Middle of Winter.
A forest blanketed in snow as far as the eye can see.
Snow was gently falling on this forest, covering the tall and sturdy trees with a lush, white cover. As for those trees that couldn't hold up the weight of their milky coat, the branches would tremble slightly and the built-up snow would fall to the floor beneath it, allowing the tree to gather more snow into another soft coat.
In this forest, a large mound of snow piled up underneath one of the many trees in the area. Looking at the area from a bird's-eye view, one would have noticed that this tree is just one of many that were found at the base of a cliff, and upon closer inspection, one could find traces of battle leading up to the cliff by observing the damaged trees leading up to it.
Based on the damages done to the area but the lack of tracks in the snow leading up to, on, and at the base of the cliff, a battle had taken place roughly two or three days prior and the snow had had enough time to cover up these tracks, roughly going by the gentle rate it was falling at this moment.
Even then, the forest continued to exude a slightly subdued aura, as if recovering from the injuries that had affected it. That said, unless one was sensitive to the aura of the forest, all of this would be ignored and the battle that took place days prior would be perfectly hidden away from possible investigators.
Going back to that large mound beneath the tree, it was currently showing signs of instability. Although faint, slight vibrations were taking place within the snowy mound. This went on for a few moments before a small hand penetrated the top of the mound. Moments later, a head came out, followed by the rest of the body.
Finally freed from its icy prison, a small body now rested with its back on the snowy mound. The body belonged to a child, no older than 8 years old. From an objective perspective, the child looked like crap and appeared to be in very bad shape. Claw marks from an unknown beast could be seen on his hands and sides, legs that were bruised badly, and his throat was slit clean, suggesting that it was done by a very sharp object. For the record, none of these injuries were light.
As bad as all these injuries sound, it doesn't change the fact that the child had an almost unreal calm expression on his face, as if all those injuries had nothing to do with him. To make matters stranger, the child eventually got up and started moving around, completely unimpeded by his body's physical condition.
As the boy started to flex his body, he thought to himself, 'To think, even death decided to take pity on me after all this time.'
The boy had a wry smile with a somewhat regretful expression on his face as he thought this. That lasted only for a moment as the boy made his way toward the largest tree nearby. Though it wasn't apparent when he started moving, as he drew closer to the tree, the movements of the boy's body started to slow down considerably. He was starting to feel a considerable strain on his body and this caused the boy to furrow his eyebrows.
It took the boy a few moments before he finally managed to get to the tree. As he placed a hand on the tree, a thought flashed through his mind, 'I'm in terrible shape. If walking for such a short distance was enough to make me struggle, I won't be able to defend myself if something serious crops up in the near future.'
Had anyone been around that was capable of reading minds, before questioning whether or not the boy could or should be able to defend himself, they would first be questioning why on earth the child is capable of moving with such serious injuries.
Shaking his head free of those random thoughts, the boy placed a hand on the tree and closed his eyes. He stayed like that for a few moments, as if looking for something. Roughly five minutes later a dim glow appeared on the section of the tree where the boy had his hand placed. This glow extended from the tree and covered the boy's body.
'It seems that I'm still able to trigger this tree's energy and circulate it within me, albeit weakly due to my body's current condition,' thought the boy as the energy from the tree flowed along his body, healing the various injuries he possessed at a slow but steady pace. His body reacted to the energy's healing touch as if it found the entire process euphoric.
Before long, the boy frowned. After removing his hand from the tree he turned to face a certain direction, as if waiting for something to show up. Not a few moments later, a small pack of wolves made their presence known after passing the treeline.
Looking at the wolves, the boy had a somewhat troubled expression on his face. It wasn't the kind of panic expression that one would expect of a boy currently facing down five wolves. Instead, it was the kind that showed that the boy was hesitating in doing something.
The wolves, mistaking the boy's hesitation for fear, decided to pounce on him. Seeing this, the boy let out a long sigh before responding to their action with one of his own.
As soon as the first wolf got close, the boy reacted. Just as a wolf was about to sink its teeth into his shoulder, the boy dodged and landed a heavy back fist strike on the wolf's head. It sounds humorous that a small boy could land such a heavy strike on a large creature like a wolf, but the wolf in question didn't feel that way since it was knocked away from the boy at a fast pace, only to have its travel cut short by a tree.
This act stunned the other four wolves in place while the boy in question frowned as if thinking that there was something wrong with his strike on that wolf.
Looking down at the fist that sent the wolf flying into the tree, the boy thought to himself, 'While that strike connected as it should, the fact that the wolf flew away with its life still intact instead of having its head blown off is a reminder that this isn't my original body and that it's still very weak. I need to hurry up and heal before I start working on regaining enough strength to protect myself.'
As if picking up on the resolve that this boy made to himself, the moment he turned to face the other four wolves, they collectively took a step back. It was as if a large snake was currently staring down at the four of them and was just waiting for them to make a move so that it could pounce on them. In fact, it wasn't the imagination of the four wolves that a giant snake was staring down at them as there was a faint silhouette of a giant black snake with large sapphire eyes protruding from the back of the boy.
This image, while faint, was enough to scare the wolves into submission. Seeing them behaving this way, the boy decided not to press them too much and allowed the image to fade away, removing the predatory pressure that had been exerted on them. Following its disappearance, the wolves wasted no time fleeing the area, abandoning the one that the boy had sent flying into the tree earlier.
As for the remaining wolf, while it was still alive from the boy's hit, the crash it had into the tree basically broke its back so it was barely hanging on at the moment. Seeing this, the boy decided to put it out of its misery, so it went over to the wolf and sat by its body.
Instead of just snapping its neck or finding a stone to finish it off, the boy placed his hand on the wolf's skull and closed his eyes. Similar to what happened with the tree earlier, a faint formed around the boy's hand and started to envelop his body. Unlike the dim green light that came from the tree, a dim red light surrounded the boy this time, the energy he received healing him at a much faster rate than what had happened prior.
While the boy's injuries healed, the light of life in the eyes of the wolf before him grew dimmer with each moment before it completely faded away. At that point, the red energy enveloping the boy disappeared, leaving behind a healthy boy and the corpse of the wolf.
The boy looked down at the corpse and had a saddened expression on his face. While it was necessary to defend himself and to put the creature out of its misery in the end, it doesn't change the fact that he had basically absorbed the life force of the creature, killing it in the process. He took a few moments to lament what he had done before he got up and went back to the snow pile that he crawled out from.
After spending roughly twenty minutes digging out the entire thing, what was left were two bodies, a male and a female. Both possessed features that were very familiar to the boy that dug them out, signifying that they were his parents, or rather, the parents of the body that he took over.
The boy looked at the bodies belonging to the parents for a moment before thinking to himself, 'I need to give you both a proper burial.'
Following this thought, the boy removed the sword being held by the man and got to work chopping down some trees nearby. He had a lot of work to do with little time to do it if the position of the sun in the sky was anything to go by.
***********
It's been a few hours since the boy started chopping wood using his 'father's' sword. He was now standing before a pyre where the bodies of his parents lay within, along with the wolf. At some point, he had skinned the wolf of its fur as he was now covered in a rough cloak made from said fur as he stared at the pyre before him.
The boy stared at the pyre for a few moments longer before starting a small fire, which quickly spread around the entire thing. The heat this pyre gave off didn't warm the boy in the slightest as he knew this was a sendoff ceremony for the family that died so that he could live. This included everyone: the father, the mother, the child, and even the wolf itself.
He wasn't one for sentimentality, but he knew how to repay debts. And this was a debt he had to pay in full. Fully coming to terms with what he must do next, the boy released a deep sigh as he poked a few acupoints on his body. By the end of this, a misty white vapor seemed to escape from the boy's body before it flew over to the pyre and took the shape of a child.
From the pyre itself, two such vapors flew up and joined the child, both in the shape of a man and a woman. The family of three was together again, looking at the now weakened boy staring at them.
Seeing the three spirits together, the weakened boy spoke in a somber tone, "While you weren't my parents, you did raise the child whose body I am now possessing and for that, I thank you both. As a party gift for this favor, I've reunited you all as a family instead of absorbing his soul. Just as you were in this life, may you three be a family in the next life, one that won't repeat this same fate."
Following those words, the spirits of the parents bowed to the boy as they flew into the air while the child waved 'goodbye' to the person now possessing his body.
The boy watched this all to the end, watched as the pyre fully burned out, the bodies reduced to ash and scattering in the winds, leaving nothing behind as its final embers vanished into the cold night. He stayed for it all, engraving this scene into his mind as the first and last favor he could do for them.
When the dust had finally settled and the cold of the winter night finally kicked in, the boy turned away from the spot where the pyre originally stood and walked away. Behind him and the pyre was an illustration he carved into the tree where the family died, an illustration of a giant snake guarding the graves of the trio.
This tree would serve as the gravestone for the trio, while the illustration would be their message and a reminder to him about their existence while they were in this world.