Tearful Goodbye and First Target

Torus' eyes turned away for a moment, he couldn't bear to look in his mother's eyes. The sight of the tears contained within them, even with the ever-present smile still on her face, was too much for the young man. 

With just the sight alone, he almost wished he could stay there with them forever, to hell with his adventure.

However, this thought only appeared for a fracture of a second, quickly being shaken out of his mind. Instead, his heart steeled, his resolve remaining unwavering as he thought back to the letter he had received from his birth parents. 

Instead, Torus swore to himself that he would be there for his parents once more once he had finally confirmed whether his birth parents were alive, that this wouldn't be the last time he'd see them.

As such, with his heart hardened, Torus once more looked up into the teary eyes of his Mother. 

This brief glance only lasted for a moment, as his gaze quickly moved on to his father. After that, his gaze glanced toward the sky, a soft sigh escaping his briefly parted lips.

Engulfed in the warm morning air, Torus felt the soft embrace of the sun as it caressed him. 

Glancing up, his senses were suddenly invaded by a soft fragrance entering his nose. Briefly, he pondered over what could be the cause of this smell.

As such, Torus' gaze traveled downward once more, now landing on the figure of his Mother as she rapidly approached him. As she reached him, Maddie reached out, encompassing Torus' figure in a gentle embrace as tears pooled at the corners of her eyes.

Shocked for but a moment at the sudden show of affection, Torus was quick to respond, his hands coming up to wrap around Maddie's figure in return. 

As he held his Mother in his arms, Torus could feel a new wave of emotions overcome him, the desire to stay like this overwhelming him.

Tears threatened to gather in the corner of his eyes, the only thing stopping it was the desire to put up a strong front for his Mother. As he held her in his arms, Torus' gaze moved backwards, looking somewhere behind her.

As he glanced behind her however, Torus' gaze locked with his Father's, the man giving a silently mouthed 'Go,' as if to signify that he would take care of his Mother. 

As such, Torus' arms slowly unwrapped from his Mother with a trace of reluctance, before they came to rest on her shoulders, gently pushing her back to be next to his Father once more.

Once this had occurred, Torus gave one last nod to his Father, turning around to head out into the forest. As he walked with steady steps that left imprints in the soft soil signifying the heaviness in his heart, Torus refused to look back. 

This was because of the simple truth that he knew - if he were to look back - he may not be able to bring himself to leave.

~~~~

It was currently midday, the sun hanging in the middle of the sky as a gentle golden glow wrapped the world. 

As he looked up at this, a look of reminiscence encompassed Torus. However, before he could be sucked fully into his emotions, he was brought out of his reverie by a gentle hand grabbing onto him.

At the sudden sensation, Torus' gaze glanced to the side where he found Sofia sitting there, a soft smile caressing her features as she gently held onto his arm. 

As he looked down at her, Sofia gave him a more pronounced smile, seeming to convey that everything would be okay just through her gaze alone. In response, Torus let a slight smile overtake his features, the melancholy temporarily lost in place of the need to let Sofia know that he was doing just fine.

It felt as if she could see through his emotions, as Sofia just gently shook her head at his change in expression.

As though she could see through the strained state of his smile, Sofia gave him a smile that held a trace of sadness, speaking up, "You know it's okay to feel a little homesick when it's your first time leaving your parents, right? No one will think less of you if you reveal a bit of the emotions you're feeling." Sofia gently told him, the smile on her face reassuring Torus that she genuinely cared.

As such, Torus allowed his façade to fall, the smile on his face faltering to be replaced by a deep frown. This wasn't a frown of anger however, but rather just an expression to represent his currently down state. 

However, Torus had never been the type to sulk in his own emotions; instead, he much preferred to be proactive when irritated, choosing to make progress toward solving issues.

And since his current issues stemmed most directly from his lack of power, Torus put his mind to work to improve on that. As such, he headed out of the small encampment the pair had set up, instead heading for the forest surrounding them. 

As he thought about his future training, a smile slowly appeared on his face once more, anticipation evident within his gaze, "I can't wait to finally explore my Aspect!" Torus exclaimed, his emotions laid bare.

After all, ever since he had discovered he was wrong about what his Aspect was, Torus had been anticipating the moment when he could finally explore what it truly was. 

While he had a general idea, confirmation as well as beginning to explore what the changes would entail for his future training.

As such, Torus headed into the woods just outside the valley their village rested in - his goal? To find some Ferocious Beasts he could begin experimenting on.

~~~~

After his departure into the woods, Torus had taken off at a blistering pace. It took no time at all for the young man to encounter a Ferocious Beast, this one being a rather weak Barb-Tongued Boa. 

Essentially, this Ferocious Beast was an evolved form of snakes from the past, their evolution following in a way where they grew barbed tongues used to strip the flesh from whatever animal they had captured.

This came about from the prey they captured; essentially, the species they preyed upon had developed incredibly thick skin in response to the suffocation induced by the constricting of the snake.

What this did was make it so, once the snake was wrapped around its prey, the pressure it exerted with its constriction wasn't enough to cause any damage to the creature, let alone suffocate it.

In response to this development, the Barb-Tongued Boa had developed a tongue similar to that of a lions, something it used in conjunction with its constriction. 

Essentially, it would constrict upon its prey, before using this tongue to literally tear off chunks of flesh from the beast while it was alive, eventually leading to its death where the Barb-Tongued Boa would swallow it whole.

As he rushed through the forest, the snake that was around 40 feet long and 2 1⁄2 wide, had slipped out from the tree it was resting in, smelling the approaching figure. 

Once out from the tree, it rapidly descended on its newest target, working to encapsulate and eventually consume him.

(Essentially, this snake is a bit smaller than the extinct species of Titanoboa)

However, it was at this moment that a change in the situation occurred, with the figure of the man rapidly shifting. The next thing the Barb-Tongued Boa knew, it felt a clamp-like grip on its neck, the pressure paralyzing it and stopping any further movements. 

As it helplessly laid within the man's grasp, the snake could only listen as the man seemingly talked to himself.

Grasping at his chin with his unoccupied hand, Torus began muttering to himself, making observations of the gargantuan creature he currently held within his grasp, "Hm, it seems there's a Fourth-Grade Ferocious Beast within this forest, how strange. 

For such a creature to grow to this size, it would need a large enough food source to sustain itself, something that shouldn't exist within this region.

As far as I know, only Fifth-Grade Beast's should exist within this forest. This means that there must've been some form of outside interference or the birth of some treasure to cause this evolution." It was as he said the word treasure that the snake within his grasp seemed to react, Its figure violently lashing out in an attempt to escape his grasp.

In response to this, Torus only hummed in interest once more, the response seeming to convince Torus of which of his hypotheses was true. 

Rather than carry on this train of thought, a predatory smile slowly adorned Torus' features, "However, rather than whatever treasure this guy has managed to come across, I'm much more interested in just what I might be able to learn from studying you. 

Judging by your size, you must've very recently evolved into a Fourth-Grade Ferocious Beast, meaning you should give some good insights into how the process of evolution within a species works as well!" Torus exclaimed excitedly, his words seeming to elicit a look of slight fear within the creature.