Just a reminder that I'm no longer posting make up stories after tragedies, so the next one won't be until next Saturday. However, it's a romance next week that (at half-written present) is shaping up to be something quite special.

Regardless, I hope you like today's story!


Tragedy: Stalked endlessly throughout her search of the cavern, Tressa was almost glad when the beast finally struck. Almost.


A Cut Too Deep

At last, she'd found it. After hours of aimless searching narrow tunnel to narrow tunnel in the cavern, Tressa had finally stumbled into the light and upon the treasure it so beautifully illuminated.

But, something in the air was making her uneasy.

Shortly after she'd stepped foot in the grotto, she'd felt something watching her. It wasn't human, she knew that much. And, whatever it was, it was large, unwavering in its desire to catch her, unerring with its gaze.

Her nerves so highly strung from this endless watching, she'd navigated the grotto with her bow in hand, one eye ever over her shoulder. Yet, not once had she had to nock an arrow.

Of course, she'd seen monsters – bats roosting over head, snakes coiled and poised besides rocks, elementals minding their own business as they flittered around… However, none of them had moved to strike her, no matter how close she got. Even the usually quick to strike skeletons were too busy minding their own business to pay her any heed. No, it was almost as though the monsters could feel it, the presence of their alpha, watching over her, waiting for its chance to strike.

Yet, Tressa made it to the treasure unassailed, her anxiety higher than ever before.

Because – as she'd suspected – as soon as she leant down to dig the chest out of the soil, an almighty roar echoed endlessly overhead. It filled ever corner of the grotto, made every monster flinch and cower, every plant shake in a sudden wind.

With her lance tight in her grip even as she readied her arrow, Tressa scanned every inch of the clearing she was in, watching for a shadow - a beast - to appear.

But, she didn't see it as it leaped for the ledge above. She didn't hear it silently fly through the air as it pounced. She couldn't have known it was coming right for her throat, it's venomous talon sharp and at the ready.

Tressa barely had time to scream when it scratched clean across her shoulder as she turned and let her arrow loose into its paw.

Immediately, she could feel the poison enter her veins. She could feel her energy draining already, she could already see the haze before her eyes as they struggled to focus on the poisonous beast before her. Too soon, her hands were shaking as they prepared the next arrow, her breath coming all too quick as she struggled through the burning sensation taking over every inch of her body. Pinpricks of heat scattered across her limbs and cheeks, one moment burning hotter than her wound, the next, colder than her toes.

Still, she gritted her teeth and fought on, her desire to kill the beast carrying her through. Her desperate wish to give Mr Leon his dearly departed friend's last treasure carrying her through the pain, the fading of her swelling eyes.

She struck the tiger once more with an arrow before she fell to her knees, unable to stand any more, unable to feel any satisfaction as it roared in pain as the arrow whizzed through the air and struck it square in the shoulder. A shot that made them even, in Tressa's book.

The tiger could barely stand thanks to the arrow stuck in its paw and Tressa… Tressa could hardly do anything as the poison continued to seep deeper into her body.

Her anatomy knowledge was dubious at best, but she knew that the poison had gotten into her blood stream. She knew it was travelling fast to her heart. And from there, she knew it wouldn't be long until her heart distributed it throughout her entire body, breaking her down from the inside as the deep wound bleed out.

Tressa knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, she wasn't long left for this world.

Tressa knew she was destined to follow in the footsteps of the nameless traveller to the very end. Much like she suspected he had, she was destined to die here in Victor's Hollow, her journey unfinished, her diary left for whomever came upon her poisoned corpse first.

Screaming as her body seemed to catch – at first – on fire before turning an indescribably cold, Tressa fell onto her side, hugging at her knees as her body shuddered, desperate to fight back this infection. Before her, the monstrous tiger came close and sniffed her once. Seemingly satisfied that its poison had taken care of the threat to its lair, it let out a mighty roar that once again echoed around the grotto.

However, this time, the monsters didn't cower from the roar. Instead, they came tentatively close to the dying girl. Those that could do so sniffed at the air, likely smelling the venom that was coursing through her body, and let out monstrous whoops of delight as they rushed ever closer.

For the first time since getting struck, Tressa was glad that her senses were failing her. At least she wouldn't feel them pulling her apart, at least she wouldn't feel them tearing the skin from her bones with their poison coated teeth.

At least she wouldn't feel the pain of having let everyone – her parents, Mr Leon, Ali – down as she died by her treasure...