a dull pain. But otherwise fine

I, slowly, drag myself over the uneven ground.

Legs lagging behind as they eke out waves of hot pain, each pull pulsating wetly in my mind.

Teeth clenching

Eyes shut

Mind focused on pulling.

I find myself, after an excruciatingly long time, by the bag.

Rummaging through it, I find the health potion

Quickly unbottling it and gulping down its very sour content. Then as I finished, throwing it away, laying down on my back

Staring up at the dark ceiling that is the trees leafy crowns.

Then closing my eyes before the itch overwhelms me.

Tomorrow me, will hate today me.

But that's for tomorrow me.

No time like the present.

Fatigue creeps on, taking over.

And mind fades to black.

---------

Uuuuuh, noooo

I don't wanna wake uuup.

I had such a nice dream,

It was about dragons

And...

Oh no, I remember

Oh no, the itching

THE ITCHING

AAAAAAAAAAAH!

Quickly shooting up to a sitting position, I start scratching my legs.

Feeling the sensation of my nails scratching furiously. Not even hampering the itching

It was as if thousands of snakes were slithering just underneath my legs

Like millions of ants crawling around.

Like the worst rash, ever.

This is the worst.

But at least my legs are fine.

I would a hundred procent take this itching over two broken legs.

After a furious ten minutes of scratching and itching, I find myself at peace.

The itch is still there, but manageable.

More like an annoyance than a hindrance.

Although I kept scratching for a tiny bit longer.

Okay, cross my thumbs and hope to die

Please don't let my legs be,

Bad.

And jump up.

And fall down again

Aow.

Okay, they are not perfect. I won't be able to run a marathon, nor sprint properly.

But I can clearly feel them, and they respond quickly enough, even if a little slow.

Now, where is that stupid dragon at?

“Helllooo dragon?! Where are yooou?”

“Took you long enough, I thought you would finally die.”

“EEEK”

Huh

Where did that come from, was he not supposed to be this giant, huge, one hundred meter long blue dragon?

Even after spinning around two times, I can't find him

“WHERE ARE YOU?!”

“You dense, stupid human. I am right here”

Taking my eyes away from the sky, I look back down.

Being met with a small, white bird

Feathers coloured white, with blue tops in a zigzag pattern.

Flames of blue, burning lightly over its entire body

Its entire length just longer than my upper arm

The bird, if described with one word, was

“Gorgeous”

The bird seemed to straighten at the words, then opened its beak.

“No, human, this form is not gorgeous. This form is a wonder, a spectacle, a true form of beauty, the pinnacle of survival. This form, the phoenix, can die, only to be reborn again. It holds no fear, no malice, just pure survival. And I, in my great wisdom, have spent decades. No, millennia, to perfect this form. The perfect form, a window into true art. Dare I say, I am a natural-born genius.”

“Maybe gorgeous is the wrong word. Yes, I would totally call you cute right now!”

...

“I am not cute. Human.”

“Naaaah, the little baby dragon is shy.”

“I AM NOT A BABY DRAGON! I AM A PHOENIX! Maybe not a complete phoenix, but in form and structure I am complete!”

“Can I touch you? pwetty please?”

“No, absolutely not.”

“But you let me touch you when you were big!”

“I did no such thing.”

“Oh you did, I totally climbed you, and you did nothing to shake me off”

“I WAS ASLEEP! How could I have known a tiny little insect would be climbing me?”

“Oooh. So, what you are saying, is that in your great wisdom, you did not know I was there?... Hmmm?”

...

“Wait, where are you going! Dont fly away from me! HEY, YOU PROMISED TO GO ON AN ADVENTURE WITH ME!”

“I will be back. I need to hunt.”

“HOW WILL YOU FIND ME?!”

...

“GADDAMN, STUPID DRAGON! AAAH”

Stupid dragon

Being such a fricking jerk…

At least he’s smaller now, and he’s cute

Hehehe.

ANYWAY!

Let’s see how much meat I got from those chickens.

Thinking that, I looked around for the tree I had, accidentaly, ACCIDENTALY! blown myself up at. Praying to my lucky star that I had killed at least one chicken.

…

Erm…

That's a lot more chickens than four.

It’s pretty hard to count when you consider the shape of the bodies.

Or lack of bodies

It just looks like a giant pile of meat and bones. And legs, wings, and heads.

So many heads,

That’s not four heads. They aren’t even near the tree I exploded.

I know, because I can see the hole from here.

And within it, I can clearly see four mangled corpses coupled with dried up blood.

From here, it does not look very edible.

Well, the corpse pile looks more edible…

I guess?

At least the smell is nice, smells like burnt chicken...

Anyway, let’s erm, try to find some edible meat amongst the big pile.

Maybe.

It looks pretty burnt

After searching and almost puking for a long time. I managed to scrape up some edible meat that wasn’t contaminated by insects or those weird burn marks.

Taking out my fire stone and collecting a small pile of wood, I made a fire.

Which wasn’t as easy as you would think, considering that I needed to drag my legs everywhere.

Even searching through the pile took a lot longer than it should have...

Don't think about it, they at least work.

After searching for a bit, I find a big round and flat rock.

Putting it over the fire, I wait for it to heat up.

While waiting, I carved out a chunk of wood from a nearby tree.

Sitting myself down and making myself usefull by crafting some new arrows.

Luckily for me, there are heaps of feathers nearby. How they survived the weird fire is not something I care about right now.

My only concern being if this wood was sturdy enough to create arrows for me. Then if I could find any wines that could be turned to rope.

But luckily for me, my concerns were for naught, as the wood was harder than any I had ever seen, but not too hard to be unbendable.

And there was an abundance of low hanging vines and small trees that could easily be turned to rope.

Well, now I have something to do while waiting for that stupid dragon.

So stupid

A stupid dragon.

...

But I have to say

It has been fun.

Long time since last time

A small smile grows from tired eyes.

Yes, a long time