Guys exams are going on, so my update speed's a bit slow! Back after history exam, damn my arm hurts after writing so much...
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Ten minutes since Mino began his forage for fuel.
Mino was shivering like anything, his arms wrapped tightly
around his body, trying to conserve whatever body heat they
could. Feeling like he could no longer continue, he fell to his
knees. What he feared was taking place.
Because of the
increase in the chilliness of the weather, his heat was being
sapped away rather quickly. He was growing more desperate by
the second.
"S-shit... anything will do... d-dry twigs... or even some dry
leaves...i need to find some... AND FAST!"
Picking himself up from his kneeling position, Mino started
walking in the direction of the black shiny lump of rock.
After
walking some distance, he could finally see the lumpy boulder,
although the visibility was poor. Finally reaching over to the
boulder, Mino headed off in the direction left to the rock, hoping
he would find something worthwhile.
Soon Mino found himself near the edge of the forest. Seeing the
dark intimidating trees, he couldn't help but take a step back.
"Mino... gather yourself! At least you've gotta try!"
Slapping his own cheeks to pep himself up, he crouched and
slowly advanced towards the first row of trees.
His vision was getting more and more dull, his speed was
sluggish. Mino found himself unable to move his limbs the way
he wanted. But that was natural.
The body's first priority is to
keep the vitals warm. So it sent more blood to them, reducing
blood supply to his muscles by a considerable amount.
Soon he approached the nearest tree, which was one of the
shorter ones. Standing on his toes, he grabbed one of the lower branches of trees. Once he was sure he had a firm grip on it, he
pulled it with all his might.
*Snap*
The branch broke with a sharp sound. Even though the sound
seemed faint to Mino, it did not for the creatures residing in the
forest.
He had already given up on the thought of collecting dry leaves
or twigs, he had to manage with whatever he could find himself.
Putting his hand on one of the protrusions of the trunk, he
managed to heave himself up after a pitiful struggle. He noticed
an important thing.
This trees resembled that of earth. Its bark
had a rough, spiky texture which hurt his hands as he continued
climbing upwards. By the time he reached the top, he was
already panting like someone who has just finished a sprint.
"Damn... maybe I should've really invested some time in my
physique..." with this thought in mind, he reached his hand out
to break some more branches. When he did, his palm got
covered in a thick viscous oily sludge.
"Ewwww!" Muttering out of disgust, he thought how he could
clean his hands. But first he tried identifying this sludge dripping
off his palm.
"Oily sludge from a plant... w-wait... doesn't that mean!" His
eyes immediately brightened. Taking the broken branch, he
moved it to the base of the tree branches, the source of the
stuff.
After slathering the bark completely in that sludge, he
nodded in satisfaction and got down (in a pathetic manner).
"If I really think what it is... the I'm sure this will burn slowly.
Also, mere sparks can't ignite resin. What do I do?" He
continued wondering while walking towards the black rock.
Rubbing his greasy palm on his pants, he shot forwards towards the rock!
He was grinning stupidly, he had finally
received the answer to his question!
Tiny beads of sweat running down his body, he reached the
rock.
The sweat magnified the effect of the cold breeze blowing,
and Mino was rewarded with clattering teeth.
"Please be dry... please be dry...please be dry...."
He prayed to himself. Taking a look at the paper on the rock, he
could only exclaim in joy.
"Heck yeaaaahhh!"
The paper was quite dry.
[I will put this scroll paper to good use!]
Now Mino's plan was clear. Generate a spark.
Ignite the paper.
Then ignite the resin covered bark with the burning paper. And
finally, enjoy the flame!
*Sc-r-r-r-atch*
With a scratching sound, a shower of sparks landed on the
paper, charring those areas black. It was soon burning in a
couple tries, the flame illuminating the surroundings near him in
a yellow orange light.
Mino impatiently brought the bark and
made it touch the fire. As he expected, it started burning. The
flame was very smoky due to the moisture unlike the paper
flame.
In terms of the light, it was quite bright and gave off a
lovely amount of warmth.
Ignoring the smoke, Mino stretched his legs towards the fire,
which was only going to last for some more time.
All the
remaining water and sweat clinging to his body dried up. The
blood flow got normal and his previously pale blue skin regained
the normal wheatish colour.
After a few minutes, Mino was all warm and dry.
His shirt was
mostly dried up too, although it was quite sooty because of the
smoke laden flame. But he knew that was temporary and he had to quickly find some more fuel. Also, he had to find a water
source, which seemed to be a very difficult task.
One good thing
was that he had somehow managed to break a chunk of the
ferrocerium-like rock.
[I guess I'll just have to go there again...]
Mino nonchalantly turned his head towards the tree he broke
the branch from. Within a second, all the warmth in his body just
vanished. This time, not only his muscles, even his bones had
gone cold.
A pair of glowing blood red eyes could be seen floating in thedarkness. It was looking at his direction, and Mino was sure that
he was the target of the stare.
Cold sweat accumulating in his
forehead, he decided to slowly step backwards while
maintaining eye contact. The moment he put his first step back,
he realised his decision was flawed.
"Awwwwwwwuuuuuuuuuuu...!"
Letting out a howl which shook every fibre of Mino's being,
engraving fear in his mind, the beast shot out at him.
Without looking back even once, Mino broke into a run, not
even trying to look what was chasing him.
His legs, which had already walked a great deal felt like lead
beams.
But Mino couldn't afford to give up. The beast was
getting closer by the second. If he stopped running to ease the
pain in his legs, even more pain awaited him.
The pressure let
out by the wolf was burdening his back and it made it difficult for
him to breathe.
Letting out hot, feverish breaths, Mino noticed
that he was finally reaching his limit. In the moment of crisis, a
plan brewed inside his head.
Although hesitating at first, he turned back, only for the sight to
freeze him momentarily. It was a big wolf! A brown furred wolf,
with black border running along the edges of its ears, paws and lips.
Mouth open, its menacing set of teeth were put to display,
strings of saliva clinging to them. Even it was on all fours, its
head easily reached upto Mino's shoulder.
Coming to a halt, the wolf planted its thick muscular hindlimbs
on the ground.
Mino knew that the wolf was planning
something, so he abruptly changed his direction. Sadly, it was
of no use. Having brought its forelimbs close to its hind ones, it
resembled a compressed spring.
"Grrrrrr...."
A threatening growl issued from the beast's mouth as its calf
and thigh muscles enlarged, the network of swollen veins could
be seen clearly. After lowering his head, it brought Mino, its
prey, in its line of sight, and disappeared.
Literally.
Mino saw it vanish without a trace, left confused as
fuck.
"Graaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!"
Only to see the same terrifying bloody eyes looking at him from
above, coming down to tear his throat.
Mino understood finally what had actually happened!
The wolf
had pounced upon him with its explosive strength!