Chapter 22 Last Exercise
Ezra Zephyr was swerving in pain, blood oozed from his leg. Scorpion went for the final blow but before it could do anything, the hobgoblin darted in and knocked the scorpion away.
He extended his hand towards the pouch on his waist, Ezra's eyes were getting blurry. He felt something was shoved inside his throat, he was about to throw up but instead, he gulped down.
Soon the leg began to regenerate, and the vagueness on his eyes evanesced. He saw the ugly face of the hobgoblin, he questioned in a dull voice. "You saved me?"
"Yes I did, O chosen one" he answered.
"My leg?"
"It's been regenerated, you must start running. That scorpion is the least scary insect here, be careful." Hobgoblin vanished after completing his piece.
He didn't actually vanish, he just ran at a speed Ezra couldn't catch with his naked eye.
Focusing on what he was told, Ezra stood up quickly and looked at his surroundings, including the ground and sky. He learnt one thing, standing in one place for a minute is akin to calling death, he started to run lightly along the boulevard.
The intelligent prince was saving his stamina, his eyes were wide open, cautious and sharp, like that of a beast.
Out of a sudden, a silhouette came from a side. Instincts of Ezra kicked in and he subconsciously raised his arms for protection.
~CLAAANNKK~
Ezra's pulse paced as he saw a venomous snake, with finger-long fangs was about to bite him. With the swift reaction of Ezra, he was saved. Luckily, the snake bit the bracers instead of Ezra. The bracers were thick, Snake's mouth was stuck there.
Ezra pondered for a second, solving what to do. He raised the arm with the snake hanging on and smashed it on the ground. Then, he lifted his other arm and smacked it down on the head of the snake.
Snake's head was crushed between the weight of two bracers, Ezra understood that this is not an easy forest.
~BUZZZZ~
Ezra who was still lost in his thought heard a buzzing noise, he jerked his head only to find a head size bee floating around his neck.
"What... when did it come this close" the prince asked himself in fear.
Unlike before, the prince's reflexes failed. As the sword-like sting pierced the back of Ezra, Ezra fell to the ground.
His body was paralyzed, unlike the time of scorpion. There was not any burning sensation. Not long after, Ezra stood up, looked safe and sound.
Thanks to his luck, there were no insects at the time he was paralyzed. Ezra felt nothing changed in his condition, only a thumb-size hole on his back.
The young werewolf marched forward, this time he was running faster than before. Suddenly, Ezra felt an urge to itch. It was the poison of a bee, a poison that can cause a deadly allergy in the body.
With each scratch the urge increased, the prince kept scratching his body to the point that he started to bleed. His cries penetrated the sky, cries full of pain, helplessness and weakness.
Still, during all this process. Ezra didn't stop running. Although the speed decreased tremendously, his feet never refused to move.
Ezra was tearing his skin with his nails, blood and tears kept coming from him until he collapsed. Hobgoblin jumped and gave the pill to Ezra. He was looking at the fragile prince in awe. "How could he run with this weak body after that bee stung him" he wondered. It was the first time, Hobgoblin inspected the body of Ezra because he was unconscious.
He took out the pill and insert it in Ezra Zephyr's mouth.
The cycle of regeneration repeated, it was the same pill. Regardless of how many times Ezra regenerated, he was still feeling the muscle pain.
Hobgoblin took out a bottle of water and gave it to Ezra. "This is the only water you have here, take my advance and run" he said and vanished again.
Ezra drank two mouthfuls of water, he closed his eyes. Images of his parents and kingdom rotated in his head, he opened his eyes and darted ahead at full speed.
4 hours passed, and Ezra was brought back in front of Fenrir.
"Haha. How was it, boy?" He laughed before asking.
Ezra was not in the position to talk, his body reeked the smell of sweat, and he was panting like a racing dog.
Fenrir spoke again "Take a break and catch your breath, next exercise is easiest. You just have to do some stretchings."
Ezra took a breath and gulped down the water he had left in the bottle "What does stretching do?" The exhausted prince asked.
"Flexibility, how many times do you want me to tell you, danmed boy? There are 6 exercises regarding stretching, you just have to do 1 exercise for 10 minutes" Fenrir retorted.
The prince nodded and closed his eyes, few minutes later he heard the voice of Fenrir. "It's time for next training, boy. Wake your ass."
Ezra stood up and looked at Fenrir. The latter understood the meaning of gaze and spoke again. "Shoulder Exercise, Back Exercise, Quads Exercise, Hamstring Exercise, Hips Exercise and lastly Neck Exercise. That's what you have to do for an hour now, Hobgoblin will teach you how to do it."
Ezra looked at Hobgoblin who was performing the stretch and mimic him.
The easiest exercise ended in a blink and Ezra reached the final training. The survival in the forest.
After relaxing a bit, Fenrir gave Ezra the pouch of pills.
"This one has 10 pills of regeneration, use wisely. There won't be whipping and neither the insects that will attack you the moment you stop. This is an actual forest, sometimes you can easily roam inside without worry while some other times your life will be at the stack in a matter of seconds"
"I understand, this is an art of survival. I have to be alert even if I take nap." Ezra said as he stepped forward, stared at Fenrir and uttered. "I am ready."
The face of Ezra was confident and indifferent