I did not dream of Martha again, nor did I dream of Brook, like I feared I might. My dreams were devoid of both the blonde baker's daughter and the red headed damsel-turned-robber. They were devoid of everything, actually. One minute I was finally closing my eyes and falling to sleep and the next I was falling from the tree.

Now it should probably be said that I’ve never been a morning person, but when I went tumbling down from the nook in my oak tree, I hit the ground running. I’d been knocked out of the tree by something larger than myself, although I couldn’t quite make out what it was with the world flying by me so quickly. I hit the ground, miraculously not breaking anything, grabbed my spear from where I’d laid it against the trunk and continued forward at a mad dash.

Luckily, if that word could even apply to someone in my situation, I thought to sleep with my pack on strapped to my stomach. It didn’t make a very good pillow and I didn’t want an animal breaking into it at night if I’d left it on the ground with the spear. I managed to shift it while running, putting it back on my back so that the weight would stop messing with me as I ran, which was hard enough at the moment. Before I could even think about slowing down to check behind myself, however, cracking branches and the sound of heavy feet let me know I was being pursued.

It was some five minutes later when I finally managed to get a look at what was attacking me, dimly lit in the fading twilight. The beast was at least the size of a bear, not including the massive leathery wings attached to its back. From the glimpse I’d gotten of it while abruptly turning to avoid a fallen tree inspired a deep dream in me.

It was the biggest wolf I’d ever seen, and one of the meanest as well. Its dark grey fur contrasted with the gleaming white of its fangs, both doing their best to help the mad look in the canine’s eyes. I don’t know how it hadn’t caught me already and could only attribute it to the dog enjoying itself, occasionally falling behind just to sprint. Every maneuver I took to try and lose it, every tree I jumped and every rock I circumvented was conquered by a hop and flap of the giant bat-like wings on the wolf’s back.

On a serious note, why does everything in this fucking forest have wings, and where do I get my pair? It was as if flying pigs were not good enough anymore, now we needed batdogs? And while I’m on the subject, how the fuck did a bat end up breeding with a wolf? All the pre-nerf books I’d read insisted that bats and wolves hated each other! It wasn’t lost on me, either, that the thing attacked me during twilight. The forest was filled with irony and, somehow, I was only equipped with wood. Not that an iron or steel spear would help me much in this situation.

Gnashing teeth broke me out of my pity party and helped coax a little more speed out of my legs, finding my own little hop rhythm while I ran. I heard water running up ahead and turned toward it. My legs were beginning to feel like lead and my lungs were aflame, I was going to die if this kept up.

[Entangling Roots]

My attempted over-the-shoulder cast failed, much the way I assumed it would. The beast wasn’t even delayed for a second before it ripped the vines to pieces. I’m not sure it even stopped running, but I do think I saw it smile at me, as if wolves could smile.

The sound of running water was getting closer, and I was hoping that I swam faster than the creature. At the very least I could let the river do a lot of the work and swim along it. In an ideal world. In the best-case scenario, I lost it and the river covered my scent, worst case the wolf caught and killed me. I wonder if it preferred wet food to dry. Oh! New best-case scenario, it can’t cross moving water. I remember reading a book where bat creatures couldn’t do that. Or was it stagnant water…

I crashed through the brush out to where the river would be and got ready to dive, only to take a running leap. Instead of a river, I stumbled out into a chasm, several meters across. Unable to see how far down the river was, I panicked and leapt. Thankfully, the other side of the chasm was lower than where I’d leapt from. Even then I made it only by a few inches, and only with my front foot.

Were it not for [Basic Acrobatics] I’d have stumbled backwards into the chasm, or never have made the jump in the first place. Maybe I could lose the wolf here.

I started to jog forward and looked over my shoulder, just to see the wolf jump out into the clearing and flap its way over the chasm. How the fuck did I forget about the wings? I literally spent half this run complaining about them. I dry heaved and leaned forward, my legs picking up to a brisk run once again.

Ever since Brook left, I’d been running from one near death experience to another. How could someone so bad be a good luck charm? Sophie must have been the good luck, she’d saved me the first time she’d seen me after all. I miss my dog. Without much more to do I kept running through the brush, closer to stumbling at this point.

The trees let out into a glade, the brush and brambles ceding the way to tall grasses that reached up to my shoulder. Last I’d looked over my shoulder, the wolf had decided to do the thing where it fell back and let me gain a lead. This time I intended to capitalize on it. The grass was too tall for the wolf to see over and my scent should've been erased, all I needed to do was find a good spot and lay down. I wasn’t sure if it was my best chance at surviving or if my body was finally giving up, ready to lay over and die. I charged about 15 yards in, running in a different trajectory than I’d entered in the clearing in, before slowing down and crouching to hide my head below the grass.

I heard the wolf catch up to me and stall at the edge of the glade, snapping a twig loud enough to send echoes around the clearing, before entering and walking in a semi straight line. The beast slowly made its way forward, sniffing while trying to remain stealthy. I could almost swear that I felt its breath against the back of my neck.

Eventually the beast flared its wings, beating back the tall grasses in an attempt to expose me. When that failed, it picked up speed again and dashed through the clearing, passing me in a heartbeat and continued on its way.

I decided to backtrack a big, hoping that if the wolf came back to pick up my faint scent it would assume it disappeared instead of me walking back. If only my life could be that easy. As I made my way back through the tall grass, a wild animal appeared!

I was sent flying by a head-butt to my stomach from a greyhound sized rabbit, coughing up blood as I flew backwards. I rolled through the grass and decided that I was all ran-out. I looked up at the floppy rabbit, wingless I might add, and cast my go to spell.

[Entangling Roots]

This time it held. The tall grasses that filled the green sea in this glade seemed extra receptive to my mana, sucking it up and grasping the rabbit by its neck and hind legs. The beast struggled, eyes locked onto me and filled with a venomous hate. I pulled myself up by my spear, ready to swagger over and end the rabbit’s life before I was rudely interrupted.

The wolf came sweeping over the top of the grass, gliding on its wings before slamming straight into the rabbit and ripping out its throat. A guttural growl let me know that I was both seen and unwelcome there any longer. I decided I would take the hint and limp-ran away as fast as I could. Were it not for the slurping and flesh-rending noises I was hearing in the distance, I would have been worried about being attacked from behind.

I looked into the sky, it being visible in this unusually thin part of the forest, and was astonished to learn that it had only been around 30 minutes since I’d been knocked out of the tree. The sun had been below the horizon since before I was attacked, but dusk had settled in and was on its way out quickly. I figured I’d gotten two or three hours of sleep at the most but as exhausted as I was, there was no way I was getting any sleep anytime soon.

Just as I was wondering where to go, I noticed a slight glow in the treetops below the moon. A campfire or torch, most likely a campfire based on the fact that it wasn’t moving. Linking up with humans seemed like a good choice right now, worst case scenario they were bandits and they either enslaved or killed me. I’d rather be a slave or have my throat slit than to die at the hands of a wolf. The sounds of the rabbit’s muscles being torn from its corpse would haunt my dreams for years to come.

With a new goal in mind, I staggered toward the fire.