Its getting a bit deep 

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Chapter 4

Skills ? What Skills?

“You have to make a choice in life

Be The Wolf the Lamb 

Or the Sheepdog. 

I pity those who Choose the Lamb”

Unknown (Author)

Coming awake with a scream I jumped out of bed crash through a door then another one to find myself standing in the middle of a small village. About that time reality made itself known to my addled fear ridden brain. The first thoughts through my mind were 'Bed?...Doors ? What the hell! Where are the god damn rabbits from hell!' Looking around I see a average medieval looking village, one you would expect to see at some sort of tourist trap in Europe.

I see many people standing around looking at me with curiosity, some of these people though..Well they were not any kind I have ever seen before. Some of them stood about five foot tall were covered in different shades of light to dark brown fur. These 'maybe critters, hallucinations,people?' had fox tails about two foot long. Their shape was humanoid in appearance, arms legs heads eye's etc All looked pure human if you were to remove the fur. Seeing one that was obviously female I added 'breasts' to the list. The only difference was the tail and a set of ears straight off of a cat or fox.

The 'foxcat people?' were dressed in a range of what looked like homespun clothing to a couple that had from my impression boiled leather armor. The 'humans' were also dressed in the same fashion. The village itself had a homey feel to it, there was a blacksmith sign attached to one large building with a thatched roof. Another sign a little further down the row of buildings had a needle and thread design on it. In the center of the village was a well with a old style pulley system to draw water out of.

Moving my head back and forth taking all this in, I suddenly felt a bit exposed. Glancing down I discovered why. Yep I was in my birthday suit. Thinking 'Not again!' That was a bit much for my little mind to take and without a single bye your leave.... decided It was time for another nap. I hit the ground like a sack of unwashed clothes... Once again everything went dark.

A unknown length of time later the inner me decided nap time was over. Opening my eyes I found myself back in bed again. My thoughts that maybe I had just been dreaming though were quickly dashed. This was not my bedroom nor was this my bed. “Where the fuck am I?” came tumbling out of my big mouth. At my words a gruff feminine voice to my right replied startling me “you are in the village of Washburn young man and you will keep a civil tongue in that head unless you want to loose it”

Looking towards the voice I see a older woman frowning at me, she looks around fifty years old and has a powerful matriarchal appearance. Seeing her I am reminded of my Great grandmother.. Ashamed of my potty mouth a bit I said to her “Sorry about that..I didn't know anyone was here and well..all of this is a bit of a shock”.

Her frown quickly turned into a smile and she chuckled and said “That's alright young man, No harm done this time. You just remember... from now on to keep that tongue of yours civil.. I would hate to have to cut it out.” My eyes went wide at that comment, I wisely just nodded my head. Once again she spoke “So what is your name boy?” responding to the question in my traitorous voice I squeaked out “Richard ma,am” Nodding her head she said “Wish I could say well met but... you have caused quite the uproar in our little village. It was bad enough when little Tommy came screaming back into the village yelling about seeing you fighting those nasty were-rabbits. When the men came back to the village with you half dead and with two of those things still latched onto you..Well the talking and jaw jacking just got worse.”

“Then yesterday you took first prize” confused I looked at her and said “Hu.....First prize?” Laughing loudly she stated “yep! First prize! The most talked about person or event ever in our little village.” Saying this while laughing uproariously and slapping her leg I was still left laying there confused. I said “Excuse me...What happened yesterday?” Causing the poor woman to almost faint from how hard she was laughing.

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Tears in her eyes she told me “Yesterday afternoon you woke up screaming and tore out of here like the hounds of hell were on your heals and didn't stop till you were in the center of town. Once there you took one look around and promptly fainted...... Wouldn't have been all that bad youngster..But for the fact you were naked. That little fact is going to keep tongues wagging in this little village for a long long time.”

letting out a long sigh and blushing a bit which caused the woman to start laughing again I gave my head a little shake at how ridiculous things had been going so far. Realizing something from what the woman had said I snapped my head back around and asked “you said that was yesterday?..How long have I been here? And before i seem to be ruder then I already am may I have the honor of you name?”

Grinning she said “My name is Martha Woodburn and you have been here ever sense Leeroy Jenkins and some other men dragged you out of the lake half dead four days ago. I must ask you Richard what ever possessed you to fight those nasty were-rabbits? Ever sense those things moved into the forest a few years ago even battle hardened fighters won't set foot near the place.”

With a Sheepish look on my face I told her about what had happened to me over the last five days. As I was speaking her expression went from a smile to a frown then back again, Shaking her head and chuckling at my story she said “That story is too far fetched to be a lie, Bad business 'Old Yella' is.. Tommy is going to be crushed when he finds out.. No helping it I suppose, That dog has been a thorn in the village's side for almost a year now. I for one thank you for putting that poor beast out of it misery. The goddess of luck surely must favor you..If that dog had even scratched you.....Well lets not talk about bad things that didn't happen right now.”

Standing up and moving to the door she says “wait here a moment and I will bring you something to eat and some clothes.” My face turned a bit red at her words and I lifted up the bed covers....sure enough I was naked. again.. 'I have spent an entirely disturbing amount of time recently naked in front of others' I thought to myself.

After a few minutes Martha returned with my clothes and a tray of food. Noticing that my killer shirt wasn't present, and had been replaced with a new one made from homespun cotton I asked “Martha? What happened to my shirt?” answering me she said “We had to cut it off of you to pry that were-rabbit off. Those things are worse then lockjaw turtles once they get hold of you.”

Hearing her words I quickly looked to my right arm where the beasty had been attached and saw nothing but clean undamaged skin. Almost exclaiming WTF again I bit it off midway through and only said “WHAT THE....” Glancing at Martha I saw here eyebrow raise up a bit. Ignoring her for the moment I poked and prodded my arm. “Martha... Why is there no wound?” With a broad smile she said “After your story I was expecting that question, Especially sense you are the first from a new world. I bet things have been pretty confusing to you recently.”

Nodding yes to her she continued “You have no wound because in this world they heal over time. How fast they heal is based on how bad the wound is etc.. As long as you don't die your wounds will always heal.... I am sure you have many questions but for now why don't you eat and get yourself dressed. I will be out in the kitchen when you are ready.” Thanking her as she left I turned to the food she had brought and attacked it like someone who hadn't eating anything in over five days.

After eating I threw back the covers and looked myself over. I marveled at all the changes I had gone through over the last six days. It boggled my mind about the automatic healing also... This was going to save millions of lives back on Earth.

Noticing a blinking miniature box at the right of my vision I focused on it and suddenly was inundated with so many blue box's it covered my entire range of vision.

Ding

Ding

Ding

Ding

Ding

Ding

Ding

Ding

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End Part 1  Next part will have a lot of blue boxes mixed in. Fleshing out skills etc