He swallowed hard, relieved that he had survived just as he had believed.
Disoriented, he pushed with his hand to stand but felt some difficulty, so he used both hands. He walked out of the crater his body had created and stood up.
He couldn't see anything clearly; his mind hadn't focused enough to analyze his surroundings. But if what was said about SSS Rank was true, then he would get used to it.
An hour later, he felt a deep desire to sleep. He tried to stay awake but failed, so he went back into the hole with its crushed soil and lay down.
Hours passed. The sun rose with blinding light, its rays shining over the beautiful forest. Closed leaves and flowers began to open for the morning breeze.
Animals woke from their slumber, along with chirping insects and monsters that wandered through the light.
Elias was hungry, and that disturbed him enough to wake up. Seeing himself in sand, he recalled what had happened and scrambled up.
"Ha. I survi—" he stopped and looked at his hands. He was missing a pinkie finger on his left palm, and he was missing a whole wrist on the right arm.
Elias remembered—when the black hole was eating his hand. There was barely anything left before the elbow.
He smiled nonetheless. "I survived!" His tone was low as he tried to digest his new reality.
"There are healing talents, high technology and other treasures that can help me regain my hand!"
He convinced himself, knowing the cost of those things was astronomical and they may not yield the required results.
The sun's rays shone on Elias's body with a yellow warmth, and he felt refreshed and ready to move.
Recognizing other issues, like his upper body suit gone, only having the lower body suit and something thick behind him but that didn't dampen Elias's mood.
With his talent, he shouldn't fear anyone—but then he stopped and went back into the hole. "I won't fear anyone" was an overstatement.
Having a Black Hole meant nothing if he couldn't control it.
He sat at the bottom. The thing behind him was causing him aching back but he ignored it.
He then closed his eyes and tried to feel his Talent.
'It's asleep!' Elias muttered.
Not like it was aware or alive, but after using a Talent for the first time, there would be periods of cool-down. It might be days or even months.
"Shit!" Elias cursed. "They should have sent someone to fetch me!"
Elias was powerless to a degree.
"Roar!"
It shook the ground, silenced the forest, and worse—a layer of thin ice appeared on Elias's skin while he stiffened, his heart beating wildly.
Cold seeped into his skin, but he was oblivious to it. The jittering of his body and teeth was not from the cold but from the primal fear of the origin of the roar.
Calamity Beast!
Breaking trees and loud thuds shook the ground, making Elias have a heart attack and faint immediately.
The presence moved toward him, accelerating more ice sheens to cover Elias's body, but a pulse from the object on his back came and commanded the sand and crushed rock around to cover him.
As if they had minds of their own, they rolled and moved with precision, enveloped Elias until he was buried, then began to condense into stone.
The larger stone made burrows within itself connecting to uneven with holes on the surface, light seeping inside, showing nothing was inside. Long sharp spikes rose all around beside the holes.
The creature came and stood before it. Its gaze went through the holes. Its breath froze the stone, and it nudged the stone, which caused the stone spikes to prick its skin.
The creature moved back and sniffed. Sensing nothing, it went ahead.
Elias snapped awake when the cold became unbearable—his body and the rock around him had become cold.
In a few minutes, the sunlight thawed everything, and the temperature rose to normal standards.
Elias was still dazed, but the nature of his body got the better of him—his stomach growled. That brought him back to reality, and he acknowledged what had happened.
Calamity Beasts were believed to have caused the destruction of the world. Humans awakened Talents to defend against them.
Unlike humans, Beasts gain strength differently. They mutate then evolve.
There were three types of them. One, the Alien Beasts—those whose evolutionary path couldn't be traced, and they had ridiculous power and considered the true Calamity.
Evolved Beasts were like the Red Locusts—their evolution can be traced. They were weaker, but their potential was higher than Alien Beasts.
Not to mention, Alien Beasts could only evolve by merging with Earth's evolved beasts.
The last were the Monsters—they were just ugly, that pushed out fear and dread.
However, there were debates about what qualified to be called a monster.
The one Elias had just encountered was a Calamity Beast and probably of Earth origin.
Elias didn't dwell on that as he marveled at the thing around him. One word came to him: Worldbender Skill.
Worldbender Noble Bloodlines were the only other family in the world known to bend gravity apart from Grimhammer, and the way they applied their ability varied. One such application was what Elias was seeing now.
"A Worldbender saved me?" He wondered. As he was uncomfortable on his back, he used his left hand with its four fingers and pulled out a small bag underneath the remnants of the destroyed suit.
There was a connection, an energy he was beginning to be familiar with.
He opened the bag and saw a book encased in a cover with a long title:
[Grimhammer Black Hole]
Elias's heart skipped a beat. If what was inside the book was true, then he was holding decades of his family's experience.
"Who would give me this?" Elias couldn't think of anyone. Definitely not the patriarch—that man had almost killed his father for choosing his mother.
A pulse from the book again reshaped the stone inside. Now Elias sat comfortably, and light came through the burrows that ended with holes outside.
A force of gravity also served to conceal his presence from anything else.
He placed the book down, and opened the first page. Another pulse covered the book.
"My dear Grandson, if you are reading this, congratulations to us, and to you. You have survived. That is a reason for celebration."