A strong cold breeze passed through the forest matching the overall atmosphere he felt as he tracked the hag between the trees illuminated by the night's light following a filthy stench stuck within his nose.

All of his senses seemed to be in a heightened state as he could even hear the small footsteps of spiders moving between the dried leaves which laid on the grass beside him and the wound which he suffered from before hadn't fully healed but the blood had stopped flowing out and to his amusement he could see on the corners of the wound, skin was slowly beginning to grow out as if his body was slowly returning his body to its original state in a shortened period of time.

Mosquitos seemed to be abundant, they all came to his body ready to suck the blood from him but upon making contact they would all fly away, a peculiar sight, the first time he had seen something like this.

It seemed as with each step towards the hag's direction, the wildlife seemed to move farther away in the opposite direction.

His motives for chasing the hag wasn't all about the fighting but since he came to be, he felt as if something important laid there in wait for him, his gut told him to follow and find them.

He moved at a slow pace, taking his time walking with the bow clenched within the palm of his hand, ensuring that there would be no traps lying in wait for him.

With each passing moment, he felt number and number as if everything was fading, baring a seed of discomfort in his body. It was a new feeling which neither of his counterparts had experienced before, something which genuinely surprised him but on top of that, it felt the longer the night drew on, the greater he felt a weight slowly begin to stick to his back which was constantly growing.

*Chirping

What is that...........?

*Chirp

That ain't an owl.........

The sound drew in closer and closer but as he looked around he could see no bird within the vicinity.

*Rustle

Looking upwards at the tree leaves being rustled he could see a small hole being bored through the thick leaves, shooting a concentrated moonlight downwards at his feet and a small bird moved through at bullet speed at him.

This bird gonna attack me? What the fuck am I seein

His face was filled with disbelief as he grabbed the bow like a bat and smacked it straight into a tree causing it to explode leaving a blood splatter with the internal organs and feathers all mushed up on the bark, he couldn't even make out the type of bird it was with the magnitude of force he used to hit it.

"Try again next time birdie....." he said nonchalantly as he walked past the tree and carried on.

Down to fuckin birds are attacking me now.......

*Sizzle

Something similar to meat being seared in a pot could be heard coming from behind him.

"I FOUND YOUUU" a squeaky voice said from the behind.

He turned around slowly to see the remains of the bird pooling together, he could see it all reform. Destroyed tissue like a red form being remade and the organs falling into place and before he knew it, a red kiskadee with pitch black eyes hovered in the air directly before him.

"Do you know who I am?" the bird asked.

The voice was so squeaky and annoying he couldn't keep it in anymore.

"HAHAHAHA WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK" he said laughing in disbelief at a bird talking to him.

"I know I know, I sound weird but this was the only thing I could possess to find you quickly"

He took a second to calm down and suppress his urge to laugh at this creature, from what it was saying it seemed to have something serious to discuss.

"I'll humor you for a second, so who are you?"

"It is me, Zifaira"

"Hmmmmmmmm, Zifaira, I feel like I've heard that name before......." he said as he stopped in his tracks for a second and begun to think.

"Come on, you have to remember me" she said urging him to think hard.

ZifairaZifairaZIfairaZifaira............Zifaira?

He could remember that name being called out before his two counterparts merged.

"You were the outtatimin one right? The one who interrupted everything like a loud cunt right? The one who said I was already hers right? Well I got some news for you.................you can go fuck yourself" he said hastily and began to walk away.

"How can you talk like that to me? After all we have been through in the past...." she asked with those words immediately making him halt in his tracks.

"Sorry what?........ I don't have a clue about what you're talking about, all I remember you from is that one thing"

"Seriously?"

"Yea..........."

"Try to recall as far back as you can"

He tried his best but the period of memories he could recall was up until Kolasi and anything before that seemed blurry and gave him a headache, if he couldn't remember it then so be it, the past was the past, it died with the other two and it shouldn't have a hold over him, it was his time and the past would only serve as mistakes that need to be corrected, flaws that needed to be ironed out, he had to learn from their mistakes and make his own choices.

"I can't recall that far back but I don't give enough fucks to find out so I'm done speaking with you" he stated as he began to walk once again.

"Atleast tell me where you are going?"

"Hags"

"Seriously, the hags, and you do not remember me?"

"Please stop annoying me and fuck off"

This one's even ruder than the one I knew but from the way things look, he does not seem to recall that far back....I need something to make him remember the old memories.........

"Hold on, I am not done yet, I want to talk some mor-"

"I beg to differ," he said in a menacing tone showing his impatience.

Don't look at me like that with those eyes.........it just makes me want you more....but it seems he isn't playing around.........

"Sorry, I will make my presence scarce, goodbye" the bird said.

"I don't want it scarce, I want it completely gon-"

She flew off into the tree branches above, disappearing completely from his line of sight and senses before he could finish his sentence.

Looks like she understood what I meant to say anyways........

Although completely unknown to him, she wasn't gone, watching from above she kept her eyes on him, monitoring him by using magic to a degree to mask her presence by constantly changing the bird's scent and looks to camouflage with the trees, she was completely undetectable.

When he meets those hags there's no doubt that his memory will re-emerge and maybe he will feel the love I feel for him, all I have to do is wait and watch........

He had slipped up, by moving this slow the scent of the hag had grown weak and was borderline on the verge of disappearing, he had to catch up and began to sprint towards the vague scent.

Faster and faster he ran like a cheetah but as the scent was finally beginning to pick up to the point where he could accurately follow it, it was shut down immediately by a stench like no other, a familiar scent, a pungent robust smell mixed with shit.

This is the smell of....corpses?...............It smells so bad its good.........

"AHHHHHHHHHHH"

"AH"

He heard a woman scream in the distance along with the grunts of a man and there seemed to be an altercation ahead he judged.

Immediately he stopped running and began to crouch and slowly walk towards the sounds, hiding behind a tree with each pace forward, trying his best to mask his presence completely even by removing the sound of his breaths.

Slowly he crept up towards the source but his bare feet felt sticky, it wasn't slowing him down but it felt gooey.

Quickly he bent his head down only to see what looked to be a clear, thin goo covering the grass beneath his feet like water attached to grass after a rainfall.

Looking down on his feet covered in the clear goo and his previous footsteps which left an impression in the goo slowly began to change into a dark yellow color with a pungent scent similar to hydrogen sulfide.

He understood exactly what it was upon seeing this change, it was like a hunters mark per say, this goo was a way of finding mobile targets and tracking them accurately based on the color and scent but the hunter was nowhere to be seen.

Zifaira had been following him the entire time but what had truly caught her attention was not the same as what caught his.

Something is wrong here, in the entire time I have been following him its been subtle but bit by bit another shadow has been growing out from him, the first one even moved aside making place for this one but not just that, they have both been getting darker and darker...........also what is this place.........all this goo and bodies like that it's just like an aterna's lair but they do not even live in the forest so it does not make sense.......

*SCRYYYYYY

A loud shriek could be heard in the direction of the people along with their intensified screams.

They weren't his problem, there was no need to rush, for now, all he needed was a clear line of sight to see whatever the fuck was attacking them.

He moved in slowly and he could see a white silhouette move at an unfathomable speed and before he could clearly see what happened he could feel droplets falling on him from above..........a rain of blood, soaking his body.

Immediately he turned his back against a tree and quickly he made a glance only to see corpses on the ground already decomposed making them indistinguishable in his eyes with their abdomen's ripped open and the intestines missing but what killed them wasn't in sight, all he could hear was the sound of the wet grass being trampled and people screaming and running directly ahead in fear of their lives presumably.

The way these bodies are....and this substance......theres no doubt now..........

"RUN, THIS IS AN ATERNA'S LAIR" Zifaira screamed from above.

Quickly he raised his head up, looking at the trees above only to see that she had finally revealed herself.

"*PFFT* Hahahahaha, my god that sounds so fucked up with you screaming birdie, sounds like your throat is about to burst open hahaha"

People are dying right there and he has time to laugh............

"This is not the time to be laughing, this is serious, you need to run.........NOW"

"Can't"

"WHAT? WHY NOT? DO NOT TELL ME YOU INTEND TO FIGHT THAT THING"

"...........That's my plan exactly as I completely lack common sense, I want to look it dead in the eyes, run in like a jackass and put my life on the line for no meaningful reason whilst I battle it to the death with no reward in it for me even if I win, just the sheer pleasure of fucking it over hard" he said sarcastically with a straight face that looked serious.

"Why am I not surprised you, of course, you would be battle hungry just like the other two, no matter what, seems you are just going to be dum-"

"It's not as if there's a fuckin trail on the ground pinpointing my location or anything, so I could just run and it definitely wouldn't find me as the trail isn't fresh or anything, and of course whilst I'm running away from my unknown opponent with my back faced to it, it's not as if it could stab me or anything since I don't know what I'm up against..........."

"Oh........you were being sarcastic before....."

"No shit"

He would run if he could but the trail was already there and taking the chance to run would be fruitful but he had no idea of the creature's habits and if whilst running and he had not even a clue of what it was he would be begging for it but at least if he stayed he could get a grasp of what he would be up against soon and formulate a plan of action after assessing it.

*TRAMPLING

Ouuuuuuuuuuu its comin back..........what do I do.............what do I doooooooo..........

He put his finger on his lips and looked up signaling her not to speak whilst he thunk about what to do.

"We can speak, it is deaf but as a result, all of its other senses are heightened"

Oh.....good to know.................as if that's gonna fuckin help me..........out of all the fuckin senses it had to have gone, of course it's my fuckin luck that it'd be deaf.........not blind or something which could give me a meaningful advantage but fuckin deaf...........fuck my life..........

"Make yourself useful and find me an escape route" he told her as he began to think up a plan.

Since when did he get the audacity to tell me what to do?

*TRAMPLING

With each second the sound was growing larger, he needed a place to hide.

He looked around on the ground looking at the corpses and then he saw 5 bodies lying on top one another stacked like logs.

Quickly he ran over to the corpses which were fully clothed with some of their attire ripped off and their stomachs torn open with their entire stomach and intestines missing, he just found out what it ate.

One of the corpses seemed to still have a shirt intact which was covered in blood, it seemed that this body was fresh, he gave it a whiff and noticed it had no signs of decomposing yet unlike the others, this must have been the man he heard the grunting from before, the man was dead and gone and although the shirt was a little torn up and covered with some blood, it was still usable, running around the place bareback had begun to annoy him awhile back.

He unbuttoned the shirt quickly and threw it on the grass to let it dry for a bit for when he would make a break for it if he had too.

What is he doing?

Using the bow as a prop he used his strength to raise the bodies on top of it and then covered his body with the faeces and goo inside of the stomachs of the bodies and he wiggled his way under the pile of corpses, leaving only one eye exposed granting him a view of the aterna and smacked the bow out under forcing the bodies to collapse upon him, it was heavy but endurable due to the fact that most of the bodies were hollowed out.

Although the trail on the ground would lead to the body pile, if his scent was completely masked he could camouflage there assuming the creature was a dumb as dirt, it wasn't the best plan but it gave him more opportunities than running without knowing.

So this is your plan.....

"I'll be back soon, just wait for me" she said as she flew off into the sky in search of a route for him.

Immediately after she left he could see something slowly walking out from the darkness of the trees.

It was huge about 4 meters tall almost completely white in color with only the hands and feet being a dark grey color. A slender body with a relatively large bone structure with broad shoulders matched with elongated arms and legs accompanied by enlargened hands and feet at least a meter in size paired with razor-sharp fingernails crimson red in color from it slashing at its victims, its head was ovular in shape possessing grey eyes, no ears and a mouth with filled with perfect pearly whites, surprisingly there wasn't a single k9 he could see neither were there any sharpened teeth. He looked at it closely noticing it also didn't have any kind of bodily hair whatsoever nor any genitalia but what stood out the most was what laid on the surface of the skin as he looked closer, it looked similar to bone, covering every nook and cranny leaving only the eyes and mouth exposed, even its strange nose had the material covering over it, it looked extremely tough yet flexible, it was like a built-in armor from its genealogy as a form of defence.

It walked towards the pile with two people in both arms and two over its shoulders, the two on the shoulders continuously beat on its back to which it felt nothing and they continuously screamed knowing their impending doom was coming whilst the two in its arms looked as if they were already dead.

*SNIFF *SNIFF

It began to sniff in the direction of the pile of corpses the boy was beneath, he was sure that he masked his scent and he lowered his breathing rate to slow down his heart rate to the point where only if it was in extremely close proximity it would be able to hear it.

There were corpses scattered on the ground but what drew its attention to his pile specifically.

Where did he go wrong, he had to think fast as it walked towards him.

Fuck no, you can't be serious...........my fuckin breath....seriously...........

He was right, although he was taking fewer breaths, the smell of his breath was still different from that of the corpses, he remembered that Zifaira had said that its other senses would be heightened to compensate for the loss of another and although the scent of his breath was faint, in the nostrils of something with enhanced senses it would pick him up.

There was no choice left.

On the corpse that laid on top of his face, he slowly opened his mouth and bit into the flesh and began to chew it.

It would be a taste he would never forget, the flesh already on the verge of decomposing left a nasty taste in his mouth, sour and bittery similar to cheese due to it being covered in shit.

Absolutely disgusting, he chewed it thoroughly ensuring it covered every fiber in his mouth and then he swallowed it to ensure the scent would cover the lining of his esophagus to completely mask the scent.

Tastes like....... well shit as expected....this taste does not disappoint hahaha, shit tastes just like it smells hahahaha

"EWWWW ITS BETTER YOU JUST FOUGHT IT THAN DOING THIS"

Way to kill my mood.....

*SNIFFFFFFF

It inhaled deeply looking for the scent which was now gone and began to look around frantically and then it saw the trail of footsteps and the strong odor indicating something was here after all, judging by the strong fresh scent.

"There is a miniature waterfall with seemingly deep waters at the bottom along with caverns to the east, the only problem is that this goo covers the entire area up a decent point before the waterfall, your only choice seems to be to fight this, I could try to distract it and draw its attention but I do not think it is interested in birds" she said informing him of a route.

I really don't wanna fight this thing, can I outrun it?........I don't know.........

It walked over the pile of corpses and looked carefully, it could tell something was off from the way it had left it before.

Immediately it smacked the top of the pile away leaving him exposed looking directly at it, he pretended to be a corpse but he couldn't help but blink.

Well hello there...........

He rolled backward and upon regaining his balance he could feel something weighing himself down, it wasn't physical but mental, the feeling as if he was being tethered.

"HELP US", "PLEASEEE" the women screamed whilst crying upon seeing him moving, he was hope for them, a potential chance to make it out alive.

I'd help if I can........but I ain't sure if I can even help myself right now............

His shadows have gotten so dark they almost mimic the abyss, its like I am watching a bottomless pit.......is this magic? No, this is something else undoubtedly......

The thought about fighting the enemy had run through his mind when he was getting under the bodies but now that he could see what it truly was, he understood, he had no chance whatsoever in beating it.

The only possible weak points he could see were the eyes and mouth and the ends of the bow were way too large to run through its eye socket and kill it which only left the mouth and that wasn't a reliable form of attack, he had no idea of its jaw strength which was one of the key variables, he could try to run it through there and hit put as much force as possible and attempt to fuck with its spine through there but what if it just chomped at the bow and snapped it, he could be open to any form of attack in that moment and those big ass hands would have a chance to slice his ass up not to mention the fact that he had no in-depth knowledge of its physiology, potential for magic or its brute strength.

Just off watching it, based off of looks he assumed it beat him in every aspect. Remembering the mistakes of his previous counterpart's fight with the glutton, he would not make the same mistake.This was not an enemy he could crush like he did the hag either, he completely overpowered the hag before just based on his own confidence in his physical ability to dominate it but this thing already beat him in size, running seemed to be the only viable option where he could take a chance and make it out alive.

"Sorry there ladies but errrr....[giggles] ummmm........I'll be blunt, I ain't risking my life for y'all...... good luck tho, I wish you the best" he said laughing as he looked them dead in the eyes as he nodded his head, snatched the shirt he had thrown on the ground from before, threw it over his shoulders and grabbed the bow and began to run to the east with Zifaira flying above.

The aterna surprised by his boldfaceness couldn't help but be stunned in amazement of its prey giving him a chance to put some distance between them.

He heard a loud sound like a puff of something being sprayed and as he glimpsed behind he could see the aterna drop the two bodies in its hands and emit a spray from its pores which hit the women on its shoulders and immediately after they all went quiet and fell into a deep sleep and then it began to follow.

The further he ran the more tight-knit the trees became but that wouldn't stop the aterna, although it was tall it gracefully moved between the trees whilst jogging.

The more he thought about it the more the possibility of this thing toying with him arose, before it moved at a speed so fast his eyes couldn't match the movement and then his body was soaked with blood falling from above indicating it had a degree of speed.

Basing his judgement off of this he knew that this thing loved playing with its prey, the women from before shouldn't have even had a chance to run yet somehow they did and shortly after it chased them down and caught them, it had the same mentality as him, what he did to the hag before was now being done to him yet at the same time he asked himself the question, was it really the aterna that left a rain of blood?

He made a quick glance up at one of the thick branches of a tree about 20 meters ahead of him and about 18 meters high, then he bent his head back down and continued running towards it and then he focused extremely hard visualizing himself running up it and grabbing one of the minor branches then slowly climbing up it to reach a high branch but the aterna's slender physique made him question if it would be wise, it looked as if it could match his actions and if it could it would surely be an execution.

As he raised his head and looked forward, he could see a shadow move under his feet along the ground matching the speed he was running to the top of the branch he had envisioned and then from the shadow's pool something emerged,immediately solidifying, mimicking his form, being a shadowy silhouette with pitch black smoke being emanated from it, looking straight ahead of him in a stationary position, the original image he had in his mind to overlook his surroundings quickly to get an estimate of how far the waterfall was or to stay there to avoid it.

What the hell

Overdrive was the only word that could even come quickly to describing his mind right now, just by seeing the shadow mimic his thought he already got an idea of what it based its actions off of, his thoughts. He thought quickly, and in his mind he envisioned himself turning around on the branch and looking down at him. The shadow followed his thought, confirming his belief.

As he looked at it, he could see it was a perfect mimic of himself comprised of seemingly black smoke, it even copied the bow in his hand.

The eyes of the shadow seemed to slowly be changing color from pitch black to a moss brown color.

Although it looked tangible he had no idea if it was but if it was it would hold an unlimited amount of potential, it was too early on to assess it, for now, that would have to wait.

*SHHHHHHHHH

He could hear the sound of something cut through the air and before he knew it he could feel the impact of something hit his left arm, forcing the bow out of his arm as he glanced down whilst running he could see a that the aterna had thrown a hand at him and it was ripping the pieces of the women it had paralyzed over its shoulders to use as a weapon to incapacitate him.

The speed at which it shot it at him had forcefully dislocated his shoulder but more importantly, his focus had broken.

The shadow from above immediately sunk back down into the pool of darkness on the branch and rushed back to him promptly and upon reaching directly in front of him it raised from the ground forming a black ball which shot into his chest leaving a smokey trail, it was painless as it went in but almost instantaneously he felt a degree of exhaustion, as if he were the one who had climbed the tree, his legs and arms felt weaker and he could feel the urge to gasp for breath.

Zifaira was speechless upon seeing this and her brain felt as if it had gone dead.

She tried her best to get a clear view of what was happening but all she saw was a glimpse of it at the speed of which it all happened.

"MAKE IT TO THE BOTTOM OF THE WATERFALL, MY POSSESSION OVER THIS THING IS ABOUT TO WEAR OFF, I HAVE MEMORIZED THE LOCATION, I WI-"

She tried shouting quickly to attempt to notify him of something but her possession of the bird had worn off and the kiskadee returned to its fucked up state the boy left it in when it first flew at him.

Although she hadn't finished the sentence, he had an idea of what she was trying to say which was his plan anyways, to jump the fuck off the waterfall and pray to god he would survive.

He felt tired, he was dealing with his own exhaustion from running and paired with the exhaustion of the climb, he was on the verge of collapsing but he had to keep on going, this thing wasn't letting up on the chase and it seemed to be catching up slowly but surely, and one of his arms was out of order.

*SHAAAAAAAA

The sound of the water crashing could be heard, he was close, this was the last stretch.

As he darted between the trees, he could see a glimpse of it hiding behind of the trees ahead, a raging river filled with murky brown water separating them from the other side of the forest.

At this point his legs were starting to give up and although in his eyes it seemed as if he was running, in reality, he was limping for quite awhile and the aterna was quietly walking behind him trailing the scent of the rotten corpses on his body, waiting for him to break down, it clearly saw from before whilst it was chasing him that he was growing tired.

It took him awhile to realize this but since it was walking trailing him he could save up a little energy and so he did.

The aterna could not hear the sound of the river ahead and its goo marking its territory had ended about 100 meters back showing that it had not ventured to this part, marking it as its territory, this was unknown grounds to both of them.

He limped the last stretch holding his arm ensuring it wouldn't fall even more out of place from swaying and he could finally see it ahead, the light known as the river in his eyes with the cascading sound of the water falling directly to the left.

The river bank was seemingly on higher ground causing an immediate descension from the end of this tree patch into the river which worked out for him quite well however the aterna was deaf and not blind, it could see what he was aiming for and read his thoughts like an open book, he assumed because of its height and bone structure it would be heavy and it wouldn't dare follow him down a waterfall into deep waters where it would sink he thought, but the aterna wasn't having any of his shit, it already followed him this far and it wasn't going to lose it's prey to something so trivial.

He could hear the cracking sound as it quickly snapped the necks of the sleeping women on its shoulders followed by it spitting on their lifeless bodies so it could find its way back by following its own scent and dropping them on the ground.

Oh fuck..........

It began to run at him, it was done toying with him.

Mustering up all his strength with each step he put as much force as possible into the balls of his feet producing as much force as possible, enduring the overwhelming fatigue which made him borderline faint with each step making him feel as if he was burning inside out and finally he made it past the last tree and jumped into the torrenting river feet first.

The stone cold, gushing water completely took over his body with the strong current heading to the waterfall, he was at mercy with the river.

*HUFF *HUFF

He gasped for breath as he fell under numerous times with water slowly filling his lungs.

*HUFF *HUFF

His arm was out of place making it even more of a struggle than it should have been.

Struggling with each second, he fought against the force of the water desperately trying to get his head exposed to the air to at least manage to get a breath before submerging once again.

That was the least of his problems, the aterna understood that it would have been a waste of its time as jumping into the river would also place it at the mercy of the current however the current wasn't as fast as the speed at which it could move and it judged the pattern at which the boy moved through the water, at the pace he was moving and the angle, he could eventually end up towards its side in the last stretch.

The river was near its end and he could feel the pull of the water making a vertical drop but off the corner of his eye he could see the aterna, it hadn't given up.

It dashed behind a line of trees and aimed to reach the cliff where the water descended and would attempt to pick him off before he would fall over.

Moving with haste it ran behind the trees but the current's pull grew stronger and as a result, the boy matched its speed, they were neck in neck, the hunter and the prey with only a few seconds being the decisive factor as to which one would emerge victoriously.

Putting, even more, effort than it initially intended for it put as much effort as possible to sprint making it move about 2 seconds ahead of the flow so it would arrive at the end before the boy.

As he beat down the water trying to not be submerged, things turned out just as the aterna expected, the boy had made contact with the edge of the river's bank, all it had to do was make it to the end, get the perfect timing and he was a goner, its prey was within reach.

Struggling to keep his eyes on the aterna he realized something, the path in which it took behind the trees would surely allow it to end up at the river's end but the last two trees in which it would have to pass through to pick him off were seemingly a little more tight-knit than the others.

Please work......

It was about to emerge from the trees and pick him off.

He stopped breathing and made eye contact putting his remaining effort into focusing.

In his mind he pictured a shadow standing in place using its body to fill up the gap between the trees to clog the hole, stopping the aterna from even making it out the tree patch.

As it was about to emerge from the trees it could see a shadow in the boys form standing stationary between the path.

Surely the boy was in the river but why was this thing here ran through its head and in the time it was puzzled the boy had already made it past its point and was about to descend.

Enraged at the thought of losing its prey like this immediately it kicked the shadow in its abdomen straight across the river.

The boy could see his shadow fly over his head and then immediately vanish into a thick black smoke which then condensed and formed a ball which rushed back to him hitting him straight in the chest.

He could feel an overwhelming pain in his abdomen in the same position the aterna had kicked the shadow as the black ball completely went inside but that wouldn't stop him this time, it was his victory and the aterna had no intention of chasing him any further but he couldn't let it slide like this, amidst all the struggling he managed to bring his hand up and give it the finger just to show he won.

Seems like I live to fight another day.........

Although it didn't know what the finger meant, something about it made the aterna feel as if it was being mocked, the aterna completely filled with rage at the sight of this and the thought that the time and effort it put into catching this sole prey wasn't going to come to fruition lost its senses in rage and said fuck this, if it couldn't eat him it would at least fuckin kill him, it couldn't give the boy the satisfaction of making it out alive

The last thing the boy could see before fainting from the pain and coldness from the water was the aterna as it leapt into the air with its sharpened nails ready to slash away at him as he began to drop from the waterfall.