42 CHAPTER 42: The Mystical Forest

Alex's malnourished and disfigured body, which bore a resemblance to a rotten fleshed ghoul, lay in a pool of the beast's inky-black blood, and from the slow and shaky movement of his ribby chest it was painfully clear that he was not long for this world.

*COUGH*

An abrupt coughing fit shook his fragile and weak looking frame, and after a few moments a red liquid flew out of his mouth.

*SPLATTER*

Alex felt a sticky liquid land on his face, and he instinctively knew it was his blood that he had coughed out.

This realization shook him and made his impending death all the more vivid and real to him.

'I don't want to die.' Alex thought with sudden desperation. 'I want to achieve more. I want to see the world, I want to be remembered in history. I can't just let my legend end before it has even begun.'

Alex felt like breaking down into tears, but because of his body's current horrendous state, it was physically impossible for tears to form.

'Now I can't even cry if I want to.'

Even though only one minute had passed, to Alex time slipped by agonizingly slowly, almost like it was mocking him, letting Alex know that his life was ending but it would make sure he had as much time as possible to reflect on the scarce amount of things he had achieved. But in the end he didn't have much time to reflect, as suddenly he felt a pain at the side of his body, and for some reason, unlike the other injuries whose pain had faded, this one was particularly piercing.

Although he could feel the pain, Alex didn't so much as flinch, since he had endured the pain for weeks he was now numb to it. And anyway, as a result of the current starved state of his body, his pain sensors were barely functioning anymore as his body tried to preserve its miniscule strength.

But still, Alex knew why that particular pain at his ribs had come back.

'The pain is from the injury I got after fighting the wolflike beast years ago huh.' Alex then thought back to the monster he had killed just before he had passed out over a month ago. 'The terrifying beast that the door created was in the end a fake replica of the real thing that it fabricated after probing my memories.'

Alex thought back to one of the only clear and vivid memories in his head.

It was years ago, and Alex was in place a lot like the inky-black void that he was currently in. The only difference was that while in this place there was only endless empty darkness, there had been a cycle of day and night in that forest.

And not only that, there had also been swiftly flowing rivers and streams, dense croppings of towering, ancient trees, colorful and aromatic flowers in full bloom, and from the way the radiant sun shone down on all the beauty and magnificence, it made the place a joyous sight to behold. With the alluring nature of the forest it wouldn't be a wonder if the mythical fairies would suddenly appear from within the leafy brush.

Yes, when light shone down from the sky that place was basically a paradise unsoiled by the ugliness and madness of the world.

However, when the darkness of night came, this 'paradise' became a living hell.

Beasts of all shapes and sizes prowled the land in search of their next meal, and the worst part was that the place was so dark that it was impossible to see anything.

Alex shook his head to clear his mind of that depressing memory.

'That was a long time ago, and anyway that beast is probably long dead by now.' The image of the 'real' beast flashed by Alex's mind. 'But even if it is dead, the pain it caused me will never fade away.'

The pain Alex felt was known as psychogenic pain and was brought about not by physical pain but by psychological trauma. It can be caused when a person experiences deep trauma, which is exactly what happened to Alex in the distant past.

At times, seemingly out of nowhere, Alex starts to feel a sharp pain in his ribs from where he had been gravely injured by 'the beast' while in the forest.

'Still,' Alex could feel his thoughts slowing down but fought to be in his sane state of mind for a little longer. 'If that beast is still alive, I highly doubt that I'll be able to fight it.'

'After all...'

*COUGH*

*COUGH*

Blood flew out of Alex's mouth and splashed all over his body.

'...it was a First Tier beast.'

Alex could tell he was minutes away from dying.

Alex then reminisced of his gritty battle with the beast.

'It's a shame that I couldn't reach the corpse, if I had I probably wouldn't have died.'

Over the next minute Alex's breathing became shallower, and he began coughing out blood more frequently.

Alex began feeling a chill deep in his bones, a warning that his death approached.

The image of a man pinned to a wall with a spear flashed by Alex's eyes.

'I wonder if this is how Zac felt just before I killed him.' The chill got worse, making his body feel ice cold. 'If so, I have a lot more respect for him.'

Alex's thoughts began flying in different directions.

'I wonder what Jason Acod will say when I don't come back? Will he still think about having Hydra go under him, or will he turn Alistair away.'

'Huh, now that I think about it, who will take control of Hydra when I'm gone?' For some reason despite the situation he was in this useless thought popped up in Alex's mind. 'Maybe Alistair will appoint Augustin, either that or he approaches someone else to take control.'

Alex's mind began slipping away and his thinking became even more fragmented.

'I guess I won't...into the Twelve Icons...my revenge...Sakura.'

Alex's eyelids slowly closed.

'Father..Mother.'

As his body functions failed, Alex felt the sticky blood from the beast's corpse underneath his body.

'Huh, in the end I guess the beast's blood was more durable and had more lifeforce than its body.'

Something about that thought bothered Alex, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was.

'Its blood has more lifeforce than its body.'

The thought kept playing on repeat in Alex's head as he slipped into the abyss of death.

'Blood...lifeforce...body.'

With each cycle that the thought rang in his mind, Alex had a sense that there was something he was forgetting, a realization that seemed so close yet at the same time so far.

'Blood...lifeforce...Hani!'

When the realization finally hit Alex, it was like a bolt of lightning had struck him.

The key to his survival had been beneath him the whole time.

'Blood...beast's...blood.'

If the beast's blood still hadn't dried up when its body was already rotting, then that meant that there was a lot more Hani in its blood compared to its body.

What this meant was that Alex didn't need to eat its rancid corpse to survive, no, all he had to do was drink from the pool of its inky-black blood.

The realization pulled Alex back from the edge and put hope in his heart.

'The...blood.'

Alex could faintly feel a sticky liquid on his cheek which he assumed was the beast's blood, but he couldn't be sure, so using an incredible amount of effort, Alex opened one eye.

For a few moments he couldn't see anything, but after a while his vision cleared.

Due to his weak state, all of Alex's senses had been muted, which left him in a state whereby even though he could 'see', in reality he couldn't really see, all he could make out were vague shapes and objects.

The same was also true for the rest of his other senses, he could smell but he also couldn't smell, he could feel but he also couldn't feel.

Everything was confusing and nothing made much sense to Alex. But from the little information his senses were sending him, such as the acrid and odious smell, the sticky but thick feel, and finally, the vaguely black look, Alex could tell that it was definitely the beast's blood.

*COUGH*

Alex began breathing harder and his already dim sight faded even more.

In moments like this the true character of a person shines through all the outside bravado.

It shows how far a person is willing to go to survive, will they hold onto their pride and die, or will they raise the finger to pride and do what needs to be done.

Alex was of the latter type of people, he didn't hesitate despite his difficulty breathing and using the last of his strength, he slowly lowered his head until his mouth touched the inky blood.