I was running, the great white beast was running after me. I reached the mushroom field: a dead end. I was trapped, the great beast was close and I had nowhere left to run. I hear a female voice shouting in the distance, “Hey! Watch out!” I turn toward the voice and… wait, okay, you probably don’t understand how I got here or who I am. Right, let’s go back a little so you can understand what’s happening and let me introduce myself. Let’s go back maybe… 20 minutes?
My name is Ezra. My age? I have no idea. Who am I—or what am I? I don’t know that either… How do I know my name, you ask? Well, one of my oldest memories is from when I was little, and I was left alone in the middle of the forest. The only thing left with me was a large backpack, which I still carry from place to place to this day, and it has “ezra” written on the back, so I just assumed that must be my name.
I was walking through the forest; my usual path. I needed to get to the river. My food had run out, and that was the easiest way to find something to eat, there were always fish in the water and other animals that went there to hunt or drink. To be honest, that river seemed miraculous… It was the only place in the forest always surrounded by animals, and the water was crystal clear, unlike the other rivers in the region. That’s why I nicknamed the river miraculum flumen—miraculous river—yeah, I know, I’m a genius when it comes to names, no need to say it.
I was walking along the trail I created myself, after walking through the same place for so long the vegetation gets used to not growing there, or maybe I killed all the plants after stepping on them countless times…
It was a peaceful day, the weather wasn’t too cold, which was pretty rare for that time of year. I could hear animals moving through the trees. A squirrel ran past, shaking the leaves, then disappeared into the brush. It was nice having an ordinary day like this, without being attacked by some animal or crazy monster trying to kill me…
Something about me is that I have enormous bad luck when it comes to being attacked by monsters and other animals. Last week it was a Hydra; the week before, a hippocampus… maybe I accidentally threw a rock at its head? Maybe. But it was an accident, come on! It wasn’t my fault it was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I was almost at my destination. In about 10 or 15 minutes I’d be at the river.
I hear a loud rustling of leaves and see the trees shaking. That couldn’t be a good sign, it almost always means something is following me.
Me and my big mouth! Just because I said the day was going well!
I can make out something white and very large moving behind the trees, could it be a Pegasus? Or a nympha much larger than normal? I hoped so. But considering my luck, definitely not.
I did what any rational being would do. I started running. Obviously. I may not be the smartest, but I’m not stupid enough to keep walking knowing there’s a huge creature probably trying to hunt me. Common sense, people.
The white beast sped up too. Which means it was definitely coming after me.
I’m not foolish or anything, so I started running even faster. I think I cut the time to reach miraculum flumen by four times, the beast came out from behind the trees and started truly chasing me. You can call me a coward, but no way was I turning back while being pursued!
I could already see the mushroom field—a dirt hill beside miraculum flumen where for some reason all kinds of mushrooms grow—and that should have been good, since I had reached the river. But the problem was: there was no way out. The only place left to run from there was toward the river, and guess what? I can’t swim! The river was too wide for me to just jump over to the other side, and too deep for me to walk across. So, in short, I was doomed.
I reached the limit of where I could go, I was already face to face with the dirt hill. I even considered trying to climb it. But considering my skills and my luck, I’d grab onto the hill and ten kilos of dirt would fall on top of me.
Since there was nowhere left to run, I finally turned to see what was chasing me. I look back and the great white beast is only a few meters away. A huge Drakon, I had heard of them before, but no one ever told me white drakons existed. It had two enormous wings. Its head was huge, and it had fangs that could easily break my body.
It stood still, staring at me. Probably thinking of the best way to devour me. It started moving closer to me, slowly. At that moment my soul was already halfway out of my body. Imagine a giant creature, covered in scales, sharp teeth, and wings that could send you flying through the air, coming toward you. Of course I was terrified! I was almost accepting my fate when a rock comes flying toward the drakon.
“Hey! Watch out!” a female voice shouts from a little farther away.
I look toward the voice. It was a girl with sand-colored hair, wearing an elegant blue dress, though a little torn. In her hands she held some kind of knife, kind of strange.
The drakon looked at her too. The girl pointed her strange knife toward the drakon and, incredibly, it began backing away. Maybe the strange knife scared it off, or maybe the girl herself was frightening, but the drakon ran off and disappeared among the trees.
The girl came running toward me. Her hair reminded me of the waves of a lagoon, and her eyes were dark blue like the evening sky. She came down the mound of earth where she had been standing and ran up to me.
“Are you okay?”
