The Sword of Athrar

The Last Resort

My heart was thumping; breaking out of my chest and cracking open my rib cage.

I was scared,
But I wasn't interested in talking.</p>

I backed off quickly to avoid its teeth, as I drew my blade and swiped it across the soft skin of its neck.

It screamed in agony as blood rushed from its wound, cascaded to the ground, and turned the snow around it to a deep crimson.

It backed off in pain, and I stood up.

"I'm here for The Sword of-"

I was cut off mid-sentence, as the thing leaped at me, cutting at me with its pincers.
I dived out of the way, letting it crash into the snow.
It'd scathed my arm, leaving a deep blackened rupture in my skin.

I looked over at the beast to see it lying in the snow, unmoving.
There was a sharp gleam on its back.

I gasped.

"Athrar's Sword..." I whispered, and slowly approached the dead body. The blade was dug under part of its fur; only the hilt was visible. My quest was finally at an end.

As I got closer, I reached out for it.
I should've known it was a trap.

It quickly recovered.
It was scuttling toward me.
I realised it was tall enough for me to slide beneath its underbelly.
And so I did.
As it charged towards me, I leapt onto my stomach, sliding underneath it and making another open cut with my knife as I turned over in the snow.

It screeched in pain, and collapsed into a snowbank, but it's head was still moving.

It started to laugh. A sickening, hoarse laugh.

"You think... You can kill me... Here?" It bellowed, rising from the snow, its cuts already seeming to have healed, "I am a creature of the snow... And your little cuts... Aren't going to see me gone..."

I looked around in panic as it started towards me again. There was nowhere else I could go. I had to fight out here in the ice, and it would be a fight to the death.

It leapt onto me once more, but I was too slow this time. It knocked me to the ground, and I was forced to scramble backwards.

A swipe with its pincer, and my face held a deep cut.

The pain alone was enough to kill me. I continued to scramble backwards.

My vision blurred red.

Another swipe and my chest ripped open.

My heart beat pulsated beneath a broken rib.

Agony took over, and I lay still in the snow.

It jabbed it's open pincer about my neck, pinning me down, as I was stuck between its claws.

I knew I had only one choice.
Anger built inside of me.
I focused only on my pain.
My breathing steadied.
But my whole body trembled.
My last resort.
And I burst into flames.