NETHER REALM
The sky was blood red.A gentle wind whispered something incomprehensible as it drifted through the leaves down in the forest.Dioha looked around sitting up at the same time.He'd just died a moment ago to the combined attacks of two Saber-wolves.Where was he? The color of the sky was not the type you'd see in a real world.Apart from the sky every other thing looked real.Felt real.He rubbed at the ache behind his neck.The rough stone surface he sat on was cold,partly wet from the morning's dew.He struggled to get up with difficulty.
Dioha looked around at his surrounding,taking everything into view.He was at the peak of some mountain,behind him was the entrance to a cave.In front of him from the left to the right was a thick dense forest.He could see some of the tree tops from his vantage position.The foliage was thick so he could barely see past the trees and their branches.Dioha was confused.One minute he was dying in a room,the next minute he was alive on a mountain top.But something wasn't right.He could feel it.He decided to inspect the cave,see if he could find anything of note.A sharp pain to his right ankle threatened to drop him to his knees.He looked at both ankles,they weren't bleeding.They looked fine but no,they didn't feel fine.All of a sudden he became aware of sharp gruelling pains on all the places those saberwolves had attacked him.It seems he resurrected with the pains but not the wounds.He hobbled gingerly into the cave to begin exploring.
On entering,he came into a large circular cavern.It was somewhat dark inside.The air was a little stuffy and there were broken rocks all over the cavern floor.To his right he saw a tunnel that led deeper into some other area.Seeing nothing interesting in this part of the cave,he ventured into the tunnel.The tunnel was narrow and wind downwards in a gentle slope.Dioha followed it down till it branched into two seperate paths.He chose the left and went in. After a while he saw a wooden box lying in the middle of the room.The designs on the box were unique and well patterned.Dioha knelt in front of the box.Who would drop a box here in the middle of nowhere?Was someone else occupying this cave?He looked around suddenly scared he wasn't alone.
After listening for unusual sounds and getting none,he turned his attention to the strange box in front of him.There was no lock.Dioha looked suspiciously at the box.A box in the middle of nowhere with no locks seemed like an obvious trap.He looked up and around,taking every detail of the room into his view and mind.Just to be safe,he went behind the box and placed his hands on it,prepared to open it.There were tiny inscriptions at the back of the box which read 'WHAT YOU SEEK MOST IS IN HERE,BUT THE OTHER ROOM HAS WHAT YOU NEED'.
"Let's see if you know what i seek." Dioha said.He pulled at the lid but it wouldn't bulge.He applied more power guessing he may have been too gentle,still it won't open.He turned round to the front of the box,neglecting his trap theory.He just wanted this box to open.He strained against it,huffed and puffed,yet still it wouldn't open.Feeling frustrated and remembering his trusted ally was actually the one who put him in this situation,Dioha picked up the box,hefted it over his head and smashed it on the hard floor.The box landed with a loud bang but showed no signs of opening.Dioha inspected it.There wasn't a single crack on it.Dioha thought of repeating the act until the box either opened or cracked.But on second thoughts,he decided against it.He decided to go back and check the other path he hadn't gone into.This annoying box had made reference to the other room.He might as well check it out,he guessed.
Slowly making his way back,he got to the forked path and entered the other path.For the first time,he noticed that the cave was missing some little but important features.There were no cobwebs,ant moulds or even bat droppings.There was no sign of life at all or even past life.The more Dioha thought about it the more uneasy he became.He got to a similar room like the first one but unlike the first one,there was no box lying in the center of the room.Dioha looked around hoping to find something.The words on the box kept replaying in his mind.What he needed should be here.He was very confused staring at the empty room.This room looked slightly brighter than the previous one,not that he wasn't still straining to see.The source of light in this room happened to be a small hole above the center of the room that looked like it had been drilled there from the top of the mountain to this point.Dioha walked to the middle of the room and stood directly under the small ray of light.He looked up at the hole.
Few minutes later Dioha was back to where he had woken up.After thoroughly searching the last room and finding nothing,he had decided to come back outside.He couldn't tell the exact time but he figured it was slowly approaching noon.He heard the sound of wildlife down in the forest.His stomach chose that exact moment to growl.He knew he'd have to go down and hunt despite not having any weapons.Thankfully he had learnt a lot from that Scaven tribe that shared his island with him.He had run into them one morning while he was walking his dogs.Just a hunting party of five,they had immediately apologized for encroaching on his land.They explained that they had left their home on another island some miles away in search of food.That search had led them to his island.They acted very respectfully giving Dioha no reason to chase them off his property.Dioha felt they must have known who he was,or at least sensed they couldn't afford to offend him.He'd have killed them in less than a minute.That was another lifetime ago.A lifetime he had been murdered along with the love of his life.Poor Jemaima was dead and gone because of him.Never to be seen or heard again.She wasn't a Watcher like him.Mortals,once they died,never came back. Bitterness swelled in Dioha's heart as he began his descent into the forest.
By midday,Dioha was down in the forest crouched down on all four.He was intently watching a rabbit.The rabbit seemed oblivious to his presence as it hopped a few steps away and stopped to nibble at some plants.Dioha deftly moved a little closer using the thick shrubs around for cover.He settled somewhere close to the rabbit with a big gap in the shrubs cover opening to his right.It would be difficult for him to move through the gap and dive for the rabbit in the same motion.Moving into the opening first would alert the rabbit to his presence too soon.If only the rabbit would hop through the opening then everything would be straight forward.He waited patiently to see which direction the rabbit would move to.Something must have given him away because suddenly the rabbit looked spooked and dashed off with speed.Dioha resisted the urge to scream out in frustration.Another hunting trick he had learned from those Scavens.Never let your emotions play a part in the hunt.
Dioha looked around slowly.Something had spooked that rabbit and he was sure it wasn't him.He kept searching his nearby surroundings,slowly and calmly.Wouldn't help to panic now,he might miss whatever it was in his haste and nervousness.He caught sight of a slight movement in the corner of his eyes and quickly jerked his head in that direction.Dioha's mouth went dry when his eyes caught sight of what it was.Dioha had never felt fear like this for a very long time.He was an avatar for the God of War,fear wasn't something he was used to.His hands spasmed as he tried furtively to get a grip of himself.It dawned on him suddenly.This fear wasn't his,it was this body's.A rage was bubbling in his spirit,a desire to run out and meet danger head-on,but this boy's body was paralyzed with shock and fear.Despite his seeming hatred for Ogalé right now,the old man's voice echoed in his mind, "...Train this body". Dioha sighed inwardly.Looks like he had nothing else to do than that.Dioha forced his body to regain mobility as he broke a small stem from the shrub behind him.The piece of wood in his hand wouldn't help much but it was the best this body would allow him to break with little stress.He wondered why he had not been attacked up till now.As if reading his thoughts,the saber-wolf sprinted towards him as Dioha braced himself for another gruelling fight.At least the odds were better now,he only had to fight one.Or so he thought.