Veritas ran despite the pain brimming from his stomach.
The deer behind him gave chase, and it wouldn't take long before it reached him and force him to fight it.
Veritas maneuvered through the trees as they fell from wind blades and blast that either intent to squish him flat or turn him to a red mist.
In fact, one long of tree was flying towards him as Veritas widened his eyes.
Quickly coalescing wind around his body, Veritas imagined the barrier that enveloped the deer he killed.
The log crashed against the barrier Veritas formed, and a confused look painted his face.
'Why didn't it flung it away?'
With that thought in mind, he stopped running and stare back at the deer, if it was going to catch up anyway, better fight it before wasting more stamina.
The deer rushed at him with great speed, a horn of wind appearing on its head as the wind supported it.
Its form blurred as it suddenly appeared in front of Veritas.
Veritas formed another barrier by pulling the wind in as it clashed with the deer's horn, wind blasted, sending him and the deer flying.
Veritas rolled across the ground before skidding to a stop and propped himself up, looking at the deer.
Veritas puked, blood pouring out of him as he felt light, his vision was doubling and he felt like a paper in the path of a strong wind.
The whispers along with the shriek of wind rang inside his head, turning it into a deadly headache.
Blood dripped slightly from the cloak, and Veritas looked down while panting as he noticed the further injury.
'Need to end this quick...'
He thought to himself, not hearing the sound of steps galloping towards him, the vague whispers echoed in his mind.
Suddenly, an audible shriek exploded in front of him, leaving him surprised.
Veritas snapped his head to look at the deer while simultaneously pulling the wind towards him.
While it was too late for him to fully form a barrier, he managed to reposition himself to allow the horn to stab his shoulder.
Veritas, with the wind still gathering towards him redirected it towards the neck of the deer.
It was supposed to be a sharp arc, but unfortunately Veritas couldn't fully shape the arc quick enough and give it the sharpness of a blade.
While he was given the power of the wind, he was not given the experience on how to use it as efficient as possible.
The deer was blasted away, while Veritas stumbled onto the ground.
From the wound, blood seeped out of him, leaving him feeling nauseous.
Veritas watched as the deer was slowly standing up from the tree it had been blasted against, it was injured but it wasn't enough.
Veritas groaned before running towards the deer like a limp while gathering wind towards him.
He jumped in like a madman and hugged the deer on the neck before riding it.
The deer instantly gathered wind, pressing down onto Veritas akin to slamming him while trying to shake Veritas off as it shrieked.
Which was a dumb mistake on the deer.
The move had instead pressed them both down to earth, and the deer instantly realized the gravity of its mistake.
But, it was too late.
Veritas tried to use the wind to force himself to struggle against the downpour of wind before digging his hand into the right eye of the deer.
With a loud roar right next to the deer's ear, Veritas forced the wind to gather in his hand and explode.
An explosion of wind occured, gathering inside the deer's eye sockets and exploding outward.
The deer had died.
Blood spread like a broken faucet, drenching the ground as Veritas laid on the pooling blood.
"... Ah."
As if confirming his kill, Veritas felt it.
He felt like there was an upgrade to his mastery of the wind, Veritas could slowly grasp how to use the wind... albeit not by much, but he felt like he gained the instincts.
The rush of information filled him with ecstatic rush, and he could feel himself steadily stronger.
Veritas slowly stood up before limping ahead quickly, guiding the wind to help him walk steadily.
He was curious, if he killed more of the same kind of deer, would he become more proficient in using the wind?
A smile cracked on his face, he couldn't wait to find more of those deers.
From the two encounters, he was sure he would be able to kill them more easily without any injury.
But still...
Those whispers got to go.
Veritas frowned, the whispers masking the sounds of the outside world slightly, it was fatal.
But, there was nothing he could do about it. Maybe he could use the System to clear out the spikes and red sea?
Veritas' thoughts were cut off short as he suddenly stumbled down.
Looking down at the hole on his shoulder and injury on his stomach, he could see blood profusely dripping out.
His body felt weak, mind light, and a chilling coldness which made the hairs on his body stood struck.
He struggled forward as he dragged his body, and before he knew it, he was already close to the cave where he came from.
Entering the cave, Veritas looked at the wounds on his body, his eyes growing heavy.
It was a surprise that he hadn't pass out yet.
Veritas touched his body, he, despite feeling stronger due to the kill, felt weaker from the blood loss.
Fear was clutching inside him, and the pain was finally kicking in.
Groaning, Veritas laid on the floor and bring his knees up to his chest like a baby as he shuddered.
Blood was still seeping out of him... and his consciousness was slowly fading away.
'N-no...'
Veritas grunt, hugging himself as he closed his eyes.
'I... can't....'
Veritas was slowly losing grip on reality.
'I want to live.'
He repeated those words again and again in his head, only for those darkness to seep in through his vision.
Days of struggling nights and the back and forth fight between the deers caught up, leaving him unconscious.
***
Veritas felt like he was submerged, his body felt warm despite falling in the sea.
It was a sea of red.
Veritas slowly opened his eyes, and the dark murky red that tainted the sea was enveloping him, hugging him close.
Veritas didn't feel panicked, in fact, he was instead curious.
Those 0 and 1s... Agents... Corrupted...
Veritas suddenly felt the urge to... know more.
To understand more.
He felt like he had a goal now, not just to survive, no.
He wanted to discover more about this world... about the Agents themselves, the source of the madness this world was experiencing.
He wanted to learn.
Grow stronger.
Experince what the world had to offer.
His heart beat, only now did he feel it.
A fire burned it, but the fire was warm and anything but painful.
His heart grew more louder and louder, pounding against his chest as he stare up.
With a goal set in mind, Veritas closed his eyes, and instead of submerging deeper into the sea, he slowly rose.
The sea wasn't pulling him, no, it was carrying him.
It carried him higher and higher until his face was above the surface, until the front of his body was out of the water.
He laid there on the sea, half submerged.
"... Curious..."
Veritas woke up.
The scenery changed, no more of the red sea and the black dome, it was instead back on the cave.
Veritas slowly sat up straight, his body feel rejuvenated, no longer weak like what he felt when he was on the verge of death just now.
He slowly stood up, looking down on his body, he could see the dried up blood on his shirt and the cloak.
There was no longer a hole on his shoulder, and there was no longer blood drawing out of it.
Even the cut on his stomach was gone, no blood pouring out of it.
'Hm?'
Veritas looked at his own body in intrigue before looking around.
The sun was up.
How long had he pass out?