The boy clung desperately to the open throat of the creature that had nearly swallowed him.
Well, he was more forced to cling to it than anything else - his hand was pinned through with a knife. The long body of the fleshy creature lashed around violently, turning and shaking rapidly in an attempt to get the boy out of its mouth.
However, the boy held on. He collided with the soft, spongy walls of the thing's throat over and over again but didn't fall. Above him, he could see its tongue twisting in on itself, bending backwards, trying to reach down and move him somehow. It was not able to, however, and continued its movements in futility.
The boy's hair and body were slick with blood and mucus, which now pooled into his ragged clothes and stained them a very dark red. He struggled to breathe within the hot, humid space, but tried to remain calm. This was impossible, though, and the boy - now inches away from his death, clinging to life through nothing but a sharp knife, did the only thing left.
He screamed.
His shouts were loud, and echoed within the mouth of the creature, reaching the fogged light of the world outside. He hoped that something, somehow, would come from his struggle.
From the side, a particularly powerful blow bent the creature's long snake-like body inwards and sent it flying across the landscape. The boy felt his body go weightless for a moment before suddenly being jerked into the fleshy walls of the creature's throat on his right.
The creature had been flung into a tree. Only able to guess at the actions outside from the way his body swung around, the boy could imagine the creature turning sharply to its left and lunging forwards towards something. The boy only barely heard a gruff shout as the creature impacted something - a lot of sound was drowned out when the creature kept its mouth closed.
Yet, all of a sudden, a deafening scream pierced the walls of meat, gums, and teeth that separated the boy from the Fog outside. It was shrill and sharp, but not a scream of pain. It screamed like someone scared. He'd heard a scream like that once before - a moment that his mind couldn't recall, it wouldn't let him.
The dark red of the creature's insides, now subtly illuminated by the opening of the creature's maw, were encroached on by a pale darkness that spread across it, as if glossing over with blackness.
The thing vibrated and jolted awkwardly, seizing up and jittering unnaturally as its movements slowed. The screams, still as clear as ever, muffled over a few seconds, and then disappeared completely. The creature's head fell, no longer supported, onto the ground.
There was near silence, only broken by the muffled and stifled cries of a boy: scared, but alive.
***
Welt rocked back into the tree with full force, smashing his head enough to feel blood trickle down his neck.
'Not good...'
Welt could tell something was happening to him, but couldn't figure out what that something was. His head had hit against the tree dozens of times by now, estimating the amount of bumps on his head, and he'd failed to stand at least that much. The grass at his feet was rustled with his own disorganized tracks, never leading more than twelve steps away from the tree he was sat under.
His mind felt so... heavy. Like it was filled with water - making it dense and cloudy. He couldn't seem to think about much, even the creature that wrapped around his neck and shoulders was hard to think about.
The... the thing around his shoulders...
Maybe that had something to do with his strength...?
No... no... there was nothing around his shoulders. There wouldn't be anything there.
If something had been around his shoulders, then he wouldn't be sleeping so well, right?
Maybe he should just sleep there a little more, rest until the morning. Was it morning already? The sky was light, and the Fog was more bright and white than it had been when he first entered.
Well, maybe he just needed to sleep today, too. Maybe the bird hadn't left. He could probably sleep more, right?
There were whispers in the back of Welt's mind, swirling around him on the wind. Thankfully, though, the creature on his shoulders had blocked his ears, so that the whispers couldn't reach him. That was good, they'd stop him from sleeping.
What were they saying, though?
Something about standing up? Danger?
Unlikely, how could he sleep so soundly with danger around?
Well, maybe he should check around, just to be sure.
Welt put his hands against the stump, pulling his shoulder free of the slick tentacle that wrapped around it. He pushed himself up, first to his knees, as he felt the creature's grip on his back lessen slightly. Then, he stood on his feet, and felt the sucking pull of tentacles gripping around his neck tighten. He walked one step, then two.
The thing wrapped itself around his lower arms and legs, slowing his movement. But, Welt walked a little further fowards, pulling himself further from whatever was behind him.
So much effort. He just wanted to sleep. Still, his head was feeling a little bit clearer after standing up. Maybe he could keep moving?
He walked a few more steps fowards, reaching ten paces from the tree that had been his bed for the past while. On the eleventh step, his mind became a little clearer.
A little too clear.
From behind, a gurgled and churning noise came from some kind of open gullet, as a whipping noise of free limbs lashed through the wind around of him. Welt's mind, clear for only a moment, did the only thing he could before he was caught again.
Welt's arm was snared by the suddenly extended tentacles, and he was pulled back to the ground, restrained and dragged to the base of the tree again. Something pulled itself atop his shoulders, secured itself to his back, and rested on his skull.
Good. It's so comfortable at the tree.
He could rest here, and sleep again, as he'd been meaning to.
It was good that there were no dangers nearby. What would a random voice on the wind know, anyway?
Welt's head rocked back, falling asleep.
On the floor, twelve paces from the tree, a small chain reflected the faint daylight above. On it's links rested a small, metal lantern that glowed with a pale blue light.