Bravery
He brushed the dust off of his knuckles and tightened his bandana. Snow crunched underfoot, leaving a deep trench behind him as he walked, kicking his boots hard. The monsters had long realised that he not one to be trifled with. Each met similar fate. They would approach, they would fight, they would die. Monsters died easily, and everyone knew they didn't really have feelings, so guilt was never on his mind.
That said, when they looked at him, begged him for their life, begged to be spared, he would indeed hesitate. But in the end, they were nothing but a challenge, and if there was one thing the boy was, it was brave.
Still, fighting was tiring...bordering on boring for the boy, a concept he never thought he could have felt. Loneliness hung in the air. Even the birds had abandoned him. If it weren't for the deep scar he was leaving on the snow, he could have sworn he was going in circles. Every tree looked alike; snow draped, leafless and humourless. Ever since he had left the Ruins all he had done was fight and walk, fight and walk. If only that old goat could see him now, he thought to himself, a small smile crossing his lips. He never had trusted her. All of her gentle nonsense flew in one ear and out the next for the boy. For a moment he had considered fighting her. But he had eyed her up, saw the fear she held over the other monsters, and figured that was a clash he was not destined to win. He had snuck out when she fell asleep. Leaving behind nothing but a smooth trail of dust.
The boy eventually stumbled onto a path. While he had tried to avoid paths when he had first set out, he sighed as he realised that, likely traps or not, he would have to follow it, lest be doomed to an eternity of aimless wandering. Turning left, he began to make his way down the trail, stretching and bending around the forest for as far as his eyes could see. He looked at his feet. There was still no sound less the crunch of his boots in the snow, the ambience still dead silent.
His mind elsewhere, the boy wandered into a wall, stumbling backwards and raising his fists in surprise. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be somewhat more of a sentry station, incoherent writing scrawled on the front, a bell sitting neatly on the counter. From within, a startled bark erupted. The boy took another step back as the head of a large dog rose upwards, black fur covering the top of his face, the rest a snow encrusted, clean white.
"Did something move? Is someone there? If something bumped into my station, it MUST have been moving. SOMETHING! Whatever you are! Absolutely NO MOVING!"
The boy chuckled, tightening his gloves around his wrist. He swung his fist at the dog, striking it hard in the side of the head. It whined.
"So THERE you are!"
The dog flicked it's blue glowing knife in a shallow arc directly across the boy's chest. The boy panicked, trying to sidestep the attack, catching it directly across his chest as he realised too late it was too large to weave. He cried out in pain, blood dripping lightly from his mouth as the gash on his torso stabbed dully at his nerves, draining his bravery. He fell backwards, half sitting on the path in front of the sentry station. The dog squinted, casting its eyes around once more.
"SOMETHING! Are you still there? Are you still moving? If you are something, please move."
The boy's breathing became laboured, clutching his wound in fear. Eyes slowly losing hope.
The dog slowly descended back into it's station, blade still dripping with the child's blood. For a while, the boy sat there, watching his blood drain into the snow, dyeing it a deep crimson. Coughing, he slammed his fist into the ground and began to stand. "I'm not going to die here." he reassured himself "Ill get help, Ill get help...Ill get.."
The boy propped himself against a tree and began to stagger off further down the path. His vision shook, fear and pain clutching his chest equally. His mind was shot, blurry shapes forming and reforming in his mind. His family, his friends, the monsters he had killed, their looks of fear, their desperation. "Ill be fine..Ill be fine...Ill...Ill". He could feel the blood running from his mouth.
Someone was walking towards him on the path. A tall, broad figure. Bigger in stature than any other monster he had met. His face faded in and out of focus as he approached. The child collapsed at his feet, grabbing onto the corner of his robe, looking up at his face.
"Hel...help me...please" the boy choked out, agony and desperation painted on his profile in blood.
In focus, the face looked back in fear.
Out of focus.
In focus, the face looked closer at the child.
Out of focus
In focus, the figure looked upon the child in deep sorrow.
Out of the corner of his eyes, the boy saw flowers fall from the figure's hand onto the snow, his other hand placed on the child's back. The figure knelt down, bringing the boy closer into his chest. He was warm, that much the boy could feel. The face was comforting...his voice, so distant, so blurred.
"I'm not going...to die...I'm brave…..I'm not going…..I'm….brave….I'm"
The boy felt a shiver run down the monster, still cradling him in his arms.
"You are. You most certainly are." came the monster's voice.
The boy's eyes slowly drifted shut.
Then he was gone.