"... I don't exactly remember what brought it up, but the owl had mentioned it. That the energy nestled in cores and battle seeds is called spirit. And frankly, your absorption of too many didn't allow your body to digest it properly, and the backlash was just a matter of time."
Pluto clicked his tongue in agreement. It had only made sense, and the momentary power had blinded him to the fact that his intake had a limit. Whenever he took one in– battle seeds or cores – he felt a throbbing pulse filter into him, trying to break out as he tried to settle it. The warmth that followed also left a clear limit, it's lingering outline hinting that it had not fully settled.
"Guess I'll just have to be more careful," Pluto said with an uneven smile.
He looked at his body, imagining how he would ever recover from this. He had not been too attractive, and could not remember the last time he had come across an interested female in the regular world. Now he could barely imagine a considerable glance coming his way.
He looked at the leave bandages. ' This stuff itches.'
***
It had been three days since Mira was released from her mystical prison. Three days since the Owl had disappeared into the crumbling mist around it, vanishing into the depths of the corridor.
But above all, it had been three days since liberation. She had not been tied with chains, at least not the ones she could clang against, but the type that forced her to question reality and wonder her past had ever been her own. Or... whether she was just drunk on air.
Strangely in this days that had gone by, she had been just as alone as she was in the corridor. She was tempted to think she had been tricked and never really left, but that was impractical. She had no way of escaping the corridor to begin with, so the Owl would not go to any lengths to trick her into believing that she had gained freedom. It would simply keep her until she no longer needed to be kept.
Besides that, the confining feeling that had permeated the air in the corridor was gone, and everything felt open and real. But if that was the case, why hadn't she seen a single person?
***
Saul suddenly slowed. Pluto, who had been absentmindedly humming a funeral song– much to Saul's puzzlement –, almost ran into him before catching himself.
He wasn't in good shape, but the approaching heat signatures had told him that he couldn't remain resting long enough to recover. And because Saul was not in great shape either, an encounter with a pack of predators would be too much to handle.
Speaking of predators, Saul's abrupt stopping had made him think that one that could paralyze him by mere presence had appeared. He gulped and looked over his shoulder, but to his relief, only trees stood in his way.
Familiar trees.
The nativity of the trees to his memory made his spine tremble. But he didn't want to assume yet.
"What?" He asked cautiously and hopefully at the same time. Saul didn't respond, and that was confirmation enough.
Pluto groaned, not in pain this time. "You can't be serious."
" Even the blind could see how this is a bad idea," he muttered, clenching his teeth in frustration.
Saul turned to him and shrugged."I know," he said, too quiet to be refuting Pluto's words.
The words irritated Pluto. He furrowed his brows. " You know, and you're doing it anyway? So you are blinder than the blind?"
Saul smiled weakly. "That's an interesting way to put it. But I prefer to say I'm more curious than the blind."
The words were calm and almost carefree, but the underlying had been there, just sharp enough for Pluto to know that Saul had not become his friend, and he had to keep his words professional.
"I want information, that's all," said Saul again, slowly beginning to walk.
Of course. Pluto wouldn't have been surprised. Practical persons often made the most impractical of decisions, or maybe he was the impractical one for not seeing the reason why.
Pluto stood still for awhile, letting Saul grow farther with his unhurried steps. Saul didn't turn back to him, and didn't seem to care if he followed or not, but he still reassured.
"I'll keep my distance. Both verbally and physically."
The words didn't comfort Pluto, it just made him aware of the fact that Saul was not going to be swayed for going by any of his words. So after a long bitter huff, he too started walking in the direction of wisdom.
***
The mist was as sovereign to the forest, as the sky was to the earth. No matter the magnitude of power, it remained constant and advanced when others withdrew. But at the borders of this holy ground, it thinned, then stopped entirely.
The owl's domain was special, containing the most ancient of trees and unaffected by the inconveniences the majority of the forest suffered.
Despite the sinister bliss, Pluto never liked this place. He preferred the unwashed toilet at his apartment. Something about this just felt too right to be right.
Saul stepped into the clearing fearlessly. High above him, a shape shifted the branches that throned it, staring down with golden eyes that seemed to peer into minds.
"Young warrior, why have you returned?"
Its voice echoed against nothing, carrying multiple times in and out of the clearing.
' Warrior? Why wasn't he called fledgling as well?!' Neither caught sight of his displeasure.
" I want information," Saul replied back. It was flat, but faint scepticism reflected in it.
"On what exactly?" It asked.
Saul pretended to think for a moment, then spoke with slight hesitation. "How many more need to die before the end of the first trial?"
The owl stared at him with an amused expression, silent for a while. Then it answered.
"About a thousand two hundred."
Saul nodded, a little shocked that the forest had not thinned the numbers as efficiently as he had expected.
Without another word, he reached into his pocket and tossed two battle seeds towards the base of the tree. Then he turned and walked away. Pluto followed, but with confusion plastered across his face.
He kept silent until they had left the owl's domain well enough. Then he called out.
"Why did you drop two seeds?"
Saul glanced at him sideways, with the irritation of hearing a child ask a question whose answer was obvious.
"That's the agreement. Two seeds in exchange for whatever I want to know."
Pluto stopped walking, and so did Saul, although after a few more steps. Pluto stared at him incredulously.
" I only paid one, and even with that I got to ask like five questions."
For the first time, Saul's taciturn expression broke, and something human crept up. Something called disappointment. A feature that finally added depth to his piece-of-paper character.
Saul shook his head, but that was about all Pluto got before his mood sank back into AI mode. It was quite funny, but Pluto would not say it outright.
After a few more silent chuckles, Pluto calmed down. "Alright, I'm curious," he said. "Why would you willing sacrifice two seeds to know what the remaining numbers are?"
Saul resumed walking, still moving with a slight limp. "I want to plan accordingly."
Pluto waited, but apparently, Saul had said all he wanted to. He shivered and not because of the cold. If Saul was asking how many people were still alive, that meant that he had intentions of reducing that number drastically. The realisation did not scare him, but the methods that would be employed did. And what terrified him even more, was the idea that he could be part of the numbers to be thinned out.
Suddenly he didn't feel amused again.
***
Mira climbed over the small mound that stood in her way, wincing as some dirt got into her eyes.
She remained at the edge, rubbing against her eyes to remove it. It hadn't fully come out when she stumbled. No, when someone slammed against her.
They both fell back and landed gracelessly on the ground. She winced again, pushing the girl who had collapsed against her to the side.
The girl looked iconic, and yet terrible. Muddy, adorned with dregs and huffing like she just ran eight marathons, she looked like a corpse with a sliver of life.
But the most distinct feature however was the bubbling mark carved into her arm.
The girl's eyes were twitching with fear, almost unaware of Mira's presence. She pushed herself up, obeying her instincts that screamed to keeping running, but she fell again. She wasn't running on the reminder of the energy in her tank, she was running of the material the tank was made from itself, and it seemed like she had chewed a hole too big.
She looked into Mira's eyes. Hoping to see a calm and stark feminine soldier capable of killing her pursuers. But instead, she saw the exact same crippling fear reflect back at her.
The forest behind them snarled and growled, signalling the close proximity of the predators.
Mira didn't think when she grabbed the girl's arm and dashed. Moments later, a massive beast, resembling a warthog, burst through the mound, chasing them.
"What are they after you?!" Mira yelled as they ran.
The girl was all but coherent in her reply, her hard breaths getting in the way of anything articulate. "I– uy, I di, don't –"
Another inhuman shriek cut her off as much beasts joined the paparazzi.
Mira gripped her wooden stick, forcing it to subtly flicker with sharpening. It didn't shape substantially enough to become a blade, but it was no longer a stick.
The feeling was strange. She had not known the girl for up to a minute, yet she felt an overwhelming urge to make sure she didn't die.
To fight for her with every inch of strength she had. To defend her with her life, and that was when the absurdity stuck out. The feeling was definitely not her own and had something to do with the girls powers.
She didn't ask yet, she simply ignored the gnawing thought and continued running.
***
Doeg and the other two survivors had finally reached a dead end. They could no longer run from it unless they went back the way they came. And that path was currently blocked by the apex predator.
It approached slowly, patiently watching fear bleed out from their trembling legs.
The silence was heavy, the kind that let them know that the forest had already started mourning the dead.
Doeg looked at his comrades, unsure what to feel of his last moment. He nodded at them, and they did same back.
Then the man on his left stepped forward and tightened his muscles. Then his body began to swell.
Lean muscles rolled and bulged unnaturally as veins grew to the size of pipes. His limbs expanded outwards. He looked like a balloon being inflated, except that this balloon was in terrible pain.
Doeg understood immediately.
"Run," the man said, squaring off against the tiger.
Doeg frowned, but didn't object. He boomed forward and cast his invisibility ability on himself and the other survivor, them both taking off into the forest.
The man roared and charged forward, slamming his enormous body into the tiger.
Doeg didn't see what happened next. But he heard the thunderous shake, over and over again... until a different sound echoed.
A long, agonising wail. The announcement of a sealed fate.
Doeg didn't look back.