Story dump

Chapter 12

Acro's Story
(Original date: 10/16/22)

Acro stumbled back, nearly falling. Their opponent, Treff approached them, his sharp, golden eyes seemingly glaring straight into their soul as he grabbed them by the collar of their shirt. "Hmph," he said. "I expected you to put up more of a fight." Acro tried to struggle out of his grasp, their heart pounding as they glanced at their sword laying on the ground. They felt Treff tighten his grasp, their panic rising. "Go on, then. Where's that magic I've been hearing rumors about?" He hissed. "Or were those all lies?" They were tempted to use their magic, which slowed down time, thanks to this man, even if it would completely exhaust them. It was their only option, though, since it would give them a long enough opening to escape. "Well?" Treff asked, his sword ready to stab Acro in the stomach. They focused for a moment, feeling time freeze around them. They pried Treff's hand open, causing them to fall to the ground. They stumbled again, grabbing their sword and bolting to the nearby woods. They heard Treff begin to pursue them as soon as they left their magic's range. They felt a sudden wave of exhaustion wash over them, causing them to trip on a root and fall forwards. They scrambled to their feet, grabbing their sword yet again. They could feel blood trickle down their face uncomfortably close to their left eye, though they kept pressing onwards. They heard Treff close behind them, their adrenaline rising as they began to weave through trees in an attempt to shake their opponent off their trail. They scrambled up a tree soon after, covering their mouth to minimize the amount of sound they would make as they rested on a branch. Treff stumbled to a halt, looking around with a confused expression. They couldn't see him too well through the leaves, but his expression slowly shifted to an almost mischievous grin, putting his sword away and slowly clapping. "My, my," he said. "Well done.. you managed to juke me."

Acro tried to slow their breathing down, exhaustion setting in. They struggled to keep their eyes open, watching Treff as best they could. "Although, there's not very many places to hide in the forest." He continued, chuckling. "Now then.. are you in.. this tree?" He asked, shaking the tree across from them. They silently slid their sword into its sheath, preparing themselves as Treff walked to the tree beside them. "How about this one?" He asked again, clearly enjoying toying with Acro way too much as he shook the tree in front of him. They tightly gripped onto the branch they were on, knowing their life depended on it as the man walked over to the base of their tree. "No? How about this one?" They tightly shut their eyes, feeling themselves being jostled about. They felt as though they were about to fall, but soon the tree settled, going still. They slowly opened their eyes, seeing Treff standing below them. He once again had a confused look on his face. His platinum blonde hair looked white in the sunlight, which Acro took note of, seeing as they'd need to be able to identify him if they managed to escape. "Was my hunch wrong..?" He heard Treff mumble, glancing around before sighing. He began to walk away, Acro letting out a silent sigh of relief. "You can't hide from a bounty hunter forever!" They heard Treff call after a few excruciatingly long minutes, his voice distant and quiet. They silently climbed off the branch and slid down the trunk, looking around. They ducked at the sight of Treff in the distance. Acro attempted to calm themselves, beginning to slowly crawl in the opposite direction while trying make as little noise as possible. After they cleared a decent amount of distance from the tree that they hid in, they slowly stood up, looking around. They no longer saw Treff, to their relief. "He must have left." They thought. They turned around, beginning to walk in the direction that they assumed they had come from.

They began to plan a route to a nearby village in their head, knowing they needed a safe place to rest. They traveled this area often, so they knew the area very well, down to every little pebble in the rivers. Acro snapped out of their thoughts as a rustle of leaves sounded behind them, causing them to whirl around. They had reacted far too late, however, and the next thing they knew, they had been pinned to the ground by Treff, their heart racing once more. "Caught 'cha." He said, smirking as he aimed a dagger at their throat. They tried to struggle free, but they were overpowered by Treff's size and strength. He chuckled. "Thought you got away, didn't you?" Treff asked. "Too bad you can't use your magic to save your life a second time." He inched the dagger closer to them as they tried to move away from it. They looked up at Treff's face, shuddering as they saw a sick, twisted grin plastered on it before suddenly feeling a sharp jolt of pain at their throat. Acro froze, feeling blood trickle down their neck as they watched Treff stand up, his dagger soaked with blood. "A shame," he said, still grinning. "Wished you put up more of a fight." He shook his dagger, putting it away in a smaller sheath before walking away and out of Acro's sight. They stared up at the canopy of leaves above them, already growing weak from loosing blood. They didn't know what to do. In fact, they didn't think there was anything they COULD do. They closed their eyes, their breathing slowing as they began to wait for the end.

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The cold, dark grasp of death slowly faded away, Acro's consciousness returning as they felt a calm, warm breeze flow around them. They didn't open their eyes, too afraid to see what was going on in case they actually WERE dead. As soon as that thought crossed their mind, a voice called out to them. "Hey! Open your eyes!" It said. "You aren't dead, I promise." They had no idea who or what was speaking, but they still refused to open their eyes. They felt what seemed to be a finger poking their side after a moment, hearing the voice speak again, though closer this time. "C'mon, you can trust me." Acro simply laid there, their eyes closed as they tried to ignore the strange voice. They heard a sigh, followed by a sharp pain on their arm, causing them to jolt upright. When they opened their eyes, they saw that they were no longer in the forest, and instead in the clouds. They panicked. 'This is the afterlife,' they thought. 'I'm really dead. My life is-' "Okay, could you *PLEASE* stop panicking? I just told you that you weren't dead." The voice from earlier said, cutting off Acro's thoughts and startling them. They quickly turned to the source of the voice, a somewhat small figure meeting their gaze. Their white hair had glowing streaks of gold in it, and their eyes were completely white. "Oh, now you finally look at me." The figure said, a hint of irritation in their tone. They quickly shrugged it off, though, and changed the subject. "Nice to meet you! My name's Meiton! I use xe/xem pronouns, just for your reference." Acro nodded, taking a mental note of what Meiton had said. Xe grinned. "Now that my introduction is out of the way, what about you?" Xe asked, Acro noticing xir large wings flap once or twice. "... Acro," they said. ".. They/them." They usually preferred not to talk much, if at all, although this was one of those occasions that they couldn't evade speaking.