Auroch ran quickly through the forest, the gear he carried not seeming to tire him in the least. He had closed the distance by a lot, he could tell because he had reacquired their auras in his senses. They were not moving that fast. He continued moving forward, feeling the distance close little by little. Then suddenly he felt them start to move faster.<br/><br/>"What are they-" he wondered, before thinking of a possible explanation. They had no reason to move so fast...unless.<br/><br/>He immediately extended his senses out into a wider area and just barely was able to feel a wild presence before being hit by a startling amount of force. He felt himself being lifted into the air by sharp claws, but he could not turn his gaze to see what was lifting him. He felt his body being lifted higher and higher from the ground, until he could see the tops of the trees. He could not reach his sword as he was clenched too tightly. He could not even move his arms. He heard the flapping of rather large wings and the shriek of what was definitely a bird. Granted it was a very large bird. He felt a gathering of energy and gathered his own will together just in time to defend himself from a burst of lightning that issued forth from the creature's body. Looking around him he saw small yellow eyed, white feathered birds flying around him and shrieking at him.<br/><br/>"You have got to be kidding me." he said, watching as they gathered power in their mouths and prepared to fry him with bolts of lightning. Auroch gathered his will in front of him and angled it somewhat. The moment they fired he put up a magical Shell shield in front of his body, deflecting the bolts up into the creature's head. Being a lightning elemental like he predicted, it did not actually harm the beast, but it angered it enough that he could feel it turn him in its grip to face it. It was rather majestic, but in the current circumstances it was more terrifying than majestic. Auroch did not show fear however as he was able to wrench free one of his hands and throw a spear of holy might at the creature's face. He felt the creature screech in pain and throw him up in the air in unbridled rage. His whole body now free, Auroch drew his sword with his left arm and reached his right arm out to try and grab at something. His hand found purchase on the wing of one of the bird's smaller counterparts, which while large in its own right could not completely support Auroch's weight and slowly began to go down. He tried to steer it towards the larger bird, though the smaller ones would have none of his plans. They shot blast after blast towards him and he responded by deflecting them with his large sword. He was able to redirect one right into one of the beasts' faces, but like its mother (at least he guessed the large one was their mother) it had no effect. One did get rather close for comfort and Auroch quickly felled it by slicing its wing clean off with a single swipe of his sword. Finally reaching the back of the large bird, Auroch pushed off of his temporary mount and sliced it in half as he landed on the soft feathery back of the mother bird.<br/><br/>The reaction of the bird was almost immediate as it attempted to barrel roll to rid itself of its unwanted rider. Auroch reacted quickly and dug his hands deep into the flesh of the bird, holding on with all his might as it tossed and rolled. He could feel the presences of the ones he was following getting very close...this was going to be quite the meeting.