When the sun finally set that night, and darkness brought the chill creeping in, Will was as ready as could be. He had managed to make some rudimentary slippers out of two rabbits he had caught, although they were little more than rabbit fur, he had turned into a pouch big enough to put his feet in.
Similarly, he had a pair of grey mittens he had managed to sew out of the remaining fur. While he sewed the mittens and slippers together, he had been reminded of his mother who used to do this after he and his father went hunting.
He almost laughed when he imagined how angry she would be if she saw the terrible job, he had done making the shoes and mittens. Almost.
Finally, he was wrapped in the pelt of the fox, having managed to fashion it into a makeshift blanket that would hopefully keep the chill away.
He had spent the remainder of the day outside the rabbit warren, managing to catch a few more before the sun sank below the horizon. Eventually, he sighed and packed up his gear, walking back through the saplings that had grown another inch since he had killed the fox.
He arrived in the clearing where he had fought the wolfish animal and after some struggle, wormed his way into the fox’s den.
The walls of the den were surprisingly smooth and the whole place smelt distinctly earthy. He noticed he could almost taste the smell of it and wondered if that was another change to his body or his mind playing tricks on him.
After crawling through the shallow tunnel for half a minute, he arrived at a wider portion where leaves and grass had been gathered on the ground. Hidden amidst the little nest was a heap of yellow berries that Will didn’t recognise.
Thankfully, he wasn’t hungry enough to eat the berries since their effects were unknown. He had managed to eat his fill from the rabbits he caught earlier and was feeling strangely satiated. His knowledge of snakes was extremely limited but he had heard from his father they could go days, even weeks without eating. Perhaps this was another benefit of his new body.
Curling up in a ball amidst the dried leaves and grass, he covered himself with the blanket as he felt his body shut down. The cold seemed to sap away all his energy, leaving him utterly exhausted.
The last thing he remembered before falling asleep was a quiet whimper.
-
When he woke up, he felt extremely well rested once again. He wasn’t sure what time it was since daylight didn’t manage to reach this deep into the den, but he could guess it was roughly morning.
His chest felt incredibly warm, and he was extremely glad he had made the blanket when he did. The chill last night had been terrible, but it had kept him safe.
Rolling over to get up, he was startled when something yelped. Jumping up and hitting his head on the roof of the den, Will winced as he looked around, trying to find the source of the noise.
A dull pain in his foot brought his attention down to the little fox that was gnawing on his ankle. It looked up at him indignantly and he realised that he must have rolled over on it when he tried to get up.
When the little creature saw that it had gotten his attention, it yipped at him and jumped up, running out of the cave.
Will wasn’t sure how to feel, should he be wracked with guilt since he killed the helpless creature's parent? Was he supposed to raise it now? That would be the morally correct thing to do but what if it grew big enough to get its revenge on him?
‘Actually, having a wolf to help me fight doesn’t sound like a bad idea. Fox’s have a great sense of smell as well so tracking down herbs for medicine should be in its wheelhouse,’ The more he thought about it, the more it sounded like a good idea.
Maybe one day the fox would even get big enough for him to ride it like a horse! Although he thought this was unlikely.
Crawling out of the cave, he winced slightly as daylight struck him, used to the ever-present gloom of the den. Just in front of the den’s entrance, the little fox was sniffing the ground curiously.
Noticing that it was sniffing a dark brown stain on the ground, Will realised it was sniffing around the spot where he had killed the adult fox.
A pang of guilt struck him, and he couldn’t help sympathising with the fox in a weird, twisted way. Events out of his control had killed his mother and now something similar had happened to it.
He walked over and picked the little thing up as it yapped at him playfully. He smiled slightly, showing his long, arched incisors and looking more than a little suspicious.
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Putting the fox down, it scampered away and sat down on a patch of grass by a small sapling, scratching its back against the little tree.
Will walked over curiously when he noticed the little fox was staring at him expectantly, its blue eyes boring holes into him.
He walked over to where it was sitting and looked down at it. Barely reaching halfway up to his knee the little creature kept nodding its head, gesturing towards its back.
Not quite sure what to do, Will walked behind it and scratched the fox’s back tentatively. The fox’s orange fur was rough, and of course, it felt like he was stroking tree bark. But the little creature seemed to enjoy it, purring slightly which Will didn’t even know foxes could do.
Wondering why the little thing trusted him, he noticed that he smelt extremely strongly of the fox pelt he was wearing. So strong he could almost taste it, no, he could definitely taste it. Which was weird… could snakes taste smell? He wasn’t sure.
Perhaps the little fox instinctively trusted his smell and didn’t feel threatened because of that. A rather macabre way to look at the fact he was wearing its mother’s skin as a cloak.
While he would have liked to stay and play with the fox all day, he needed to continue the journey to Port Vale. If the gods landed in the West and were making their way here, it would be best to scarper before they got to Port-Vale.
He wasn’t really sure how much time he had spent in the egg either so he had no idea whether the gods would be close by or still far away. Which brought up another question. What exactly was the snake? It certainly wasn’t a god and had called itself a creature of spirit and Will wondered if that was some sort of evolved version of an animal.
Seeing as every animal he had come across so far had changed due to the intervention of Atma, perhaps after long enough, they would evolve into whatever the snake was.
He stood up, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. It was no use pondering the greater machinations of impossibly strong beings he couldn’t affect or control in any way.
It would be better to just take things one step at a time. First Port-Vale, then Samari after that, the world. Or maybe just a bigger city, he hadn’t decided yet.
Crawling back into the den, he grabbed his sturdy rucksack and left the den, planning to set off immediately.
His plans were halted slightly by the mewling of a little fox that held a few berries in its mouth as it ran after him, seeming to offer the berries to him with a tilt of its head.
When Will refused the berries, the fox checked its surroundings to make sure no one was watching before eating them itself.
Smiling slightly, Will turned around to leave but the little thing kept following him, jumping out from behind trees from time to time playfully in an effort to scare him.
Seeing the thing so eager to follow him, Will decided to keep it since he thought having a travelling companion would be nice. The little fox’s antics might help pass the dreary miles of his journey.
By the time they reached the overgrown trail that led to Port-Vale, Will noticed that the fox looked uneasy, sticking closer and closer to him the further they got from its den.
He understood the sentiment having just left his own home himself and bent down, picking up the little fox and placing it on his shoulder.
It looked around excitedly, perched on his shoulder like a bird of prey, arrogantly surveying its territory. Will smiled as he saw the fox’s startled expression although the surprisingly sharp claws digging into his shoulder for purchase were more than a little painful.
Having filled up his flask with water from the stream on the way, Will was ready and set off without any fanfare. Perhaps there were a few rabbits that were glad to see the back of him but other than that he was alone. Aside from his new friend/mortal enemy depending on how the situation turned out.
Remembering how well travelled the path to Port-Vale had been, it was a little surprising to see there was barely a trace of it left. Aside from the odd cobble peaking through a mess of tangled weeds and grass, there was almost no sign that wagons had passed through here every day in the past.
As he walked, Will noticed that the trees had grown more than an inch since last night. Meaning they had grown at least three inches in the last day.
Seeing as they were about his height now, and he was fairly tall for his age, close to six feet, he reckoned the trees should have been growing like this for 24 days. He didn’t know how long the world had been blanketed in ash before then but now he knew that he had spent at least 3 weeks in the egg, probably more.
Walking along the trail was, for the most part, boring. Occasionally, he would spot a particularly strange species of plant or type of bird and stop to take note of them. Other than that, it was nothing more than putting one foot in front of the other. Something that hurt less than yesterday thanks to his new shoes.
By the afternoon, he had come up with a way to pass the time. Aside from playing with the little fox, he was trying to figure out how Atma worked.
Everything else seemed to be affected by it, growing in strange and mysterious ways. Especially the fox that had grown extremely big with the help of its nurturing energies.
Will wasn’t sure he wanted to grow really tall but being able to do magic would help him evade and angry gods and every little helped at the moment.
The problem was, he had no idea where to start. Sure, the snake had told him using Atma was possible with his new body, but it had never told him how. Running off to the east the second it found out he couldn’t help it.
Just then, he remembered that he couldn’t lie and groaned inwardly, realising how inconvenient that would be for him. At least he still looked fairly human, but if someone asked him how he could use magic, he would be forced to explain that he inherited the powers of the most wanted creature on the planet.
Unless… he could find a way around the compulsion. Actually, he still wasn’t even sure how the compulsion worked yet. Sure, it forced him to tell the truth, but what if he didn’t know the truth?
For example, what if someone asked him what colour they were thinking of? Would Will be unable to answer because he didn’t know what the correct one was? Maybe he could even use his compulsion to figure out the correct answer through trial and error.
He quickly realised that this needed a more thorough investigation and began to experiment with his compulsion as he walked.