This choice: You manage to find a hole in the ground • Go Back...Chapter #5Fortuitous molehill by: sneakyk   Realizing that it's only a matter of time before the Staravia finds you, you crawl your way through the underbrush, desperate to find any sort of cover you can. As you crawl, you occasionally roll onto your back to see if the Staravia has found you. It isn't long before you come to the conclusion that the Staravia just might have seen you. Realizing that you might not have long to sneak, you get to your feet and break into a run. The Staravia slows its wingbeats in response, allowing its body to descend downwards , perhaps in preparation for a dive.
Just when al hope seems lost, you spot what appears to be a mound of dirt in the grass, dead ahead. Perhaps it's an anthill? Or perhaps it's something more useful. With the bird potentially mere moments away from seizing you in its talons, have no time to second guess yourself. You make way for the dirt mound and quickly set foot upon it. Just as you do, you hear an ominous WHOOOOSH coming from behind you. Turning your head up, you see the Staravia descending for you at an alarming rate. You scream and rush forward, until you find yourself staring into a huge hole in the earth, one seemingly descending into pitch black darkness. Despite the enormous threat fast approaching you from behind, you find yourself hesitating to leap decisively into the abyss.
KTHOOOOM. You stumble back, tumbling down the hill and landing at the grass line. You find yourself looking right up at the undercarriage of the enormous Staravia, who in turn is looking at you with an expression of equal parts cockiness and menace, leaving you badly intimidated. You have reason to be afraid. The bird stands at eight times your height, and has already demonstrated that it is far swifter than you are. Staravia may not be able to hold a candle to its fully evolved form, but it still possesses a physical offense roughly on par with that of the average final evolution. You are far too weak to capitalize on its mild fragility.
The Staravia might not have snagged you in its talons during its initial descent, but you are under no illusion that it is here to be your friend. If you were to guess, you would bet that the Staravia probably just wants to engage you directly, rather than attempting to snag you in a hit and run attack. The bird quickly confirms your fears by lifting a talon up, squawking, and sending it down for you. You spring back, just narrowly avoiding getting crushed under it, and begin to scramble up the molehill. You make it right to the edge of the hole, but find yourself still too afraid to dive in.
THUD. THUD. . You turn to see the Staravia standing just over you, readying to attack. Out of pure instinct, you leap back to avoid whatever it's about to send your way.... and in so doing you plunge into the darkness, screaming as your body is swollowed up in the shadows of the molehill. You strike the dirt below and skid to a halt just in time to see the Staravia's beak descend for you in a deathly blur. WHOOOSH THWUMP SQUAAAWK. The Staravia's beak stops just in front of your body , mere inches away from either skewering you or snagging you into its clutches. The Staravia briefly gazes at you, a look of annoyance on its barely-lit face. The creature's head has blocked off the entrance to the molehill, leaving only a frightful wreath of light around its head. The bird kicks up a deafening ruckus as it attempts to push itself forward and snag you into its pointed beak, but it just barely stops short. You realize that the Staravia's head is too big to fully penetrate the molehill, and it has gotten stuck.
You would breathe a sigh of relief if the sounds of the creature slamming its talons into the dirt and shrieking in frustration weren't physically painful to you. In fact, you get the feeling staying close to this thing will permanently damage your ears! You retreat eastward (at least, you think you're headed eastward) into the darkness, feeling against the soil as you advance into the unknown, glad to be alive, at least for now.
.
Eventually you arrive at a point where four glints of light are just barely visible... one to the north, one to the south, one to the west, and one to the east. The closest light sources lies to the north, and from that direction you hear the sounds of footsteps and the squeals of unseen creatures. You cannot make any It is incredibly dark down here. Even the glints you see are not direct sources of sunlight but rather soil with only the slightest exposure. If you stay here, you might be safe from the threats posed by the world overhead... but who knows what danger lies in wait, here...   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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