Covered in feathers that mirrored the green leaves of the nearby tree, the Stratus Songbird had a natural camouflage that allowed it to blend seamlessly into the dense foliage of this part of the Hollow Forest.
Resembling a sparrow yet exuding an entirely different allure, its feathers shifted fluidly between deep indigo and rich green, while its sharply curved beak glinted like a finely honed blade.
This creature was so adept at remaining hidden that even Voidscale, initially failed to sense its presence. The bird tailed them silently for a while, waiting until they had distanced themselves from the monstrous pursuer that had given chase earlier.
When the moment was right, the Stratus Songbird suddenly opened its wings and flopped down with the speed and force of a bullet.
The instant it began its descent, Voidscale was the first to react; it vanished from Narvel's shoulder and reappeared in a safer location. Narvel was almost caught off guard and was forced to roll on the ground to dodge the bird's rapid attack.
The creature's beak struck the ground with the precision of a hot knife slicing through butter, leaving a clear mark of its impact.
"Shit!" Narvel exclaimed, alarmed as he quickly regained his footing and sprinted even faster than before.
His mind raced with uncertainty—he couldn't tell whether the original monster was still pursuing him, or if another threat was looming nearby.
He had no time to waste fighting; running away was his only viable option, especially since he had no inkling of what the Stratus Songbird was capable of. At the same time, he clenched his fingers in a surge of panic, only to remember with dismay that he had lost his machete.
Realizing that its prey had dodged the initial attack, the Stratus Songbird let out a sharp caw and took flight, closing the distance between itself and Narvel in mere moments. Voidscale trailed closely behind, with enough distance to ensure that it stayed within protective range.
'Do I use the scythe? But that thing's heavy—will I even be able to run with it? I don't even know how to use it!' Narvel wondered, weighing his options as his mind scrambled for a solution.
In the end, he set that thought aside for now, resolving to keep the scythe as a last resort if he had to fight.
Without warning, the Stratus Songbird launched another daring attack, this time driving directly at Narvel with the intent of decapitating him. Just as the bird neared its target, Voidscale appeared in a flash and bit off one of its eyeballs.
A piercing screech erupted from the bird as the sudden pain overwhelmed it; it instinctively covered its head with one wing and began to descend rapidly from the sky, though it managed to avoid a hard impact with the ground.
Moments later, Voidscale reappeared on Narvel's shoulder, now gnawing on the severed eyeball of the ambushed creature.
Narvel, who had long observed that his pet harbored a voracious appetite for anything consumable, was not entirely surprised to see it feast on an eye. After all, Voidscale had once stolen an Ember orb from him and devoured it before he could take it back.
Now, though, he couldn't help but feel a surge of relief that his Voidscale was a foodie, as it had inadvertently helped him put some distance between himself and the pursuing bird.
The Stratus Songbird, however, recovered with alarming speed. Angrier and more vengeful than before, it launched itself into pursuit with renewed ferocity. With a sharp, piercing cry, the creature activated one of its uncanny abilities.
That cry reverberated through the forest, causing the surrounding green and indigo leaves to vibrate violently. In an instant, the leaves shattered into countless razor-sharp shards that hovered momentarily in midair before coalescing into a swirling storm—a storm that the bird seemed to command with a sinister grace. The sound was so jarring that it induced a wave of dizziness, clouding Narvel's mind with disorienting pulses of sound and energy.
Sensing the sudden onslaught, Voidscale vanished once more, leaving Narvel to fend for himself amid the chaos.
Too preoccupied with the imminent threat to contemplate his seemingly disloyal pet, Narvel activated his [True Double] attribute. In a flash, his speed surged, tripling from 12 points to an astonishing 36 points.
At first, a euphoric lightness overcame him—as if his body had become weightless and was propelled by pure energy. But that elation was quickly replaced by an unsettling discomfort, a nagging sensation that his body wasn't moving fast enough to satisfy the tumultuous demands of his heart and mind.
In just a second, while he had been struggling to create distance between himself and the relentless bird, Narvel managed to forge a gap of 60 meters between them—an achievement that left both the avian pursuer and his pet visibly shocked.
The Stratus Songbird flapped its wings harder and faster, desperately increasing its speed, yet the gap between it and Narvel continued to widen. Even Voidscale found it challenging to keep pace; it seemed that with Narvel's rapid escape, clinging to his shoulder was the safest option. However, the moment Voidscale rejoined him, Narvel felt his stamina plummet dramatically.
His speed dropped rapidly, and the bird seized its chance to resume its relentless assault. At that point, Narvel began to wonder if he had activated his attribute too early. He realized that while his speed had skyrocketed, his stamina was lagging far behind—making his burst of velocity unsustainable.
Soon, his breathing became heavy and ragged, and beads of sweat coated his body. "That was a bad idea," he muttered under his breath. To add insult to injury, Voidscale vanished from his shoulder once again, its action only heightening his frustration.
As if the chaos weren't enough, the very leaves that the Stratus Songbird had shattered with its cry suddenly surged from behind him, shooting toward Narvel with deadly precision.
Hastily, he ducked behind a nearby tree, watching in dismay as the shards lodged themselves into the trunks and branches, with some flying past and landing ominously on the ground ahead.
'These are leaves!?'
Without a moment's hesitation, Narvel drew his scythe, resolving to fight back. With his stamina dangerously low, running was no longer a viable option; his battle intent surged, and he felt an intense connection with the weapon in his grasp.
Almost immediately, he noticed a subtle change within himself: his strength had increased by about 10%, and his speed had similarly surged, despite his waning stamina.
A different, almost otherworldly energy coursed through his veins, lightening his body and giving him the resolve to face the threat head-on. At that moment, Narvel recalled the information he had seen about Ebonveil—details that had eluded him before but now resonated with clear meaning.
He also remembered Professor Greene's remarks about the strange artifacts that Novas returned with from the Crucible—things that defied conventional logic.
Still concealed behind the protective cover of a tree, Narvel waited patiently for the bird to draw near. Sure enough, the Stratus Songbird descended with intent.
In a rush of determination, Narvel swung his scythe in a swift motion aimed at the bird's neck. Yet, the creature proved to be remarkably agile as it managed to use its beak to block the scythe's blade—at least that is what it seemed to do at first.
In an unexpected turn, the blade caught the bird's beak and sliced through its beak and talons as if they were nothing more than thin paper.
The force of the blow was so tremendous that even Narvel was caught off guard. He lost control of the weapon as it veered off course, inadvertently slicing through the nearby tree. The sound of tearing wood and the sight of splintered bark echoed around him, mingling with the chaos of his attack.
More accurately, it wasn't the force of the blow that caught him off guard, but the sheer, unparalleled sharpness of the blade—unlike anything he had ever held before. With a loud, piercing screech, the bird cried out in agony, unable to comprehend how its beak had been cleaved so effortlessly by someone it could not sense a proper aura from.
Voidscale saw this as the perfect opportunity to swoop in and attack the bird once more. It darted in over the creature's other eye, and as the bird continued its pained cries, Voidscale bit off its other eye, leaving the Stratus Songbird to suffer another devastating wave of pain as its vision began to fade into darkness.
In a confused haze of blindness, the bird flapped its wings frantically, desperate to fly high. But in that frantic moment, it suddenly felt as though its body had betrayed it—Narvel's blade had sliced its head clean off.
With a soft, final thud, the severed head dropped to the ground, while the rest of the beast's body was flung upward in a chaotic arc before tumbling and crashing to the ground a few yards away.
For a brief moment, the blood of the fallen creature floated in the air like a crimson mist before it was drawn in and absorbed by Ebonveil. Narvel immediately recognized this as one of Ebonveil's abilities—[Shadow Harvest]—a dark, mysterious power that fed on the essence of its fallen foes and transformed it into energy that it fed to its wielder.
Almost at once, he felt a surge of rejuvenating energy and his stamina recovered at an astonishing rate, filling him to the brim, while simultaneously, a dormant power within the scythe stirred and awakened, resonating with the dark energy now coursing through him.
Not only that but as the power of [Shadow Harvest] took effect, Narvel was presented with a new entry in his stat information:
Name: Narvel Naver Anderson
Age: 17
Race: Human
Gene Fragment: 4 (Sundered)
Level: Awakened (19%)
Class: —
Gene Class: ???
Title: —
Strength: 8
Speed: 12
Stamina: 18/18
Dexterity: 15
Intelligence: 17
Mental: 8
Wisdom: 13
Charisma: 8
Will: 29
Attributes: ??? [Mind's Eye] [True Double]
Constitution: ??? [Realmrender]
Talents: [Telekinesis (weakened)] [Deep Thought]
Skills: —
Comprehensions: —
Pet: Voidscale
Before Narvel could settle down to study this new data, a heavy, oppressive pressure descended upon him, and a huge, shadow eclipsed his figure.
Looking up into the shifting canopy, he saw a Stratus Songbird—this one many times larger than the creature he had just slain. "Did I just kill its baby?" He muttered to himself in disbelief, wondering how relentlessly cursed his luck could be.
Then, with a thunderous screech that shook the very forest and sent tremors through the distant mountains, the gigantic Stratus Songbird erupted into a deafening angry cry. The sound reverberated around him, melding with the eerie rustling of leaves and the low, haunting hum of the Hollow Forest.
Every element of the scene—from the chaotic swirl of shattered leaves to the oppressive, dark atmosphere—conspired to heighten the sense of impending danger that now loomed over Narvel.
"I'm dead for sure now," He uttered.