When he’d thought that the man had been injured, it made sense that he couldn’t hide himself. Now that he was sure he hadn’t been hurt, there was no reason that he wouldn’t. It still didn’t help him, as they were no closer to catching the man as they had been nearly three weeks ago. In fact, if anything, they were now further away than they had been.
His stomach growled noisily, breaking him out of his bitter thoughts and back to the present. They’d run out of food nearly a week ago and had had no luck of procuring any more. Martial Artists could go for quite a while without eating, once they reached the higher stages. Koya, however, was not at that stage just yet, and it felt like his stomach was slowly eating itself with each passing day.
Izu and Kozu weren’t any better off, the both of them sniping at one another, followed by long, sullen silences. In a word, they were all thoroughly miserable and dying of starvation.
A loud branch snapping nearby caught all of their notices, Koya’s head snapping to the side and a blade of glowing blue water materialized from thin air. Similar blades formed around the twins as the three of them waited, staring off into the surrounding trees.
“What are you all looking at?”
They all jumped as a voice sounded from behind them, Koya spinning in place and preparing to hurl his attack. He stopped short when his eyes landed on the man who’d spoken. He was nothing remarkable. In fact, he was so unremarkable that Koya was sure he would forget him as soon as he left.
What had caught his attention was the massive bear on whose back he was perched.
They all stared, dumbfounded as the man hopped off the bear’s back, approaching them with a curious look on his face.
“I wasn’t aware of any humans in this part of the Waterwood. So tell me, who are you, and what are you doing here?”
Koya’s eyes immediately snapped to the man’s waist. A piece of brown rope lay there, holding the front of his black and brown robes in place. He tried feeling for the man’s Essence but got nothing.
If he were an idiot, he might just assume that this man was a freak, like Roy. But the mere fact that he was out here alone and riding such an intimidating Beast was enough to convince him otherwise. The man was clearly very powerful. Just how powerful, though, Koya couldn’t tell.
“We’re from the Shah clan, and we’re following someone,” Koya said, careful not to give away anything more than that.
The man’s eyes moved to side and Koya was shocked when they followed the exact path of the Essence they’d been following. It might have seemed like an easy thing to do, but picking out someone’s trail was nearly impossible unless you knew exactly what you were looking for.
“Ah, I see,” the man said after a few long moments of silence. “Why?”
“Why are we following him?” Koya asked, just to clarify. When the man didn’t respond, he was quick to continue. “We believe that he may have stolen something from our clan, a Dungeon core, and we’re trying to get it back.”
The stranger nodded, as though expecting this answer, then abruptly turned and headed to mount his Beast once more. Koya stared, not sure what was going on, as the man started to ride away.
Was he going to leave, just like that?
“Wait!” he called out, as the bear began walking away.
The bear stopped, and the man turned in his seat, giving him that same curious look as before.
“What?”
“Can you help us, please? We’re starving and haven’t had anything to eat in nearly a week.”
It hurt Koya’s pride to beg, but if they didn’t get some food soon, they would be too weak to continue. After that, it was only a matter of time until their control over their cores slipped, and the wild Beasts were able to sense them. If it ever came to that, they would be finished.
The man stared at them for a few more seconds, before pulling a leather sack from the inside of his robe and tossing it to them.
“Your quarry is in The Crater. You can pay me back once you have found him.”
The leather sack hit the ground, and both man and bear vanished, seemingly into thin air. A wave of dizziness overcame him, and he swayed on the spot as the world seemed to spin around him. Suddenly, it stabilized, and he dropped to his knees, dry heaving as his head spun. He could hear similar sounds coming from behind him and knew that Izu and Kozu had been subjected to the same treatment.
Once the dizzy spell had passed, Koya was finally able to concentrate on his surroundings. His heart skipped a beat, as he realized that the surrounding forest had drastically changed. The trees thinned considerably, and the sky overhead was growing stormy. Lightning flashed in the distance, even as he forced himself back to his feet.
“Koya, what just happened?” Izu asked as Kozu began digging through the leather bag the man had given them.
“I…don’t know,” Koya responded, feeling a cold sweat breaking out on his back as he realized what had happened.
They’d just been transported nearly to the border of The Crater. A trip which would have taken nearly a month on foot had taken a matter of seconds. He shivered, despite the warmth of the early evening air. Whoever that man had been, he was not someone to be trifle with.
***
Roy stood frozen in place. The pressure that the Beast was exerting on his body and core too great for him to move. The air was so heavy, in fact, that Roy found he was having a difficult time breathing, as the monstrous mountain lion leaped nimbly from atop the spire, landing on the ground sixty feet below without so much as a sound.
A low, rumbling growl began in its chest and worked its way up through its partially opened mouth. Roy could see a row of gleaming teeth as the cat slowly padded forward, its amber eyes fixed on him and a hungry look on its face.
The pressure on his body increased even more as the massive Beast drew nearer and, had its presence not been locking him in place, Roy was sure that his knees would have given out.
He’d met the Shah clan leader, Korgo, a few times. The man had never bothered containing his power, and it had never affected him the way this Beast’s was. Then again, he hadn’t been able to feel Essence when he was still living with the clan, so maybe that was the reason. Either way, he couldn’t see any way out of this situation.
He could feel fear, anger, frustration, and acceptance all mixing in equal measure. He’d survived many near-death encounters, but despite his weakness, he’d made it here. He’d survived the Dungeon, the Trials, his first run-in with the Shah, a pack of wild Beasts, and a landslide. He supposed his luck had to come to an end, eventually.
“Well, Geon,” Roy said, surprised that his voice was no longer quivering. “It looks like my luck had finally run out. Thank you for at least giving me the opportunity to become a Martial Artist, even if I did fail in the end.”
The cat pounced, metallic claws extending and reflecting the dim light of The Crater. Roy could feel his heart freeze as his eyes locked onto the Beast’s own.
This was it…
A beam of golden light plunged down from the sky, slamming into the ground right before the cat and making it swerve to the side with an angry yowl. The pressure on Roy’s body vanished instantly, and he threw his arms up instinctively to block out the light, even as he fell onto his back.
“My goodness, boy. You have worse luck than just about anyone I’ve ever met!”
Roy started in surprise as the light cleared up to show a man standing there. He was an old man, and one of the strangest he’d ever seen. The man was short, barely topping four feet, and had long, flowing white hair held back in a braid. His skin was weathered and lined, his brown eyes slightly sunken and his upper lip covered in a wispy white mustache that partially covered his mouth.
He was dressed in a long, flowing, green and gold robe, that was tied at the waist with a Belt, though he couldn’t make out the color, no matter how hard he tried. A long staff of golden light was clutched in one hand, and the other was held behind his back.