The Desolate Mountains (The Divine Elements Book 2) (11 page)

*step*    *step*

A lone figure slowly trekked within an empty valley, as the sun’s scorching rays viciously attacked him.

Surrounded entirely by black rocks and dry ground, not a hint of vegetation or life appeared within sight.

Completely naked and wearing nothing on his body, the figure continued walking while the smoldering heat waves from the ground burned through the soles of his feet. However, the figure seemed to be unbothered by the heat.

“Teacher, are you sure that this is the right way?”

Calron panted, as he placed his hand over his eyes to shield his sight from the sun’s glare.

“Uh… yes. I’m confident that we are on the correct route. Look, I think I see the start of another forest there.”

Ezkael said with a nervous quiver in his voice.

The truth was that neither Calron nor Ezkael knew whether they were on the correct path to the beast city or not. Initially, the plan was to use Calron’s Divine Perception technique to search for a large group of beasts gathered in a single location. This was the surest method to find the beast city. However, each time that Calron tried to activate the technique, it simply failed.

Exhausted, and with his entire reserves of strength depleted, Calron was unable to use the Divine Perception. Instead, Calron decided to search for the city by scouting the nearby areas and looking for traces of an already established route used by others.

Annoyed with his student for taking so much time to decide which direction to go in, Ezkael interjected by stating that he could sense where the location of the closest beast city was.

Relieved that at least someone knew the right direction, Calron happily followed his Teacher’s suggestion without contemplating exactly how Ezkael could sense the location of the city.

It was only after treading continuously for days through empty plains where even the common beasts did not dwell, that Calron realized that his Teacher did not have a single clue to the location of the city.

He did not mind the heat, as his current body was much tougher after breaking into the Vajra stage, but it was the lack of meat and food that bothered him. Calron had not yet reached the stage in his cultivation where he could survive off his essence alone, so he still needed solid food for survival.

Calron did not know how he ended up in a part of the mountains where there was no vegetation or life, and only an endless amount of black rocks. Thankfully, he could drill into the rocky ground to obtain a few mouthfuls of water to satiate his thirst, but even then, he was soon reaching the last verges of his strength.

“Teacher… ”

“What is it, Calron?”

Ezkael gently asked within the boy’s mind.

“Next time, we wait until we have a complete plan before setting out. Also, you don’t get to make decisions on the routes we take in future.”

Calron angrily murmured, as he gazed at hazy images of the distant trees within his sight.

After their last encounter in the white room, Calron had tried to persuade Ezkael to reveal more information about his ancestry and Raizel, but his stubborn Teacher kept changing the topic by discussing something else. Calron had already expected this outcome, so he did not expend any more energy in extracting the information.

“This better not be a mirage.”

Just then, golden scales shot across Calron’s skin, as his body writhed and twisted until he took on the form of a large golden bird standing at six feet tall.

*SCREEE*

Flapping his metallic wings, Calron rose up into the sky and flew towards the distant group of trees miles away.

Calron had been regularly shape-shifting into his beast form to prepare for entering the beast city, as he definitely could not go there as a human.

He had become fairly adept at controlling his speed and maintaining altitude whilst in air, but he still could not maintain his beast form for more than an hour.

Once he entered the beast city, he would have to remain in his bird form for hours, if not days, so Calron constantly morphed into the golden beast whenever he had the strength to do so.

“Hey, that’s not fair! We just found a forest, didn’t we? See, I told you I knew where to go.”

Ezkael added within Calron’s mind.

*SCREEE*

Calron ignored his Teacher, and sped towards the nearing forest.

…………………

“Haha, finally! We are somewhere where there are other living beings!”

Calron shouted with elation in his voice.

He could hear the sounds of birds and could also sense several beasts nearby from his current location.

“Time to hunt for some meat.”

Calron whispered, as bolts of golden lightning gathered around his legs.

He wished he could trigger the ability of the Divine Perception technique, but his body was still too drained of strength to use it effectively at this moment. Activating it right now would only further damage his body.

Prowling deeper into the forest, Calron took cover behind the trees and scanned the area for any prey.

*sha sha*

A small white hare gently hopped next to a bush, and cheerfully chittered away.

“Sorry little guy… ”

In a flash, Calron darted behind the hare and swiftly snapped its neck before the beast even had an inkling of what was happening. He would have preferred to hunt a larger prey, but with his dangerously famished stomach, Calron would consume any source of nutrition he could find at this moment.

With no time to waste, Calron quickly shot multiple bolts of lightning into the small carcass and burnt away the fur on its skin. He did not have the patience to skin the beast, so he simply cooked the hare with its outer skin on.

Several parts of the meat were burnt due to Calron’s lack of control over his essence, and the lightning charring the meat black.

Soon, the aroma of freshly cooked meat wafted into the air, and made Calron drool with anticipation. Although the meat might have smelled better with some spices and without the faint burnt smell, Calron could not care less as he simply wanted to devour this piece of meat after days of starvation.

With the hot carcass scalding his fingers, Calron chomped down on the unseasoned meat and hastily gobbled it down without chewing properly

“Oh… it’s good to finally eat after so long…”

Calron sighed in relief, as he continued to munch on the hare meat.

“To be honest, it wasn’t really that long. It w- “

Ezkael abruptly stopped talking when he sensed the rising anger from its student.

I guess it will take some time for his anger to cool off… that meat does look delicious though…Huh? What is that?

Ezkael mused as he instantly materialized next to Calron.

Detecting the change in his Teacher’s mood, Calron stopped eating, and turned to gaze at his surroundings.

“Is it a beast?”

Calron softly whispered to his Teacher.

“Yes. Two of them… no, three. Two of them are in the Vajra stage, while the third one is still an infant. Let’s observe them before we move out from here.”

Ezkael quietly replied with a frown etched on his smoky face.

“Teacher, one of them is … ”

“I know, I can smell the blood as well. Quick, change into your beast form! Remaining in your human state from this point onwards will be too big of a risk.”

Ezkael hurriedly stated.

“Dammit! I can’t even enjoy a small meal in peace.”

Calron cursed as he put down the half-eaten carcass after rapidly shoveling as much meat as he could into his mouth, and began shape-shifting again.

“Now fly up onto that tree and let’s see who these rude visitors are.”

Ezkael suggested, as he pointed at one of the tallest trees in the vicinity.

However, before Calron could move, suddenly, the sound of a beast howling with rage echoed within the entire area.

“What are you waiting for? Quick, get to that tree!”

Ezkael roared at the frozen Calron.

“Huh? Oh, right!”

Broken free from his daze, Calron flapped his wings and flew towards the tall tree. He did not know why, but the beast’s howl he heard just now seemed to remind him of his past. More specifically, his mother.

Putting aside the strange emotions he was currently feeling, Calron turned his focus to the sounds approaching from his left.

He did not have to wait for long, as within a few minutes, an enormous beast collided against a rock below the tree Calron was currently perching on. The beast coughed out a mouthful of blood, as it struggled to rise back on its feet.

It was a giant black wolf with piercing purple irises.

Numerous cuts and wounds were covered across its entire body, with several of them bleeding profusely. Drops of blood unceasingly dripped from the wide gash on the side of its belly.

The giant wolf stood at over five feet tall, making it one of the largest wolves that Calron had seen. Besides its purple eyes, the wolf’s entire body and fur was completely pitch-black.

Wisps of dark smoke coalesced around its jaws as it savagely snarled at its incoming enemy.

*HISSS*

Right at that moment, a colossal green anaconda slithered towards the wounded dark wolf.

The large snake was over twenty feet long, and as thick as the trunk of a medium-sized tree. Several wounds and bruises were spread across the reptilian’s skin, but they were much fewer in quantity when compared to that of the wolf. The only serious looking wound on the green anaconda was the long gash across its right eye.

“Hand it over.”

The anaconda hissed sinisterly, as it prowled towards the giant wolf.

“If I had planned to do that earlier, then we would not be in this situation.”

The tenacious voice of a woman sounded out from the wolf’s mouth.

“We both know how this will end. You were no match for me even when you were at your full strength, so just hand it over and I can spare your life.”

The anaconda rasped out in a hoarse voice, as its massive body coiled around itself.

“Spare my life? Haha, you know very well that I will not survive with these wounds… the only thing left is for me to kill you before I die.”

The giant dark wolf growled within its throat, as dark fumes exuded from her body.

“Why do you want her so badly?”

The female wolf asked, while trying to hide the pain from her voice as blood continued to drip from her various wounds.

“If you do not know that by now, then you don’t know much about your own tribe.”

The snake hissed in an amused tone, as it began slowly slithering towards the giant wolf.

“Avi…sweetie, can you hear me?”

The giant female wolf whispered, as she lightly tilted her head to the side.

A sad whimper sounded out from the giant wolf’s back, as a small bundle of fur separated itself from its mother.

The little wolf pup was only half a foot tall, and compared to the size of its mother, the pup appeared like a pebble placed on top of a small mountain. The tiny beast’s fur was similar in color to the female wolf’s, but the pup had streaks of purple fur mixed in with its pitch-black counterpart.

Sharing its mother’s shade of purple irises, the little wolf heartbrokenly cried out when it realized what its mother wanted it do.

“I won’t be able to distract it for long, so you need to make your escape as soon as I engage it. Avi, mommy is sorry to do this… please forgive me for not being able to protect you…”

The giant wolf whispered sorrowfully, as tears streamed down its face.

“Wuwu…”

The little wolf pup wailed, as it tightly clutched onto its mother’s fur with its tiny paws.

“Run!”

The giant wolf suddenly bellowed, when it saw that the green anaconda was almost upon her. Nudging off her child from her back, the female wolf gave one last sad glance at the little wolf before charging towards the nearing reptile.

“AAAWWWOOOOOO!”

The giant wolf howled into the sky, as clouds of dark fumes coalesced around its entire body.

The little wolf pup refused to run away, as it gazed at its mother’s back, and let out a series of mournful sobs and whimpers in a desperate attempt to call for help.

“There you are… ”

The large snake quietly hissed when it saw the little black-purple wolf crying on the ground. Turning its head to face the charging giant wolf, a vicious expression flickered across the green anaconda’s face, as it patiently waited for its prey to draw closer.

The gut-wrenching cries of a beast echoed within the forest, along with the sounds of bones being crushed.

…………………

“Teacher, I can’t watch this anymore… ”

Calron furiously breathed out, as blood-red veins popped up around azure eyes.

The tree branch slowly began to crack under the pressure exuded by Calron’s claws.

“Kid, this is not our fight. I’m sure you must have sensed that the green anaconda is at the second rank of the Vajra stage. You have only recently advanced to the first rank, and have yet to fully understand your new body after the breakthrough.”

Ezkael evenly stated in an attempt to calm down the rising anger of its student.

“Beasts kill each other, they slaughter, and they will continue to do so in the future. Nothing will stop that. I do sympathize with the wolf and its child, but we cannot try to save every beast that we encounter.”

Ezkael continued in a gentle tone.

“It does not matter! The anaconda is wounded, so I might have a chance. Teacher, I just… I cannot let him kill her!”

Calron heatedly whispered, as tears rolled down his scaly face.

“Kid…”

Ezkael suddenly materialized in front of the golden bird, as he stared into Calron’s azure eyes.

Ezkael got the feeling that something deeper was going through Calron’s mind that was riling up his emotions.

“She reminds me of my mother… I know it’s stupid of me to think like this, as my mother did not look like that, still I cannot help but feel this way.”

Calron laughed sadly, as he broke off his gaze with his Teacher and glanced at the bright sky above.

“Sigh… go.”

Ezkael muttered with a slight smile on his smoky face.

How could he not sense what was in his student’s heart when both their souls were connected? The boy never talked much about his mother, but it was clear to see that Calron deeply cherished the memories of his mother.

“I don’t know how to fight in this bird’s body, so I will fight as a human.”

Calron said as the golden scales on his skin slowly started to recede back into his body.

“Teacher… thank you.”

Calron softly stated once he returned back to his human form, and turned to face Ezkael.

“Haha, thank me once you win the fight.”

Ezkael replied as his smoky body dispersed into the wind.

“I plan on it.”

Calron whispered, as he leapt off the tree and dove towards the battle below.