His legs were giving up, the mud on his body already hardening, and his clothes drenched in sweat. All of those, yet he never stopped running. He no longer felt the fatigue he once had earlier, his excitement outshined his pain.
"Finally..." He muttered.
His eyes were flowing with tears.
As he got closer and closer to the village, he noticed something strange about it.
No one was seen.
His heart faltered for a moment, but he immediately put his worries away, thinking that maybe the villagers were just sleeping. He got closer and closer, he noticed more weird stuff. An assortment of things was sprawled across the ground outside each house.
"Strange..."
He slowed down for a moment.
"..."
His pace slowed down, taking in every important detail.
"What the hell...?"
He finally reached the village, and just like his earlier observation, no one was there. Maybe there was a whole village celebration going on some other place? Or maybe an evacuation? Ryu could only wonder.
Articles of clothing, toys, and some scraps of food were left on the ground.
"Were they running away from something...?" Ryu asked in his mind.
...
A large village, yet no one was there. It was certainly an odd sight. Ryu was silent.
...
After taking it all in for a while, he walked around the village. The village he once lived in looked like this. Everything looked humble and small. He smiled, though a hint of hurt in his eyes, knowing he lost all of those. He shook his head and pressed on further to investigate.
...
"What the hell happened here?" his only question.
Every single house he looked into was either empty or had a little bit of things left in it. Maybe he was right, maybe the villagers were indeed trying to escape something.
"Ugh, I don't wanna think about this..."
He pressed his palm on his forehead. His stomach grumbled.
"Ugh..."
He took off his bag and dug through it. He pulled out a piece of bread and ate it piece by piece. It wasn't much, but it should've been enough.
...
"Stones... Gramps really didn't tell me anything about it... That old bastard."
Ryu sighed, but-
"I do remember that story Dad told me though..."
He shrugged and continued eating his bread.
"Eh, I won't have to worry about that, hopefully."
...
After eating, he stood up, still wondering what he should do now.
"Hm..."
He had an idea. He investigated the village once more, and there it was, a trail.
The trail was quite big, the villagers must have walked in one group, and if that's the case, Ryu could just follow it and maybe, just maybe, find the missing villagers.
He followed along the trail of many footprints and lines from carriages. The trail was surrounded by a forest.
"Shit... If another wolf comes out..."
He was worried about the possibility of yet another wolf charging at him.
"Wait..."
Then, a realization hit him.
"I heard that... Wolves come in packs..."
And right after he realized that fact, he heard twigs being broken in the trees. The features and size were obscured by the darkness and the surrounding foliage.
And no, not just in one place, but all around him... They were following him, stalking him like a prey.
"Shit..."
One wolf is already hard enough for him, how much more a pack of them? So despite his legs almost falling out from the fatigue alone, he sprinted as fast as he could. The sounds of bushes shaking and twigs being broken followed him.
Fear took over his mind. This is the first time he has felt true danger since that hellish night. He ran as fast as he could, leaving muddy footprints and creating a mess out of the dirt road.
Then inevitably, one wolf lunged towards him, its jaws wide open, about to tear his face apart.
"AH!-"
In the last second, he rolled forward, dodging its attack. It was a miracle he dodged that, but miracles shouldn't be relied on. He was completely defenseless. His mind thought of ways to fight back, something... Just something-
Until he remembered something.
"Aura... Shit."
His Aura, though weak, was strong enough to kill a wolf in one strike. This is his weapon!
"Focus, focus..."
...
The faint symbols on his palms... Didn't even glow at all.
"Shit."
He couldn't manifest his aura at all.
Then, another wolf lunged at him, though it was trying to bite him, he was only knocked on the ground.
"AH-"
He fell to the ground, tumbling towards the bushes and twigs. He completely lost his momentum, as three wolves slowly appeared from the shadows of the forest.
"Ah..."
Thinking quickly, he saw a thick, broken tree branch beside him.
When the wolf lunged at him, he held out the end of the branch, the stick went inside the wolf's throat. The branch wasn't sharp, but that was at least enough to choke the wolf.
The other two wolves snarled.
He picked up a handful of dirt and threw it all over their eyes.
The wolves flinched. Using this opportunity, he got on his feet again and ran.
The two wolves, though delayed for a few seconds, immediately started chasing Ryu, leaving the other one choking on the ground.
To the wolves, it wasn't just a matter of food anymore, but revenge for their fallen two packmates.
He couldn't manifest his aura at all, but he currently had no privilege to think about why, as he was currently chased down by two wolves.
He needed a weapon... Until he remembered a knife in his bag for cooking.
He pulled his bag out while full-on sprinting, and dug through it. He found the knife and wore his bag on his back again.
He was thinking hard, and the only idea he had came into his mind.
...
He ran faster and faster, and so did the wolves. Then using all his might, he used his right foot as a brake and came to an abrupt stop, but the wolves didn't.
He faced the wolves, and one lunged... Just what he needed.
And in one quick movement, he stabbed through the wolf's body, and right through the heart. The wolf fell to the ground, though still trying its best to move, and was bleeding fast.
Only one wolf left. The last wolf growled.
He slowly tried to pick up another handful of dirt, hoping it could make the wolf stop again. But as he was about to lower to the ground, the wolf quickly threw itself at him.
"SHIT-"
He dodged.
He huffed for air, he's already too tired to deal with this. Looks like the wolf knows about his trick of throwing dirt.
...
Ryu cleared his mind, and put up a fighting stance he made up on the spot. Raised his fists and used his forearms as a shield.
His Gramps never really taught him anything to fight, so Ryu recalled how he punched earlier.
Ryu emptied his thoughts again, focusing on the enemy in front of him. There, finally, the symbols on his palm glowed.
The wolf growled and lunged again.
Ryu, silent, threw a simple punch. His fist connected with the wolf's head and-
*BOOM*
The wolf was thrown far away, crashing at a giant tree, and leaving a huge dent on it too.
Ryu sighed and fell to the ground. His vision darkened and darkened, and darkened...
...
...
Ryu, Beginner Aura Fighter.