Chapter 2: The awakening
A light breeze caressed Rada's face, which began to show the first signs of awakening.
Slowly his eyelids opened. His vision was still blurred and there were signs of weakness, he was still struggling to move his body. He seemed to be moving again for the first time after a long period of inactivity.
Although his body was struggling to respond, his mind was working at full capacity, searching for a possible cause to the incident.
"Is it possible it was too much stress? Or too much fatigue?"
Questions and questions were forming in his mind, but there were very few possible answers.
"I feel like I've been beaten up..." he said massaging his forehead.
Muscle aches and numbness were still all over his body as he tried to get back up.
"Ahh, I feel like crap..."
Managing to finally sit up, a strong nausea overtook him.
"I feel like throwing up!"
He hurried to lean over the side:
"Bleeergh! black blood!?"
Although he was alarmed at the sight of what was spilling from his mouth, he could do nothing but continue vomiting.
"Ew...."
He wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt and breathed a sigh of relief.
The nausea had passed and slowly his body was regaining all its functions.
Until he felt a sickening stench hit his nose like a jab.
"God I'm dying! What is that stench!?".
Before he could look around he saw that his clothes were black.
"B-but is that me!"
They were covered in a strange black slime.
"Yuck is that!?"
Once the nausea from earlier passed he thought it was about to come back again at the sight of that strange obscene slime. So he took off his shirt and noticed something strange.
"What the...? Since when is my abdomen so well-defined?".
Despite the fact that his physique was constantly under pressure from his workouts, he still didn't have a well-defined physique. It was also because he was eating so much and his body could barely burn it off.
The sight of his well-defined pecs and the famous "chess" in his abdomen, left him considerably surprised. The same was true for his arms that let you see the dividing line between deltoids and triceps and his strong, yet slender legs.
"But what does that mean? Wow...the teacher will never believe this!".
It was frustrating to have achieved so little after years.
But in his case it was normal after all, physical training must be accompanied by a balanced diet, and that was not the case with him.
His skin also looked softer and smoother, but at the same time it was toned and supple. The stretch marks and love handles on his hips were no longer a trace.
The good news wasn't over.
All the fatigue accumulated in training was gone along with the imperfections of his body.
"What the hell happened to me?"
He closed his eyes for a moment and more questions upon questions became present in his head.
"Wait a minute...what about the marble?"
Reopening his eyes, he noticed that his hand holding the marble was empty. In the center of his palm was imprinted a strange design.
Four rings that intersected at different angles forming a circle in the center.
"What is this a joke???"
Rada touched the strange design to see how it got there.
He rubbed for a few minutes, but the mark wouldn't go away.
The image was clearly visible but it was like intangible, impossible to reach, it was like having a tattoo on the palm of your hand.
"Aaah I'm going crazy!"
After noticing that the mark wasn't going away and that there was no way to tell what it was, he put it aside momentarily and got ready to go home.
But as he began to look around he noticed that something was wrong.
"Wait a minute, something doesn't add up..."
In disbelief, he saw that his surroundings were no longer the same.
Thick vegetation, large and imposing trees that stretched their branches far and wide, but above all, no path to follow.
He slapped himself to see if he was still asleep.
"Ouch... I'm not sleeping, but then what the hell is going on!?"
Poor Rada was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Suddenly from a bush rolled something near his feet.
"Now what's going on!?" he said in fright.
At first glance, he saw only a small hairy ball, but when he looked closer he immediately noticed two small, thick, pointed ears and a little face with small canines. At the end instead, a small tail a bit bald.
"What about you? Where did you come from?"
Instinctively, he cautiously reached out to pet him.
"Uh how soft you are..."
His thick little coat was pleasant to the touch. It was a pure white color that didn't let even the smallest imperfection show through. Whichever way you looked at it, it inspired tenderness.
"Hey hey, do you know you look like a wolf cub?"
It was unthinkable that it was, after all, the wolves were almost extinct in his country, and those few remaining were in reserves far from man.
After observing him more closely, he noticed that this little wolf was far too quiet. At his age he had to wag his tail barking at anything.
"Hey but are you okay?"
Concerned that he had some sort of ailment, he picked him up and examined him, "Um...he seems to be okay."
The pup didn't protest in any way and allowed himself to be examined.
While the boy was still busy checking, he noticed that the pup's eyes were fixed on him.
"What is it?"
Rada couldn't help but ask.
Those crystalline gold-colored eyes were as if scrutinizing him. He felt as if hypnotized, as if the puppy was looking into his soul.
"Such deep eyes, are you perhaps trying to bewitch me? If so you have succeeded!"
He brought his face closer to the puppy's and rubbed himself against it playfully.
The puppy's eyes widened and he was stunned.
"Ah but then I can surprise you too!".
He didn't mind pets and this little guy's behavior was really curious.
After recovering from his initial shock, the puppy stopped looking at him, curled up in his arms and closed his eyes. There didn't seem to be anyone coming to claim him, so seeing him alone, he decided to take him with him momentarily.
It was uncomfortable to walk while holding the bag and the puppy, so he put him inside the bag. With the clothes removed, there would be plenty of room left. There was only the water bottle, some training items and his smartphone with its various accessories.
At the sight of the smartphone, Rada's eyes lit up.
"What an idiot! Why didn't I think of this before!?".
Without wasting any more time she checked the status of the phone.
But his moment of excitement was short-lived: "Figures! No signal!"
It was completely useless without reception he could neither make calls nor use the GPS.
In short, it was completely useless.
"Phew..."
After letting out a snort in disappointment, he put the smartphone in the bag along with the puppy.
Leaving a little room for air.
The puppy didn't even pay attention to what was going on around him. There he was, in the bag sleeping peacefully.
"Lucky you that you can sleep."
At the tender sight of the little guy rolled up on himself Rada regained some good humor.
"Okay, let's see where we are and get home."
He hooked the strap over his shoulder and began to walk, looked around to see which way to go, but there was no road or lane.
There was only a thick forest before him.
"This is crazy," he shook his head and cleared his mind of all unnecessary thoughts.
He needed answers, the first thing to do was to get out of the forest and look for someone.
But unfortunately for him there was something he was completely unaware of.
The forest he found himself in was not at all what it appeared to be.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone