The demon bear that had first greeted Seth when he arrived lazed around contently, nearby the carcass of its recent kill continued to bleed heavily onto the ground while only half eaten by the lazy monster. Almost as if the creature didn’t believe anything was a threat to it, it slept out in the open in clear view of any creature that would happen to pass by. That would not remain the case for long, however, as suddenly the shaft of a crossbow bolt buried itself into the side of the beast.

Roaring in pain and rage as it awoke, it couldn’t stop the fact that two more bolts buried themselves into its massive sides. Only saved by its thick skin, one would be hard pressed to determine just how long it would survive if it kept being peppered like this.

Turning towards the direction of where the bolts had been coming from, it was just barely able to move its massive head out of the way as a fourth bolt slammed into its meaty shoulder. The demon bear didn’t care though and began charging, uncaring of the fact that more and more of the bolts were flying from the foliage of the woods. Before long however, its movements would become sluggish, its speed diminishing to a crawl, until finally it collapsed onto the ground barely able to breathe until finally it couldn’t even do that.

Once everything seemed to have calmed down and the demon bear was finally dead a figure would step out of the surrounding foliage. Wearing what could be described as a makeshift ghillie suit, barely any features of the person could be seen save for his dark green eyes. Taking off the head piece it was revealed that it was Seth of all people who had just killed the beast, now much more haggard looking as his face was a mess of facial hair and badly maintained hair that looked like it had been cut with a knife.

Crossbow appearing in his hands from his inventory, bolt already loaded and ready, Seth would carefully approach the beast before stopping once only a few inches away from it. Giving its slack body a prod with his crossbow, it made no move from his act and Seth gave a sigh of relief as his crossbow went away and was replaced by a stone knife. Without hesitation, he began the process of skinning the beast, or as close to it as he could as every slash he made his realm of power took over and removed chunks of its fur and skin and left behind only its muscle, bones, and organs. Once that was done, a hatchet took the blades place and much like before chunk after chunk disappeared to his inventory, catalogued and ready for future use.

Not one to waste possible supplies, quickly gathered the demon bear's prior catch as well before pulling a water skin from his inventory and washing his hands clean of the blood that had gotten onto his hands. Once he was cleaned, and his bolts gathered, Seth was off.

With a grace and skill that only someone who’d spent months practicing, it didn’t take long for him to reach the cave that had been his home that entire time. Once a small little hut with barely enough room to stand up in, his time living in it and renovating had changed it beyond expectation as the cave lead entrance lead into a large open area filled with all manners of amenities such as wood furniture covered in the pelts of his many kills, a fireplace with what looked to be a stone chimney leading out into a small exit, and most of all a dedicated crafting area filled with workbenches and crafting tables covered in half finished projects.

Effectively a five star suite of outdoor living, Seth would gaze upon his efforts with a mix of pride for what he had done to accomplish such a feat but also melancholy as this was his last day living here.

Having done what he had set out to accomplish, killing the one creature that seemed to be the undisputed king of this forest he had been living in and possessed the most danger if he had tried to travel, he had no reason to keep hiding away and was free to finally head out and hopefully find a village of some kind.

Having been preparing for this day, Seth already had everything he’d possibly need as his inventory was filled with food for the journey and plenty of filled water skins. If he needed more though, he doubted it would be much trouble to find what he needed. With all that said and done, and a quick look outside to see it was already growing dark, Seth would close the entrance to the cave he’d called home with another stone wall and made his way over to his makeshift bed where could rest for the night.

Sleep, unfortunately, was slow to come to him as his mind was filled with the thoughts and possibilities of his travel. Would he reach a town soon, would they be humans like him, would they accept him looking like such a wild man? All these thoughts and more swirled about in his skull and it would be hours before sleep finally claimed him. When morning came, Seth barely gave the morning any thought as he placed a few strips of meat on the stone pan he’d made and placed them on the fire to cook, once done and Seth had his fill he set about breaking everything down and storing it in his inventory until nothing save for the sputtering embers of his fire were left after he drenched it in water.

Finally exiting his cave, Seth took a deep breath to prepare himself and without wasting any more time set off.

***

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2 weeks had passed since Seth had set out and in that time he’d come to discover a few things. The first and foremost was that not having a map of any kind while trying to leaves forest was the worst thing to ever exist as he couldn’t even climb any of the massive skyscraper sized trees to get his bearing, the rest were that not having a consistent access to any form of water made traveling a nightmare on your nerves as everyday you had to wonder just how much you needed to conserve what you did have and the fact that traveling through a forest was one of the most boring things ever since everything looked exactly the same and he was left with just his thoughts while on constant edge whether or not something might be trying to sneak up on him.

Eventually though, after days of traveling, Seth would finally see what he could only describe as the edge of the forest. Tempering his excitement on the off chance it was just a clearing, his worries were rendered moot the moment passed the final tree that marked the end and beginning of the forest. Now free to see all that laid before him, the sun finally visible without the overwhelming canopy of leaves, Seth found himself shocked at what he saw.

Like a mountain of stone, glass, and metal, a massive castle could be seen far off in the distance. While Seth had no way to actually gauge just how far it was, it looked to possibly be hours to days away yet could be seen so clearly even though normally something so far off would be hidden behind the horizon. It was then that Seth remembered his arrival and how the entire world looked to have been a flat plate of land surrounded and not a proper world like he was used to. Wondering if that meant the world lacked any form of horizon, Seth was tempted to find the highest mountain he could find when he had the chance and see whether or not the rest of this world acted in a similar manner.

Stowing those ideas for a later date, Seth finally pulled his eyes away from the castle and noticed that there was a dirt road that looked to be heading in the direction of the castle. Not only that, but he also noticed a wagon traveling along and being pulled by horses. Excitement rising at the sight, he barely gave a second thought before racing towards the wagon as fast as his legs could carry him as he called out to whomever was driving.

“Hey! Hey you! I need some help, please!” He called out, noticing what looked to be the driver looking in his direction but unable to tell for sure as they looked like a blob of color while so far off. Even still, Seth pressed onwards and eventually made it close enough to see just who was driving the wagon. Instead of seeing a normal human like he’d expect, however, a large man who looked to be an anthropomorphic bull sat in the driver’s seat. Surprised by such a sight, Seth lost control of his footing and sure enough he tripped and tumbled through the tall grass that surrounded the road. After a few seconds, Seth would grunt in pain as he felt something hit his head and before long he lost consciousness.

At some point, Seth would eventually find himself waking up to the sound of hooves clopping and wood creaking. Thoughts still frazzled from the hit he had taken from his own stupidity, he was slow to sit up and look around but eventually he saw just where he was. He was in a wagon, or rather specifically the wagon of the person he had been racing after as the large bull man was happily humming to himself while keeping his eyes on the road. Unsure what exactly to say, Seth was unprepared for the man to suddenly speak up.

“That was a nasty hit you take back there. You’re lucky I happened to have the supplies for a head wound like that.” Sounding easy going yet gruff in tone of voice, Seth lost his train of thought at being noticed before quickly clearing his throat.

“Sorry about that, but thanks for helping me out all the same.” Looking back, the man would give Seth a once over before looking back to the road.

“No problem. Travelers need to watch out for one another, and it seems like you’ve been on your own for quite a while.” At that, Seth would nod in agreement before remembering the man wasn’t looking at him.

“That’s one way to put it. I’ve been living in that forest for the past few months and I only just got out.”

“Sounds like quite the struggle. That does make me a tad curious though. How did you survive out there all on your own? I didn’t see any supplies on you while I carried you to my cart.” Not having thought about making a pack of any sort due to the ease of simply using his inventory, Seth realized that it must have seemed strange and quickly tried to think up and answer.

“I lost most of my supplies while trying to leave the forest. What you see is all I have left?”

“Is that so? That’s a shame then.”

“Why do you say that?” Seth asked, unsure why the large bull man suddenly sounded so grim.

“Without any supplies, how exactly do you plan on trading for the ride and medicine I gave you?”

“I’m sorry? Didn’t you just say travelers have to look out for one another?” The large bull man nodded.

“I did, but as a businessman I’ve also got to look out for myself as well. I do hope you understand, especially since you’ll need to work hard to pay off your debt.”

“Now hold on just a moment-” Before Seth could say anything else, he would suddenly feel a shock run from his ankle and across his body. Essentially getting tazed with what felt like a thousand volts of electricity, he was forced to sit back down and the shock finally settled down. Looking towards the source of where the feeling came from, Seth’s eyes were wide at the sight of a chain attached to ankle.

“You must not be from around here if something like that is such a shock to you, but here in Noxis people take their debt very seriously, especially merchants like myself.”

Dread rising as Seth finally understood everything, he could do nothing but watch with wide eyes in silence as the large bull of a man laughed at his own pun as the two of them continued on their way, all the while the castle off on the distance grew ever closer as if to hammer home the fate he now found himself in.