Leo knew immediately that it was only a normal wolf. But only was such a deceiving word. He was an undernourished 13-year-old. Even a 'normal wolf' would rip him to shreds. But he didn't start running immediately.
He knew that the wolf would catch up to him in no time. The wolf was standing between the route to the city. The only direction he could run into was the forest, where there were more beasts that could kill him.
However, the forest also had more trees as it got farther from the city. It would make running difficult for him and even more so for the wolf. Leo would have a better chance of escaping the wolf if he ran towards the forest.
He prepared himself for the decision he made. The wolf slowly closed the distance between the two, not making any sudden moves. His hands tightly grabbed onto his knife in response as he took a deep breath. After clearing his mind, he turned around quickly and started sprinting with all his might.
The wolf howled and immediately leaped toward him. The wolf was hot in pursuit, closing the distance between them in a few seconds. To make the route filled with more obstacles, he chose to head towards a path blocked off by a fallen tree.
He leaped across the tree trunk that was in his way and started running into the forest. Even though he kept changing directions instead of running in a straight line to try and throw the wolf off, it was still right behind him.
After running for a short while, his ears heard the sound of crashing water. His legs automatically changed their course till he reached the source of the sound. In front of him was a waterfall.
The water was spilling into a huge lake in front of it. He looked back and saw the wolf charging toward him. Leo was completely out of breath since he had been running for almost three minutes. He took the only option available to him without any hesitation.
The water splashed as he jumped into the lake. He knew the lake had monsters too, but they wouldn't come to the waterfall because of the ripples it makes. At least, he hoped as he swam toward it. As he got away from the shore, he looked back at the wolf.
The wolf was snarling at him, but it hadn't jumped into the lake. It looked in a particular direction in the lake and then turned around. He looked at where the wolf was looking and winced. There was a splash of water there. Something was moving in the water, and it was heading for him.
He started swimming with all his might to the waterfall. He didn't have enough time to make it to the other side and he couldn't go back because the wolf would eat him. Leo pushed the water back with all his might.
When he finally got to the waterfall, he looked back to look at what was coming for him. There was something in the water, and it was very close - only a few yards away. He turned back at the waterfall. Something strange caught his eye. Instead of rocks, he saw darkness beyond the water.
He immediately dove into the waterfall. His body passed through the water and landed on a stone floor. Leo immediately tried to get away from the waterfall, launching himself with whatever strength he had left away from the waterfall.
His body landed on the stone floor, scratching his arm that he had used as a cushion. When he looked at the waterfall that he had passed through, he saw a huge crocodile dive through the waterfall and attempt to bite him.
It almost reached Leo, but it hit a mysterious, invisible wall that knocked it back. The crocodile tried to get across the wall a few more times, but it failed. It glared at him for a minute, and then left.
He saw this happen and couldn't believe his eyes. Somehow, something magical had saved his life. His mind couldn't even distinguish whether it was a figment of his imagination or actual reality.
He took a huge breath and then just collapsed on the stone floor. Being chased by the wolf, he ran for his life till most of his stamina was depleted and then swam from a crocodile with whatever energy that he mustered. Anyone would be completely exhausted after a chase like that.
While he was laying down, he thought about what happened. There was a mysterious barrier that stopped the crocodile from crossing the barrier. With magic like that around him, he knew that the cave he entered had something more complicated than he could imagine.
He closed his eyes, hoping to regain some energy. The minute his eyes shut, he passed out with exhaustion. When he opened his eyes again, he didn't know how long it had been since he had closed them.
He first went towards the waterfall for some water. After drinking some water and washing his face, he washed the scratch on his arm that had started bleeding lightly. Because he cleaned out the dried-up blood, it reopened the cut. He then took out his knife and looked at the cave, making his way into it.
The cave was very long. He had to walk for 5 minutes before reaching a stone door. The door had a lot of engravings on it. He pushed the door but it wouldn't budge. He kept trying to push but it wouldn't budge.
Meanwhile, his arm started bleeding again. He wiped his blood off with his hands and then wiped his hands with his shirt. However, some blood was still left on his hands. When he pushed again, the blood smeared into the door.
He took a step back after failing to push the door. The failure made him sigh as turned around, ready to leave. Just then, a low rumbling noise came from behind, making him look back. The stone door was moving all by itself.
The engravings that were previously dull like the rest of the stone were now shining in a golden color. The doors slowly opened into a huge open space. He gaped as he entered the opened room.
As Leo entered the huge room, the gold engravings slowly died down. The golden light slowly moved out of the doors like a snake. Some of the golden light entered the room through the floor, following him, while the rest converged outside the room on top of the doors. The light settled on some engravings, forming a phrase.
________
Here Lies The Arcane Emperor.
________
He had already entered the room and didn't see this phrase. The gold light behind him split up and covered the walls. The entire room lit up, as the floor and walls were filled with engravings shining in the gold light.
He was too mesmerized to consider running away. His young mind gave into curiosity and awe. He followed the flowing gold light to the center of the room, his eyes glued onto the lights. His legs kept walking forward, out of his control, until he bumped into something.
In front of him was a beautiful pedestal that was the height of his chest. On top of the pedestal was a huge book. The book was opened up, showcasing its golden pages.
Naturally, he tried to lift the book. However, it was too heavy for him, and stayed unmoved. He closed the book to see its cover.
A green emerald adorned the center of the cover, and obsidian patterns surrounded it. The rest of the book was made of hard gold. The entire tome seemed so much more solid than paper- like it was made of silk yet as hard as a diamond. It was very lavishly decorated, indicating what its use was.
"It's a tome. A bloody tome." He muttered to himself.
A tome contained the magic spells and it contained the entire magic knowledge of a magician. They were considered legendary because only powerful mages could make them. Tomes had a little magic power in them to make inheriting the spells easier. They were considered the legacy of ancient families. And only the highest nobles - the royals, even had the chance of having one.
As he was admiring the book, blood started creeping out of the scratch he had. The blood had gathered at his elbow and eventually dripped onto the book. By the time he had realized it was too late. The blood fell onto the cover, just on top of the emerald.
"Damn it!" He cursed.
He took his hands off the tome and lifted his shirt to try to clean the blood off. By the time he lifted his shirt, the blood had tricked onto the emerald. He watched the blood seep into the emerald.
He let go of his shirt and touched the book to make sure the blood was gone. The emerald shined brightly, partially blinding him. Suddenly, a flash of light brightened up the entire room. He felt a vibration across his chest along with a wrenching pain in his heart. The pain only lasted a split second. However, when it ended he got onto his knees and started panting.
After taking a second to recover, he stood up. He looked at the pedestal to see what happened to the book but he couldn't find it. The pedestal was empty. A searing pain in his hand shifted his gaze.
He felt like his hand was burning and looked at his wrist to see the cause. The part of his wrist that was below his palm had a glowing tattoo burned onto it. It was a book. This was a book he recognized: it was the same book that was on the pedestal. It was now on his wrist.
He looked around. It was a lot darker than before because the golden light had completely disappeared. The only light he saw was in front of the tome. A throne had appeared out of nowhere. He hadn't seen it when he first came into the room. On top of the throne was a skeleton.
In front of the throne was a plaque. He stepped forward to look at the plaque.
__________
Here lies the Arcane Emperor. Pay your respects to your master.
Only use your knowledge for good.
Pass down your knowledge to a deserving successor.
__________
He looked at the tome on his wrist. Then he turned to look at the skeleton. The skeleton was resting like a king. The gears in his mind turned as he started to piece together the little information available to him.
The only explanation for all this was that the owner of the tome had chosen him to be his successor. He knew that if this was true, it could be the greatest thing that happened to him.
Leo bowed down to the skeleton.
"Thank you for this opportunity, sir. I will cherish this opportunity and uphold your values."
He looked back up to find that the throne was nowhere to be found. Nothing in the room was how it was when he got there. The engravings were now completely gone. The throne and the pedestal had disappeared.
He turned around and saw the waterfall he had come into right in front of him. The tome was still etched onto his skin, so the encounter was real. But now, the tome was no longer glowing and had faded down to a black tattoo.
He realized that his arm was no longer bleeding. When he took a step forward, he felt lighter than before. He was full of energy unlike before. After stretching his body and jumping a few times to warm his body up, he got ready to leave.
A body dove out of the water and splashed into the lake. It was Leo, who had finally started to leave the forest.
He started swimming towards the shore that he had come out of. Since he didn't want to tire himself out, he was trying to swim slowly. The run outside was longer than the swim so he would have to be faster then.
However, his plans shattered immediately. He felt a weird tremor near his legs and looked back. A similar shadow was on his trail. It was the same crocodile that chased him into the cave in the first place. This time it was slightly closer than the previous time.
"Why? Why is it still on to me?"
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