Come Back Witch

Before David could even form a thought, his body was acting on its own. He pushed himself backwards, colliding with the creature, but it seemed to anticipate the move and simply stepped aside, letting him crash to the ground.

David stared up at the early-day sky. It had mostly turned blue already; only a lingering fade of redness remained, or was it the blood sinking into his eyes? His sight was interrupted by a murderous beast trying to dismantle his body. It bit and hit him, but David didn't feel anything. As the monster continued clawing and biting at him, it seemed to realize it had already gone too weak to kill him without a weapon.

The impostor stood shaking, each step away from David seemed to go against his instinct to eat away at him, even if it cost his life. It seemed to be controlled by something else, forcing it to make a rational decision instead of following its instinct. David wanted to take the opportunity to attack back but couldn't move; nothing worked and even thinking started to seem like a burden slowly.

As a bone-chilling cold slowly descended on him, he could feel the freedom just in front of him, he would just need to follow the warmth. No, he couldn't give up, opening his eyes once more, he pushed with all that he had, but still to no avail. Nothing moved, as his head slowly fell to the side, nearly starting to drown in his own blood, something caught his eye.

His ripped jacket seemed to have spilled his stored contents. Lying between bonbons and keys, there was his wallet opened. A childish smile stared at him, his daughter standing next to his wife at New Year's. He had always kept a picture of them when working.

He didn't move because of wanting it or his will to live. No, it was much simpler than that. He was a father and if he were to fall now, his family might be next. Slowly rising to his knees, he could finally see clearly again. Standing just roughly two meters ahead of him, the monster was still searching for any kind of weapon to finish David up.

David rose further up, his body shaking and telling him to give up, but he didn't. Each step towards the monster was more powerful. Standing directly behind the creature, David saw it finally noticing him. But David had already wrapped an arm around his throat, pulling back. He tightened his grip around its throat; he saw how it resisted, trying to bite him, using its hands to claw away at his face.

But nothing worked, David did not feel the attacks of the monster at all. Instead, it seemed to feel only natural. It did not feel like killing a horrifying being or dying heroically trying. No, it felt just as natural as breathing, a father protecting his family. That was all there was to it.

The creature continued to resist, but its wounds were just as fatal as Davids.

After minutes of struggling the beast seemed to slow down, each strike less precise and barely enough to even create damage. And just a moment later, which felt like forever, its struggle finally stopped. David felt like he should let go but couldn't move; he himself had pushed already way too far beyond his limit.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Slowly his arm released its fierce grip from the creature's throat, which had already started to turn into a small wooden puppet. He stared once again at the blue sky as he felt his mind slowly become foggy. This truly was his end.

"Hey, are you fine over there?" A young female voice rang out, but David wouldn't hear it anymore.

"Amilie, I don't think he's breathing!" A student said, trying to feel the pulse of the old man. ''No pulse either.''

Amilie watched as her fellow student tried to revive the old man with first aid, but his wounds were far too severe to be treated here. "I will try to send him to the First Instance. Everything after that is in his hands.''

She placed her hand above the head of the old man. "Face yourself and stand at last." Just a second after her hand started to glow weakly, David's body started shaking and Amilie's face lit up only for her to start convulsing. Collapsing right next to the man.

Opening her eyes, she saw the sun had already moved across the sky, indicating noon. Staring up at her companion, who held her hand a bit too intimately. "Finley, we should hurry back to the village. Can you carry that old man?" Noticing Amilie's awakening, Finley instantly let go of her hand, his face turning red.

"Consider it done. Can you walk Amilie, or do you need any help?" His voice filled with concern towards her.

"I will be fine, I would rather worry about us not escaping until night arrives." Her tone was filled with annoyance from Finley underestimating her.

Amilie slowly stood up and Finley followed her up. "Do you think the old man will make it through the first instance?" Finley seemed to be skeptical about her decision earlier.

"He held a wanderer puppet just before we came, meaning he killed one of those beasts. I'm sure he will make it.'' Finley just nodded and started carrying the old man on his back.

Even with his muscular build, he should have been struggling under the weight, but he didn't seem to mind it at all.

Amilie also wasn't very impressed by his feat and bent down, picking up the old man's wallet. A minute later she slowly but steadily started to walk in a specific direction, her headache was still killing her, but it wasn't impossible to continue for her.

"Do you think this guy is from the village?" Finley asked, moving a bit closer to her. "Most likely," while she pulled out the family photo from the wallet and showed it to Finley, "he was probably a lumberjack or something similar.''

"I was hoping we might find one of our classmates; Lers should've been around here, and Vinces should probably take the road a few miles north to the village.''

Lost in thought, she nearly crashed into a tree, but Finley grabbed her backpack first, pulling her away. ''Eyes on the way, we don't want you to hurt yourself even more.''

Amilie gave him a thankful glance but instantly turned cold to him once again. "I was just wondering how an old man like him defeated a mature grade beast all alone."

Finley seemed to stare at the old man on his back in confusion. "Maybe the creature was wounded already? We could just ask him when he wakes up.''

Amilie shrugged, not wanting to theorize too long on what had happened.

Walking around in silence, she noticed something shiny just a few meters ahead, hurrying over to inspect it.

It was a student ID reading "Lers Cloves." Amilie instantly let her backpack down and grabbed two daggers from it, throwing one to Finley.

"It's Lers' ID. Get ready; something might've happened to him." Just a few meters of tense walking later, an overwhelming stench filled her nose. It was blood. Amilie didn't think about it for too long and instantly started a sprint to the direction of the smell.

Finley followed just close behind, being slowed down by the old man. Amilie arrived first at the target, an old tree, but did not notice anything out of the ordinary. Continuing to search, she started to inspect the tree crown.

"Finley, stay back." Her voice was filled with terror, the first time she had shown any real emotion in a while. The young man instantly stopped in his tracks, fear being visible on his face.

Staring back from the tree was the remains of her classmate. His short black hair was turned red by blood and his student uniform had been shredded by enormous claw marks.

His face was frozen in a scream.

Both arms were seemingly bitten off.

His lower body was hanging several meters away.

Amilie felt sick to her core from the view.

Blood was still dripping from the branches in great masses.

Whatever had done this couldn't be far away.

''Run''