The night was still and quiet.
Rustle! Rustle!
Only the gentle touch of the breeze brushed against the thick long trees, forcing their leaves to dance to the tone of their archaic rhythm, swaying to the ancient song of nature.
And amid this ambience of nature, 2 men ran.
Amid the quiet night only disturbed by the rustling of the tree leaves, their heavy breathing could be heard as they ran through the forest, into the dangerous depths of the Endless Wilderness.
After the advent of the Demonic Beast Emergence, most of human society was upended, destroyed by the rampage of the demonic beasts, including most of its technological innovations and advancement.
What was left of the 21st century was mostly ruins.
The worldwide destruction would have wiped humanity off the face of the earth. This was until the emergence of the very first carriers of the power of the Gods, the powerful humans called awakened warriors.
Despite the emergence of awakened warriors, the demon gates that opened across humanity were too numerous. The demonic beasts destroyed most of human society, felling entire continents like Asia and Antarctica.
Of the 7 continents in the world, only 3 survived the Demonic Beast Emergence, Europe, Africa, and Asia.
These continents survived only in name since even there already became the playground of the demonic beasts. They were called safe zones still because humans managed to form strongholds against the demonic beasts there.
Unlike in the lost continents that were complete death zones.
Apart from the death zones, the most dangerous place in the world was the largest wilderness in the safe zones, the Endless Wilderness.
The Endless Wilderness is a glaring reminder of the weakness of humanity in the face of demonic beasts.
Even in the safe zones, with the humans unable to hold on to most of their territory, the demonic beasts rampaged, turning entire cities and countries into death ruins across the 3 surviving continents, forming what is now known as the Endless Wilderness.
It was a forest of ruin and destruction that spanned across Europe, Africa, and Asia, and that was Paul's current location.
Yester night's events, watching his mom die reminded Paul of the trauma of 5 years ago as he also watched his dad die.
When he woke up from his slumber, the first thing that entered Paul's head was regret, but the second thing was not the burial. The second thing that entered his mind was how to keep his little twin sister safe.
Throughout the period of attending the burial, narrating events to his aunty, and going through the process of awakening his God powers, one thing lingered in his mind, how to protect his twin sister.
This was why in his private time; he had conversations with the lean man.
"I want to live, I want to get strong, but above all, I want to protect my sister".
"You're strong, and knowledgeable, tell me how to protect my sister".
Once he demanded it, the lean man answered truthfully. The assassins of the triple six all endured harsh training and all of it was for one purpose, murder.
Claire Arrakis managed to kill one of them because they were caught off-guard. Despite all the reinforcement that his aunt sought, the lean man was not confident in them winning and even if somehow, they won, he was sure that there would be sacrifices.
That was where Paul made his decision. He was tired of people making the sacrifices for him, this time, he wanted to make the sacrifice himself.
So, to protect his sister, his aunt and her family, he would leave.
He would leave to protect them and fend for himself.
To acquire power, he would leave.
But it was not easy to shake off assassins of the order of the triple six, most especially when it was a team of Heimdalls.
Taking normal routes through towns would be futile.
The only hope they had of shaking their pursuers off was by entering the world of demonic beasts, the Endless Wilderness in the hopes that in the thick scent of the wild, their pursuers would lose them.
This was assuming that they didn't have any God relic for tracking.
This was the reason why Paul left.
To not alert his aunty and the others ahead of time, Paul and the lean man waited till it was 9 in the night before they snuck away.
In that 2 hours' time, they made it to the Endless Wilderness, throwing all caution to the wind as they rushed inside in hopes of losing their pursuers.
Of course, if the lean man wanted, since he was a Heimdall, he could use his extraordinary senses to scout a relatively safe path through the wilderness that would reduce their chances of encountering demonic beasts but they didn't have that luxury since they were in a race against time.
And in the world of demonic beasts, it was forbidden for humans to move without any caution for danger.
Their luck was incredible, lasting for 2 hours and some minutes.
More than 24 hours after his awakening, after gaining access to 3 of his apprentice God powers, Paul finally had his first encounter with a demonic beast, and it was not just any demonic beast.
It was a demonic beast in the Endless Wilderness.
It happened while they still ran…
"Stop!"
Paul dared not hesitate, neither did he think, he stopped immediately after the lean man spoke and it was this fast reaction that saved his life.
Bam!
All he saw was a red streak of light and before he knew it, a blood-red short spear impaled where he was supposed to be if he moved just a step forward.
'Woah!' Cold sweat filled Paul's back.
With the force and speed at which that spear hit the ground, if it hit his body, he was not sure if he would have been able to survive.
"It's over there".
This time, Paul didn't need the older man's warning because he could already sense the thick hatred and killing intent oozing from the demonic beast.
Paul looked, and then he took a deep breath.
It looked even worse than depicted in the books.
"It's a Blood-Fang Wolf". The lean man commented.
This was a white and red-haired Wolf. It was more than a meter tall with blood-red eyes and blood-soaked teeth, hence its name. Staring at them, it's white and red hair stood like spikes.
It's blood-red tail was pointed and sharp, vibrating slightly and for some reason, it looked like it was regrowing.
Well, it was actually regrowing. This was because the short red spear that almost hit Paul was shot by this wolf. It was its own tail and after detaching it to shoot it, it now expended its demonic essence to create a new one.
This Wolf's maws were open in a snarl, revealing its sharp teeth that released viscous drool. This demonic Wolf was hungry.
"It's a Commander rank demonic beast". The lean man warned.
'It just had to be a Commander rank beast!' Paul cursed.