Dioha walked out of the cave feeling giddy and lightheaded. Power was,indeed,intoxicating. He knew he was strong enough to defeat the wolves. If not stronger than them,then somewhere around their level. He remained at the cave's entrance,looking down at the forest. He decided to try out his power,to see what he could or could not do. Lightning flashed in his eyes as he channelled the current to all parts of his body. His fingers tingled as little sparks of electricity crashed against each other. Dioha pointed a finger into the distance. This was his move for firing lightning bolts. Someone in the 2nd Era had seen the real God of War himself,shooting bolts after bolts of lightning against a foe,and nicknamed the move Electro-Shoot. The history writers had written it down as that.
Dioha waited but nothing happened. The electric currents just ran back and forth,refusing to shoot out of his hand. He tried again but still got the same result. Next Dioha looked up and willed lightning to strike him from the skies. Nothing happened there too. Dioha frowned deeply. If he could not Insta-Recover,the fight with the wolves might not be as easy as he first thought after coming out of the cave.
After about ten minutes Dioha had fair knowledge of what he could do. From his ten minutes try out,he understood that most of his big moves were unaccessible to him. He couldn't generate lightning outside himself. He couldn't throw lightning in whatever form. But on the bright side,his speed had increased greatly. If he moved fast enough he could possibly run on a wall for 3 seconds. His physical strength had soared tremendously. He punched a protrusion of rocks by the cave's entrance just to see how much damage he could cause. His hand made a very deep dent on the rock as his hand went in almost to the elbow. Dioha smiled. Despite not being at full strength,his current attribute was enough to defeat the two wolves. Feeling confident,Dioha ran down the mountain.
It was only after getting to the forest floor,Dioha realised something was wrong. He had not heard from Lanre since that scream in the small cave. He could not even feel him around now. Dioha called out to him,listening and sensing with his ears and his thoughts to see if he would pick up anything from the kid. But all was quiet.
'Is he gone? Just like that? Did my powers kill his consciousness?'
Dioha did not know what to think. He was feeling a little sad as his brain contemplated on possible scenarios.
"Where are you?" Dioha muttered under his breath.
After several minutes Dioha gave up. He had to focus on killing those wolves. Maybe,just maybe, there would be an explanation waiting for him outside this realm. As Dioha walked deeper into the forest,soon his demeanour brightened. He was feeling elated at having gotten some of his powers back. He punched a nearby tree. The impact of his punch tore a huge part of the tree's big stem away. Dioha punched the tree some more. After five punches,the big tree creaked loudly and began tilting. There was an earth shattering crash as the big tree knocked several trees out of its way before finding the forest floor. The ground shook,several animals voiced their annoyance at the loud disturbance. The whole atmosphere became a bit unstable. It was like the atmosphere was alive,and disturbed by Dioha's stunt. Spacial cracks began to appear somewhere within the forest. The light from that crack was in direct contrast to the light in this realm. While the light in this realm was a steady throbbing monotony of red,the light from that crack was much more complete,fuller. Brighter.
Dioha walked slowly,towards that light. He shielded his eyes with his hands as he got closer. His eyes adjusted to the light. What Dioha saw stunned him. He stared at the sight,speechless. Something Lanre had said crossed his mind immediately. How could he have missed it? It was there all these while and he did not take advantage of it. Even when Lanre had mentioned it to him,he was too engrossed with other thoughts to fully grasp it. Dioha shook his head bitterly. And to think he had wasted all these time dying to the wolves when this was here. Pain stung his heart when he realised Lanre would still be with him if he had taken advantage of what was before him.
Dioha stared at the door in front of him,undecided whether to go in or remain where he was. He knew where the door led. The real world. This was the door Ogalé had used in visiting him that one time. This was the door Lanre had seen and mentioned to him. This was the entrance and exit of Ogalé's Nether Realm. Not those wolves. Maybe killing those wolves was really a way to escape this world,but Dioha was certain the death of those wolves would only have revealed the location of this door. A location he now knew.
"This explains a lot" Dioha said.
With his hand stretched out,Dioha walked closer to the door. His mind raced to the first fight he had with the Saber-toothed wolves. One had reacted strangely when he had broken a branch from one of the trees and used it as a weapon.
Dioha was lost in thought so he didn't hear or see a Saber-toothed wolf coming towards him at breakneck speed. Dioha's hand touched the doorknob and began pushing it down. The wolf got to Dioha and leaped at him from his right side. Dioha turned just in time to see a flying wolf,jaws wide open,coming straight for his head.
"Not this time,you piece of shit" Dioha muttered.
He pulled back from the door quickly. Thanks to his increased speed,his reaction time was amazing. The wolf looked a little slow to him. Dioha knew this was not true. The wolf was not slow. He had gotten faster. Dioha turned his back to the door. It was time to show these wolves who was Alpha.
The wolf landed a few yards to Dioha's left. It immediately swung round to face Dioha. It seemed really pissed at Dioha for finding the door. It dove at Dioha again. Dioha easily sidestepped and waited. Dioha felt confident enough that he could handle both Saber-toothed wolves. He knew the other wolf would be joining the fight ten minutes later. He decided to toy with this one till the other showed up. A series of showboating ensued as Dioha dodged, flipped and danced his way around the wolf. Soon Dioha caught sight of the second wolf. It joined the fight immediately it arrived. Dioha smiled. 'The wolves must be pretty mad at him for finding the door. They were not taking turns any longer.' The first wolf came for Dioha's right leg while the new wolf leapt into the air,at Dioha. Dioha punched the first wolf in the head with his left hand sending the beast to the ground. The new wolf was still in mid-air when Dioha turned and gave it an uppercut, sending it flying backwards. Something must have shattered cos there was a loud cracking sound. The wolf on the floor got up but Dioha's right foot came down hard on its head, smashing it to the ground and pinning it there. The other wolf was coming back towards Dioha. Its jaws looked funny. The lower jaw was dangling a little to the side and as the wolf ran towards Dioha,the lower jaw flapped against the upper. The wolf got close and jumped towards Dioha again.
"Stupid wolf"
Dioha jumped towards the wolf. His jump gave him an elevated advantage against the airborne wolf. Dioha punched down hard on the wolf's head. His fist smashed through the wolf's skull. The wolf landed on its side with a thud. It lay still. Dioha turned to look at the one he had stomped with his foot. Its head was mangled,an eyeball almost completely out of its socket.
'These wolves are tough to kill. Even in this state, it still wants to fight. Ogalé will have to tell me what enhancements he did to these creatures. If the same can be done to my dogs.'
The wolf just stood there looking at Dioha with its one good eye. It made no move towards Dioha. Dioha noticed the dangling eye slowly creeping back into its socket,and it instantly dawned on him. The wolf was waiting to heal itself back.
'The other must be doing the same right now' Dioha thought. He slowly turned to look at the other wolf. A moment ago it was lying still. Now it was slowly getting up.
"I guess I have to be swift in dealing with you two" Dioha moved,trying to keep the two wolves in his sight. They moved with him,making sure one was in front while the other was behind.
"Smart. Let's dance then"
As if they understood him,the wolf in his view sprinted towards him. Dioha quickly glanced behind him to know what the other was doing. It simply stood there snarling. Dioha returned his attention to the front as the wolf went in for his left leg. He swung a punch down towards its head but the wolf reacted quickly. Dioha missed and his fists struck the ground hard. Dioha's head was low, level with the wolf. His face was inches away from the wolf's. The wolf opened its mouth to bite Dioha's face. Dioha sent the wolf tumbling and away from him with a left hook to the side of its face. As he was straightening back up,something heavy pushed him down from behind. Dioha instantly knew it was the other wolf. He also knew if he got pinned,face down on the floor, he would never be able to shake off the two beasts.
Dioha used the momentum of his fall to land on his hands and quickly turn himself over so that he was lying on his back,not his belly. The Saber-toothed wolf was atop him,claws embedded in his chest. Dioha grabbed the wolf's head with both hands,trying to pull it close for a bear hug. But the wolf pulled back, digging its claws deeper into Dioha's chest. Dioha groaned. Either from the strain of pulling or from the deep wounds in his chest. The other wolf was back. It wasted no time in going for Dioha's neck. Lying on the floor, Dioha knew he was at a disadvantage. While he held the neck of the wolf on top of him to stop it from attacking him with its big sharp teeth, he swung a punch at his new assailant. As the punch connected with the head of the wolf, Dioha felt intense pain on his knuckles. The wolf reeled back from the impact but Dioha was unsure he wouldn't be able to punch that hard again if the wolf chose to attack again. Apparently,the wolves were now stronger too. There would be no more shattered skulls or cracked bones whenever he punched them from now on. At this point,Dioha knew he was fucked.
'I should have killed the first wolf before the second arrived'
Dioha tried throwing the wolf on him off,but it was just too heavy. Dioha glanced to the side. The other wolf was coming round to its senses. It would soon rejoin the fight. Dioha was angry. He had made a mess of this fight. He had been overconfident, not knowing what his opponents were capable of. The wolves had adaptive intelligence. It was time to step up his game. If they adapted again,then he would have no one to blame but himself for this failure. Dioha's eyes blazed as electricity started crackling,running through his arms. When it came in contact with the wolf he was holding at bay,it electrocuted it. The wolf went limp in Dioha's hand. Dioha quickly threw it aside and got up. The other wolf saw its partner being electrocuted before being dumped unceremoniously. It howled, then shook itself vigorously. Its fur rose and stood on end making it look bigger, fiercer.
"I don't think this is good" Dioha said. He glanced at the shining door. The door flickered several times then became stable again. Dioha's heart skipped a beat. The door looked like it would disappear any moment. If it did,there was no telling if it would appear here again. Or if falling a tree would make it reappear at all. Dioha could not risk letting it disappear.
Dioha looked back at the wolf,and to his shock,the electrocuted wolf was back on its paws. It had also undergone a transformation. Dioha's heart skipped another beat.
"We'll have to make a run for it" came Lanre's weak voice.
"Where the heck have you been?" Dioha asked. He was overjoyed to hear that voice again.
"There's no time. That door will disappear any moment now." Lanre responded weakly.
Dioha glanced at the door again. It flickered and was gone for 3 full seconds before reappearing. Dioha made up his mind there and then. The Saber-toothed wolves seemed to read his mind. One made a dash for the door while the other bore down on Dioha. Dioha sprinted towards the door. With his speed he would easily get to the door before the wolves ever reached their targets. Within seconds Dioha was at the door. He opened and went through as the first wolf arrived.