Cloaked Figure

Night had fallen over Aster City.

Icarth had entered the forest to continue his training regimen.

Setting foot across the barrier. Icarth felt that something was wrong. It was dead silent. No sounds were heard. Even the wind was quiet.

Instantly an uneasy feeling sprung up inside Icarth.

'What's going on?' Icarth thought trying to pinpoint what was amiss.

'Wait..the forest guardian isn't checking my presence....'

At this point, Icarth activated his half-transformation and raised his guard to the max. Something was greatly wrong if something as strong as the forest guardian was silent for this long after he had stepped into its territory.

'Don't take the risk..' Icarth told himself and rushed towards the barrier back towards the city. Before he could even make it halfway there, Icarth was suddenly stopped and frozen in place.

The universal energy around Icarth had condensed and frozen Icarth into place.

"Where do you think you're going." A gruff voice called out.

A cloaked figure appeared in front of Icarth, in between the boy and the barrier to the city.

"You have good instincts," the figure commented while checking out Icarth.

Icarth trembled. His body sensed the danger of the figure in front of him. His hair raised to its max, eyes dilated, and adrenaline pumped like no other through his body. Due to the immeasurable sense of danger that the figure was giving him, Icarth's body was running on overdrive, not to fight, but to run.

"Boy, let's have a chat." the cloaked figure said and sat down in front of Icarth. Feeling the weight of universal energy increase suddenly, Icarth dropped down to his knees. Trying to hold the weight, Icarth grit his teeth and bore the pain while holding the indescribable weight over him while on his knees.

"Impressive." The cloaked figure complimented. "But not enough."

The weight increased again, exponentially this time. Icarth fell flat into the ground almost eating the dirt with his face while there was a figurative mountain on his back preventing him from moving.

Having lost all opportunity to escape, Icarth lay helplessly in front of the man in front of him.

"Now, let's talk shall we?"

Icarth glared up at the cloaked figure in front of him. From his prone position. he couldn't make out much, thus the only impression he got was the immense sense of danger that emanated from the cloaked man. Icarth couldn't begin to comprehend how strong the figure in front of him was to roam free without the forest guardian's intervention.

In fact, Icarth had a strong feeling that the man in front of him was even stronger than the forest guardian for him to act so brazenly.

"Say, boy, why do you come out here to train?" The man asked.

Icarth didn't answer. Or rather, he couldn't. Due to the weight of universal energy on top of him, Icarth was still kissing the ground, barely able to see the cloaked figure.

Finally noticing, Icarth's plight, the man eased the weight around Icarths head and neck so that he could move.

"....who are you?" Ignoring the man's question, Icarth asked his own. He didn't even know who the man was and what he had done to gain such a powerful figure's attention. But now that Icarth was in this position, he had to get out of it.

'I can't let it end here. I need to stall him.' Icarth thought furiously as he tried to think of ways to save himself from this absurd situation. There was no way he was going down without a fight.

The man frowned at the question. Suddenly the weight of the universal energy on Icarth increased exponentially once more. Forget kissing the ground. Icarth had sunk a couple of centimeters into the ground and was steadily sinking.

"I ask the questions here boy. Do. You. Understand?" The man enunciated the last few words clearly enough for Icarth to understand clearly.

Unable to make a sound, Icarth bit his tongue to keep himself conscious.

Waiting for a few seconds, the man finally released the pressure on Icarth.

Grabbing Icarth's collar, the man lifted Icarth out of the small pit and held him in one arm.

Placing his head on his other free hand, the man repeated, "Now boy, why do you come to the forest every day?"

Opening his mouth, Icarth tried to speak before coughing violently. Blood dripped from his mouth, from his wounded tongue, and from some internal bleeding due to the immense pressure that had almost crushed him.

Luckily Icarth had a sturdy body to withstand the pressure, or else he would have ended up as a pancake.

Coughing up the last bit of blood left, Icarth then glared at his captor. Icarth knew that he couldn't do anything in this situation. Petty tricks were nothing in the face of absolute power...

Anger burning deep inside, Icarth spat out, "To get stronger."

Icarth was angry. He was angry at this mysterious figure for showing up randomly like a calamity and targeting him especially. But then again, this had happened to him before and Icarth knew that if he survived, it was certainly not going to be the last time.

But in the end, Icarth was only angry at himself for being weak.

'If only I was stronger...' Icarth thought frustrated. In response to his heightened emotions, his claws slowly started to extend and got sharper.

Seeing the flame of frustration and anger in Icarth's eyes, the man was impressed.

'The boy is speaking the truth.' He thought. 'Maybe he can be useful for more than just a hostage.'

The man sat still thinking for a bit while Icarth dangled from his arm.

Sensing a chance, Icarth gathered up all his strength and swung his arm at the man's eye. His plan was to injure one eye and run for it toward the barrier and towards safety.

The man still lost in thought carelessly let the blow connect.

But instead of feeling his claws sink into the man's eyes, Icarth felt a sharp pain as his extended claws broke off.

"Arrg," Icarth almost shouted in pain, before stifling it with sheer willpower. Assessing the damage, Icarth found that the claws on his index finger and middle finger were broken entirely while the ones on the rest of his fingers were bent at odd angles, some barely hanging by a thread.

Instead of getting angry, the cloaked man broke out into a grin.

"Boy, you have a great fighting spirit. I like you." The man complimented Icarth who was glaring daggers at him.

"Join me, I'll take you under my wing and make you powerful."