181 Wolves!

Lyra looked at her son who was floating on air. He had a nasty expression on his face but at least the ritual was able to stop the conflict for the time being. This ritual was extremely dangerous. It created a small world in his soul and he needed to fight the manifestation of both his bloodlines. If he could emerge victorious, he can combine them and create a whole new bloodline never seen before on earth! But if he were to die in there he would die for real and he would turn into an animal...

"Now, explain to me clearly. What happened?" Lyra said with anger. Her eyes were spewing fire. She knew the dangers of Autumnfall and how harsh it treated its students but with Richard there she had hoped nothing would happen to him. At least she wouldn't feel this angry if her son was injured in a fight or something but he was dying because he forcefully awakened his bloodline! Richard should have been there to prevent it!

"That... well it's hard to explain. I think you might want to sit down to listen to the whole story first" said Richard trying to calm down this angry mother.

---

"AWHOOOOOO"

Wolves!

To his knowledge, there was a species of wolves living in Russian tundras. He did not know their scientific name but he could recall that they were known as grey wolves. This was bad. Because of the snowstorm, he had limited vision and he could not see very far but depending on their location the wolves can easily pick up his scent. He needed a weapon. He looked around but there was nothing he could use. He checked his pockets, all of them were empty. Wait! They were not completely empty. He found a notebook and a pen on the inner pocket of his jacket. It could not really be called a good weapon but it was better than nothing.

He did not know where the howl came from so he needed to pick a direction to run. He chose to run in the direction of the wind. This way wolves would have a hard time picking up his scent compared to if he ran against the wind. Also, there would be less resistance and he might conserve some energy. Was it weird that he knew all this stuff? He did not remember his own age but he should be in his teens and he had a somewhat muscular body. Just what kind of a life he was leading before waking up here? Linri(?) thought as he started running.

Normally, running in this environment would be a very stupid decision but he needed to put some distance between himself and the wolves. Anyway, his identity was not the issue for now. His future self could always figure that out later on. For now, his job was to survive so that his future self could get that opportunity.

As he ran away the snowstorm around him slowly faded. That was good. At least he could see more clearly now. As he was looking around he also searched for a shelter. That was when he caught something around the corner of his eye. There was a some sort of mound to his left. Well, in case the storm starts again it should be a good hiding spot for him. It was not perfect but it should slow down the wind a little.

With his remaining strength, Linri(?) made his way there. Upon his arrival, he noticed it was not just some mound. It was actually an entrance to a cave. He wanted to get inside but for some reason he became afraid. Was he claustrophobic? Maybe. But it could also be because it would be a bad decision to go into a closed space when there were wolves around. However, he did not have a choice as the air here was really cold and only the cave can shield him from the harsh winds.

He got inside the cave. For some reason, it wasn't dark in there. He could see the cave stretching on. Should he follow the path to see where it leads him? That felt like a bad idea as he did not know if there was anything inside waiting for him. Maybe this was a bear cave. He could not remember if it was real or not but wasn't Russia's president known for riding bears? So there had to be bears in there.

Actually, maybe that would be a good thing for him. Couldn't he use the bear's scent to throw wolves out of his trail? Hm, that sounded dangerous. What if he accidentally provoked the bear? Then again bears were known for hibernating in cold winter so it might actually be sleeping.

Making his decision, he slowly traversed the cave. Unlike what he thought there wasn't any sign of a bear living here. He was not sure if he should be delighted or disappointed by that. However, the cave itself was pretty interesting. It lead towards an underground lake and the air inside was not cold. Okay, that was a good sign. He was not sure if the water was drinkable but at least he had some sort of water source. Now, he needed something to eat. Even if humans could live without anything for a week, if he really starved himself he would be too weak to escape this frozen hell.

*Thud* *Thud* *Thud* *Thud*

Linri(?) could hear the footsteps of some sort of giant animal making towards him. Maybe this really was a bear's nest and it was making its way back home. Knowing that he did not hesitate to jump into the water. Even if the bear really came back it should have trouble picking up his scent inside the water. It might get a little suspicious of the foreign scent he left in the cave but it shouldn't be able to think he was hiding in the water. And if he was careful enough he should be able to hide in the lake until it left the cave again.

All in all, this was a dangerous gamble for him. Now that he jumped into the lake even if he wanted to leave this place he needed to wait for his clothes to dry first. So he basically cornered himself. That was good in a sense too. Too many choices slow down a person's ability to make decisions but when you don't have too many choices you can make the most optimal decision in the slowest amount of time... Seriously though! Why the fuck did he know all this stuff? Was he perhaps some sort of special agent? Actually, wasn't there a famous movie series known as Borne trilogy? In that, there was a special agent who kept getting amnesia at the start of the movie and he needed to figure out who was chasing him and how he could escape. That really sounded like his situation. Then again wasn't he too young to be in that sort of government program? Then maybe he was a sleeper agent?

*Swoosh*

Linri(?) felt his cheek. There was a cut there. It was too fast for him to see but something grazed his cheek just now. When he followed the air bubbles it left behind he saw that it was a giant icicle? What was going on? This cave was too hot to form icicles naturally so it could not have fallen from the ceiling, also the angle did not make sense.

*Swoosh*

Another icicle swam past him. Okay, now he was sure that there was something wrong going on. Could it be that the bear was throwing icicles at him? No way! That didn't make sense. The bears weren't supposed to be that intelligent!

Knowing that it would be dangerous to stay underwater anymore Linri swam to the surface.

"I knew you were hiding there, coward" an elderly voice mocked Linri. However, he was not offended by that. He was actually happy that there was another human in this godforsaken place. But all of Linri's(?) hopes shattered when he turned his head around.

A big grey wolf was looking at him with savage eyes. It was at least 3 meters tall and its eyes were ice blue. On its body, there were blue runes coming from an ancient time. He could not believe that the wolf spoke to him just now. It was not scientifically possible. Actually, a wolf this big was not scientifically possible either but that was the least of his worries right now.

As Linri(?) was lost for words the big grey wolf opened its mouth. A giant icicles materialized in front of it and shot towards Linri(?). He quickly dived underwater once again in hopes of escaping this monster. Just what the hell was going on? He could not wrap his head around it. First, he woke up in this frozen hell without any memories now a giant magical wolf was shooting icicles at him? Then why was he feeling insulted instead of feeling fear? Just now instead of diving back into the water, he was about to stand still there and mock the wolf for using ice against him. Just what was wrong with him!? Isn't it the normal reaction to run away when some monster attacks you with big blocks of ice? Who would stay there to mock it instead?

Linri(?) saw the wolf's shadow strutting around the lake but then it instantly stopped. He wondered what it was planning when he felt the water around him get colder suddenly. When he looked again he found out that both of his legs were covered in ice. He wanted to swim to the surface again but the ice was weighing him down. So Linri(?) slowly sank into the lake. At that moment instead of feeling desperation, he was actually wondering why did the feeling of drowning like this feel so familiar.