Yocantes Online [Hiatus/Discontinued?)

Chapter 5 - Demise

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬۞۞۞▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Walking under direct exposure to a blazing sun at about noontime had never appealed to me.  Little by little, the infernous atmosphere was wearing me down. Even the blades of grass seemed to bow low to the intense heat. I wished I could die. Never before have had I felt so fragile and weak. Trudging in zigzagging steps; I marched onward, following the carved path among the plains. Cool, Marccus didn’t kill me but this weather would. I felt out of my mind talking to myself.

My hunger and thirst was more than what my body could endure. I came to a halt then opened the pack and felt inside. Swords, check. Necklace, check. Coins, or money, check. All my hopes of surviving evaporated like my waterless saliva when I didn’t find any food. I closed the bag. Deymit.

After taking a few tiny steps up a small hill, my body couldn’t take it anymore. Exhaustion conquered my whole being and I fell on my dusty knees. Everything looked so hazy and my ears rang sharply again. The color of the serene sky began to change from cloudy blue to gloomy gray. Strangely, the prairie flickered from green to black, then to green, then to black again. So this is what dying from starvation feels like. This is where it all ends for me. Pathetic. Since I had no choice, the fatigue unbearable, the dryness of my throat unquenchable, I finally gave in to unconsciousness and dropped, dead … when the ground suddenly shook.

The sudden tremor alerted me to my senses and I caught hold of myself, just enough to keep my face from hitting the rugged ground. The place was appallingly quiet, save for the brisk beating of my heart. Every cardiac muscle in my circulatory system appeared to be nervous and vigilant.

Cautioning myself, I anticipated for another feeble quake. Sure enough, the ground moved half a magnitude stronger than the one before. Tiny pebbles tumbled aimlessly to each other and little cracks emerged on the hard soil. My eyes rolled restlessly all over the place. There was no one.

The ground trembled again. This time, it was a real quake that sent me rebounding and I toppled down the hill. I landed butt-first on the foot of the mound. Ouch, butt-hurts.

A deafening roar blasted off from the road ahead of me. It was very startling and booming that I jumped on my feet; my anxious heart did a three sixty degrees flip. Holy butt! The heck was that?  I couldn't feel any exhaustion at the moment.

Loud footsteps began to stride, slowly but surely. Whatever it was, it was coming my way. The unknown’s pace was sluggish, but then, I heard him climb the other side of the small hill in front of me. Fear crept its way into my soul. I wanted to run, to hide, and to escape but I was still too weak.

Then the creature appeared on the top of the hill. A creature I had never seen before. My whole sanity defied me, I don’t know if my brain was still working properly or I had lost my mind. Its form was seriously unbelieving.

Standing at about nine feet tall was a beast with the head of an elephant and the body of a gorilla. The shiny ivory tusks gleamed as the sun lit them. Even though the elephant face looked gentle and cute, I thought its stare was still appallingly hostile. Considering the size of this monster or whatever it was, it would definitely smash me to pieces. Splat, pure squashy pieces.

It let out a last loud roar before it charged towards me. “My death’s gonna be worse than being ran over by a truck,” I thought. My courage crumbled away.

The brute came. It was going to run me over headfirst. I tried to roll to the side but all I did was a wimpy crawl. My reflexes where disabled. My survival instincts were wrecked. Since I got no other choice, I formed an x shield with my arms then waited for the dreaded blow to come.