Walking through the thick forestry started feeling less like a chore and more like an adventure. The greenery was so lush that it felt otherworldly. The chirping of the birds and the rustling of leaves were like a symphony to Sky. He was so entranced by his surroundings that he didn't realise Avis had stopped.
"What is it?" He asked, looking around.
Avis had a look of concern on his face and was looking around frantically as if he had seen something Sky had missed.
"What's wrong?"
"Shush, be quiet for a second," Avis whispered.
A rustle in the bushes caught Sky's attention, and he tensed up, getting ready to fight. However, before he could do anything, a small creature darted past him, clawing at his shins. It was gone in an instant.
"Argh! What was that?!"
"I don't know! Stay close to me."
The rusting continued in different directions, from left to right and from front to back. 'Are there multiple of them?' Sky thought. The rusting suddenly stopped, and the forest turned quiet. Too quiet.
"Don't move," Avis said whilst spinning in circles, trying to gain a glimpse into what sort of creature was hunting them.
Avis caught sight of orange fur between the trees as the wind flowed through the brustles and trees, orchestrating a deadly melody.
"I see it." He whispered to Sky. "When I say run, you run as fast as possible in the opposite direction, got it?"
"Y-yeah." Sky said, full of nerves.
"Now!" Avis shouted.
Sky sprinted through the forest as fast as he could. He didn't know what was chasing him, but he knew that it wasn't anything good. The sound of twigs snapping and leaves rusting followed behind him, but he didn't dare look back.
"Up ahead!" Avis shouted. "There's a clearing! Run towards the light!"
'Light?' Sky didn't have much time to think as he approached the light source. He immediately noticed where he was; the Spirit Pond. Without decreasing his pace, he dived into the lake as far as he could. He impacted the cold water, which engulfed him in its depths. He opened his eyes underneath the rippling water, and only the mirk of dirt mixed with water presented itself. So it was until shadows danced around him as if they were playing a game of tag. The previous day he noticed something strange about this pool of water. There were black shadows, but now he was sure it was some creature rapidly closing in on him.
The shadows began swarming around him, suffocating him. He kicked and thrashed his arms and legs, trying to get rid of them, but it was no use. Sky tried to reach the water's surface to take a breath of air, but the current pulled him deeper and deeper into the pond. He could hear the cries of Avis's voice calling for him, but it was useless. Before Sky gave into his despair, the shadows dispersed and quickly darted in the direction of a splash. An orange fox-like creature jumped in after Sky, presumably to harm him with its abnormally long claws and razor canine teeth. The shadows swarmed and dragged the beast to the centre of the pond. Sky immediately found his opportunity to swim to the shore and watched the spiralling waters whirl their way up into the sky and crash into the pond. The surface rippled and then calmed as if nothing ever happened.
Sky huffed out of breath, coughing the remaining water that made its way into his lungs. Avis dashed over to him, "Are you alright?"
"Y-yeah." Sky said between coughs.
"That damn fox! What the hell was it doing?!" Avis was as panicked as Sky had ever seen him. "Just wait til I find your family and snack on them!"
"Calm down, Avis. Just take a deep breath." Sky placed a hand on his head.
Avis took a few deep breaths before he regained his composure. "Let me take a good look at you."
Apart from the odd scratches here and there from being dragged on the bottom of the pond bed, he was perfectly fine. Actually, he was better than fine, considering the water had healing properties.
"Alright, back away now!"
Avis was awfully close to Sky, making him a little uncomfortable.
"What? Oh! Sorry, didn't mean to get so close." Avis backed away quickly. "I just wanted to check to see if you were really okay. You've already made your etherical pathways which are quite brittle in early development."
"My what?" Sky asked, confused.
"That thing you were doing throughout the night, that's called etherical pathways. You know this, right?"
Sky just looked dumbfound, which almost made Avis angry.
"How could you not know what I'm talking about?! You were doing it all night!"
"I was just following the etherlines in my body? I was so mesmerised by them that I lost track of time... that's all." Sky scratched the back of his neck before deciding to walk back where they came.
They both continued to venture around the forest, where Sky came across nothing but random plants, which naturally drew his attention. With that, the two of them went back to the cave, safe and sound. Although it was a close call, they both recovered just moments later and returned to the cave. Avis asked Sky to wait there a moment and quickly floated away. A moment later, Sky could see Avis floating back from where he ran off to with a wide grin across his face, and a dark clump of wriggling creatures floated next to him.
"Guess what I have?" Avis said with an eager voice.
"Diner?" Sky said, almost drooling after such a long day.
The squirming ball dropped down in front of Sky and suddenly dispersed in multiple directions. Although a good attempt at fleeing, the serpentine creature didn't move from its place. The same creature Sky and Avis ate yesterday was wriggling on the ground, trying to escape.
"Get the firewood, and I'll do the preparations," Avis said with a large grin.
Sky quickly left the cave and promptly came back with a batch of firewood. While climbing up, he could hear the sickening crunching noise of bones being shattered, followed by Avis's content slurping.
"Don't eat all of it!" Sky called out while getting to his feet by the entrance of the cave.
Sky ate the remains that Avis left him and simply sat watching the evening sun sink into the distance. A short time passed with nothing but the comfort of silence. Avis eyed Sky whilst Sky was simply avoiding his gaze. It was an awkward atmosphere, to say the least, but it eventually died down as they got used to each other's presence.
"For you to be more useful, you need to learn how to manipulate ether. I can't help you because of the restriction, so just try your best. You can do it out here or in your mind dimension thingy. Just try and get this done because I'm telling you now, we have a lot of work ahead of us."
"What are you talking about? What kind of work could there possibly be but survive?"
Avis sighed and simply said, "You need to be stronger, Sky. Judging by your performance today, I can say with confidence that you have the stats of a newborn baby. Your adult body is the only thing stopping that comparison. Once you get access to your stats, you can start completing quests and begin your levelling process.
"I'm thankful that you're helping Avis, but I can't stay here forever. Just take me to the nearest town. I almost died yesterday and again today. I won't be living by the time I leave this forest!" Sky was understandably frustrated, but so was Avis. He didn't want to have to go through this, but he knew it was for their own good.
"You're too weak! Don't you understand that strength is everything in this world? The Darkness dimension let you be, but this place, this continent, is absolutely brutal."
Sky rubbed at his temples and said, "Fine, just tell me what I need to do, Avis, and try not to kill me in the process! Actually, do what you want. Returning to the Darkness dimension doesn't look all that bad anymore."
"That's the attitude I'm looking for! What's the point of being afraid of death when you've already experienced it? Keep that attitude for a fight, and I'm sure you will have no issues." Sky scoffed at the comment but continued to listen, "All you need to do right now is focus on ether. Now, chop, chop, and get to it!"