Two hours later and Tramon's tree was missing a noticeable amount of branches, with a large pile of discarded detritus having accumulated at its base. These were the leaves and smaller twigs that Alistar had torn from the branches that he had picked from the tree, all of which had already been snapped into smaller sticks that in turn ended up being broken against the log that Alistar was so painstakingly attempting to cut.
I'm getting close, he thought as he lay on the grass in an exhausted sprawl. Tramon had only told him to sever the log in two, but he hadn't specified that the deed had to be done with a single swing. Like this, Alistar had adopted the strategy of whittling away at the wood from all sides, and now had the log looking like a partially-eaten apple with the core exposed from all angles. The only thing that held it together at this point was a wrist-wide bridge of wood, though by now he had expended too much energy and could barely stand on his feet.
