A breath hitched in Sine's throat, and his heart dropped.
'What the-'
Before Sine could blink, before he could react, the wolf's head was already right in front of him, examining its prey with hungry eyes.
Clenching his jaw, and his eyes wide in fear, Sine swung The Pole as hard as he could with a yelp, but it was of no use.
The wolf simply raised his hand and grabbed it mid-swing, and with a smile that sent chills down Sine's spine, jabbed him in the gut.
The mountain shook as Sine crashed against it, his eyes rolling back in his head, and blood pouring out of his nose and mouth.
'D-Dang'
The wolf's maw opened wide, wider than Sine's body, and with a chomp-
BOOM!
Using The Pole, Sine stopped the bite, and at the same time kicked the thing in the side, sending it flying.
'What do I do!?'
Fight with your life on the line.
With a click of his tongue, Sine had started his Cadence, jumping up and down to build greater speed.
The beast snarled, fangs dripping with bloodlust. Its eyes, once cocky, now held only anger. The muscles in its legs coiled like a spring, and with a boom, the wolf was upon him again.
Razor sharp claws slashed from above, faster than Sine should be able to see.
But he was in his battle-state.
His eyes shone platinum as he rotated his body backwards, and used the force of the slash to hit his Pole to build even greater momentum.
Sidestepping the great beast, the veins in his arms bulged as he swung The Pole, the result, a cataclysmic injury for the wolf.
But its anger did not stop there.
A flurry of slashes tore the landscape apart, and Sine was left on the defensive, narrowly dodging or weaving his attacks, sometimes having to take the attack with the exception of The Pole.
Sine planted The Pole into the ground, and using it as a lever, upheaved the earth.
The beast roared and swiped away the dirt and dust Sine launched at him, but it was too late.
"rrRRRAHHHHH!"
Sine stepped in, his body right next to the bloodthirsty wolf, and with all of his strength, thrusted his weapon upwards.
WHAM!
Hitting it right in the chin, the wolf's eyes were in a daze, a momentary loss in control.
Sine didn't miss the chance.
A rain of bone-shattering strikes landed all over the wolf's body, contorting and breaking it apart.
'DIE DIE DIE!'
His attacks sped up, muscles popping, bones creaking, and his battle-art flowing, keeping the wolf that is long dead on its feet.
With a final strike to the middle of its chest, Sine stopped attacking, his breath rugged and straggled.
'I... I think I got him...'
Wiping the blood pouring from his face, Sine stood tall once again and scanned the environment. All the noise may attract even stronger abominations, and Sine really can't handle them. This is his peak right now.
He turned around and started his sprint once again.
**
"I'd say about twenty miles left... I really need a break."
Sine breathed heavily, his body was in tatters, and he had been continuously using all of his strength, so he was weak.
'When am I gonna get out of this dang forest!'
Sine felt a stare on the back of his neck.
'No no NO!'
Clenching his teeth, he turned to his side to see another wolf eyeing him.
'I can't fight another one!'
The thing leaped at him, its eyes cocky and muscles rolling.
'Then I'll...'
Sine's eyes widened, the wolf grabbed around his waist, and its massive maw opened wide, thinking he was a free snack.
He was sorely mistaken.
Sine did what he did last time, and put The Pole inside the wolf's mouth, but this time, he wedged in there.
The wolf standing there with his massive mouth wide open, Sine took it as an advantage to test something out.
Making the Aether shaped needle, Sine threw it at the wolf.
Kssh!
A tearing sound, followed by a horrible yelp resounded in the air.
'Is it damaging one's Aether directly?'
Sine jumped back as the wolf turned into a tornado of rage, not seeing where he was going, he could only guess where the strange human was.
'What if I condense it...'
Sine summoned a black square of Aether, and condensed into a tiny needle, where he then hurled it at the rampaging wolf.
Riiiiiip!
With a ripping sound, the wolf cried out in pain as the Aether needle pierced through its physical body, it then fell silent.
Sine smiled, he now had another weapon he could use.
Speaking of weapon...
Sine tried recalling The Pole, envisioning him pulling the Aether through the Aether realm from the wolf back to him.
Sine could see The Pole vanish from the wolf's mouth, and reappear in his hand.
"Ah, learning new things by the minute!"
Sine smiled, though weak, he felt a little more comfortable with his newfound powers, and that made him a little more confident.
"Still, I can't believe this is just the edge of the forest..."
Sine stared deep into the woods, standing on the outer edge of the forest line, and wondered.
'-What could be in there?'
His gaze lingered for a few moments before he shook his head and started to run again.
As Sine was running, he suddenly felt reminiscent. The smell of grass, and the wind brushing against the obsidian and crimson leaves making them rustle all played factors in it, but what really triggered the memory was his shaking hands.
**
"Sine, it's gonna be okay! I'm here remember?"
Her smile was as bright as the sun, even if her voice was filled with fear, her smile warmed my heart, and calmed my shaking hands.
"Now, when I say go, run as far away as you can!"
The approaching voices got louder.
"They're over here!"
A reluctant smile formed on her face.
"Go."
She stood up and turned around, brandishing a broom as a weapon, and as I ran away, I heard the screams of men in agony.
But the last thing I heard...
"We got her!"
**
'Miss you sis...'
Sine saw lights protruding from the forest above, the green a heavy contrast to the black and red Sine had grown accustomed too in the past few hours.
'Now, how do I get up..?'
Sine thought hard, he could just scale the mountain, but that is risky since he is so worn out.
An idea popped into his head.
Sine made some of the surrounding Aether his own by infusing it with his Aether, then moved it up high into the sky, like a gas bubble.
Then, Sine remotely condensed it, his Aether controlled like a muscle.
Finally, Sine formed a thorn in his hand, similar to the ones the bushmen used, and threw it at the Aether.
It pierced through and held strong, Sine grabbed the thing string that was attached to the thorn, at the same time he shortened the string.
And so, Sine flew through the air.
'It's gonna take a while to get used to that...'
Sine landed firmly on the soft, green grass, and immediately, his body relaxed. Sores cried through his body, and his brows furrowed.
"I'm hurting a lot more than I thought I was."
With a groan, Sine sat against a tree, and almost in an instant, he fell asleep.
**
Wandering through the woods, a girl, about 17 years old, was approaching the Sinlands to practice her Aether control. She got to the edge, and was about to leap off, when she noticed something.
"The hell..?"
A cute boy drenched in blood and sweat, napping without a care in the world, his curly hair a golden hue against the rising sun.
"Woah..."
She takes a step towards him.
Whoosh!
The Pole whipped forward, and Sine's platinum eyes groggily stared at her, stopping the weapon at the last second.
"..."
Sine quickly lowered The Pole.
"Sorry about that."
"You alright?"
"Yeah."
She paused for a moment.
"Want me to take you to the village?"
Sine lingered on her for a moment and took in her appearance. A young female, with short black hair and dark eyes, she kinda looked like the White Knight? But like, way younger and gave off a way different vibe.
'Weird.'
"Sure."
"You need help up?"
"Nah."
Sine stood up, using The Pole as a walking-stick, and followed the girl through the green scenery, plump bushes with wild berries ravaged Sine's mind since he was starving.
Sine turned back to look at the sunset.
'Wow, for some reason it's more beautiful than ever before.'