Today is the day I leave this place. Even though the temperature in here is mild, I can tell. Outside it’s cold. As in, it’s winter. I head towards the light from the outside, streaming in through a crevice. The light is initially blinding, but I quickly get used to it.
Once at the exit, I survey the surrounding forest. The exit is on top of a small hill that is clear of any growth. The reason could be the lack of appropriate temperature or moisture, but I knew better. Making my way through the thick layer of snow, down the hill and into the forest I quickly realized that I was currently naked.
I stopped to ponder my immediate priorities. My will was being strained just from keeping me alive as I was now. This was due to me sustaining my hunger and warming my body through the use of magic. Using my mana core to use fire magic in order to heat my vital organs as well as life magic to sustain energy levels in my body, was taxing on my mind. And because I just woke, my mind was not as it should be.
As I was pondering this, my spirit picked up movement. In its current shape, my spirit was like mist that followed my body in a severed sphere shape. As I was standing still, my spirit was not moved by my will. Therefore, the shift was caused by something or someone else.
I quickly gathered and compressed my spirit around me in a layer, as I used mana to empower my limbs. Jumping away, and obscuring my body behind a sturdy pine, I caught a glimpse of the disturbance.
Two shapes, human in height, darkly colored, roughly two hundred paces away were moving in my direction. I quickly conjured mana and empowered my perception of sound.
“Did you see that too?”
“You mean that the being we not five minutes ago turned out to be a man”
“Yeah, that and then what he did”
“Well I guess the guy disappeared when he got embarrassed from being seen naked, huh”
“Yeah, but no one can literally disappear man”
“Maybe he wasn’t there in the first place?”
“What do you mean?”
“You know what the elders say about this mountain, that it’s guarded by the mountain lords, and that approaching it is dangerous?”
“You think that was a lord? A wyvern?”
“Idiot, of course the MAN was not a WYVERN! No, but the danger part of the warning, maybe approaching the mountain is dangerous because of the concentration of magic around here. Maybe what we sensed was a … mirage, or sprite? I mean, can you see any footprints to where he was?”
“No, but with this heavy snowfall and poor light…”
“Which reminds me, we should be getting back soon. The sun is long past its zenith”
“Yeah, I ‘spose”
The men started walking again and by the sound of it, they were walking away. From their discussion, I gathered that they did not know of my current location, or actually of my existence at all. Therefore I took a risk. I enhanced my vision the same way I did for sound, and jumped to a vantage point on the tree. From there I saw the two men between trees, both dressed in winter robing made from the fur of local animals. They also had several deceased hares and a couple of foxes over their shoulders. The man in front, who was slightly bigger, had an unmistakable bear head mounted on his left shoulder as some sort of shoulder guard. It might also be purely cosmetic. They both had furry hoods, bows, arrows and knives.
As the two entered the thicker and central part of the forest, I settled on the branch. It was bending quite a lot under the strain of my weight. Normal pines would buckle, but the ones in this forest were remarkably sturdy. This was because of the additional and strong nutrition they received over the course of the years. Especially the ones further uphill.
My priorities remain. Find food and heat, this strain on my will cannot go on. At this rate my sanity might take a dip. I also need to gather myself so that slip ups like this one won’t happen again.
The reason I had been spotted by the hunters was unmistakably because I had let my spirit roam free. A thoughtless mistake, I had been lucky it did not have any serious repercussions. I would have to keep it condensed around me for the time being.
From the tree branch I also realize that there are no beasts in the nearby vicinity. This is because only the hunters disturbed my spirit earlier. They must all have ran from the hunters. If I presume that the hunters are headed back to, and came from Brill, which is a village north of the forest, I should search the eastern part of the forest for food. Because of the nearby demon continent to the south east, I am also less likely to encounter humans in the eastern part of the forest.
As I enter the thick of the forest, I once again ascend to the branches and use them as platforms for hunting. From here I send out weak pulses of spirit to detect life. All living beings have some spirit surrounding them, even these pines. But generally, I find the “more living” the being is, the more spirit, and the more spirit it has, the more the mist of spirit moves around its epicenter. Thus I am able to discern pine from prey. This rule for spirit however, only holds true for those without control.
I am sending out pulses from atop branches. Therefore my search radius is lessened because I’m using some of my spirit to extend the pulse to the ground. Being on the branches is somewhat useless, as I can sense most beasts long before they can sense me. But because I have no idea of who could be watching and through what means, I have to stay careful.
After a while I locate a bear. I move through the branches as silently has possible until I am over it, all the while being wary of observers. I need to end this quickly and cleanly. I jump and aim myself at the bear. Utilizing earth magic, I create a suit of rock. The moment created by this from the height of the trees create a guillotine effect. Except the guillotine blade is a fist encased in compressed rock and the bears head does not become cleanly severed, it becomes cleanly squashed.
Using my spirit I now form a crater around the bear, using the slopes to hide myself. Now, food and clothing. Using earth magic again, I raise the bear onto a smooth marble table that blends with the snow. I now use air magic whilst holding the bear with my spirit as I begin dissecting the animal. Making sure the pelt is cleanly severed from the flesh, I separate the two and use fire magic to cook the meat. I eat my fill and cook the rest for later.
Turning my attention to the pelt, I use fire magic in combination with minerals from the corpse to turn it into leather. Using the leather and strips thereof, I craft a sash with pouches. Next, I store the cooked and now cooled portions of bear meat in these, bury the remains of the carcass, along with a smashed marble table. Smoothing the hole over with snow, I lower the crater walls and ascend to the heights again.
I repeat the process, hunting the larger animals of the forest until my outfit looks similar to the ones on the hunters from earlier. With my body clothed and my belly full, my short term goals were fulfilled. Now I needed information. Who were those hunters? Were they from Brill? Had any new settlements been established? Had some vanished?
The snowfall grew heavier as I approached the previous location of the border village. As the forest started to thin, I managed to get a vantage point surveying the south-eastern point of the wall. From this distance I could make out guards posted in the watch towers. The walls seemed to have infrequent patrols, probably a courtesy of the heavy snowfall. I was keeping my spirit close, to avoid detection, as I had no idea of what sort of detection method the guards posted used, if any.
The reason I was avoiding detection was simple; a man found in the wilderness in the middle of winter would be questioned. And when found that the man has no connection to anyone in the vicinity, or anyone at all, this man would be asked A LOT of questions. I might possibly even be arrested based on suspicion of being a demon spy alone. Based on this, the current plan was to wait out the winter and to join the eventual stream of frontline traders and merchants that came to the border village of Brill.
From the looks it seemed that the guards, like the hunters, were humans. Taking in account the crude wooden construction on and of some of the watchtowers, I found it safe to assume that the inhabitants were human. The village wall had undergone repairs in some places, and in other places holes had been fitted with gates and watchtowers. Though, there were not many of these, at least on from this side. Makes sense, if this city still is on the border to the demonlands.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I could discern a total of five stone towers. If memory serves, this means that one tower is either obscured by another, or has fallen. Four of the towers were made up corners of a square on the oval shaped wall. The two remaining ones used to guard the main entrance of the city, to the north. The one that was missing was the one to the east of said entrance.
In the distance, I could see a tall building. This was what used to be the village keep and garrison, back when the city was governed by the dwarves. I assumed it still was used for the same purpose.
From my interaction with the human hunters earlier, my appearance was passable as a human male. I should probably verify the fact myself anyway, caution is key currently. I can probably get into this city if I come up with some excuse, but is it worth the risk? I can always return in the spring with traders. I decide against it, I have time on my side anyway.
Instead I decide to get information out of hunters that come and go. So, I wait. While waiting, to entertain myself, I build myself a little platform to sit on. Focusing on my mana core, I will life magic to gain control over the tree’s branch management.
Normally, the tree would wish for the branches to grow outwards in order to absorb more sunlight. Taking over that process, I make it grow a sturdy platform. This technique is a trait of a certain nature-loving race, which they typically utilize in order to create their homes and cities. I hope it still is.
The growth of the branch is rather slow if left to be powered by natural nutrients alone. I compress some of my spirit in a thin blade and cut my palm. I then cut the trunk of the tree in a similar fashion and place the two bleeding wounds on each other.
Forcing the tree to use my blood as nutrients is not something nature lovers would do. Life magicians, on the other hand, would use their own life to strengthen their magic. This was considered the ultimate path for life magicians previously. Those who mastered it were hailed as blood magicians, or dreaded as the enemy of life by others.
As I grew my platform, I continued to suppress and compress my spirit while keeping a look out for more hunters. Unsurprisingly for a city of its size, there weren’t a lot of hunters. In fact, there were currently none leaving or approaching the city. This was probably because citizens of cities were not hunters, and had stocked up on supplies for the winter. It was also reasonable to assume that the hunters did the same. It was cold after all. No need to take extra risks.
That said, there were people entering and exiting the city, just not hunters. From their armor and their team composition, it was obvious that these people were not out to hunt simple beasts. These people were adventurers, a scouting company, escorts or emissaries. However, because of the three warriors’ mismatched armor, they were likely either adventurers or mercenaries hired by the remaining four.
Their group was headed south, towards the forest, and was quite a distance left from my position. For now, I figure I can trail these people for information. Hopefully they will be more talkative than hunters, since they have no reason not to scare away animals. At this point my platform was complete, and was in the shape of a semi-circle with the trunk of the tree as its center. I remove my hand from the tree, stop my life magic and head in the direction of the group.
Nine weeks have passed. The snow is starting to melt, birds and insects are coming out, and the frequency of merchants and other travelers travelling to the city of Brill has already doubled.
The information I have gathered from adventurers and the occasional hunting party is small when compared to the time invested. However after nine weeks, even a small trickle of information every so often becomes a mound in the end.
Firstly, the residents are exclusively human. No elves, no dwarves and absolutely no demons. Though, with that said, there are people there that don’t qualify as residents. Servants, mostly elves but also some dwarves do reside with some of the more influential residents.
Secondly, the city of brill is a border city true to its nature. The hierarchy is based on strength and military prowess. As such, the mayor of the city, Thomas Bear, is hailed a genius strategist and proven a worthy combatant. His son too, Eric Bear, is hailed a genius. Though, in contrast to his father, he isn’t praised for his tactical ability. Rather, for his age, his strength is on par or rumored to be greater than his fathers. This places him as the top fighter in the city, and has given his family clan the nickname “the Bearbarians”. Because of his strength, his father has chosen him as champion for the city in the annual tournament in the capital of the holy empire. The adventurers also seem to refer to him as “brat”, in a loving way. This is especially true amongst the female adventurers.
Thirdly, the city is organized thusly. The village keep is the center of power for the city, and is called a town hall by its residents. Families living closer to the town hall typically have more influence over the city. The lower levels have remained mostly untouched since the humans took the city from the dwarves. Some of the underground forges are still in operation; however most of the residents consider the subterranean halls to be dirty, undignified and slightly heretic to the god of light and prosperity.
Thus the only residents are the impoverished and ruffians. In fact, some of the forges are controlled and operated by these slave traders and black market dealers that make the halls their home. Though, the adventurers view themselves as followers of the light and all that is holy. Thus, they claim to never have gone there and that they are “merely speculating based on rumors”.
Lastly, the demons have not attacked for nearly a century, giving the residents a sense security. The adventurers also speculate that the demon continent has internal struggles and maybe even internal strife. With this reasoning, they believe the church of light will use the opportunity to strike into the “unholy and dark lands of the heretics”. Some even consider joining the crusade, if it comes about.
Sitting in my tree surveying the comings and goings of the eastern, visible gates, I gaze onto my humble, temporary residence. Using life magic with the technique of the elves combined with the blood magic, I have expanded the trunk of the tree to a diameter of a meter. I could have made it wider, but that would look too unnatural. The branch on which I currently stand is widened at its base, and slims into a regular size branch over 2 meters. From here, I can walk into a hollowed part of the trunk. Inside is nothing but access to an enlarged and hollowed branch I use for sleep when my body and minds requires it.
However, it’s about time I leave this place. With spring on the doorstep, I can probably enter the city without raising many eyebrows. Jumping from branch to branch I head west through the forest which surrounds what the adventurers simply call “The mountains” or “The white nest”.
Before me are the plains between this forest and the one on the other side. There is a line roughly in the middle of these plains which is devoid of any melting piles of snow. This is the path made from the carriages and footprints of the travelers coming and leaving the city. And it is my current destination.
I leave the safety of the forest and expose myself to the sight of strangers on the path. The city is quite the distance away from me right now, as I want to see if humans react strangely to my appearance. I am still wearing makeshift hunter outfit made primarily from bears, supplemented by wolf and rabbit. I also made a crude set of bow and arrow from stones, wood and animal intestines. The process was helped along with some magic to make the tools seem less basic. To add to my hunter-esque appearance, my sash has corpses of rabbit hanging from it. In addition to this, I made sure not to wash using water magic. To sum it up, I was wearing bloody rags.
Using life magic to see the expressions of merchants who saw, I was relieved when they showed clear signs of disgust and hastened their pace. Good, I have achieved a look that creates distance between me and others. Hopefully this will have similar effects on the guards and any other onlookers.