Kidnapped by Kylo Ren (Star Wars)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

"No, Nira. Go higher! I will send you back up if you come down."

I was too scared to look down to find him, afraid that I would get too dizzy and would fall, so I looked up and I saw another fifty feet of trunk that was possible for me to climb. I unwillingly placed my foot back on the branch.

Well, if I die, at least it will be in the least dignified way possible, I thought sarcastically as I grit my teeth and continued pursuing up the branches.

I felt the faintest burn in my limbs at about seventy feet up. My breath became slightly labored and I had to take a short breath. 

"Continue, Nira!" His altered voice shouted up to me. 

I shut my eyes, forced another deep breath, and persevered higher up. 

Ninety feet. I was gasping for breath. My limbs were aching for a break; once the burning had began around seventy feet up, it had exponentially grown with every second. Ten more feet, I told myself, weakly lifting my left arm and right leg to the next set of branches. I hoisted myself up and got my right arm on the branch, but my left foot slipped. 

I let out a small yelp as my other foot and one hand slipped, and suddenly I found myself dangling from ninety feet above the ground by my non-dominant hand. 

My teeth were grinding and sweat was sliding into my open mouth. My entire left arm began to tremble as I struggled to hold on for my life. My hair was sticking to the sweat on my forehead. 

You can do this. You can do this!

I forced my dangling arm to swing upwards and I got a feeble grip on the thick branch that was saving my existence. The extra hold lessened the pain in my non-dominant arm, but not by much. 

I looked at the trunk and saw that I'd have to pull myself up maybe six inches in order to get my feet on a stable branch. 

The lactic acid was on it's continuous rise in my arms and I knew that it was now or never. Act, or die. 

I began to pull myself higher in order to preserve my being, and my arms were fire, and my hands were rubbing against the tree trunk and bleeding from the coarse bark, and sweat was gathering infinitely inside my fingers. 

I lifted one knee slowly and felt the branch beneath my left foot. I then proceeded to do the same with my other foot, and I was safe. 

I hung onto the upper branch by my elbows and hunched forwards, taking several deep breaths. 

Much to my dismay and anger, Kylo Ren yelled up to me, "Ten more feet!"

I shook my head, huffed in and out greatly, and then resumed my deathly drive upwards. I grunted each time I had to pull myself higher. The trunk began to thin and I had to summon motivation from the deepest depths of me to get to the top. 

I finally pulled through the shrubbery and I was . . . at the top of the tree. 

I was at the top of one of the highest trees in the visible landscape. All I could see was beauty. It was an ocean of trees, and above me was the clearest sky I'd ever seen. I saw birds emerge from a clump of trees a small distance away. They flew away in a V-shape, and I couldn't help but admire all of the bright green beauty. 

I had to force myself to begin the climb back down. The return to the ground wasn't as bad as the way up, but it was still nerve-wracking and muscle-burning. I reached the lowest branch of the tree and fell backwards onto the comforting compacted ground, heaving in and out. My limbs ached from the physical turmoil Kylo Ren had just forced me through.