Please be dry!

Guys exams are going on, so my update speed's a bit slow! Back after history exam, damn my arm hurts after writing so much...

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Ten minutes since Mino began his forage for fuel.

Mino was shivering like anything, his arms wrapped tightly

around his body, trying to conserve whatever body heat they

could. Feeling like he could no longer continue, he fell to his

knees. What he feared was taking place.

Because of the

increase in the chilliness of the weather, his heat was being

sapped away rather quickly. He was growing more desperate by

the second.

"S-shit... anything will do... d-dry twigs... or even some dry

leaves...i need to find some... AND FAST!"

Picking himself up from his kneeling position, Mino started

walking in the direction of the black shiny lump of rock.

After

walking some distance, he could finally see the lumpy boulder,

although the visibility was poor. Finally reaching over to the

boulder, Mino headed off in the direction left to the rock, hoping

he would find something worthwhile.

Soon Mino found himself near the edge of the forest. Seeing the

dark intimidating trees, he couldn't help but take a step back.

"Mino... gather yourself! At least you've gotta try!"

Slapping his own cheeks to pep himself up, he crouched and

slowly advanced towards the first row of trees.

His vision was getting more and more dull, his speed was

sluggish. Mino found himself unable to move his limbs the way

he wanted. But that was natural.

The body's first priority is to

keep the vitals warm. So it sent more blood to them, reducing

blood supply to his muscles by a considerable amount.

Soon he approached the nearest tree, which was one of the

shorter ones. Standing on his toes, he grabbed one of the lower branches of trees. Once he was sure he had a firm grip on it, he

pulled it with all his might.

*Snap*

The branch broke with a sharp sound. Even though the sound

seemed faint to Mino, it did not for the creatures residing in the

forest.

He had already given up on the thought of collecting dry leaves

or twigs, he had to manage with whatever he could find himself.

Putting his hand on one of the protrusions of the trunk, he

managed to heave himself up after a pitiful struggle. He noticed

an important thing.

This trees resembled that of earth. Its bark

had a rough, spiky texture which hurt his hands as he continued

climbing upwards. By the time he reached the top, he was

already panting like someone who has just finished a sprint.

"Damn... maybe I should've really invested some time in my

physique..." with this thought in mind, he reached his hand out

to break some more branches. When he did, his palm got

covered in a thick viscous oily sludge.

"Ewwww!" Muttering out of disgust, he thought how he could

clean his hands. But first he tried identifying this sludge dripping

off his palm.

"Oily sludge from a plant... w-wait... doesn't that mean!" His

eyes immediately brightened. Taking the broken branch, he

moved it to the base of the tree branches, the source of the

stuff.

After slathering the bark completely in that sludge, he

nodded in satisfaction and got down (in a pathetic manner).

"If I really think what it is... the I'm sure this will burn slowly.

Also, mere sparks can't ignite resin. What do I do?" He

continued wondering while walking towards the black rock.

Rubbing his greasy palm on his pants, he shot forwards towards the rock!

He was grinning stupidly, he had finally

received the answer to his question!

Tiny beads of sweat running down his body, he reached the

rock.

The sweat magnified the effect of the cold breeze blowing,

and Mino was rewarded with clattering teeth.

"Please be dry... please be dry...please be dry...."

He prayed to himself. Taking a look at the paper on the rock, he

could only exclaim in joy.

"Heck yeaaaahhh!"

The paper was quite dry.

[I will put this scroll paper to good use!]

Now Mino's plan was clear. Generate a spark.

Ignite the paper.

Then ignite the resin covered bark with the burning paper. And

finally, enjoy the flame!

*Sc-r-r-r-atch*

With a scratching sound, a shower of sparks landed on the

paper, charring those areas black. It was soon burning in a

couple tries, the flame illuminating the surroundings near him in

a yellow orange light.

Mino impatiently brought the bark and

made it touch the fire. As he expected, it started burning. The

flame was very smoky due to the moisture unlike the paper

flame.

In terms of the light, it was quite bright and gave off a

lovely amount of warmth.

Ignoring the smoke, Mino stretched his legs towards the fire,

which was only going to last for some more time.

All the

remaining water and sweat clinging to his body dried up. The

blood flow got normal and his previously pale blue skin regained

the normal wheatish colour.

After a few minutes, Mino was all warm and dry.

His shirt was

mostly dried up too, although it was quite sooty because of the

smoke laden flame. But he knew that was temporary and he had to quickly find some more fuel. Also, he had to find a water

source, which seemed to be a very difficult task.

One good thing

was that he had somehow managed to break a chunk of the

ferrocerium-like rock.

[I guess I'll just have to go there again...]

Mino nonchalantly turned his head towards the tree he broke

the branch from. Within a second, all the warmth in his body just

vanished. This time, not only his muscles, even his bones had

gone cold.

A pair of glowing blood red eyes could be seen floating in thedarkness. It was looking at his direction, and Mino was sure that

he was the target of the stare.

Cold sweat accumulating in his

forehead, he decided to slowly step backwards while

maintaining eye contact. The moment he put his first step back,

he realised his decision was flawed.

"Awwwwwwwuuuuuuuuuuu...!"

Letting out a howl which shook every fibre of Mino's being,

engraving fear in his mind, the beast shot out at him.

Without looking back even once, Mino broke into a run, not

even trying to look what was chasing him.

His legs, which had already walked a great deal felt like lead

beams.

But Mino couldn't afford to give up. The beast was

getting closer by the second. If he stopped running to ease the

pain in his legs, even more pain awaited him.

The pressure let

out by the wolf was burdening his back and it made it difficult for

him to breathe.

Letting out hot, feverish breaths, Mino noticed

that he was finally reaching his limit. In the moment of crisis, a

plan brewed inside his head.

Although hesitating at first, he turned back, only for the sight to

freeze him momentarily. It was a big wolf! A brown furred wolf,

with black border running along the edges of its ears, paws and lips.

Mouth open, its menacing set of teeth were put to display,

strings of saliva clinging to them. Even it was on all fours, its

head easily reached upto Mino's shoulder.

Coming to a halt, the wolf planted its thick muscular hindlimbs

on the ground.

Mino knew that the wolf was planning

something, so he abruptly changed his direction. Sadly, it was

of no use. Having brought its forelimbs close to its hind ones, it

resembled a compressed spring.

"Grrrrrr...."

A threatening growl issued from the beast's mouth as its calf

and thigh muscles enlarged, the network of swollen veins could

be seen clearly. After lowering his head, it brought Mino, its

prey, in its line of sight, and disappeared.

Literally.

Mino saw it vanish without a trace, left confused as

fuck.

"Graaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!"

Only to see the same terrifying bloody eyes looking at him from

above, coming down to tear his throat.

Mino understood finally what had actually happened!

The wolf

had pounced upon him with its explosive strength!