Of Forests and Their Trees.
Everything stood still and static except one place. A window high up from the ground was soon broken, the sound of shattering glass ringing out into the silent night, its shards falling to the ground. A hand reached out from the now shattered window, clad in lusterless metal, that was inlaid with minuscule golden lines, depicting great battles of the past. Sharp claws at the end of the fingers, tapered to a razor point, soon found their purchase on the surface of the castle walls, the stones that made up them having signed by the weather of countless years. The second hand soon joined the first, both now pulling with force the body behind them. A head, of pale skin and dark hair quickly emerged, twin pools of dim luster looked at the world outside the castle.
As Edrien looked at the landscape sprawled before him, his thoughts started churning, taking notice of any landmarks he could spot. Far in the distance, large mountains with their peaks shrouded in clouds greeted him, only occasionally their tips breaking through the water vapor surrounding them. Vast forests of gnarled trees dotted the mountainside slopes, their leafless appearance giving the forest a feeling of disease and death.
Edrien quickly pulled the rest of his body through the now empty window frame, the few shards of shattered glass that were still inset in it scratching his skin. The narrowness of the frame made it more difficult than it needed to be to get himself through, injuries yet to be healed that dotted Edrien's flesh only exacerbated the problem. Eventually, he succeeded, now standing outside of the castle walls, his body supported only by the small portions of the wall jutted out below him. A quick scan with his eyes revealed the possible routes he could use to get down, his mind quickly filtering the ones unsuitable out of the pool of choices. A small hop and twist of his body let Edrien swiftly descend to the next platform he could use, his hands wearing the gauntlet memory expertly gripping whatever handhold he could find. While his actions were quick and seemingly risky, Edrien knew the current capabilities of his body well, his extremities moving expertly, exerting just enough force to accomplish his goal.
He repeated the small drop several times, each time successfully finding the next stop, letting gravity do most of the work. Soon he stood on solid ground, the only sign of the effort taken to get down several tens of meters in height was a single deep exhale of air from his lungs. Edrien turned to face the forests and the mountainside behind them in the distance and started to slowly move through the shadows towards them. His steps didn't make a sound, unnervingly avoiding every branch and loose stone in his path, none of them betraying his location. Jutting boulders and various obstacles successfully obfuscated his silhouette further, making it seem as if a ghost was moving on the land.
Several tense minutes passed as Edrien continued to increase his distance from the castle that now stood imposingly at his back, the cursed forest made up of pale-barked trees growing closer and closer. Soon dead shrubbery and swaying bushes replaced his surroundings, naked stones and blackened grass giving way to the domain of the forest.
Alert eyes looked at the darkness lurking beneath thick branches, occasionally interspaced by thick trunks and rolling roots. The scene reminded Edrien of stories Morgan told him about her adventures in the dream realm, of battling terrible abominations and traveling through vistas of surroundings you would think are the result of overreactive imagination. "I guess I finally too got to experience the beauty of the dream realm. I just hope this won't be the last wonder I see."
At these words, he proceeded to walk inside the darkness, his figure soon being swallowed by the forest that looked more like a Great Titan than a result of nature running unchecked. Pale moonlight could no longer reach his body, failing to break through the intertwined branches of deadened wood above his head. Edrien no longer relied as much on his vision anymore, now his hearing and sense of touch took priority. Edrien's focus shifted, part of his mind categorizing any sound that reached him, even the slightest creak of a branch not being missed. Another part of his mind turned its attention to the sensation of air on his skin, each gust of air and echo of disturbed air caught and analyzed. All these things let him construct an accurate picture of his surroundings, which led Edrien to avoid any danger he could spot, any difficulty he could encounter.
Several hairs passed in such a manner, Edrien's focus not wavering for a minute, until suddenly he stopped. A faint sound reached his ears, of bending branches and soil being stepped on by soft padded feet. Quick as a squirrel, Edrien turned to the nearest tree and with practiced movement, scaled its bark and interspaced branches until reaching the far denser canopy at the top. The climb produced just a few faint noises of scratching, a result of his gauntleted hands finding firm handholds on the bark of the tree.
Edrien held his breath, the origin of the sounds that made him go up the tree revealed itself. A mouth the size of a beach ball full of yellow serrated teeth, leaking reddish puss. A narrow head with slitted eyes sat on broad shoulder blades, thin ridges formed by small spikes going down its middle. Four legs filled with rippling muscles supported a wolfish torso, dark fur helping the beast blend in with its surroundings. Claws the size of Edrien's palms jutted out of each leg, giving the beast a sure and secure grip on the forest floor, ensuring it wouldn't slip in a moment that counted. All in all, the beast skulking between the trees almost silently before Edrien's eyes was a mean murder machine, each characteristic of its body helping it achieve its goal.
And while the beast was fear-inducing in its appearance, only an animalistic cunning was displayed in its eyes, which even now scanned the forest floor and the low-hanging branches for food. Edrien noticing the fact that the beast at least didn't have the perverted intelligence of a Demon-rank creature, exhaled a silent sigh of relief. A thought made itself known in his mind, and with a strange expression forming on Edrien's face, he waited till the creature passed his position.
Waiting some extra seconds to make sure the abominations didn't suddenly decide to backtrack, Edrien slipped down the tree, the sound of his bare feet on the forest floor a mere whisper. Quickly, he turned ninety degrees to his right and started to move, only this time with some urgency. A twisted smile formed on his lips, and only murder shone in his eyes.
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The dark forest stood silent, gnarled trees with naked branches forming its interior giving rise to a truly chilling atmosphere. The air itself was scarce and stale, its vitality seemingly sucked out by the dead bark of plants making up the woodland. Under the thick branches and between the twisting roots that occasionally poked out of the ground stalked one of the forest's many inhabitants, a wolfish beast, its body, mind, and soul defiled by corruption.
The beast was mighty, and while it couldn't claim the right to the title of strongest, it definitely could say "Nah, I'd win" to any Awakened humans it could encounter. If it could speak that is. Serrated teeth splashed with reddish spit decorated its narrow head, its greatest weapon. But not the only one, as the sharp claws at each of its four legs could attest to. The beast was cunning, if only in an animalistic way, for to be stupid is to be dead in this forest, which it knew well.
So imagine its surprise when a place-skinned human suddenly fell out of the canopy above it, the body of its assailant previously concealed by the thick branches of the dead trees around the beast. Two hands, clad in blackened steel gauntlets clenched into tight fists, smashed into the beast's eyes, damaging them greatly and causing great pain. A loud howl escaped the throat of the beast, only to be replaced by a pained yelp as one of the hands, now unclenched and with wicked claws extended, raked the insides of the beast's mouth, spilling black blood that soon was mixed with reddish saliva.
The beast tried to close its mouth, to trap the hand of the arrogant assassin in its menacing jaws, but the human was too quick, too experienced, and retracted his extremities just in time. While that was happening, the other hand dodged into the skull of the beast through its eye socket, wreaking further havoc on the monster's delicate organ. This hand too, was pulled back soon, now holding a squished eye in its grasp.
Edrien quickly hopped off the monster he assaulted and immediately started to run in a predetermined path, trees blurring past his eyes, every muscle working in synchrony to bring the full capabilities of his body to the front. And while he was quick, the body of an Aspirant couldn't compare to the enhanced flesh of a nightmare monster. Luckily for him, the beast took just enough time to orient itself for Edrien to make enough distance for his plan to work. As Edrien ran, he could already hear the thudding steps of the abomination behind him, its claws giving great grip on the uneven forest floor, muscles fueled by pain and fury at being assaulted by such underhanded means giving rise to a truly astonishing speed.
What Edrien could also hear was the beast repeatedly ramming into trees in pursuit of him. The sound of breaking bark and branches, roots being tripped on, and the growling of a throat filled with blood gave assurance to Edrien that his plan worked. "Three out of five steps complete. Gouge the eyes to eliminate its sight, rend its mouth insides to eliminate its sense of smell, and leave only hearing as the only way to track me." Edrien mused as the exertion of his movement forced him to take deep and steady breaths, oxygen fueling his body, letting him maintain his speed.
A short amount of time later, his eyes found the small clearing unpopulated by the ever-present trees around him. A clearing where he made the preparations to win this fight.
His feet soon brought him into the clearing, mind, and body working, in turn to let him go past two towering trees he chose earlier, and the chain tying them together. [Enduring Promise] gleamed slightly in the pale moonlight that found itself in the clearing, suspended between the two great trees. Edrien ducked quickly, the Memory passing above his head, dark metal reflecting his dark hair briefly. Quick as a squirrel, he climbed a tree at the edge of the clearing, deeper breaths than normal being taken, a slight sheen of sweat glistening on Edrien's skin. With adrenaline still fueling his system, he turned his head and beheld the scene before his eyes.
A few moments in silence passed quickly, which was soon broken by the racket of the arrival of Edrien's planned victim. Frothing at the mouth, with empty eye sockets and fur dirtied by splinters of bark, the beast ran into the clearing like an unchecked train, the fervor in its movements betraying the fury it was in.
With a smile as a result of a plan coming together, Edrien opened his mouth and gave a slight shout, the monster's head quickly snapping to face the origin of the sound. With unseeing eyes, the beast quickly started to run in the direction it perceived the sound coming out. The abomination was just about to start gaining momentum, only to get clotheslined by the chain hanging in the air that was attached to two towering trees that scratched far past their surrounding brethren. A pitiful squelch came out of the beast's throat, its windpipe now crushed by the force with which he rammed into the chain, the Memory holding on admirably due to the [Unbroken] enchantment it held. The two trees started to creak, the bark on which the chain was wound splintering in an explosion of sawdust.
Edrien leaped from the tree canopy he previously stood on in an amusingly grim retelling of an event that occurred not long ago. The beast's head was still above the chain, its throat being dug in by the Memory. The body of its head was still being supported by the body that now was thrown under the chain as a result of inertia, when Edrien's two legs, extended straight down, slammed into the beast's snout, using leverage and force to achieve the maximum result.
A crack of the beast's neck rang out, unable to resist the force delivered at it in such a manner, the angle and the body's position not helping the beast's chance at survival. Edrien, whose momentum was absorbed by the thick bone beneath him, hopped off the head of the beast in one smooth movement, the soles of his feet slightly digging into the soil open he now stood. Eyes dark with amusement and satisfaction of a plan going off without a hitch, he beheld the corpse of an adversary that would have rented Edrien's body start to end with ease in any other situation.
With a smile on his lips, he savored the voice that echoed inside his mind.
[You've slain an Awakened Monster.]
With a tilt of his head, he waited for more messages delivering further rewards, sadly, no such voice arrived, signifying his lackluster prize for the effort and risk taken.
"Oh well, no matter, the Monster's death is a reward of its own." Edrien mused as he approached the body of his, now vanquished, enemy. With both hands extended, he used the razor-sharp claws on his gauntleted fingers to dig into the flesh of the corpse, the work taking a decent amount of effort and force to accomplish, skin and ligaments parting before him. "Wolf-type monsters usually have their soul cores inside the chest cavity, slightly below their throat, if I remember correctly." And true enough, soon a bloody soul Core letting out a resplendent shine rested in Edrien's hands, its light being absorbed in his dark eyes.
Soon, a strange expression formed on Edrien's face, and with a resigned sigh, he dropped the hand that was holding the Soul Core of the slain Monster. "As I thought, with no soul sea revealed to me, no capability to absorb soul essence exists. It's not surprising, the only difference between an Aspirant and a regular human comes down to the help given by attributes and the Seed of the Nightmare Spell inside me. Still, though, it would have been nice to get a slight buff."
Edrien's eyes soon returned to the now cooling corpse, the stench of its abominable flesh exposed to air making his nose wrinkle. With a shake of his head, he decided it was not worth it to take the effort needed to dig out the second soul Core from the monster's body, not wanting to waste his time to acquire something he couldn't even use.
Just as Edrien was about to resume his journey to the depths of the forest, something happened that chilled him to the bone.
"That was the best battle I've seen this week, friend. Splendid!" A voice rang out from the surrounding forest, its owner obscured by the ever-present darkness inside the thick canopy.
Edrien whirled around and brought up his hands to his face, assuming a hybrid boxing stance, the now dropped soul Core lying forgotten on the damp forest floor. Eyes frantic and alert, he focused all his senses to determine the exact location of his stalker, blood thundering in his ears from the spike of adrenaline.
"Peace friend, I mean no harm. Especially after that marvelous show you displayed earlier. And while your plan could have used a couple more things to reduce the risk further, I understand that sometimes there's not much of a choice." After these words, a faint outline of a silhouette that previously blended seamlessly with its surroundings started to move. Soon a pale moonlight revealed Edrien's newest dialogue partner. With a voice full of amusement, it said "Perhaps even better than most."
A head of sun-kissed hair, beneath which two green eyes mischievously shined looked at Adrien. Their owner's tan skin was garbed in various furs and leather patches, each undoubtedly taken from a foe previously slain. With her body still displaying a nonthreatening aura, the stranger slowed as soon she came into full view of Edrien's vision. White teeth gleaming, and with full lips, a smile was displayed on the woman's face.
"My name is Clara, and I welcome you, stranger, to the Hollow Mountains, or to be more exact, their beginning."