First skill tree opened. First stage awakening initiated.
Wil spun a full 360 on his heel as he lashed out with his leg at the sudden voice, catching nothing but air, but forcing the animal to distance itself. He hadn't seen anyone as he turned, but he was sure the voice had come from close by, nearly right behind him. Was he being watched? A hidden speaker perhaps? It was quite androgynous, and he could not make out wether it belonged to a man or woman.
The jackalope darted forward once again, appearing to be making another attack with its... Antlers? Horns? Wil was struck with an idea as the animal cannonballed toward him. He took an open-handed stance, stretching and hooking his fingers as if to grab the air, and kept his mind focused. In these kinds of tense, dangerous situations, time seemed to slow and mere seconds seemed to crawl by at the pace of a snail. However, that strange happening would only take place when one emptied their mind of all unnecessary thoughts and focused entirely on their opponent.
As his adversary came within arm's reach, Wil quickly sidestepped. While dealing with the animal's kick attacks was indeed more involved and required moment-by-moment adjustments, its charging rush attacks were widely telegraphed and simple to avoid. As the sizable hare passed by harmlessly, he wrapped a hand firmly onto its antler, digging his heels into the earth and letting the beast's momentum and considerable weight pull him along before he twisted his body, pulling the creature off course while maintaining its speed, and spinning on his heels before he let it loose, straight into his intended targets.
Numerous jackalopes were sent tumbling into the dirt as the leader bowled into them, with those lucky enough not to have been caught up in the living projectile spreading out to the sides to give their friends space to pick them up. Naturally, this created a breach in the ring of animals. Wil wasted no time in charging forward, sprinting at the height of his speed toward the leader of the jackalopes, toward that opening.
The animal was not as stunned by Wil's attack as it had been before and quickly made efforts to pick itself up off the ground, shaking off the bodies of its brethren as it turned to face him once more. It was met with the sight of Wil soaring over it like a track and field athlete. By the time it had turned its body back around, Wil had already made it across the bunny blockade and was sprinting deeper into the forest.
As he zipped and dashed through the woodland expanse, he heard a chorus of squeaks and chirps erupt behind him but didn't turn his head to take a look. The sounds of countless feet against the earth was all the confirmation he needed that the group was following after him. He continued running at a full sprint as he passed tree after tree, carefully studying the terrain as he hurried ahead. He couldn't afford to trip and fall in his current situation. The constant stream of high-pitched animal cries from behind was slowly increasing in volume. They were gaining on him.
Checking his options, Wil quickly scanned the huge trees as he passed by. They all seemed to be of the same species, extremely wide around and standing unbelievably tall and straight, their trunks traveled high up into the air. A loose canopy of branches and lush leaves was woven together at what he could only assume was their peak height. With no low-hanging branches, he was unable to rely on them as a method of escape.
Hopping over vegetation and half-buried boulders, Wil did what he could to slow down his pursuers. The efficiency of these actions appeared to be questionable as instead of widening the distance between them, the chattering only seemed to be growing louder. It wasn't long before he could practically feel them on his heels. He didn't dare turn to check. The ceaseless noises they made filling his ears as if the were right behind him. With a final burst of speed, Wil charged at one of the great trees in his path, springing up against its tough body and bouncing back. He would have to make a final stand.
And yet, before he had even returned to the ground, Wil saw something that boggled his mind. The entire group of animals was standing still, packed tightly together, staring at him silently, the leader standing at the forefront.
You have gained the approval of a monster settlement. Hidden Tree: "Beast Friend" opened. Rank zero skill: "Beast-Tongue" unsealed.
Wil booked it. This entire situation was too strange. There were too many unknowns. He was under-equipped and unprepared. While these were all true, a part of him felt that he was simply making excuses for his inability to overcome a challenge. Nevertheless, he reminded himself that as long as he survived he had the chance to come out on top. He needed to remain calm while making appropriate choices and taking efficient action. And yet, in a corner of his mind he felt a tinge of anxiety and unease, a mix of emotions he had long been a stranger to. He was confident in his skills and ability to get him through whatever predicaments he found himself in, but for the first time in many years, a shadow of self-doubt began to creep into his mind.
Clenching his teeth, Wil banished the stray thoughts from his mind, attempting to focus on the moment at hand to simplify his thoughts and to keep from becoming distracted.
Wil continued to run, though his ears had long lost the sounds of pursuing feet. He didn't know why or how he had lost his pursuers, but he had to use anything he could to put himself at an advantage.
He ran scenarios and theories through his mind, to little avail. He had too little information to base assumptions on, and what little he had was too unfamiliar. He didn't have any idea where he could be, and had been attacked by unknown animals that strangely mirrored a myth. The only plausible theory he could scrounge together was that this was all some kind of test, maybe even a simulation of some sort, but even then these were only wild guesses at best. Even if this all turned out to be nothing but some elaborate, crazy dream, he couldn't risk allowing harm to befall himself to test that theory.
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His legs began to grow heavy as he charged ahead. He was by no means out of shape. His muscles were toned and shaped modestly without exploding out from under his clothes. He kept solid posture while speeding along, blocking out unnecessary thoughts and emotions as his eyes and ears mechanically searched the passing vicinity for the sounds of pursuers or nearby movements. He became unaware of the passing of time as he carried on automatically, following his training mindlessly.
It wasn't until he noticed his steps falter that he snapped back to reality, slowing his pace as he carefully scanned his surroundings. Crouching low to the ground to lessen his visibility, he took slow, silent breaths as he rested his burning legs, listening to his surroundings, anticipating the soft crunch or snap of possible pursuers or stalkers creeping through the brush. No such sounds met his ears, yet a wet, babbling ambience sounded nearby.
Wil soundlessly crept through the greenery, seeking out the ruckus. Pushing aside dense foliage, he emerged into a sunlit clearing, sunbeams bearing down through the gaps in the overhead forest canopy. A bouncing stream made its way from the overgrowth, bounding over the uneven terrain as it snaked its way through the clearing.
The stream itself was quite wide. Wil figured he could likely leap across with a running start if he needed to. Given how narrow it was, he doubted it could be that deep anyway.
Going down on one knee, he knelt by the stream, keeping his ears perked for the sounds of anything creeping up on him while he was remaining still. Finding none, he peered into the stream. Drinking water from an unknown source was certainly risky. He knew that it could be made much less so by boiling it or with the proper tools, but he had nothing on him but the clothes on his back, and while he had limited knowledge on the matter, it was far from his areas of expertise. He cupped his hands and dipped them into the clear water before freezing still.
The face that stared back at him from the water's reflection was one that he was not familiar with. Or rather, he had been familiar with it at one point of his life, but had long since forgotten it. Gone were the hints of wrinkles that had just recently begun to appear under his eyes. Gone were the marks and subtle scratches he had accumulated over the years of work. Even the thin scar that had hung over his right eye was nowhere to be seen. He traced his jawline, fingers trailing across smooth, hairless skin, a sensation he had long forgotten since he had started growing a beard. His red hair, which had recently seen its color grow more subdued, was suddenly revitalized and vibrant.
It was like his teenage self was staring back at him from underneath the water's surface, more a boy than a man. His hands went to his face, feeling, poking, pinching, stretching at his skin, testing its elasticity and texture. Had he been put under the knife while he was unconcious? His mind raced backwards, tracing his memories, looking for anything that might give him a hint as to what was going on. The last thing he remembered before waking up to this bizarre situation was going to bed surrounded by his pets curled up all around him. Then, he had woken in this place. Wil realized that he had awoken already upright. His breath stopped for a moment as he considered the implications. His mind had been relatively clear since he had woke, so he imagined he had not likely been drugged, recently, at the very least. Hypnosis seemed plausible. He knew that the Organization employed all kinds of specialists with odd, sometimes even supernatural-seeming skills, and had roots in pseudoscience research. Although the possibility presented itself, he was still unable to determine why he was in this predicament. It seemed that with each passing moment he experienced one more unexplainable phenomenon or occurence, adding to the pile even more questions to which he had no answers.
At the very least, Wil took solace in his confident belief that if the Organization wanted him dead, they would have simply done away with him with a simple gunshot to the back of the head, or where there was no animosity, simply retire him. Abandoning or dropping him in the wilderness really didn't feel like a move they would make. Even if it were an opposing faction or enemy that had gotten ahold of him, he couldn't fathom why they would handle him with such strange and indirect methods.
Wil was sure that everything that had suddenly been happening to him would make anyone else's head spin. But not him. With the training he had recieved, and the skills he'd developed, he was calm and collected as ever, though his heart beat steadily from his exertion and his mind raced as he pondered over recent events. Raising his hands to his lips, he carefully swallowed the handful of water before dipping in again and drinking some more. He needed to remain focused. He wasn't panicked, but his thought were scattered. He needed to put those questions out of his mind and focus on what was immediately more important.
Survival.