Progress

Lucien practiced trying to form the cool mist, but every time he did, it became more and more faint. After only six tries, he couldn’t do it anymore.

‘It’s not much, but it’s a start!’

Lucien looked at the numerous pathways around him that lead deeper into the cave.

He picked a random pathway out of the nine that he counted and walked towards it. At the mouth of the tunnel he stopped and examined the inside. Icicles hung from the ceiling and ice covered the floor and walls of the cave.

Lucien’s feet and hands started to go numb.

‘There has to be a way out, otherwise, how did that vazuron get in here?’

Step by step, he walked down the tunnel. It twisted and turned then started to head up. Lucien had to climb a seven-foot wall of ice in order to continue down the tunnel. Lucky, there were little ledges available for Lucien’s use, but they were very slippery.

While climbing, his left foot slipped out and he slid all the way back down, scrapping his hands and feet up.

His hands shook with pain. He turned them over to observe the cuts and scratches that were laced with blood. His fingertips took the most damage.

He looked up the steep wall then started the climb over. Slowly, he made his way up until he had one arm make it over the top. He pulled himself up and rolled onto the top.

After gathering his breath, he stood back up and continued down the tunnel.

It felt like hours had gone by, climbing and descending until he reached a dead end.

‘All that, and there’s no where else to go. You gotta be kidding me!’

Frustrated, he turned around and began to the long journey back towards the vazuron’s dead corpse.

He returned, tired and hungry, his hands and feet torn apart and bloodied.

Using the rock he had used to cut the vazuron open. he cut an ‘x’ on the wall next to the tunnel he had explored.

‘One down, eight to go.’

He sat down against the vazuron’s body to try and get warm, just as his stomach began to growl.

‘I’m so hungry.’

Looking at vazuron, he almost lost his appetite, but he knew he had to eat. The rock still in hand, he began to cut away at the vazuron’s flesh until he had a foot-long section of flesh. He began to eat it in big chunks, swallowing each whole.

His body shuddered from the horrible taste.

‘I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to this.’

The section of flesh he had cut out was finished, but he was still hungry. He began to cut away another section and ate it. Repeating this process, he ate until he was full, then fell asleep.

Waking back up, he ate the vazuron’s flesh again, which was now frozen, making it a bit more bearable to consume. Next, he tried to form ice again. This time he was able to form a small piece of ice in his hand that was a couple centimeters long.

‘Well, its not much, but it’s progress.’

He did this again and again and was able to produce the same size crystal eight times before it started to decrease in size each time.

‘Time to go exploring.’

He entered the tunnel next to the first one he explored and continued his search.

The tunnel twisted and turned just as much as the first, but after a while, it split into three more possible paths.

Lucien knew this was going to happen, but he still became frustrated at the sight before him.

He decided on the taking the right most path first.

This path continued down for what seemed like miles before Lucien came up to a wall of slick ice that stretched straight up a good fifty feet in the air.

‘There’s no way I’m climbing that.’

Lucien turned and began to head back in order to take a different path.

The path in the middle lead to another split. This time there were four more paths that Lucien had to choose from. However, he had already walked, climbed, and descended for so long that he was too tired to start on a new path. Hence, he headed back to his designated starting point.

…

Lucien repeated this process over and over again. After exploring a path to a dead end, he would cut a small ‘x’ next to the entrance as a marker for himself. Very slowly, he began to form a map in his head of all the paths he explored.

However, it was going too slow. He was still only on the second path from his starting point and had almost finished all he could eat of the vazuron. All that was left now were the bones and a small amount of flesh. It was very difficult, but he even forced himself to eat the organs as a source of nutrition. Its fur was even starting to decompose, leaving him without a source of heat.

On a good note, his taste buds slowly began to go numb to the awful taste of vazuron’s flesh. In addition, his magic power was slowly growing. With each and every practice session, he was able to make more and more ice.

‘I need more food; I’m going to run out in a couple of days.’

He started his exploring for the day, strolling down the second tunnel until he came to the path that split into three possible paths. The middle and right path he had already explored and deemed dead ends. Therefore, he headed down the left path.

As he was walking, he heard a slight rumble, but nothing was moving. He froze in his tracks and looked around him. The low rumble turned into a low growl that came from further down the path. It grew louder and louder.

From the shadows, emerged a vazuron, snarling, drool dripping from its long fangs.

‘Found my food source, but I’m also its food source.’

Another vazuron appeared, following the first.

‘Two?’

Lucien began to panic. He wasn’t sure that he could take two on at the same time.

The two vazurons stood side by side, ready to strike at any moment.

Lucien got ready, making sure that he had good footing.

The vazurons dug their claws into the ice and launched themselves at Lucien, one after another.

Lucien jumped with all his might at the last second to avoid the first vazuron as it snapped at him, then dug his fingers and toes into the ice to try and stop himself from sliding.

The second vazuron swiped at him with two of its arms. Lucien was barely able to avoid by jumping in between both arms, then flipped over mid air and landed on all fours.

‘What in the world? How did I just do that?’

The vazuron had turned itself around and pounced again, this time sweeping with its arms extended, Lucien ducked to avoid them, but the second vazuron made an attack while behind him.

Slash!

Lucien felt a searing pain as the vazuron behind him slashed his back open with its claws. The one if front of him then swiped at him with the back of its hand slamming him into the cave of the wall.

Lucien’s entire body throbbed in pain from the impact against the cave wall. His vision was blurry as well. Just as his sight cleared up again, the vazurons appeared in front of him and snapped at him with their mouths.

Lucien used all the strength hew had in his legs to push off of the wall and slid through a small opening between the vazurons.

‘If only I had a weapon!’

Lucien had a thought.

‘That’s right! A weapon!’

He clasped his hands together and focused his magic energy into his hands.

‘I’ve never tried this before, but no is as good a time as any!’

He pulled his apart and formed a sword made of ice.

‘Yes!’

Both vazurons turned to face him, then shot towards him yet again. Lucien dodged the first one and then held his sword out, sinking the end of it into the palm of the second vazuron who swiped at him.

The vazuron let out a yelp of pain before leaping back.

Sword in hand, Lucien ran towards the other vazuron, dodged a wild swipe from one of the vazuron’s arms and then slashed at another arm.

Crack!

‘No!’

His sword of ice broke on contact.

‘It wasn’t strong enough?’

Bam!

Another arm came crashing into Lucien, sending him rolling, then sliding along the ice thirty feet away.

Both vazurons regrouped with one anther and began to approach Lucien who was still lying on the ground.

‘No, I’m not going to die today! I need to restore my family name! I need to find out what the Ice monarch actually did and why he did it!’

Lucien stood back up and formed another sword.

“As long as its strong enough to stab, then I can win!’

The first vazuron to reach him slammed all of its arms on the ground, but Lucien was able to dodge and climbed up one of its arms and jumped in the air. He switched his grip on the sword as he descended and plunged the sword into the back of the vazuron’s neck.

The vazuron hissed in pain and knocked into the other vazuron as it came crashing down.

Lucien pulled it out then stabbed it back in again and again until the vazuron stopped moving, then jumped off.

The other vazuron looked at its dead partner and shifted its gaze back to Lucien, growling in anger.

Lucien was weak and breathing heavily.

“Come on you filthy wretch!” Lucien yelled.

The vazuron snarled and roared at him as it sprinted towards him.

Lucien ran towards it, jumped while avoiding its snapping mouth and thrusted his sword into its left eye.

The vazuron howled in pain, its blood spewing out.

Lucien formed another sword, leaving the other in its eye, and stabbed it into its side. He then pulled it out, climbed onto its back, then sunk the sword into its back before pulling it out and jumping off as the vazuron flailed around in pain, crashing into the side of the cave.

The vazuron groaned in pain, before collapsing, dead.

Lucien fell to his knees, completely exhausted.

‘That was too close. In order to survive, I must become a monster.’

After resting for a bit, he slowly stood to his feet, his entire body aching and blood dripping down his back. Now that he had relaxed, he realized just how cold he was.

He ripped off what was left of his shirt, which was now strangely tight on him now. He also noticed that his pants were too small for him now.

‘Did I grow?’

He knelt down beside the vazuron he just killed, then plunged his sword in its side and tried to cut it open, but the sword broke. He found a nearby rock and then used that to try and cut it open.

Its yellowish green blood began to pour out. Lucien held out his hand to touch the blood. It was very warm to the touch.

He knew it was disgusting and unclean, but he covered himself in its blood as a source of heat, then began to eat its flesh since he was very hungry after the energy he had just expended.

After he ate his fill, he decided it would be easiest to just leave the bodies here for now until he found the dead end to the pathway he was in.