Grim Ruination, Birth of a Soul (On Hiatus)

The Harvest

Darris sat within a dark cave, his body was drenched in blood from all the wolves he'd killed. He estimated he'd killed about 20 of them, however he lost count after about 10. Regardless of the number of wolf souls he'd absorbed, he didn't feel all too much stronger. When he'd absorbed part of Tempest's soul he'd gained a massive power surge. However, as a result it made weak creatures like wolves nearly useless in increasing his abilities.

Darris glanced down into the darkness of the cave. A few wolves had come out of it once he'd approached the entrance. He assumed it had been their den. Darris held up his bloodstained scimitar up toward him. Nearly half of the steel blade was covered in red ichor. He let the blade go and it dispersed into flicks of golden mist before it even hit the stone floor. Then he held out his hand and called the scimitar to his hand again. In the blink of an ear the curved steel blade apperated into his hand, polished and clean as if it had just been made. No matter how many times Darris called and recalled the blade, the fact it looked perfectly new every time never failed to amaze him.

He thought back to the ziggurat, when his scimitar had broken against the hide of the ice devil. If only he'd been a reaper then he would've been more useful.

Then he heard a growl. Similar to that of the wolves he'd faced before. But this growl was much louder, causing the cave to rumble from sound.

Darris shot to his feet as he glanced down the cave once again. He waited a moment as the low growling began to get closer. Then he saw the beast. A large wolf, bigger than himself, peered through the darkness. Darris wavered, only for a moment, as the beast approached him. A dire wolf. He'd seen these sorts of monstrous creatures, he'd even killed one or two before. But that was when he had people to help him. The spells of Tempest and Trent, the skill of Isak, and the strength of Elrik.

Darris took a deep breath, feeling the air go into and leave his lungs, however it did little to calm his nerves. Then the dire wolf leaped forward with a snarl.

Darris rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the fangs of the beast. Darris quickly got to his feet and shot forward at the wolf. He slashed across its side as it turned to face him, however the wound wasn't near as deep as Darris had hoped.
The wolf turned and swung its claw at Darris's shoulder, however he quickly ducked under the swing and cleaved upward with his scimitar, cutting across the creature's jaw. The large beast stumbled away, shaking the blood from its head before lunging forward for another bite.
This time Darris took a step to the side, the maw of the wolf only grazing across his tattered clothes. Darris swung down with his blade, cutting a wound across the beast's eyes. Then a second cut, then a third. The dire wolf backed away, shaking its head and whimpering.
Darris smiled, overcome by an odd feeling of superiority over the beast. He had definitely gotten stronger since he'd fought a dire wolf.
He rushed at the beast again, side-stepping it's futile attempt to bite at him. With one final swing he cut across the dire wolf's abdomond, sending it tumbling to the stone floor in a heap of blood.
Darris looked at the corpse as the golden mist arose from its wounds and around its fur. He reached out and touched the golden soul and, once again, a wave of energy pulsed through him, several times more then the wolves he'd been killing.

Nonetheless Darris was still disappointed. From how difficult he'd always imagined dire wolves to be he didn't feel an exponential power from the soul.

The bloodstained scimitar in Darris's grasp faded away as he let it fall to the floor. He sighed and walked from the cave, staring up at the tree branches above him. Then he came to the realization that he didn't quite know where he was. He'd wandered around aimlessly hunting wolves.

Then he just began walking. He'd reach the edge of the forest eventually. Whilst the forest had undoubtedly gotten larger the past 200 years, he could still figure out where he was once he could see out of it.