The sky shone like an unblemished sapphire; feathery clouds lazily floated across. The sun adorned the heavens, while its rays hugged the earth. The warmth of the rays were balanced by a constant gentle breeze.

Birds could be seen flying overhead while the sounds of buzzing, rustling, and chirping made one aware of the trees and insects that covered the earth.

Off into the distance, the voices of children running around were audible. An immense mountain stood undisturbed and watched over vast plains.

At the foot of the mountain there resided a certain temple. At the arched entrance of the temple, a man could be seen methodically going about his day.

He cleaned the floors, put everything in their correct positions, and made sure all who called this temple home were well. He was deliberate in his actions; no movement was wasted. One action seamlessly flowed into the other and accomplished what he needed without interruption.

This man was aged, looking to be around 40 or 50. Yet he moved with such nimbleness and deftness that one his age shouldn't possess. It was something no human should be capable of.

He scaled massive trees the size of skyscrapers with nothing but his own hands all so that he could reach for the fruits that it bore.

He set traps and patiently hunted for fish.

All that he did with one hand.

The name of this man was Arnaud. He'd made only a slight mistake some would call it an innocent lapse in judgment.

Yet, nature did not see it as such for on the day of that mistake he lost his arm. His survival was only due to the timely intervention or something beyond. He remembered the day as clearly as if it had only happened yesterday.

The task he had given himself had been simple enough. All he had to do was go and map out the surrounding areas that neighbored his newfound home.

He had been slightly wary, but the weeks of calm and relative success had brought unfounded confidence to him.

His newfound abilities brought a sense of safety, yet he seemed to have forgotten that while his powers were new to him, they weren't to this world. This was a world used to the existence of inexplicable powers.

A grave mistake indeed, one that he ended up paying the price for.

When faced with a beast that looked like the love child of a lion, tiger and gazelle he had managed to remain calm and not run away. Something that would have sealed his fate.

Making sure to not make direct eye contact with the beast he rose to his full height of 6,2 and tried to make himself as large as possible.

The beast was not impressed.

It simply observed him, it was curious after all it had never seen a being of this shape or form.

At least not in these areas.

It was covered in grass and held a part of the trees in its hands.

There were some loud creatures similar to it that lived in the forests far from here, but they had never had the opportunity to hunt them. Perhaps this was similar.

It wasn't particularly hungry but unfortunately for this unusually shaped creature, it was a being that couldn't contain its curiosity. The beast needed an answer to one simple question.

Was this prey or predator?

First, it observed the creature then it started to slowly approach. It was a curious being but in a world such as this caution was needed.

The creature before it didn't smell powerful but there were beasts that used that to their advantage.

The creature hadn't reacted to its advances, so it continues to move forward.

Now it started to smell fear.

This was prey.

The beast's claws extended outwards as it started to crouch down. Its muscled began to tense and it always purred in happiness as the scent of fear nearly doubled on the prey.

It could see the widening of the prey's eyes as it understood what was about to happen. It could hear the rapid beating of the prey's heart like a far-off stampede.

The prey looked as if it wanted to stand its ground but once it heard the low growl of the beast it started to run. In that second, the beast had been scared that it might be fast-moving prey, but those worries were alleviated when it saw how slow the predator was running. Its week-old cubs could run faster.

So, it didn't initially chase, it simply continued to intently watch the prey run.

10 seconds

20 seconds

30 seconds.

The prey was now but a distant figure in its eyes. Seemingly confused the pray turned its head to look and at that moment, it pounced!

In under a second it crossed a distance of a couple hundred meters. Its body was but a yellow and black striped blur flying across the plains.

The prey didn't have much time to react and it was only in the last instant before its head got bitten off that it managed to move slightly to the right.

Crack!

Aaaahhhhhhh!!

Blood droplets flashed through the air like rubies of lost vitality. The colorful grass was drenched in red.

The prey screamed as it dropped to the ground, its other hand clutching its now armless shoulder.

Its voice had torn through the silent afternoon. A slight imperfection on a stunning day.

The predator watched the prey writhe in pain, amusement was clear in its eyes. It chewed on the prey's arm as it savored the new flavor.

Looking up from its snack it saw the prey watching in horror all the while tears and snot dripped down its now crimson face.

It continued to scream and grunt in pain.

The predator was amused as it continued to chew on the arm. This meat tasted amazing; it was perhaps the best meat that it had ever tasted.

For over 20 minutes it continued to slowly eat the arm. The prey in that time had crawled away. It had made good progress in its crawling but even if it had somehow managed to escape the beasts sight the crimson trail it left behind was all too obvious.

Finally crunching the last finger of the arm, it licked its lips and once again crouched. Its muscles started to tense but in the nest instant, its ears picked up the sound of air whistling.

It leaped back and watched as another part of a tree landed in the area that it had been in. It turned in the direction that the stick had come from and to its delight it saw another one of the weird creatures.

If this member was as weak as the first one was, he would take it to his mate and cubs.

Turning its attention from the newcomer it pounced at the first prey. Like before all that could be seen was a blur but just as it reached its target it was frozen.

Everything was still the air didn't hum its tune the buzzing of the insects was gone, and grass didn't sway in the wind.

The beast was confused, what was happening?

Why was it frozen in the air?

Only a second later did it see HIM. The apex predator appeared from nowhere and towered over the beast. It was two-legged like the two-prey, but this was not prey.

This was a predator at the very highest level. All its sense told it to run but it could not. It felt fear like it'd never felt before, faces of the prey screaming and howling appeared on the body of the predator.

It heard the screams of its cubs and mate as they roared for his aid. It felt the death of his pride and for the first time in a long time, it felt weak.

Yet as it continued to look into the piercing white eyes of the predator it felt invigorated.

The being had no mouth yet it spoke to the beast.

"Today is not the day. Your hunt will resume at a later date [Hunter of mankind]. Now sleep."

........

Whimpers could be heard from within the temple. I'd somehow managed to drag Arnaud back to the temple before he bled to death. The giant fountain of blood that was his arm had been sealed with plants and herbs that the "winds" had provided her.

I didn't know their origins or their properties, but she had simply listened and try to piece together a way to save Arnaud.

I didn't know how to feel, the screaming and the copious amount of blood had been overwhelming. Plus, the thought that if I hadn't ignored the winds for so long, I could have perhaps saved him filled me with guilt.

It was only when the image of his head being chewed upon by a beast flashed through my mind that I took off running to find him.

I had run faster than I ever had before, it almost felt like I was gliding across the air. Needing only to lightly step against the ground before covering great distances.

Nonetheless, I wasn't fast enough and by the time I arrived his arm had been bitten off.

I'd thrown the spear he'd made by me at the beast, but it never stood a chance at hitting its mark.

At that moment when it turned to face, I felt as if I was back in that space. I was facing another creature that I didn't stand a chance against.

I felt small.

It ignored me as if I was an afterthought, and only something to be dealt with later.

I could only watch helplessly as it pounced towards him but in the next instant it was gone.

I had been flustered as to what was happening but only for a few seconds.

It didn't take me long after that to run towards and start carrying him back to the temple.

I'd never been so grateful for my newfound strength. The winds spoke of herbs and as unwilling as I was to acknowledge the implications of their existence I still listened.

...........

It was only due to the timely intervention of Alexis that I managed to live that day. She believed that something more had happened but all I remembered was her dragging me away from those damned plains. For that, I was eternally grateful.

From that day onwards we rebuilt our relationship anew. It wasn't one of love and I doubted it would ever become that, but it was one of necessity.

We both desperately wanted to go back and see our families, this mutual feeling allowed us to push aside what pride was left of our pride and allowed us to work together as a team.

The time I spent recuperating had left me feeling useless as I was in the temple all day doing nothing. Eventually, I got tired of just lying around so I turned my attention to the cultivation of qi.

That had been the start of advancement. It was when we truly started to live in this world.

Somehow, we'd managed to make it for 50 years. The shame of defeat never truly left our throats, but we'd grown used to it.

Hell, we'd even decided to fulfill the final part of the ultimatum.

The results were clearly visible in the shape of the 18 children running around the area.

We didn't have this many because we wanted to but simply because the more, they were the more we're likely to survive. So, we could leave this godforsaken world.

My mind spoke of the things these children would face. The things they'd have to do to survive, but I pushed it down.

Looking at them brought me only shame. This had hampered my relationship with them, but I couldn't bring myself to care.

Turning away I walked back into the temple to continue my meditations and continue to cleanse my body.

Today would perhaps be the day in which I would advance in my cultivation. After 50 years I'd figured a way to advance my cultivation.

I'd rather do that than continuously look over a source of shame for me.