Agrios slumped against the sect gates, struggling to move his aching body, but he had to get up. The world outside the sect gates were dangerous and unless you knew the trusted paths and had strong people with him, he was bound to find trouble. He forced himself to his knees resting his back on the gates and gazed into the distance. The gargantuan trees the size of towers loomed over the distance concealing dangerous beasts that hunted not with instinct alone, but with Qi. The cities were surrounded by the Styx Forest, and they had been few stories of people like him who had survived longer than a day out there.
From the forest a large paw stepped out from the shadows its sights locked in on Agrios. It was an Ironfang wolf, two men tall dense with muscle and grey stripes across its sleek black fur it sniffed at the air as if confirming its prey. Agrios closed his eyes, desperately trying to circulate his Qi or command his limbs, but his body refused to obey. The wolf neared him and he flinched at the thought of it crushing him in half in its maw.
The wolf lunged at him but instead of a sickening crunch it simply clutched him helplessly in its jaws and turned into the dark forest with Agrios hanging limp out of its jaws. The moment the wolf crossed into the forest Agrios felt a chill similar to the one he had felt when he had met the elder the forest was large, mysterious, and eerily silent, broken only by the beast's hot, rhythmic breath against his skin.
Through the haze of terror Agrios realized the only reason he wasn't dead was because the wolf was female and he was most likely going to be given to her kids as food. It froze, ears twitching at a sound Agrios couldn't hear. He didn't dare imagine what could frighten a monster like this. The tree next to the beast rustled and shook and considering the size of the trees whatever caused it to shake must have been much larger. A shape flashed across the tree top, and the wolf barely had a chance to growl before it was swept of its paws a Giant Crow, its talons like iron hooks, snatched the wolf clean off its feet and they were in the air.
Agrios slipped from the wolf's panicked jaws falling downwards toward the ground at an accelerating rate. He crashed hard onto tree branch with so much force he felt the wind be knocked out of his body. He bounced off one branch, collided with another, and finally crashed into a thick bush.
He lay there, gasping, his skin a mottled map of purple bruises and swelling. The pain was so intense it had gone numb a mercy for him. He forced himself up, clutching his shattered ribs, only to find himself staring into the mouth of a dark cave. Human skeletons and bleached animal bones lay scattered in the dirt like discarded toys.
He was at the wolf's den.
Agrios figured it was most likely where the wolf had wanted to bring him to and for a moment, he was happy to still be breathing even through his pained lungs. He turned back limping away from the forest he tried to will his Qi into his body to speed up his healing, but his Qi seemed to be even worse than before like they no longer existed. A warm, metallic wetness spilled onto his hands from his chest, and he reached his hands up blood it was blood. He looked down; blood was gushing from a deep gash in his chest and had stained his robes.
He felt his body stop cold.
From the darkness of the cave, a huff of breath echoed and slipped out of the cave a pack of Irongang wolves they were four of them and despite being cubs they were the size of the grown wolves found in sects the creatures found in the forest where just naturally bigger than average due to the denser qi.
The cubs drooled and growled as they stalked him. A larger cub which seemed to be the Alpha bent down to it hindquarters and lunged forward with a snarl Agrios fell to his side, but it was too late a slash tore into his skin and sent him off his feet he smashed into a nearby tree then fell into the hard dirt. His heart was pounding in his chest, and his vision was fading the wolves creeped towards him their flashing blue eyes stalking its prey the first one bite at his feet crushing it and pulled him away from the tree. He slipped of its jaws and feel to the dirt his leg a mangled mess and his heart beats slowing down.
The wolf opened its mouth drool spilling from it and moved in for the kill.
Would you like to continue?
A black text came into his vison, and he wasn't sure he was imagining it or if it was real. He wondered why he wasn't dead yet though it was almost like time had stopped the wolf was frozen, its jaws inches from his throat, a string of saliva suspended in mid-air.
"What?" Agrios whispered, his voice hoarse.
He gazed at the words and without a second thought pressed yes.