Beatitudes

Wolves and prey.

The light in the forest was always dimmer due to the huge canopies of trees that spanned the forest space, hence the days that the group of four spent in the forest was seemingly always shorter and the nights longer. It seemed to be getting close to the time for sunset of the seven suns in the sky above them, hence they would soon stop their movements for the day, this had continued on for a while since they had been walking through the forest for week now. As someone who formerly spent a very good chunk of his years in the forest, it was easy for Isaac to get used to the journey, but same couldn’t be said for the other two.

Although he didn’t complain out loud to mysterious guy taking them through the forest, Harry had already grown tired of the monotonous and stressful lifestyle, one reason was because he didn’t even know where they were heading, the other reason being the fact that nothing had happened to them that was out of the ordinary after the incident of those bandit guys, this one was specifically frustrating due to the fact that after the strange change in Isaac and the sudden appearance of Adam, none of the two mentioned had ever clarified what the heck went on that day, he felt like he was wading in a dark that felt so close to the light yet was so far away.

“I really need some entertainment right now… I almost miss the frantic atmosphere of the pit, how ironic… “

Unknown whether or not the other two heard the frequent once in a while comment, they didn’t seem to pay it any attention as they watched their steps through the forest from time to time.

Isaac was immersed in his own mind, in conversation with this new voice he came to know about a week ago hence he naturally didn’t hear what Harry said most of the time,

“How long will it take for the sovereign essence within me to awaken fully. “

“The sovereign essence was originally independent but has now fused completely with your heart core, if you were a full human this would have been impossible to happen but it seems like your body has a blood within it that has nothing to do with humans “

Listening to the words of the voice reverberating in his mind, Isaac was as confused as he could be, but he understood one thing though. he wasn’t a pure human being. After conversing with this voice in his head for a while now, he had come to know things he didn’t know much of before, but even still the voice remained as confusing and as cryptic as ever.

Sensing his confusion, Astral spoke again,

“Isaac, the sovereign essence is a living creature, I could say it’s a living organism or more appropriately a divine organism, it’s characteristics and behavior patterns would naturally differ when met with different situations, I sense you’re half human and half of another race since I reside within you, naturally the sovereign essence that is essentially interacting with your system has noticed that before I did. None before you have ever been able to fully understand the essence, so it’s current behavior is something I can’t say much about.”

Isaac’s lips twitched as he spoke in his mind,

“You know, right up till now, you still haven’t given me a clear answer on what’s happening and how you appeared within me, I don’t even know whether you’re some inbuilt A.I system or something…. (wait... what did I just say?)”

He heard a sigh before Astral spoke up again,

“That’s because it’s something I can’t explain to you... you have to see it by yourself to understand, telling you now would just confuse you...”

“…. See by myself? how do you expect me to do that. “

“In time you’ll realize it by yourself.”

A slight frown appeared on Isaac’s face, he had heard that very often these days, he kept quiet and didn’t say another word until the voice spoke again,

“Why don’t you try to communicate more with Adam.”

“…. What do you mean?”

“I don’t mean anything, I’m just asking.”

“I don’t know, there’s not much to say.”

A sigh that sounded odd to Isaac was the reply, at this point Isaac felt he was going crazy, in his head was something that kept on saying words that sounded absurd and confusing, he still hadn’t any idea how the event that day had happened... he couldn’t even wonder how he was still able to constantly keep conversing with the voice even though he felt frustrated every time.

A few times over the past few days, due to his curiosity he would watch Isaac whenever he was quiet. and at this point, Harry only got more confused and doubtful, he noticed that quiet as Isaac was, the expression on his face would usually change from confusion to frustration and sometimes anger was clear on his face, it was actually like he was conversing with someone

‘Is he possessed or something… ‘

He felt like he was the only ones who noticed this strangeness since the others never showed a reaction

“Oof...”

Thoughts like these passed through his mind as he walked, he kept his eyes on Isaac so he didn’t notice the tree branch on the floor until he tripped over it and landed on the ground face planted in the soft dirt

“ Shit... “

The other two walking beside him stopped as Isaac looked down at him confused, how did he fall…

Hiya on the other hand couldn’t help a slight sneer as it graced her pink lips. The two of them watched him as he rose with different expressions

GRRR….

A deep growl suddenly echoed in their eyes as Isaac and Hiya raised their heads and froze in place at the same time, Harry who was standing up slowly dusted his clothes as he heard the roar, with a quizzical expression he spoke to the two looking them in the face,

“Which one of you is that hungry, for a sec… “

He was oblivious of the situation until he noticed the other two’s frozen expression and a flash of the impossible thought of that growl not coming from one of their stomach and instead…

He turned his head slowly as he shivered a little, when he came face to face with a wolf three meters tall with an expression on its face that could only be one delighting in its luck in finding food for the night, he could only say one word before his legs almost gave out

“s**t!!”

His first thought was to look to a point on his right a little bit further than where they stood, that was where Adam was just a while ago but now he couldn’t even see his shadow!...

‘Where the h*ck did he go!’

The others had also noticed the disappearance, but they weren’t even given time to think about it as the wolf charged straight for them. Panic filled their hearts as they fumbled to get out of the direction of the fast charge, they were able to barely make it as Isaac and Harry pushed each other out of the way falling along the left side and Hiya moved on her own to the right side in a crouching posture as a strange light flashed through her eyes.

The wolf having missed its prey growled again as it turned around to face them, Isaac could make out a smirk on the wolf and cursed in his mind, it seemed the wolf was treating them as fun prey.

They could all be said to know a thing or two about fighting but that was only in the pit were all the fight entailed was a rough brawl across the ground and a few tricks here and there, Harry could claim to be better off than Isaac as he had stayed for a longer time in the pit hence he had more experience but against the wolf who stood taller than all of them and looked like it could fell two trees side by side at once with its charge, they all felt flustered against its cunning ways.

Isaac had barely been able to crouch and roll out of harm’s way when the wolf suddenly turned its attention and charged at Hiya, from its movement you could see it was taking the whole thing to be an interesting play, they barely had time to feel angry under the quick swipes and snaps of its claws and jaws.

Harry finally had enough breathing space as it charged over to Hiya again always keeping them within its range, his anger boiled quick and he let out a roar of his own as he grabbed a fallen branch a distance away from him, the branch was very thick and none could tell when it had broken off, he was able to hold it with his two hands and with a surprising display of might and precision, the branch flew from his arms moving forward with a blur like a thrown spear as he lost his balance and fell harder this time on his face. The wolf was just about to take another swipe at Hiya who had actually been able to dodge better than the other two when it’s sharp senses alerted it to an approaching danger, the branch was fast but the wolf was faster as it moved its body in a strange way and dodged the branch but not completely as the branch was able to draw a faint line of blood that quickly stained its grey fur.

Turning around to face the culprit, the wolf let out a deeper growl than usual and a dangerous glint passed its eyes, almost immediately it charged forward like a breeze, it was obvious at this point that the wolf was actually passing time with them previously as the speed with which it moved this time was twice as fast as before.

Harry on the other hand was just rising up from the ground with a bleeding nose so he hadn’t realized the wolf was charging with the intent to kill, Isaac watched the wolf and saw the change of its expression, he felt a chill as he rushed quickly to Harry’s side with as much speed as he could draw on, he was almost by his side as the wolf leaped off the ground with a tremor, its figure becoming a blur

“HARRY!!”

Emotions were haywire with visions blurred and hearts panicked, so none of the three had noticed the faint glow that covered Isaac’s outstretched hand like a refraction of colorless light and the faint change in the space in front of it, a colorless flow moved with a quick speed as it pushed against the wolf leaping through the air, like a gale wind it actually carried enough force as it forcefully pushed the wolf off its course and caused just a point of its claw to graze the dazed Harry, drawing a line of blood along with it.

Suddenly Isaac who was still running fiercely noticed the strange deviation of the wolf as it passed beside Harry instead of breaking all his bones with that claw swipe, he didn’t have time to wonder what happened as he suddenly felt a burst of weakness wash over him making him stumble and pause.

Meanwhile the wolf that had surprisingly missed its target repositioned itself clumsily with a growl and faced Harry, a faint light of confusion passed through its eyes but its rage at having missed got the better of it and it once again began a quick charge before it leaped,

But before it could take a second step forward, a dark light flashed from a distance as it immediately covered the entirety of the wolf, another flash later it disappeared but there was no wolf standing there any longer. If someone had a very good vision, he would notice miniscule traces of dark particles floating in the air as it constantly dispersed. That was the only trace of the wolf remaining in the world but it quickly disappeared leaving the three “preys” with a dumbfounded expression.