Forest Arc: Day 6

The forest was swaying with the wind, the temperature had plummeted since Claire had left, a sheen of frost covered the ground and made running along the grass extra dangerous as sharply frozen blades of grass could behave almost like real blades, forcing Sven to run along the well-worn trails of plain dirt and rock walls. Sven had found climbing said rock walls to also be an important activity to break up the monotony of running. The rock walls around him weren't that high so he felt comfortable climbing them as a part of the agility course he had established for himself. His legs were now looking more defined, and his pecs protruded more noticeably - that and his abs rivaled that of Claires now after these 6 days.

Tomorrow she would be returning to him to continue their training, which added a skip to Sven's step. He had trained himself to exhaustion each day only to rise early and keep at it the next, his Dire could last for minutes now at a time and even the color had improved to being a more vivid orange. The cold had made things difficult but that difficulty he felt had added to his progress rather than impeding it. He had slipped many times but had picked himself up and kept right back at it. The cold weather hardly effected him throughout the week, and in fact he had to dip himself into the freezing waters just to cool himself down after training.

His legs and arms were thicker, more developed now and he felt like he could run for longer and harder without showing signs of fatigue than when he had first started. His body overall felt lighter and somehow more coordinated, like he had better control of his muscles and of his reactions. He had even reflexively caught a falling icicle that was growing just above his door this morning from having sensed it falling towards him upon opening the door.

It was incredible what he had achieved in just one week, he felt more confident now within himself and capable too. He had no idea why he hadn't done this sooner, scratch that - he knew exactly why. It was fear, not only of the forest itself and what lurked within - but fear of trying and failing to achieve. A strangling fear that had kept him down for so long, that made him feel impotent to improvement, a curse that had been lifted the day he stood next to those academy railings. He couldn't help but be grateful to whatever it was that spoke to him in that swirling void, it had taken Sven some introspection to come to terms with what had actually happened that day, whether it was just a dream or not, perhaps it really was an over reactive imagination whilst out cold - but Sven couldn't help but place his finger on the chances that he spoke to something supernatural that day, a guiding divinity had that blessed him with purpose. How else could he explain away his sudden status as a Mystic upon waking up?

'Now that I have purpose, there's nothing I should fear but fear itself.' Sven reminded himself, a little mantra he had developed to keep pushing onwards through the cold. As he ran the cold coursed down his spine, but it wasn't the winds that had caused it, but the realization that he was being watched. Off to his right and up the slight incline of the forest were two red eyes that stared hungrily right back at him. An adult shadow wolf almost twice his size was prowling towards him trying not to make a sound as it began its ambush, upon seeing its cover was spotted it growled and darted down towards him.

Eyes lighting up Sven wasted no time in running forward, quickly thinking about what to do. He had rehearsed this in his head as he trained throughout the week, he was caught in a spot that was closer to the waterfall than he was to his home so he ran towards the body of water, he would be faster in water than the wolf and also have access to his hands to potentially fend off the monster before him, whilst the wolf would only be able to bite him. He had done this once before - albeit to a malnourished teen wolf half the size of this monstrosity chasing him down.

Feeling his heart pounding through his chest Sven sprinted towards his goal, hearing the ravenous pants of the beast in pursuit as it gained on him. Realizing with dread that he wouldn't have time to make it to the waterfall Sven spun around and readied himself, as he turned the beast lunged towards him, mouth agape and salivating as it aimed for Sven's neck. Activating Dire the beast bounced teeth first into the physical barrier, sending it bouncing backwards and in a daze. Wasting no time Sven kept on running towards the body of water off in the distance, the wolf wasn't dazed for long and soon came back to his senses as it reared itself back up and continued its hunt.

It wasn't long before Sven could hear it at his heels again, once again spinning around to activate Dire. This time however the wolf stopped in its tracks and began to circle him, growling as it sized up its opponent. Sven realized he was on a time limit here, he couldn't just stand there and let the wolf wait out his Dire, he had to make some kind of a play or else he was dead. Looking around Sven found a tree that he could climb nearby, it was within lunging distance if a little further away than he had wished - but it was his best shot at gaining some distance, he figured he could wait up there until the wolf either lost interest or until a better plan hit him.

A snap of a branch was heard off into the forests undergrowth, for a split second the wolf turned his attention off of Sven and towards the source of the sound and in that moment Sven canceled his Dire and darted towards the tree. Swinging its head around the wolf gave chase faster than Sven had anticipated and just as he had gotten one of his feet in-between one of the trees branches, the wolf bit down on his exposed leg. Screaming out in pain Sven tried to kick his leg free only for the wolf to pull him back and try to drag him from the tree. The wolf bit deep and he felt the searing pain shoot throughout his body. Thinking quickly, Sven snapped a twig off from the tree and darted the jagged end into the wolfs eye, sending it howling in pain enough to release his leg from the monsters jaw. Quickly climbing the rest of the tree in record time, Sven sat in the most secure spot on the tree and tended to his leg as the wolf cried.

The teeth marks were deep and blood was beginning to pour freely onto the tree and dripping to the ground below. The wolf agonized its screams turning into demonic howls of anger and frustration, with its one good red eye it pierced Sven with an evil glare. Using its rage the wolf fought through the pain and began to bite and tear at the base of the tree, ripping pieces of bark off of it like it was plucking a chicken. Sven looked around him as he felt the pressure of time once again opposing him. There was no easy fall from here, the waterfall was close now but with his injured leg it might as well have been miles away. Looking back down the wolf was chewing through heartwood now, it'd only be a matter of time before the tree would fall and he along with it.

Sure enough he felt his weight begin to shift as the tree began to snap down to the earth where he would be sure to be set upon. As he fell the wolf in its rage jumped at his neck again instead of waiting, sparing not a moment and in the absolute nick of time Sven cast his Dire and sent the wolf ricocheting off of him and up into the trees where the wolf hit every branch on its way down. Sven landed with a deft thud and a knock to his head that disoriented himself, but still he pressed on. Dizzily he got up and pushed forward, limping as fast as he could and running a little until his coordination gave out and he stumbled to the floor, picking himself back up and returning to limping he desperately ran towards the waterfall. It was up a small incline now, using his hands on the skinny trees around him to hoister himself up faster he could hear the dreaded sound of rustling back at the felled tree.

The wolf had picked itself up now, bleeding all over from the scrapes it had received from its fall through the trees branches, its good eye set upon Sven's and in an instant as it resumed its chase. Absolutely determined now to get him, Sven knew that this was it, this was his last chance to carry on living. Having ascended the incline he bolted towards the water, ignoring the pain, ignoring his muscles cry to stop, his only focus was on the beast he knew was behind him. As he breached the shallow waters he felt the monster too breach the incline and dash towards him.

Soon Sven was wading through the waters and could feel the wolf splashing close behind him, while he was certainly faster in the shallows the beast had the advantage once fully submerged and it could paddle using all four legs, Sven on the other hand couldn't swim with his injured leg so resorted to wading through it. Just as he thought that this must be the end of the road for him, an ingenious idea came to Sven. Turning around the wolf in its fury lunged towards Sven's arm. Biting down on him briefly, Sven quickly activated his Dire ability propelling the wolf from his skin. The Dire ability was only being projected from Sven's arm, it was no longer spherical around his entire body - but simply coating his arm like a shiny orange wreath.

The monster went to lunge at his neck this time but Sven brought his fist down on the wolf and punched it into the water, whilst submerged Sven held the creature there with his Dire wreathed hand as he grasped its neck. The Wolf thrashed in the water sending it splashing violently around him, in its struggles the beast managed to catch Sven's Dire wreathed hand in its jaws as it began to bite down with immense power. Sven could begin to feel his Dire to wane, eyes widening the orange glow shattered and teeth suspended in air suddenly found purchase in his closed fist. Quickly Sven activated his dire again and returned to pinning its head under water. On and on this cycle went, a dozen more times at least of Sven being bitten only to reactivate Dire and keep the wolf at bay.

The bites were shallow as Sven managed to activate his Dire before the teeth sunk too deep, but the pain was excruciating and he could feel his injured hand going numb. However relief washed through Sven's entire body as he saw bubbles begin to rise to the surface and the beasts bites and thrashes begin to steady. Soon there was no signs of resistance but still Sven held on. He held his Dire going until he couldn't hold it any longer, he held onto it for so long that his vision began to blur, terrified that the creature might be playing dead. Soon enough the blackness creeped up around his vision and Sven fell into a deep sleep.