I sat on my bed in the dark, drawing in deep breaths as I tried to slow my fast beating heart. Beads of cold sweat trickled down my face as I stared blankly towards the dim light filtering through the smoke hole in the ceiling. I didn’t know if it was due to my soul searching last night, but my morning nightmare had me reliving the moment I touched that book. Nothing else I’ve come across has come anywhere close to being comparable to the pain and fear I felt while struggling for my soul itself.
Regardless of the reason, I refused to let it get to me. Getting up, I walked towards the ashen remains of the fire and was mildly disappointed to find it had died. It was unfortunate I had no idea how the goblins had gotten or created it. Though, as I stood in front of it’s remains, I noticed some buried spots of fiery red in my mana vision.
I knelt to grab a piece of wood and sift through the ash for those hidden kernels of fire. Once I had gathered the smoldering coals I was able to coax the flame back to life with some bits of wood and a careful application of air sorcery. Its cheerful presence banished any lingering unease from my nightmare and I set about finding a good piece of meat.
Grabbing a nice looking piece near the top of the bag and I conjured a pointed stone rod to spear it on. Imitating the goblin’s meat spinning technique, I held it over the fire and sunk my teeth in as soon as I could. Which is why I had to stick it straight back over the fire as the meat was hardly cooked. Apparently it took a lot longer than I thought.
Once finally cooked it was delicious, less earthy than the other meat with a bit of a smoky taste. It was a shame I had to follow it up with the nasty goblin water, but I didn’t have anything else.
Gathering up some of the smaller pouches and a couple of belts, I thought over what I wanted to do today. With the taste still lingering in my mouth I was tempted to go back to the river, even if only to get some fresh water. On the other hand, I was already out here and eager to see what other new things I could find. The goblins had plenty of interesting parts from beasts I’d love to see, and also wherever those crystal branch-like things came from.
Even just thinking about it had me bouncing on my toes as a smile stretched across my face. My attention was brought back to the task at hand when I spilled stones all over the floor. I was emptying the pouches of their miscellaneous things and tying them onto two belts. The tying part turned out to be surprisingly tricky and I spent far too long attempting to copy how the goblins had tied them. In the end I was left with two belts, with four pouches each, going around my waist and across my chest.
I also tied on two of the wooden water containers and filled one of the pouches at my waist with the hard meat chunks I found. I added a couple lengths of string to another but left the rest empty.
Feeling ready to go, I left everything else in the shelter and opened a doorway out to the forest. I stepped out and looked around the clearing in the early dawn light only to freeze at the state of the it. The goblin bodies were nowhere to be found, but the clearing was covered in even more blood than before. Where bodies had been last night were now pools of drying blood and scattered bits of bone.
The goblin blood seemed thicker and darker than mine, and it smelled horrible to boot. In fact, the whole clearing smelled horrible. I had nothing to compare it to but it felt like my nose was burning. Not sure what happened, my imagination filled my mind with too many options to choose from.
They could have melted into these nasty pools overnight. Something could have taken the bodies away or crushed them into a pulpy mess. They could have sunk into the ground or any number of other things my mind threw at me.
The goblins were the first things with bodies I had killed and I wasn’t sure what was supposed to happen to them afterwards.
It was then I noticed I was still covered in bits of dried blood from yesterday, some mine and some not. So I sealed up my shelter and walked over to the nearest tree, careful to avoid stepping in the blood, and wiped myself down with a handful of moss. I didn’t exactly feel clean afterwards, but it was still a major improvement.
Orienting myself on the cliff face looming off through the trees, I started day two of exploring the forest. It started off fairly similar to the day before, so I focused a bit more of my attention on cycling mana as I walked. I was beginning to think this technique was helping with more than just my ability to multitask and training my mana gathering. There were small improvements all around but it was hard to tell if my cycling was the cause or if it was my other practices.
Anyways, I was noticing more and more signs of beasts as I went, and flickers of motion from deeper in the trees were becoming a common sight. That wasn’t the only thing changing as I walked further. It was subtle, but the mana in the air had become lightly tinted in the green shades of life affinity that was growing ever so slightly richer the further I went. And the biggest change was the addition of new trees!
The giants I had grown familiar with had been joined by a variety of much smaller trees. It started with just a few of them scattered between, but soon the behemoths were becoming less and less common as the smaller ones took over. The leaves remained mainly green but now came in a variety of different shapes and sizes. Not only that, but the bark came in shades of white, brown, and grey with different textures as well.
It was just past midday when I felt like I was finally fully entering this new forested area. The forest felt so much denser with the shorter trees and smaller trunks allowing the trees to grow closer together. It gave a sense of isolation from the world around me while simultaneously making me feel surrounded by life.
I took my time to appreciate each new tree and plant I came across. And I was forced to slow my pace anyways due to the increased number of sticks and leaves covering the ground since I didn’t want to trip or hurt my feet. A reverberating roar from off in the distance had me hesitating in my next step as the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. It hadn’t sounded particularly close, but whatever it was was something I did not want to mess with.
A few birds flew through the trees above me, likely startled from the noise. I couldn’t see much of them through the leaves before they were gone, but they seemed to have long trailing tail feathers and two sets of wings. After tracking them with my eyes as they flew over and to my left, I saw a cinderrel scampering along the branches as another one chased after it. It was much more lively here than the other forest. So much so that I had to dissuade a few overly aggressive cinderrels that sought to make me lunch.
Walking further and further, the air was now absolutely saturated with life affinity mana, enough that it drowned out nearly all others in my view. I also began to see pockets of highly concentrated life mana in the ground. Walking through some bushes and plants to a spot where one of these pockets breached the surface, I found a large collection of faintly glowing green crystals bursting out of the ground. They grew in a variety of shapes and sizes, from irregular chunks to jagged spikes and they seemed to pulse with energy.
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They looked similar to the crystals the goblins had collected, but these were so stuffed full of life mana that I couldn’t tell if it was crystal or solidified mana. I had the faint impression that mana could become dense enough to form into a solid, so I was leaning towards that as the answer if only because of the sheer concentration of mana packed into them.
I summoned a piece of stone and used it to chip a few chunks of mana crystal off, slipping them into a pouch before I moved on. The pockets of mana crystals grew more common as I walked until one could often be seen at all times, lighting the forest up with a very faint, but ever present green glow.
It was probably due to the abundance of life mana in the air, but I felt invigorated, like I had just jumped into a river. The downside was the lack of detail in my mana sight, the dense atmosphere blurring my view a bit. My other sorcerous senses seemed to work unimpeded so I wasn’t too worried about it, but it was still something to take note of.
Suddenly, I noticed a low rumbling sound and began to feel a slight quaking in the ground. It was coming from somewhere ahead and slightly to my right but quickly growing in strength. When it was close enough that I had trouble standing steady and my ears were filled with nothing else, a blur of green swept past me, so close and suddenly that I fell back on my butt.
Bursting through the trees and bushes around me were a group of large green beasts. They had four long, hoof tipped legs and two great big branching antlers of green crystal sprouting from their heads. Various smaller horns adorned them as well and the creatures were covered in a shaggy coat of mossy grass from head to tail. They charged past me as if the forest wasn’t there at all, gracefully leaping over bushes and logs at high speed. It wasn’t until one of the last of the group stumbled that I understood why.
An enormous maw burst forth from the leaves, snatching the poor beast off the ground and crushing the life out of it. Bits of blood and bone flew as the maw crunched down and swallowed the majority of the beast whole. The trembling of the ground reached its peak as the head and body of this new monstrous beast followed. It stood more than twice my height supported by four strong legs each ending in a large, razor tipped paw. Emerald green scales covered its lengthy body in natural armor and the spikes running down its back only added to its fearsome looks.
I sat frozen on the ground as it thundered past, leaves falling down from the shaking trees as the monster chased after the fleeing herd. I caught one last glimpse of its lengthy tail as I turned to watch it disappear into the trees. My burning lungs had me gasping for air as I took my first breaths since those jaws had shot out of the woods. Eyes wide and unfocused, I continued to stare after it while I trembled in the dirt.
Only once the ground grew still could I convince myself it was gone. Clenching my fists to combat the shaking, I turned towards the corpse and froze again when I realized I wasn’t alone.
Three sleek, black furred creatures were tearing apart the pieces left from the big lizard’s snack. They had six legs, pointed ears, and long swaying tails that split in two near the middle. Before I could look further I found myself rolling to the side as a black streak passed through where I had been. I didn’t have any more time to act as a weight slammed into my side and sent me sliding through the leaves.
Claws latched on and I barely got my arm up in time to catch the teeth aimed for my throat. A burst of air only served to tear the claws further through my skin, so I sent a blade through the easily accessible mouth. That got a better reaction as the beast let go and jumped back with a pained yowl.
Still on my back, I shot away across the ground from two air bursts through my feet. The other four had closed in and almost managed to surround me before my hasty move, but I wasn’t given the time to stand or think as they chased after so fast they were little more than black blurs. A burst of air from my left hand spun me out of the way and onto my feet. And a sloppy dirt wall bought me a moment to orient myself.
One beast still mewling on the ground as it pawed at its bloody mouth and four more fast approaching. That's all I had time for before one launched itself at me from a nearby tree. A blast of air knocked it away but another was already leaping in from the side. I leaned deep into my air sense to keep track of them all as I sent blast after blast to keep them at bay. My slow retreat was cut off as they managed to surround me.
I launched a stone shard at the one to my right, and while it managed to avoid a fatal wound I still took out a back leg. Unfortunately, the others were fast enough to avoid the stones now that the surprise was gone.
They took turns darting in to bite at me as I struggled to fend them off. I managed a few minor hits with my wind blades but I was wearing down fast. When I saw the injured one stumble I was already on the move, charging in with a wind propelled leap and sending twin blades of wind to guarantee a hit. Even then, the beast nearly avoided both but took a large gash down the side. I finished it off with a blade to the throat as I landed next to it and turned back to see the open mouth of another one approaching.
I narrowly ducked under it as it flew by, claws leaving bloody furrows down my back, but was caught by the second one waiting behind it. Its lunge took me down by the leg and the face full of leaves as I hit the ground bought enough time for the last beast to pounce. It tore into my back with four pairs of claws and a swift pillar of dirt was the only thing preventing its mouth from closing on my neck.
Blocking out the pain, I sent a flurry of wind blades behind me and burst forward as soon as I felt the claws release. I shot up with a burst of wind and kicked off a tree with another burst to propel me further. I clumsily leapt from tree to tree with bursts of air as I bounced off trunks and branches, leaves and twigs whipping against my face as I broke through them.
The beasts were far faster than me, but I was hoping to have the advantage up in the trees. My senses told me that only one was keeping up, the others likely too wounded to follow at top speed. I was nearly out of mana so I couldn’t let this chase drag on.
As the beast approached, I jumped off a branch, leaving me wide open to attack while I sailed through the air. It took the bait and leaped after me for the kill. Kicking off the momentarily solid air in front of me, I flipped backwards over the beast and sent a blade of air through its neck as it flew past.
Unfortunately all my grace had been used up during that stunt and I fell heavily to the ground after breaking through a few branches. I picked myself up with a groan and checked that the beast was dead. Seeing its severed head and no sign of the others, I took the moment to gasp for air and deal with some of the worst bleeding. I couldn’t waste more mana on blocking the pain and nearly collapsed as it all came rushing back.
The countless wounds covering my body threatened to bleed me dry, even if none of them were particularly deep. Most of the skin on my back had been shredded and my stomach was nearly opened up from the numerous cuts. My right arm had been torn up and the bone was cracked in multiple places but I was just thankful it hadn’t been my throat.
I was able to slow the bleeding down enough to give me time to gather more mana, so I started right away while I walked over to investigate the body. It was covered in short fur that was as black as night and rough and prickly to the touch. The back legs were heavily muscled while the front two pairs were a bit slimmer. The tail stretched out at least as long as the body and split into two near the middle. The head was short, with a wide mouth containing four large incisors and one long pointed ear on each side.
As much as I wanted to look at it further, the other beasts could show up at any time and I didn’t have the energy to fight them. With some of the mana I had gathered so far, I cut off the paws and tail to stuff in my pouches and realized the belt and pouches across my chest were gone. I couldn’t do anything about it now so I picked up the severed head and started back towards my shelter.
The walk was long and arduous, the previous encounters leaving me tense and wary. I alternated between gathering mana and mending my flesh as well as bursts of energy to keep my tired body moving. I was starting to regret bringing the head with me and the sun was practically setting when I finally started to recognize my surroundings.
As I approached the clearing I was surprised to see a lone goblin, one arm clutching a knife and the other hanging limply by its side, standing in front of my shelter and staring out into the darkening forest. I was tired and just wanted to lie down, but as the goblin locked eyes with me and tensed up, I knew it would have to wait a bit longer.