The howl echoed all around us, stunning the group and me. I looked towards the sound and heard another howl, followed by another. The feeling I had before, it wasn't mine. It was the trees.
"Hey! Who are you?" Caleb called out towards me but the only other man in the group smacked the back fo his head.
"Shut up!" The guy whisper yelled at him loud enough for me to hear. Each of them scrambled up to there own trees, climbing as high as they could go. Each of them kept glancing around at there surroundings and me while I watched the chaos unfold.
Down below, near the stream, 7 wolves slowly crept towards the water, but they weren't normal wolves. 6 of them looked like wolf skeletons with extra bones over some parts while one stood out.
<14% chance to drop a spark. 3% chance to drop a spirit skull>
<30% chance to drop a spark. 13% chance to drop a spirit skull. 1% chance to drop an undead soul>
The alpha bone wolf made me pause. It was 2 times the size of a regular bone wolf and it looked a hell of a lot fiercer. Wait. What the hell is an elite spark spirit? Elite spark? I hope we get to learn more in classes because this makes no sense.
The wolves made little clicking sounds as they moved, the bones making a quiet ticks as they moved.
Suddenly, the alpha stopped and looked towards the group of five and snarled, scaring me in the process. How did it find them? Will it find me next?
The 6 other wolves circled the trees quickly, making the group of 5 panic.
"Gavin, what do we do?!" Lucia called out with a shake in her voice, looking down at the wolves. Gavin, the only other guy, looked pissed and scared at the same time. He was looking around at his surroundings while stealing glances at me. Suddenly, I hear it.
"Dont panic. I am a part of the group on the trees near you, gavin. The plan it to wait them out so far. You don't have to join but youre stuck here with them too" A smooth male voice rang out in my head, startling me. I looked up and his eyes met with mine. A rocky grin plastered on his face as he waved. It must be his origin, telepathy? I nodded slightly and started to look for and stick big enough to be a weapon.
I spotted one a few branches up and sighed as I inched up, slow enough to not be noticed by the wolves but Gavin did.
"You don't think you can actually fight them. Do you?" He calls out in my mind and I look at him, shrugging. I don't know what i'm doing but they have the trait, tireless spirit. They can wait for days, weeks, maybe even months, and we dont have that much time. We need water and food soon or we'll be too weak to do anything.
Eventually, I got to the branch and pulled on it hard, cracking it at the base. A crisp cracking noise rang out, drawing the wolves' attention. The wolves changed there formation quickly, with the alpha in the center, 5 wolves around the trees with gavin's team, while one wolf stood behind mine, blocking my exit.
"Now youre really stuck with us" I heard Gavin chuckle out in my head, making me pissed and I did the only thing I knew how do. I flipped him off.
He started to laugh outloud and it was the perfect opportunity. Most, if not all the wolves were looking at his sudden outburst and I felt my muscles tense. I raised the stick like a spear and put everything i had into it, throwing it down at the wolf near my tree as hard as I could. I felt my body get heavy as I launched it. Then sound of wind was suddle yet deadly, the wooden stick flew like a spear.
A sickening Crack rang out as everyone watched in horror and awe. The wooden stick hit the wolf dead center, hitting the skull, piercing a hole in it, while a suddle glow eminated from the stick. The bones fell lifelessly into a pile while the alpha glared at me with hatred in it's eyes. A chill ran up my back as I looked back at it.
The system rang out and I froze in suprise. I got a spark? Suddenly, I felt something in my mind, a spherical type thing. I tried to focus on it but it was difficult. Then, I closed my eyes and a black void welcomed me. Slowly, I could see a circular outline and something inside. A golden spark floated in the void. I focused on it and slowly, it faded away.
"Aaaaay!" I yelled out in pain. A slight burning sensation started in my head before spreading all over my body. It wasn't too painful but it caught me by suprise. Then, my status popped up on its own.
I stood there, staring at the only change in my status. 1/100. So, sparks are used to increase my progress in sparkhood? Wait, I don't feel as tired as before!Then, I felt it.
A wam trickle in my body. It was hard to feel at first, but I slowly felt out its pattern. It would flow endlessly in a circle around my chest and stomach. Like a small stream with no end.
"You good? You haven't moved in like, 5 minutes" gavin's voice echoed in my mind, waking me up from my trance. I looked up at him and nodded with a blank face. I can't have him knowing what happened.
Looking down, I noticed that the wolves' formation has changed again. There were 3 wolves watching the group of five, two watching me, while the alpha still stood in the center. Looking down at my hands, I got an idea. I can take them out one by one while they can't reach me.
Looking up, I spotted multiple branches I could launch at them. Without caring if the wolves found out, I climbed up my tree quickly, making it to the first launchable branch in 3 minutes. I pulled at the base hard and the familiar cracking sound rang out. Looking down at my prey, a cold grin spread across my face. Raising my hand, I focused on putting my all into my throw and threw it through the air.
This time, I hit the spine of the bone wolf, breaking it in half cleanly. Again, the stick had a dim, green glow which im going to give points to my origin, germinate. I dont really know how im doing it but its working. The wolf fell but didn't immediately die. Crawling around before it fell lifelessly like the one before it.
While disappointing, it was only a 14% chance anyway. Looking up, I saw Caleb and Gavin holding large sticks, aiming at the wolves. Suddenly, they both launched them at the same time, at the same one. A sickening Crack rang out as the wolf was pierced in the shoulder and skull, killing it.
Suddenly, the alpha howled, making all of us freeze. A chilling pressure press against me, making that flow of energy in my chest slow down. I felt like i was suffocating untill the howl stopped. We watched as the alpha slowly looked at the 3 remaining bone wolves before walking away with them.
I stayed in the tree for 10 more minutes before slowly crawling down. As soon as i started, gavin's group followed and we met on the ground. As soon as i made it down, I went straight to the stream and dunked my head in, drinking in big gulps. The water was ice cold and oddly sweet. After 10 seconds of this, I raised my head to see the other five drinking.
One by one, they raised there heads to stare at me. When the last one came out of the water, I started.
"Hello everyone. Im felix" I breathed out and they all nodded slowly. The, Gavin went on.
"You already know me, this guy is Caleb. The tall girl with dark skin is lucia. The other two are twins, leona and leia" Gavin calls out and I stared at them all, studing them for anything that told me they're not to be trusted. Caleb still had a stick in his hand but made no attempt to hide it.
"Nice to meet you felix. Is your origin combat based? I noticed the sticks you threw went through their bodies a lot easier than the other" Leonard called out, making me pause. Slowly, I shook my head as I glanced at my hands.
"No, i have a lifestyle origin" I breathe out in a long breath, thinking back to this morning. They nodded slowly before Gavin laughed.
"No matter, they're gone now. Wanna join our little group? It will be safer in numbers and we plan to stay by this stream" Gavin offered and I looked at him seriously, trying to discern if he's joking or not. Eventually, I reply.
"I will, but if you dont pull your weight, i wont hesitate to leave" I give them an ultimatum and Gavin laughs out loud.
"Of course, same goes for you" he jokes back with a serious tone mixed into a laugh.
"Lets start with where we're going to sleep. The sun will fall in about 2 hours, bot really giving us a lot of time so we might have to sleep in the trees. Any better ideas?" He announces and nobody objects.
"We should probably gather dry sticks and leaves for a fire. We dont know how cold it gets over night. We may freeze to death, we may be fine. I don't know" I offer up and they nod slowly.
"We can't sleep in the trees and have a fire to keep us warm. We'd burn ourselves to death in our sleep" Gavin thinks aloud before nodding slowly.
"We should sleep a bit away from the stream. The water attracts a lot of animals, most could kill us easily" Lucia calls out and we all froze, not thinking about that yet.
" Ok, new plan. We gather dry sticks and leaves. Put them a bit away from the stream, and sleep against the trees so we can still protect our backs while keeping warm" Gavin offers and we all nodded slowly.