章 4: Avatar Of Destruction And Creation

Astaros awoke his eyes opening and the grip on his knife tightening. His silver hair slightly billowed in the wind as he sat halfway up the tree. It was happening. His connection was gathering but much, much denser. He frowned slightly as he looked for his upcoming opponent. He could hear the creature traipsing through the forest.

'A quadruped huh' {Astaros}

He could hear it loudly lumbering to the point where the small beast died. The first thing that appeared was a black snout which sniffed the air before walking out of the bushes. It was a large black lizard around 16 feet long with a bulky tail that dragged across the ground. Its neck had a number of spines that jutted out backwards at random points forming a spiky hood. Its eyes were a sea blue with a black film occasionally washing over them like a tide. Its teeth jutted out at random with some even poking through the skin.

He slowly crawled down the tree careful not to disturb the creature, which had now picked up the corpse in its toothy maw. He then leapt from the tree landing on his feet behind it, slightly hurting his ankles.

"Hello there" {Astaros}

The beast whipped its tail blasting dirt, twigs and pebbles away in an attempt to slam its aggressor into the dust. Astaros jumped over the tail and landed on a large stone. He then pushed off the rock towards the lizard thrusting his knife into its side. His eyes widened as what he hit was not scales but leathery black skin. The skin held for a second but gave way slowing and reducing the damage from the blade.

He leapt back pulling out the blade and immediately tightening it. The creature tank turned to face its newfound prey. It quickly swallowed the corpse it was holding in its jaws. Its gullet expanded as the poor beast travelled to its belly.

The lizard then rushed in raking it's claws towards him. Astaros dodged, stepping back out of range of the quick swing. The creature opened its mouth and shadows seemed to gather inside it. It then breathed the smog out attempting to bathe him in black mist like a squid shooting ink.

Astaros whirled and jumped up, pushed off a tree and then landed on the lizard's skull smashing its mouth shut. He then attempted to stab his knife into the beast's neck but its spines flared in its defense blocking the strike. He hopped off as he was hit by the swinging tail which now arched like a scorpion before swinging in a horizontal arc.

"Umph" {Astaros}

He grunted as he received the blow getting launched off of the creature's flat head. Its eye then seemed to brighten as a white crystalline substance gathered in its mouth. It then breathed it out with Ice freezing the area. Astaros sidestepped the freezing breath and charged the monster. It reared up and lunged forward trying its best to behead its foe.

Astaros slid under the attack and thrust up his knife into its throat tearing open a large gash which sprayed him with blood. His bloodied face grimaced as he let go of the knife, spun and wrapped his arm around its neck and lifted it off the ground. The creature in desperation slashed its claws into his back. His face twisted in pain but his mind was calm. He then lifted the creature over his as its limb flailed in vain. And then slammed it into the ground.

Blam!

It smashed into the ground and life faded from its eyes as it choked and gurgled on its own blood while writhing on its back.

Astaros sat down in shock. His wounds barely pained him as he considered what just happened. He had only dodged the two breath attacks due to his connection showing him energy concentrating in its mouth as the creature moved the energy up and out from its body. He now seemed to have a slightly better understanding of what he had to do. He pulled his knife from the beast's neck and looked at it. He had fought genetic abominations before so the bear was nothing much to him. But the lizard? First time anything that's not a machine tried to freeze him with frost breath. This was supernatural no doubt about it. This world was obviously more dangerous than his own in its natural state. Without a doubt.

He walked to the base of the tree he had been initially waiting in and pulled his bag from the bushes. He then lugged it over to the river and struggled to wash out cuts on his back before pulling out some strips of bear leather and bandaging his damaged body.

He then spent time fully skinning the lizard. He would also fight a small raccoon like monster that he simply drop-kicked to death. After skinning the beast and cooling the creatures meat he began packing up leaving the corpse behind. He had taken the claws, teeth, skin and spines along with some of the flesh.

It was morning now and rays of sun began to filter over the shadows of the mountains. The smell of dew and grass filled the air as he began his journey anew.

He continued his path along the river while again messing around with his connection. From what he observed from the lizard he now practiced concentrating energy in his hand. As he practiced his connection and ability to move his internal energy became stronger, like a muscle he could exercise. Finally twelve days later he had finally done something. A little fire burned from his index finger which he promptly put out.

He then practiced on everything, from moving little particles of dust and dirt creating a small cloud to creating finger flashlights. However he couldn't move water no matter how hard he tried. In total he had control of these known elements: earth, wind, fire, light and darkness. Air had been the hardest to understand whether he could control or not. So he spent time creating small dust devils and water spouts. After confirming that he could manipulate air he began practicing. And so he learnt to control the elements till he could condense each element into a small ball. It took upwards of about a month to reach the level where he could comfortably move each.

One morning he tested his proficiency by forming balls of each element. They balled slowly as pulled energy from around him. The shadows hurried to his left hand while light also bent to his will. Fire and air swirled proudly in his right palm when earth began to finally heed his call. Stones began to lift and swirl, grinding each other to dust and then re-condensing. As it reached his hand however it began to melt. The stones were finely ground and re-condensed and so were now weak to the powerful small flame burning in his palm. He then thought:

'I could make metal like this.'

Thus as he moved he would grind stones to dust, re-condense it, melt it and then split the metal from the stones. Most of the stones had less than a gram while boulders and larger rocks could have upwards of a pound. The stones had no clear seams of metals but instead small flecks.

It took him a full week day and night but he finally collected enough metal to make something even with the occasional bestial interference. As he searched and controlled the metals he finally began to be able to sense the oddities within the stones and the earth. He also learned his dark element was extremely cold and could cool molten metal and freeze water. The world had essentially become his sandbox and to be honest he was slightly afraid of what humanity and the other races were able to do with their abilities.

And so as he traveled down the riverside his power grew day by day.