Ash slowly stirred awake once again, his mind groggy but no longer clouded as he felt his mind had adapted to the sheer surge of memories that had flooded his consciousness. Yet, a sharp pain lingered in his soul, a painful reminder of his past life - an unfulfilled life that had been ripped away from him.
As he slowly opened his eyes, the unfamiliar landscape of the land greeted him. The sky was now a swirling mix of navy, purple, and black with thick clouds moving sluggishly across the horizon. The air smelled of earth and something more... A heavy, oppressive scent clung to his fur. What was it?
Stumbling to his feet, his claws dug into the dirt as he steadied himself, and his amber eyes glinted in the twilight.
'I am a dog...' the boy thought to himself as he was hit by an intense wave of sadness. However, his sadness was suddenly stopped as a faint hum reached his ears.
He froze, his ears twitching as he picked up on the subtle vibration in the air. It was a sound he instinctively recognised, the formation of a summoning circle.
His heartbeat quickened...Why? He did not know and yet, he could tell that summoning circles were important and he found himself instinctively drawn towards it.
Without hesitation, he began to move. His instincts guided him through the forest that he had awoken around, initially wobbly as he caught his bearings as it was his first time sprinting. It was not long until he began skilfully weaving between twisted trees and jagged rocks.
As he made it closer, the hum grew louder, the vibration stronger, until finally, the glow of the summoning circle came into view.
A large circle was etched onto the ground of an opening. It was glowing with a large number of runes that were etched all around its border with a strong blue arcane energy which pulsed like a heartbeat, sending ripples of energy through the air.
Upon nearing and having the circle in sight, the hum and vibration were at its strongest. And it turned out that it was not just the boy who had sensed the summoning circle...
Several beasts had already gathered around it, their eyes locked on the glowing portal and it seemed that tensions were high.
Each entity moved cautiously, snarling and growling at one another as each waited for the right moment to strike.
To the boy, who was silently and vigilantly watching this, questions emerged in his head as it looked as if the animals were preparing to fight... but why?
He crouched low behind a rock, observing the scene in front of him. His gaze swept over the gathered creatures. Most of them were larger and more imposing than him, their forms twisted and monstrous. There were a bunch that the boy could not identify even if he tried. There were also humanoid beasts. They bared sharp fangs and flexed powerful claws, their hunger for power evident in their eyes.
The boy had just questions in his head. And yet, despite all of them, his instincts spoke louder. And it told him that if he wanted to escape Aegaryn and grow stronger, he would have to claim the circle for himself too.
But as he slowly made it closer, fear crept into his heart.
'They are stronger than me. Faster. Fiercer,' he thought, 'But can I do this?'
One particular beast, a hulking creature covered in jagged scales which looked to be a mix of a cat and a crocodile, snarled and lunged at a smaller beast, ripping into it with brutal efficiency. The smaller beast died and it dissolved into mist and had its essence consumed by the larger one.
That action brought complete pandemonium to the whole area as the rest of the beasts also began battling.
The battle also seemed to start, the boy's battle instincts seemed to begin as he lost all fear and began to think, 'I have to try. But how?'
Just as the boy crept closer to the circle, a massive feline beast with crimson eyes prowled towards the center. Its muscles rippled beneath its sleek fur with each step and it let out a low growl that sent a shiver down Ash's spine.
It was facing another one of the smaller beasts, a wiry creature with thin limbs and glowing green eyes.
It reacted in an instant and pounced on the beast, slamming it into the ground and killing it.
In that instant, both beasts were unspokenly announced as the two strongest as all the other beasts began to back down, realising that they were not going to be able to overpower the scaled beast and the feline.
The two beasts were now staring each other down and began to growl and roar at each other, trying to intimidate each other. After realising that neither were going to back off, the battle between the two began.
'I have to try! I want to get stronger!' the boy screamed into himself, motivating himself, 'It will not be like the ritual again, I am going to be strong!'
Summoning his courage, the boy darted out from his hiding place and sprinted towards the circle.
Sprinting but being as cautious and quiet as he could, the boy quickly made his way towards the circle and the two beasts, having been preoccupied amongst themselves in their fight, were unable to pay attention to him.
They both charged at each other slashing, biting, and dodging. It was an even fight. The feline delivered a devastating slash to the scaled beast's neck, a weak point that had the weakest scales, and blood came gushing out.
But as it did that, the scaled beast chomped down hard on the feline's leg a loud crunch could be heard as the feline let out an ear-piercing growl of pain.
Both beasts fell on the floor, however, the scaled beast was clearly doing better as it got up first and began to stare down at the feline which was now limping as it bared its fangs in a menacing snarl. It knew that its chances of winning were extremely low now with its movement greatly impacted.
Just as the beast was about to continue and advance forward, both beasts were suddenly distracted by a louder humming and an intensified wave of arcane energy.
The both of them turned towards the summoning circle... There, staring in wonder at the runes, was the boy.
From the moment the boy entered the circle, he felt a wave of magic wash over him, providing him with a warm and refreshing feeling. However, as soon as he stepped into the circle, he saw that the light emanating from the runes increased and it began to radiate an intensified amount of arcane energy.
In that instant, the boy felt his instincts tell him to be cautious as he sensed two gazes aimed right at him.
'Oh crap...' the boy thought as he immediately became vigilant about the two beasts.
The scaled beast immediately charged forward, not wanting the boy to stay in the circle any longer.
The boy dodged, narrowly avoiding the beast's claws and quickly attempted to retaliate as he tried to bite the neck of the beast that had initially been injured by the feline.
The boy's jaws came down hard but as it did so, he found that he was able to break through the weakened scales and the sweet, ironic taste of blood shot into his mouth.
The scaled beast immediately roared out in pain, scaring the boy as he immediately let go. A considerable chunk has been taken from the scaled beast's neck as blood gushed out from it.
The boy found himself involuntarily swallowing the meat as it was still in his mouth and found that it did not taste bad at all, if anything he found it tasting quite nice.
Seeing the boy swallow its flesh, the beast growled, its crimson eyes narrowing as it charged forward again, this time faster as it seemed to have been fuelled by rage now.
The boy braced himself, trying to dodge - but the swipe was a lot faster than he had expected.
The beast's claws raked across his side, sending him tumbling across the dirt.
Pain immediately shot through his body as he scrambled to his feet while panting heavily as blood dripped from a gash on his flank.
He let out an ear-piercing howl.
'I can't win this head-on.'
Seeing the blood dripping out of the boy's side, the scaled beast began to slowly size up the boy who it now saw as an easy opponent.
'I need a plan... What do I do?'
Before he could think of a strategy, the beast pounced again as if it knew that the boy was trying to think and come up with a strategy.
Once again, he was not able to dodge, this time the impact sent him crashing into a tree.
The rough back scratched against his fur as his vision blurred and he struggled to stay conscious.