A never ending Struggle

In front of him, his instructor was standing in front of the class with a serious expression plastered across his face.

"Remember, you might be candidates, but at the time of your trial, you are at your weakest, and in that situation, nowhere is safe for you in that place. Not until you find a gate to escape through, but on the off chance you meet a spawn..... your only hope, is to run!"

***

Suddenly, the silhouette shifted, and whatever it was turned towards him. The grotesque movement of its flesh sparked a sense of danger in Theo, and unconsciously, he took a couple of steps back.

But as if mirroring him, the creature took a couple of steps forward, and as it did, its lanky frame dragged across the sand below. Its bones and flesh squelched and groaned with every movement, and as Theo took another set of steps back, the creature followed, but this time, the creature remained still and watched him with intent.

For a brief moment, Theo glanced to the side, and when he brought his gaze back to the creature, it had lunged forward. Wasting no time, the herald candidate swivelled and darted away, peeking back, he saw that the beast's movements had become erratic. And the closer it got, the more of its disturbing physique became clear.

The beast was a tall, emaciated humanoid with its body covered in ribbed, sinewy flesh. Its arms and legs were unnaturally long compared to its torso and were jointed in strange ways. It had a bulbous head with no visible eyes or facial features which begged the question, how could the damn thing even see?

But he couldn't dwell on that as its thin, clawed hands reached for him, stopping him in his tracks. Theodore turned to it and raised his hands in a defensive stance, but as if cutting through butter, it swatted his hands away, and a snap echoed. Groaning in pain but still focused on the beast, Theodore ducked below another strike but was met with the beast's foot slamming into his face and sending him flying back.

Crashing onto the scorching hot sand, he quickly got to his feet, but it wasn't quick enough as in a flash, its arm struck his arm. The sound of his bone breaking was drowned out by his yelp of pain, but even as stars danced across his vision, Theodore raised his broken hands in defiance.

The beast's gut-wrenching scream nearly burst his eardrums as it lunged with all its might and tackled him to the ground. Beneath the unbearable weight of its body, he could do nothing but lie there taking strike after strike after strike. His bones cracked and shattered with each one, with the pain pushing him closer to the edge of consciousness and back each time.

As the beast's claws raked across his skin, he smelled a faint metallic stench begin filling the air as the warm, sticky flow of blood pooling beneath him, mingled with the sand of the forest floor, and in those fleeting moments of pain, a memory flickered in and out of his mind.

***

He found himself standing in front of his instructor again

".... But if for some reason you are unable to avoid the dangers of that world..., your only choice is to fight! You might be candidates, but you're by no means weak, just inexperienced. So if that is your only choice, use your power! Fight! And to do that, all you have to do is..."

***

In that exact moment, despite the thrashing he was receiving, Theodere felt something well up within him, and with every strike that sensation only grew stronger. It slowly crept through his body, into his veins and making his blood flow faster, into his every muscle and filling him with renewed strength, and into his brain, causing his thoughts to accelerate.

Time seemed to slow as his perception of it seemed vague; the searing pain of his injuries still caused him discomfort, but now, it was accompanied by a burning fire inside. His vision grew even sharper, and unconsciously taking advantage of this, he dodged to the side, avoiding the beast's strikes.

Staring at the beast in utter shock, he wanted to ask himself what was happening, but pushed those thoughts to the side. Thrashing its limbs forward, the beast continued its onslaught, but this time, Theo was ready. Orienting his hands up, he parried one of its arms to the side and dodged the next, and when he did, a strange sensation washed over him, and the energy welling up within him grew stronger, and with it, so did his body.

Spotting an opening, he reached out and grabbed its neck. The sinewy flesh covering its body squelched in his tightening grip, and soon its body shuddered. But it didn't relent. The beast slashed and thrashed at him relentlessly with all it had, but unlike before, its attacks weren't connecting, and now, its movements had significantly slowed. Theodore squeezed harder and harder, putting as much strength as he could into it as he felt the sinewy flesh begin to give way and jagged pieces of bone pierced his hand. Beneath his grip, the creature's struggles grew more frantic; it groaned desperately till they turned into guttural snarls of pain.

Its limbs flailed wildly, but the strength fuelling Theodore's grasp only intensified, feeding off the energy coursing through him. Soon, a sickening crack echoed, and the sound of sinew snapping thundered. The beast's body convulsed violently, and one last time, it swung its arms in hopes of striking its prey before stopping and going limp. Dark crimson blood seeping through Theodore's fingers and dripping onto his face.

Using the last bit of strength he could muster, he threw the corpse to the side and quickly got to his feet and keeled over in haste before emptying his stomach of its contents. Calming himself, he turned to and glared at the grotesque, faceless visage of his dead attacker.

"Damned bastard!"

Before he could think of doing anything else, though, something strange happened.

[Candidate, you have slain a Dormant Spawn, Rank: Beast. You have received a relic.]

"What the hell!"

That was all he could muster in that moment, but before he knew it, his body had begun feeling as if it were burning from the inside out, his muscles felt strained, and his mind felt lethargic. He tried to summon every ounce of will he had left to remain conscious through the pain, but alas, he couldn't, and he fell to his knees, then face first into the hot, scorching sun.

***

Hours later, lying in a pool of his and the spawn's blood, the scorching gray sand blew against his pale skin. And soon, his eyes burst open, wasting no time, he shot to his feet and glanced around before his attention fell on the corpse of the beast before him.

"Shit! It wasn't a dream."

Theodore's heart slowly calmed, and he took a deep breath, forcing himself to focus. He had no time to celebrate this small victory and needed to move. And to that effect, the instructor's words echoed in his mind.

"Nowhere is safe for you in that place."

He couldn't linger here any longer than he had, not with the possibility of more creatures lurking in the shadows. Dragging his injured and fractured body forward, he quickly left the corpse behind in search of somewhere to rest, but after another few hours of non-stop walking, he had yet to come across a single rock, let alone a shelter.

His throat and skin now felt like sandpaper, and every step sent jolts of pain through his battered body. The endless gray expanse of sand seemed to stretch on forever and mock his efforts.

"Just keep moving, Theo. You'll get there."

Is what he kept telling himself, but at this point, he wasn't sure where there was anymore. After all, there was no guarantee that the direction he had chosen to go in was one that led to a fissure he could escape through. In fact, the likelihood of him stumbling on a horde of spawn was more likely than him stumbling on a fissure to escape this nightmare through.

After what felt like an eternity of trudging through the relentless sand, Theodore's body began to protest more vehemently. Each step felt heavier than the last, in the never-ending haze that the perpetually present sun created. The concept of time had long gone out of the window for Theo, who could now almost hear the whispers of the wind taunting him.

'Am I going crazy?'

Staring down at his shadow as he trudged forward, his instructor's words were the only thing that kept him going. The only reason he still kept to that man's words wasn't because he held him in high regard or anything like that; to be honest, he had long ago forgotten the man's name. He was only so fixated on his words because he wasn't all too sure what else it was he could do.

Was there even anything else he could do? The heat, the pain, the fatigue, it was all becoming too much for him to handle.

But just as he was about to succumb to the despair, he spotted a flicker of movement in the distance. Both excited at the prospect of finding anything in this barren land and terrified of encountering another spawn, Theodore squinted, and what he saw gave him goosebumps.