oh baby, that was quite a punch; could somebody check my pulse?

Ever since he'd met Deathbelle, it was hard to get her off of his mind. As silly as it was, she lingered there and he couldn't shake her out. He'd seen many women in his life, but hardly any as striking as her. It was that day when he'd seen some flowers, violets to be exact, as they pushed their way through the light snow that had fallen overnight. Upon seeing them, he'd thought of her and how her eyes were as vibrant as them. In many ways they reminded him of her, though it wouldn't have been hard. Whenever his mind was allowed to wander, it wandered her way. He'd plucked a few from their place in the Earth, leaving some to continue their growth as Spring would soon find it's way across the southern edge of Boreas. These were likely the first of the violets to bloom this year, making them even that more special. Of course he had no intentions on allowing the Empress to see him deliver the gift, but instead got a pleasant warmth just knowing he did it and allowing her to wonder who would leave a gift at her door.

It'd been some time since he spent time in her den, drinking his first ever taste of tea and becoming familiar with his Empress. It wasn't until he saw the flowers that he thought of bringing her a gift, and wondered briefly if violets could be used in tea. He knew next to nothing about plants, but at least knew they weren't toxic. While they weren't exactly common where he was from, he'd seen them enough to know they were safe. Carrying a few gently by the stem in his teeth, he was careful not to break the stems and cause them to go limp like a broken neck. That would defeat the purpose and likely send the wrong message, so he was careful and barely let his teeth grip the tender flesh of the flowers stem.

As he made his way over Ashen's borders and towards the island in which the Empress' den laid, he had heard a rather unnerving sound that caused him to stop suddenly in his tracks. It wasn't long before the scent traveled his way and he recognized it nearly immediately. Bear. Familiar with their hibernation patterns, he was somewhat surprised to find one this far south. Of course, it was usually those that nested farther south that awoke first and with the warmer weather as of late, he was far more surprised to find one wandering so calmly through Ashen territory. What surprised him even more, however, was to notice who it was approaching. Indigo.

Shit. Shit. Shit. Magnus thought to himself, not even thinking twice before clenching his teeth and breaking the stems of the flowers. The bitter taste of the stems quickly reminded him, but whatever he was doing was no longer important and his focus was entirely on Indigo and the approaching bear. His heart began to race as he stood momentarily frozen, his eyes flashing back and forth between the bear and Indigo. Maybe the boy was aware and was luring it off the territory, but he couldn't take the risk. His life was far less important than that of one of Sirius and Zeitgeist's children.

"Indigo! Run!" He yelled to the child, dropping the broken flowers and unfortunately trampling them as he rushed towards the bear and hoping Indigo would do as he was told. He hoped others would hear him yell, or maybe Indigo would get help, but as the bear turned to face him and roar, he hardly had time to pray for help now. He couldn't even tell if Indigo had actually done what he was told.

It only took a second for the bear to change course and barrel towards him, it's massive size hardly slowing it down any. It was thin and starving from waking from the hibernation, but that only added to it's anger and ferocity. Magnus was scared for a moment, but wasn't this what he was for? He swallowed his fear and braced himself, flagging his tail high and snapping wildly at the monster as it broke the distance between them quicker than he expected. Backing up, Magnus continued snarling and snapping but the bear was too confident to heed his warning and reached to swipe at Magnus as the distance between them closed.

Feeling the massive paw smack him in the side of the face and tear at his flesh, the strength of the bear easily knocked him down onto his side and knocked the breath out from his lungs. It took the opportunity to stand over him and roar directly down into the side of his face, easily bursting the eardrum in his left ear and disorienting him more than he already was. Trapped beneath the bear, he wriggled and kicked at the bears underside as he rolled, trying his best to get the beast off of him or at least distract him while he fought to get free. It hardly worked however, but now on his back Magnus was vulnerable to many different attacks as his vitals were easily exposed to the massive animal. He tucked his chin as best he could to protect his throat and used his fore paws to press into the bears chest to keep some distance between them, but the bears neck was far longer than his legs.

Despite his ears being pinned, the bear managed to grab one and rip it mostly from his head in one easy tear as Magnus tried to dodge the bears massive teeth. Unhappy with the damage it had done, it reached again and Magnus dodged again, yet only to have another ear ripped from his scalp. Pain rushed through him, and blood rushed out, but he could live without those. Although the ringing in his ear was disorienting enough, the bear roared again in anger while Magnus clawed the best he could at the bears underside.

The bear took a moment to stand on his hind feet, standing nearly eight feet tall if he were to count, and Magnus took the opportunity to scurry from beneath the predator and wobble as he did so, the ringing in his ear causing his balance to be slightly lost. When the bear slammed it's fore paws back onto the ground, he was almost sure he felt the Earth shake and it nearly sent him back into the dirt. Thankfully, he managed to get some distance between him and the bear, but not for long. Magnus rushed at it and lunged, leaping for it's neck though he was off slightly due to his lack of balance. Although he felt his jaws grab something on the bear, it wasn't where he was hoping and instead found himself hanging off the jaw of the beast and tearing flesh from it's jawline. With another swipe of it's massive paw, it sent Magnus back into the ground and he coughed, blood coming up from his lungs. He'd heard a minor crack when he hit the ground, a few ribs definitely broken now with the cough causing him great pain on the side he'd landed on. Having been the same side as before, the bruising had already began to develop and would now be even deeper without the broken rib. The two combined caused the man to see stars and lay nearly still on the ground as he tried to collect himself.

He hadn't been given enough time though and soon the bear would be over him again, roaring once more down into his face and spitting saliva all over him. Magnus gasped for air, the simple act of breathing causing him great pain. The bear wasn't finished with him though and it easily rolled him back over onto his back. Magnus used what little bit of strength he had left after being tossed around like a rag doll and as the bear reached down to attack again, he rose his upper body to sink his teeth into the neck of the beast. The bear roared in pain, easily bursting his other ear drum, and shook the man back down to the ground with a single shake of it's loose pelt. His bite had done some damage though, but really just left the bear even more angry. As the bears blood dripped down onto him, and his own stained the ground in which he laid, the bear swiped hard a few times at his chest and tore his flesh. When Magnus stopped moving beneath the bear, it stopped and shoved it's nose into his body, checking for any sign of life. Although he'd simply gone limp from the pain and blood loss, the bear seemed satisfied there wouldn't be a fight anymore.

Removing itself from over Magnus, the bear huffed as blood dripped from it's throat. Weakened from it's own blood loss, it would search for an exit then and attempt to take it before it's own life would be ripped away. Magnus coughed once, weakly, as his eyes found the crumbled flowers that were now trampled and covered in his blood. He felt himself fading, blinking slow and struggling to breathe through bruised and broken ribs. He wondered if this is what death felt like, but he felt far too much pain to ponder long. Was death really this painful?

"Speech!"

TABLE & CODE © SKELLE 2020