Dioha walked into the cave,going directly to the smaller caves within. The cave with the box in the middle of the room. He was fed up,angry,weak,and tired. Even with his improved strength,Dioha had still died thirteen times to the wolves. His increased strength only helped him last a few more minutes,nothing more. He had tried different approaches,fought like a crazed bull whenever he was faced with just one of the wolves. But somehow,the wolf always managed to survive till the other one showed up.
He had learnt something new the last two times. The Saber-wolves had regenerative abilities. They were constantly healing themselves even while fighting. The last fight really showed him how little his efforts were. He had spent 9 out of the 10 minutes beating up the first wolf,giving it no chance to fight back. He had targeted the wolf's vital organs. First blinding it,then going for the heart. The wolf's skin was very tough and its bones were very strong. Somehow,he had overpowered the wolf after blinding it,sat on it,pinning it to the ground. After several minutes of pounding,the wolf's rib cage had final caved in. Dioha was ecstatic. He was finally going to succeed in killing one of this things. By the look of things at that point,the wolf knew its fate. It wasn't trashing about as vigorously as before. It was weak,in pain,and ready to die.
Dioha had plunged his bloodied left hand into the body of the dying wolf. He ignored the fresh cuts that the wolf's rib cage gave him partially because his hands were numb with pain and blood from all that pounding minutes ago. He had immediately sensed danger,the type that crawls and sneaks up on you when you are not expecting. Turning suddenly,his face met with the maw of the other wolf as he got his face bitten off. Everything went downhill from that point on. Unable to see and relying more on his hearing,he had been killed in a matter of minutes.
Now,Dioha sat in the small cave with his back against the wall after ordering Lanre to try deciphering the inscription on the box. Dioha was more than convinced the words on the box held more meaning and help. He had fair knowledge of how Scavens were. They were a proud and intelligent race. If the Scavens got even the smallest opportunity,they made sure to test your thinking capabilities.
Lanre was reciting the words on the box like a memory verse. Dioha waited patiently. He had decided he wasn't facing the wolves again until he solved the mystery of the box and the other room. It was tough to admit,but Dioha had come to the realisation that he would never be able to defeat those Saberwolves and leave. He was basically looking for help. A shortcut,a loop. Just about anything that would enable him get out of here. Dioha was scared he'd stayed too long in here.
'It probably must be a few months,or even a year now in the real world.'
He was not ageing in here so he could not tell for sure how much time had passed. He just hoped it was not a whole lot.
Dioha shook his head. He was well beaten by the guardians of this realm. He was beginning to see and fully understand Ogalé's reason for putting him here. He was in a sorry,pitiable state.
18 times. 18 painful times. That was the total number of times he had died in this Realm. 18 times he had fought and lost to two Saberwolves. It was hard to swallow. He had never before found himself in such a helpless situation. He was one who always relied more on force,meeting challenges head on. But because of circumstances,he had to be more tactful. He had to learn how to solve problems using other methods other than meeting it with force. At least for now,till he found his real body. The challenge of transferring his spirit and consciousness from this body into his will arise then. But until then,he would have to make do with what is available.
"Hey! God of war! What do you want?" Lanre asked rousing Dioha up from his reverie.
"We've been through this already. I don't see why you should be asking questions to which you already know the answers" Dioha answered.
"You want to get out of here. Let us call that WANT 1. Now,you want to go see a Seer. That is WANT 2." Lanre rambled on. Dioha just shook his head.
'Must be hard to have a good brain yet be unable to use it properly'
"Since we cannot go see the seer without first getting out of here,i'd say seeing her is not a priority at this moment. Getting out is. So WANT 2 is eliminated,leaving us with WANT 1. Now,what do you need?"
"To go see and protect her" Dioha supplied.
"Thank you. NEED 1,to go see and protect seer. NEED 2,to get out of here. Seer cannot be protected if we are stuck here...So...NEED 1 is irrelevant to our current situation. NEED 2 is the same as WANT 1. That's not right. We can't be wanting and needing the same impossible thing....Unless..."
"Unless what?" Dioha asked. He did not want to get his hopes up but he felt as if Lanre might be on to something.
"...Unless we've been looking at it wrongly." Lanre answered.
"How?"
"You WANT to get out but can't. There are things you NEED to do to get out. Like kill the two monsters" Lanre said.
"You know that is impossible without my powers" Dioha answered,disappointed.
"No! Wait,wait!! That's NEED 1" Lanre answered.
"I thought NEED 1 was to go see and protect" Dioha added.
"No. That need was irrelevant so i removed it. This is the new NEED 1"
"Ok?" Dioha waited for him to continue.
"So,we both know NEED 1 is impossible,we need a NEED 2 to tackle NEED 1 and make it possible. So if NEED 1 is to kill the wolves,NEED 2 should be what do we NEED,to kill the wolves?"
"My full powers" Dioha answered.
"NEED 2,full powers...which is not available. Therefore,we need a NEED 3. How did you get your powers?"
"I was born with it. Training and meditation brought it out" Dioha answered.
"Training i know,but meditation i don't. How does meditation help in bringing out your powers? Is it like that with everyone?" Lanre was curious. He had never been taught anything about powers and how it worked.
"Yes. It is like that with everyone. Meditation connects your spirit with your Maker's domain,allowing you to draw power directly from his or her domain." Dioha explained.
"How come you've never done that since we came here?Not even once."
"This is a Nether Realm,not the real world. It wouldn't work here" Dioha said.
"You should at least try it. What would it hurt to?" Lanre said.
Dioha shrugged. The boy was right. Who would it hurt to try. Dioha sat up,folded his legs underneath him and closed his eyes.
"Hold on" Lanre interrupted.
Dioha opened one eyelid. He wished Lanre were visible so he could actually give him a stern look right now.
"I think you should do that in the other small cave. The inscription says 'WHAT YOU SEEK MOST IS IN HERE,BUT THE OTHER ROOM HAS WHAT YOU NEED'. I think you have to meditate in the other room." Lanre said.
"Alright then. Let's go" Dioha said and got up.
They entered the small and empty cave. Under Lanre's urging Dioha sat in the middle of the room,directly under the little opening that allowed light into the cave. Dioha,with his legs under him,sat with his eyes closed and his palms facing up. He was interrupted several times while in that posture. Eventually he got Lanre to quiet down. Dioha must have remained like that for several hours.
Steam began to rise from Dioha's body. The steams were so visible that in mere seconds the small cave was filled with smoke. If someone had walked into that cave at that moment,they would have been unable to see Dioha sitting in the centre of the cave. Visibility was bad enough in the cave without the smoke.
"Hey man. Something is happening" Lanre quiped. He was scared. He had never seen anything like it. Electricity,very visible to the eyes,was coursing all over Dioha. There were just flashes but they looked real scary. Dioha on the other hand,was sitting peacefully still. He had a serene air about him. Looking at his face,one might be forgiven for thinking there was a smile on his face. The electricity began rotating on Dioha's body beginning from his legs upward. This rotation continued upward slowly,gradually. Dioha looked like he was bound with several rings made of lightning. As a new ring materialised around Dioha's abdomen,a pained look crossed his face at which point Lanre shouted.
Lanre could feel the pain. It was intense,sharp. He had never felt pain like this one in his entire life. It felt like a hot saw was sawing him slowly. The pain was excruciating. As a new ring appeared above the last one,the pain doubled. Lanre was gasping for breath. Were he visible to the naked eye,he would be seen curled up on the floor holding his abdomen. Dioha's face lifted up slowly with his eyes still closed. His head tilted till the ray of light into the room rested solely on his forehead. Another ring appeared around his shoulders. Dioha grimaced. Lanre on the other hand,fared no better. An ear piercing scream burst forth from Lanre's lips. He knew he had promise to make no noise while Dioha meditated. Yet he had just screamed. There was nothing he could do to stop that scream from coming out of his lips. He just hoped it wouldn't affect Dioha's med.
Too late. Dioha's eyes flew open when he heard that scream. He was a little startled as he opened his eyes,trying to get his bearings. He remembered where he was and what he was doing. The rings of lightning crumbled. Dioha looked down at himself,flexing his fingers. His meditation was not complete but he felt powerful already. Well,the meditation would have to wait for some other time. Right now,all he wanted was to kill those two saber-wolves and get out of here,into the real world.