Victor sprinted through the woods, legs pistoning beneath him as branches wiped at him in his headlong flight. He didn’t bother looking back; any delay could cost him his life and he already knew what was behind him. He felt a sharp pain across his shin and tumbled face first into the dirt. Picking himself up, Victor glanced at his leg. A nasty cut from its impact with a fallen branch oozed blood, stumbling back to his feet he felt relief as his leg held weight with no additional pain.
A snarl sounded from behind him. Terrified, he whipped his head around to look for the beast. He only caught a distant blur of grey fur, as the wolf dashed back behind the trees. A renewed burst of fear surged through him as he raced forward, trying desperately to increase the distance between them. His leg ached and his lungs burned he desperately needed to find safety, a glance at a distant opening in the side of a rock wall revealed a small cave. Nothing more than a crack in the cliff face, he scampered in without hesitation, finding only darkness inside and making his way forward by touch.
The rough walls of the narrow scraped and tore at him as he desperately forced his way deeper. His ragged breathing was the only sound in his ears in the cramped confines of the stone passage. Light had disappeared completely and it felt like he had gone deep under the ground even though he could only have gone a few dozen feet into the tunnel.
Suddenly, he was out and stumbling into a wide open space. The cavern felt massive after the close confines of the tunnel but was only a few dozen paces across and half that in height. He could tell all this because a beam of light broke through the ceiling and lit the room with a soft radiance, giving the place a feeling of stillness like that of a chapel.
As he scanned the room for an exit, Victor’s eyes settled upon a still figure in the corner resting against the far wall. A soot black skeleton sat with its torso propped up against the wall. Across its legs laid a plain unrusted sword. The stillness of the place and the dramatic posing of the skeleton made him pause for a moment, but only that before a fearful look behind him sent him back to his feet and stumbling for the blade.
If he could fit through the narrow tunnel then so could the wolf and he had no idea how long it would take to trace where he had gone. Reaching the skeleton he had a brief moment to take in the fact that the skull was definitely not human before reaching down, pushing the hand holding the leather grip to the side and picking up the sword.
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Straightening up he felt a surge of dizziness as though he had stood up too fast and nearly fell over as a rushing sound filled his ears, but he pushed it down and turned to face the entrance of the tunnel. The sword felt easy in his hand, the cool leather grip solid and reassuring in his palm as he lifted it above his head to slice down at a moment's notice. Victor did not realize that he had entered into a perfect fighting stance or he held the blade perfectly still above his head, a feat few novice swordsmen could accomplish, let alone one who had never held a sword in their life.
Silence reigned as panting breaths slowly calmed and he waited, ears straining to catch the click of claws on stone that would herald the arrival of the wolf. Minutes that seemed like hours passed in agonizing suspense. Just as his arms began to shake from holding the heavy blade above his head, a faint sound came from the tunnel.
A fresh surge of adrenaline steadied the blade and a calm voice at the back of his head seemed to whisper to him, planning for contingencies and events that might happen. Dodge, strike, retreat and attack, his options flitting behind his eyes clearly without distracting him from his goal. An image formed in Victor’s head the coming fight, splitting into a number of paths that all lead to one point: a descending blade like an arc of silver.
A pair of eyes appeared in the night, glowing low to the ground as the wolf approached, and with heartbeat fast and eyes steady, Victor waited. The wolf stepped into the light, sliding from the dark tunnel with the soft click of claws on stone. The was a moment of stillness as the animal took in the surroundings, its prey silent and unmoving before it, trapped in an enclosed room with it. For a moment it was wary that something had changed, that there had been an upset to the game of predator and prey, but the stillness was evidence of weakness and its legs tightened under it for the pounce and the kill.
Victor saw the wolf tense its eye fixed upon him and was still, there was nothing else to do now but wait. The wolf would come and his strike would fall; Victor knew he would live or die by that strike.
A blur of fur and teeth shot forward and a silver arc descended to meet it. The wet impact of blade on flesh and splitting bone filled the chamber. Then, there was silence.
[For slaying an (Awakened wolf Lv1) you have earned one Achievement Point (AP)]
In a dimly lit space sat a single ornate throne and on it sat a dark figure clad in dull crimson armor. The figure's face was concealed beneath a full helm, but to those few who might have known it well the poise and arrogance of the figure was greatly diminished. Atop a throne of fused blades and broken armor, a despairing sigh was released.
“A single unawakened child! And a human one at that! I can’t even possess this damned mortal?!”