《Safe Haven No More》Down
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Fear pulsing through Atri's mind, the man scrambled away from the cliff edge. Just then, however, a thought came to him.
*How high up am I for such a thing to dive without fear?!*
After a long pause, Atri decided it would be best to go and check at least. Slowly he slid on his stomach, closer to the edge once more. The man peered over the fringe, his stomach sinking fast. Gauging the distance was nearly impossible, but Atri's best guess was at least 2,000 feet from his position. In other terms, climbing down would be absolutely out of the question. At this point, he decided to go back and do a better search of the cave in which he woke up.
Taking care to back away from the edge before standing, Atrimeaus came to his full height. Atri stood nearly 6 feet tall with short white hair that descends past his ears, curling slightly at the ends. Bright blue eyes that shone a dull light. Spark of life strong, ready for anything that may come his way. While he was rather large in the height department, he did not have much on the side of muscles. That is to say, Atri had muscle mass, just not exceedingly so, more of an average build.
Turning on his heels now, Atri started to move back towards the cave, noticing something in the rock. Just next to the large opening was a hole that had cracks going in all directions from it. Upon further investigation, Atrimeaus had a revelation! The crater was in a very abnormal shape, forming a fist in solid stone!
A look of confusion passes over Atri's face as he ponders aloud. "Who would climb such a cliff to carve a fist-shaped hole in the stone? As well as leave those tablets..."
Suddenly his eyes shot wide as he has another realization.
*Why can't I remember how I got up here? As well as that strange voice when I awoke. Is someone else up here with me?!?!*
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Atrimeaus sprinted then into the cave, ready to find whoever would be here with him. As he ran past the offshoot he woke up in, he witnessed nothing new and continued into the unexplored path of the cavern. This new path did not go far before ending in solid stone just as his awakening chamber, and still nothing of note, which did not make Atri feel better at all. Not finding anyone first filled the man with dread, then pure fury as he screamed. "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!?!" Atri then sent his fist towards the stone wall, stopping just short of hitting it as he has a thought.
*If I have no other option but to climb down or starve... A broken hand will be of no use...* A deep sigh escapes the man's lips as he lets his arms fall to his sides.
Atrimeaus walked back to the chamber that he woke up in, wishing to find anything that may aid him. After the short walk, he found himself there, everything in the offshoot still in its place with nothing new to note. Shaking his head, Atri walks out of the cave into the sun once again. Crossing his legs and coming to a seated position, Atrimeaus moves his hand to his chin in thought.
In his opinion, he only had two options. Both of which would almost surely lead to his death. Number one is an attempt to climb down the cliff, get exhausted before getting halfway down, and falling to his demise. If the giant creature didn't get him beforehand, that is. Two would be, stay in the cave, eventually starving to death. However, as he pondered this, he got a crazy idea!
"The creature!" He exclaimed aloud before realizing how crazy his plan was. The basic idea would be to wait until it returned hunting, if it returned here, to grab its claws on the dive down. It should be distracted by its fresh catch and not notice the extra weight in a free fall. However, if it lived on the cliff, he would be in a worse situation than before. Despite all this, Atrimeaus had decided to go through with this option regardless.
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So Atri sat in the same spot for the entire night, not wanting to miss his chance to leave this place. Unfortunately for him, the creature seemed to have its fill with the last hunt. Two days had passed since he started sitting in that spot, and not a single sighting of the massive beast. Atri began to feel the effects of dehydration and starvation creep upon him. All of the running around when he woke up certainly did not help either.
Just as the man was losing all hope, the shriek from below sounded thunderously in his ears. Atri bolted upright, preparing himself for his only chance, for he knew he would likely use the remainder of his strength just holding onto the thing. First, the birds came by the hundreds, just like the last time. All of the avians different shapes and sizes. Next was the creature, it being unlike anything else Atri had ever seen before.
The stomach of this beast was very dull brown and looked fairly thick like leather. Its back was covered in thin feathers, all the way up to its long neck, where it met a blue fold of that same leathery skin from its underside. Attached also to its relatively small head was a massive, slick yellow beak. The eyes of this creature were bigger than Atri and a deep brown with a large black pupil in the center. Its legs seemed connected with the leathery skin but appeared like it could walk if it wished on the ground. Each leg ended in four claws, all of them seeming to be composed of the same material as the slick beak.
Just as before, the creature snapped that beak around quite a large number of the small birds, then began its dive back down the cliff. When it was about to disappear, Atri leaped from the cliff and grabbed ahold its back left claw on the skin. He felt if he had grasped the talon solely, he would have lost grip mid-flight. The creature yanked Atri down the cliff with it at high speed, the air rushing past the man clinging for dear life to its skin.
Faster, and faster they descended into the unknown. Wind whistling in Atri's ears, hardly able to see with the air assaulting his eyes. Down below the diving beast, all the man could see was a mix of blue and white surrounded by brown.
*Water! I might be able to survive if I let go at the right time. I hope it's deep!* he thought to himself, his arms about to give out from clinging to the beast. Knowing he would be unable to land with the beast, he thought of this as his only real option. Loosening his grip on the behemoth, he fell into the blue and white his body tossed around. Indeed it was water, but it seemed he landed in the middle of a raging rapid. At the least, it was deep enough for him to survive the initial drop, even with the added speed. Not to say that it did not hurt. It was excruciating, in fact, but not enough for him to lose conscientiousness. However, as said before, he was now being tossed around at high speed, smashing into rocks, almost making him blackout.
Broken and battered, Atri somehow managed to grasp a solid boulder under the water. Dragging himself to the shore with the water rushing around him was almost impossible. If not for one last burst of energy, he may not have made it. Panting and coughing up water, the man drags himself on the river bank. Sunbaked stone warming his now soaked body. At least he did not have clothes to dry currently. Atri laid upon that bank for some time before trying to move. He was in severe pain from all that had happened.
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