I walked through the forest with the imposing wall of rock that was the cliff stretching along ahead on my right.

Earlier, having decided I would spend my day exploring more of the forest, I was quick to finish up in the river and dry myself off. I took a moment to close my eyes and appreciate the early morning light on my skin as it poured through the gaps in the leaves and bathed the clearing in its soothing heat.

It wasn’t long before my eyes popped back open in excitement. I was practically bouncing as I debated which direction I should explore. I had already gone a ways down the river, and my last trip hadn’t ended the best, so I ruled that out. Since I was staying on this side of the river and wasn’t going to follow it, I was left with one good option. To follow along the cliff!

This would hopefully keep me from getting lost again as I could alway follow the cliff back to the waterfall and river. As long as I didn’t get chased by one of those crazy fire breathing squirrels again. Speaking of, I decided I would call them cinderrels because they were squirrels that turned their enemies to cinders. Sometimes I even surprised myself with how great my naming sense was.

My naming skills aside, I was currently walking through the trees, keeping the cliff in sight so I wouldn’t get lost. I admired the sheer size of the trees and the beauty of the forest as I walked, but after a while the lack of anything new had my mind wandering.

Soon I was testing out a new idea for training my mana gathering and multitasking. It didn’t require much focus for me to pull in the ambient mana around me and start it circulating through my body. My mana pool was full however, so the mana I was circulating had nowhere to go. This is where my new idea came in and I split my focus to pull mana out of my core and send it circulating through my body and then out into the air around me.

I found that I had lost focus on the mana I was bringing in and circulating while expelling my mana so I had to restart. And I lost focus again. And again.

It took a lot of effort and tested my will in ways it hadn’t before but I was eventually able to pull ambient mana in and circulate it into my core while also expelling my mana out through my body. In this way I was focusing both on gathering ambient mana and controlling my own, which would hopefully prepare me for gathering while spellcasting.

Relishing in this moment of success, I opened my eyes to find that I was standing in the middle of the forest. I… may have forgotten that I was exploring for a bit there.

Looking around revealed that I could still see the cliff off to my right so at least I hadn’t gotten lost. But I had no idea how far I had traveled or if I had just been standing still the whole time.

Oh well, hopefully I hadn’t missed anything interesting but I could always see it on the way back if I did. I noticed that the forest seemed to be getting a bit darker as I walked. The trees were still just as big as before, and might even have been a bit bigger now that I was paying closer attention, but they also seemed to be growing closer together.

There was less light getting through the leaves high up above and that left the ground covered in shadow with only scattered pools of light throughout. I found that many of the trees were covered in clumps of moss in shades of green, though I did spot a few rarer shades of blue and silver. They were very soft and springy to the touch which inspired the thought that they might make for good bedding. I’d have to grab some to try out on my way back.

I was also noticing a wider variety of plant life on the ground. From tiny little leafy plants to taller bushes with thin lanky branches. I even found a couple types of mushrooms for the first time.

I had been wandering close to the cliff and over the rough stone, since the base of the cliff sloped outwards in this particular spot, when I saw a bit of color to my left. Turning to look, I could see a purple speck among the foliage, but couldn’t tell what it was from this distance.

I was quick to find my way down from the stone slope and into the brush where I saw the interesting color. A little bit of searching later and there it was. A small white stem tinted ever so slightly purple crowned by a smooth dome of brilliant lilac. The mushroom was no bigger than my palm and sat among the dirt and leaves looking pristine. Its cap was a perfectly smooth half sphere without a single flaw.

I was almost scared to touch it in case I ruined its perfection but slowly brushed my finger across its top regardless. It didn’t feel as smooth as it looked and in fact had a more spongy texture.

Not long after touching the mushroom I began to notice a slight tingling feeling in my finger. Looking it over, I couldn’t see anything with my eyes but my mana sense showed different. I could feel that a tiny amount of foreign mana had entered my finger and was fighting against my own mana. It seemed to be trying to weaken and feed off of my mana, and maybe something else, to fuel itself.

Looking at it with my flesh sorcery revealed its attack on my flesh as well. Though, it also seemed to be fighting with something else as well, similar to its fight with my mana. Paying close attention to its interactions in my finger I eventually realized something big. I had a whole other type of energy it was fighting and attempting to feed on!

As soon as I found this energy it was like I had a small breakthrough in my knowledge of flesh sorcery. Or rather, like I was discovering something I knew all along somehow. My body, and presumably other living things, was filled with the energy of life itself. It was woven into and through every little part that made up the whole that was me and flowed through me in a similar manner to my mana.

I struggled to find the name for this energy and the closest I could get with my gifted Common was vital energy or life energy. I continued to watch this energy as it flowed and interacted with my body before focusing on the battle between the foreign mana from the mushroom and my vital force. It didn’t take long for the relatively small amount of foreign mana to be stomped out by the combined force of my mana and vital energy.

I spent some more time watching the flow of energies and how they interacted with and in my body before setting it to the side for later. I was in the middle of exploring and could think about this later when I was safe in my bed.

Taking one last look at the beautiful but dangerous mushroom, I continued with my walk through the woods. There were a few other mushrooms I came across in a variety of colors including blue, red, orange, and white. None of them brought about any foundation shaking changes in knowledge but they were quite pretty to look at.

The next interesting thing I came across was in another rocky area at the base of the cliff. I thought I had seen something moving on the rocks while I was walking by and approached to investigate. Much searching turned up nothing but normal looking rock and it was only when I looked closer with my earth sense that I found something out of place. One of the sections of rock resisted the mana I used to sense through the stone.

I slowly approached the section of rock I could see with my eyes but not with my earth sense. Reaching out to touch it, I was startled when the rock suddenly smoothed out into the shape of a lizard and darted away. Before it managed to dive into a small crack in the rocks I saw that its body was about the length of my forearm. It had a long tail that tapered to a thin point ending in a sharp stone teardrop. I couldn’t tell if the lizard was coated in stone or made of it as it had been able to manipulate the stone of its back and head to blend in.

I followed the lizard to the crack it had disappeared into but wasn’t able to discover anything else, so I kept on the lookout for any more as I continued through the rocky area. Sadly I didn’t find any more before the rock gave way to more dirt and trees.

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The sun was up high in the sky when I stepped around one of the large steel grey trees and into a small clearing. I had been intermittently focusing on circulating my mana for practice in between my exciting discoveries and paused for a moment to finish my current round. The clearing had some scattered boulders amongst the grass and there were small white flowers sprinkled about as well.

As I stood at the edge of the clearing, I caught some movement in a clump of bushes on the other side. Focusing my attention on the shaking leaves I waited with bated breath. It didn’t take long for a small fluffy creature to hop out into the clearing.

But before I had the chance to register anything other than ‘fluffy,’ one of the nearby boulders split in half and shot out a tongue? tentacle? that wrapped around the small creature and yanked it back into the stone as it snapped shut with a resounding thunk. It had been snatched up faster than I could blink and I was left dazed after my initial jump of surprise.

I slowly backed out of the clearing as “nope nope nope nope nope” repeated itself in my head as my only meaningful thought. It wasn’t until I was well past the clearing that I stopped to take a breath and contemplate what manner of nightmare fuel I had just borne witness to. A simple looking boulder had, with no indication of it being anything but a normal rock, suddenly turned into a terrifying monster.

I started looking at the trees around me as I wondered if anything was safe, but quickly stopped as I realized that I might be overreacting a little. Or I could be totally justified in my thoughts. Maybe I would just keep a closer eye on things from now on.

Now much warier of my surroundings, I continued my trek through the trees as I kept an especially wary eye on any suspicious rocks. I was noticing more noise and movement in the forest the further I got from the waterfall. It was a subtle change but when I compared my current location to the waterfall clearing the difference was clear. Unfortunately I hadn’t seen anything other than some fleeting glimpses of movement and a couple of cinderrels since the boulder incident.

The air was filled with various calls and chirps from high in the trees as the occasional roar or bellow rang out in the distance. I had been listening to the different sounds for a while but it was a much closer sound that had caught my attention this time.

It sounded like a high pitched cackling that separated into multiple voices as I drew closer to its source. There was hooting and hollering interspersed with harsh grunts and guttural shouts. I was crouched down in some large ferns by the base of a tree as I slowly leaned forward and peeked into the clearing ahead.

My eyes were immediately drawn to a bright fire burning near the center of the open space. Surrounding the fire were seven creatures that looked a bit similar to me if I was short, green, and ugly. Their bald heads seemed slightly too large with pointed ears poking out on either side and large bulbous noses separating beady little eyes. Their skin was a dark shade of green that seemed to have been drained of all vibrancy. They had thin lanky arms that seemed a bit too long paired with stubby legs that seemed a bit too short.

They appeared to be talking to each other in a harsh and guttural language that I couldn’t understand. There were the remains of what might have once been a creature speared on a branch over the fire that one of the goblins rotated on occasion. The others tore sizzling chunks of meat off the corpse with their clawed hands to shove in their mouths giving me unwanted views of their pointy teeth and lengthy tongues.

I continued to sit in the brush and observe the goblins as they ate, talked, and occasionally pushed each other around. It was the first time I had seen a group of creatures interacting and it was fascinating to watch.

It was a struggle to remain seated and eventually I couldn’t hold my excitement back any longer. I had observed that the goblins were wearing some type of coverings and had various fangs and monster parts dangling from their necks and ears. This, along with their apparent ability to communicate with each other, gave me hope that I would be able to learn from them. So I stood up from my hiding spot and walked out into the clearing to meet them.

“Hello,” I said loudly from across the clearing as I raised my hand and continued with a hopeful, “Do any of you happen to speak Common?”

In response, the goblins all jumped to their feet and spun to face me as they barked out short words to each other. They seemed to eye me for a second before they all bent down to grab pieces of wood. Four of them picked up long sticks with sharp stones tied to the end while the other three grabbed some shorter sticks that had been bent at the ends and tied together with string. These three also threw some containers filled with feathered sticks over their shoulders as the other four approached me.

“So is that a no on the Common? ‘Cause I don’t know any other languages.”

I was unsure what their reactions meant and why four of them were approaching me or what the sticks, possibly spears, were for. And as I was focusing on the group approaching, my instincts suddenly screamed for me to move.

I jerked my head to the right and glanced up with wide eyes as something whizzed by my face and left a cut on my cheek. I could see that the other three goblins had lined up away from the fire and had taken up a weird stance. Two of them had feathered sticks, that I could now see had pointed rocks on the other end, attached to their bent sticks while the third was reaching for one from the container on its back.

As I watched, the other two goblins let go and the pointy sticks were sent flying towards me. Before I could even understand what they were doing a sharp pain hit me as one of the sticks lodged itself into my right thigh. Luckily the other one missed, but my mind was reeling as I tried to process the sudden turn in events.

The four goblins approaching didn’t give me the chance as they were finally within range to stab at me with their, now most assuredly, spears. Still confused, I barely managed to stumble back and reduce the four possibly lethal stabs into shallow cuts.

The renewed pain finally brought my focus back and I managed to conjure up a stone wall between us just in time to hear the clatter of an arrow striking it. I took a brief moment to breath and push away my many jumbled thoughts as I focused on the situation in front of me. A small wave of healing slowed or stopped most of the bleeding, which was all I had time for as the goblins poked their nasty little heads around the sides of my wall.

I backpedaled as they charged, trying to keep some space between us, as I conjured a blunt stone and launched it at the closest goblin on my left. I had been aiming for its head but it seemed my aim wasn’t as good as I thought as it missed by an entire arm’s length. Luckily it hit the second goblin in the chest and I heard a satisfying crunch as it flew back past my wall. Unfortunately, the goblins closed in faster than I could retreat.

I threw a hasty blast of wind at the only goblin remaining on my left and turned my attention to the two on my right just in time to see the approaching spear tip sink deep into my side. The goblin gave it a quick, savage twist before tearing the spear out and thrusting again. The pain was red hot in my mind and I only had enough time to pull up a thin pillar of dirt to intercept the next attack.

Staggering back as the goblins rounded both sides of the pillar I threw my hand in a horizontal chopping motion to release a wide blade of wind. It left a surprisingly deep gash across both goblins chests and knocked them back a few steps as well. Before I could capitalize on the moment, an arrow slammed into my left shoulder and knocked me off my feet, which ironically saved me from the other two arrows that flew harmlessly above.

By the time I could breathe again, the two spear wielding goblins had recovered and moved in to take advantage of my position. They were approaching from either side and I wouldn’t be able to hit them both with a wind blast. I only had enough time for one attack, so I desperately attempted to double cast my rock throw. Fear pushed me to focus harder than I thought possible and drove me to successfully conjure a stone above each hand.

With the goblins’ spears looming over me, I pushed my hands out towards each of them and launched the stones with a strength driven by desperation. One goblin took the stone to the chest and was thrown back as it caved in with several gushy crunches. The other was hit in the neck and jaw as its head burst apart in a spray of red.

I ignored the coating of blood I had received as I was forced to send out a large burst of air to deflect the arrows flying towards me before I struggled to get to my feet. I attempted to launch a few stones at the three archers while I struggled to get behind my wall but only one of them landed, breaking the goblin’s arm and shattering its bow.

Breathing heavily, I leaned against the cold stone as I thought about how I could take the remaining archers out. I was interrupted by five sharp claws digging into my ankle and I reacted on instinct as I pulled up the dirt towards my side. I looked down to see the goblin I had blasted with wind earlier with its head forcefully tilted back at a disturbing angle by a small pillar of dirt. It had one hand clinging to my ankle and the other wrapped around a sharp stone.

Not giving it much more thought, I shook the goblin off and jumped atop my stone wall with a burst of air. I stumbled a bit on the landing but launched myself off once again as soon as I caught sight of the archers.

I flew towards the two of them as their arrows passed over the top of the wall and gathered wind around me. I threw it all down as I landed, cushioning my fall and sending the two archers tumbling back in the dirt. Two quick blades of wind finished them off and I sent one last glance around the clearing, checking for any more threats before I relaxed.

I was breathing heavily from the pain and exertion of the battle, but also from the growing frustration. Why was it that everything I came across SEEMED TO WANT TO KILL ME?!