[Nevermore] 5 – Never-ending nightmares

[YOU HAVE DIED]

With a start, I jumped to my feet, my heart racing, and the horrifying pain I felt moments before faded away as if it had never been there. My eyes swiveled to my surroundings as if expecting a sudden attack from an unknown enemy. Once I took a moment to calm down, I groaned, grasping my chest and feeling my heart thump with a swift tempo.

Deluding myself into thinking it was just a nightmare, I slowly began to calm down before I groaned as a growl echoed not far from me, deeper in the woods. Looking up, I came face to face with a Beowolf stalking out from the tree line.

Getting up, I unfolded Crocea Mors and dashed forward, taking the initiative to strike before the Beowolf could lunge. At this point, the Beowolves were entirely predictable, and Crocea Mors made taking them on far easier than one would expect.

...

Day by day, I was attacked by an increasingly larger number of Grimm, and every night I found myself back in that cave, faced against those monsters in human skin and the strange knight-like monsters. Left with no path but forward, each time I had that dream, I adapted to the challenges I faced, making it past the knight wielding a crossbow and past even more of those walking husks, till I found myself having to face a knight with a shield and spear. Each day, I found strange, shimmering gold shards where I had died in the previous nightmare. Upon reaching for these golden shards, I witnessed a golden energy flow into me.

The first time I made it past him, only to fall to the crossbowman on the bridge, and he died to me the next night when I underestimated him.

By the eleventh day, and three days away from Vale, I made it past nearly all of the monsters in the dream and found myself standing before a towering wall of golden mist, blocking my path, a wall of golden mist I found myself passing through with just a touch, finding myself in a flooded circular chamber, a larger and more equipped version of the earlier knights waiting for me on the other side, wielding a great sword.

This monster was stronger and more skilled than the others; each blow battered against my shield, and each strike felt as if a Ursa was striking me. Then he did this strange stomp, followed by an upward swing that slammed aside my sword and shield, and he cut me in half.

When I awoke to the morning rays filtering through the canopy of trees around me, I groaned as I heard distant roars, screeches, and growls. Followed by an immediate attack by a few of the Grimm in the area. I was a bit worried by the increasingly rising number of attacks by the Grimm.

At this point, I was getting attacked by Grimm nearly constantly, and with only two days till I reached Beacon and the outskirts of Vale, I was growing worried about whether I'd even make it. I was thankful the Grimm did not attack me in my sleep, though with how many I encountered, it would probably be a good idea to start sleeping in the trees or whatever shelter I could find.

My thoughts were interrupted when a Ursa charged out of the forest, charging through a tree in its path as it charged towards me. Sighing at the jinx charging me, I grabbed my sword. I unfolded the weapon before rolling out of the way as the Ursa got close enough to swipe where I was standing a moment prior, destroying the tree and nearly destroying my bag.

"Hey!" I shouted, annoyed at almost having my bag, with my fake documents to get into Beacon, nearly destroyed.

It swiftly turned around and swiped again, which I only barely managed to duck under before slashing at its side with my sword and jumping back.

Already proving to be smarter than the average Beowolf, this time it headbutted me before I could react, before striking me with another swing of its paw. The strength of an Ursa was not to be questioned, as the strike knocked the air out of my lungs and sent me flying back directly into a tree. 

Groaning, I barely managed to get on my feet in time before the Ursa reached me, attacking once again. I raised my shield in defense, groaning as the Ursa swung both arms down, delivering crushing strength that sent me right back to the ground. In that moment, I knew that it had broken my left arm that held the shield, while my other arm that supported the shield went numb.

Groaning in pain, I forced myself to move as I managed to roll out of the way of another slam from the Ursa before gritting my teeth and climbing to my feet once again.

I knew that I was not going to win this fight. The Ursa was stronger and more cunning than the Beowolves I had been fighting all week. Seeing my bag, I taunted the Ursa to charge at me. As it charged forward, I ducked under its swing and used the flat side of Crocea Mors to hook onto the strap of my bag. With an upward swing, the bag was in my hand alongside my sword.

I wasted no time continuing my sprint into the forested jungle, hoping I could lose the Ursa in the thick foliage. With it hot on my tail, I ducked and weaved through the trees and bushes in my way, each tree the Ursa charged through slowing it down for a moment and making it momentarily lose sight of me.

I used this to my advantage as I continued running with all the strength I had, ignoring the screaming muscles in my body and the difficulty in breathing. However, in the unfortunate reality, while I grew tired the more I fled, the Ursa, a Grimm, had no need for sleep, food, water, or anything else a typical organic would need, leaving it with an endless supply of stamina which it used to charge through everything in its path, until it eventually caught up with me, its paws slamming into my back and sending me straight to the ground.

I barely managed to turn around to look upon the Ursa before its maw closed down on my head.

[YOU HAVE DIED]

With a gasp, I awoke to find myself right next to the familiar floating golden lights of the nightmarish cave I found myself trapped in every night when I slept.