Rise of The Fallen (unedited Version) (COMPLETED)

Chapter 17

-Kora-

The sound of birds and the chittering of other creatures stirred me awake as light peeked through the trees and unceremoniously shined right in my eyes.

Groaning, I struggled to lift my arm and did my best to block the light from shining on my face. Slowly but surely I became all too aware of how exhausted and heavy my body felt and don't even get me started on how sore I feel.

Cracking my eyes open I had to blink a few times to let them adjust to the bright sky above me. I stared in wonder at treetops above me as a light breeze brushed past making the leaves and branches sway.

The sight was quite peaceful and the sun...the sun felt so warm. Reaching up towards the sky with my hand I immigrated grasping the warmth that shone down upon me. It feels nice.

Closing my eyes, my mind replayed memories of sleeping in the cold musky cramped space of my apartment or sometimes even in the alleyways of krosa. So many times I had to sleep on the streets huddled up in a ball with nothing but the clothes on my back. Even the days I did sleep inside it was in a dark cold room that smelled of cigarette smoke and piss. I was always alone and unsure of what was to come next.

I never knew if things would get better, if I would have a stroke of luck and get out of that hellhole for good or if I would fall deeper into its pits, to never see the sunlight again.

Lowering my arm I rested it over my face once more to block out the building light. My entire body was relaxed as I lay there on the soft ground, relishing in the warmth of the sun. The crisp fresh air. The lack of suffocating walls.

For the first time since I've arrived in this dreadful place I'm finally feeling something other than misery.

Some time passed before I cracked my eyes open once more. How am I even still alive? Last night I thought for sure I was a goner. The wounds I sustained from fighting that saber-cat were anything but mild, my arm, shoulder and stomach were still throwing in pain to attest to that fact, so exactly what happened. How am I still breathing?

My body was sore and I know if I move anymore it will only feel worse. I'm not even sure if I have the energy to do so, considering the condition I'm in, I haven't seen the severity of my wounds yet either.

Deciding it would be best not to move, I just laid there and silently thought about everything that's happened. It's probably not the best decision to just lay here but I hardly had the willpower to move my arm so what am I gonna do, drag myself back home?

Sighing I closed my eyes to rest a bit longer. I'm not sure if I should be grateful I'm still alive or if I want to cuss out whatever deity thought it would be funny to leave me in this pathetic state. It's like they are trying to make me suffer as long as possible.

Finding some sense of resilience I started mentally preparing myself to move. I have to pull myself together and get up if I don't want to be some creepy alien creature's lunch. I know moving is going to hurt like a bitch but it's better than laying here waiting to die.

Taking a deep breath opened my eyes and slowly moved my other arm, lifting it up to look at it. To my utter surprise the pain wasn't as bad as I expected. Sure it still hurt but I wasn't on the verge of tears just from moving around. Feeling a bit more confident I tried pushing myself up into a sitting position, being careful of my wounds and putting most of the pressure on my good side.

I'm actually quite baffled by how dull the pain actually felt. So baffled in fact that it took me a solid five minutes to realize my clothes were missing and I was covered in moss and giant leaves. I however didn't get the chance to even think about my strange predicament before something drew my attention away.

The crunch of leaves beside me made me freeze up and slowly turn my head to look in the direction of the sound.

I watched as some ferns were pushed aside to make way for a large dark figure with black horns and a very, very long, sharp bladed tail to come striding out of the treeline.

Those deadly silver eyes locked onto me and I could see their entire body tense as they stopped their approach all together.

Seeing this guy in the light made my heart skip a beat as my eyes shamelessly took in the sight of the beast. His horns were curved back and upwards going against the flow of his long dark hair that seemed to reach past his shoulders. He had a few strands adorned with beads and feathers that hung down his front drawing my eyes to the guy's dark broad chest littered with scars all across his abs.

His muscled arms were at his sides, one of which had a tight grip on a rucksack that hung down nearly touching the ground by his feet containing who knows what inside. My eyes involuntarily trailed even further down, grazing over the leather and fur loincloth no doubt that hid another monster between the dude's muscled legs that could probably be used to chase down anything in this forest.

The bladed tail attached to this massive native flicked around behind him in what I assumed was aggravation as we started each other down. And he dropped the heavy sack he was carrying.

I swallowed hard and silently cursed under my breath. "Fuck me."

--

-Elazar-

I stared down the small female before me, a bit startled. She was already awake? This was quite unexpected, I had thought she would have slept longer considering the condition she was in when I left her in the morning to gather supplies.

It was necessary for me to gather some items if I wanted to help her recover and camp out here for the night so I didn't think much of it when I decided to let her rest here for a few hours. This area was isolated and safe from most creatures due to the kinds of plants growing here. The smell of some of these flowers irritated the senses so most dangerous creatures tend to stay away, so I wasn't too worried.

It would have been bad had she decided to wander off or tried to return home alone in her current state so it's a good thing I came back just in time. Now the real issue is going to be keeping her calm so she does not panic and try to run away, resulting in her reopening her wounds.

Even standing a good few strides away I could see she was frightened by my appearance. Her entire body was tense and I could see it in her eyes that she was ready to bolt at even the slightest movement.

I stayed as still as possible so that I wouldn't spook her further, she's hurt and scared which often entices people to rely on their basic instincts of fight or flight. I need to figure out a way to calm her down without-

In the blink of an eye the female was stumbling to get to her feet and get away. Faux! She's trying to run!? Why is she so skittish!? I haven't done anything! Launching myself forward I grabbed a hold of her uninjured arm and in a spur of the moment decision, wrapped my arm around her front and grabbed ahold of her breast in an attempt to stop her thrashing, without causing any damage to the wounds on her stomach.

My actions seemed to only trigger her to shriek and flail more, and a sharp jab to my chin from her elbow nearly made me lose my grip. Ignoring the blunt attack I spoke out trying to get the human to listen.

"stop! I do not wish to harm you!" I tried to reason with the female but she continued to struggle in my grasp. She started shouting some illegible words of a different language while kicking out her feet desperately. She attempted to kick back, repeatedly hitting my leg and nearly hitting me in the groin.

"halt your thrashing!" I growled.

Releasing her arm I attempted to grab her leg to prevent her from hitting me between the legs. I however was not prepared for what she did next.

Reaching up with her now freed hand, I felt her small hands take hold of one of my horns, sending a jolt of pleasure through my entire body. That pleasure however turned into a massive headache when she yanked down, as hard as she could, making me stumble and lose my footing.

I felt us falling and released her leg in an attempt to stabilize us, but there was nothing to grab hold of and the ground was nowhere to be found as we both plunged into the small pool with a large splash.