The tall, hooded figure stood imposingly infront of Kharon, as the cloak slowly swayed in the wind.
Kharon was lay on the ground, puzzled as to what he was meant to do. Should he try healing himself while the creature was distracted or should he try escaping while he still could?
He didn't know if the figure infront of him was hostile or not but he didn't feel unsafe. In fact he felt strangely warm and safe, as if the figure in front of him was a guardian who was going to keep him safe.
Deciding to trust the unknown stranger, Kharon focused on the Solar Ring as he activated Healing Light. A pleasant sensation quickly came over him as his body was covered by a bright, golden light. His bones began to creak and crack as they moved around, breaking and rebuilding as they went back to their former shapes. Next, his damaged organs slowly regenerated, his bruised lungs healed themselves as he took in a relieved breath. His slightly punctured heart started to beat faster and faster, with each beat the pain emanating slowly subsided until he couldn't feel it anymore.
His skin closed and mended itself both internally and externally, leaving no visible scars behind. His pale skin was back to it's pristine state from before the creature had attacked him except for the fact that his abdominal area was bathed in blood as was his cloak.
He suddenly felt light-headed as he swayed a bit before regaining his balance, the toll of expending so much Aether to heal himself from his grievous wounds was already catching up to him.
He took a glance at his cloak with a puzzled look; though the Stalker's Cloth seemed to look as dark as it had always been, it was drenched in blood. The lightless cloak seemed to absorb the blood into it's endless darkness, making it almost impossible to spot the change.
Kharon quickly jumped up to confront the creature and the strange, figure who was still standing as still as a statue. He was unsure of how long it had taken him to heal but it couldn't have been more than ten seconds. The Solar Ring was a tier 3 mystic construct after all, it's abilities seemed to operate at a much faster rate than other constructs. Though Kharon wasn't fully sure due to his lack of knowledge on other mystic constructs except the mysterious grimiore he had left in the dark mauseleum.
The hooded figure took a quick glance back at Kharon before shifting their attention back to the creature infront of them. The figure slowly raised an arm and outstretched their fingers before closing their hand into a tight fist.
There was a flash of blinding light and before Kharon could realise, he had been picked up and through over the shoulder of the figure as they quickly sped away.
Kharon saw the creature standing in a daze before it's vision locked onto his. The figure had covered several hundred meters in just a few seconds... And yet the creature was just a few meters away from them. It was clear that the creature had been severely holding back against Kharon though he was confused as to why it would do that.
Was he that low of a threat to it?
Knowing that he had been toyed with made Kharon both furious and terrified. He knew that there must be a gap between the tiers, but wasn't a gap this big simply ridiculous? A tier 4 creature being able to casually cover several hundred meters in less than a second was absolutely obsurd. Kharon could probably cover three hundred meters in a second or two but that was due to him already having a portion of his Essence Core assimilated with him.
The figure carrying him was definitely faster than him though. He didn't know if it was due to the figure having more of their Essence Core assimilated with themselve or if it was a characteristic of their Arcane Path.
Before Kharon could warn the figure about the creature, he felt himself flying high in the air. The wind was whispering in his ear, the trees rustled in the calm breeze and he could see the fruit of several trees which seemed to call his name, inviting him to eat them.
As he felt himself suddenly falling Kharon used Silent Craft to create a small platform and simultaneously used Hidden Hand to stop the platform from falling.
He was already running low on Aether so he decided to quickly lower himself down. He didn't know where the tall figure had gone or why he had been throwed like a ragdoll, but he knew that the figure had no malicious intent.
As he approached closer to the ground, Kharon caught a glimpse of the boar-like creature and was suddenly overcome by a crushing force. It felt even worse than before but this time, he had anticipated it.
Before being assaulted by the force, he had dismissed the platform he was standing on and had crafted a metal dome around himself. It didn't save him from the bone-breaking force, but it greatly reduced the physical burden on his body.
However, he couldn't maintain the dome for long and had to release it but conserve the remaining Aether he had left. He knew he was likely to die without the dome but if he ran out of Aether, he would definitely pass out and be killed either way.
He didn't know where the tall, figure had gone, but assumed he had been left behind as a distraction while the figure escaped. It puzzled him why the figure had tried saving him in the first place as Kharon had been at the mercy of the creature before. But maybe the figure had wanted to save him in an act of heroism.
It seemed like a pretty stupid thing to do, especially if the figure had known of the dangers posed by a tier 4 creature. But if they hadn't done this stupid thing, he would most likely be dead by now; though his death had just been temporarily postponed by the look of things...
Kharon didn't know what to do except try and curl himself into a ball. But as he was about to do this, something snapped in his mind. He didn't know why but he was overcome by rage. His face twisted into a pained grimace as the force continued to press him down on the cold, moist soil. But unlike before, Kharon didn't just accept it, instead he forced his whole body to rise.
Despite continuously being pinned back onto the floor, he continued to try and rise. As he looked at the creature which was looming over him like a guillotine, ready to end his life in a flash.
Kharon was sure that he was going to die, one hundred percent. But he wouldn't go out without a good fight. Dismissing all sense of caution, he sent all of his Aether into the Solar Ring and activated Purging Flames.
Using all of his strength, he outstretched his trembling arm and pointed it towards the creature, a wave of adrenaline washed over him and empowered his either body as he felt a wave of searing heat escape his outstretched arm and head straight for the creature. He didn't know if it would be enough to kill it though.
Back in the mauseleum he had used all of the Aether he still had after fighting the mysterious wolf creature; which was less than half of his Aether. It still been enough to completely obliterate the runic circle and leave a wide, gaping chasm on the floor. But this time, he barely had any Aether left, and yet the flame that was released from his hand was just as powerful if not more poweful than before.
It was strange, as Kharon was meant to have passed out by now due to having no Aether left, but he strangely had quite a bit of Aether in his reserves. It was as if something or someone had given him more Aether. He hadn't noticed before probably due to the adrenaline rush, but he felt empowered. His body wasn't sore or in pain.
In fact, he felt better than before, his body was filled with strength, it felt like he could carry a mountain or even a whole island; though he doubted if he truly could he knew that there was a qualitative change in his strength. But what had caused it?
He suddenly heard the leaves rustle and a tall, hooded figure appeared from the shadows.
The figure looked at Kharon who was still on the ground; admiring his own arms. The figure began to walk towards Kharon with slow steady steps which quickly got faster as he approached.
Kharon felt on edge due to this but he remained sitting on the ground. Once the figure reached him, they offered him their arm and pulled him up.
The figure then pulled down the hood of the dark cloak, messy, light, blond hair could be seen as Kharon stared at the figure. The guy infront of him had to be a heartthrob. His sky blue eyes looked identical to the bright sky, his slightly tanned, vibrate skin matched his hair perfectly. His face was completely symmetrical and everything about him seemed perfect, except for one thing. Parts of his face seemed to be lighter than others, creating a contrast with his stunning looks.
Kharon continued to stare at the handsome guy infront of him for a long while before the guy suddenly spoke in a calm, angelic voice.
"My name is Aidan. Aidan Brighthart, it's a pleasure to meet you."