8 A disaster never come alone

Retracing his footsteps, Alix began to run, already for the second time today.

"I'm a little under the impression that since I left Ol'Tree village, I have never stopped running... I hope I won't become just a bundle of leg muscles in the future..." Even in his death run, Alix took a mischievous delight in his own misfortune, keeping his little sarcastic remarks for him but hoping to never let them stop, it was some of the things keeping his mind away from the fear and the despair.

"BAAAAM"

Just behind him, a large chunk of rock exploded under the powerful claws of the Spiky. "Yeah, I'm sure now, it's definitely hunting Bulky with claws like this... A shame really that there wasn't any of it on the skeleton I discovered otherwise I could fight fair and square with it... Well not really, better to start with the Bulkys, fewer threats if someone wants my advice."

Already using his Kata to move his body in a strange way while running, he dodges easily the stone's shard hurtling toward him. They finished their journey embedded deep in the soil making chills run in Alix's back. If one touched him he would have been finished, pierced on the floor and eaten by the enraged Spiky following him.

"SLASH"

He could sense the tip of a claw reaping apart his bones' protection letting his back defenseless, just bare-skin protecting his backbone. "What's this, It didn't even resist to one attack of a Spiky, Big Eyes' bones are really useless."

The poor Big Eyes that had it bones stolen by Alix would surely be enraged if it was alive and would say something along those lines "Well why did you of all things provoked a Spiky, the natural predator of us, poor Big Eyes? Do you have a death wish?"

Alix was busy dodging the attacks raining down on him while continuing to run, trying to detect something in the landscape that could help him gain an advantage if even to better escape. He didn't intend to fight the creature, he had refined his instincts for two weeks and knew when it was a lost fight.

"I always said that with Kata you could escape from anything, it's not false but sadly I didn't understand that sometimes, it's good to be able to fight back, because escaping can't be done forever... Damn !"

Noticing a tunnel going down on his left, Alix quickly jumped and rolled in this way, trying to outrun just a little the Spiky following behind, before hiding in the profound darkness of these tunnels. It was one of those builds by the munching Bulkys, Alix didn't try to explore them for the moment. "Well better do it now before I'm dead, just to fulfill my endless curiosity..."

While running, he didn't see before it was too late that firstly the Spiky didn't fall for the little change of pace and that secondly the slope of the tunnel was much more accentuated that his eyes could see from afar.

His rhythm began to increase trying to adjust to the abrupt descent but it didn't take time before he tripped and began sliding with speed slowly accumulating.

Fortunately, the Spiky didn't seem to fare better and soon was on his stomach following the madly descending human with a resounding growl.

"Hahaha, big useless pile of spike !! You didn't stand a chance against me, the genius of the running, falling and gliding !!"

"ROAR"

You could clearly see in the green eyes of the Spiky its indignation and his renewed will to try this new food that looked delicious even if it was difficult to catch.

The respite was short for Alix, slowly falling to despair at the idea that his tongue once again signs his death wish. The slope was slowly coming to an end and he would soon be eaten without any possibilities of negotiation now that he had further enraged the creature. "Well, the chances were small, to begin with, to be able to negotiate with this horrible thing."

Trying to get up as soon as possible, he began to run just to meet headfirst a moving wall.

"Not a moving wall, that's a Bulky, here is my chance, it should be his food, he will likely try to attack it and I just have to disappear in the meantime!"

The Bulky, not fazed a single bit by the crashing of a small creature in its body slowly turn over only to gaze with fear at the incoming bundle of spikes.

Without wasting any time, the Spiky jumped on the... Little creature that exasperated him to death. Surprised, Alix who was looking at them hoping for a scene than never came didn't lose his calm and tried to dodge the claws while defending only to sense a spike stabbing in his left arm.

"So difficult to defend with this many weapons trying to impale you, thankfully the bones' armor did its job." It impeached a good portion of the strength of the creature to penetrate the arm resulting in the armor's bones exploding at the impact and the spike penetrating just a centimeter in his flesh.

"It's not threatening but the pain is indeed here," he thought, wincing when the Spiky took out its spike to prepare for another attack.

Fleeing without ado, Alix succeed in passing without being squashed to death under the Bulky which was trying to escape. This little set back for the Spiky allowed Alix to maintain a short distance between them, and to then run with all his last strength.

He had good stamina, and the life force of the Big Eyes had increased it but after this whole day he was not sure if he could keep up for any longer.

Looking around him, he soon found what he wanted to, a horde of Bulkys slowly walking and eating stones without being aware for now, of the danger that was going toward them. "Sorry guys! As I thought, they never walk alone, the one before was just a bit ahead of the others, I can't think it will continue following me in this place, creatures like this know how to defend against their natural predator when they are in groups !"

Indeed just as he was beginning to go through the horde without them paying too much attention, they startled when seeing the Spiky coming after him and slowly decreasing its speed seeing all these gigantic Bulkys. Taking place for a defensive formation, they soon formed an impregnable wall behind Alix which was continuing to run even if he was sighing of relief.

"GRRRRRRRR"

The sounds of rages of the Spiky behind him made him even increase his pace for fear of the wall not being as sturdy as he thought.

He was wrong, the creature didn't try to follow Alix anymore and slowly retreats with unwillingness in his eyes, soon fading in the shadow of the tunnel.

Alix was busy trying to find a safe haven in his escape, diving deeper and deeper in the darkness of these tunnels. "It's kind of funny how darkness seems to not have the same blackness everywhere, as if it's similar to smoke. This deep even with my improved eyes, it's difficult for me to see after two meters."

After what appears to him like an eternity he found a small cavern with three tunnels linked to it, allowing for a good escape plan if something came his way. He then decided to sit down and fix his protection.

"The Big Eyes bones are not too useless finally, they managed to block a blow and definitely help me escape but I should use the few ones from the Spiky that I have which seemed sturdier to protect the vital parts of my body."

After reassembling his protection he didn't immediately get up but just looked strangely around him. "This darkness sure is weird, even more than I thought, it didn't follow the same law you could expect from shadows, blacker where it's more protected from the sun. Well, there isn't any light source next to us, the most nearby should be thousands of kilometers from here so perhaps regular law doesn't apply?"

Focusing on a tendril of darkness spiraling around his arm, Alix was not certain of his analysis, he was habitually proud of his logical mind and his ability to understand, what he saw, and its working. "Here, it's certainly has a logical explanation that is outside my frame of mind and the sole thing that I could see which is like this would be... The Art. Sadly I didn't listen well to what Eline sometimes said about it, I would love to understand it now, and to see again there faces"

Sighing, Alix was trying to remember what he knew about it, without any success. "If I can't recall, I will just have to understand it from zero, after all, someone had to begin at zero at some point of history for The Art to be developed, no?"

Resting and trying to understand what was happening around him, Alix didn't saw the time passing and when he awoke from his reverie, a whole day had already passed. "So it's like that, the darkness really moves like smoke, it's actually emanated from these black spots which should be the area where no light at all can go through. If I can risk a supposition, I would say it's some king of flux or energy because it moves and originates from a source. It should have some particular proprieties specific to it, probably linked with darkness."

Slowly getting up without relaxing his concentration of the surrounding, he stretches himself, in need of good sleep. Even when concentrating on these strange emanations, he never loses his attention to what was happening around him.

"I think what Eline did was related to this but not with this darkness, she should probably use another form of energy, there wasn't something remotely similar to this around Ol' Tree village. Well time to try something, he who tries nothing has nothing! And even if I make another explosion, here it's not really a problem, worst for worst, I would have to dig up another cavity for me to sleep inside. Hehehe."

Concentrating he tried to communicate with the twirling tendrils of Darkness, without any success. He then tries to touch it, nothing happened either. Not losing his cool, he tried a variety of things, from swallowing it to capture it or even spoke aloud to it but nothing really help.

Trying to remember the different steps he did within the house with Restar and Eline slowly explaining it to him, he started by calming his mind. Slowly opening to what surrounded him with a blank mind, after a minute or so, he began to sense something, a peculiar feeling like a tingling to his very soul.

Reaching to it, a connection was suddenly made, mobilizing a big bunch of smoky darkness in front of him. Realizing he must do something with it he tried to make it take a shape. The Darkness slowly took it in correlation with what he had in mind, a circle. He understood that he had to will it in this shape for it to follow. When it becomes clear in his head, Darkness assumes instantly the circle shape ahead of him.

Smirking with his success, his mind destabilizes and the circle began to lose its design, showing signs of collapsing. With fears of an accident happening again, even if he was conscious it would not probably have a devastating impact in this environment, he desperately tried to retake control of it, making all possible motion. The circle was moving back and forth, from right to the left, not willing to let his first success failed, he was trying to find a solution.

"Perhaps it's not mean to be changed like this, I don't know, Eline never talked about the next step I'm sure of it even if my memory is blurry. I know, I will try to link it to me to make it stabilize!"

Making it move toward him, he tried to touch it without it having any effect. Making the circle surround his wrist did not do anything either.

"GLOUPS"

Finally, by frantically of failing his first try, madness or a little bit of both, he swallows it in on go. Instantly a burning sensation invaded his insides, destroying his lining inside his mouth all the way to his stomach. A mystical feeling was passing through it, going in his blood and mixing with it, to finally disappear completely. This situation let him a little bewildered, the pain, the suffering and after the pleasure, the bliss of sensing this Darkness mixing within him.

"It's an intoxicated feeling, but it feels weird, even for me to enjoy suffering...I guess I will have to adjust to it. I just have to maintain this secret, I don't want people looking at me like some kind of weird monster even if they already do it sometimes."

Not conscious that there was a low probability for him to see people again and that directly absorbing Emanation was a feat rarely done, he was happily enjoying his feeling without a care in the world, he could better sense the darkness around him as if being slightly part of it.

"ROOOAAR"

"GRRRRR"

"RAAARRH"

The moment he completely relinquishes his concentration, three strong roars resounded beside him, waking up of his thought and remembering him that he was never alone and completely safe here.

Three Spikys were slowly approaching from three different directions, cutting all his escape path.

"I'm screwed, I never learn. I shouldn't have let success go to my head, I must always stay clear-headed, how come I can't do something this easy?"