Ryuu couldn't help but feel sick at the circumstances he had been forced into, collapsing on the ground as his life was suddenly uplifted unceremoniously. This was never planned, this should have never happened, and yet it did. He was here nor forced into this game made by some unknown deity that had been playing this game for centuries now.
He was another victim, only tolerating it up until this point because he remained unaffected, but look where that got him. The young man licked his lips, attempting to gather his bearings. A shiver ran down his spine before he even began, as he feared for the worst.
He had a sister he needed to take care of; he was practically her only lifeline, and now he's here... effectively abandoning her. Ryuu didn't even have an ability. How the hell was he supposed to even go about the First Trial without one?
He may have been physically strong, but that doesn't mean he would be able to take on a magical beast, no matter how strong it was. The power of magic was drastic and steep. If he played his cards right, at most, he'd be able to take out would be a singular Goblin, and even then, where would that even get him? This wouldn't make him stronger; this wouldn't even provide him with a way out.
[The First Trial has begun! Goal: Escape the world of Laethrun!]
Ryuu didn't even know where to start, looking around frantically, frozen in place from the fear of the unknown. He looked down with a listless expression, attempting to think but only turning up blanks, completely overwhelmed by these alien circumstances.
Ryuu took a deep breath and began rummaging through his backpack, searching for any items of note he may have that could help with his survival. He grimaced as all he had was a knife he had made when he was younger, keeping it by his side as a memento. Ryuu sighed, keeping the knife in a safe place before scanning his surroundings once more. Ryuu looked back down at the knife in his hand and sighed. "I... I need to go back. I need to return to my sister."
Ryuu almost persisted down the hall before a thought stopped him midway through. What if she were dragged into the First Trial as well? Siblings don't often come with one being powerless while the other one is, so if I do have a power significant enough to justify the 'system' in bringing me here, then... Ryuu shook the thought out of his mind, knowing that there would be no good from thinking something like that.
Even if his sister were here, the best he could do would be looking for her himself, praying that she's alive. The problem is that he wasn't exactly in the most ideal circumstances to do so. He needed to get out of this gothic monastery first before he could ever think about finding his sister.
One goal at a time. He needed to focus on getting back to the real world. That was the best-case scenario for now.
The monastery was dimly lit by the bluish moonlight from outside, allowing him to traverse the building without much difficulty. It was still hard to get around with darkness draping the majority of the inner walls of this gargantuan structure, but there was enough light to guide him through its maze.
Ryuu stuck close to the darkness to provide some semblance of cover as he searched through the winding walls of this place, letting out a slight hiss to focus himself.
Ryuu sighed, calling out to the System.
If he was brought here, it meant he had some sort of Power in some way-- maybe something too weak to be detected, he had no clue. But maybe there would be some hope to grasp here instead of continuing to live in this unknown plane, deprived of it.
Of course, there was no hope to be found. The system was refusing to respond, just as he thought would happen.
Ryuu stopped entirely, eyes widening, greeted by the sight of a massive prowling beast, slightly obscured by the black that surrounded it. It had paused just the same, staring Ryuu down with a cold, emotionless expression. It was almost maddening, the creature seemingly lacking a soul-- a puppet made exclusively to cause death, claws caked in dried blood as its maw leaked with frothing clear liquid that wet the ground under it.
Ryuu quickly looked to the window. He could tell, even in the middle of the hallway, that the drop from there would be too steep. He'd end up with a broken limb at that rate, hindering his chances of survival.
The only option was the doors that met his left.
He beelined it to the door, cracking it open before shutting it, quickly spotting a glimpse of the beast as it crashed against the wall beside him, causing the area to shake, followed by an audible crack.
Ryuu cursed under his breath as he attempted to find a way out from where he was, met by an even deeper darkness that sat right behind him.
CRASH!
The beast slammed against the wall again, already causing it to give way, bathing the room in thin streams of moonlight as the wall splintered. Luckily, there was still enough there to keep it from fully coming inside, but with a bit more of a struggle, at this rate, it would completely crash through the wooden blockade within seconds.
Ryuu shut his eyes, quickly, but blindly feeling his way through the darkness before opening his eyes again, adjusting to the darkness before him. There seemed to be some sort of closet at the very end of the room, luckily for him.
He rushed to the back of what looked to be some sort of closet, maneuvering through the tight space before knocking on various parts of the wall, attempting to find a hollow space in between rooms within the monastery.
CRACK!
A violent sound resounded from behind, and he quickly hurried his escape, finding exactly what he was looking for on his fifth attempt, digging his knife deep into the plaster of the wall, running a line through it before digging his fingers into the slit.
The beast's head slammed in through the doorway, attempting to fit itself inside the compact closet, fighting its way to Ryuu, the tasty morsel he was.
Ryuu violently tore the wall open, bashing his way through to the other end, finding himself in a bedroom.
He kept his knife close as he ran away from the newly created hole, making his way into a hallway on the opposite end of the building. Ryuu crossed to the windows, looking outside to maybe find an area of interest he could escape to, but was only greeted by vague silhouettes of trees, the moonlight not shining on this edge of the estate.
Ryuu swallowed hard, attempting to look for a new mode of escape, making his way down the hall before being interrupted by the beast as it violently broke through various walls to get to him, pouncing.
Ryuu instinctively attempted to run but tripped over himself as a section of the floor gave way under his weight.
Ryuu braced for impact, the beast landing on top of him before they both fell straight through the floor, slamming onto the carpeted ground below. The Beast staggered as it attempted to regain its bearing, Ryuu groaning as he picked himself off the floor. Once again, CRACK! The ground gave way, and they continued falling.
Deep into the recesses of the building, they fell, Ryuu being met by a surface of water that caught him, preventing his swift demise.
Ryuu threw himself out from the waters below, gasping for air as the beast fell with him, landing on what looked to be ancient ruins, screeching in pain as half of its body submerged itself in the liquid that sat at waist-height. By pure luck, Ryuu had managed to survive the encounter, his body aching all the while.
He bore witness to the beast flailing helplessly within the shallow waters.
Ryuu was confused until he realized that it might have broken its back against the stone monoliths of the underground. It looked helpless, his legs limply dragging across submerged stone, momentarily regaining feeling before once again losing all feeling on the lower end of their body.
Ryuu scanned for any other hostiles in the area before bringing his gaze back over to the helpless beast before him. He watched, and watched, eventually drowning in its own panicked state, growing still.
Ryuu blinked, approaching the limp creature, knife in hand. Without wasting any movements, he stabbed it straight in the neck, finishing it off for good. It felt as if he were digging metal into gravel as he forced the blade into its jugular, slowly lifting the blade, creating a wider gash, straining himself, his muscles visible pushing his clothes to it's vey limit before a clear, and loud ripping sound could be heard, maroon drenching the pool he had found himself sat in.
Now, floating on the surface, he took the beast's body, searching for any platform he could set himself on to maybe scavenge this creature for materials that could assist him in his survival.
After a bit of walking, he found something that was "good enough". Dragging the creature into a nearby pipe, specifically onto a drier area of the pipe before dismantling the beast, segmenting it into various parts, and wrapping the pieces up in its pelt, missing the required materials to properly conserve the meat.
Regretfully, he even had to leave a good chunk of material behind due to his physical limitations-- especially due to the limitations of his bag until he had a thought.
Ryuu was a craftsman at heart and in trade, so instead of forgoing the parts as a whole, he reworked them. Admittedly, it was much more difficult to make a larger backpack without the proper equipment, but a knife did just enough to get him by, making a considerably larger bag for himself.
He looked down at his hands, covered in knicks and scars. He lost track of time. Ryuu struggled to recall how long he had been at it, making this new backpack of his.
Of course, he couldn't exactly repurpose the zipper, so instead, it strapped the pelt in a way that it would keep everything in, making sure it wouldn't just come apart, rendering his efforts a waste. It wasn't exactly helpful to get open, though. He had to make do with what he had; no purpose in complaining now.
The instant he felt any sort of security was his first mistake.
***
Ryuu's head felt like it was about to be split open at any minute, his back feeling raw, stinging against the dry stone from under him. He blinked tightly in an attempt to adjust his eyes to the dark, spotting a vague shape dragging him away.
Ryuu blinked again, attempting to move his hands, realizing quickly that they were bound, his legs seemingly caught in the same type of knot. A cold feeling was drawn across his forehead as the smell of iron permeated his senses.
As he adjusted his gaze once more, he finally spotted what appeared to be dragging him away. A hairy creature wearing minimal clothing, looking almost as if it were an ape of sorts.
Ryuu panicked, thrashing against his restraints, catching the attention of his captors. They turned around, looking Ryuu straight in the eyes, revealing a contorted sand-colored face, an indented nose, and white soulless eyes, teeth gnashing in irritation. The creature swiveled around, giving a hearty hit to the skull to Ryuu causing him to reel.
It continued walking, leaving Ryuu gasping in pain.
Ryuu's jaw tightened in anger. He looked around desperately, attempting to find some way to escape his current predicament. He couldn't even tell if he still had his knife on him, which made the situation even more dire.
Ryuu cursed to himself, as he could only land on a singular solution.
Ryuu grasped took one hand, grasping the thumb on the same hand with his other fingers before ripping his hand in a downward motion.