Two Worlds among the Stars (G/t)

6. Chapter: Breaking Point

The rain had started a while ago. Dark, bulging clouds covered the once blue sky and enveloped the forest in sinister shadows. By now Noah's clothes were completely soaked, but he couldn't care any less. He had to get away. He already got this far, he certainly wasn't going to stop now. The boy had been running the entire time. His lungs were burning, his wet clothes were clinging to his body, and his hair was plastered to his forehead and kept getting into his eyes, no matter how often he wiped it out of the way. All things considered, he was feeling pretty miserable.

And yet, he didn't care.

No, he couldn't care.

He had to ignore his own discomfort for now. There were more important things to worry about, like not getting caught again. That's why he kept running, even though his body had reached its limit a long time ago. Each step was sending a new wave of pain through it. At this point only his sheer stubbornness kept him going. Noah ran until everything before his eyes began to blur and he was seconds away from collapsing. Drained of all energy and completely out of breath, he finally slowed down. Noah tried to at least keep walking, but what he was doing had nothing to do with walking anymore. It could be more described as stumbling a couple of steps forward and stopping every few seconds to gasp for air. It was a miracle he hadn't fallen face first into the mud yet. But he knew from personal experience it was always better not to push your luck.

A tiny, yet very stubborn, part of him still wanted to refuse to take a break, but he also wasn't too keen on getting covered in mud. Walking around in wet clothes was already bad enough, no need to make it even worse for himself. Noah staggered towards a tree, practically falling against it, and took a few deep, painful breaths. The exhausted boy let his head lull against the trunk and shut his eyes for just a moment. The tree being the only thing that prevented him from falling over. When he wasn't afraid of passing out anymore, he slowly opened his eyes again.

He was surrounded by dozens of trees, each and every one looking exactly the same, nothing nor anybody else to be seen. 'This has to be far enough, right?' He turned his head in the direction where he had come from and strained his ears. All he could hear was the sound of the pouring rain.

Still no giant in sight.

Good.

A small, relieved smile tugged on his lips and a faint laugh, probably more a wheeze than an actual laugh, not even audible over the sound of the rain, escaped his throat.

He did it.

His plan had actually worked!

All he wanted to do was to close his eyes again and sleep for the rest of the day, maybe longer, fully intending to just ignore the cold wind that was sending chills down his spine. Exhaustion pulling at his eyelids. Maybe he could just-

A rustle snapped Noah out of his daze. A friendly reminder that he wasn't safe yet. Even if the giant wasn't nearby, it didn't mean he wasn't looking for him. The giant had most definitely noticed that he was gone by now and was probably looking for him at this moment. Noah couldn't risk getting caught again. He had no idea how much distance he had gained while running, but he knew no matter how far he had gotten, the giant wouldn't need much time to catch up to him. Not to mention these woods were far from being a safe haven. Who knew what other creatures were lurking here in the dark. You'd have to be a massive idiot to linger around longer than necessary.

When his breathing sounded somewhat normal again, he continued his path. The teen had no idea if he was walking into the right direction, but if the smaller trees were anything to go by he was at the very least walking out of the deeper part of the forest and hopefully towards the river. He had to reach it at some point, right? And if he did it would be only a matter of time until he found the way back to his village. At this point his body was basically moving on its own, only focused on putting one foot in front of the other and following a somewhat straight line. The teen could call himself lucky he hadn't bumped into a tree yet. As he navigated his way through the unfamiliar woods, he heard the same rustle again.