In the dark forest forest filled with abundant verdure and predators that lurk in the shadows with intent to devour, a young boy wandered on foot, seemingly on a stroll as the darkness of the night did not bother him. His clothes which were once pristine and regal now looked torn and burnt in some areas with evident bloodstains on it. Most of which were not his. Still this young boy walked with purpose, holding onto a device to guide hid path while moving forward.
The young boy was obviously Oscar Lane. After going through a series of unfortunate events, entering a state of weakness and vulnerability, fighting to change his fate while desperately seeking to improve himself and coming out victorious in the end. His mindset changed knowing that he had to throw away almost all he thought he knew about magic wasn't an easy decision.
His mind was almost overwhelmed by the deviation he had made. All in all, it had it's pros and cons with the advantages of being able to use and create skills without chanting or memorization of magic formulas,he also had the ability to control fire by drawing mana from his surroundings or using the internal energy within his body.
The cons of this path lay in the advantages themselves, he is the only human capable of using magic in this form. The first person to ever tread on this path so while heay be unique, any mistakes he make could also be deadly. One of which is the reason for his state of weakness at this moment.
During his fight against Clifford, he took things to a new level when he manifested his internal energy and control the flames to attack. It placed a heavy load on his heart which led to a backlash with bouts of coughing blood from time to time.
Noting this he stopped walking. Checking to see if his present location showed any threats or signs of predatory beasts on the device. He climbed on a tree.
While sitting on the tree, he began to brood. Thinking of the outcome of his actions and the way forward.
***
This forest is a mana rich environment I could only notice that after achieving a breakthrough in my path, my senses have improved. My perception of mana is what I could call unique but all this had come at a cost. I can feel my heart growing weak, the price for manifesting my internal energy was no small one. At the moment I'm able to use the mana in the environment as a means to harness magic, however, I feel three times stronger when I use my core along with it. The aftereffects are a different case entirely.
For now I should only use the first method unless I come across a life or death situation, ironically I'm in a forest inhabited by wild animals but with the device in hand I should be able to avoid it till I reach the outskirts of the forest.
Huam....
Yawning, I decided to get some shut eye.
It's morning once again, it wasn't that noticeable because the trees were tall and thick at these parts of the forest that it was hard for the sun's rays to peek through. Nonetheless, I resumed my walk through the Dunkel forest with the device in hand.
The tool wasn't that hard to operate, there were dots on the map-liks part of the screen, indicating species of different kinds The dots had different colours and shades that could be used to tell how dangerous or safe the path I was heading to was.
I studied the colour codes, did some tests to confirm my doubts and understand how it functioned. The red dots were indicator for strong beasts, the green and grey dots were for plants and insects respectively. The blue dots were for swampy areas or locations such as ponds or rivers.
The one I'm curious about but haven't checked yet were the black dots, they were a little far off from where I'm headed on the map and this is not thr time for explore the unknown.
I walked, I ate, I yawned, sometimes I sprinted. All in an effort to go back to the outside of the forest. It's been less than four days since my accidental venture into the forest, I'm pretty sure they could be searching for me. But who would have thought I'd be in the Dunkel forest of all places.
Sighing in frustration, I looked up to see it was night once more. I found a tree with thicker branches, not planning to sleep on smaller trees this night as I nearly felt off the last one.
I woke up to the loud howl of an animal, it was about five hundred metres away. Normally I wouldn't have noticed something from that far distance but with improved senses and perception, this was my new normal.
I climbed down the tree and moved to inspect what was happening in that location.
Stumbling upon what seemed to be the aftermath of a battle, I saw a large animal on the ground it had bear-like features, it was laying on the ground with no hint of life in it. Directly opposite this animal was a huge wolf standing at almost two metres, the black eyes of this wolf glowed with ferocious intent, but it's body was covered with heavy wounds perhaps from the fight against the bear.
The gaze of the wolf wasn't directed at the bear though, but at the fox-like creatures that stood not far from it, staring as if waiting for it to drop dead.
Even so, they weren't after the wolf but the wolf pups by it's side. The bear had killed five wolf pups before the mother came and fought with it to the death, emerging victorious but heavily injured, it was on its last limbs with only two pups left.
In such a state, it was barely able to protect them, but the fox-like creatures were cautious, not attacking immediately.
Taking note of the features, I realized it was a Zin wolf, a wolf possessing an affinity of dark magic. One of their basic skills was their ability to camouflage themselves in their environment.
No longer being able to stand, the adult wolf fell weakly to the ground. The wolf pups could only bear their fangs at the foxes barely posing a threat.
From what I could assume the Zin wolf and the earthen bear fought, with the Zin wolf becoming victorious and getting heavily injured in the process.
Seeing this scene made me think of the natural order of things. Only the strong is feared and respected. However, the moment weakness sets in, fear and respect is gone.
I felt pity for the young wolf pup but that was it. If I helped it out by chasing the wild animals it was still going to die in the hands of another predator. After all their guardian was going to die, so the foxes at this point, were waiting patiently for the adult wolf to succumb to injuries before killing the wolf pups.
What a cruel world.
****
It didn't take long for the inevitable to happen, the wolf breathed it's last as it died. Leaving the two pups to the mercy of the foxes.
The little pups weren't that small, being almost the same height as the foxes, but the overwhelming numbers and aura of bloodthirst exuded by the foxes was enough to overpower them. The predators had become prey.
Nonetheless, what happened next was unexpected. One of the pups ran away leaving the other one behind to fend against the skulk of foxes
Four out of them chased after the fleeing wolf, leaving five with the last remaining one.
Clearly the wolf cub was not going to win but it didn't back down even proceeding to attack first. The foxes welcomed this as they rushed at it together biting and clawing at it from different points.
The wolf had no advantage, it struggled against them but the crazed look in it's eyes only intensified.
With it's fangs, the wolf bit off the throat of a fox, causing blood to gush out and splatter on the rest of them. It did not stop there as it went on to claw at another fox.
The rest pushed on, attacking with much fervor. Their moves did nothing to slow it down even as it accumulated injuries. Nothing would make it give in.
The fox was clawed to death, leaving three foxes in the bloody battle. Oscar was shocked by the power this young wolf exhibited, the resilience of its body and the strength behind each attack. With the intensity at which the wolf was going, it should be able to end the fight in no time.
Sadly, reality as they say is often disappointing. The wolf was now beginning to grow weak, it's strength was diminishing. To make it worse, the foxes that had gone after the other pup had come back.