The next few moments felt like an eternity, with a hundred horrid scenarios flashing through Adam's head.
'Is it really safe up here?'
'Should I throw the deer off my back?'
Adam realized he forgot to breathe, and that his legs were shaking. He never stood a chance against such a tyrannical figure.
He looked down towards the cowering wolves, checking if his fellow unfortunates were ever going to get noticed by the Fenrir. The beast followed his gaze, a sign of intelligence that made his spine shiver. Once it realized that there were other hunters in its territory, it sneered, a smile splitting its face in a mad malice. Adam was baffled, the arrogant expression on the Fenrir was too human, despite the monster's appearance.
The wolves reacted with fear, prostrating themselves on the floor in an act of submission. But they realized quickly that they couldn't incite mercy from the cruel monster in front of them, as the Fenrir lunged at them with a speed that didn't match its titanic size.
They quickly dispersed in two different directions, but the huge beast was not aiming for them. It lunged at the tree they loomed under, shaking it with a harrowing force.
Adam staggered, his hands scrambling for support, as fear clawed at him at an unmatched level.
'Not true, I've seen worse'
The knight of black armor was much scarier, and the fear he felt when Tammer lost his arm was much more dreadful.
The thought strangely gave him solace, as his legs regained their strength. The young boy lunged at the closest tree, almost tripping on his own feet. He barely reached a low branch with his shaking hands, before slamming his torso into the trunk. The force of the fall knocked the air out of him, but he had to climb higher before the Fenrir decided to leap up and snatch him like a snack.
To Adam's surprise, he found the wolves encircling the mighty Fenrir on all four sides, determined to defend their own food.
'Well thanks, I guess.'
He watched -as he climbed to the highest branch he could- the Fenrir getting flanked and bitten from the behind with a keen interest. The wolf pack fought with coordination, never missing a step.
Adam reached the highest branch, took the bow off his back, and tried to steady his arms. He watched with a bated breath as one of the wolves managed to leap to the fenrir's back, biting with all its power.
The hide was too thick though, and its fangs failed to hurt the monster at all. The Fenrir spun and slammed the wolf against the nearest tree—bones cracked in a sickening crunch as the wolf went limp.
The poor wolf whimpered softly as its consciousness faded, but that didn't stop the mighty Fenrir from snapping its maw shut on its neck. The air thickened with blood as a sickening crunch echoed.
Filled with rage, and blind to the danger, the remaining three wolves attacked the busy Fenrir. One bit its tail, while another clung to its back. And just as the mighty beast raised its head to slam the wolves into another tree, the third wolf snapped its maw on the tyrant's snout.
Adam took this chance to tie the deer carcass into the tree's trunk, took out his bow, then hung upside down on a branch, steadying his aim.
This would be the hardest shot he had ever taken, but his target was busy butchering the other predators in a furious rampage. Adam tried his hardest to steady his arms, his breath shaking with every growl from the nightmarish clash he was witnessing.
He knew his moment had to wait, and that one mistake could rob him of any chance of surviving this encounter. No one was going to save him tonight, aside from his own skill and aim.
Hopefully.
The wolves were flung from side to side by the fenrir, growling with defiance as they stared death in the eye. But their struggle didn't last too long, as they were all sprawled on the ground in a few moments.
Just as the grim events finished taking place, Adam knew he had to make his move. He mustered all his strength then knocked his hunting bow with an arrow. Adam knew he was not capable enough to shoot a moving target though.
Swinging himself upside down with his legs wrapped around a branch, he screamed in the most primitive way he could think of as he aimed his bow.
The Fenrir paused, just like the scared wolves around him, not in fear but probably in confusion. And just as all heads looked in his direction, Adam shot the confused Fenrir with what he would later on pride himself to call the most accurate arrow he had ever shot.
The arrow struck the fenrir's yellow eye with an immaculate precision, making the forest's ruler roar with almost palpable emotions. Adam could have sworn he felt the trees tremble. And even the three remaining wolves seemed to lose their will to fight.
Alas, the Fenrir had totally lost its composure, and what followed made Adam think the beast had been toying with them from the very start.
The mighty terror moved with blinding speed, snatching one of the wolves with its claws with an almost human way. It then launched the poor thing with a sickening crunch at the wide eyed boy hanging on what he thought was a safe branch.
Adam could not react, taking the full brunt of the unexpected attack. A few branches cushioned his fall as they broke from the force of his falling impact.
It was then that he realized that he had never stood a chance in surviving against the mighty abomination. But Adam could not bring himself to give up.
Adam's ears were ringing as he pushed the unfortunate wolf's corpse off of him. Tears were wetting his eyes, but Adam convinced himself he still had a chance, he still had Tammer's dagger with him. If only he could find a way to take out the other eye.
Adam looked around for his bow, and found it sprawled beside him in three separate pieces.
"Great, this is just great." He muttered to himself helplessly.
He looked in the direction of the Fenrir and found it ripping the last remaining wolf's leg with what he could only describe as a gleeful laugh.
It then snapped its head towards him with a smile that chilled him to the bone. Terror finally taking over his senses, Adam froze in his place. He did not truly give up on his life, but he could not conceive a way to survive the next few seconds.
He mustered all his courage to turn his back and run away, but his legs gave out almost instantly, plunging him further into fear.
Adam gasped for breath, as he crawled away with what could only be described as a pathetic display. If Adam could define himself with one trait, it would be stubbornness. And right now he refused to die like this, forgotten, and with no purpose.
Adam was sure the elders of Aram town adored him, but he was also sure that an orphan with no origins would not be mourned. No one would care if he died. Actually, no one would notice that he went missing from the festival, probably.
Negative thoughts plagued Adam's mind as he choked on his tears. He gritted his teeth with all his might, sitting with his back against a tree trunk as he gripped his trusty keepsake of a dagger in a final stand, if he could even call that a stand.
"I'm not dying tonight, monster. And even if I am, I'm going to drag you to hell with me." He choked on his words, struggling with all his might to believe them.
Fenrir marched towards him with a grace that didn't fit its bloody figure. It lost its inhuman smile as if it understood Adam's taunts, and only when it was just outside Adam's swinging range did it stop as if to stare him down.
Adam could feel a bloody foam forming in his throat, as the stench of the Fenrir's breath drifted into his nostrils. He could tell that the monster was toying with him, and that only made his reality more bitter.
The Fenrir kept staring at Adam with its intelligent eye, as if daring the fourteen-year old to pull out another one of his dirty tricks.
And just as its eye lost interest in the mental torture it was dishing, a flaming arrow whistled from the bushes, plunging into the gapping maw of the intelligent monster.
The beast roared with fury, as its tongue burned with flames. It kicked around with agony, reeling back in its erratic movements, before another arrow plunged itself into its hide.
The flaming monstrosity started a frenzied run towards its cave, as it miraculously, dodged a third arrow, this one mundane, and not a flaming one. It howled in pain, before vanishing into the cave, its fur still smoldering.
Adam stared at the events with wide eyes, his emotions spiraling out of control. He could not believe that he was being saved, but he also came to suspect if today was a sick nightmare his head had come up with as he slept through the festival.
Just as he was about to pinch himself, a slender figure moved out of the thick bushes behind him, his steps barely making any sounds.
"Crazy brat, what were you thinking?" the man's frustrated words were a hushed whisper.
Adam smiled playfully. "It's good to see you too, Isha. Honestly, I too, am surprised to find you here."
The boy felt his head grow light, as relief washed over him. He could not imagine surviving, but here he was, grateful for being saved yet again.
'Again.' A bitter smile drew itself on Adam's face, briefly, before pain took over, making him wince.
'Ironic that Isha was the one to find me back then as well.'
He looked up to see the man approaching closer with concern draped over his face, his lips moving, yet the sound coming out could not pierce the ringing in Adam's head.
He could hardly make out the words 'Can you walk?' from his saviors' lips, as the world started spinning.
The only thing Adam managed to mutter before passing out was 'yeah totally'- his fingers brushing Isha's outstretched hand as the world went dark.