"The damage is infectious, and all that can be done is purge it all and start from scratch."
If life is a series of choices, then perhaps that just means that life is a game? To Akazawa Saki, that's all life really is. She refutes the existence of G...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Lashes of emerald foliage flickered past Saki as she dashed through the under brush, lashing at the exposed skin of her face as she went. Her boots sunk considerably in the soft soil as she forced her feet down hard, leaving tracks to map her return with little trouble.
Her eyes darted over her surroundings, picking apart the best route for her to take as a furious roar ripped through the forest air. The slapping of heavy, encroaching paws on the ground served to tell her just how close she was cutting this escape.
Throwing herself over fallen trees leading the way towards gorges and chasms towards the east, Saki felt the chilling sweep of an attempted slash towards her neck graze through the ends of her hair trailing behind her, bringing her to throw herself into a veering sprint towards a sizeable tree to her right. Weaving around thick trees to try and earn even just a second gain, the furious roar tore free again, pushing her efforts further.
Until finally, Saki reached the gorge she had chosen as her retreat and leaped right across the meter gap into the branches of an old oak at the bottom of the three meter drop.
Saki's pursuer, a massive brown bear, let out an enraged roar as Saki propelled herself higher into the branches.
With swift movements, Saki's fingers dove straight into the hip-pack attached to her right hip to retrieve a small phial of yellow oil and tossed it straight at the lip of the rocky gorge at the bear's feet. The container smashed, sending the contents splattering over the stone and the bear's paws.
An angered roar escaped the bear as Saki nocked a stone-tip arrow, and let it fly, striking sparks as it stuck against the oil-stained rocks. The oil ignited in a sudden burst of flames, startling the bear into fleeing.
A sigh escaped Saki as she watched the bear disappear, and the flames begin to die down as its fuel source dissipated. Her brow furrowed considerably as she patted a gloved hand over the now-empty hip-pouch.
'I should have ordered more of that, too...' Saki muttered beneath her breath as she stowed her bow away and began the careful climb down the tree.
Of course, Saki had expected run-ins with angry, territorial bears due to the fact that it was mating season, but she hadn't expected that the sample-locations Garak had sent her to survey were right in the middle of some of the largest bear hot-spots she'd ever seen. Undeniably, that was why the Second Prince didn't want his seemingly favourite court herbalist wandering out into the wilderness. If this Shirayuki had no combat experience like Saki was expecting, then she would undoubtedly fall victim to a bear-attack.
But it really would have been nice if Garak had of warned her in advance.
This part of Clarines was moderately unfamiliar to her, considering that it was so close to the border of Tanbarum.
Saki followed her heavy-placed tracks back the way she'd come, taking note of the bear-tracks that veered off from her path with as much haste as it had started.
