CYRON (Completed)

Chapter 23 -W.

Sunibe ran. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her. As she did so, she waved her hands, bringing her staff next to her and hopping on. She surfed through the forest with perfect balance, and zooming away three times faster than when she was running. She could run well, but she was much better at gliding on the staff. She had been practicing all sorts of tricks on it ever since she could remember; gotten really good at using her magic overtime because of that. Good enough to be cable of fending for herself perfectly fine, especially in a world like CYRON.

She was panting a little from the running she had done. She told herself not to look back. She couldn't, she wouldn't. Not because she was scared, in fact, it was quite the opposite really. She had managed to escape the shamans that took the others, but was currently being pursued by someone else. She didn't know who they were, they wore a black hooded cloak. It was highly annoying having to keep running away from them like that. She was a shaman and hated being forced into a spot where she could not handle her own. Also, she had to shake off her pursuer and start thinking of a way to rescue the others.

She quickly moved to one side and just in time as she felt an arrow whiz by her ear. No, not just an arrow... a spell; a powerful one. Whoever was after her was no ordinary shaman! She would have to be careful. She dodged another spelled arrow mid flight, and had to jump up off the staff and over a tree branch so she wouldn't get hit by it. She landed agilely back on the staff.

'They are catching up... Shit.' This was her thought when she glanced back.

She was going at least 70 miles an hour, and quickly increasing speed. She couldn't understand how this person was keeping up with her so well. And more surprisingly, this pursuer was chasing her on foot! No one ran that fast. She had never even known a shaman use such a spell. Either way, Sunibe believed in her own ability.

'Fine then, you turd...' Sunibe thought, defiantly. 'See if you can handle this.'

She increased speed to 85 miles an hour, doing air flips and turns, expertly avoiding all the high roots and low branches, 10 legged spiders' webs, and venomous vines. She looked back, expecting to have lost her pursuer a long way back.

She was wrong. She hadn't lost them at all. In fact, if anything, the pursuer seemed to have gotten much closer. How?!

She swerved suddenly, avoiding crashing into a tree by just 3 inches. The turn was too sharp and struggled to regain her balance. This pursuer was making her nervous... That would've never happened to her under normal circumstances! Just as she did regain balance, she felt a spell hit her back, sending her off the staff and crashing to the forest floor below.

'Shit!' She thought, quickly getting up. 'Ouch...!' She winced slightly as she felt pain on her right arm which she had landed on when she fell. 'Now what?!'

She turned her head, searching for the hooded figure, but it was nowhere to be found.

'What the?' She felt alarmed. 'Wait.' She thought to herself. 'Don't let them get to you. Just sense them out!'

She shut her eyes and tried to relax, breathing deeply and opening her senses. She spread her mind and focused her concentration with such intensity. It took her a few seconds to adjust, then it all came to her.

She could feel the trees, the birds, the grass, sticks, flowers, bugs......everything around her. Suddenly, her eyes shot open.

'There!' She thought, immediately shooting an arrow made of energy out of her hand towards a high branch on a tree.

The energy struck its target, zapping it and making it fall off of the branch. Something fell from the branch and hit the ground with a thud. A figure took form on the floor, it was the same hooded character who had been chasing her.
Sunibe shifted close and squatted by the figure. She pulled the cloak aside and her heart skipped several beats when she saw who it was. In fact, it wasn't a who at all. It was a freshly cut log wrapped up in the hooded cloak. Sunibe's blood ran cold at the sight. She'd been tricked.

She tried to quickly stand up and move away, but something lounged at her. It had been hiding inside the log; a snake.

The poor girl didn't even have enough time to see what color it was before it bit down hard and fast on the side of her neck. The shock was great, but she didn't scream or whimper. She would never scream for her attacker, she wouldn't give them the pleasure of hearing a satisfying sound escape her mouth.

The snake pumped its poison into her neck. It surged through her veins. She felt it pulsing. First softly, then harder. Down her neck it went, along her shoulders, spreading to her chest, lungs, and heart. She could feel it beating in her chest. It was as if she was high on the magical purple mushrooms you find in the forest sometimes, but not in a good way. She choked, hardly able to breathe as the snake held fast fiercely and kept injecting it's venom. Sunibe's vision started to fade, and she could feel her consciousness slipping away. She dropped to her knees then fell forward, laying on the ground with a soft thud.

'No!' She thought. 'This can't be the end, I have to rescue the others...'

She was out of energy, and the snake's poison was as painful as being stabbed repeatedly all over her body and internally. She couldn't do a thing, and felt pathetic.

Her vision blurred and her hearing slowly but surely ebbed away. The last thing she could see was a cloaked man start running towards her.

'I guess this is the end for me.' She thought. 'I'm sorry I couldn't help, guys. I have failed...' She felt herself swirl into darkness.