Never-ending. The Great Wilderness was simply never-ending. Thorne had spent the first hour or so scouting. He had discovered that he was at the border of two ecosystems. There was a dense forest of deep brown wood, darkness permeating every centimeter, and an endless grassland that continued for as long as Thorne could see, only interrupted by the jagged slope of the mesmerizing living mountain. Even from so far, Thorne could see the boundless lighting and crashing walls of earth.

The serene beauty of undisturbed nature stunned Thorne. He was used to the bustle of earthling life, distracted by labor and the burden of life, unable to enjoy the pristine calmness of nature. The notion of peacefulness was enhanced by the various mythical creatures dotting the skies. He would periodically see flying beasts above the grasslands of all variations and massive land creatures roaming the stocky open land in the distance. He had even spotted what looked like an enormous bear, nothing more; it did not have six arms or wings, just a building-sized, regular, earth-like bear.

Of course, Thorne ignored all these creatures, and they did the same for him. They certainly would not travel for miles just for a relatively small amount of nutrition; this would change, however, if Thorne became close to one of the predators. With the threats of the grassland plain to see, Thorne knew that the gloomy forest was his only option.

He walked slowly, concentrating heavily on his surroundings; the last thing he could afford was carelessness. Treading softly through the leafy underbrush, he navigated his way through the forest. It was quite dark, though enough light shone through the heavy foliage to allow passable vision.

‘First, I need water.’ Thorne was no expert, yet he did know his body, ‘water, food, shelter. Hopefully, I can find an area where all three are accessible.’

Unfortunately, this was not the case. He wandered for what seemed to be hours and was not met by any water, food, or suitable area to settle. He did not even notice a single animal, not one. The sun began to set, and the already scarce light dimmed even further.

Thorne sighed, ‘I suppose I’ll have to take a tree.’ He knew that the beasts of the forests likely hunted at night, and sleeping unprotected in the open would be suicide.

Thorne walked up to a small tree that had likely only sprouted recently. He drew one of his swords and cut off one of the branches, a long and thin piece of wood.

‘Perfect.’ Thorne smiled slightly. He then scanned his immediate surroundings, attempting to find a suitable bed.

His smile grew even more comprehensive. He had found a perfect tree. It towered for hundreds of feet, just like all the other trees in this forest, yet what made it stand out was its thick and seemingly sturdy branches. Thorne began climbing, carefully implanting his feet onto each branch, careful not to slip.

He climbed about twenty feet before settling on a thick branch that was almost entirely horizontal. The sun, nearly wholly hidden, made his next task tricky, but he managed. He tied one of his hands using the smaller piece of wood he had cut earlier and situated himself steadily to the giant branch, creating a makeshift harness.

‘There we go.’ Thorne sighed heavily, finally releasing a pent-up breath; he wasn’t particularly afraid of heights, but the notion that one mishap could cause his demise certainly unsettled him.

‘It’s not perfectly safe, but it will do.’ Thorne smiled, spectating the last glimpse of the fiery sun blinking out, ‘now it’s time for a good night’s sleep.’

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The good night’s sleep never came. Thorne woke up to the barely perceptible sound of scratching. The sky was still dark, and only the light glow that emanated from his spectrum crystal allowed him to have any vision at all.

Thorne sat up while checking his makeshift rope.

‘Still secure. Good.’

Materializing one of his swords in his free hand, Thorne cocked his ear, trying to hear the quiet noise once again, and he did. It was as if the bark was being scratched at slightly, and it was getting closer!

Thorne franticly positioned himself to look down the tree, cocking his ear to locate the source of the noise, ‘what is scratching the tree?’

He glanced over and still saw nothing, the dark shroud of the night obscuring his senses. ‘Wait, something moved!’ Thorne’s breath froze; he was sure he saw the darkness shift along the tree’s shaft.

‘Am I hallucinating?’ Thorne thought, his heartbeat racing frantically; ‘Are the days of training get to me?’ Thorne shook his head, rapidly blinking his eyes, trying in vain to gaze into the space below him.

EEEKKK!

Out of nowhere, the sound returned in full force. ‘WHAT!’ time froze around Thorne as just at the edge of his vision, he could see a ferocious beast! It was a sleek tiger-like creature with shining matt black fur. The beasts’ claws extended towards Thorne’s torso.

‘NO!’ Thorne raised his sword and attempted to defend; his lack of rest did not help at all with his reaction speed. His sword slowly drifted in the veil of darkness, not abiding by the rules of time, but even so, his sword was too slow.

Thorne blinked. BANG! The claw and sword collided, but not cleanly. The east claw shifted from the impact and tore into Thorne’s exposed leg. He grimaced furiously, tears streaming down his face, knowing that if he made a noise, more beasts would likely come.

Cutting through the air in a deadly crescent, Thorne’s sword reached out tantalizingly close to the agile beats. ‘That’s It!’ Thorne shouted excitedly while seeing his sword about to connect with his attacker. But no, the beast rolled in midair, barely avoiding the sharp saber.

Now several feet above him, the beast looked down at him, its bright orange eyes unblinking. Thorne noticed something in those eyes, something eerie. However, he could not ponder it as the monster launched its second salvo nearly immediately!

It flew down at a nearly perfect vertical dive. Its mouth lay agape, fangs shining in the red and yellow light of Thorne’s crystal. ‘Almost.’ Thorne thought franticly; it was almost here, about to kill him, ‘ALMOST!’ Thorne gritted his teeth and, with all his remaining strength, lifted his blade up as high he could and threw it!

The saber flew up in a deathly rage. The orange eyes of the beast widened as it tried to corkscrew its body to avoid the blade. It was futile. With a loud thump, the body of the black beast collided with the branch and luckily did not fall to the forest ground. Thorne warily looked at the body and lightly poked it with his foot. There was no reaction; that’s good.’ He sighed heavily.

Protruding from the beast’s throat like an apple in a pig’s mouth was Thorne’s runic sword, deeply puncturing the creature’s innards. Thorne’s face scrunched in disgust, ‘goddamn, that smells horrible and looks even worse.’ He had seen his share of fights, even participating in a few, but nothing had been as gory as this. The blade cut a jagged line through the throat, and blood-soaked the mouth, dripping onto the wooden branch.

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Thorne cast a tentative hand outward, reaching for his blade stuck in the beast, and with a quick tug, he extracted it. ‘Ahh! That is nasty.’ The black blade was coated in sticky red blood up to the handle. ‘I definitely need to find some water immediately.’ Thorne thought to himself, looking at his bloody leg, as well as his dirty clothes, ‘If I don’t clean up, I can forget about surviving here; the infection itself would get me.’ He thought grimly.

GRRRR!

‘Shit!’ Thorne grimaced; he had utterly forgotten food. ‘Well… I do have this…’ He cast an unwilling gaze toward the gruesome beast’s corpse, not looking forward to it. He sighed heavily, ‘Well, I need food, and this is food; let’s just hope it is edible. If not…’ Thorne’s thoughts trailed off, unwilling to think of that unsavory possibility.

‘But before that, I really, really need some sleep.’

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His eyes opened slowly, blinking rapidly under the bright sunlight shining through the foliage. Thorne looked through the vast forest. The vast dead forest. ‘Another day.’ He sighed lightly, his eyes heavy. ‘Water and shelter.’ Thorne planned, ‘Those two are the biggest priority.’ Looking at the beast he had slayed the night before caused Thorne’s solemness to increase, ‘water, shelter, and then information.’

‘Damnit!’ Thorne snarled; he had attempted to lift the lanky beast but was surprised by its monstrous weight. He wiped the sleep from his eyes, knowing that he was about to regret his following action; ‘well, I can’t do anything else.’ So, he threw the beast down from the tree. He could barely lift it over his shoulder and with a heavy push.

THUMP!

The weighty beast flew down quickly and landed heavily on its dense back, causing a loud thump reverberating through the usually silent forest. Thorne looked up to the sky, cursing his luck, ‘Why does it have to land on its back? The noise would have lessened if it had landed on any other part of its body. Oh, whatever, I simply must hope that no beasts were attracted by the noise.’ Thorne cautiously scaled down the tree, conscious of potential threats, ‘Well, you can’t control what you can’t control.’

Soon reaching the forest ground, Thorne decided to cut up some of the beasts for food before beginning his hunting trip. ‘Wow!’ he whistled lowly, ‘The hide is really thick.’ His blade did manage to cut through the sturdy skin of the beast, but it was not without difficulty.

‘Pushhh!’ The sword plunged down into the innards of the beast, finally achieving the desired result.

Thorne cut the beast meat into portions for around half an hour. ‘I have about fifteen large slices of edible meat.’ He thought while gazing at his handiwork, ‘Each should be enough for one full day of food.’ He closed his eyes slowly, knowing that he would have to hunt actively for his food. ‘This is dangerous.’ Thorne solemnly remembered his fight with the tiger-like creature, ‘I got lucky in that fight, but I can’t always be lucky; being a proactive predator is far better than being reactive prey.’

With that last dread-filled thought, Thorne journeyed out into the unknown wilderness, his spatial storage filled with food, and his heart still beating strong--obsessed with survival.

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'How is there no water?’ Thorne grumbled inwardly. His legs shook slightly as he continued walking. The forest was a maze. He had been walking for hours, and the only things he had seen were trees, dirt, and plants. Furthermore, it seemed as if the forest was trapped in time. No movement occurred, no birds chirped or animals ran.

Thorne stopped and leaned on a tree, giving his fatigued legs a well-deserved rest; the uneven and challenging terrain had taken a number on them. He sighed heavily, disappointed in his journey, ‘It seems that I may have to just pick another tree like last night. Though… this has been good training for my amber spectrum.’ A barely perceptible but irrefutable change had occurred to Thorne’s energy. It seemed as long as he kept going, the energy would circulate through his body faster and faster to help his tired body.

He had also noticed a similar change in his red energy, which was likely due to the fight with the leopard-like beast the previous night. ‘Well, at least this is good training.’ He thought tiredly, ‘I’ll keep going.’ He cast his eyes upward, trying to see through the veil of leaves and branched. ‘That’s good, the sun is still up; I’ll keep going until night.’

Knowing that most beasts likely hunted in the night, Thorne knew that his unimpeded freedom would surely be violated if he traveled in the dark.

He continued walking. His heavy steps became louder and louder as he no longer had the energy to conceal them. Sweat streamed down his face, and his panting grew loud. With glazed eyes and a singular mind, he continued. Due to his fatigue, Thorne did not notice one thing: the forest had begun to darken.

‘Water…shelter…where are you!’ He was desperate for his prize but more desperate for an end to his search.

‘Wait.’ Thorne’s eyes widened in panic as the previous glaze slowly disappeared. ‘Oh no! Oh no! How am I so stupid!’ He took several deep breaths, his sweat lessening. ‘The day is gone.’ Thorne closed his eyes in anticipation, attempting to calm his racing heart. But it was too late.

SKREEE!

From just above Thorne’s slouched figure came a horrifying scream. Before he even knew what was happening, his reflexes took over! Thorne ducked down and rolled to his left, hiding his body behind a thick tree. He cast a fervent glance around it, trying to see his attacker.

‘What in the world?’ Thorne was more shocked than scared upon seeing the source of his panic. It was a bird. Well, almost a bird. It was the size of a cat with a brown body that blended perfectly with the murky forest. Two aspects of the beast made it truly surprising to Thorne. One was its wings. They were layered and sharp. It seemed as if multiple knives were glued onto the body of a bird. The wings swirled and spun like a bee, but unlike a bee, they were silent assassins.

The second aspect of the being was far more straightforward than the wings but far more alarming. Its sensory organs, or rather, the of them. The beast had no eyes, no ears, no nose, nothing. Thorne shivered under the sight, coming to an eerie conclusion, ‘it must sense its surroundings through energy.’

Before he could ponder further, the beast shot forward at a staggering speed through the tree! Thorne barely reacted in time, and one rolled out of the way again before drawing his two sabers. ‘This thing is too fast!’ Thorne thought, gritting his teeth. ‘How can I attack it If I can barely react to it?’

He held his swords up in a protective stance, preparing for the next attack. It did not come. Instead, the beast slowly moved closer to Thorne and began hovering around him, circling him slowly. Thorne scowled in frustration. He was utterly helpless.

Thorne looked at the beast’s two wings as they vibrated swiftly and precisely. They moved with perfect cohesion, each of the intricacies working together to support the beast in its flight.

SCREEE!

Too busy analyzing his enemy, he was caught off guard. The beast flew forward at horrifying speeds and thrust one of its wings at Thorne’s neck! Barely able to react, Thorne lifted his left hand, and with his sword, he just about nudged the deadly sharp wing. Unfortunately, it was not enough.

“Umph,” Thorne grunted quietly, unable to hold in his pain as the edged wing tore across his shoulder. Blood exploded from the wound as the wing cut deep into his unprotected flesh. The beast flew away, wobbling slightly in the air, clearly wary of a counterattack.

Through the haze of pain and blood, Thorne barely noticed it, but luckily, he did, ‘it wobbled. Before, it was flying with precision and speed, but now it wobbled; why?’ The previously wobbling beast was now flying clearly again, its speed and precise movements returning. But Thorne had noticed its wobble before. ‘Wait, that’s it!’ Thorne exclaimed to himself, finally realizing what he must do.

He waited, and despite the pain in his shoulder, he held both his blades firmly in a defensive stance. ‘Come on…just attack me already!’ Thorne face twitched in agitation and fear. He was purposely inviting the attack, and just one slow reaction would be his death.

SREEE!

‘There!’ He felt his red energy flowing within him. His energy preparing for the inevitable destruction and chaos. Time slowed, and Thorne could barely distinguish the wing intended to attack him. He lifted his right arm and tossed one of his swords at the beast’s wings! ‘Please hit.’ He prayed silently.

CLANG!

The sword’s flat side collided heavily with the wing, but it was enough. The usual precise movement of the beast was now ruined, the balance disrupted. That was its weakness; there were so many small complexities to the beast’s flight that one disruption to any part of the wing would cause total failure in flight. It was like a machine; one cog failed, and the whole system fell apart.

The beast fell heavily to the ground, its hurt wing twitching. Thorne, despite his fatigue and injuries, punched, and with his left hand, he plunged his sword downward, puncturing the head of the once all-powerful enemy.