"Young one. Young one. Awaken."
Young struggled to open his eyes, the voice sounded distant to him.
"You must wake up!" The voice grew more persistent, finally Young felt a jolt of electricity run through his spine. The pain was enough to cause him to bolt upwards and yelp in pain.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed.
"Silence child! If you want to live at least!" The strange voice said.
"Wha? Who are you? Where are you?" Young nearly shouted again as he gazed around wildly. His clothes were still soaked but instead it was rather hot, the morning sun beat down upon him mercilessly.
"Relax. Look within. I am inside you. I am now a part of you." The voice said, attempting to calm the young man.
"What do you mean inside of me? Am-- am I dead?" Young asked, a sudden fear overtaking him.
"No. We both nearly faded out of existence..but we are okay. Now is not the time for this, however--" The voice seemed keen to explain but Young interrupted once more.
"I don't understand what's going on. Last night.. Last night I fell. No, I was pushed down the mountain side by King and his goons!" Young said angrily as he finally remembered what happened.
"Shut up! Now is not the time! If you want to live, I suggest you find a place to hide. A monster is nearby!" The voice said urgently.
Young grew quiet as he tried to process the strange voice's command. While Young sat silently the voice took the opportunity to further explain the situation.
"You're in an area known as the Forest of End. This is where many creatures come to die but still there are powerful predators here that help that process along..and one is nearby, I can sense it. If you want to live, you need to get to your feet and hide. Trust me, I'll explain the situation properly as we move!"
Young wasn't sure what to make of the situation he now found himself in but he was absolutely sure of a few things. The first was that the voice was telling the truth about their location and his current plight-- the teacher explained as much prior to the field trip yesterday. The second was that he wasn't alone. He could feel a somewhat ominous sensation creeping along his spine, Young recognized this feeling well -- it was the sense of bloodlust, the thirst to kill.
"Okay." Young agreed before then adding, " But I'm injured.. My hands and legs are.. Huh?" He gazed down at his hands and noticed the wounds were sealed. The same applied to his legs and feet.
"I healed you, long story short for now--if you die we both die. As I said, we are one now so what helps you helps me as well."
The voice paused for a moment as Young continued inspecting his body. Though the wounds were healed he still felt a great deal of pain, particularly around the abdomen and lower back.
"It's near. Follow the arrow, and stay silent!" The voice commanded as a faint blue arrow appeared a meter to Young's forward. It spiraled wildly for a moment then pointed to his left. Young had little choice but to play along, for now, so he got to his feet and began to walk. His balance was still off slightly so running would be impossible.
"Explain." Young whispered as he followed the arrow. The forest was dense and there seemed to be no clear path where Young was, all he could see was the massive mountain towering to his right. He'd fallen from so high, it was amazing that he even managed to survive.
"It must have been the results of my training." He thought to himself, even though he hadn't even obtained his first rank yet.
"Somehow you and I have come to..exist together. I don't know how or why, because I don't have a memory until last night when I also became aware." The voice said.
"Who or what are you?" Young whispered as he stepped over a large fallen tree and glanced around cautiously.
"I.. I don't know."
"How could you not know who you are? That sounds suspicious. Demon, I'm going straight to the exorcist when I get back to the academy!" Young whispered viciously to "The Voice".
"I can't tell you what I don't know. Ask another question, simpleton."
"Why can I hear you in my mind?" Young next asked.
"I'm inside of you. Your soul sea." The voice responded.
"That's impossible. It's my soul sea."
"And yet here we are." The voice said before issuing another command.
"Wait, stop and hide yourself. Something is near.." The voice commanded.
Young did as instructed and threw himself into a nearby bush and held his breath for a short time.
"It's headed the other direction. Can you run? Our destination is not far from here." The Voice asked.
"I'm not sure. My muscles are still aching. I may have strains and bruises."
"You most definitely do. I repaired a great deal of your body as you slept, but that's not the point. Can you run or can you not?"
"Yes, if I must." Young whispered in reply.
"Good. On my command follow the blue arrow and don't stop. Run as fast as you can." The voice responded. The wait was filled with several tense moments as Young awaited instruction, finally after half a minute the voice commanded him to get moving.
"Go, go go go!" It urged. Young bolted from the bushes, deciding to completely ignore stealth as he moved. The jungle was especially dense, filled with lush green plants, flowers and no doubt creatures of all sorts. Though his body creaked and ached, Young forced as much speed from it as he could, if there was anything he was confident in--it would be his endurance.
His soaking wet clothing wasn't helping, he felt weighed down beyond belief but that would not stop him at this point. He continued running for several minutes, leaping over obstacles and pushing aside branches before he finally came to an area where the trees began to thin. He slowed down instinctively as he took notice of what lay before him.
"I didn't say stop, what are you doing boy?" The voice hissed, but Young was now having second thoughts about following the strange voice.
"What the hell is this?" Young practically shouted as he pointed to the large ravine before him. As far as the eye could see to both his left and right the ravine stretched. He wasn't sure just how deep it was either, for he could not see the bottom -- it was dark and imposing.
"We don't have time for this boy, we are in serious danger--"
"Well what do you want me to do? Jump over it?" He shouted. Just then he could hear the sound of padded feet thumping hard against the jungle floor.
'What the hell is that?" Young whispered as he turned around. He could see the branches being forced apart in the distance, a little less than thirty meters from him.
"It's the monster that's going to eat you if you don't jump this ravine!" The voice was now filled with a sense of urgency.
"I can't! I can't jump that far!"
"W-what? I thought you were a warrior? Why are you wearing a warrior's clothing?" The voice asked, now growing panicked.
"I'm a disciple! I've only been training for two months now!" Young shouted nervously as he began to back up.
"Ah. Dammit." The voice whispered in exasperation.
The trees began to bend and sway as a large feline creature burst out from the jungle. The creature resembled a tiger in every way, save for its size and the addition of a third eye on its forehead.
"Oh my God.." Young gasped as the creature set eyes upon him and growled menacingly.
"Do you know how to direct lightning boy?" The voice asked.
"Y-yes. Why?" Young asked as he backed up further.
"Raise your hand to the sky, when the lightning comes don't fight it. Just send it to the monster."
"What lightn--" Young had no sooner raised his hand did white lightning fall from the sky and strike his fingers, the energy filled his body, reminding him vividly of the moment he'd been shocked. Pushing this out of his mind he pointed his two first fingers at the monster which was now charging in his direction. The lightning arced from his fingertips and caught the creature directly in the face, the force behind the blow was so unexpected that Young could feel himself being lifted off of the ground.
The creature roared loudly as the lightning tore into its body, ripping its flesh across the chest and face. In response the beast lashed out, its huge paw catching Young across the chest with enough force to send the teenager flying off of the nearby ravine's edge.