The Path of Ruin

*(A/N: Sorry, I thought I uploaded this chapter hours ago but it seems I didn't... I will upload two more chapters in a few hours to make up for it, though. So don't worry.)*

The forest was dark and quiet. The cool autumn breeze caressed the leaves and gave the forest its usual rustling sound. But nothing more.

Here, one of the trees whose leaves it caressed was... different from the others. Not because of its color or its height, but because of the youth lying on one of its branches. This youth was, of course, Kael.

It was half an hour since he had killed the three wolves. He had climbed up a suitable tree and was thinking quietly, his eyes scanning the sky through the leaves.

'One wolf satisfied the curse enough to hold it for almost an hour. It's strange, a bit scary to be honest... but I can feel it. I gained three hours in total by killing them.'

To survive a single day, he had to kill a total of twenty-four wolves.

'Isn't that... a lot?'

He knew the curse was cruel. It was designed to be that way, after all. He knew something like this could happen... But he still thought that he would be able to gain at least six or seven hours from a single wolf.

He didn't just think about it. He really believed it, for he could feel no chains or difficulty in his heart right now. He had been worse than this in the three hours before he killed the wolves. Now, even though he had the same amount of time, he was much better.

'Maybe the process rewinds every time I take a life. I go through the same things again, this time in a shorter period of time, but with the same phases...'

He couldn't stop his expression twitching. How the curse worked was much harder to guess and to satisfy than he had thought. It worked so... strange.

And then there was the other effect of it, of course.

'Though I don't feel like I'm getting stronger.'

He was supposed to grow stronger with every life he took, even if the effect was weakened after the blessing became a curse. But... minimal differences aside, there seemed to be no difference at all.

He would have sighed if he wasn't in a dangerous forest, but he remained silent.

'At least I have no problem killing wolves...'

Only two days ago, these three wolves could have easily taken him in their midst and torn him to pieces. Now... he had slaughtered them so thoroughly that they couldn't stop shaking with fear. He had suddenly grown stronger, faster, in a way that even he had found strange.

Now that he was in a safe place again, he could think about it. And so he did.

'First... how much do I know about curses and blessings?

As a slave, he had never needed to learn such things. All he knew was what he had heard around him in his fifteen years of life.

He knew, for example, that blessings were largely innate. So things like nobility and bloodlines were quite important. But genetics was not the only way to obtain one. He had heard that if someone had potential, they could awaken that potential to obtain a blessing. And last but not least... he remembered something about the gods sometimes granting blessings to people, though they were rare.

He didn't know if there was any other way to obtain a blessing other than these three.

'Ah, though... the king's blessing was transferable.'

He had never heard in his life that blessings could be passed on from person to person. But just because he hadn't heard of it didn't mean it was impossible, he was a living example of it himself.

'So... blessings can be received in different ways. Not only that, they can be created too.'

The curse he had, originally a blessing, had not naturally manifested. He was sure of that. Someone or something, he didn't know who or what, had artificially created it. That's how the blessing was able to have such unique characteristics. Like... being able to turn into a curse or be transferred to someone else.

'And then there are curses... And they're quite different from blessings.'

There was a lot of misinformation about the curses. He didn't know which ones were true, of course... so it was difficult to comment on them.

But the most important thing he knew was that some curses, like blessings, could help their bearers. There were curses that had positive effects, no matter how negative they were. And these positive effects were often even stronger than the blessings. At least in most cases... because he was an exception. His curse was weakened instead of being even stronger than the original.

'Also... the bearers of blessings or curses are usually much stronger than normal people.'

He had never seen or heard of a weak blessing or curse bearer in his life. Curse bearers were a bit complicated, though... But that was not the point!

'So, does having one of the two directly strengthen the person a little bit?'

He couldn't help frowning at the thought. It was the most logical option he could come up with for his situation. But... couldn't help but feel like he was missing something. Like he was skipping something.

He continued to think for a while, watching the dark sky. Finally... he didn't care about hiding anymore and jumped down from the tree. Looking at the dagger in his left hand, he couldn't help sighing.

'Three hours... I can't sleep with only this much, I will lose my life in my sleep. I need to kill more things before the night is over.'

Yes, it was dangerous... although he was sure that he was individually stronger than the wolves, he was not certain what would happen to him if he faced a large pack.

'Still, there is nothing I can do... it is my best and only option.'

It was next to impossible to find an animal in the outer reaches of the forest, and going deeper would mean encountering more dangerous creatures.

So the only 'enemy' he could afford to take on were the wolves. Even if he had to take risks, he had no choice in the first place.

So... he started walking. He moved under the cover of night, not caring much about making noise.

It took him a relatively short time to find what he was looking for. It seemed that the reason he hadn't found any animals before was that he had indeed wandered into the outer part of the forest... because just a few meters away from the bushes where he was hiding, there were two wolves that seemed to be roaming in the forest.

'Good!'

Two wolves meant two more hours to live! And he was confident that he could defeat them.

He tensed for a surprise attack, picked out the one on his side of the wolves... and then held his breath. His dagger gripped tightly in his left hand as always, ready to strike.

And so... he charged. He burst out of the bushes with great speed, like a shadow in the endless darkness of the night, and made it to the wolves.

However, he had been discovered with this move. The wolves were turning towards him, almost in slow motion, even preparing to retreat... But therein lay their problem. The difference in speed between them and Kael was not excessive, yes... but Kael was still superior to them in this respect.

So, without a second thought, without hesitation, Kael swung his dagger at the retreating wolf. He felt its flesh tear, and watched with his eyes as his dagger sliced through its torso. But he did not stop there. Without giving the other wolf a chance to escape, he released his grip on his dagger, and charged at the other wolf like a wrestler.

The wolf struggled and struggled, trying to break free from Kael's hands... but in vain. With each passing second, the unimaginable force of the hands on its neck darkened its world, making breathing more and more impossible... and then, it bid farewell to the world.

Kael felt a comforting warmth envelop his body. But before it was over, the same warmth returned once more. The wolf, whose body he had sliced open with his dagger, was also dead.

Kael stood up, taking a quick glance at the scene he had caused. He had killed two wolves in seconds, almost effortlessly.

With a smile on his face, he pulled his dagger out of the first wolf's body, put his hand over his own heart, and shook his head up and down for no reason at all.

'With these, I have five... though, four hours now.'

Was this job... easier than he thought? He wasn't planning to complain, though!

'Ten, I'll kill ten more wolves tonight, or at least try to, and then I'll go to sleep.'

With these thoughts, he started walking again. The night was still young, after all. He was sure he could find more wolves.

And, as he walked through the forest... the wolves, who had dominated this area for so long, tearing apart everything in sight, were unaware of the disaster that was about to befall them.

A predator they had never seen before had entered their territory, a predator that was weak but powerful enough for them.

And the ones to be hunted were... themselves.