After a long and tense rest Eldar had pushed his mind back together. Eldar took a long hoarse breath before he lifted himself off the floor. Eldars hands brushed against the cold black soil before his eyes scanned the surroundings.

Eldars face met with cold wind and a vast domain of black hills and a pale white moon. There were black forests and mountain passes as well as several other biomes shaded in black however Eldar had only lived in a sun-lit village for the entirety of his life so this place was a wonder-land to him.

Eldar grasped the side of his head, a cracking pain made him grit his teeth.

"This is... the outside?"

Eldars croaky voice received no reply from the top of the hill he realized he was now on. Eldar was assaulted by the ravaging winds due to the height he was at. Eldar started slowly pacing across the top of the black hill calmly before an oddity in the terrain grasped the attention of his two black eyes. In the far distance a small, black rabbit could be seen jumping around. Eldar noted the existence of other life forms and made his way over.

After a couple hundred steps Eldar could see the rabbit around 50 meters in front of him as it jumped around playfully.

"Come."

Eldar opponent his hand to invite the rabbit. Luckily, the rabbit noticed his blue hand as it looked like a blue mirage in the darkness.

Eldar smiled satisfied as he thought about his first dinner in this land.

The rabbit slowly pounced over to Eldar and as it was 2 pounces away it made a huge leap.

Eldar spread his two arms out.

"Hahah-"

A black silhouette engulfed Eldars sight.

It looked like a bended cylinder however its revolving spikes gruesomely twisted and turned on its body.

Soon the cylinder had completed its left to right journey and the rabbit or at least its remains were splatted on the ground.

Eldars entire figure froze as he stuck his feet firmly into the ground.

'Don't move.'

The moving lumps of soil around him made his heart squeeze.

Eldar was drenched in sweat before he knew it.

And soon the familiar black silhouette rose from the ground. Eldar leaped to the right, his hands now covered in dirt quickly lifted as he prepared to leap again.

And that he did.

Eldar dodged again and as he heard the sounds of the black silhouette diving into the ground he prepared to jump again.

Yet another black silhouette launched itself at him.

'There's two."

Eldar watched as his demise began to close the jaws of death.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Eldars mind in full panic could only hang on to the last string of rationality and instinct as he connected two hands to form a sign.

'Zanko.'

And the world turned grey for half a second before the two creatures in front and behind Eldar had the front of their deformed fronts retracted as if they were punched by a huge fist.

Crashing sounded as Eldar ran in desperation.

Duires were an ancient race and so they had many techniques however Eldar only possessed 2 of the most basic due to his low standing.

It was saddening that the techniques that Eldar considered a waste of his time were now the things that his life clung onto. In such a peaceful village learning the techniques was more honorary than useful.

Eldar did not even consider anything but the direction he was running as he urged his legs to move with every second. Eldar soon found a gap in a hill at his height and triple his width. Eldar jumped in with no hesitation and a smile formed on his face as he saw the two black silhouettes chasing infront of him unaware of him in the small expanse.

Yet, Eldar did not consider that they were not chasing, but rather running.

Eldars eyes widenend as he looked back. A terrifying pair of jaws oponend behind him and the sound of jaws meeting sounded before Eldars scream echoed.

Eldar tried to meet eyes with his slayer but the creature was blind and had clearly gotten a lucky bite. Still the size of the creature was easily twice an elephant.

Eldar gritted his teeth as he yanked his left arm and retrieved a bloody half.

'Damn it. It hurts."

Eldars heavy pants and bloody coughs faded into darkness as he ran through the hills. Sunny could not even feel the time passing before he lost the feeling in his legs and slowly collapsed. The trail of blood behind him soon dried out before Eldar looked down at his body only to realize his entire being was shaking.

When Eldar woke up, the heavy winds had blown soil over his blood making it seem as though yesterdays events were non-existent. Eldar quickly snapped back to reality as he looked around. Currently, he was at the edge of a black bamboo forest. Oddly, the forest was filled with dark bushes creating a maze of branches. The bamboo sticks were the only visible thing for miles ahead.

Eldar grasped his half-arm as he used his right arm to wrap leaves around it, the bleeding lessened but the black leaves were quickly left with tinges of red. Eldar grimaced as he kept on walking.

After going through around 10 bushes Eldar found a small black bamboo stick. One end had a sharp point and the other was flat. Eldar quickly picked it up and sharpened it as he travelled across the vast forest. Eldar took the large amount of time he now had to look at his situation thorougly.

He was cold, his black robes had several rips and his mutilated left arm had made him incapable of using his only complete clan technique. His situation was far from acceptable. Eldar held his walking stick in his right hand as his feet whined in agony. Eldar personally would have loved to stop and lie down so that he could take a nice little rest however after several attempts the burn marks on his neck had become truth as a white hot chain formed and scorched him whenever he stopped progressing.

Eldar cursed as he walked through the forest and his body constantly stung with pain from a new location every few seconds.

'Damn Village chief, I just wanted to go outside. If I knew it was like this, I would of stayed in the village. Probably."

Eldar cursed as he remembered exactly who was responsible for his current life path.

Eldars body finally gave in after going through a large section of branches. Eldar breathed a heavy sigh of relief as the burning pain did not return for his neck. Eldars whole body shook as he rose his head from the ground to look at a gap in the branches. A roar of a large animal could be heard but Eldar was confident the animal was injured or he would've been attacked a while ago.

Eldar could run away with all his might but since he wanted to save energy and it looked like his friend in front of him had the same plan he decided to wait and see if anything happened. Maybe someone was going to attack or maybe Eldar would be able to get a recently deceased carcass for his first meal. Eldar almost regurgitated something when he thought of having to eat an abomination from this land.

With a soft sigh, Eldar began to fall asleep. Before several sharp stings awoke him. Eldar just ended up staring away from the wounded beast and into a small gap in the bamboo forest. Eldar stared for seconds. Seconds that grew into minutes. Minutes that gradually became hours. Eldars consciousness finally began to slip and just before everything turned truly black Eldar saw a flash of light.

Eldars body shook as his consciousness swiftly began escaping again.

'Hope.'