Tree

Hugh peeked out of the eagle's body and saw multiple large eagles looking back at him. His whole body was covered in blood and bits of the eagle's innards, and he was sure that the smell wafted over the other eagles.

Hugh saw that five eagles were looking at him. Two eagles were at the same branch that he was, and the other three were in the background, standing on a different branch.

As soon as the eagle in the middle flapped its wings towards him, he knew that they were angry. He had just come out of the dead eagle's body, which meant that they knew that he killed the eagle.

He ripped open the dead eagle's body and burst out from its carcass. Hugh rolled away from the dead body just in time as the eagle flying towards him snatched the dead eagle.

Hugh tumbled on the wood and stopped himself when he was away from the eagle. He lifted his head and saw that the eagle did not pay him any attention anymore.

The eagle only snatched the dead eagle's body and landed on a different branch. Hugh saw as the eagle ripped apart the carcass and fed it into its mouth, not caring that they were from the same species.

It turned out that the eagle only wanted the carcass for itself, which meant that Hugh was safe. Hugh's body was small compared to the dead eagle, so he would have less meat than it.

Hugh slowly backed away from the eagle, but he could still feel the flares coming off the four other eagles in the branches. He did not know why they were not moving, but he did not question it.

He took this opportunity to get out of the spotlight and get to a safer place. He took four steps back, minding the sound of his footsteps not to disturb the feasting eagle.

Just as he thought he was safe from their stares, Hugh watched as the eagle feasting on the carcass stop its movements. It looked at the empty body of the dead eagle, devoid of any innards.

Hugh had eaten all of the meat inside the eagle as the eagle died. The feasting eagle now looked at the carcass and lifted it, trying to see if any innards fell out.

Once it had realized that everything inside the carcass was gone, it lifted its head and sniffed the air. As soon as Hugh saw the eagle smell the air, he looked at his body stained with blood and bits of meat.

The feasting eagle turned its head towards Hugh's direction, pinpointing the thief that stole all of its food. Up opened its large beaks and screeched as it unfurled its wings.

*KYAOOOO!*

This screech was like a signal that activated the four other eagles in the vicinity. The four eagles unfurled their wings, mimicking the feasting eagle that had its eyes towards Hugh.

Hugh knew that they were coming for him, so he bolted out away from the eagles.

*flap* *flap* *flap* *flap* *flap*

He could hear the flapping of wings as he could feel the cold air hit his neck, giving him the chills. His guard was always up, and his instinct told him to dodge, so he rolled away from his original position.

Just as he dodged away, his skin was grazed from the beak that was piercing towards him at breakneck speeds. Hugh did not mind the skin-deep wound as he got up and started to run again.

He had to frequently look back at the flock of eagles coming his way. Thankfully, he had already experienced their fighting patterns when he first fought the dead eagle, so he knew the timing to dodge away from their attacks.

The eagle in the middle, the one who feasted on the dead eagle, seemed faster and bigger than all the other eagles following it.

Hugh would try to dodge that eagle's attacks, but it would always end up too close for comfort. He would get cuts on his body as he was too late in dodging the eagle's beak.

Hugh was looking back when he suddenly felt an urge to look forward. Then, he saw the wide-open expanse of the horizon just a few steps ahead of him. If he continued down this path, he would plummet down thousands and thousands of meters down.

His heart stopped, and he tried to decelerate his body, skidding his feet on the ground to create friction. His blood circulated on his body as he saw the edge of the branch just a step away.

His feet stopped just in time for him to stop himself from falling off the branch of the tree. He successfully stopped himself, but he still had forward momentum, so he flailed his hands around to keep his balance.

Hugh's body was leaning outwards, but with the help of his hands as a balancing force, he was able to keep his body from falling into certain death.

He was about to feel relief when he felt cold wind breezing in his neck. The eagles were still coming after him, and he could not advance any further to try and dodge their beaks.

He turned around and saw that the largest eagle was coming straight for him with its sharp beak ready to pierce through his body.

He could try and punch the beak with his armored fist, but the recoil would throw him off the branch. His mind went into overtime as he tried to think up a solution to his predicament.

With the eagle's beak just a few meters away from his face, Hugh activated his armor on his fist and created a claw shape.

His silver and brown armor reflected the sun's light, so the largest eagle quickly noticed it. Hugh had his eyes focused straight onto the eagle's beak as if he had the full intention of punching it back.

The eagle's pride seemed to have flared up as it saw that Hugh dared to resist its attack. It flapped its wings even harder and increased its speed towards Hugh.

Hugh reared his fist into a punch and got ready for the eagle's beak to come close to him. Just as the beak was supposed to collide with his fist, Hugh bent his whole body down and punched the wood underneath his feet.

The largest eagle's beak missed Hugh's whole body as it flew right above him.

Hugh pierced the wood, grabbed a handful, and put it directly in his mouth. He started to chew and eat the wood as fast as possible before the eagles could attack him again.

Hugh continued to pierce through the wood and eat it while he created a hole that he could burrow himself into.

With the time he took to burrow the hole, more eagles came towards him and landed near the spot. They all looked at the hole and tilted their heads in confusion.

*KYAOOO!*

The largest eagle flew back towards the rest of the eagles as it screeched towards them. The four eagles listened to the screech and looked at the largest eagle.

*flap*

The largest eagle hovered above the hole that Hugh made and landed on top of it. It raised its beak high up in the air and, in one fell swoop, pierced through the hole.

The largest eagle raised its beak again and spat out some wood on its mouth. The four eagles seemed to have understood what the largest eagle wanted to do, so they mimicked its actions.

The eagles continued to do this until they made the hole large enough to peek inside.

Hugh had continued to use his armor to pierce through the wood. The wood became his fuel as he continued to use his armor without any cooldown.

He was like a crazed madman as he continued to dig and eat through the wood until his fist pierced through empty air. He continued to dig around the wood and saw that there was an open space inside.

He peeked his head around the wood and saw that it was dim inside. The only light source inside this empty space was the light coming from the sun that seeped into the hole that he made.

Hugh could not see the bottom of the empty space, so he did not know if it was safe to go inside. He peeked his head further inside to observe more, but the wood underneath him broke, leaving him falling into the empty space.