A Hand-Woven Universe 20 20. Immediate Disadvantage

Noone watched the clouds beneath him. He didn't know where the dangers lurked, but the growing chill in his bones telling him he was being watched - a tingling down his spine that was screaming danger. He tried his best to suppress those feeling and continued to look on silently.

The first cloud layer was quickly approaching. He grabbed the pike in his hands so hard his knuckles turned white.

Noone had no way to truly defend himself from the birds, and he knew he did not have the capabilities to avoid them. Thus, he could only rely on his strength to attempt at defending.

He tried to cover much of his exposed body with the pike, so that he would be able to react quickly no matter what direction they came from. Adjusting his grip, he forced his body horizontal.

Noone silently plummeted through the first cloud layer.

Cold!

He tried to calm his breathing but was too shocked by the pain.

Inside the clouds it was so cold that it took the breath right out of him, his head throbbed immediately, and his eyes stung to the point he had to close them.

Finally, he managed to take a deep breath, but the air crackled with ice as it traveled to his lungs. His body coughed out the cold air violently, trying to protect his throat from freezing. The coughing continued, and he squinted his eyes doing everything he could to ward off the freezing air.

Noone forced his mouth shut, focusing on breathing through his nose. It still stung, however by the time the air reached his throat and lungs it was warmed up enough to be easier on his body.

Noone focused on slowing his breaths, trying to manage the cold around him. Without warning a heavy force sent his body spiraling out of his control. Something had hit his pack!

Noone immediately shouted out, the blow was too heavy. Blood shot from his mouth and froze into crystals as soon as it passed his lips. His lungs hurt with the pain of cold icy air rushing into him.

Noone grit his teeth and forced his mouth shut. He knew he couldn't afford to let any more of the cold into his body. I have another 12 hours before I will pass through the clouds. If my internal temperature drops too much… Noone quickly forced his body back under his control.

He knew if he messed up here, his body would become a frozen block of ice, and would either be consumed by the birds in the clouds, or plummet into the ocean below.

A little ways away from Noone, following his fall through the clouds was a large vicious looking bird. Initially the bird had tested Noone, flying past him up into the clouds above. Flying around him and underneath. But it got no reaction from the human.

It continued to get closer and closer without reaction.

Is the human doing this on purpose to lure me in...?

For some reason the bird did not think this was the case. He could see the human struggling to maintain composure in the cloud, gasping for breath.

Finally, the bird decided it would make a safe move. It flew above Noone and dived down. Initially it had been expecting the human to either avoid its attack, or simply be pierced through by its beak.

Instead though, the pack on Noone's back stopped the bird's beak from piercing through. And instead Noone had been flung even faster down through the clouds.

"Damn birds…" Noone's teeth were still grit tight in pain. His falling speed had drastically increased for a moment after the impact, helping him get away from any immediate follow up attacks.

He thought about his pack and wondered what kind of damage there was to it.

Initially when he had mentioned to the miners his plan, he had a simple pack ready to fill all of his equipment in.

However, one of the miners who had talked to Noone a lot once he joined the team under Tahmel offered him this pack instead. He said it had been specially made by the seamstresses, having small steel threads woven into the fabric to increase durability.

Originally, he had intended it to be a pack that would last a long time before degrading from constant wear and tear.

If he knew now that his pack had served as a shield against the birds, Noone wondered what the look on his face would be.

Although Noone was in pain from the impact, he knew that nothing could be done about it now. He did feel a bit of comfort though, knowing his pack could withstand the attack force of the birds. He had one less direction he had to worry about.

What he was worried about though, was that he had no idea when the bird was coming!

Even at the last moment he hadn't known until it was too late. He continued to focus on his breathing. Straining his eyes trying to see through the clouds and fight against the cold.

When the bird saw Noone spit up blood from the impact, the blood in its own body grew excited as if craving to devour the human in one go.

From the strength of its first attack, it seemed to have been confident in taking me out swiftly. Noone assumed. He felt a chill at the thought. Had the bird known he couldn't sense it?

The world became silent except for the rushing wind. If Noone had been able to see through the clouds, he would have seen the large bird circling around him at a distance, wondering what direction to attack from next.

The bird eyed the pike in Noone's hands. It wasn't sure if this weapon was strong enough to withstand an attack from it, but given that the pack on Noone's back could, it wouldn't be very surprising if the pike could as well. And the pike would be significantly more dangerous if he gave the human any chance to attack back…

Noone heard a small whistle that was rapidly approaching, his whole body tensed up and he shifted his weight away from the direction of the sound.

In that same moment a white shadow flashed next to Noone, an extended wing crashed into the rod in his hands, breaking his grip on it and crushing it into his body. Noone was sent tumbling through the clouds again.

No! Noone felt blood bubble up his throat but continued to keep his mouth shut. He couldn't afford to let the cold air into his lungs.

He regripped the pike in his hands, they were trembling from the impact of the wing.

I heard it, it was small, but it was definitely there.

Noone went as still as he could, there was no noise except the air rushing past him.

At first the bird was surprised at Noone being able to dodge it - but it quickly understood that it was nothing more than a fluke. Even if the human responded last minute, the bird was confident it could still kill and devour the man.

Noone fell helplessly, gritting his teeth trying to figure out how to deal with the bird. He knew he needed to figure out some way to disrupt its attack. Only then would he have a chance of attacking it.

A few minutes passed.

Despite the bird wanting nothing more than to devour the human, it would not be stupid enough to risk its life unnecessarily. The bird had been through many fights in the wild and knew that in the last moments of life, even the weakest of creatures could explode with surprising strength.
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Noone's eyes were resolute as he waited for the bird to make its move. A plan had begun to form in his head but… as to whether or not it would work, he wasn't sure. He hefted the pike in his hands, his arms were still shaking from the impact earlier, but he had recovered a bit already.

He listened carefully. From far off in front of him there was the vague whistle of wings cutting through the air.

Noone took the pike in one hand and tightened all the muscles in his body, the whistling got closer at an incredible speed. His eyes stared into the clouds. Noone wasn't perfectly sure where it was coming from, but he had a general idea - and that was good enough!

As the bird approached, it watched Noone carefully, waiting for the human to shift direction at the last minute so it could adjust and pierce through him.

When the bird was no more than 10 meters away and coming in fast – Noone's body jerked suddenly and the 8-foot-long solid steel pike was launched out of his hands!

It flew directly towards the body of the bird!

Being adept at aerial maneuvers the bird did not even hesitate to close one wing and shift its large body just a little to the right in order to avoid the pike.

It flew past the bird harmlessly.

In the eyes of the bird, the human had just thrown away its only line of defense, and the bird doubled its speed ready to pierce through and devour the human's body.

At this moment though Noone's eyes were set tight and his hands had already moved the sledgehammer on his back.

There!

When the bird had shifted its flying direction to avoid the pike, Noone had heard the change from the whistling in the air! Forcing the bird to move horizontally compared to Noone allowed him to pinpoint its direction.

He used all of his strength to bring down the hammer. He wasn't sure how close or far the bird was from him exactly, but this was a gamble. The only other alternative was to wait for the bird to pummel him to death before eating him.

Thus, he had to take this chance.

The sledge came down just as the bird closed the last few meters between them. When the bird saw Noone swinging down the hammer there was nothing it could do at this point. Slow down? Speed up? Change direction? It was already too close!

The sledge crashed down onto the skull of the bird, crushing its brain in a single strike. The force of the hammer caused the beak to change direction - narrowly missing Noone's body.

The bird's body however was too weighty to have its momentum changed by the swing of the sledge, so it crashed with all of its weight and speed into Noone, both tumbling through the sky.

Chapter end