Cruel Bird

Charlie had stepped into the darkness and felt a sudden release from his body, like an invisible pressure he only became aware of when it was gone. He felt like he could move again and, with this renewed freedom, stretched his body. In response, light spilled in and temporarily blinded him.

The vast greenery above him was once again perfectly visible, there was no smoke nor roiling cloud in sight. The ground felt soft but solid, the wind gently caressed his scales as the warmth slowly seeped back into his body. The forest, that was filled with sounds of beasts and birds, was like music to his ears.

He was awake.

That doorway must have had some connection to his dreams and wherever it led. His soul? He wasn't sure if that was even possible. Yet this world was anything but possible.

The sounds of nearby fights drew Charlie out of his internal matters, the creatures not allowing him to forget where he was. Charlie was open to the elements and needed to move quickly, he needed to secure his position and decide what to do for the day.

Some creatures ran for their lives, some fought in entirely unfair battles and others, like him, watched from the sidelines. Those last ones were the truly wise ones, and potentially the most dangerous.

Raw strength could take you far, but power without wisdom was wasted. Even if he was truly strong, in the right conditions, something far weaker could kill him if he was caught unaware or unprepared. He had done it himself already, the dead dogs were a testament to the importance of wisdom.

It was going to be another perilous day today as he realised that his stomach had woken with him. The thought of rodents and insects only made his stomach growl in protest, like a vile beast throwing a tantrum. If anything was going to kill him, it was the whims of his hunger.

Charlie shadowed the creatures around him and followed the metaphorical herd, they could feel the pull too, he was certain now. He could feel the frenzy of the creatures grow as the strength of the pull increased, Charlie just hoped that there was nothing waiting for them. He hoped they weren't being lured by some titanic creature which awaited an easy meal.

Unfortunately, there was no room for such thoughts, he had to stay focused and find prey before he was preyed upon. He didn't like thinking of them as such, but he knew it was true, everything here was preyed upon by the strong.

Charlie didn't have to search for long as only just a little further ahead of his makeshift home, he had spotted a short brown haired creature. It hopped around on four legs, had long ears and vacant beady eyes on the sides of its head.

A small bushy tail and legs that looked like they could potentially act like a powerful spring, launching the creature into a great sprint. It could pose a problem for Charlie if it indeed was fast. If anything evaded his first strike, Charlie lacked the tools to close that gap.

Charlie had started to understand his own weaknesses, he was weak in a straight up confrontation so he needed work with his strengths, he needed to strike unseen. His black and green scales provided some concealment in the dark underbrush, something Charlie had come to appreciate greatly.

[Hollow Fang] was both his opener and his finisher, it was also his only form of offense at the moment. It has incredible potential, but came with a problematic downside. It didn't instantly kill and he had to place himself in immense danger to even use it, but its kill was guaranteed. He'd have to figure out something new if he wanted to continue surviving.

Time passed incredibly slowly for Charlie, he had been concentrating for but a few minutes, but to him it had felt like dozens had passed. He was entirely focused on not making a sound, on inching ever closer to this creature. He couldn't be seen by neither the creature, nor anything else nearby for fear of losing his meal, or worse. He was so close now, he could smell the musky scent of the creature wafting over him.

Ah, so it was one of you.

It pained him to remember the first creature he had killed, and now that he was staring another one down, it reminded him to stay firm at all costs. There was a time and a place to feel his emotions, but right now he was in too much danger to even consider doing so. The world was never going to be kind enough to give him the chance to heal. For now, he had to push it all aside and just focus on the moment.

Charlie had painstakingly placed himself in the creatures blind spot and found the perfect moment to take advantage of his efforts. The creature had just bent down for another bite of the flower it was munching on, giving Charlie the signal.

Charlies muscles rolled as he uncoiled his body, shooting forward with great speed, the rest of the world faded away to nothing as his focus zeroed in on the creature. The moment Charlie was about to make contact, he could feel the liquid starting to form and a small draining sensation permeated his being.

The fangs were sensitive, they could even feel the individual hairs split beneath its descent, right before they pierced the flesh and buried themselves deep. His stomach growled in anticipation as the warm and sweet blood filled his mouth, urging him to hurry once more.

The creature reacted immediately, jumping into a sprint and carrying Charlie for a few feet before he managed to unlatch himself.

It was fast. He had been right in his earlier assessment, the creature was built for speed. No wonder nothing else attacked this little thing, it was simply too fast for them to bother.

It was almost out of Charlies sight when a blurry shadow struck from the sky and took the creature up a few feet before dropping it again. The small creature landed with a soft thud before attempting to flee once more, yet it staggered, stunned.

Charlie never stopped moving after the furry creature, but was quickly convinced to halt after the silent strike of the leathery bird.

The little creature hadn't tried to run since it landed but a moment ago, it looked like it was struggling to stand up properly. At first it looked like the creature injured its legs, or maybe something else less apparent was wrong, but after Charlie got close enough for his eyes to clear, he saw the problem.

There were five deep wounds on the side of the creature, pouring out red blood that stained the soft fur, pooling in the grass below. It twitched once, or twice, and then crumpled to the ground in a messy puddle.

Those talons are going to be the end of Charlie if he were to get caught. He now was once again reminded why he needed to be weary of those in the sky, they just had too much of an advantage against him. His eyesight was poor, his hearing was poor and there was no way for him to get them off of him once they sunk tooth or claw into him, save for sinking in as many [Hollow Fang]'s as possible.

He needed to get as far away as possible, to add as much distance from himself and that thing in the sky. Yet feared that he would fall like the furry creature, unable to tell what had hit him. The bird creature barely had a presence, even with his enhanced senses Charlie had trouble keeping track of it.

Charlie slithered with all of his might to dive into the underbrush, when he felt a great wind assault him followed by an incredible pain radiating from his upper body. The ground suddenly disappeared from under him and the unending forest canopy came into view. A gorgeous vista of greenery scarred only by the river that divided the land into two extended in all directions, but he had seen it only for a brief moment.

He had seen a large mountain in the distance, or at least he assumed so. It was difficult to take anything in when the wind tossed his body around, but he still saw dark jagged shapes that tore into the sky.

Charlie didn't have time to appreciate the view as both the creatures talons and his fear tore into him. The pain that rocked Charlies body was dizzying, it was sharp and focused, feeling like machetes were slicing him open again.

Charlies body writhed and attempted to latch on, to find any sort of purchase on this creatures body and relieve that intense pain. Yet he was momentarily thwarted, assaulted by the wind and the rapid turns of the creature driving him off balance. Charlie was quickly sobered by the sensation of cold blood on his scales, renewing his vigour.

The creature made a sharp turn in the air and descended downward extremely quickly, giving Charlie the chance to wrap himself around the creatures legs. They were skinny and had hard ridges, with many sharp and deadly talons finding their way into him.

The more Charlie wrapped himself around it, the more he could feel the strangeness in this body.

The leathery skin felt unnerving, almost like a human, but it had a prickliness to it as he felt the hair.

The only chance he'd have at survival is to fight on the ground, but time was running out. Charlie inched his body upwards, doing his best to get a better grip and made his way to the wings. It was his only shot of bringing this thing out of the sky.

Charlie could tell that the creature noticed what it planned to do, its talons released his body, but Charlie refused to fall, much to the annoyance of the bird. Pushing his body to the upper limits, Charlie used the increased leverage and squeezed with all he had. The tighter Charlie coiled around the flying creature, the more it struggled.

He used the creatures large body against it, and pulled himself up away from the talons and into its blind spot. Still completely wrapping its lower half, Charlie unleashed a barrage of desperate [Hollow Fang]'s into its spine.

He could feel the drain on his body with each mounted [Hollow Fang] but was in no position to care, the adrenaline that was supposed to be pumping through his veins was missing, unable to ignore the sharp pain.

Charlie wrapped his body around the creatures wings and tightened with as much force as he could. Shocked, Charlie felt the body give way and the bones began to crack under his assault. Their rapid descent began when Charlie was finally able to clamp down on the wings, making them cling tightly to the birds body.

The two of them fell into the dense canopy and hit every branch on the way down. The creatures chest let out a sickening sound on the first impact and Charlie wanted to rejoice, but was quickly stunned as his own head hit off an oncoming branch. Charlie let go of the creature and found himself violently wrapping around a thick branch, feeling his insides protest.

The creature below fared no better than Charlie, not having the luxury of a long and thin body like him, it had collapsed on the forest floor. He couldn't fully make out what was wrong thanks to the distance between them, but it writhed on the floor, unable to get up.

Even if Charlie wanted to finish the fight right now, he was in no position to move. His bones creaked when he moved, his body was bleeding profusely and there was not an ounce of energy left in his body. He was starving and it was only exacerbated by the blood loss.

Yet he found that he couldn't pull his eyes away from the scene below him. A large leathery bird was writhing on the ground below him, struggling to even stand up. It should have been strong enough to survive that fall, surely it was strong enough.

Yet, it couldn't.

He knew that the liquid he injected into it was the cause, and was now realising how scary he actually was. If that small amount of liquid was enough to take down even that massive bird, what else could it do? What was it, even?

Even in Charlies old world, rain that came down was toxic, and was a death sentence in its own right, but this was way too lethal. It would take days to die from even the most toxic and rotten milk that the desperate were forced to drink when in dire need, and yet this... This took minutes?

Seconds? It was inconceivable.

Whether due to his [Hollow Fang] or the fall, the creature failed to stand up and it finally let out a sound Charlie could hear. A pained, high-pitched squeal escaped its beak before it fully collapsed on the floor.

Charlie had stabilized himself in the tree top and watched the scene unfold further. He wasn't going to be taking chances with this thing, he wasn't going to underestimate this creature like it had him.

So, Charlie waited.

He watched and watched until the creature stopped breathing, yet Charlie didn't descend. Instead, Charlie turned his focus inward. The immediate danger of the bird-like creature was over, but the open wound was still a problem. Inspecting the talon marks, Charlie could see they were deep, but nothing like wounds on the furry creature.

He also noticed that unlike a normal claw wound, where the skin would be torn open, it just looked like it was split neatly. Charlie turned on his side and applied pressure using his body weight, he could see the wound somewhat close with effort. For now, it slowed the bleeding.

It still trickled and threatened to open up into a torrent any moment, but Charlie was able to keep still and his pose stable. He didn't have the luxury of descending at the moment to wrap himself up, so he could only do the bare minimum.

In time, the bleeding had stopped entirely, but Charlie didn't let go of the pressure for fear of it starting all over again.

Like this, Charlie spent a considerable amount of time completely still. It gave him time to assess what happened, watch the corpse below and study the reactions from nearby creatures. He wasn't out of danger yet, but there was little better to do.

A painful, but a permanent, lesson. He had once again relaxed and forgotten what could potentially strike from above, following the path of his, dead, serpent brother.

If Charlie was lucky, he might be able to descend tomorrow and grab the furry creature before anything else, but knowing the forest, it was already gone. He shouldn't put all his hopes into it, and instead had to figure out what to do with the bird corpse below. Which, when inspected closer, was inviting a lot of curious noses to it.

The scent of an easy meal was alluring to all creatures nearby, but when they laid their eyes on the source, they all found themselves scurrying into hiding.

It worked in his favour, as if no creature approached, he'd have some time in the tree without any unwanted visitors. Time he desperately needed to heal up and attempt any sort of recovery.

It was hard. His body ached and begged to move, to turn and relieve the built up tension but he knew he couldn't. Not yet at least. He was grateful that the knowledge he had learned in his past life carried over to this one, he knew he needed to keep pressure on the wound for as long as possible or he'd simply bleed out.

As the sun made its descent, the shadows were growing deeper by the minute alongside the world taking on scarlet and violet hues. The warm winds were slowly starting to turn cold and nip at Charlie, though he wasn't sure if it was due to the night air being cooler, or him feeling weaker.

Not remembering when he last had a drink, he could feel a rising thirst settle in his throat. His stomach had also woken up and protested against him, making sure he remembered that he still needed to eat. It was obvious of course, he had lost too much blood and Charlies body couldn't help but crave any sustenance.

He really had to consider his options right now. He could descend down and attempt to snack on this thing, and potentially open up not only his wounds, but his position to the world. If the descent would go well, he'd still have to painfully attempt to digest that thing without getting caught and make his way back up the tree.

He could also stay up here, attempt to weather the protests of his body for the entire night and risk losing his meal below. Even if the corpse seemed to deter the other creatures for now, there was no guarantee it would last the whole night. 

Having survived the awful bites of those dogs, Charlie had some confidence in his body, or was it blind hope, and decided to stay up in the tree for the night. He still had enough awareness to scan his surroundings and was rewarded with finding a particularly luscious branch, one that could support and hide him.

Finding that movement, while painful, was possible, Charlie made his way up the tree. In the fight with the bird creature, Charlie noticed that his body was actually quite powerful. He gripped the bird with everything he had and was able to make its bones creak. That wasn't anything to dismiss.

In testing the limits of his strength, Charlie found that he was able to hug the thinner parts of the tree and climb up, albeit slowly. He had managed to climb the tree, even if it was painful, and succeeded in keeping his wounds, mostly, closed.

By the time he had made it to the branch and settled down, night had already fallen. The wound was opening again and a small trickle of blood was making its way out. It was ugly, now that he looked at it, the skin peeled away to show muscle but thankfully nothing else. Without a bone or organ in sight, Charlies mind was momentarily eased.

The growing weakness in his body overtook eventually and he found himself falling asleep under the light of the stars. It was a quiet night for Charlie both in reality and sleep, it was dreamless once again. A welcome respite.

When the morning light broke through his consciousness, Charlie found himself feeling a bit better.

His strength had somewhat returned and the dreadful weakness had pushed itself to the wayside for the moment. The warm light was especially refreshing this high up, the branches letting a lot more light through than the forest floor. The wind up here was fresh, carrying far fewer scents than when mixed with the life below.

He looked down and saw that the corpse of the bird was still there, easing the tension that had been growing in his stomach. The mechanics behind eating the whole creature was something he'd worry about later. Right now he needed to inspect his body and it was looking grim.

The wounds had just about closed and his skin had started to scab over, but there was a worrying yellow fluid flowing out from the cracks. It was slow, almost still, but he could see it spurt out when he moved his body.

This could be trouble.