It was a massive beast, standing at 2 metres tall. It had a robust body covered with dark grey fur and piercing yellow eyes that gazed down at him apathetically.
For some reason, the Giant Dire Wolf didn't strike at him yet. It merely stared.
Damian was confused.
'Why am I not completely dead yet? Could it be that this is all a hallucination?'
While stuck in those thoughts, a foreign voice pierced through his mind.
"Weak. Human."
Damian was startled and shifted backwards slowly. The low, guttural voice had come out of nowhere and didn't seem to enter his ears like normal words would. There was also no one around but the wolf in front of him.
"Is- Is that you?" he asked cautiously. He couldn't tell the strength of this Ether Beast but it surely wasn't weak.
The voice came again, "Human weak. Human die. No power."
That was a bit of a direct way of putting it, and it made Damian a little salty since it was true.
"How do I gain power then?"
"Power in you."
Damian was a little excited at first but soon realized that it had no meaning. "What does that mean? Where in me?"
The Giant Dire Wolf said nothing this time, simply staring at Damian for a few seconds, then walked away soon after.
For a few minutes, he sat on the wet soil in disarray, confusion, fear, and joy. All those emotions swirled inside him and didn't seem to be stopping any time soon. On one hand, the interaction was both confusing and frightening. How could he hear the voice of the Ether Beast? Why did such a powerful beast stop to talk to him?
But at the same time, he felt an overwhelming joy that he was able to come out of the situation alive.
He picked himself up, still confused, but he wasn't going to let that affect his plan from the start. All questions could be asked and answered later, but before that, he needed to guarantee his own survival.
Damian retrieved his fallen pickaxe and mining bucket. The prey he had been tracking had long fled in an unknown direction, and this time around it made sure to hide its prints appropriately.
He chuckled awkwardly as he noticed this. His mistake back there was completely unforgivable, and it reminded him of another one of his father's tips.
"Never lower your guard or stop paying attention to your surroundings. That is an easy way to get killed."
That was truly the case!
Damian shook his head pitifully and could only continue his hunt for prey.
. . .
A few hours later, night had begun to set, and he was still unsuccessful in discovering any prey. But he already taken other precautions.
He instead focused on gathering fruits and berries to keep him partially full for the time being. He also successfully found what could be called a safe hideout. It was a slightly hollow tree about four metres wide and three metres tall. He lay down some leaves to act as a makeshift bed and kept his items to the side.
At the same time, he found some fallen pieces of wood to act as a door for his tree abode.
Once that was done, Damian stripped down to nothing but his underwear. His clothes stunk of blood and sweat, which wouldn't work for what he wanted to do. Of course, his hunt hadn't ended just yet. Everyone knew that the night was considered one of the more optimum times for hunting in the wilderness.
It was also the most dangerous. Nocturnal predators had all sorts of skills at their disposal for detecting prey. Most of the time it was good eyesight, but some had incredible senses of smell. They would smell him from a mile away!
He also covered himself in some soil and leaf juice to blend in with his surroundings more, then once he was all ready, grabbed his sharpened wooden spear and stalked out slowly. This was something he'd whittled while waiting for the sun to set fully. It wasn't as sharp as a blade but it was enough to pierce through softer flesh.
One had to note that his opponents weren't normal animals but dangerous Ether Beasts. He was completely relying on the element of surprise here.
And so he set out under the soft dim illumination of the moonlight. Unknowingly, his dad had equipped him with everything he needed for his survival in this sort of environment. Not many people would be able to react as he had.
The forest was silent at night. It allowed him to pick up a much greater range of sounds. The soft buzz of insects, distant monsters, and the bristling of leaves!
'Behind me!'
Damian swivelled around just in time to see the incoming bullet-like object flying straight towards him from the treetops. He thrust the spear forward desperately, but it simply broke into pieces as it made contact with the unknown creature.
'Shit!'
The creature slowed down by a lot, which allowed Damian to duck to the side before the pitch-black talons of the bird pierced into his skin.
It reacted before he did and changed directions before it rocketed towards him once more! This time around, it hit! The dark talons of the dark-feathered owl grabbed onto his arms and firmly inserted themselves in them!
He resisted a long scream of pain and used the opportunity to grab onto the feathers of the strange red-eyed owl. He wanted to break its wings and escape the persistent piercing pain, but that didn't work.
HOOOOT!
It let out a loud hoot and two dark shadows appeared around its wings before Damian could grab them. The shadows swirled and separated, forming an identical shadow owl that replaced the one stuck in his arm. This shadow owl dissipated after and the real one had taken to the sky once more.
It landed on one of the branches of the tree canopies, staring down. Damian grabbed onto the wound with clenched teeth, staring up at the terrifying monster. In the sea of blackness, its two eyes glowed like mysterious red moons.
And then it dove once more like a missile. Multiple shadowy wisps emerged from its body, separating quickly and forming identical owls that acted like the real one.
They spread out, performing twirls in the air as they circled Damian.
'I can no longer tell where the original is!'
And that seemed to be the purpose. The terrifying owl and its doppelgangers shot down once more, without stopping this time.
Poof~! Poof~!
Damian ducked, trying his best to dodge the multiple shadows, but most of them were just shadows which disappeared as soon as they hit a physical object.
All but one!
Taking advantage of the moment of confusion, the last two shadowy owls performed a twirl as they dive-bombed Damian, a tornado of shadowy cuts spreading across his body speedily.
BANG! Poof~!
One of the two owls disappeared with a small poof, while the other's talon dug into his back, right near the spot where his heart was!
"Argh!"
He groaned once more as he felt the stab of pain wrench through his entire being. Spots had already begun to appear in front of his eyes, gradually signifying the loss of vision, consciousness and ultimately, life.
His mother appeared in front of his face. He imagined her soft eyes welling up with tears as her son never returned, as he broke the promise he made. The same scene happened when he thought of his little sister, who was four whole years younger than he was.
It was his responsibility to take care of them ever since his dad died, but it appeared he couldn't even do that.
'It seems like this is how I'm going to die here.'
The thought flashed through his head and what seemed to be the final rush of adrenaline shot through his bones. He grabbed the broken and splintered spear just a few inches in front of him and slammed it right into the shadowy owl that was still inserted within his back.
HOOOT! SCREECH!!
It let out a pained yell, relaxing its muscles and removed its deadly talons from Damian's back.
Damian ignored the pain, instead driving the spear down into the wings of the collapsed beast in front. The spear was firmly lodged into the wings, keeping it grounded and unable to escape.
"Heh… I'm… I'm alive…" he said in between deep breaths, and then finally, he collapsed to the ground.
A few seconds later, he remembered himself and crawled to his feet. Then he grabbed the owl by the feathers with a hungry look.
"Dinner, finally!"
There were talon stabs all over his body but he could hardly care. The shadow owl also hooted loudly in protest but he ignored it.
However…
[You have expressed your dominance over the first Ether Beast!]
[Would you like to contract the Shadow Demon Owl as a summoned beast? Y/N]
Damian stared at the floating screen blankly. The words seemed like a hallucination, but everything else seemed normal.
"What exactly is this?"
No one answered.
He stared slowly between the dying owl in his hands and the screen in front of him.
Then a smile appeared on his face.
"Well, it looks like I'm going to go crazy on this island anyway. So I might as well just lean into it!"
He clicked yes!