In the dark of my mind, my consciousness teetered on the edge of the abyss. Before it could fall off I had one last spark of hope left to chase after.

Back when I first came to consciousness my body was frozen in a magical stasis. Because of this my consciousness took temporary residence in my soul space. Even then, I was still able to sense and use my sorceries on my body and in the outside world from within my soul space. If I could forcefully move my consciousness back into my soul space I might be able to avoid blacking out and get the time I badly needed to work on healing my body.

Focusing my utmost on bringing my consciousness into my soul space, I pushed with my soul sorcery and was met with a dizzying shift in sensations. I could tell it worked as I was no longer teetering in the dark, but I couldn’t spare any more of my attention on the details.

I pushed my senses out and took stock of my body’s condition, which wasn’t looking too good. There was a shallow gash on my upper back that stretched across to my right shoulder. The bite had left a ‘U’ shaped line of punctures across my chest and back centered on my left shoulder. They were quite deep in places and had made a huge mess of my left side when the beast shook me around.

Also on the left was the ragged mess of what used to be my left arm. It was so bloody and twisted out of shape that it might be easier to regrow than mend. I also noticed that at some point I must have taken a paw to the chest as four large gashes ran diagonally across from my lower ribcage to my right hip. Luckily it wasn’t deep enough to have shredded my organs or that would have meant the end of me right then and there.

Last, but certainly not least, was the still gushing and crushed stump of my right ankle where the foot had been torn off in my final bid for escape. My body was messed up badly and I was on the verge of panicking as I tried to figure out where to start.

Taking a moment to calm myself down, I realized I first had to address the issue of having no mana to work with. So I set about pulling in as much mana as I could with my mana sorcery and absorbing it into my mana pool.

Once I had enough to get started, I worked on stopping the worst of the bleeding by sealing up my ankle as best I could while keeping speed and mana expenditure in mind. I continued this way, alternating between absorbing mana and healing, until I had roughly patched up all of my wounds enough to stop the bleeding.

After replenishing my blood one last time I was finally out from under the shadow of death. My body was still a mess and would take a lot of work to get back into working order, but my life was no longer pouring out on the floor and I could finally relax a little.

As the relief set in and some of the tension faded, a wave of exhaustion swept over me and I couldn’t resist the alluring pull of the dark.

---

Groaning at the pain radiating through my body, I opened my eyes to utter darkness. The air was stale and filled with the metallic tang of blood, and as I shifted I could tell I was lying in a dried pool of it. It was an annoying combination of sticky and flaky that made my skin itch like crazy.

I spread my senses and took stock of my body’s condition, noting that it was as I had left it after my hasty patch job. My mana pool hadn’t filled much while I was out so I started pulling mana in; I wanted a full pool before I tackled the rest of my body. Staring into the dark while I worked, my mind started to drift towards my recent brush with death.

Images of those menacing orange eyes and a dark maw filled with bloody fangs flashed through my mind. Its monstrous, shadowy figure as it charged at me through the trees. My helplessness as it shook and threw me like it was nothing. Like I was nothing. Like I was just prey to be toyed with.

The pain took me out of my thoughts and I noticed I was shaking, my breaths coming in short, fast gasps. I had reopened a few of my wounds and small trickles of blood were flowing down the sides of my chest.

Calm, I needed to keep calm. The beast wasn’t there. I was safe inside the tree. There’s no need to worry. Taking some deep breaths I managed to calm myself down so I could check on the wounds I had just opened.

They didn’t look too bad and would only take a bit of mana to fix. And looking at my nearly full pool, it might be time to start on the rest of my wounds as well. I started off by sealing the wounds I had just reopened before moving on to fully healing all the gashes and cuts I had patched. Some of the puncture wounds from the bite were quite deep and I double checked the job I did on my pierced lung to ensure I wouldn’t have future problems.

I continued to work until my mana ran out and I had to refill, carrying on again after. The arm wasn’t quite as bad as I had first thought so I decided to heal what was there instead of starting from scratch. Banishing bone fragments that were too small to piece together, I shifted the larger pieces back in place and fused them into working shape. It had been so painful that I had trouble focusing so I put a temporary block on the pain while I worked. I had to stop to absorb mana twice before it was done, and I still needed to be careful with it as the bones would be fragile for a while.

My missing foot came next. I didn’t have any hope that its remains were outside the tree for me to retrieve and attempt to reattach, and even if it was it would likely be too torn apart to matter. So I was forced to rebuild it from scratch. I grew it out slowly, constantly checking my other foot to ensure I rebuilt it properly. It was a long and arduous process that took more than a couple breaks for mana, but the end result was my fully functioning foot back.

Everything was healed and back in place but I was too tired, both physically and mentally, for anything else. So I sent one last burst of general healing into my body to help with any small things I missed and drifted off to sleep.

---

I was surrounded by shadows that seemed to move and twist around me. I caught glimpses of orange, always in the corner of my eye, but they always vanished when I turned to see them. I was running for all I had but I could still hear the pounding steps catching up behind me. I could feel the hot breath on the back of my neck, but when I turned there was nothing there. Before I could run further one of the shadows lunged at me and I caught a glimpse of bloody fangs before they closed.

I jerked up, gasping for air as I tried to figure out where I was. I told myself that I was still in the tree hollow and that it had just been a nightmare. Even so it took me some time before my breathing slowed and my heart stopped racing. The cold sweat on my skin had mixed with the blood to create a disgusting mess and I wanted nothing more than to leave the tree.

Crawling towards the entrance I focused on feeling around the area and saw no sign that the beast had stuck around. Even then I had to work up the courage to pull open a hole to the outside. I took my time to scan the surroundings before cautiously poking my head out and looking around further.

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The sun was high up in the sky and a faint breeze blew through the trees. There were signs of the fight all over the area. Holes and trails of disturbed dirt littered the area along with spots of dried blood. Crawling out of the tree I could see that the bark was marred with shallow scratches that covered the opening of my hidey hole. The beast had likely been a tad unhappy its meal had slipped from its grasp.

I still didn’t know where I was, but I kept a wary eye on my surroundings and paid attention to my senses as I once again set off through the forest. My goal was to find the river and follow it back to the waterfall clearing. Hopefully I could manage that without running into more trouble and before sunset or else I would be taking shelter in a tree again.

I was feeling much better now that I was walking around in the sun instead of stuck in a cramped hole in a tree. Everything seemed to be working properly and the lack of any pain soothed my remaining worries. Though the blood quickly dried again and became an itchy mess that I would be glad to wash off as soon as possible.

I soon kicked my pace up to a light jog, both to burn off some nervous energy and to quicken my search for the river. I enjoyed the cool air on my skin and the gentle caress of the fern fronds I passed through. My feet pounded along the soft soil, toes digging in with each step, as I avoided the occasional stone or stick.

It wasn’t too long until my legs started to ache and my lungs burned, but instead of slowing down or stopping I sent a trickle of healing into my body. I kept the trickle up as I went and it worked to wash away the fatigue and soreness and keep me going.

Like this I continued to jog through the forest in search of any signs of the river or waterfall.

I came across a few interesting varieties of the ferns in shades of light red, dark purple, and a bright blue. The purple were darker in color at the central stem and faded into lighter shades towards the end of the leaf tips. The red ones were the complete opposite with the color getting darker towards the leaf tips so that it almost looked like the edges were dipped in blood. The blue ones were the most interesting as they seemed to shift and change shades depending on how I looked at them.

It was as the sun was starting to dip lower in the sky that I finally heard it. From somewhere off to my left I could faintly hear the gentle roar of the river. I was immediately off and running, stumbling over a couple of small stones in my haste.

When I finally made it to the river I collapsed to my knees under the strongest rush of relief I had ever felt. It was like it finally clicked that I had survived.

“Ha ha ha. I found it. I actually found it. YEAHAHA! I DID IT! I SURVIVED!” I laughed and yelled, not knowing how else to express the emotions building up in my chest.

I was feeling so many different things that I was having trouble processing it all. But once I finally got a handle on them, I stood up and walked straight into the river.

The water was cool and clear and exactly what I needed. I sunk into the water once I was waist deep and immediately started scrubbing the dried blood, dirt, and sweat off my skin. Coming up for air I could see a swirling red cloud drifting off of me, swirling away with the current and leaving a noticeable trail of grime. I didn’t stop scrubbing at my skin until the water stayed crystal clear.

I sat and relaxed in the water for a little bit before the sinking sun reminded me I still had some walking to do. Exiting the river on the opposite side I walked along the bank as I followed it upstream.

As relaxed as I felt, I still made sure I kept up my vigilance to ensure I wouldn’t be met with any more surprises.

It was when I heard the chiming of the crystal berry bush that I understood how close I was to the waterfall clearing. I broke into a jog for the last leg of my journey as I could hardly contain the excitement welling up in my chest. I broke into the clearing and let out a joyous laugh as I was finally back!

Walking over to my rock I finally remembered about the book and the metal disks I had collected. They were still sitting on top of the rock exactly how I left them. I had gone through a lot since I left this clearing that morning.

As I looked around I realized that, though the clearing hadn’t changed at all in my absence I certainly had. This world was more dangerous than I had realized, and if I wanted to stay alive long enough to see all it had to offer I would have to grow stronger. I couldn’t just lie in the grass and watch the stars, oblivious to the dangers of the night around me.

With that in mind, I needed somewhere safe to sleep. I walked towards the cliff and followed it to the edge of the clearing, continuing to walk into the trees a bit until the roar of the waterfall had faded into the background. Choosing what looked to be a good spot I faced the cliff wall.

Touching the wall, I spread out my earth sorcery and pulled out a large chunk of stone. It was a tall rectangle with an arched top that was about two fingers thick and left a hole large enough for me to comfortably walk through. Guiding it with my hands I moved it to the side to lean against the cliff next to my new doorway.

I didn’t need anything special so I just planned on making a single rectangular room. It would be easier to banish the stone, but I wanted to ensure that the room was as sturdy as possible. To accomplish this I compacted the stone into the walls, ceiling, and floor until I was left with a decent sized space. This left the stone smooth and dense, but most importantly it was very strong.

There was a short entryway/hallway a couple paces long that separated the front door from the room. It kept the same shape as the door, just a bit bigger so that the archways on either end were set in the wall instead of flush with them. Through the other open arch was the room itself, roughly seven paces wide from left to right centered on the doorway and five paces forward.

I indented a couple rectangular spots on the wall to create some shelves. On the right wall I pulled out a thin rectangle at about waist height and brought down two posts from the unattached corners to create a table. I wasn’t sure what else I should make as the only experience I had to go off of was the old lab up in the cliff and the only furniture there was various types of stone tables.

There was a bit of stone remaining, since the walls were as compact as I could easily make them, so I brought it outside and condensed it into the door I had made earlier. I had to stop and think for a while about how I was going to attach the door so that it would actually function as a door.

What I came up with in the end was to hollow out a tube running through the door near the right side. Lifting the door up with my earth sorcery I guided it into the doorway with my hands until it sat flush. I pulled the top of the doorway down into a cylinder of stone that connected it to the bottom through the hollow in the door.

Then I created a natural looking crack on the front face near the edge of the left side. It was about two handspans tall, two fingers wide, and two knuckles deep before curling to the left. This created a natural looking handle for the door while ensuring it didn’t stand out. I also created a short ledge along the bottom of the doorway to stop the door from opening outward.

Standing back to look at my work I was pleased to notice I could hardly make out where the door was even when I knew exactly where to look. Of course it would be easy to feel the room built into the mountain but at least it was hidden from visual inspection.

I touched up some of the details and put in the finishing touches with a cylinder of stone on the inside that could be slid out of a hollow in the wall to keep the door held closed while I slept and an inner handle. That finished, I walked back to the clearing to wash up and grab my things.

I took a short detour to the crystal berry bush to satisfy my grumbling stomach before returning to the clearing. As I picked up the book and metal disks I could see the final rays of the sun painting the sky in shades of red and orange. I took a moment to appreciate the view and watch the little blue lights begin their dance from the orb plants before retreating to my newly built shelter.

I secured the door with the stone rod and placed my things on the table before retreating to the left side of the room. The stone floor wasn’t the most comfortable thing to sleep on but I could figure out something nicer later. For now I was just happy to sleep in a safe place. When I woke up I would start my journey for the strength I needed to survive.