To Rhial

4

Tells

Soil stirred beneath my foggy head. Quaking blasts shot through the ground and in a second I was sitting up. Slapping shrubs out of my face, I finally opened my eyes to the thick and hairy stomping legs all around me. Above me was a mess of thick, deep brown fur matted on the bottom of a beast the size of an elephant.

My legs pressed off of the ground and out from under the beast, an odd dizziness taking hold of my head. Gray blots obstructed my view and my brain lost connection for a second while I stumbled through the brush and into its coarse leg fur.

Holy shit, am I taller?

The massive figure flinched while I caught my senses and whirled around, knocking me back to the soft soil with a graze of its foot. Six black eyes peered down at me through its matted fur. The satellite dish shaped tip of its trunk hovered over my face.

Just gotta stay calm and it'll be over soon, right?

Out from the center of its trunk, a little snake-like appendage slinked out and approached my face. I couldn't help yelling and scooting away. The mammoth creature did not take well to that. The trunk recoiled, whipping upward while it stomped craters into the dirt around me. Nope, not happening. My legs shot out and I scrambled up, darting as fast as my legs would take me.

The forest shuddered around me with every quake erupting from its thunderous running steps.

How the fuck did I get out in the middle of this terrifyingly dark and looming woods?! What is chasing me?!

Streams of sunlight leaked through the thick canopy, just enough to avoid huge roots and strange blue spires. This forest seemed alien and confusing, detached from anything I knew. Razor sharp tree needles slit my skin.

I dodged between trees as much as I could, trying to get this thing to hit one and stop moving or something. The trees cracked like lightning and thundered on the ground. Somehow, through all of it, I heard laughter in the direction I was running. It was like a deep bellowing laughter, but that was good enough for me. I just kept my legs moving as long as I could. Finally, I was approaching a treeline and light. I kept running, panting, my lungs were... fine?

Why isn't my asthma acting up? Why can I run so fast for so long? Damn, maybe adrenaline really is crazy. And seriously, why do I feel taller?

Something sharp grazed my side. It tore away a strip of skin, and the big fella behind me blew hot air onto my back. I grasped the bleeding wound with my hand. It was deeper than I thought. The massive animal was panting hard though, so it must have been getting tired.

Just a little longer and I might be able to get away.

I burst through the treeline, hurdling over a bush almost my height and into a clearing.

People! Yes, people! Why are they running?!

Oh, yeah, the mammoth.

I shot to a stop when I got into the clearing and jumped to the side just a tad too late. Its massive trunk slammed my back. It was just a graze, though, so I was knocked hard into the dirt but managed to avoid breaking anything. I tried lifting myself off the ground, but aching pains throughout my entire back refused to let me push up. More warm blood ran down my side where it grazed me earlier, just as I got a glimpse at the giant maw of crushing teeth and two ivory tusks, sharpened to points. Its trunk was rearing up to crush me.

I readied myself to roll away from its trunk, but it was going to be close.

Come on! I can take it!