The breeze kept coming, the branches kept swaying, and Arlo kept eating his oranges.
It seemed the same, nothing had changed.
untill:
"Fall"
A voice came to him in the back of both his ears.
It was soft like the breeze,calm like the swaying branches around him, and as sweet as the oranges. But, it's aftertaste was bitter...like it wasn't asking, suggesting, or wanting, but demanding.
Arlo's upper body began to tilt left until his back slipped from the tree, and he started to fall face first.
He shoved his arms forward, hoping they would break his fall from the ground. Unfortunately, he didn't take other things to account…like the branches sticking out of the tree.
The palm of his hands slipped off the branch, and made first proper contact with Arlo's chest.
"Ahh"
He said, in a painful voice.
The branch's sturdiness didn't cusion the fall.
His chest made contact with the branch. The withdrawal from the pain made it unable for Arlo to quickly hold onto it. With no support to his lower body, he continued to fall.
The sudden imbalance made Arlo flip.
Now his back was facing the ground and his head was looking up at the clear blue sky.
Very quickly he made contact with another branch — his back slammed onto it.
"Ahhh"
He shouted in agony.
The impact made him bounce forward, colliding with yet another branch — chest first, before Arlo finally hit the ground.
"Ahhh, what happened"
He tossed and turned,simultaneously gripping his chest tightly, trying to breathe in as much as possible.
Curled up into a ball, breathing in the dusty air from the ground. He couldn't do anything but lay there helplessly, the pain was too much to bear.
Arlo thought that was the end of it, that nothing else could happen. But, as he layed their breathing heavily:
"Woosh"
He heard a noise from above
"Huh"
He said.
"Wiishhhh...THUD"
Something heavy had just slammed onto the ground next to him.
Arlo lifted himself up using his hands, looked around and then up.
The branch that he had been just sitting on had fallen for some reason. To Arlo it seemed as if somebody or something had cut.
The whole branche had fallen off — from the edge where Arlo had previously been sitting on to the tip of the branch, was laying there next to Arlo.
The branch seemed to have been sliced with something sharp, vertically near the edge of it.
"How did that happen?"
He puzzlingly asked himself.
However, he didn't have the luxury to ponder.
"Grrrrrrr"
A loud eerie voice came to him.
With a sudden rush of paranoia he shot up, hurriedly made his way to the tree, and picked up his blade.
He gripped the handle with both arms, lifted it up and pointed the tip towards the trees.
"GRRR"
The sound got louder, and heavier as if the monster was getting more angry and impatient every second.
His back was towards the tree, and his blade swayed from side to side, Arlo's eyes followed it, hoping to catch something.
"Where is it hiding?"
Arlo muttered under his breath.
The sound of leaves getting crushed creeped in, slowly getting louder, and closer to Arlo.
"GRR.. GRRR"
His anxiety started to get worse, breathing gradually became more difficult like a chore, sweat dripped from the side of his forehead.
He wasn't suprised though, not only was this his first battle in the Fallen world, but also against something he hadn't fought before.
Arlo heard a sound.
A sound similar to footsteps, it got louder, and louder, and louder until Arlo was finally able to see it.
It didn't come from the side, nor his back, but from the front, right infront of where the tip of Arlo's blade was.
It felt like the trees were separating, paving a smooth path for the monster to approach Arlo.
It was slow, moving with liesure, as a way to taunt Arlo, or as if it knew victory was guaranteed.
He gripped his blade tighter, with a firm grip, focused his breathing, and made his spiraling mind more calmer.
However, one thing was for sure, the monster in-front of him….was truly terrifying.