Golden-brown and crispy skin, with salty fat that just melts in your mouth. My god! I could not imagine being one of those scrawny vegans, who never eat meat. Forgive them, oh heavenly father, for they do not know what they are doing.
I silently chanted a prayer in my mind for their shrinking brains as their bodies slowly withered, starving for nutrients.
Well… not my problem! The feast was ready, the wild boar fully prepared just as day just turned to night. All seven of us bit into the succulent flesh, feeling our very Souls tremble with pleasure. This, this was Heaven, if there existed one!
Eating one of the best meals a hungry man could get, in the company of his friends, and relaxing around a campfire. Sitting in nature and having fun after an exhausting day, instead of slowly decaying behind a computer all day, in a home full of clutter, alone.
I used to think I didn’t like the company of other people. Well, I still liked being on my own, but over the months I came to realize it wasn’t so bad. Especially when you had fun together.
Leaning back in my seat I was slowly chewing on a morsel of meat, a bone with a chunk of steaming goodness in my hand. I tore into it every once in a while. Well, tore might not be the right word. The meat basically fell off the bone on its own and melted in my mouth.
It was nice. It was really, really nice. What I wouldn’t give to have my entire life be like that. Maybe add a few girls and a jug of wine and it would be perfect! Hah, what a dream…
I tried, I tried so damn hard not to think of the consequences, but I couldn’t help it. I just knew too much. I knew how things would end if I gave in and indulged in my carnal desires too much. The mind was strong, but the flesh was weak.
There was a quote that came to mind. I read it somewhere, on the internet probably. It seemed suitable for this moment. [Comfort is a drug. It’s addictive. Give a weak man regular sex, good food, and cheap entertainment, and he’ll throw his ambitions right out of the window. The comfort zone is where dreams go to die.]
I said it quietly, too quietly for anyone to hear it, but for me, it was like wisdom from a god. My dreams and ambitions wouldn't be so easily snuffed out. I didn’t consider myself a weak man, but I knew all too well how rapidly laziness could take root. How stagnation and mediocrity could quickly become a friend.
I was average all my life. I didn’t push my limits, despite having ample opportunities to do so. I only did things that interested me, what I found fun. The first time I did anything of significance in my life was when I was transported to this world. When I had to fight for my life.
I smiled grimly and circulated my Qi, feeling the pain of cell destruction sting my body.
Existence is pain. Change is suffering. Growth is discomfort.
A mantra to keep me on the straight and narrow. I couldn’t afford to slip. I doubted I would get another chance to do things over. Even the last time was a fluke. The Phoenix Necklace wasn’t even guaranteed to work, and now it was gone, used up to reconstruct my body.
That was it. If I died now, it was over. Really and truly over.
I looked at the rest of the guys, completely oblivious to the dangers of this world. Laughing and joking with each other while eating good food. My eyes glowed with Qi as I looked around our little camp. My sensitive Soul detected movement, though I could not locate it. I just knew it was close.
I shaded my eyes with one hand and lifted the other high in the air.
[Let there be light.] I murmured.
There came a blinding flash for a moment, and I could see movement in the distance. It was some kind of animal. Perhaps a wolf or something similar, I couldn’t really tell. But it got spooked by the flash and ran away before I could see it better.
“Ow!”
“My eyes!”
“Gerald, what the hell?!”
They were angry/irritated, but it was understandable. It was at fault. I didn’t consider them before acting.
[Sorry, I thought I heard something.]
“Uh…” Chity rubbed his eyes, still partially blinded by the sudden flash. “Well, alright, but give us a warning next time! Did you at least see something?”
[No.] I lied. But whatever it was, it ran away. It wasn’t worth mentioning anymore. [Must have been the wind.]
“…Whatever.”
That put a damper on the mood, but it was already late anyway. We stored away what wasn’t eaten and soon went to sleep. After I remolded our seats into comfortable stone beds. At least more comfortable than the ground.
[Good night, everyone.] I said.
“Goodnight!” The rest answered.
As my consciousness drifted away into the land of dreams, my last thought made me wonder if I could see in infrared. That would be cool. To be explored another time.
[Zzzz…]
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“Get him!” I heard Blade’s shout as I ran, avoiding low-hanging branches and thorny bushes in my way.
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“He went to the left!” Chity hollered somewhere to my right as I changed directions. “Go, go, go! Cut him off!”
Looking left I saw Ban running with a bow in hand, arrows already nocked and ready to be fired. Similarly, to my right and slightly behind me, was Ken with his crossbow ready to shoot.
“If you see him, shoot!”
“I got him!” I heard Pero holler from up front, and immediately after came a sound of the crunching wood and a scream.
“Get down!”
I ducked, and an arrow whizzed above my head somewhere in the bush ahead, with a second one following right behind it, further to the left. I scrambled back to my feet just as a roar came from the front, and ran towards it.
Elemental Avatar became immediately active, and my weight tripled as I increased gravity over myself. Like an angry rhino, I broke through the ferns in my path and shoulder-bashed whatever was in my way.
An angry roar came as the black bear I smashed into was knocked off course, his smoldering claws narrowly missing Pero who was pinned on the ground beneath the beast with the broken shaft of his pike still in hand.
[Quickly! Get out of here!] I yelled at him and immediately after cast a spell to encase the beast in a stone cage.
Pero barely had enough time to express his thanks as he got up when the stone containment was breached by a massive glowing bear paw and an enraged roar. The Blaze Bear we were tracking all morning was finally cornered not far from its cave.
It was just running around harmlessly in a circle when it suddenly turned aggressive and attacked. Good thing I was close or we would quickly be a teammate short!
[Get behind me!] I shouted, and Pero moved, and not a moment too late. The Blaze Bear spat out a column of flames which I effortlessly counteracted with a Wind Blade and returned the attack with a strike of my glaive.
The enraged beast then slammed its front paws on the ground, producing earthquake-like shakes that split the earth and traveled toward us. Crude hands of earth formed from it, going for my legs. An inferior form of Earth magic that I stomped out into nothingness with a single pulse of Null Magic.
The Blaze Bear’s spell simply collapsed without effect.
“Get out of there!” I heard Chity’s shout and we jumped to the side, after which three arrows hit the Blaze Bear on the shoulders and chest.
The beast roared and rose to its hind legs, but instead of intimidation, that display of power only served to make it a bigger target, receiving an arrow to the neck and two to the chest. Together with the broken pike that was still lodged in its ribcage and the arrows on its back, it looked quite worn already.
But that didn’t mean it was quite done yet, far from it. Compared to its massive body, these wounds just served to enrage it further.
As it charged at me with its open maw and saliva flying everywhere, I became worried I might have to reveal some of my powers. Luckily Shi came just in time, stabbing the bear in its front leg with his spear, while Blade struck it in the side of the head with a shield throw.
A bit of an unorthodox move, but it did the job.
The Blaze bear got disorientated for a moment, getting attacked from three sides, and hesitated.
“Flame Arrow!” It hesitated just enough for Chity to shoot his spell, an arrow encased in Fire magic, and strike it into its side. The flames, unfortunately, didn’t take hold, but now the beast had four sides it had to worry about.
Two arrows suddenly hit it in the back, courtesy of Ban and Ken who made their way around to block any escape paths.
Six of us with weapons slowly closed in on the beast, always focusing our attacks wherever it tried to break through. Pero kept pelting it with stones, his pike and shield having been destroyed at the beginning of the fight.
Meanwhile, Shi and I held the Blaze bear at bay with our weapons while the rest kept pelting it with arrows, stones, and occasional magic attacks. The Blaze Bear kept lashing out, but its attacks were all in vain and served only to hasten its demise.
Soon it wasn’t even able to stand anymore, the blood loss and wounds it had sustained greatly limiting its mobility. About an hour after it began, it was finally over. The Blaze Bear was dead, the heat of its fire magic ran out, and it collapsed to the floor, panting and bleeding all over.
It couldn’t even defend itself anymore, and that’s when I deliver a finishing blow, separating its head from its body in one clean strike of my glaive.
“We… We did it!”
“Oh, thank the gods! I thought I was going to die…” Shi collapsed to the ground as well, his arms shaking from attacking with his spear for so long and with adrenaline pumping at full force the entire time. The rest were also breathing heavily, sweat pouring from them and making their clothes all sticky and wet.
It would have surely been a great sight if they were girls, but they were unfortunately all men lacking a shower, with the scruff of their facial hair beginning to come out.
I breathed out slowly and sat on the ground. Only Elders were allowed to carry facial hair, as it was a status symbol and a show of maturity and power. Everyone else had to be clean-shaven, something we would have to fix after returning to the Sect.
Long hair was allowed though, and many men carried long locks of dark brown or black hair. Not me though, even though I wasn’t bald anymore, my hair was still fairly short, and besides, I liked it that way. It was unfortunate that I couldn’t have a beard though, as I quite enjoyed it, and it enhanced my masculine image well.
But back to the main topic… The Blaze Bear lay slain before us and we could finally relax after an hours-long chase and battle. Blood was slowly draining out of it, forming a small puddle.
This was a good kill and exactly what we needed on this expedition. But some didn’t think it was time for celebration just yet, and Chity frowned deeply as he observed the dead beast on the ground.
[Something wrong?]
“I don’t know… Maybe?” He appeared to be deep in thought, glancing in a certain direction every once in a while. “I just don’t get it…”
[Get what?]
“This Blaze bear… Even though it was still young, a decade at most, it should not be acting this way.”
“What are you talking about?” Blade asked while sitting on the floor and resting his hands on his scimitar.
“I mean, just look at it!” Chity pointed at the bear. “It could have easily escaped if it wanted to, but instead it just kept running in circles over, and over, and over…”
“Maybe it was just scared and confused?” Pero suggested, the near-death experience still clearly showing its effects on his pale face.
“Yeah, but that’s not how it is supposed to be!” Chity aggressively scratched the stubble on his chin. “According to what I’ve read in the library, Blaze Bears are either really aggressive, or they just run away when they know they can’t win. They would often abandon their home if a stronger beast challenges them…”
“Protecting its young, maybe?” Ken suggested. “It was running around its cave after all…”
“That’s for females, and this one is not!”
“Are you sure?”
Chity shrugged. “Check it for yourself if you don’t believe me.”
“Alright then!”
Ken went to the bear and tried moving one of its legs. The beast nearly came to his chest even as it was laying down so he struggled a bit. The blood making it slippery didn’t help either, and the rest of us just watched, smirking.
But, eventually, he managed and we could all see the results.
“It’s a boy!” Shi announced loudly. “All hail to our great and wise leader!”
We chuckled and Chity just rolled his eyes. “Alright smartasses, now that we got that out of the way, does anyone have any ideas?”
“Perhaps-”
[We can just check out the cave, no? That should solve our little mystery.] I mentally apologized to Ban for cutting him off, but I was really getting curious now. Speculation and suspense were slowly killing me, and I was dying to know!
Mystery cave, here we come!