(Kairon's POV)
I woke up the next day. Everything was quiet; all you could hear was the wind brushing against the walls.
Today I wanted to go to the cave. I usually went there to grind essence on my chronicle.
I got ready and walked downstairs. Kyora was there with breakfast ready.
"Are you going somewhere?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm going to the cave to get essence," I replied.
"Really? But it's dangerous. Don't you have enough?"
"It's fine. I won't be going that deep anyway."
"Ok," she said worryingly, "just be careful."
I grabbed a slice of toast from the basket on the table and left.
On my way out, my dad was cutting the tree I brought yesterday for the fire.
"Oh, heading somewhere, son?" he said.
"Yes. I'm heading to the cave. I need essence and other minerals from the cave," I replied.
"Alright. Make sure to come back early. We need to get you signed up at the academy."
"Alright."
I had forgotten we were going today. I still had time for the cave, so it was alright.
I walked along the first path, trees surrounding me. It had been a while since I fought beasts—it would be a good warm-up.
To reach the cave, I had to pass through town. Stalls lined the streets, and people filled the area with noise. The place was colorful and loud.
Children played. People laughed and danced. All of them doing things I found pointless—things I would never understand.
I made it to the edge of town and crossed a bridge that led directly into the mountain range where the cave was located.
The entrance of the cave was larger than I remembered. I walked inside. The ceiling was covered with frozen dripstone.
As I continued, I noticed a fang lying on the ground. It was strange—larger than any fang I had ever seen. I picked it up, placed it in my bag, and pressed onward.
After a while, I encountered a shadow wolf. A pretty basic monster, but it still worked.
I took off my bag and pulled out my chronicle.
I stared at the wolf. More appeared from the shadows, ready to rush at me at any moment.
I opened the chronicle in my hand. The pages started brushing as if hit by wind, and they glowed green. My whole body began to glow green as well. The chronicle levitated around me, flowing with my every move.
I waited for them to make a move. One of them rushed at me, snapping its jaw at my leg. I brushed to the side and slammed it with a gust of wind.
I jumped back, evading another attack. Two of them surrounded me, and I jumped up, charging small balls of air in both hands before shooting them at the wolves.
I landed back on the ground. Five of them still remained. I thought to myself that I was taking too long to kill these things; I needed to speed this up.
I raised one hand, and the wind started kicking up. The wolves sank their claws into the ground, struggling to maintain balance. A massive swirl of wind formed around them, spinning like a cyclone.
The wolves were tossed about until they disintegrated. When they were gone, sparks of green essence filled the air, floating toward my chronicle as if being absorbed.
I walked further into the cave, but I only saw the same type of wolves I had fought earlier. They didn't give much essence.
Now I reached the main area of the wolves. Here, the stronger ones appeared—bigger, faster, and more aggressive. I jumped into the area and started attacking any wolf on sight. I created wind storms and wind sickles that sliced through everything around me.
Something didn't add up. Shadow wolves and regular wolves shouldn't coexist in the same area. Could it mean there were two wolf commanders? That would be bad. I had never faced one before, and I doubted I could take even a single one.
I continued to kill every wolf I saw. After a while, I bumped into a hole in the wall. It was very large—almost as big as the cave entrance—which was not a good sign.
I decided to walk in anyway. The place was dark, and I had no lighting. I had forgotten to pick up my bag when I took it off.
Suddenly, I heard footsteps. I went on alert, waiting to see what would happen. The steps grew louder.
Two wolves walked out of the darkness. They were average-sized, and I prepared to attack—but they walked up to me and started rubbing against my leg. I noticed they were just cubs—which could only mean they were wolf commander cubs.
I felt a lurking presence behind me. A huge beast stared me down. I turned around, and a glowing pair of eyes met mine.
I quickly jumped back as huge claws tried to slash me.
The whole area lit up from candles, revealing the place—it looked like a temple, with pillars surrounding a circular platform.
In the fully lit area, I could see the wolf that had attacked me. It was huge, six times the size of a normal wolf, and next to it stood a shadowy wolf about the same size.
They circled around me, eyeing me. This was not good—two wolf commanders were about to attack me
TO BE CONTINUED…