I started running straight ahead. The "stalker" was waiting. I knew he was.
He lunged forward. I dodged and grabbed him by the fur. As he tried to take me down, I climbed up and smashed two pieces of rock right next to his eye.
It was brief, but the small spark caused the beast to back away, shrieking.
The shriek caught the attention of the "Hugger".
Perfect.
I got down and baited the hugger into following me.
As we got closer to the "Stalker," I slid under its legs.
The ground opened beneath me. That's when I saw it. A tall and still silhouette, staring at me from the tall branches of the trees.
The ground began shifting and craking, burying me slowly. I didn't panic. I stared right back at him. With a big grin on my face, I flipped him off.
"I finally found you…You fucker!"
The crushing weight of the ground slammed down on me, and everything went dark.
Death.
That's what I've been experiencing many times already. I can't die. Every time I do, I get sent back to the time I woke up from.
Time also seemed to reset. My biggest ally against these beasts.
There are 3 of them in total.
The first was a mountain of muscles wrapped in thick fur. Brute force didn't work on him. I tried that multiple times.
He was a stalker through and through. Striking only when the time was right.
Baiting him didn't work; its patience was too inhumane.
Running away got me nowhere. Its movement was too unnatural. Too light...Too silent. Like shadows moving the the dark.
Even if I did manage to escape, he would spit his drool on the floor. It was sticky and slimy, making moving around a chore.
Took me several attempts to find out its weakness. It was light. Doesn't matter how faint; if it saw it, he would back off, acting irrationally.
It would often follow it with a shriek.
The second was worse.
If the first one stalked and used brute force, this one "hugged me"...in its sick idea of hugging. It had no eyes; It used my voice to find me.
Easily exploitable.
But in case it did get me, it wrapped its shapeshifting claws around my body, coiling tighter every time I tried to break free.
Every escape attempt ended the same way. Strangled to death.
This one could speak, or at least tried to. But I don't think it understood me. It just gurgled the same phrases on loop. Like I was its lover.
Those words weren't meant for me. At least I think there weren't.
I never found out. Nor did I wanted to.
I just wanted to escape this place...
There was a last one. The worst of them all.
It didn't go by instinct; it calculated my every move and acted accordingly.
Every time I ran, the landscape itself changed. Paths I had memorized, blocked. Roots, being used to slow my movement. Landscape tilting, so I would slip on the mud.
It was all the fault of the "strategist".
I barely had any information on him, but I knew his location. That was enough for me.
***
I ran straight for the stalker and sparked the stone I had in my hands to get his attention.
He drooled across the ground to slow me, but I took cover behind a tree. One wrong move and I was done for.
I wasn't afraid. I knew the surroundings like the back of my hand. I sprinted for the location of that bastard.
The trees shifted, forming a wall. I slid through just as it was about to close.
The "Stalker " burst through in pursuit of me. His speed was rising, getting closer with each passing second.
Pillars of dirt rose from the ground to cut me off. I sidestepped, only for the "Stalker's" paw to crush down.
I rolled under him at the last second, skidding in the mud.
I found myself leaning right next to the "Strategist's" tree.
A spike erupted from the trunk, striking right through my mouth.
Death.
"You gotta be kidding me. How the fuck was I supposed to know he could do that?" I sighed.
***
This time, when I reached the tree, I ducked under the spike before it could get me.
It instead hit the "Staker's" eye. He roared, flailing his arm like a madman.
And as if luck was on my side, his swing struck down the trunk, dragging the "Stategist" with it.
Angered, the "Stalker" charged forward.
I moved out of the way.
The "Stategist" slammed his foot into the ground, creating a shockwave that blasted the beats back.
Then, calmly, he bent another tree downward and launched himself high into the branches again.
I tried to follow, but a wall full of roots appeared in front of me.
One grabbed my leg, hurling me towards the "Stalker"
The beats used this opportunity to slam into me. My back cracked against a tree, pain overwhelming my body.
I struggled getting up; my legs weren't listening. Every breath felt heavy as I crawled through the mud.
"Fuck…All these deaths only to die like this!" I screamed.
That bastard was enjoying it. Droll hit the ground in front of me. He was trying to cut me down. His eyes locked on me, and in a swift motion, he lunged forward, ready to take me down.
I grinned, "Gotcha."
I rolled sideways at the last second. The "Hugger" burst from the dark, claws and tail wrapping around him, tightening with every move the "Stalker" made.
My plan worked. He let his guard down, convinced I was done for. I knew the moment the "Hugger" would hear me, it would appear almost instantly.
All I needed was to play my cards right.
The "Stalker" slammed her into the trees.
The "Stategist" shifted the ground, branches twisting desperately to inverse.
Useless
The "Stalker" crushed her with brute strength. It let out one last gurgle before dying.
One down
The "Strategist" froze in place, furious.
The ground cracked under me, roots ripping through the mud. He wasn't wasting any time.
I rolled forward, the mud clinging to my palm, and grabbed one of the roots before i could fall into the spikes.
My hands were holding all my weight. It was slippery cause of the mud. Fingers almost going numb from the tight grip.
The stalker came closer to finish me off. This was my chance, I had to gamble for it.
I let go.
While falling, I yanked the rocks out of my pocket. I had one shot. With all my might, I smashed them together, creating enough light to reach the "Stalker"
He stumbled forward, slipping right into the hole.
I didn't have time to celebrate. I had to find a way to get out of this situation before the spikes would pierce me.
Suddenly, something cold wrapped around my body.
It pulled hard, and my body slammed against the wall. I screamed in pain. Something popped in my arm.
But at least I wasn't falling anymore.
I looked up and caught a glimpse of my saviour. A long, white snake wrapped around a branch that wasn't there a second ago.
It stared at me. An air of familiar washer over me as I stared into its eyes. They weren't that of an animal, there was more to it…
It helped me one last time to climb up before disappearing.
"What was that?" I asked myself.
My thoughts we're interrupted by a giant bolder sliding towards me. I quickly dodge right.
It didn't matter right now. Whoever that was, it had given me an opportunity.
I had to focus on that.