Fight And Flight

A dark shape came whizzing down, throwing itself at the now fully reared up Scola.

* BANG!!!*

Two massive sets of talons smashed into Scola, who raised her bladed forelimbs and blocked the blows with ease. She then tore her arms from the clash in a speeding bloody slash, the hardened skin on her assailant's feets being torn like paper.

*SCREEEEEE!*

The creature immediately took to the skies once more to get out of Scola's lethal reach. It was then that I got a good look at the monster attacking us.

It was a massive owl. It was covered from head to toe in deep brown feathers, while streaks of green ran along its wings and head. It's chest was different however, it was a pure untainted white.

Deep eyes as black as the abyss stared at us both, our reflections warping within the creature's contemptful eyes.

The creature then flapped twice in succession, and without so much as a rustle, the gigantic owl dove like a bullet down towards us both!

I however backed into the cave, trying to make Scola's job easier.

My muscles were heavy and contracted. I felt weak. So I simply watched. I couldn't help her, so I got out of the way and stayed hidden.

Scola however, had no intention of fleeing.

Leaning back, she exposed her underbelly as she spread out her arms, almost inviting the creature to tear into her.

And as if on instinct, it changed course to stab straight into what should have been her much weaker belly.

Just before it reached, she suddenly swung her raised upper half out the way, swinging her bladed arm like a reaper's scythe. The black tip of her spear-like forearm cut into the owls eye as it sped past, popping it open like a blood filled water balloon.

*SKRAAAAAEEEEEEEE!!!*

I covered my ears as the beast literally screamed it's throat raw, kicking up a massive cloud of dust as it tried to fly up and out of the reach of Scola.

Scola then lunged into the cloud, dust whirling around her as her bloodied arms streaked forth in a crimson blur.

However, the owl within the dust cloud, using its one remaining eye, leapt a short height into the air, and glid over what would have been a killing blow!

But it was all in vain. Scola did not stop her pursuit, twisting around as the owl feebly raked it's claws along her back as it attempted to fly away.

Her hard and tough carapace suffered nothing more than tiny nicks in its surface while the owl would not have such luck. Scola twisted over her own lengthy body and once again lunged at the owl. This time, there was no dust cloud to conceal it.

She struck out with her arms, with the right one cleaving into the birds back. She cut it open like meat on a board, hacking through the creature's spine and sending it crashing into the dirt.

Lowering herself, she crawled over to the creature's still breathing body as she then turned it into a definite corpse, impaling the owl's skull before splitting it's face in two.

She then immediately reared herself back up again, carefully searching the surroundings.

I was feeling sick. I had seen things like this on animal planet, in movies, and on the internet. I had seen so much worse on the internet. So why, why am I feeling so sick. Looking at the owl's still body I could feel bile and vomit building as I began to lose control of my throat.

Fear, hunger, pain and sadness wash over me like as wave as sweat began to build on my face. My breathing was erratic as I shakily tried to keep myself from falling. This was the moment things began to click.

I wasn't just someone who was brought here, disconnected from everything as some kind of outsider.

This was now my reality. If I didn't do something, I would die in this world without anyone to do more than bury my rotting corpse.

Finally, my knees gave out, sending me to the floor.

I had no one here with me.

I slowly tried to push myself up to the wall, placing my hand on my chest as I tried to slow my breathing.

'I need to calm down… I need to calm down… I need to calm do…'

Scola, now done with checking her surroundings, skittered over with a worried look on her blood stained face.

Looking at the worry in her eyes, I sucked in a breath, and closed my eyes for a moment.

Breathing in and out, I sat for a moment, releasing all of the stress that had collected within me.

I had begun to panic when I saw the owls' last moments.

Something was definitely wrong with me.

Or was this just the natural response to being thrown into a world of monsters and magic?

Instead of dwelling on that, I pushed all of my thoughts away and once again brought calm to my mind.

I had to focus right now.

I can't afford to break down right here.

Simple thoughts that rejected my earlier fear filled me with strength. I had nothing else to fuel me after all.

'When I am no longer in danger, I will take some time for myself.'

Reopening my eyes, my gaze met the eyes of Scola, who was inches away from my face. Her mouth parts clicked together as a low chittering came from deep within her throat.

Anxiousness was etched deep within her eyes as she looked at me. She then reached out one tiny pincer, and wiped something wet from beneath my eyes.

"A tear?"

I also reached up and wiped beneath my eyes, wiping away cold tears.

She had been worried about me.

Maybe it was just her fear of Tyvelia. Perhaps that was all.

I reached out my right hand, and placed it against her stone-like carapace, warm blood mingling with my tears as I stroked her armored head.

I could feel a small smile forming on my face as she rested her head in my lap.

"Thank you Scola."

…

When I finally felt strong enough to get up again, Scola went out into the field and grabbed the owl's body, lugging it over to a massive pit before throwing it in.

Looking around the lush fields, I could see several of these pits close by.

I breathed in deep, gathering courage before finally stepping into the moonlight. The metallic emblems on my shoulders glinted slightly under the light, occasionally causing Scola to glance over.

I walked through the massive field's warily eyeing everything that looked edible.

When Scola was finally done placing the creature in the pit, she crawled over to see what I was up to, carefully stepping around any of the larger plants so as to not cause any damage.

I then realized a small issue.

I had no idea what the hell was edible around here.

Looking to the sky I made a small note to read a bit more about the flora and fauna when I got back to my room.

'For now…'

I looked back at Scola who was stuffing her mouth with a weird fruit.

"Do you know what I can eat around here? Preferably a fruit or vegetable of some kind."

Scola didn't even bother to turn as she shoved food into her mouth with bright eyes, before pointing one of her long arms at a tomato-like fruit with long leaves. She swapped between pointing at both the leaf and the fruit before becoming full occupied with the fact that not enough fruit was reaching her face.

She had just cleaned herself off earlier, wiping all the blood onto a patch of grass a bit farther from here. But now her face and mandibles were stained with fruit juice. Sighing and smiling slightly at the sight before me, I started picking up fruit and leaves before putting them in a bag tied to my waist. Once I was sure it was full, I turned to the still gorging Scola.

"Hey, it's time to go now!"

Scola paused for a moment, before shooting me a pleading look. I squeezed my eyes shut, however the damage was done.

"Haaaah, fine. We'll leave in a couple of minutes."

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IMPORTANT NOTE: PLEASE GIVE ME FEEDBACK ON THIS CHAPTER. IF I DON'T GET IT RIGHT THEN IT WILL AFFECT THE REST OF THE STORY. I AM NOT GOOD AT WRITING EMOTIONAL STUFF. ALSO, PLEASE TELL ME IF THERE WERE ANY MINOR SPELLING OR GRAMMAR ISSUES, THIS WASN'T EDITED AND MAY HAVE A LOT OF MISTAKES.