The earthen scent of dirt permeated the air, the many crickets chirped, filling the forest with a constant, annoying "eee" sound, almost like the buzzer that signaled the end of a school day, or the start of a gladiator fight.
'Why were they the same sound anyways?'
A pale young man crouched next to a flowing river, his bony fingers tried cupping the thin stream, yes, the whole thing–but obviously failing to do so, its transparent current gushing through the dense thicket of greenery. An orange leather backpack was borne on his slim back, its uneven texture jutting out and poking him from behind.
The warning red of the sun seemed even more ominous as it approached the boy, as if warding off potential prey from his grasp.
The titanic grey slopes of the Earthen Mountains crashed into the fragile expanse of green flatland before it, a mighty stream of blue fluid surrounding its base, spawning from a nearby waterfall of a short mound, gracefully embracing the deceptively shallow lake beneath.
A light glow shimmered from below the man's hands, cupping a handful of water into his mouth. The Light purified the water, its strong ultraviolet therapy purifying even the deadliest of curses, a feature of his Element Virt had discovered on a pilgrimage across another similar mountain range to the Government.
The dim glow shimmered to life, enveloping a large area of the river.
Dipping his head into the cold water, Virt let his mouth be dragged by its furious path, turning it so that the fluid naturally swam its way into his gaping hole. Its cool relief washed over him, his parched throat finally achieving a sense of escape from the burning sensation of dryness. His short hair followed along the narrow current, like a piece of algae stuck to a stubborn piece of rock.
After a minute or so, Virt finally ran out of breath, whipping his head back and taking in a huge mouthful of air instead of water.
The wind picked up, its chilling touch coming and going like a phantom, purging the heat off of Virt's neck, his damp hair stuck on his forehead.
Should this have been a holy scripture, a young maiden would have stumbled across him, leading him on an epic journey across the lands and hailed as the saviour of the world, revered by the Government, Church and maybe even Sinners alike.
This, however, was not a holy scripture.
Virt's eyes widened, a faint rustling in the nearby bushes snapping him out of his make-believe reverie.
Turning his back towards his watery savior, Virt picked up his arms–clenching them tightly–and threw his bag on the fluffy grass beneath him, knowing quite well he would not even attempt hand-to-hand combat despite the hidden knife in his bag.
Not only because he knew he would be beaten to a bloody pulp, but most importantly, he was a Mage.
Birds in the distance flocked away, their chirps alerting the whole forest to the commotion like an emergency flare.
'As if there's anyone here to respond.'
If there was one saving grace to this situation, however, it was that he could no longer hear the endless cacophony of prayers. Not even divine prayer could overcome sheer ordinary distance.
A second passed, then another, the forest grew quiet.
The air grew still, the tension palpable.
Virt readied a cage of Light around himself.
And then, everything roared to life.
A scaly purple rodent lunged at him from the darkness, the size of an adult man, crashing headfirst into the paradoxically sturdy wall of immaterial radiance, a crack slithering through it. Virt expanded his Zone, constructing a bridge across the creek made of the same material. Matter? Energy? Virt did not know what to call it.
'Please don't let the other Others be this persistent!'
'Wait, that sounds funny!' His disheveled mind wandered.
Picking up his backpack, which had been so unceremoniously dumped onto the soft riverbank, his instincts decided that flight was the better option in this encounter, one of many he had already experienced with this particularly nasty and annoyingly persistent hunter.
Initially, he had decided to fight, thinking that he could injure it while poking from the safety of his glowing box after running for so long, never looking back. After seeing the rodent crack it with nothing but its sheer mass however, Virt had decided otherwise.
'Killing is bad anyways.' He justified.
When he was halfway past the bridge, Virt heard a shatter behind him. Looking back, the claws and fangs of the unnaturally large rat finally pierced his own artificial walls, its long grey tail perked up like a chicken eying its favourite feed.
Virt drew breaths, deep and ragged.
The rat, meanwhile, let out a visceral roar, its long teeth bared in Virt's direction, its crimson eyes centered onto him.
'No way! I can't die now! Who's gonna save Sid? Who's gonna restore the Balance? Someone help me!' He jokingly thought, his exhausted mind not quite processing the imminent danger, as if desensitised to this cat and mouse race.
'How ironic, the savior waiting to be saved.' A voice not quite his retorted.
Regretting his first ever look behind his back, Virt's burning legs picked up the pace, matching the cadence of the rumbling Light beneath him. His hands trembled as they cut through the air in front of him, his palms open and flat. His Light glowed dimmer, its glorious yellow turning a pale beige–almost invisible–colour.
He had manifested a couple extra walls behind him as he ran, but each were seemingly destroyed by the creature's terrifying force. Whether this was a feat of its acceleration or the monster's mass, Virt also did not know.
He did not know if it was the monster who was strong or if it was he who was weak.
He ran and ran, unsure if he was running in shame–of his inability to prevent this whole…circus, was how he could describe it best–or fear.
He did not know many things, really.
He did know that he wanted to survive this encounter, though.
He also knew that he wanted to Ascend to Godhood, and then Transcend afterwards.
Surviving came first, for now.
'Sorry Sid, who's gonna save you if I'm dead? Please wait for me!'
'Cut the crap, hypocrite.'