One man's poo, another man's shit.

I freeze, locking eyes with the massive black monster. Its pupils are clouded with sleep, and it stares at me, not quite believing a shit-covered humanoid is walking out of its home.

I freeze, not daring to move an inch before an idea meanders into my mind. Not a good idea, but I'm not being picky here.

I direct as much mana as I can into my voice box, lungs, and mouth, and gently, melodically, start whistling out the tune to the first song that comes to mind: Zelda's Lullaby from Ocarina of Time.

The lynel's sleep-muddled eyes grow heavy from my mana-infused whitling, and it resumes its slumber as I back up out of the monster's lair.

Once I'm back in the open air, I break into a full sprint, rushing across the bridge. A roar echoes out from behind me. It appears that without the song, the lynel has come to its senses.

I run harder, my feet pounding the ground. After thirty seconds of running, my instinct flairs, and I turn my head to the side just in time for a black, flaming arrow to fly past my hair, drawing a line of blood across my cheek.

I turn around, running backwards to see the lynel rushing at me. Each shot out of its bow multiplies into ten flaming black arrows. I pull out my saber and unwind the Throngler, using both the deflect the rain of deadly projectiles.

My mana reserves are draining rapidly, I won't make it to the safety of the treeline before the lynel, and its arrows find me, so I reroute my escape path to the edge of the bridge.

I duck and weave, using stasis to stop some of the deadly projectiles that break through my first line of defense, which is compromised of Aqua slashes, and using the serpentine Throgeler to deflect arrows.

The flaming arrows become more powerful the closer I get to the edge of the stone bridge, and I realize that the black flames are a spell.

This black lynel is a sage of fire.

Even getting close to those black flames is hurting me, so I sheathe my saber in favor of my revolver and divert the mana that used to be in my upper body into my eyes and fast-twitch reflexes.

I fire from my hip, it takes three bullets to block one arrow, but I reload as fast as I shoot.

I'm closing the distance between myself and the edge of the bridge, but at the same time, lynel is rapidly catching up to me.

So much mana is being directed to my eyes that they glow pure white and leave little trails in the air.

The barrel of my gun is already red from the heat due to how much I'm shooting, and I am almost out of bullets.

The lynel is just thirty feet away when I hurl myself off the edge of the canyon into the flowing river below.

As I'm falling with my back towards the water, I hit the lynel, who has stopped at the edge of the cliff, with a double middle finger, because fuck him.

The pure black mythical creature doesn't seem to appreciate this friendly gesture, and it inhales with enough force that I'm momentarily stopped in the air before LAUNCHING A MASSIVE BLACK FIREBALL AT ME FROM ITS MOUTH.

I forgot they can breathe fire.

I'm stuck here, in the air, hundreds of feet above a flowing river, as a massive blast of flame rushes at me. I know that none of my attacks can stop this. The lynel is way out of my league. I'm helpless.

I need a handhold, something to push off of to dodge. The only thing I can turn to is air whipping past my body.

I need to awaken wind mana. Taking inspiration from the lynel, I suck in a huge breath. When my lungs scream at me, saying I can't hold any more air, I press on. My chest balloons in size until I reach my limit, exchanging the massive breath I just took in.

I try to find inspiration in this act, but it fails. The fireball grows ever closer.

Resigning myself to this fate, I silently watch the fireball overtake me. It's beautiful, a powerful blast of whirling black flame, maybe I'll reach that level once I break through my fire element.

Oh, wait, I'm going to die soon.

I don't even think about the next breath I let out. Just like most inhales and exhales, it happens unknowingly unless you focus on it.

This little breath is no different from the countless ones every living being has had before, just a thoughtless, basic bodily function. But it's now obvious, wind mana, right there. It would be so easy to make more of it.

My little breath turns into a steady stream of wind, just enough to maneuver my body in its downward spiral. I aim my head to the side, and the fireball skims the side of my tunic, but I'm safe.

I coat myself in a ball of water before hitting the river, sinking deep into its cool, safe depths.

For a few minutes, I stay there, at the bottom of the river, using a rock to keep myself from floating up.

Shave my head and call me the avatar; holy shit, I just awakened the wind element!

Every time I've awakened an element was when I was under immense stress with fear of death, and this was no different.

Of course, I'll still probably have to make my way through the blockade in proficiency that I've experienced with water and fire, but this is great!

That was so close to death, though... anyway, Floofy is probably worried, and it isn't good for my gear to be underwater.

I make my way downstream to a spot on the bank where Floofy and the rest of my things are waiting and drag myself off onto shore.

My dog runs up to me and is about to just into my arms... before smelling the lingering pieces of lynel poo on me and backing off with a disgusted expression.

I clean myself up in the river and take out the bear pelt from my backpack to dry, in there, I discover the stick from the shit pit that I randomly decided to put in my backpack, but it looks different.

Under the layer of grime, the stick turns out to be a long, pitch-black blade. Just looking at it, I feel an aura of sharpness. I quickly realize that this is the lynel's horn!

Who knew lynels shed their horns? Anyway, this will make a great new saber blade!

I happily spend the night on the riverbank, celebrating my own life and the unexpected treasure with Floofy over some roasted fish, and resolve to go the long way out and around the canyon home.