A Tale of Strangeness
A nearby bush shifted and the two men known as Serge and Glenn standing close by quickly unsheathed their weapons and stood at the ready. They looked at each other, then back to the bush. The bigger of the two scratched at his chin with the tip of his blade. They nodded and took a few steps closer.
"Get out of there! We heard you moving!" Glenn shouted.
"Yeah. Get your butt out here for a first class ass whoopin'!" Serge added.
The bush shifted again, stopped then rustled madly. The two looked at each other and Serge shrugged. Glenn nodded towards the bush and made short jabbing motions with his sword. Serge nodded and shifted his huge weapon, known to most as a swallow. They both approached the bush slowly.
"Come on. You're only making things worse." Glenn said in a normal tone.
"You'll only end up getting hurt if you keep this up." Serge said with a nod.
No reply from the bush made the two look at each other. Finally, without warning, Serge dashed towards the shrubbery and launched himself into the air. He slashed down at the bush with a loud "Kyaaaaa!". Shrugging, Glenn followed suit and stabbed into the bush with the edge of his sword. A quick "Take that!" slipped from his mouth as he pulled the sword free just before the end of Serge's swallow cut the greenery in two.
"Think we got 'im?" Serge asked, hefting the blade onto his shoulder.
"Well Einstein. Why don't you just check and see?" Glenn replied with a shove.
"Hey! Cut that out!" Serge retorted and shoved back.
"Jerk!" Glenn shouted and kicked at Serge, his boot picking up dirt and flinging it on Serge's pants.
"Ass!" Serge shouted in reply and shook his fist. "I should give you the beat down for that!"
"Like to see you try!" Glenn replied and stuck out his tongue.
"Oh I will!" Serge said and swiped at the tongue with his free hand.
"Oh just go and see if we killed whatever it was already." Glenn said, waving Serge away.
"Tch. Fine." Serge muttered, turning to walk around the sliced and diced bush.
He stood there for a moment, stared down at the bloodied corpse and scratched the back of his head.
"Uh Glenn? I think we might have over reacted a bit..." he said, hunkering down and sheathing his mighty weapon.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Glenn asked, sheathing his sword and starting over to where Serge knelt.
Before Glenn even got there, Serge stood up and pointed. "We killed a rabbit." He said bluntly, shaking his head.
Glenn perked a brow and stared down at the dead rabbit. "Well what do you know? Looks like we have dinner for tonight." He said and shrugged, picking it up and carrying it over to where they were camped.
It had been three days since the "rabbit" incident. Serge sat on a rock, grinding a sharpener over the edge of his swallow as he waited for Glenn to return from relieving himself. He stared blankly across the open field towards the dense forestry ahead, never bringing his eyes down to look at where he was sharpening. He quickly dropped his weapon and shook his hand fiercely.
"Son of a...! Ow! That really hurt!" he shouted, waving his hand around in the air. He stopped and looked at his forefinger. "Crap. I grinded most of the skin off my damn finger!" he muttered and wiped the blood on the side of his shorts. "What a bummer." He added, grabbing his swallow and sheathing it. Glenn appeared from behind the nearby shrubbery and sighed in relief.
"Ah. That felt extremely good." He said with a nod. "Good. So now it's my turn. You watch our stuff." Serge replied and turned to head towards the same spot. "No time man. We need to get going now if we expect to make it to Termina by tomorrow." Glenn said, hefting his pack onto his back and starting down the dirt path. "What? God damn it! I always have to hold it in. Why can't you ever wait?" Serge replied, a slight tone of annoyance in his voice. "You know I have bladder problems. Besides, we both know that I'm more valuable in battle than you, so I need to be in peak physical condition." Glenn replied with a smirk. "What? Are you on crack? We both know I'm the stronger fighter. Besides, you always manage to hurt yourself before battle and I end up taking on the whole fight." Serge shouted, shaking his fist in anger.
"You know for a fact that my body is fragile. I get hurt more easily than most people." Glenn replied, shaking his head. "I'll show you fragile, you pompous jerk..." Serge muttered, rubbing his temple. "What was that?" Glenn asked, leaning in closer. "Nothing. Let's just get going. I've had enough of your talking for the day. Let's just get this journey over with." Serge replied and shoved Glenn into a walk. "Ow! Hey! I can walk on my own. No need to push." Glenn blurted as he was forced down the path. "Yeah whatever. Get going." Serge said with a sigh.
The dense forest surrounding them seemed to creep ever closer as they pushed on deeper into the brush. Serge had a dagger unsheathed and began stripping branches and leaves from their path as Glenn wandered a few feet behind. "You know, this could be going faster if you were using a bigger dagger." Glenn criticized as Serge continued cutting. "Well this is all I have. Unless you offer me your sword, or you get up here and start cutting yourself, I think you should shut your pie hole." Serge replied bluntly, pushing forward. "You know I can't sacrifice the sharp edge of my blade. We need it for battle." Glenn began, looking down at his fingers. " You also know that I'm allergic to "those" types of leaves." He added with a nod towards the section of branch that Serge was currently dismembering.
"What kind of leaves? These White Spruce Pine Needles?" Serge asked, pushing a branch aside. "Yeah. Those kind." Glenn replied with a nod. "That's funny Glenn, because these aren't White Spruce. They're Noble Fir needles." Serge said and shook his head. "Right. Yeah. That's what I meant." Glenn said before muttering under his breath.
Serge chuckled to himself for the nice trick he had played, his continuous sweeping blade slashing branches left and right. He sliced down on a particularly thick branch, and his hand stuck in mid air. He struggled for a moment and then sighed. "Damn. I think my dagger's caught in something." He said aloud, tugging again. Serge turned to Glenn. "Hey man. Can you give me a hand? I think I'm stuck." He asked, still tugging. Glenn just stood there, wide eyed, his right hand pointing above him. Serge turned and looked up, then released his grip on his dagger and stepped back, his expression just as shocked as Glenn's.
Before them, stood a huge tree like creature, standing way over twenty-five feet tall. It held the dagger in its hand and it stared down at the two of them with a furious glare in its eyes. Glenn nudged Serge in the ribs with his elbow.
"Ow! Hey, cut it out. Now is not the time to fool around." Serge whispered, still staring at the huge monster.
"Don't move. Maybe it won't see us if we keep still." Glenn replied in a quiet voice, his eyes glued to the creature.
"Serge took another quick look at the creature, then turned to Glenn. "It's seen us. There is no way it won't see us now. Let's just run for it." He said as quietly as he could.
"I think you're wrong Serge. It's not doing anything." He replied and pointed.
The behemoth bellowed in anger and charged towards the two, its eyes glowing a deep crimson in the darkness surrounding them. Serge shoved Glenn towards the nearest opening in the trees and shouted. "It's seen us! Get moving!" He said and started in after him, the creature in hot pursuit. The two moved like their asses were on fire, dodging between trees and boulders, leaping over shrubs and periodically looking back to see how much the creature had gained on them.
"Oh shit! It's right on our tails!" Serge shouted, pushing past a branch that grew too close to face level. Glenn took it in the face, but kept moving. "Like I didn't know that! We're dead man! It's gonna catch up and then rip us to shreds!" Glenn shouted, rubbing his cheek as they moved. 'And all because you had to go about chopping through its buddies!" he added and pointed towards Serge. "Oh shut your mouth. At least I was doing something. You just keep making up excuses about why you can't do anything to help!" Serge shouted in rebuttal, then lifted his gaze to see the monster nearly right onto of them. "Shit..." he said before he felt his body plummet, Glenn following in hot pursuit.