Outside the small cave where he was, the sunlight hurt his eyes. The noise of the forest was far too loud.
But what really bothered him was hunger. Like a hole in his stomach.
He needed to eat soon, or his body would not endure.
He dragged himself forward. His skin, thin and fragile, tore easily on the stones and twigs scattered on the ground.
Blood dripped from his arms and legs as he crawled across the floor of the unknown forest.
But Azelion felt no pain. His perception of pain remained completely sealed.
His silver eyes scanned the area. And then, at a not-so-distant spot, he finally saw something that made his eyes shine.
It was food, a bush with several red fruits.
With effort, he crawled there. His breath was short and ragged. Until he finally reached the bush, his trembling hands and his weakened arms held a handful of fruits.
As soon as he looked at them, his silver eyes perceived something in their form. The fruits seemed to have something bad within them.
Something that would make others completely sick.
"Poisonous?" Azelion frowned slightly.
Not because he could not eat them. But because it would be an inconvenience. Just as he could tell the fruit was dangerous by looking, he also knew he had a way to solve it.
He fixed his gaze on them, and then an imperceptible glow appeared from his pupils.
"Seal the impurities!" Azelion whispered in a weak voice.
At that moment, an even greater wave of weakness arose instantly. The remaining energy he had disappeared. The hunger grew several times worse. Without realizing it, Azelion ended up using his own vital energy, even if only a small part, losing a few days of life.
But it worked. He could see that the fruits were now safe. And then he devoured them completely without wasting time.
He felt a minimal relief course through his body. Hunger seemed to have diminished by at least five percent. But he still felt extremely weak.
And it was at that moment he heard a sound. A grunt, something he did not want right now.
He turned his face and saw. Just ahead of the bush, a boar appeared.
But unlike what he remembered from the times he hunted with Kael, this boar was at least twice as small. Its skin was dark, with white patches he had never seen.
It was a smaller and different version of the animal he so often hunted.
The boar seemed to be rooting around on the ground and had not yet seen him.
Azelion's stomach growled. Even if the boar was smaller than he remembered, that was… meat, and a lot of meat.
Azelion looked at it with extreme hunger. The desire in his eyes, but he had no way to hunt it with his strength now.
The boar sniffed the air and then finally saw him. Its small eyes stared at Azelion. A completely skeletal and debilitated human.
The boar lowered its head, showing its tusks, as if warning him of something. And then, in the next moment, it grunted as it rushed quickly toward him.
Azelion had nowhere to run. His weak body would not manage more than a few steps before collapsing.
But, after so long in existence, Azelion, instead of despairing, merely looked at the boar approaching while his new eyes saw something only he could understand.
At the last second, Azelion dodged to the side. He rolled on the ground while stretching his left hand to the maximum until it touched the paw of the boar as it passed by.
The contact was extremely quick, but it was enough.
At that moment…
"Seal the legs!" Azelion shouted, burning even the last crumb of energy the small fruits had given him.
The effect was instant. The boar suddenly fell to the ground. Thrashing like a mad creature, completely desperate.
No matter what it did, it could not move its legs. Its muscles were completely locked by something invisible. As if all four limbs had forgotten how to move at the same time.
The boar was lying on its side on the ground, grunting and moving its head in panic, its eyes rolling.
Azelion was dizzy from the effort exerted. He nearly fainted from exhaustion. But the sight of the immobilized boar gave him the strength and determination he needed.
This time, instead of sealing completely and eternally, as he had done with the impurities, Azelion sealed the boar's legs for only one minute. It was the most his energy allowed without burning his own life.
He dragged himself to the defenseless boar. He picked up a heavy stone with a slightly sharp tip from the side. The animal's head moved as it grunted for him to back away.
But Azelion did not hesitate. Hunger was greater than anything.
And then he struck with the stone.
Several times until the boar's movement stopped forever.
And then, without ceremony, he fell upon the boar's carcass. His hands tore open the ripped skin where he had struck with the stone.
He opened his mouth wide, biting the raw, tough flesh. It was disgusting, extremely disgusting. But he did not care.
The flesh flowed into him, feeding him. While the blood slid down his throat, which had long been without water.
His weakness gradually seemed to diminish, and then, at that moment.
"Seal the impurities!" he said, making any harmful substances in the raw meat and blood ingested ineffective.
Azelion ate enough for now. His face and body were covered in blood. But he was satisfied. The seal on the boar's legs dissipated after exactly one minute.
For him, it was like lines breaking and fragmenting, disappearing into unknown particles. It might seem invisible to others. But his eyes saw exactly what happened with the boar's legs.
He looked at the animal with the strange markings.
"Sealing. Isn't it? If I showed this to them, they would probably say I was possessed by a demon or that I became the incarnation of a god…" Azelion, he said while looking at the sky with a small smile.
He remembered those who had long since certainly passed away. Perhaps he should be sad about it. But, in truth, after so long, it seemed so distant and unreal that he still did not know how he should carry those memories of his former life.
"… But it seems to be a little complicated. I need to touch in order to seal, and the cost is not something I can use much while being this weak at the moment."
His world had completely changed, but he had taken his first of many steps.