Chapter 10
I feel the sweat pour down my back as I push myself harder, twisting and bending, pivoting my body as I shift from one stance to another, until it all flows into one. Almost as if I’m dancing.
It was becoming easier to train, my moves quicker and seamless, my body shifting naturally even before my mind could decide what to do next.
I was also lasting much longer. If that little ‘punishment’ of laps from earlier was any indicator, my endurance was improving too.
I let my body take over as I close my eyes, opening my senses; I take a breath, moving with the sway of the wind and leaves around me, listening to the nature surrounding me, and the nocturnal creatures awakening to the night.
I hear the bristling of the leaves in the trees, the fluttering of wings above me and in the distance, a low hoot in the trees to my right, followed by the pitter-patter of a small creature's feet scurrying along the forest floor bed to my left.
A small smile curves my lips as my movements come to a finish, sweat dripping down my face as my heart thrums in my chest.
I slowly open my eyes, focusing fully for any other movements in the forest around my small clearing.
I’d claimed the area as my own every night, and had watched carefully for anyone entering the forest.
I’d seen the silver-haired guy from the previous time again, just a few nights ago, but thankfully he always seemed to head into the darkest part of the forest, and where there were more wild magical beasts.
Was he training too? And against magical beasts?
I shake my head.
It wasn’t my business what anyone else did, as long as they stayed away from me and my little area, I could train in peace and that's all that mattered.
I watch on from the clearing as a small squirrel makes its way up a large pine tree, a grey owl watching on as it hovers from above.
My brows scrunch together.
From where I was standing they were as clear as day and as detailed as if they were just in front of me, but they stood at least thirty metres in the distance.
It looked like my senses and physical strength were growing stronger by the day. They were developing beyond even my expectations.
I take a deep breath, enjoying the gentle cool of the breeze brushing past me, and the peace of the forest at night.
I roll my shoulders out, basking in the moon's soft light, when suddenly a loud roar bellows from my right. It shakes the surrounding trees, scattering the birds and creatures around there, sending them scurrying along the forest floor.
I turn towards the loud rumble, my eyes searching the dark forest for whatever creature let out such a bone-chilling noise.
Whatever it was had to be big.
Maybe a bear, or some sort of wild magical creature?
I had seen some animal tracks the further in the forest I travelled. There were definitely wild animals around this forest, but I had only seen trails of maybe a wild boar, or wolf or large bobcat. Nothing big enough to make that noise, and thankfully nothing of the magical kind.
A shiver runs up my back.
I grab my hoodie and zip it up to my chin, the cold Autumn air hitting my sweat and making me shiver.
Or was it the creature's howl giving me goosebumps?
I had fought all sorts of creatures in The Facility to ‘test’ my strength, but they were usually mutations of whatever wild magical creatures the guards could catch or breed.
I had learnt, with time, to push past any feelings of fear I had. Survival had become my priority, even against the most terrifying or disgusting of creatures I had fought and lived.
I edge closer to the direction of where the roar came from, keeping close to the trees and shadows, and listening for any unusual noises as I go deeper.
It could just be a trapped animal or one beast fighting another for territory.
But the forest was restricted and off-bounds to students in the academy for a reason. Wild beasts and magical creatures being the number one issue so it wouldn’t be that far fetched to have a few around, especially the deeper in you go.
I could high-tail it out of there if I saw anything I couldn’t handle, but I would need to see if it was something that could be a threat to me and my little training area.
I wouldn’t be able to feel secure knowing there was some large predator lurking in the area where I train every night.
This area, the darkest part of the forest, was the most restricted zone. That meant that wild magical beasts roamed freely here and attacks had occurred when students or even teachers had crossed into the area.
The further in I go, the more eerie and dark it feels.
A colder chill laces the air as a creepy silence surrounds me, not even the wind wanting to blow through the trees in these parts of the woods.
The ground is uneven and dark, even the soil seeming cold and dead. The trees surrounding me flow up and toward the sky, their dark leaves and branches blocking out even the slightest bit of light from the moon shining above.
I push past a large bristly branch and stumble on a mass of tree roots below my feet. I grab onto a nearby branch, trying to steady myself, but my foot catches again. This time I'm unable to balance myself and fall, tumbling down a steep incline.
I cut my hand and scrape my arms as I continue to fall, my hands unable to grasp a hold of anything as I descend to the dark forest area below.
I come to a sudden stop when I smack into something soft, grateful for whatever bush or shrub broke my fall.
I try to pull myself up, only pushing further into the soft shrubbery.
That's when I feel it.
A warmth.
Something that didn’t feel like leaves or a bush...it felt like fur.
I brush my hand against it. It was so soft and… shaggy .
I try to untangle myself and pull away from whatever creature this was before it woke up and retaliated, but I only end up slipping on something below my feet as soon as I stand up.
I end up falling back down to where I was before, but now feel wet and coated in whatever was covering the ground below me.
The creature still hadn’t woken up or even moved.
I place a hesitant hand back onto its soft fur, waiting for some type of movement or noise.
But nothing.
I bend in closer, leaning my ear against the shaggy fur.
One second goes by, then ten, then thirty…Nothing.
There was no heartbeat.
Whatever animal it was, was dead now.
I slowly drag myself up again, this time steadying myself using the creature's body below me.
A break in the clouds and trees above me allow for a small trickle of light from the moon to filter through and onto the area around me, and I immediately freeze.
The forest around me is destroyed; trees uprooted, bark splintered and strewn across the forest floor and chunks of tree roots upheaved, with no clear definition of what lay there before. It was pure carnage.
But the most disturbing thing was the body of the animal that lay before me; the body of a huge brown grizzly bear.
Or what remained of it.
Its corpse lay in a mangled heap before me, or at least most of it. Its limbs had been ripped off and lay in different parts of the forest around us.
I swallow the bile trying to escape my throat as I stare into the lifeless eyes of the creature's severed head. It sat nestled in between two woven trees on the opposite side of the area where I stand, with crimson liquid slowly dripping from its open jaw.
Staring into its empty black eyes, another cold shiver runs down my back before I turn away.
What had taken down such a huge and ferocious animal? What beast or monster managed to rip through such an animal so easily and lay waste to the area around it?
I take a quick look around me, my eyes scanning each direction for anything lurking in the distance.
A minute goes by, and then another.
But there was nothing. Thankfully .
I keep my senses about me as I turn back to the partial corpse.
Maybe there was some kind of clue left as to what creature did this?
I needed to know what was lurking in the same forest I trained in.
Granted, this was a far bit away from my little clearing, but who could say the creature wouldn’t find me or come looking for a little snack?
More light trickles in around me and down onto the body before me.
Even with just its torso and no limbs or head, it looks to be almost seven feet long.
This bear must have been huge.
I brush a hand down its fur, looking for any claw marks or bites that I could recognize, when suddenly I realise my hands don't feel wet anymore, but sticky.
Wouldn’t mud have dried up or turned gritty, not sticky?
I place my hands out toward the small rays of light over the bear's corpse, and now realise they’re coated in a familiar crimson liquid.
And it's not just my hands, I was covered from head to toe.
I’m guessing it wasn’t mud that I had slipped on earlier either.
A pool of red liquid trickles beneath my feet from the body beside me.
A heavy sigh leaves my lips as I turn my eyes to the darkened sky, contemplating my luck.
Had I burned through all my good luck when I came back in time?
I shake my thoughts off and take a better look at the corpse. I shouldn’t stay out here any longer than necessary.
The body was more like a mass of ripped flesh and meat on its front side, its torso mangled and torn to shreds, with no identifiable claw or bite marks, even from a magical beast.
I make my way around the body, continuing my search as a dark thought hits me.
This wasn’t about food.
Even though the body was shredded, there were no bite marks and too much meat and flesh left for anything to have been eaten.
Was this creature primal, and protecting its domain, or taking a new one over?
Or was this something else, something much more sinister? Was it for the hunt, the kill, or for fun?
A cold chill runs down my spine as I turn around, gazing into the dark forest around me.
Whatever it was…it could still be out there, or near.
The light fades from the sky, the forest darkening eerily again as an icy cold mist begins to form on the forest floor.
I hear a crunch of leaves in the distance, and something shouts in my head, telling me to get out of there, to run.
I turn and dash through the forest as fast as my legs will take me.
Whatever it was, it had to be big and powerful to be able to take on a brown grizzly and make mincemeat out of it.
I had fought a lot of crazy creatures in the Facility, too many to count, but my instinct was telling me that this was something else.
Something, that with the strength I had right now, I would be no match for.
I run through the forest, ignoring everything else around me and only slowing when I see the academy building in my sight.
I make a quick beeline toward the girls dormitory and make quick work of the back doors lock.
I take my bloodied shoes off and make my way quickly up to my room, discarding my clothes on the bathroom floor and jumping straight into the shower. I turn the water on full blast, hoping to cleanse myself of both the blood and the cold chill running through me.
Sooner or later I’d have to come face to face with whatever was lurking in that forest, especially if it was expanding its territory, but tonight wasn’t the night. I didn’t have the strength or agility to take on something that big this early.
I’ll retreat for now, but I won't next time.
If there's anything I’ve learnt, it's that even the largest of predators can become prey.