The sound of trees rustling and birds chirping were heard and a warm breeze swept through the forest, awaking Derkile who had been unconscious.
Derkile eyes opened and they were met by the shinning bright light of the sun. He winced and tried to sit up, surprisingly he was able to do so, and that was when all the memories of the other night came flooding back to him.
" What?, How come??!".
Derkile said , alarmingly. He thought he would have been dead, even if not for the lion, he should have lost a lot of blood from the wound on his chest, and that was when he looked at his chest to discover that the cut on his chest was no more.
He quickly checked around his body, all the bruises and wounds were also gone, and Derkile also felt stronger.
' how is this even possible??'. He said in an excited tone, even though he was still surprised. He quickly looked around, and the traces of the lion and the yellow Stone were no where to be found.
Derkile was silent, he checked his clothes too, the sign of the cut still there, even his whole body was covered in blood. Derkile thought of what could have happened, but while he was still thinking, the sudden realization hit him that he was still in the forest and if he didn't hurry up, he would be attacked by other beasts, so he started moving this time, he was not trying to look for a way to go home, he was now looking for anywhere that led out of this forest, as he now believed that any where was safer than the forest he was staying right now.
While Derkile was walking, a sudden energy in his body forced him to start running, and something strange happened. Immediately he started to run, he felt something was off, he hadn't run for five seconds when he looked around him and discovered that everywhere around him was blurring.
He immediately stopped, and wanted to look at where he had started running from.
" What the hell is happening?!!".
Derkile yelled, as the place he had started running from, just few seconds ago, was in such a distance, that Derkile was starting to think he was still dreaming. How had he covered such a distance in just a matter of seconds, Derkile knew that it was not normal and was wondering what happened to his body, the last night.
He decided to do some tests with his body, he went to the tree nearest to him and surveyed his fist, in a slow motion he pulled back his fist and pound it against the tree.
' bang!!'. A loud bang was heared, and the tree had been totally destroyed, uprooted from the ground .
Derkile was in shock, he checked his fist and it was perfectly fine. He had destroyed the whole tree with just a punch. This sudden realization made Derkile have a creepy smile on his face. He decided to do some more tests.
Soon, Derkile was seen on a very tall tree in the forest, he had climbed on it easily and from there his vision was also developed. He could see very far places, but unfortunately the tree was not tall enough for him see his village or any other places in the kingdom, he could only see the forest and tall trees around him.
Derkile didn't want to waste time and tried jumping from the tree into another, he felt light on his legs and was easily able to jump around the forest without missing his steps, after jumping for a while, he decided to try another thing. He jumped down from the tree easily unto the ground.
Immediately he landed, it looks like his senses had improved, he could smell around the area where he was, and could hear everything from the chirping of birds in the tree to the crawling of insects on the ground. He felt amazing, and even his fear of the forest had reduced. His body felt ever flowing with a strange energy through out every part of his body.
" I think I might have gained strange powers". Dear said out loud, with a smile on his face.
...
" Wo hooo!!". Derkile screamed, as he ran through the forest, he was so fast to the extent that everything by his side was moving in a blur, and leaves and dust were raised from his running. He was supernaturally fast and was still able to easily move any how he wanted. Suddenly a silly thought came by his head.
He had been told that some sorcerers were actually granted the ability to fly, even though he knew that what was happening to him had nothing to do with sorcerers, he still wanted to try whether he could fly.
He h always dreamed of it when he was still a little kid, flying around the whole village and looking down at everyone and laughing at them...., But still this was a child's dream and different from now, perhaps if he could fly, he would be able to get out of the forest and go back home in time for him to get ready for the selection coming up tomorrow.
He knew deep down inside that he mustn't miss becoming a soilder, perhaps even a strong one with his new powers.
So, he made up his mind and started climbing up a tree. When he reached the top, the sun beats his back and he looked down, checking the height, Derkile hadn't jumped directly down from a tree before, as the other time, he had climbed low enough before he jumped. But this time even though his main purpose on the tree wasn't to jump, he still made sure he was careful. When he was ready, he prepared himself.
" Here goes nothing". He said, he closed his eyes and lifted his foot from the branch on the tree. He felt himself moving up. For a split second Derkile actually thought he was flying, until soon he opened his eyes and saw that he had jumped and had moved up quite high, but soon enough he was coming back down, and with twice the force he had used to go up. The ground got closer and closer until.... ' Bash!!' .
Derkile had hit the ground, dust rising up from the area he had crashed. Derkile legs had twisted beyond recognition, the legs where swollen, red and broken, he never knew he could get hurt this badly.
" Owww!!". He screamed in pain.
" Maybe I shouldn't have tried to fly. Now how will I get out of this forest". He said.
But soon immediately like magic, the legs started to suddenly heal , the wound disappearing and the legs straightning, soon Derkile who was dazed all the while, decided to try and get up. He started walking normally, his legs had been healed.
Derkile was not so suprised this time, and he quickly continued walking, trying to find his way.
While he was walking he started to think about what he became, was he a vampire?, No he was told vampire where weak in the sun, but he was as strong as ever, what about a werewolf?, Duh, he was no fool to think he was something like that.....".
He kept on thinking of different mythical creature he could have become, but soon a sudden realization hit him , about what happened the other night, maybe the magical stone had made him a lion like creature, after all he had similar traits like that of a lion. He started thinking about all this when suddenly, in a distance, he could see a door like
object at his front.
' A door ???, What's a door doing in the middle of a forest'. Derkile thought, but when he took a closer look, he could see that a stone was engraved on the top.
This was no ordinary door, it was actually a magical door that could lead out of the forest. Derkile was now totally focused on getting in the door. Suddenly, three dog like creatures fly out of nowhere trying to stop Derkile from getting to the door.
At first, he hesitated, looking at the features of the beasts. They were totally black and looked like dogs, their ears were very long, and they also had one eye in the center of the head, they seemed to be ready to attack, with their fangs bare and sharp.
Derkile knew that the number of eyes on a beast, was going to determine if a beast was strong, or not, so he wasn't scared when they showed up. Infact, he was deciding to use them as a test for his new powers...
Derkile moved forward, and the beast ran in to attack him, the first one came leaping towards Derkile with an awful growl, but he simply raised his hand and slapped the beast away. The beast slammed into a tree trunk, crushed the death, and black blood started splashing out.
When the others saw this, their countance change, and the beasts actually seemed to be shaking out of fear. Derkile just kept on going forward, towards the door, and soon a more braver dog also came in for attack, this time Derkile didn't just kill it, he quickly grabbed the beast by the neck and gripped it tight, the dog beast yellped in pain, straining to breath. Derkile stared into the beast eye. There was something sort of energy produced by this beast that seemed to attract Derkile, somehow, the way the beast struggled to break free, it was producing a type of energy Derkile wanted.
The next second, Derkile's right eye began to glow yellow and the dark energy been produced by the beast was sucked into it. The beast seemed to get a little more calm and Derkile let go of it, immediately the beast touched the ground,it and the other dog scrammed for their so called life.
The energy Derkile consumed some how seemed to make him more stronger and his body felt as energetic as ever.
He had reached the door, he turned the rusted knob and the door, creaked open, he quickly just inside and Suddenly, a bright light enveloped him and when the light was gone, he found himself in a crowded area, a lot of people going and coming, he had appeared in a corner beside a small house, so luckily, he was not noticed by any one.
Derkile quickly checked around, hoping he had arrived in his village, but instead, he saw a large and tall castle far away from where he was. It quickly dawned on him.
This wasn't his village or any other place, this was the.....
" The king's palace!!! ".
****
End of chapter 2