Damien’s training had been going excellently. While he still had extreme issues with control, he progressively became better over the past two years. He also got to finally experience the regeneration effects of what he had dubbed the invigoration spell. Damien made quite a few observations on his elven physiology as well. It seemed that all elves passively benefitted from fae energy. The thick passive fae energy felt throughout the village was being generated somewhere deep within the forest, so when Damien had wandered further towards the plains one day where he felt particularly adventurous, he noticed he felt a tad slower and less energized. It wasn’t enough to cause any noticeable problems, but it was something to keep in mind.
On the same little expedition, he also realized that elves naturally generated some fae energy as he felt it thicken around him a short while afterward. This revelation meant that he could use his sonar ability anywhere. That quelled a fear in him about being left helpless that he hadn’t been aware of, but that had existed nonetheless.
The usefulness of his detection ability quickly became apparent a few months after he first started his training. When playing with the kids in the town, he had been searching for Saria. When he was about to give up, there was a fairly obvious mote of energy glowing up in the tree next to him. After climbing up, he saw nothing. With a flash of inspiration, he poked the spot and Saria nearly fell out of the tree in her surprise. For the next few months, he remained the only one who could find her in their little games. That was until she had done something that obscured her to his new sense as well.
‘Can’t win ‘em all,’ Damien thought, snapping out of his reminiscing. Elian had started becoming looser with rules as Damien aged and his competence inspired confidence, which is why Damien was currently deep in the forest alone. Excluding the red ox-like creature that served as a laboring animal and some insects, Damien barely saw any wildlife in this new world. So he was searching for some animals. Damien wasn’t stupid and recognized the fact that he may run into something dangerous during this trip but was confident in his ability to run away from anything that threatened him.
After wandering for a few hours a putrid smell him like a truck. He had to force the bile coming up his throat back down. After taking a second to ground himself, he decided to find out what it was. He was somewhat optimistically hoping to come across something harmless but instead, he found a corpse of what appeared to be a wolf from what he could see at this distance, or at least from what remains of one. The animal's insides were splayed out and the insides seemed to be moving as the skin stretched and moved.
‘This can't be good,’ Damien thought, as he started to leg it in the other direction. As he dashed off, he heard a snap behind him and suddenly his fae sense indicated something behind him rapidly approaching.
Damien jumped to the side crashing down on top of his arm. Ignoring the pain, he glanced over to the spot where he was just at and saw a small rabbit. The rabbit soon turned in his direction and started bouncing towards him.
‘Is that a Jackalope? though the horn is wrong.’ Damien thought, noting a unicorn’s horn on the red rabbit that was rapidly closing in. Damien had already forced himself up as the thought finished and started running again. If it wasn’t for his sonar ability he very well may have died already; thankfully the rabbit seemed to charge energy before dedicating itself to an attack each time. He didn’t want to know what would happen if it hit. Though the effects of his haphazardous dodging were becoming evident. Since he had very little time between noticing an attack and dodging he mostly flung himself out of the way of the lightning fast creature. He could feel tender spots dotting his arms and less from several poor landings and was quickly becoming winded. The only reason that he was even able to outrun the jackalope was that it would jump roughly stomach height each time allowing him to gain a bit of distance before it was finished landing and reorienting itself.
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Damien had tried several times to gather enough fae energy to create the armor he had been practicing as he had a hunch it would at least stop whatever effects the magic gathering in the rabbit's horn may have on contact. But it took him roughly twenty seconds to accomplish that and he little time or thought that wasn’t dedicated to running or dodging.
He was starting to reach exhaustion, He had been in a full out sprint the entire time and the rabbit was better at that. This wasn’t working. Damien was forced to think up a plan. Glancing around he saw little in the way of tools or obstacles. There were plenty of trees and underbrush but not much else. Eventually, Damien spotted a hand-sized rock and his idea and solidified.
Damien had spent the next few minutes running in large circles near the rock trying to get the timing right. He would need to do so soon because even his elven endurance was being pushed beyond its limits. His mind was clouding with fatigue, his lungs burning, and his legs were starting to weaken from the constant strain on them. It was all or nothing.
Soon his opportunity arose. He felt the energy build behind him and spotted the rock several feet ahead of him. Instead of diving to the slide like usual, he slid. Damien watched as the rabbit blurred over him in an extreme burst of speed. Damien frantically searched for the rock he noticed earlier.
Spotting it, he grabbed the stone before rushing towards the rabbit whom just landed. Dashing towards it, he smashed down on top of it. The rabbit dodged his hasty attack by running between his legs.
‘Fuck,’ Damien thought, as terror started to grip him. He spun on his heels just in time to see the rabbit dash back towards him. Damien started to throw himself to the side but in his shock was slower than usual. The rabbit’s horn stabbed through his side spinning him as he landed on his back. As a reward for his quick reflexes, he wasn’t gored.
‘Gotta look at the bright side.’ he thought attempting to force himself to his feet. His body wasn’t having any of it as he collapsed back down. He attempted again before he was reminded of the horned creature hunting him. It had once again started charging him but had slowed down from its previous attempts. Damien took advantage of this and pitched the rock right in its path with all the strength he could muster. The rabbit was caught off guard by this and the rock glanced off its head knocking the rabbit to its side. Damien realized he needed to press this advantage. Mustering himself one final time he shakily got to his feet as the rabbit started to snap from its daze. Damien stomped hard on the rabbit’s body, feeling a crack as something gave way. He stomped down several more times as the creature squealed and whined before collapsing next to the dying animal.
Damien felt extremely dizzy and noticed his wound was still bleeding. Realizing the new danger he was in, he focused on channeling fae energy through him. Soon after he started the process the wound stopped bleeding but was stubbornly refusing to heal. His dizziness and fatigue forced him to remain splayed on the forest ground. He was burnt out but refused to stop his healing as his death was all but guaranteed if he did. After several minutes his wound started to close finally.
‘The rabbit’s attack inhibits healing, huh’ Damien postulated, as that was the only explanation he had for his currently sorry state. His other wounds and bruise were somewhat slow to heal but had all healed minutes before this one did. As Damien’s body finished regenerating, he blankly stared at the thick canopy above, hoping he could soon return home.