It’s been a couple of days since the attack and Raskar’s ascension.
Torin became a chatterbox, conversing with Raskar nonstop.
After hundreds of years of isolation, he finally had a companion. Not saying that the other boars weren’t pleasant, but being able to converse with ‘words’ was a different breed altogether.
He was also curious how Raskar ascended, but not the others.
According to him, after he finished the lynx, a wave of invigorating energy surged inside his body.
He felt like an overfilled barrel with its metal hoops straining.
The last thing he remembered was that Torin’s blood seemed like the tastiest thing ever, and he had to have it.
After that a period of blankness followed.
Most interestingly, upon waking up, he instinctively knew how to speak and move his now-changed body.
Not to mention he felt an extremely close connection with Torin, a desire to follow him and heed his commands.
Unknown to them, this was their first stumble upon Torin’s innate abilities as a race progenitor.
If not for that blood, Raskar would’ve evolved as a normal beast and would have lost any chance of achieving sapience.
Suppose every beast could evolve sapience from a little bit of energy; if that were the case. beasts would’ve long been extinct.
In reality an emergence of sapience in a new race is an extremely rare occurrence. The only ways of achieving it being:
A - A beast so powerful dying that its soul doesn’t extinguish in a moment but just slowly burns away, as a result feeding the soul energy to the living beings existing on top of it.
And the animals then have to survive multiple years, decades even. Until their souls become fully saturated to achieve a breakthrough.
B - An extremely long-lived species growing its soul over centuries or even a millenium. And they can’t just stay still. They have to actively discover and experience new things in those years.
In other words, a thousand years’ worth of new experiences. This is even more rare and is only a hypothetical with no empirical evidence to date.
***
After their discussion, Torin had some idea as to what happened.
Clearly his blood was the key, since he also came to the same conclusion that if every beast evolved after a kill, they would’ve long been extinct.
He tried making a cut on his arm and feeding the blood to one of the boars, but nothing happened.
It seemed like you needed to meet both criteria, a vast amount of energy and his blood, to achieve the so-called ascension.
In the days that passed, Torin also helped Raskar to learn how to take advantage of his new bipedal stature and the new flexible digits.
He even helped Raskar make a spear once they stumbled upon another spring that had those rocks he dubbed as ‘flint’.
Despite their increased might, however, the danger they felt only increased.
Numerous beast footprints could be seen all over the forest floor, and they seemed to only increase with each passing day they traveled northeast.
A couple of ambushes also occurred.
Luckily the first assailant was a bedridden wolf. Clearly desperate for food, with its ribs showing through the sparse fur.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Its attack missed the mark, and when both the boar and the wolf tumbled down, Raskar and Torin pincered him with their spears, ending it out of its misery.
In hindsight it would’ve probably been a better idea to disable the wolf and let one of the boars kill it so they could ascend as well, but to their astonishment, once they killed the wolf, the energy didn’t flow to either of them but to the closest living being, which just happened to be the boar lying besides it.
Giving the drop of blood to the soon-to-be boarling kickstarted the ascension, and without a choice they made camp on the spot again.
An emergence of another boarling should’ve been a joyous occasion, but the same night they got attacked by a wolf pack, probably the same one that the ill canine came from…
***
*Before the attack*
Torin was the only one up.
He was enjoying a precious moment of silence while letting his mind wander, processing the day's prior events and how much more dangerous life got with every step they took towards that prickling sensation.
Regardless, they must have already been pretty close since the sensation has gotten visibly stronger with each passing day; might as well finish what they started.
And it wasn’t like this hasn’t benefited them massively. They got two whole new boarlings after all!
Thinking about that, his mind drifted to the freshly ascended boarling.
Since the wolves’ attack happened in the middle of the day, by the time the others went to sleep, that boarling was already up.
Surprisingly, this time he picked his own name - ‘Brakk’. In his words, he picked that name because it sounded like the sound he and the wolf made when they crashed down.
Brakk seemed strangely excited just by talking about it, even though he was the one that got attacked. Shadows of anticipation flashing through his eyes.
Just as his mind started to wonder what was that all about, he locked eyes with a predator.
Standing up, he yelled for the others to wake up, adrenaline rushing through his veins. The moment the sound left his hoarse throat, the wolf pack charged.
‘Front, left, right..’ His eyes scanned the emerging wolves, but more and more just came out.
By the time he tensed his body in preparation for the battle to come, he could already hear squeals of distress coming from their group.
Risking a quick look back, he saw two of the boars already dead. A scent of iron beginning to drift in the air
Plans and contingencies flashed through his mind; years of rebirth offering him a generous amount of experience.
“Brakk, Raskar!” He yelled while turning back to the wolves in front of him and aggressively waving his spear.
“Push forward and breakthrough, or we’re all dead!”
The two boarlings dashed towards Torin, and they all charged forward, two with spears and one bare-hooved.
The remaining three boars also tried to follow them, but only two were left by the time they reached their leaders.
Running forward, they were met with three wolves pouncing on them, one on the just-joined boar and two on Torin.
Torin slightly bent his knees to lower himself and jumped right, all whilst keeping the spear aimed at the wolf’s head, and the moment it hit the ground, thrusting it into its eye, piercing into the skull.
The second wolf, landing at the same time as the first, adjusted his angle and jumped at the now defenseless Torin again.
Brakk, spotting an opportunity, body-tackled the jumping wolf and thrust one of his arms into its mouth while smashing the other into its head.
Raskar thrust his spear and finished the job.
The last still remaining boar charged through them, running full speed ahead, clearly spooked.
The moment the poor boar overtook them the boarlings joined it.
***
Ten minutes later Torin stopped the stampeding group.
No wolves chased them, as they judged the prey too difficult, and their hunt was already a success anyway.
Not to mention running full speed through a forest filled with predators seemed like a quick way to the afterlife.
Now having a moment of respite and having time for the situation to sink in, Torin licked his dry lips and bitterly muttered, ‘Once a prey, always a prey, huh’.
Even he, the most accustomed to death, felt a bitter loss inside his beating heart. The flickering light of a better future shuffling between going out and continuing to burn.
Exhaling and composing himself, he looked at the others. Raskar seemed spaced out. His eyes blankly staring at the only boar left in the group.
Brakk seemed pissed.
He was kneeling over, punching the ground with everything he had. Both with the bloody arm and the healthy one. Small blood drops splattering over the surrounding grass.
The remaining boar was still tense, fidgeting and looking around. Eyes scanning every nook and cranny
As if just a moment of inattention could lead to the accursed wolves emerging and finishing the job.
