Zef thought about hiding back in the cave, but something told him that it was a bad idea. Instead, he swiftly climbed down the ledge before taking a last look at his shelter. A louder screech made him instinctively extend the nails on both of his upper and lower limbs. Like a bear climbing down a tree, he swiftly moved his limbs, claws digging into the rocky wall. He was making excellent progress, one that would make an expert freeholds climber jealous.

It wasn't long before the bottom appeared closer and closer; all he needed to do was land safely and run to the woods like his feet were on fire. Another twitch from his antennas alerted him as he looked above his right shoulder and saw the humongous beaked eagle dive swiftly to his position. He only had a few seconds before being skewered with those gigantic talons.

Zef instinctively un-clawed and let gravity take over as the eagle swopped above his head; it scraped the cliff with it's much larger talons and missed his head by a few inches, creating hot sparks that landed on his body. It didn't stop there; a gale of wind threw him off balance and veered him towards a dried old tree. Branches big and small burst apart from the impact, some even embedded into his body whiles others got tangled in his hair.

Still, he did not have the time to scream when he crashed onto a tiny ledge only a few feet below the tree's location. Luckily he didn’t fall headfirst as his back took the impact. Zef struggled to breathe, he was disoriented and bruised, but the adrenaline rush kept the pain tolerable to some degree.

He shook his head twice, blood scattering the ground. He slowly climbed onto his knees and pushed himself up, wiping the blood off his face. He looked at his surroundings and realized he was almost at the bottom; the climb down was no longer steep. He could practically jump off the ledge and bolt towards the forest so long as he watched his step. Zef dragged his bruised and bloodied body; thankfully, no bones were broken, defining his vast vitality. Mere men would have been seriously injured if not dead.

On his knees, he gripped the ledge rim with his arms, then turned and jumped down, landing 15 feet below with an oomph sound coming out of him.

He laid there on his butt, then pushed himself and trotted like a drunken man across the much pebbled ground which sloped towads the forest, his bloody eyes fixated on the prize as the scent of trees grew closer. Another warning from his antennas made him jump quickly and roll to the side; he didn't complete his roll as the wind force from the eagle's dive threw him several feet into the air before crashing into a boulder head first. Zef groaned in pain. His already bruised head sprayed more blood smearing the boulder. The eagle screeched several times in triumph as Zef tried to keep himself conscious.

Finally, the triumphant bird landed a few yards from Zef with a smooth hop extending its massive wings in the display and took its time eyeing Zef with a glint in its eye.

The eagle's sharp yellow eyes looked at its latest prey happy that it caught at a two-legged one today and probably the largest it had ever caught. It leisurely took its time, hopping towards Zeff. It didn’t notice the swift shadows flanking it from the woods.

As the bald eagle got closer to Zef, the bird of prey finally sensed the lingering danger and turned its head to the side. Several massive furry beasts jumped out of the woods. The bald eagle screeched in anger and quickly fluttered its wings to gain some height.

It created a blast of wind, where sand and pebbles shot in different directions but must mostly towards Zef, who just hunkered down covering his head. He heard the sound of pebbles hitting the face of the boulder above his head and screamed, but it was over in a second.

One of the beasts, which turned out to be a large grey wolf, ran fast enough to jump on the eagle's back. Fang and claw ripped onto its feathers and then finally found flesh. The eagle screeched in pain and fell back to the ground. The other wolves surrounded it and started to claw and bite whenever the opportunity presented itself. Yips, growls, and screeches manifested from the fierce fight.

The eagle flapped its wings in desperation, and a surge of wind threw a white wolf into the air, which landed right next to Zef. The wolf, white as snow, looked at him, growled, then set off limping towards the eagle.

Zef watched with dimmed eyes, his vision was red, but the thought of fleeing these beasts overpowered his exhaustion. He was only a few seconds from being pecked apart, but luckily the wolves intercepted it in time. He got up slowly and quietly crawled to the back of the boulder. One of the wolves spotted him but ignored its instinct to hunt injured prey; the eagle killed two of her pups. This was revenge and an opportunity for the pack to get rid of an annoying rival from their hunting grounds.

In the meantime, Zef ran dizzily towards the woods; a trail of blood followed him as the sounds of battle waned behind him. His will pushed his bloodied body to the limit under the canopy of the forest. He kept running and then finally fell for what seemed to be forever until he hit the ground and fell unconscious.