Crouching behind a bush, Athen held his breath as he watched a large crab-shaped creature walking through the woods. Its left pincer was gone, and many cracks were spread around its shell. The crab slowly lowered its body, studying the tracks Athen had left behind. In that moment, Athen dashed forward at a blistering speed and arrived behind the crab. He raised both his fists high above his head, and hammered down with as much force as his body could muster. Under the weight of his attack, the crab shell exploded. It immediately fell the ground and began burning away lifelessly.
Two weeks ago, the Old Man had dropped Athen off at this part of the forest and told him simply to survive. There weren't many animals in the forest, and the few that roamed around were hotly contested by the many Eidolons that populated the forest. Luckily for Athen, he was able to scavenge food from the bodies of the animals since the Eidolon seemed to only be killing for sport, and did not need to eat.
After a couple days of just getting the lay of the land and avoiding any Eidolon to the best of his ability, he had finally decided to start hunting them. The Old Man had clearly dropped him off here to train his combat instincts and to make Athen used to fighting the bizarre Eidolon. Athen had learned pretty quick, however, that fighting against humans and fighting against Eidolon were completely different tasks.
They came in many sizes, but what each had in common was a unique ability. During his first fight with a Wretch, the weakest of the Eidolons, the large tree had the ability to grow its branches at will and control them. Luckily, the movement of the branches was relatively slow but it could have very easily turned bad for Athen.
This crab was his most recent prey. The crab had razor sharp pincers whose slices could mysteriously travel through the air, and their speed was not slow. Coupled with its large body and shell, it was the hardest fight Athen had of yet. Using guerilla tactics, Athen weaved through the trees and used them as cover and looped the creature to sneak in many attacks here and there. The crabs large body was detrimental in this case as it couldn't turn quick enough to keep up.
Athen quickly left the area, making sure to travel as quietly as possible.
I've gotten used to fighting with my improved body, although I can't fight most of the Wretches in a direct encounter, I can easily outmaneuver and outwit them.
Athen got to a clearing and checked his surroundings before climbing up a tree speedily. He was going to rest here for the night, as this area was very loosely populated and the creatures he had seen, but chosen not to fight due to their strength, seemed incapable of climbing up a tree.
Resting his aching body, he started to think more about his First Gift. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't use the power at will. In fact, he hadn't used it a single time since he destroyed the town floor. That said, he didn't give up on figuring it out.
The Old Man had cryptically said that the power couldn't be controlled, but Athen was sure that the Old Man meant something different. Specifically, he had mentioned to observe and to see. Thus, Athen tried doing exactly that. He observed the behavior of the many Eidolon, trying to grasp how they were able to use their powers. However, he had no luck as of yet.
At that moment, Athen felt a strange urge to look below him. He slowly peaked, afraid that a sneaky Eidolon had crept beneath him. To his relief, there was nothing. Well, that not quite correct, as he saw a strange shadow dancing around.
The dance had Athen enthralled. It appeared nonsensical at a glance, but the longer Athen looked the more he saw the 'dancing' shadow was not that.
It's like I'm looking at an object as it changed over the course of years, decades even.
It was a flower? Or a plant of some sort. It's shape moved rapidly, growing and shrinking constantly. Staring at it, Athen finally had an epiphany.
I get it now! It was so obvious. I won't be able to use my First Gift by observing the Eidolon, I have to observe the Second!
After many nearly an hour of observing the flower, watching it grow and perish countless times, he saw something change. Each time the flower appeared, it was slightly smaller and weaker than it was before. The flower had barely changed sizes over the hour, so it was no surprise that he hadn't noticed it before.
It it a product of age? That can't be right, as its constantly aging by years every second. Every time the flower dies, it is reborn but slightly weaker. It's as though the essence of its very being was slowly fading away.
Athen could feel that he was on to something, so he kept observing. He had completely lost track of time, the sun rising and setting twice before he made any more moves. Athen jumped down from the tree, and quickly set off to look for something to fight.
Hearing the sound of rustling to his left, Athen dashed backwards and avoiding a small creature that had jumped out from the bushes.
A rabbit?
The rabbit was incredibly quick, its dash appeared as a blur even to Athen. When it body landed on the tree, the force of its attack and blasted a hole in the tree and sent it tumbling down.
Not wasting any time, Athen dashed forward. He weaved through the trees, trying his best to keep the rabbit in his line of sight while also making it harder for the rabbit to track him. It was a delicate balance, but one that he had gotten quite familiar with over these weeks.
The rabbit dashed around trees, using them as steps to travel incredibly quickly in all three dimensions. Landing directly behind Athen, it kicked its legs in his direction. If this attack landed, it would instantly kill Athen. But he was not frightened by this move, as his hand quickly lashed out and met the rabbits foot. When the two connected, the rabbits leg quickly deteriorated, crumbling away.
The rabbit kicked the air to escape the grasp of Athen, now left with only one foot. Not letting the rabbit get away, Athen followed up with a slurry of well-placed punches. Each punch narrowly missed the fast rabbit, but the ground where Athen struck was slowly crumbling into dust all around them. The rabbit had missed his landing by a few inches, landing in one of the piles of sand. This was all it took for the rabbit to lose its footing, and Athen immediately punched the rabbit as hard as he could, its body exploding into a pile of dust and blood.
He stared at his hand, a large smile on his face. He had finally understood what his power was, and how to use it. By watching the slowly fading flower, one word had come to Athens mind.
Ruin.. my First Gift is the power of Ruin. Nothing is eternal, and everything is trending towards complete destruction.
At that moment, the Old Man appeared behind Athen. His face was glowing brightly, and a smile eerily similar to Athens adorned his old face.
"To comprehend your power in a matter of weeks, that is unprecedented. Athen, you are certainly the most prodigious child I have ever met." The Old Man praised wholeheartedly.
"Comprehending my power was the goal of the training?" Athen quickly asked back, though after thinking about it he understood. Even after the first week, Athen had gotten used to fighting the Eidolon and surviving in the wilderness. Sure, he had barely scratched the surface of what it meant to fight and survive, but he doubted that he would grow any quicker without additional guidance.
"Indeed," The Old Man nodded his head, "I brought you here, to a part of the forest very connected to the Abyss, to give you the opportunity to see what it wants you to see."
What it wants me to see? Is he referring to the Abyss again?
Reading his mind, the Old Man corrected, "The Abyss showed nothing, what you saw and understood was the rule that your power operates on. It guided you to look into the Second and gaze upon it's rule, to see what it was."
The Old Man stopped speaking, looking at Athen contemplatively. Athen, however, was unfocused. His eyes glued to his hand as he started to understand what the Old Man had been talking about all those weeks ago. His First Gift was a rule, and by seeing it and observing it for long enough to gleam it's absoluteness, Athen had learned to use it with his attacks.
To be ruined is not to be broken — it is to be unwritten. Ruin does not kill, it makes a thing as though it had never lived.