About three days had past since we had left Uwendale before we were nearing the other side of the mountain pass, which would act as the gateway into the rest of the world.

Aeron's early childhood growing up with his father seemed to have left a mark on him, since he chose to act as our primary hunter and gatherer, already carrying some leftover meat from wild animals he had hunted the night before. It may have been less than half a week, but Aeron's beard had grown so much it made it seem like we were gone for weeks rather than days.

Vera of course frolicked in the lightly snowed ground around us, continuing to relish the freedom we gave ourselves while I took up the "front" of the group. The ground crunched underneath my feet as we made our way through the lightly forested area surrounded by towering peaks of frozen rock and stone.

As per the cold temperatures, the colors around us looked very bleak and grey, but even so we could see the faint glimmer of the sun just beyond the massive peaks in front of us. We were getting very close, and I was very excited, as I'm sure Vera and Aeron were as well.

"Wait." Aeron said, abruptly through our silence. The both of us stopped moving and turned back towards him.

Not good. A change of tone in Aeron like this means something bad.

We stood, not moving even a single inch as we all listened to our surroundings. We could hear the breeze of the wind spiraling through the trees and the rock cliff sides around us. The faint chirping of wild life above and around us, but nothing out of the ordinary, until I saw them.

Several pairs of slender, yellow eyes peering at us through the obscured foliage to our left among the trees and shrubs. Eyes that were sinister, and hungry.

Aeron put his arm out in front of us, as if he would single-handedly protect us from this. I lowered his arm, joining him at his side all the while shaking my head speaking words I didn't need to.

We're in this together Aeron.

As Vera joined at Aeron's left, taking hold of the spear on his pack, the figures began to emerge from their watching places. Large, black feline creatures revealed themselves, two large fanged teeth hanging down from the top of their mouths which pointed to the rest of their body. Six legs supported the beasts' weights, three on each side while two tails were sunk low to the ground, as if agitated.

Mountain fangs.

Then we all could hear it. The low, aggressive growling that was emitting from each of these beasts, like we had all just been caught dancing on their families' graves.

There were three of them that stood against us now as Aeron knocked an arrow into his shortbow and I readied my short-sword in front of me.

We chose this life... time to fight for it.

Suddenly, one of the beasts leaped out against us as the three of us scattered to the sides to avoid the attack. I now found myself split off in an instant from my other two friends as one in the back looked towards me, the other two focusing their attention on Vera and Aeron.

Without hesitation, it leaped at me the same way the first one did, but I saw this coming and ducked out of the way, trying to keep my footing so as not to fall to the ground.

I may not have grown up a fighter, but everyone from Uwendale grows up a survivor, and one of the crucial things we're taught is about the beasts that live around us, specifically the mountain fangs, which are notorious carnivorous hunters that reside around us.

Like most beasts, they gain a big advantage by knocking their prey prone so as to significantly reduce their agility and render them immobile, and mountain fangs are known to be the ones that capitalize on those opportunities the most.

The problem is, even if not knocked down, they are still very dangerous beasts that can easily defend themselves with their razor sharp claws and teeth.

The mountain fang leaped at me once again, aiming straight for my arm holding my sword. Second guessing my movements, I raised my sword up to block its teeth as it impacted into me.

The blow almost sent me straight to my back but I dug into the ground as hard as I could with my feet, now watching as a large set of jaws clamped across my blade, its eyes staring death into me maybe a foot from my face.

In rapid succession, it sent one of its claws right towards me, which scraped across my left arm, tearing not only several layers of the fur clothing I was wearing, but also my skin too. The pain was gut wrenching as I began to feel the warm liquid pour out along my arm.

Trying to use that pain to fuel my strength, I shoved as hard as I could against the mountain fang, knocking it off my sword and back several feet as it landed on all six, now hissing in my direction.

Clasping my left arm from the pain, I took a quick glance over towards my friends.

About 6 feet from me, Vera was currently jabbing at one of them from a distance using the spear's length to her advantage while Aeron seemed to have dropped his shortbow to the ground, now locked in combat with the third mountain fang, using two arrows as if they were daggers.

I re-centered my eyes just in time to duck out of the way of another pounce from the mountain fang attacking me, sailing straight over my head as it landed directly behind me.

As it began to spin itself around back towards me, I used that instant as my chance. Charging forward, I dashed as hard as I could, grasping the hilt of the sword with both my hands tightly, aiming the blade straight at the beast's abdominal area.

To my surprise, the blade sank deep into its body as it gave out a howling roar. I pulled the sword back out, now covered in a hue of blood, lunging forward to make for another jab, but it dashed out of my reach too quickly as I pierced the air in front of where it was.

It now stood a couple feet from me, just in front of the bushes it had once hid within, us now waiting for one to make a move.

I heard another howl from behind me from one of the other mountain fangs. As I glanced behind me, that was when I felt a full force knock me to my back; it was all I could do to use my sword to block the mountain fang's bites which now stood towering over me, intent on making one bite the fatal strike to kill.

In an all out frenzy it clawed the sword out of my grasp, the weapon clattering several feet to my right.

It made another lunge at my throat; acting off pure instinct, I grasped both the upper and lower jaws with my free arms, inches from me. Slobber dripped over me and the scent of blood and meat filled my whole space as my left arm strained against the pain from holding back the full force of this beast.

My arms began to give in, slowly becoming overpowered from the hulking mass of this mountain fang.

I clenched my eyes shut and continued to give it all I had to keep it from me. HELP!

Whiff Whiff

I heard two soft whistles streak across the air in my direction, before I felt two impacts coming from the mountain fang.

The next thing I knew, the beast had immediately backed up off me as it began wincing sporadically in pain. Using this chance to spring to my feet, I saw what had happened. Two arrows protruded from the fang's side where it was now trying to grasp at viciously with its mouth trying to remove it. Unfortunately for it, the arrows were too far back for its head to reach.

I looked back and saw Aeron, who holding his shortbow, was helping Vera to her feet. One mountain fang lay motionless next to her, the spear sticking up into the air, jabbed far into its body. I barely noticed the second one as it was already in the midst of fleeing back into the forest behind us.

At that second, my survival instincts caught back up to me. Rushing over, I picked up my sword, whirling to point it where I last saw the one trying to eat me.

Doing nothing more than staring me down at this point, it was backing away from me into the woods as my two friends rushed over to join me at my side. You could hear them both gasping for as much air as they could. I can't blame them, any encounter like this would take the air out of people.

A stab wound in one side of it, and two arrows in the other, the fang gave off one last growl at us before it vanished into the forest behind it...

None of us moved for what felt like minutes. It wasn't uncommon in these areas around Uwendale for predators to flee temporarily, only to come back with a larger pack to take down tougher prey.

Our breathing was about the only thing I could hear in this moment, and it wasn't until I collapsed to my knees from the pain in my arm that the silence was broken.

"Danut! Hang on!" I wanted to tell Vera to keep her voice down, but I was too busy clutching my arm as blood continued to spill onto the ground at my side.

I felt my body lifted off the ground as Aeron tugged me over and sat me against one of the trees. Leaning down, he looked at me smirking.

"Now why did you have to go get yourself all cut up within a few days of our adventure?"

I playfully tried to retaliate by lightly punching his face with my left fist, but the pain made me wince as I tried to raise it. Instinctively, he leaned forward, resting my arm back on the ground.

"Whoa bud, let's not move that one." He began to roll up the now red colored sleeve of my fur coat. "Let's wait until we get it bandaged first and wait an hour or too..." He got a good look at my arm, then frowned. "Not good..."

"Don't tell me that. That's not what you're supposed to say in this situation."

Hearing Vera's footsteps approach at a fast pace, I saw her kneel down in front of me next to Aeron, a roll of fresh bandages in her hands already in the process of being unrolled.

"Let me see them." Aeron said, taking the bandages from Vera as he began to wrap my arm several times with it.

I felt Vera's hand hold on to my good one. As we look at each other, we both share a smile, hers much sadder than mine. "You'll be OK Danut."

I cocked a smirk at Aeron. "See? She knows how to comfort a patient."

"And who's the one putting on the bandages to stop the bleeding?"

Ugh, he has a point.

I felt several tugs on my left arm as I saw Aeron tieing off two different knots in the bandages before he lightly patted my shoulder.

"That should do it." My arm looked like it had been mummified.

Aeron glanced over at Vera. "Try and make a small fire for now, we'll be here for a-"

"No." Interrupting Aeron's thought, I clambered to my feet, rolling the sleeve of my coat back down.

It's just a claw wound on my lower arm, Aeron I'll be fine. That's what I wanted to say to him, but Aeron was very picky when it came to someone's health. He would've shot down that comment faster than he can shoot arrows.

He folded his arms at me, flashing me a face which said he was my father knowing what was best for me, pausing for a second before he angled his chin towards the mountain pass.

"Alright, but we're going to move slow, nothing crazy."

Not like we were on the clock anyway.

"Do we want to take it with us?" Vera asked, wondering about the dead mountain fang she was currently pulling the spear out of. As she did, she walked over and handed it back to Aeron, who pushed it back towards her.

"You may as well keep it." Aeron brushed the shortbow around his shoulder. "One weapon is enough for me. As for that, I think we just want to get past the mountains at this point. Plus we still have food from the previous nights."

Nodding, she rushed over to where my pack lay on the ground, picking it up and lacing it back around my arms for me.

"Let this be a sign farm boy." I smiled back towards Vera who continued. "Don't you go dying on me."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

Giving me one last smile that made her green eyes shine, she grabbed her pack before she planted herself in front of the both of us, pointing towards the mountain pass.

"Onward troops!"

Me and Aeron both looked at each other rolling our eyes. Vera's always had an outrageous behavior, and always likes to make as much fun out any given situation as she can. Funny thing, that was what made me feel so drawn to her, like a fish drawn to cool water.

In unison we began moving once again as we marched into the mountain pass. This was the proverbial point of no return, because what lies on the other side is sure to capture our lives for eternity.