"When I said 'I hope tomorrow will be as eventful as today' I didn't wish for it to be THIS eventful."
The bear's roar shook the forest.
Lancelot cursed, sprinting through the underbrush, heart hammering, legs burning. The massive beast crashed behind him, closer with every thunderous step. Branches whipped his face.
One moment he was cheerfully humming his mother's lullaby, the next he was humming the lullaby frantically, hoping to get away from the beast.
"Curses! I knew I should have taken a longer route."
The bear's hungry roar only served as a catalyst to Lancelot speed. If he was going to die, it wouldn't be here.
Not today, he thought, his teeth gritted. Not to a damn bear!
He spotted a thick oak ahead. With a desperate burst of speed, Lancelot leaped. Higher than he should have been able. His daggers flashed as he drove them deep into the trunk, using them like climbing picks. Muscles straining, he hauled himself up branch by branch until he reached a sturdy limb ten feet off the ground.
The bear roared in frustration as it watched its prey escape so easily. A hoarse laugh tore through Lancelot's throat, panting heavily as he watched the enraged bear circling the base of the tree. A wild grin split his face.
"Ha! All that size and rage, and you still can't catch one worthless farm boy?" he shouted down, voice carrying unnaturally far through the trees. "Pathetic! Go hunt some rabbits instead — you're wasting both our time!"
Lancelot wiped the sweat from his forehead, his panting slowing down.
The beast stopped on its track, as if contemplating the insult. Then with a turn, it rose on its hind legs and looked at the farmboy. Its lips peeled back, yellow, glistening fangs revealed under a malevolent smile that no animal should ever wear. Its eyes locked onto Lancelot with unnatural intelligence.
Lancelot's grin faltered. "Did… did it just smile?"
Lancelot could feel his heart racing as he watched the bear rear back and slam its massive paws into the oaks trunk. Wood exploded as the tree shuddered violently, cracks spreading up the trunk like lightning. Lancelot's safe haven had snapped with a deafening crack.
I just had to talk, didn't I? How can it even understand me?
Lancelot let out a yelp as the tree fell, everything seemed to go slow before his eyes. The morning sun touched his skin in a warm embrace, accompanying him to his death.
The impact drove the air from his lungs as he hit the forest floor hard. Pain flared through his back and chest — that familiar tearing sensation ripping deeper than before. He gasped, rolling onto his side as the world spun.
Gritting his teeth, Lancelot stood up, trying his best to ignore the excruciating pain in his head. He turned, glaring at the bear with blazing eyes. The bear stood over the ruins of the tree, eyes gleaming with intelligence as it hesitated for the first time, its nose flared.
Something was different. Its prey had changed to something sharper… hungrier.
"You've never hunted a prey that has fought back, right?" his daggers drawn once more, one aimed at the bear, "well let me have the honours of being your first beast."
His voice came out low, carrying an odd resonance that made the leaves tremble. His emerald eyes narrowed, coldly looking at his predator.
"You aren't a normal bear are you?"
The bear's lips peeled back in a slow, deliberate smile — far too knowing, far too human. It rose onto its hind legs, towering over him like a living nightmare. Then it roared.
The sound was deafening, shaking the branches and sending birds exploding from the canopy in blind panic. The roar wasn't just loud — it carried weight, pressure, intent.
It accepted the challenge.
Lunged at the boy with terrifying might, its claws the size of daggers already brought down on him like scythes.
Lancelot heard it whistle by his ears as he dodged the first swipe by a hair's breadth, the wind from the strike slicing, no wasted movement.
He rolled under it, but the bear was already pivoting, using its absurd strength to slam a paw into the ground where he had been, causing the earth to explode. Dirt and roots flew upwards, a small crater carved on the ground.
Lancelot was sent flying several meters away, toppling on the ground before hitting a tree. Lancelot's chest burned with every breath, the familiar tearing sensation growing worse. Yet beneath the pain, excitement surged through his veins like fire.
He couldn't help but feel a smile creep on his bloodied lips.
He turned to the bear and watched as it lunged at him with another claw slash. Twisting at the last second, he drove the dagger deep into its shoulder while slashing the other across its foreleg.
The beast didn't flinch and it didn't waste any second.
It's head already whipped around, it opened its maw impossibly wide and snapped at him, intending to end it with one bite.
Lancelot barely pulled his arm back, the bear's dagger-like teeth closed on empty air with a loud crack, a minor shock wave sent out.
He grimaced as his ears rang with a sharp high pitch, stunned. Then using the momentum, it slammed its massive shoulder into him. The impact hit him like a boulder.
Lancelot flew backwards, skidding across the dirt and through a few bushes before crashing on a tree again. A new wave of pain surged through his body, his spine and ribs suffering more due to direct impact. He gasped, struggling to gain back the air that was forcefully drove out his burning lungs.
A wild grin split his face, more blood dripped from his mouth. The roar in his blood drowned out the voice screaming to run.
The battle intelligence of the beast in front of him was chilling but he couldn't come to terms with accepting defeat. It charged once more, feinting right before striking left, its absurd strength uprooting small trees as it barreled through.
Waiting until the last second, Lancelot dropped low slashed at the bear's chest, carving a deep gash across it. Blood trickled freely from the wound.
The beast roared in fury, rearing up and bringing both paws down with crushing force.
Lancelot desperately rolled away from the attack. The ground where he had been standing cratered violently, the shockwaves knocking his balance off.
Staggering, he maintained his balance, his feet firmly planted on the ground. The bear's paw touched its wound, blood painted on it. It turned its attention back to its prey and licked its blood, as if pleased with Lancelot's effort.
Breathing hard, chest on fire, Lancelot locked eyes with the bear.
"This is the best you've got?" He taunted, his voice humming gently with every word. Something he wants to find soon after this. Spitting a wad of blood, he glared at the beast with a nasty smile. "I'll miss you when you're gone."
Lancelot launched himself forward, running full speed at it.
The bear swung with devastating power capable of shattering bone. Lancelot twisted the last moment, his cloak now bearing new marks and slashed at the bear. Using the dagger that was lodged in the beast's shoulder as leverage and leaped on its back, snatching his dagger back and stabbing it at its thick neck.
The bear screamed--pain and rage carried by the sound, shaking the trees around them.
Lancelot the blade viciously, vibration intensifying under his fingers until it became a piercing frequency. Thrashing wildly, the bear slammed him against the trees but still held on.
With a guttural shout, he ripped his dagger from the bear and stabbed its eyes with all the strength he could muster.
A horrifying scream tore from the bear's throat, as it tore Lancelot off its back with its claws.
Lancelot's cloak and clothes carried large claw marks, revealing his mutilated back. Blood soaked the forest floor. Lancelot's attention was on the bear. Its prey. His body had gone numb, chasing off any pain that might distract his focus.
The bear gave up trying to claw out the dagger and directed its malice towards Lancelot.
Not having a second to react, Lancelot was already on it, leaping high enough and straining every muscle on his leg, he drove the dagger deeper inside, the handle disappearing into the socket with a sickening wet crunch of bone echoed through the forest.
The bear staggered, legs buckling. It took a step, then two before collapsing heavily on its side, chest heaving as blood flowed slowly out of the fatal.
Lancelot landed next to the dying beast, struggling to keep his balance. His legs shook out of exhaustion. His chest rising and falling rapidly, body covered in blood and bruises. Every breath hurt. The tearing pain in his back and ribs were unbearable.
Yet he was smiling.
A small crystal began forming near the bear's skull, pulsing with soft inner light, announcing the death of the beast.
Lancelot stared at it, the distant sounds of chains echoing faintly in his ears once more. A low, familiar hum stretched across his back and ribs in a soothing wash.
A laugh tore through his throat– raw, exhilarated and maybe just a little unhinged.
"Well…" he whispered hoarsely, giving in to the exhaustion and falling on the beast's corpse, "I'm going to enjoy this."