Crest
He was falling, but there was nothing around him. It felt almost as if he was sinking into a pool of mud. And then he fell out and landed, back first, on the mossy ground.
“Ughhh, what did that bastard do to me?” Crest groaned out as he slowly tried to stand up. The moss was slick and he almost slipped a couple of times as he readjusted his bearings.
He kept his hand to his head, as he desperately tried to stop the world from spinning. He looked around and idly noticed his bow and arrows were still all intact, that was a good thing at least.
“An overgrown cave…?” He wondered aloud, stone, or what looked like stone, walls on all sides, with moss growing on nearly every surface. Then he spotted an opening, it was unnaturally square.
Slowly walking up to it, his sense of balance back to normal, he peered out the opening.
“What in that name of…” He trailed off. How could he not. There was a wide gap, but across from him was a row of spires, covered in moss and vegetation. On the ground he could see a modestly sized grazing beast. A type of dear it seemed like, although its antlers where wickedly sharp and its fur had odd glowing patterns on it.
He smirked as he notched an arrow, “Well, I was hungry anyway” and with that the arrow flew true, striking the best though the brain.
But instead of falling it simply turned its head and looked at him.
Crest stared, “Well, that can’t be go-“Without warning the beast sparked red, and with a great roar fired an orb of some kind, rushing towards Crest. In panic he grabbed his grappling hook, latched it to the side of the opening, and dived out and to the side. He had feeling that he did not want to be near that orb when it reached where he was.
His instinct was proven right as the orb exploded, causing his hook to be dislodged. And without the force to keep him up he fell from high in the air onto his back. Luckily he was able to make sure not to fall on his bow.
Groaning he quickly got to his feet, just in time to dive to the side in a roll to avoid getting skewered by the Demonic Deer’s Antlers.
Clicking his tongue black smoke surrounded and entered his legs.
‘Rejection of Limits’
And with that he leapt away from the beast, with power and speed many times what he should be able. He landed some ways away, feeling his bones creek in protest at going beyond their limits. He notched another arrow as the deer began to charge at him, glowing with ominous light.
He smirked, 'Rejection of Matter’. Black smoke coated the arrow head as he aimed, and then he released.
The arrow flew and struck the beast. It made no mess this time, but rather a clean hole was carved through the beast’s body, right down the middle. Slightly behind it the arrow embedded itself into the ground.
And with that the beast fell over, dead.
Crest sighed as he moved over to his downed pray. The first thing he did when he reached it was lob its head off with his machete, could never be too sure after all. Then he went about retrieving his arrows and grappling hook.
Once everything was in order he examined the beast. He had never seen anything like it before. It was bizarre and capable of odd demon magics.
He was about to start striping the corpse when he hear roaring, it sounded like the beast he just slayed, but a pack, or would the correct term be heard. Bah, he didn’t care, all he knew is that there was a large number of them heading his way.
“Tsk, can’t catch a break, can I?” He said as he sprinted off in the opposite direction, vanishing into the foliage that was randomly scattered throughout the path. It was something he was definitely good at.
‘Rejection of Smell’, Black smoke softly clung to his body like a film.
And stacking the odds never hurt either.
The deeper Crest went into this odd forest the more he was confused. There were so many types of beasts here, the hunt would be amazing. But the odd part was that so many of them he could not recognize.
“Where the hell did he send me” He was still convinced it was that bastard “Saint’s” fault, his and his followers’.
But this was neither the time nor place to worry about that. He had to first find shelter, and a source of water. His canteen, despite being mostly filled, would only last for so long. And on top of that it was getting dark, just what he needed.
He looked around and something caught his eye. It was a brick building, finally something familiar. It was run down, overgrown, and obviously had better days. But even he could tell from the lack of animal tracks that nothing was living there.
Or at least if there was they were small enough to not leave tracks.
He smirked and moved towards the entrance. The door seemed to be mostly busted; it was easy to remove with a slight yank, carefully leaning it against the wall as to avoid making too much noise.
And with that he stepped inside. And he could not be more amazed. There was no floor, only the soil beneath him, plants grew wildly, giant vines and trees throughout the giant room. Bookshelves fill with old books could be seen everywhere. And he could even see multiple hallways going to different parts of the building, a testament to the size of this sanctuary.
Hell, there was not even a roof, well, other than the plant canopy. Talk about refreshing.
"Yeah, I think I will like it just fine here," he said as he leaned his bow and quiver near the entrance and walked to the center of the room, towards a large tree with a pile of books next to it.