Skyril

CHALLENGE 3

  I was sleeping fitfully, dreaming in fact, a nice dream of a loved one when I awoke to a screech overhead. My eyes opened, and I nearly fell off of the tree limb I was sitting on. I sat up and gasped, realizing what had woken me. Nervously, I untied the vines around my waste that I had used to help me from falling off in my sleep after I had shimmied up there last night.

  There was an earsplitting screech yet again, and I jumped down from the tree, landing and rolling. Screeching, in my book, was a bad sign. It meant there was some sort of monster nearby, and monsters were rarely nice. I looked up in the dark and saw a black shape swooping towards me. Screaming, I fell to the ground before its talons could tear my head off. I looked after it, and got a glimpse of an enormous bird-like creature with a long, pointed beak, perfect for ripping meat off of bones.

  Was that a... a pterodactyl? I started running in the other direction when it swooped around and saw me again. Oh bother, was it hungry? I yelled over my shoulder at it, "I'm not tasty! I promise! I probably taste like cabbage! You don't like cabbage, do you?" and yelped again as it caught up with me. Its claws grabbed my shoulders, digging into them. I screamed again in pain, and I could feel the warm blood running down my arms as it yanked me into the sky.

  At first I tried to squirm, but the pain was awful. So I went limp instead, saving my strength for when it was dinner time. We soared over the forest below, flying towards a rock cliff I saw ahead. It only took a moment to get there, and then the pterodactyl started slowing down, its enormous wings flapping against the speed it had gained. I fell, plummeting through air until I landed with a cry into a bunch of twigs. It was painful, but the twigs softened my blow more so than rock would have.

  I looked around as the pterodactyl flew away again, screeching its power to the world. Probably looking for more cabbages, I thought. Looking down, now, I saw twigs and branches underneath me, woven into a huge bed. Oh no, I thought. It was a nest. I stood up slowly. I was facing one of the nest walls so I didn't know what was behind me. Flinching at the pain in my shoulders, I turned slowly.

  There, not five paces away lay three baby pterodactyls cuddled up together and sleeping. I shivered, suddenly realizing how very, very close to death I was right now. One of them moved in its sleep then, and I closed my eyes, hoping it wouldn't wake up. After a moment, I peaked and saw it was still thankfully asleep. Wouldn't this be a story to tell? I could see the headlines now- Death by Food for Baby Pterodactyls. How embarrassing.

  First thing, I decided, was that I had to tie up my shoulders before I bled to death. Carefully, I tore two pieces of cloth and tied them tightly around my arms. Next, I had to figure out to get out of this... predicament. Tip-toeing over to the wall of the nest, I realized I would have to climb it. Reluctantly, I reached a hand up and winced as the wounds opened in my shoulders again. This wouldn't help the bleeding stop, but I had to get out of there or it wouldn't matter anyway.

   Hand over hand I painfully pulled myself up, the nest strong enough to hold my weight. I wondered for a moment how I was going to get down, but decided I would leave that for when the time came. Once I reached the top, I peered over, seeing a long drop below -too long to survive. I swallowed and swung one leg over, and then carefully the other. I clung to the nest with my hands and started to work my way down. Doing so, I discovered, was so very much harder than climbing up. My feet searched for a strong enough hold while my arms held on, shaking. Yet another headline reared its.... well, head... Death by Falling from Pterodactyl Nest. Awkward.

  At last, my feet found a strong enough limb, and I began my descent downwards, hand under hand. When I reached the bottom of the nest, I had an uncomfortable moment of not knowing how to continue down until I reached out with a toe and found the rock wall there. My arms reached above me to the nest and my toes wormed their way into cracks strong enough to stand on. I continued down, ever so slowly.

  A while later- I don't know how long it was, but it seemed a long, long time- I reached the bottom and collapsed, gasping for breath. My arms and legs were trembling from the effort, and I swore right then and there that I would never take up rock climbing as a sport. Escaping a pterodactyl’s nest was the sole excuse I would use to climb down a rock's face.

  Grimacing, and still gasping for breath- how anyone could like the feeling of hardly being able to breathe, I could not know- I got on all fours, crawling away before the mother pterodactyl chose to return to see how well her babies had torn me limb from limb.

  I didn't think I wanted to be around when she returned.

CHALLENGE 2

The ring. It shines so brightly! I want it. I must have it. I run madly, hoping I can just... hold it in my hands for even a minute, but before I get close enough, the path is blocked. I look up into the dark eyes of tall warrior in knight's armor. He stares at me, his eyes ever changing from one color to the next. It was a beautiful spectrum in such a small orb.
"You..." His voice sounded deep, rusty, ancient, like he hadn't used it for a very long time.
"You, girl... such a small thing... and yet... you are its rightful owner."
I couldn't seem to take my eyes off of his or ignore the sound of that magical voice echoing in my skull. But at the same time, I heard what he said with a clear mind. I raised my eyebrow. I seemed to have picked up that habit from reading books and watching smileys. It was quite a fun expression, actually.
I cleared my throat slightly and spoke, "Oh, really? That sounds fun. Wellll, unless it's the rightful owner of the janitor duty. Janitors aren't the most fun people in the world. Wellll, except for that one fellow named Steven. He had a pretty name. Welllll, a decent name at least. Steve without the N would have been prettier."
I also seemed to have picked up from Doctor Who saying, "Wellll..." an awful lot.
His helmet covered head tilted, but he didn't reply. The knight in shining armor took a step back and indicated me to pick up the gleaming ring. That's what I wanted to do to begin with so I stepped forward without hesitation and claimed the ring. It shone brighter for a second, then faded and almost seemed to be absorbed into my very own skin.
I slid the ring over on my index finger. It was cold, but not freezing like I expected it to be. I turned to remark upon it to the knight, but he was gone. I spun a full  180 degrees. He was no where in sight.
"Um, Mr knight sir? Are you around here? Perhaps hiding behind that rather large tree over there?"
There was no reply.

 CHALLENGE 1

I awoke on the shore of an island, the water from the sea washing over me, going into my ears. My green eyes snap open, and I jump up. Where am I, I think. What is this place? 
    My clothes are torn and tattered, I'm barefoot. I look forward, and see a giant forest. The trees are thin, but block any sunlight from getting in.
  I trudge toward the forest, but before I step in, I hears something behind me. I turn and see a crab as tall as my thighs and as wide as a small car. Its giant claw snaps threateningly, and its beady eyes glare at me. If it could growl, I know it would be at that moment.
Cautiously, I take a step back, my hands by my sides in a non-threatening manner. "Good, Crabby. Just... stay there, little..., er, big fellow..." The back of my foot bumps into something. Very slowly, while the crab is still deciding whether or not I'm a danger to him, I turn my head slightly to see what my foot bumped. It is a stick. A pretty hefty stick that seems to have fallen from one of the large trees in the forest and rolled out a bit in the sand. My eyes shift back to the crab. It isn't moving yet, but its claws are snapping ever more ominously. Fine, I don't know where I am or what's going on, but there's no way I'm going to be eaten by a giant bloody crab.... I always did hate seafood.
With speed this time, giving up all caution, I leap backwards, duck down, grab the stick in two hands and, pull it up with a battle roar. "Hey, you, Crabby, I've decided!"
The creature takes a step back at my sudden change, and to my surprise, gives the look of raising its eyebrows, although it doesn't have any. At least, I don't think it does....
"You ain't gonna eat me, big fella! In fact, I'm gonna eat you! Well, maybe..." I tilted my head, "I always did hate seaf- Ahh!"
The crab was tired of listening to my rant and decided to scuttle towards me, its one giant claw snapping in front of it. I leap away to the side as it scuttles past. We both spin and glare at each other. I scream the equivalent of a battle cry and run towards it, the stick-club waving above my head.
A palm tree is to the left of it, but there is nothing to the right. The giant crab scuttles off in that direction, just how I planned. I switch course at the last second and slam the club down on its head, hitingt it twice more before it woozily scoots out of my reach. It's taken aback but that carapace of a crab isn't the easiest thing to get into.
I charged again, this time planning to hit it on the side. The claw comes up before I get there and snaps. I don't back off however. Instead, I scream at the top of my lung and, swing the stick wildly. It takes a step back. I jump to the side, swing my trusty club, and snap three or four of the crabs spindly legs."Ha!" I shout triumphantly, having crippled the beast. It tries to turn around, to face me, but with broken legs, it cant' very easily.
I ponder how to kill it. Carefully I go to the other side of it, and whack it again, crippling it further. No matter what you think, I didn't enjoy doing this. I wasn't fond of hurting anything, even insects, but I killed the roach when it invaded my personal space so likewise, this crab would have to go.
A few minutes later, the job was done. Well, I think, Now I have something to eat... if I can stomach it. It's probably better than sand... maybe.