Axel struggled to move. He really did. He really wanted to escape. But the poison had somehow numbed him. He couldn't even believe it himself. He hadn't expected that the creature's saliva was poisonous.
Now he remembered what the old man had said about not underestimating any creature in this place. He spat out saliva, his eyes in the growling tiger before him.
The wild cat, sensing his fear, immediately crouched down into a predatory stance and then pounced, expecting to get its prey. Meanwhile, Axel watched in horror.
This was it? Was he really going to die here? A second time? And this time, it's not normal, like about to have sex with your girlfriend that has been keeping you off, and then having a heart attack, but being mauled by a tiger this time.
Axel couldn't scream as the creature's claw was just inches from his face. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something flash by, and then he saw the creature slam into a large tree and was now pinned by what looked like an ice shard.
Axel heard the pained roar of the creature as the large ice shard was deep in the flank of the creature, the red blood soaking its white coat and dropping onto the grassy floor.
Suddenly, the ice hand began to grow, spreading rapidly and covering the stunned creature until it was now an ice sculpture. Axel looked at it and he knew.
'It's dead.' Axel thought.
He was both relieved and angry, the former since he was going to die.....yet, the latter because someone had stolen his prey. A prey that was also about to tear him to pieces.
Out of the corner of his eyes, he watched as someone walked out of the bush and right into his line of sight. It was a female, a young woman with brown, long hair, her face icy and expressionless. She was extremely beautiful, her pale skin enhancing her beauty even more.
The woman walked out and silently brought out a wooden bowl filled with water.
"Here," The woman spoke for the first time. "Drink it. It will neutralise the poison. It has happened to me once."
Axel couldn't move.
The woman, sensing his plight, smiled frostily. "I actually forgot. You can't move."
She stretched out a hand and pried open his mouth before pouring the water down his throat. As the water slid down his throat, Axel could finally feel his fingers and then gradually he got control over his body.
He sank to the ground, exhausted then he looked up. "Why did you help me? You could have just allowed it to kill me then kill it yourself."
The woman looked at him for a moment then she smiled. "I have no idea. I guess I got amused that a non-awakener with no ability is fighting those beasts like it's easy."
Axel's eyes widened in shock as he heard those words. She knew. And if she knew, everybody else knew.
The woman, noticing his expression, chuckled. "Of course, I knew. You can't call a person an awakener if he or she can't distinguish who is awakened or not. An awakener can sense it. And also...."
She rolled her sleeve up. A tattoo, the colour of ice was etched on her wrist. It was intricate, and it resembled an ice shard falling. It was also glowing brightly.
"This is my Awakening tattoo. I have an ice element ability, that is why the tattoo is the colour of ice." Sge continue. "Everybody's own is different, elemental abilities show the colour of the element, physical abilities make the tattoo more profound and are always pitch black, mental abilities are always disappearing and reappearing in random parts of the body. You, on the other hand, have none which makes you an unawakened."
Axel kept silent at what she had just heard, he had gotten the gist of it. And that also meant he was a fool for even thinking he could keep the secret until he awakened using the wish. He just got revealed....badly.
No wonder the others looked down on him, and then the so-called Ripper was able to do what he did without feeling any doubt. He was an open book to them.
The woman smiled at him. "You knew about it, right?"
"Of course I did." Axel snapped, lying badly. "You didn't need to explain to me."
"If you actually did, you would have known that everybody already knew you were an unawakened."
Axel zipped his mouth shut. The stupid memories didn't tell him anything about that. How was he supposed to know? Maybe the old soul knew but he certainly didn't.
He looked up, ready to reply but the woman was gone. He couldn't see her anywhere. Then he remembered. He was still in a test. Obviously, she had gone on to continue the test,
"Dammit," he sprang up, regaining his strength."I need to hurry."
He picked up his sword and rushed into the bushes, picked up a trail, and hoped it wasn't a rabbit trail, but an actual trail that would lead him to some beasts to kill. Come to think of it, did rabbits or normal animals from his former world exist here? It was just a thought.
He rushed forward, jumping through broken branches, nearly tripping over a huge log that was just lying in the middle of the road. He stepped on a shrieking furry creature that had been sleeping, and then he pushed through a bush door, and then he stopped.
Below him, was a streaming lake. The water was clear and crystal and it also looked extremely beautiful. Suddenly, Axel began to feel thirsty. The water that the mysterious woman had given him had awakened his thirst pains, and this could quench it.
He slid down the small rocky slide that led to the wake. He approached the lake, the unique smell of the clear water wafting through his nostrils. He knelt down, cupping the water in both of his hands and then drinking it. He drank to his heart's content, the water quenching his thirst instantly.
Just as he was about to get up, he noticed something floating in the water, drifting towards him. Axel squinted at the sight. It looked like hair. He watched as the thing drifted towards him then it stopped.
Suddenly, the thing rose up gradually, the water falling down in droplets as it emerged. Axel saw gills, snaky skin, webbed feet, suffocating black eyes, no pupils, and hideous red-purple lips. What truly unsettled him was rows of serrated fangs that were covered in what looked like blood.
Axel watched as the creature gave him a sadistic grin before stretching out both of his snaky arms and grabbing his shoulders.
Before Axel could react, he felt himself being pulled, and then he saw water, and then he disappeared.