The foolish creature still held onto the gem, sacrificing mobility to do so. If it just had the sense to throw the thing perhaps it would have stood a chance, distracting the golem momentarily enough to run away. Instead it used its wings to right itself on the ground like they were some kinds of pseudo-legs.

The golem wound up for a second punch and threw it forward with great force. With its aim the creature's throat would probably collapse, slowing it down further and becoming unable to defend against further attacks. The golem's strike, however, went clean past its target at the odd flesh creature leapt straight into the air over it.

Unfortunately for it the golem was a creature of reaction, not thought. As soon as it saw the airst attack missed its other limb reached up to grasp at anything it could grab. The magic source would not get away. It would stop moving here and the golem would have a great haul to bring back.

Bremen felt the golem's stone hand swish past his tail, barely missing as he jumped over the creature and scrambled up a nearby rock. His side still hurt but if he got enough elevation he might be able to fly.

It would be easier if he didn't have this stone clutched in his paws or the other stones held tightly in his beak but those were the entire reason he was even out here to begin with. Hopefully he'd be able to escape with everything intact.

With the golem's missed grapple attempt Bremen suddenly had an opening. if he was quick enough he might be able to hobble into the air. He wouldn't be able to get very much altitude immediately but any advantage would be worth taking. Adrenaline rushing through his system Bremen jumped down the other side of the rock he had just scrambled upon and spread his wings.

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’Thinking... thinking... thinking…’
"This is my voice, isn't it neat?"
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The creature was getting away! Even though its attempts to block its escape had failed the golem was not going to give up. With a single motion of its strong limbs the rock creature soared into the air on top of the stone its target had escaped upon. Too late, however as it saw the winged creature jump off the other side, taking to the air with magic in tow.

This might not be the end though. It couldn't be the end. The golem had chased the gems this far and it wasn't about to give up completely. Curling itself up one more time the stone creature launched itself one more time, flying through the air with enough force and momentum that surely it would be able to grab the flying being and send it crashing to the ground.

If it missed this endeavor was all over and it would have to start again from nothing in its hunt. If it succeeded this would be a great day indeed!

He had made it! No way the golem would be able to catch him now! Bremen craned his neck back as he flew off, watching the golem hop onto the rock and watch him intently. Unfortunately it didn't seem to realize that the chase was over and curled up to jump into the air after it.

High into the air.

Much farther than he would have guessed.

And with pretty good accuracy too.

That rush of fear struck Bremen's mind once more as he realized that the golem had managed to hurl itself with perfect trajectory right toward him. A punch was one thing, and made him sore. A full body tackle in midair would probably be a lot worse.

Survival instincts kicked into high gear. He was still too low to the ground to pull off any good evasive maneuvers, but there was still one possibility... Just as the golem was about to land on him Bremen angled his wings sharply down toward the ground, hoping that a crash landing would be less deadly than whatever the rock monster was planning on doing with its attack.

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’Thinking... thinking... thinking…’
"This is my voice, isn't it neat?"
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This was it, the final strike. Its jump had been strong and its aim true. The flesh creature was too low to be able to veer out of the way and soon it would be crushed under the golem's weight.

That should have been the case, but this tricky creature in its intense desire to survive pulled off a truly bizarre move. Rather than pull up or to the side where the golem would still be able to grab it it dove straight down, crashing hard into the ground and tumbling into a flurry of flailing limbs. Cuts and bruises were appearing all over it but it still held grip on its stones and the perfect jump the golem had put together was no longer quite so perfect.

In fact from this height it was entirely possible that the golem might have put itself in a bit of a predicament. With its target no longer within reach the golem rolled up, bracing from impact and hoping that the other creature's crash had slowed it down enough that it would be able to catch up again.

The ground shot up at Bremen like a stone wall as he aimed his wings downward, sending unprecedented amounts of pain through his body as crash landed. His speed had already been impressive enough to send him rolling along the unforgiving jagged stones once he hit, but even though the result was not prime his maneuver had done its job. The golem that had been chasing after him sailed over and hit the ground hard a few meters in front of him. it seemed to have decided to roll up before hitting the ground, good for minimizing damage but at the same time bad for changing the angle of momentum. He had another opening and even if every part of his body screamed in pain he wasn't about to let it pass him by.

As soon as his momentum slowed Bremen twisted himself upright again and flapped his wings, attempting a difficult take off without the preferred running start. As he did so his back legs kicked against the ground so that even if he wasn't able to get airborne he could at least start hopping away and putting some more distance between him and the stone murder machine behind him.

---

’Thinking... thinking... thinking…’
"This is my voice, isn't it neat?"
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After finally rolling to a stop the golem righted itself and looked back. The flesh creature was much further behind it than it had hoped, and much farther in the air than it had been the first time. If there had been any lose rocks around no doubt the golem would have taken a shot, but at this distance it would have been a last-ditch effort anyways.

With the loss of the golem's prey went all its efforts for the outing. It had already expended a lot of energy trying to reclaim what had been stolen, no sense in wasting even ore tracking down an unreachable target.

With nothing else in the immediate area the golem turned around and began to amble toward its original hunting grounds. Perhaps there would be another magic crystal somewhere near where the first one had been.

After a few minutes of flight Bremen finally allowed himself to land, breath heavy in his chest. That had been intense! He'd found three stones lying around and actually managed to successfully steal one from a big angry rock monster! Now if he could just find the ledge stone from earlier he would have as much as he could possibly carry at one time and be able to present a singing trio of stones to the six-limbed lady.

Before beginning his search again, however, the little hybrid allowed himself to res. His limbs were shaking slightly from the adrenaline rush and scrapes and bangs and bruises were now really starting to hurt. He was sore and would probably feel that adventure for a few days, but after a quick check of his ribs and spine and wings he hadn't actually broken anything. Lucky!

The pain would not subside very quickly, but with his breathing coming a bit more normally Bremen took to the air again, careful to watch just as much for golems as for the crystal he had seen on the high ledge. It took a lot longer than he would have thought, but after a few passes he finally managed to relocate the fifth stone, landing and tucking it between his paws with the other one.

One quick trip back to his secret hiding spot and then off to visit the six-limbed lady with three of the five. He'd done well today!

- Exit Bremen -

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’Thinking... thinking... thinking…’
"This is my voice, isn't it neat?"
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