The prey and the hunter

This chapter uses a metric system.

For all the imperial users, here is the ratio

1 meter ~ 3.3 feet or around 3'4

1 kilometer ~ 0.62 miles

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Opening his eyes, a boy saw a picture of a magical forest which could only be described as surreal. All different kinds of trees. Blue colored evergreens. Rich blue sky and grass which was now a very bright green. Wind was blowing leaves around. Stars were scattered all around the blue canvas and the sun was shining bright. The picture looked somewhat different, compared to the last time the boy was there. Nature itself seemed calmer.

And there was the boy, standing near the entrance of the cave. He was wearing what could only be described as armour. Well, not quite the armour the knights would wear.

"Well, I am back," Atlas said quite loudly. He was a bit scared that the portal would not work. Or send him elsewhere. But this was the exact place, he remembered.

Looking around Atlas was searching for anything dangerous. Yet nothing could be seen. No creatures around.

After carefully examining the surroundings, he finally decided to move. Carefully measuring his steps and listening to every sound that there is, he moved towards the large rock covered in moss. This was the exact rock he fell asleep on. For some unknown reasons, this place made him feel so calm and secure. He took off his helmet, primarily because it was blocking the view, rather than helping.

"Can't believe those hockey players can spend so much time wearing this." Atlas thought, looking at his body which was covered with plates and a jersey of a team.

"Ameli' bloodhounds" he read. "Didn't know we had a hockey team."

After abilities were introduced to the world, lots of different sports became irrelevant. Since people could now jump 3 meters, anyone could do the basketball dunk. It was no longer spectacular. That is why a new kind of sport emerged. Ability based one. There were several varieties of sports which were popular. But all mainly included fighting or running.

Old sports were still there, just not as popular. They were mainly used for body training, before getting an ability.

Atlas was not really into any sports, however people were telling him that he could be a good runner. But all that was not important for him. He thought that doing sports and training his body was meaningless if you ever encountered an ability user. However now he himself was one, and he certainly did change his mind.

"If only I was a little bit stronger, a little bit faster, then maybe I would not get my ass whooped by that creature.

After thinking about the creature he decided that it is not the time to let his guard down. He decided to go further north from the portal.

In front of him was mainly the forest with all the different greenery. It was not the typical dark forest where trees would cover every meter around. There were places where chunks of land were just lush grass expanding for tens of meters. Not-a-very-consistent forest, as Atlas decided to describe it.

Every ten meters or so he left a metallic dowel, so he can track his way back. For now he didn't want to get far from the portal.

And after another hundred meters he saw it. He was finally out of the forest.

Everything. Everything around him was not something he could expect.

"Monumental" was the first word Atlas could say.

In front of his eyes were immense golden fields. Covered with very bright golden plants. But this was not all. These fields were scattered on islands, levitating islands of different sizes. They were not connected anyhow. It felt as if gravity itself was controlled separately by this world. Atlas noticed that he was standing near the cliff. It looked like the forest was somewhat elevated on a cliff and then slowly traversing into flying islands. Like if a cliff was exploded into smaller islands. This obviously still did not explain why the vegetation was so different.

"Where, actually am I?" This was the first time Atlas asked himself this question. Why was that portal hidden somewhere in the cave? Why was it not found long ago? He now had so many questions his mind was ignoring.

"Well, not time for looking around and sightseeing."

Atlas wanted to go onto one of the flying islands. Fortunately it was not far from where he was. Just around 4 meters. The problem was the gap. Under the flying islands was a forest. A forest about a few kilometers down. A lethal fall for someone like a 16 year old boy with no abilities.

"C'mon Atlas, just a few meters to jump. Just a good start would help me"

It was absolutely not necessary for him to jump. Yet he wanted to. He knew he had to. To become the very new Atlas. He threw his backpack with all the stuff he was carrying over. This was quite the picture. Rotating himself around a point he threw his backpack just like a hammer throw.

Then going back about 15 steps, his mind was focusing on the jump. "Run and jump, that is it"

Closing his eyes, taking a deep breath, opening his eyes. He did this several times to get his mind concentrating.

Then, the first step. He started running. Not very fast initially but gaining speed later. And now he almost reached the pit. Few more steps. Now. Jump. He jumped. He felt as if he was flying. He saw the landing point.

"C'mon, reach reach REACH!" he was screaming in his mind. Then he closed his eyes.

And then… hit.

Opening his eyes he was looking at the very bright sky with lots of beautiful stars. He stood up. Looking around he knew. He made it. He jumped right over the 4 meter gap. He managed to overcome the fear. Although the landing was a bit uncontrolled, since he fell onto his back, it was okay. The hockey armor saved both his back and butt.

Looking at the cliff from where he jumped from, he felt very proud of himself.

"Maybe a small jump for some, but a very important fly for Atlas d'Prince!" he thought.

Looking around he was standing in the middle of a golden field. A very beautiful place.

"I wonder if it is somewhat similar to wheat and if i can harvest it" he thought looking at a golden plant. The place was very quiet. Only the wind blowing could sometimes be heard.

Atlas closed his eyes to listen to the sound of silence. And that was the time he heard something. Some rattling sound was coming from the ground.

Opening his eyes he was looking at a very strange creature. Looking like a mole, but made from dirt and stone on the outside. It was about 80 cm in length.

It was not so big and looked like it did not possess any threat. Atlas decided to look closer to analyze the very interesting fauna in front of him. He immediately realised that it was a mistake. As soon as he bend down, this mole-looking creature jumped onto him and pinnin Atlas to the ground. With its big front teeth it started to dig into the armour and quiet effectively. Atlas knew he did not have much time before this creature started eating his flesh.

Taking the survival knife he brought with him, he tried stabbing it, but failed, since it had a very hard stone shell. He did not have much time so he decided to throw this beast off him. It weighed much more than he expected, but using all his strength he managed to move it a little to the side and cut the straps of his armour on the side, so he could escape from his armour. That indeed worked. Now he ran towards the bag he threw before. He took out the bat he bought.

The creature stopped eating the armour and started to look around sniffing.

"You don't have very good eyesight, it seems." Atlas said analyzing the behavior of the beast. "Well, unlike you, I do have"

Closing his eyes and then opening them again, Atlas' left eye was glowing blue. He activated his ability.

"I can see you. I can feel you. I will not lose this fight!"

Holding a bat in his hands, he ran towards the beast mole. As soon as the mole saw him coming, it jumped but Atlas was ready and evaded the move. And with a pretty fast rotation, he swung the bat and hit the beast. A loud clunk was heard.

Looking at where the beast should be, was a broken shell of a beast. But the beast was nowhere to be found.

However right after, Atlas heard a rumbling sound under his legs. As soon as he looked down, the beast jumped from underground trying to reach Atlas with his sharp claws. Yet barely missing him, since Atlas was reacting faster due to his ability. While the beast was still midair, Atlas hit him with the bat as if he was batting and sent the beast flying a few meters.

The beast was significantly lighter due to its shell being absent. Quickly grabbing the knife, Atlas ran towards the beast and stabbed the lying creature.

He was not sure if he killed the beast so he did more killing blows until he was sure that it was dead.

Standing in front of what remained of the initial beast, Atlas was shaking.

It was the very first magical beast he defeated. He was experiencing all kinds of emotions right now. But the most important thing was for him to look for the core. Since some horror cores could grant one an ability. At least Atlas hoped that this creature could be considered a horror. Cutting in the creature was definitely a weird experience for Atlas. But after a short look, he found it. A small sphere made from a material which resembled glass. it was still hot and had a faint glow inside.

"Finally, my first horror core. Does… Does that mean I could be considered a hunter?" Atlas could feel that he was making huge progress. He could feel that his life was changing little by little.

"Anyway, I should be moving back to a safe place now." Atlas said.

He took his backpack, put a bat inside and started to walk towards the forest he came from. Now the only thing he needed to do was to repeat that 4 meters jump.

As he walked closer towards the edge of the floating island he noticed a very, very horrifying thing. The island. The floating island he was on was drifting. Drifting away from the cliff and the forest. Now the gap was about 10 meters. A jump he could never do as of right now.

"Am… am I stuck here?"

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