250 Words: Obake (“something that is transformed”) 2 and 3: “animals with supernatural powers” and “wicked demons”

““Mwahahahaha!” I said and then I fled from that place leaving him alone to his fate. 

“Give us a swig.

“Knowing that he’d want to seek retribution, I knew I needed to get away quickly and so I journeyed first around the Great Swamps, giving them quite a wide berth in fact- only a fool would travel through that treacherous area.  Even animals go around it. 

“Give us a little swig.

“Then the Border Mountains stood before me and I thought to myself, I thought, “He won’t be able to cross those or the desert beyond.  If by any chance he does decide to follow, I’ll be more than safe on the other side of these rocks and that sand.  This is somewhere he can’t follow!  So I hired myself guides and got myself to safety, entertaining people in the towns en route with my tale of adventure, intrigue and ultimate victory.

“Give us another swig.

“Even for such as I, a task like that is not simple and I am sure you will agree that I have won and won well on this occasion, that I am a hero among my kind to be revered for some time to come.  And a clever bastard too.

“Give us just one more swig.

“Yep, once I’ve rested up here I shall return to my king and be richly rewarded.”

On the fifth day of boring my customers with his story a small creature entered my pub and downed the loudmouth fool.

250 Words: Obake (“something that is transformed”) 2: “animals with supernatural powers”

After receiving the powers all I had to do was reach my target and utilise them.  Which would be easier said than done for they had managed to put quite some distance between us during my adventures up to this point and it would take some time and effort to catch up. 

I began straight away by crossing the Great Swamps (no doubt they had had to go around), ever careful not to plant my feet in any of the mud puddles that would have sucked me down to the centre of the earth.

Then I ascended and descended the Border Mountains (no simple task for such as I), clambering over giant boulders aplenty and even scaling a vertical cliff.  And that was just the terrain- several times I nearly perished from the cold but, ever determined, I kept my limbs moving and never kept still long enough to freeze; all the time keeping my eventual prize in mind and wondering why I had not asked for more powers. 

At the foot of the mountains I asked for directions and found myself nearly there.  I skirted around the edge of three towns in the Riverlands before hitching a ride across the Largest Desert on a well-provisioned vehicle to a fourth.

There I did not speak the language but soon heard the fool drunk inside an inn, no doubt in the belief I would never catch up.  I went within and, to the vast surprise of the patrons, downed the mother.