She closed her eyes, awaiting her death dejectedly but the killing blow she expected never came. A weak cry and a splash of blood forced her to open her eyes to an incredulous scene. At her limp feet was the head of the Thunderhoof with a clean cut at its neck below where she brutally hacked it. The corruption of the dark energy was still running rampant in it's earlier wound and it festered to a gory sight.
Standing beside the headless corpse was a tall woman with a robe of a quality she had never before seen. "Who...are...you" Zhao Ling asked amidst pained breaths. She was fighting off unconsciousness and still trying not to let her guard down before this mysterious woman who suddenly appeared and took down a rampaging beast so easily.
The red Imperial robed woman brandished her long katana to remove the black blood and sheathed it before looking over her shoulder to Zhao Ling with a small smile on her face. "You fought well, Zhao Ling" she praised in a voice that could shame angels. "How did you know my ..." Exhaustion hit her like a mallet and she fell unconscious. "Rest now, you're in good hands" the woman suddenly appeared beside her and took her in her arms gently.
In another part of the forest, a young man is awakened by a branch suddenly crashing into his shoulder. He shot up, clutching his shoulder in pain. That was the same hand that was hit by the big bolt of lightning and it was still sore like hell. He looked up to find the strange creature looking down at him curiously. It looked like a squirrel but had a rough ragged brown coat, foot-long buck teeth and feral eyes that oozed defiance.
"Damned rodent!" He shouted as he hurled a stone at the creature in the tree. It dodged and hissed angrily as it scurried away to chew on another branch for no absolute reason. He cursed at it under his breath and stretched his body. He felt his body has become more powerful and different somehow. He couldn't put his finger on it but he knew that his body had becomes stronger more flexible and generally a level higher.
Zhao Weng clenched and unclenched his fist in amazement but suddenly he was snapped back to reality when vertigo suddenly hit him and he came crashing down. The rude awakening alongside hunger from two nights had taken a toll on his body. He had not eaten a thing since the night before the spirit awakening Festival and now was full day and a morning since then. He lay there for some time before getting up and looking at his surroundings.
He was genuinely lost in the forest, unknowing which way he came from and which way he was headed. His stomach growled making him slightly keel over thus he decided to focus on the most paramount concern as of now; sating his hunger. He grabbed a sturdy branch and a sharp edged stone and made a makeshift spear using a vine he found. He prowled the forest floor searching for some weak creatures.
Luckily he seemed to have not woken up on hostile lands for there were no strong creatures there. He did not go very far before he heard a rustle in the bushes. Two rabbits who thought themselves very well hidden were behind a patch of bushes, looking at each other dumbly. He crept up behind them and rewound his arm, aimed, and released the spear forcefully.
It ripped through the air and stabbed the ground an inch away from the rabbit's foot. "Damn it!" He exclaimed as he watched the rabbits squeal and scuffle away. He hopped out from behind the bushes and began the chase, pulling his spear out as he ran after the bigger rabbit. Even though he was faster, it was significantly more agile, more slippery.
Unfortunately, in a battle of endurance, no amount of slipperiness could suffice, and it was beginning to show. The breath of the small creature started getting ragged, and it's movements sloppy. Zhao Weng, on the other hand, was getting more and more thrilled by the chase, he ran whole continuously hurling and picking up the spear at it. His aim was terrible in the constant motion situation. Not long after, due to its exhaustion and a lucky throw through it's abdomen,Zhao Weng finally caught a rabbit.
Zhao Weng had developed a newfound interest in hunting and decided to go for another hunt. By the time he caught a third rabbit and impaled it beside the other two on his spear was when he noticed the sun was almost completely gone and the sky was darkening. The ink like night had started painting the sky with white spots and the orange glow melding with the black, signifying the dawn of twilight.
"I'll stop my hunt for now and continue tomorrow, these rabbits are getting heavy anyway. Now, where will I sleep.."
The last question hit him hard as he assessed his current situation. He was in the middle of a nearly night-streaked forest with three dead rabbits, reeking of blood, and no protection other than a spear of wood and stone. Basically he was doomed...
He panicked a bit and even considered throwing away the rabbits but that would be almost useless because he was already bloodied from handling them constantly. Plus he put in too much effort to just throw them. He decided to seek shelter in a high place where he could at least see the beast that will kill him before it does. Luckily in the distance he could see a small rocky hill.
He began a dash through the forest towards the hill. He hoped to get there and hide out in a crevice or climb up a tree. Essentially survive the night through any means possible. Right now the thin moonlight through the canopy was his sole source of light. "What's this.." he asked in wonder and he saw faint light in the distance. He got closer and saw what It was. Fireflies.
Rank 0 creatures with almost no utility whatsoever. Though they had among the most evolutionary paths of all known beasts, only three were powerful, but their conditions for achieving were very rare. In their first form, all they do is sit on trees absorbing fire elemental energy in the air, and illuminating the night. With enough accumulation, they eventually achieved the most common, and weakest evolution, the Rank 1 Flamefly.
At present Zhao Weng stumbled upon a horde of first form fireflies, floating aimlessly providing light to the forest. "With a couple of these I can probably find a secret cave easily!" He thought as he walked slowly towards them so as not to scare them.
Just as he was in the middle of them, he jumped and swung his hand, aiming to grab a bunch of em at once. Too bad they too react quickly and most dispersed while cutting off their glowing abdomen's light.
The light of the fireflies is their circulation of qi. The abundant fire energy in their small bodies causes their abdomen to glow. They can stop this glow by stopping circulation. This helps avoid predators and enemies by allowing them blend into the dark surroundings. And just like that, all the other fireflies disappeared leaving Zhao Weng disappointed for only being able to catch one.
"You're still useful enough, I should keep going before the beasts of the night find me!" He kept his grasp on the firefly but it suddenly started getting brighter. "What a nice little creature! With this much light I don't even need ten of you. Keep it up and I'll reward yo... Ow!"
He suddenly felt a burst of fire in his hand. It wasn't really painful, just shocking. "You damn bastard! You're lucky you're still useful or I'd have crushed you like the bug you are!" He spat angrily. Then the bright light went dim again before starting to crank up again.
An insignificant memory came back to him about the only skill the Rank 0 fireflies possess; spark. A small burst of flame, similar to the burst that appears when lighting a match. The firefly kept spamming Spark so much that it became annoying.
His eye twitched every time he saw the bright light but this time he was suddenly alert because with the bright light, he saw a pair of red eyes at his side lunging towards him. He reacted quickly and flung a rabbit at the beast before increasing his speed twofold. The beast changed targets to the rabbit and started tearing it apart.
Zhao Weng breathed a sigh of relief but a sudden jolt at his palm made him remember the little annoying creature at hand. He stopped and threw the firefly to the ground with an annoyed grunt.
He began making some hand signs quickly, and as he did that, a magic circle began appearing beneath the little creature, to a radius of a meter around it. It got up and tried to fly away from the human but suddenly as it flew a meter away, it crashed into an invisible wall.
Contract formation. His father once taught him the technique when he asked him why the Ice-clawed Lynx always followed his every order. There was a limit to how many beasts one can contract though, and also your willpower must be higher than the beasts, or you will undoubtedly suffer a backlash when it breaks the contract formation.
Zhao Weng had not wanted to waste one of his beast contracts with this weak firefly but he still needed it's light. And considering it's 'never give up' attitude, it didn't seem like it would stop it's weak attacks any time soon. He was easy prey as is threfore adding a nonstop flashing beacon to his person was merely begging for hostile attention.
The contract progressed successfully and within moments the firefly was the first of his familiars. It lost all its hostility and became calm as can be when the contract formation dimmed. The firefly rose and shone a gentle steady light. They kept moving forward quickly towards the rock hill. Not long after, they came face to face with the hill.
"Now then, let's go to a good hiding point, shall we?" The firefly seemed to interpret his casual remark as an order of sorts and began flying out towards a certain part of the rock hill. "You've been here before?" He followed the insect which seemed to be earnestly leading him to a good hiding spot but when he got to where it was he was dumbfounded.
A smooth rock face. It was perched on there looking at him expectantly. "Get serious, we could be killed any moment now, Ying Huo" he said in exasperation at the fly's behaviour. Ying Huo, the firefly, began buzzing angrily as if calling him over. Realising it could be onto something, he went to where the fly was.
"You want me to break down the wall?" It buzzed and shook its head. It rose and landed on the rock face then looked at him. "Touch it?" It buzzed happily. He decided to humour it but when he touched it, he felt a strange connection and sensation.
Azure draconic tattoos shone on his arms as his eyes radiated blue. He felt as if chain links were snapping and seals were breaking somehow then the fleeting moment faded abruptly, and he collapsed through the rock face, landing face first on hard stone ground. "An illusion?!" He thought in amazement. "Why? How did I do that? Where am I?" He thought as he stood up, dusting himself and picking up his spear and rabbits. Ying Huo buzzed and urged him to follow it. Since the fly surely understood this hidden world better than him, he decided to oblige and follow Ying Huo.