Diary entry number 1: so quick rundown of myself I come from a long line of American pastors, soldiers, mental, and genetic

Disorders

Now that I've got that out of the way. I was napping on the top of my grandfather's property after exhausting myself cutting the grass of an 8 acre field with an old-fashioned scythe.

Why was I using a scythe? because it's cheaper to repair than a lawn mower when you run over a rock or a sapling.

I also had a 9 mm and a sword with me.

Why did I have a 9 mm pistol?

Cuz snakes that's why.

Why did I have a sword with me to cut through the saplings instead of a machete?

Cuz I don't get to use the sword very often.

Anyway, while napping one of two things must have happened.

One: I slipped through a crack in time and space

While I was sleeping.

Or two: I had a complete mental breakdown.

I am going for the ladder because my dreams are becoming more and more realistic over the years.

You know how you're not supposed to feel pain in dreams… yeah that was seven years ago followed up by sound and taste and smell.

And my dreams weren't all that pleasant if you catch my drift.

But I need to back up a little bit.

So I used to live in a small town in Florida, moved to South Carolina, moved back to Florida then moved to Tennessee.

In the span of like a week.

And before that my childhood shelf had a hard time staying in school I think I went to 8 different schools dropped out bummed off my parents for a year before getting a under the table job in concrete for like 5 years and that's when I started to move around

So for those who don't travel much the terrain noticeably changes when you're traveling hundreds of miles

So instead of waking up on top of the mountain in a clearing surrounded by trees in the middle of the day

I wake up

in the middle of a flat as ff… A flat grassland with trees nowhere near me and it was night time

And it was a bit chilly so instead of freaking out like a sensible person

I get up to go to the truck to get my jacket

Of course it's not there.

why would it be there I'm in a completely different location

Which is a bit of a downer

Seeing as my box of granola bars and the drinks I brought with me for snacking on while I worked

Along with the scythe extra ammunition for my sidearm and all my tools where in that truck

And no, I will not forget to mention my jacket

So what do I have

a sword, a pistol with seven bullets, my cell phone, my wallet, my pocket knife, and the keys to my truck... scratch that I left the keys in the ignition

Easy right?

Just grab your cell phone and call someone

No

My cell phone service ran out a month ago due to lack of money

And I can't even call emergency services cuz there is no cell phone towers within range

So what's next?

Using my meager navigational skills to find out which way is north

Which seemed like a good idea at the time cuz of the clear skies I can easily see the stars

Did you know the last two stars in the big Dipper point directly to the North Star?

The spoon end not the handle end

Which would have work if I was in the northern hemisphere

Now that I'm looking I don't recognize any of these Stars

And it can't be because I'm in the southern hemisphere either because I can't find Centaurus

So I have literally no idea on where on Earth I am

So I guess I'll have to wait till sunrise find out inaccurate compass directions

Diary entry number 2

Okay so last night after I "signed out"

And I laid down to sleep till Dawn

It Occurred to me that if none of the stars are in the right place I'm probably not on the same planet anymore

And if I am not on the same planet the sun probably rises in the north for all I know

How do I know the planet even has a sun?

I'm not on a giant ball of ice that's how

Ha ha..

Got to keep the spirits up when you're in a survival situation

Talking about survival I got to find food and water

So after the sun starts to rise in what I'm going to call East I start scanning The horizon

Aaaand this is the part where I mention I'm in a massive field

Grass.

Grass as far as the eye can see

Not all that tall either so something's got to be eating it

And if there's herbivores you know there's got to be carnivores

Anyways I decide to head east seeing as horizon over there isn't perfectly flat

Either mountains or trees either of those things is a good thing

Trees are good because there's probably a river over there

Water equals life and all that

mountain range is a good thing because you're pretty much guaranteed water and having enough bit of elevated ground is going to be a good thing when a big rain storm comes through

So I scan the horizon one more time to make sure I'm not missing anything before I head out

and What do you know in the west sky something reflecting the sunlight catches my eye

so I stand there a couple minutes looking at it while I try to figure out what it is

because you know it could be man-made

It could be a telescope, a solar panel or a lightning rod etc.

Buuuut

I doubt any of those things would move.

And it's not on the ground so the only thing it could be is a large bird

Yes it could be an airplane but I'm not going to get my hopes up

it's not like they could hear me over the engine anyway especially not from that far away

So I Dawn my hat and my sunglasses and head toward the sun

Diary entry number 3

It's around midday now

I found and are resting in a small cluster of trees in a slight indentation in the ground confirming that there is a lot of water when it rains

I made enough distance to know that the Ridgid ness in the horizon is definitely a mountain range

So that shiny bird from earlier definitely isn't an airplane I would have heard the engine from it hours ago

And now the thing is circling above me I can tell it isn't exactly a bird either

Too far away to tell exactly what it is but the wing to body ratio is off by a lot

It should not be able to fly

And not like in the way that bee should not be able to fly

They make up the difference of their wing size with how fast they beat their wings

This thing on the other hand is barely beating its wings at all

But enough about that let's skip to the part where it's too big to be a non predatory bird and it's been following me all morning

and I get the feeling that I'm going to be here the rest of the day before it gets bored enough to leave

Diary entry number 4

So this one's going to be shorter than the last one

I am currently doing a brisk jog through an open field with with a at least semi intelligent flying predator chasing me down

Why?

Cuz it flew away making me think it got bored early to lure me out of my hiding spot and by the time I finally noticed it again It was in between me and said hiding spot

It seems to be a bit confident that It can get me because it has lowered its altitude significantly enough for me to know that it looks like a lizard if the lizard had wings

I would say was a dragon but it's too small to be a full-blown dragon perhaps a fledgling

Which is a good thing because if it was a full dragon I'd be dead already

I would try shooting at but still too far away to get an accurate shot

More later if I'm not Dead by then

Diary entry number 5

I ran for quite a long distance

A lot farther than I thought I could

But only just barely far enough

So I don't think this thing is used to hunting humans

Yeah I know humans aren't fast but humans have a natural talent for long distance travel

Even with my out of shape self... No I was lucky and that was that

It was a combination of things

humans running slow but a longtime was part of it the fact that I was resting while it was still flying was the other part

Now like I said I am out of shape

Fortunately it was more out of shape than I was unfortunately it will still faster than me

Even at a all out Sprint

I thought I was going to die for certain either from exhaustion or the thing was going to catch me I was barely outside of its reach when it finally collapsed

I was barely able to keep myself on my feet as I stopped and watched it tumble on the ground

Going through my options

If I kept going it would just regain its energy and the hunt would continue

And I was too tired to think of any other options

So walking over to it I drew my sword

And I had my first real look at it

Was indeed a young dragon It was yellow clearly malnourished and so exhausted at this point it couldn't even lift up its arm to defend itself

Diary entry number 6

I couldn't bring myself to do it

It looks too much like a dragons in a TV show

That I am a fan of

And that all too human emotion of fear that I saw its face before it passed out as I stood above it mentally preparing myself to kill it

that's why I now find myself dragging the thing across the field as it lays on a sled that I made from a branches of the trees from my hiding spot

after I caught my breath I figure it out I didn't actually make it all that far it just seemed that way with the adrenaline pumping through my veins

I did manage to catch some squirrels with some pointy sticks

Well remembering the times I went to that hatchet throwing place that I used to live near

When I was in the process of making that sled

Which took quite a long time so that's why I'm dragging the oversized lizard back to the tree cluster instead of towards the mountains

The sun was starting set by the time I got there

And I needed to cook that squirrel

It was difficult to do with my non-existent practice but I did manage to get a fire going. I also managed to skin and gut the squirrels using my pocket knife without spoiling the meat

Now you may be asking yourselves how do you spoil meat by gutting the animal?

And I'll respond by telling you that unlike humans animals don't try very hard to keep their bladder empty

Yellow dragon started to stir as I was beginning to finish cooking the third and final squirrel

unsure of what its next actions are going to be. So I readied my sidearm

I would have bound it but I doubt that it would have even slowed it down even in its malnourished State given how heavy the thing was

So the Dragon the Rose looking around in clear confusion before spotting me

It tripped a little bit as it got into what I can only assume is some sort of Battle stance

I Rose my firearm expecting the worst

It was a Intense couple of seconds

Until a low growling sound that sounded suspiciously like it's stomach

Which made it hesitate and even look embarrassed

Seeing as I still didn't want to kill it

I tossed one of the cooked squirrel towards it

And as I watched it clumsily catch it Dawned on me that this dragon is possibly a lot more sentient then I previously thought

which is odd because I didn't think there was much space inside its skull along side it's massive eyeballs

But I could not continue that train of thought has it slowed the squirrel hole I started to turn towards me again

I tossed the second squirrel at it

To give myself more time to think

Time which I did not get by the way. because as it sailed through the air, the dragon opened its maw and let the squirrel fly right, in giving me only enough time to see the rows of sharp teeth, reminding me the dinosaurs I've seen on TV

Before snapping shut.

Once again the dragon looked at me this time the emotion on its face, was shy or was it bashful I keep getting the two mixed up

Good ask me a question... in English which stunned me to the point where I didn't even know what it said but it was pointing at the squirrel I was holding in my hand another very human thing to do. so I held it out to the dragon

As it took it from me the grateful look on its face

And we sat in silence for a few minutes

Dragon savoring the taste of food again and me in total shock that I'm on an alien planet with an alien who speaks the same exact language I do

and I can tell already if I get a lot more surprises like this one I'm going to go crazy... Again

Diary entry number 7

It spoke to me again after it had finished its squirrel, and this time I could actually remember what it said. It said in a voice very similar to that of a young girl, "Why are you being so nice to me?"

Still being in complete shock that an alien with a mouth like that could speak human words, I felt a shiver go up my spine as my mouth decided to start speaking on its own.

"An angry war veteran once made me promise to be kind, never cruel, and to never give up." I said

"Oh," she said.

Taking back control of my body, I said, "We should get some sleep."

She gave me a confused look, but she didn't say anything, and we both went to sleep. Yes, both of us. I made sure she went to sleep first.

.

Diary entry number 8

I did in fact wake up alive despite the fact that the dragon woke up before me

She was just sitting there expectantly

So I spoke up and said. “Well, I thought you would have left or killed me while I was sleeping” why didn't you

And she said “you spared my life, took me to your care and fed me. I am a part of your horde”

Horde? I said

“Yes, I belong to you now” she said

I thought for a moment

And then I gave a reply

“If you didn't notice, I'm not a dragon so you don't have to obey any dragon rules”

“Yes I do” she interrupted

“not when the person who apparently claimed you is a freaky space monkey“ I cut off well making air quotes at claimed

“Either way, choose to do whatever you want to do. If you want to follow me that's fine you want to leave that is also fine. but I personally would not want to feed a carnivorous lizard that is just as big as I am and weighs twice as much

So if you do follow me you're working for your food. ok?”

“Ok” she responded with a smile which made my head hurt

lizards don't have lips to smile with

So I just turned and walked away ignoring the raptor with wings behind me

Diary entry number 9

It's been several hours now and my body is starting to ache due to the fact that past two days I've been doing more walking than I've ever done in my entire life

And I can feel the young Drake's eyes boring into the back of my head when I'm not looking

For the last couple of hours. I was just assuming that it was due to the fact that I was weird looking to them but I thought it would eventually wear off

me “Hey”

drake “Yes?”

“You want to ask me a question or are you going to continue staring at me the whole trip?”

“Well, it's just where are we going”

I raise my hand and point at the mountain range which is giving me a headache because It makes me think I'm closing a lot more distance than I actually am

me“That way”

She gets a nervous look on her face but she doesn't say anything else

“What is it” I asked

“Nothing” she replies but by the she sounded it's not nothing

I stop walking turn around and look at her

“If you're going to insist on following me, here's rule number one. don't ever lie to me. and always tell me the whole truth no matter how bad

The only exception I can think of that some sort of magical spell that will kill me the instant you say it

So spit it out”

She gets this questioning look on her face before she starts gagging which reminded me of a cat hacking up a hairball

“That was a metaphor for telling me what's on your mind”

She then gets a look of understand on her face

Before hesitantly saying there's a town over there…

A town? good, maybe I can get myself a map.

“But I'm a dragon”

“Yeah? and your point is?”

She gets a sad smile on her face, I don't know why, before replying

“you really are a freaky space monkey“

“The way you said that, sounds really diabolical and I don't like it at all.” I said

Which made her giggle, which made me briefly consider that I was thrust into an anime before she got a serious look on her face and said. “Not many other creatures tolerate dragons”

And with a chipper voice I said “thanks for the information” as I turned and continued walking East

And she called out to me and said “did you not hear me? they don't like dragons, in fact they hate dragons”

To which I replied “don't worry I have a plan”

No I didn't have a plan but I thought I had plenty enough time to come up with one

Diary entry number 10

An hour later we reached the town and I didn't have a plan

It looked like a small farm town from a fantasy video game setting

A town not a village there's a size difference

This is around the time I figured out why... I really need to ask the dragon's name. Anyways why the dragon said creatures instead of... Something else, the town was inhabited by lots of different species of intelligent creatures none of them human closest human thing I could see was a Minotaur that appeared so top-heavy I was wondering how the thing was still standing on two legs

“So what is your plan anyway?” the dragon perched on a tree branch beside me asks

“It's secret” I respond

So she asks a different question, “why do we need to get into town so badly anyway?”

“3 reasons I need a map, I need information, and I need a bed to sleep in, my back is killing me. no not literally”

I finish off as she gives me a stunned look

She then drives her claws back into the tree branch to keep herself from slipping

I then spot some rope and a whip

And get an idea to go with my non-existent plan

The rope and whip was on a porch of a farmhouse little ways from the town

Except on the same porch was a boar looking creature sitting in a straining rocking chair looking out to the field watching the workers sweat as he slowly chews on a carrot

I speak up “okay here's the plan. see that farmhouse over there? you fly over there get the farmer's attention driving with in the house I'll go over there grab that rope and later on after a gossip has traveled a little bit I walk into town with you tied up”

“I'll sooner burn the fields down then go along with that plan” she interrupted

“Fine then” I say with frustration, “burn the fields down just make sure it's near a large body of water so it doesn't actually hurt the town.

and if we're going down the evil route we might as well loot the town will everyone's distracted with the fire”

And there's that stunned look again, she didn't slip this time

“What?”I asked impatiently

“That's actually a pretty good plan” she answered

“No.” I said. “we are not going to raid the town like a ragtag team of bandits”

Which she followed up by saying “well it's a better plan then tying me up and bringing me into a town that hates my kind to the point or if they see a chance they'll kill me. watch if I remember correctly is against your code”

I open my mouth to speak but she holds up a claw to stop me

“And we have to do something seeing as you don't have any bits to buy food with you feed yourself and the dragon. And I know your hungry Because I haven't seen you eat since at least Dawn yesterday”

Our combined stomachs growl loudly to agree with her words.

“The inner fart has spoken.” I say raising my hands above my head like I'm worshiping something

The look on her face was priceless. I would have fallen out of the tree if my legs hadn't been wrapped around the branch I was sitting on. I could also see the amusement on her face from my now upside down position

“but we're doing this my way” I say as I pull myself back up with difficulty, “which means we're only taking enough to survive, and when you start that fire you're starting it close to whatever water source that field is feeding off of...

Okay?”

“Yes.” She said

“Okay so I'm going to town to pick some places out, and you without being seen are going to find that water source and figure out a good place to start that fire, close enough so the villagers can easily put it out, but far enough away to give us time to raid the place” I say as I examine the foot of the tree to make sure nobody's listening

“Meet me back here at sundown” I say as I begin my descent down the tree

Diary entry number 11

Something's not right.

I expected them to give me a bit of a wide berth. but I did not expect the looks of pity coming from their eyes as they looked at me.

Also noticed that every one of them was of an herbivore species which would explain why dragons as a carnivore would be unwelcome here.

And I am silently grateful that got to keep my sunglasses to hide my forward facing eyes as I approached one of the stands in the market

“Hello” I say as I look over the owner of the stall which appears to be a deer, if a deer was two-thirds of its original size that is

“Can you tell me what's going on around town? Everyone's giving me an odd look. ...Now that I think about it, the market is pretty quiet for a marketplace.

And everyone that isn't giving me a stare. looks downright exhausted”

The store owner gestured to me to come closer and I obliged.

“You should leave town, like right now.'' he whispers.

“What's going on?” I say as I lower my voice to his level.

“There's not much time. you have to leave town. follow the river downstream South until you reach the city. get help coleus is…” He says before stopping and looking at something behind me. “Quickly, leave before he sees you.” He says desperately as I stand up and turn to see what he's looking at. that boar I was looking at earlier on the porch

Was being carried into town like an Egyptian prince watch scent up all kinds of red flags in my head

As he was paraded around on the shoulders of minotaurs

Having people bow and give him offerings.

And by the time he reached us I was so angry my joints have become rigid and I could feel the electricity shooting up my spine.

That's when I felt the hand on my shoulder one of the minotaurs that had broken off from the group. He was looking at me with sadness in his eyes.

I realized he had said something and he opened his mouth to repeat himself

“please kneel” he said in a soft and pleading tone

And with a calm and emotionless voice I said

“I will never bow to the likes of him”

“Then I'm sorry” the Minotaur said

He then raised his fist to strike me

I then quickly kicked him in the shin step to the side and place my foot in front of his and pushed on his back. he was smart enough not to get back up

I was about to turn and shout when I saw the minotaurs back and the wounds and scars I saw there. I've only seen before in the photos of the enslaved. I knew then I would not let Coleus live to see the sun set.

“We have a new visitor in town.” Coleus said. “a feisty one at that. I love it when they are feisty. it's all that more satisfying when I break them.”

I turn to faced him and my subconscious points out that he has he has depth perception

And the Minotaur beside him is holding a whip

Coleus turns to the Minotaur beside him to take the whip as he says. “restrain him”

But as soon as he starts talking I charge, drawing my sword. coleus only has enough time to turn toward me as I plunge it into his chest

Forcing him onto his back

Except not very far in his chest.

He smiles as he glances at something behind me. I don't give the minotaurs enough time to pull me away. I pop the strap to my sidearm and let a round fly into Coleus’s eye socket, killing him instantly as they pull me away.

I'm positive could everyone in the marketplace heard The gunshot

And I have little doubt the young Drake that I'm traveling with heard it as well.

by the stunned looks on everyone's faces I don't think they know what it was as I place it back where it belongs on my hip popping the strap back in place.

Some of the people in the back that could not see coleus in the body laying there on the ground we're already asking what was going on, and what the sound was

And why there was thunder on a cloudless day.

What the gossip was spreading quickly the people in the front where already telling the people behind them what was going on by the time I pulled the sword out of the lifeless corpse on the ground

And approach coleuss portable throne

“Stranger what is your name?” one of the minotaurs said

I look at him. he is younger than the others

So I say. “How about you? What is your name lad?”

“I don't have one.“ he responds as I pick up a bag of various foodstuffs and one of the smaller bags of coins.

I then walk over to the unnamed Minotaur picking up coleuss discarded whip

And then handed it to him. He grabs it but I don't let go

“Then your name shall be…” I pause and think for a moment “steel heart for so long as you keep the promise that you won't ever let someone be cruel to you like that ever again and then you'll teach others not too be taken advantage like this ever again”

“O... okay” he whispers

“Promise me” I say in a very serious tone

“I-I promise”

I look steel heart in the eyes for a moment for standing and walking to the town gate, everyone separating and making a path for me

I see the yellow Drake as it comes in for a landing to start walking beside me

Everyone must still be in shock because they didn't even react as they all stared at me while I make my way out of town

“I saw what happened” she said “you didn't even hesitate to kill him”

“Give people like that time to react and they'll turn you into the bad guy” I responded

“By the way do you have a name?”

“Yeah, Sundrop.” she said with a smile

Diary entry number 12

So Sundrop when you were flying up there did you happen to see a river. I say as I rustle through the sack for something Sundrop could eat. It was mostly vegetables.

“Yes I did it's over that way but I've got a few questions to ask if you don't mind.” she said that as she pointed in a direction to which I began walking.

“Okay once we get there I'm going to need to know which way is south.”

“okay but from my point of view it was hard to see what was going on and…”

“We should probably also stop after a little while to find some more food for you because there's nothing in this sack that you'd probably eat. and some of it's probably even poisonous to you.”

I say as I pull out the sack what looks like an eggplant if it decided to be in a star shape and toss it over my shoulder.

“If you don't know what it is, don't eat it.”

I remind myself that I'm on an alien planet and that probably was editable for me. But then again if I'm on an alien planet why do I see normal Earth vegetables in here, I take out what looks like celery.

I take an experimental sniff and bite out of it.

Yep it's celery and it still tastes terrible without peanut butter but it is food.

Then I notice Sundrop looking at me.

“What is it?” I ask?

“I was trying to ask you what happened down there because all I saw was you rush the guy with that thing at your side” and she gestures to the sword on my belt.

“And stab him and as the minotaur's try to pull you off as a loud bang echoed off the mountains.”

I look up in front of us and see the mountains are close enough for a gunshot to echo off of them

I look back at Sundrop and realize I was spacing out

“Yes.” I said questioning my Morals. “I just killed a guy in broad daylight in the middle of the street with everyone watching. That is a very good question.“

“Give me a moment to think.” I say as I close my eyes to replay the events in my head trying to piece it all together.

“You mean you don't know?” she says.

“No. I do know. I just have a bad habit of letting my subconscious get away with not explaining why it came up with that decision.

now if you give me a moment to think I can”

“What in Tartarus is a subcunscious?” she cuts me off with an irritated voice.

“It's pronounced subconscious and in short it's the place where ideas come from.”

“Yo-”

“Hey we're here” I say, cutting off sundrop from continuing whatever she was about to say thus ending the conversation.

The river was at the foot of the mountain.

no I do not mean at the foot of the mountain. I mean is the foot of the mountain yes I know it makes no sense and I was there it doesn't really make sense to me either.

So where Sundrop and I are standing is practically flat ground. There's a little bit of a bank leading into the river and right on the other side of the river is a steep incline. The incline itself looks fairly natural it's the flat ground that stretches on for miles 40 feet away is the unnatural part.

what I do know is my back Is in pain from all the walking that I've done in the last couple of days

So I go over to the bank to lay down and tell Sundrop to go get herself some food and i'll have a campfire going by the time she gets back and I should have an answer for her by then

I didn't bother to look at her pissed off face as she gave me a dirty look before flying up the mountain

ch1

Diary entry number 13

so by the time Sundrop got back the only thing I managed to accomplish was get myself wet and gather firewood that fairly narrow stream is surprisingly deep

Why wasn't the firewood also wet?

I was smart enough to chuck it across the River

Instead of trying to swim through it with the wood held in my arms

Why didn't you jump across then

Because I'm a human I can't jump 20 feet

And to be honest some of the wood didn't make it either

But yeah I was still trying to get the fire going by the time Sundrop got back at sunset

I didn't notice the blood on her face until after she used her fire breath on the pile of wood in front of me

The pile of wood I was currently leaning over trying to get to burn

if I didn't fantasize and grab every scrap of dragon lore I can get my hands on back on Earth I wouldn't have known what she was doing until it was too late...

but I did, and I managed to lean out of the way in time. And even then the hair on my arms still got singed

After patting on my arms a little bit I say

Can you at least give me a warning next time

Are you going to give me an answer now? she replies in irritation

I look at her and I open my mouth to ask why do you care anyway what I think better of it as I realize when I first met her she was alone, and hungry enough to eat something that looks freaky

So instead I say, yes but tell me if you're okay first.

As I stand up and walk towards her to examine her head.

I spot a couple of injuries and as I reached move her head around to look for more

She smacks my hand to the side and says. I'm fine answer my question.

Realizing she still hasn't got anything to eat and she even got injured in the process. I got a little bit upset so as a response to her slapping me on the wrist I grabbed her by the horns and threw her into the river with enough strength that I fell over

and as she climbed out I grabbed my food sack and cut the top half off and inspected it for dirt

I had to quickly lean out of her way as she walked over to me and screamed with a jet of fire coming out of her mouth. WHAT WAS THAT FOR.

Because I was already moving I decided to go ahead and wrap the thing around her head well she wasn't expecting it

As she turned around I said, coleus knew exactly what he was doing when he enslaved the Physically strongest people in town and made everyone else cower in fear. And the worst part was he enjoyed it. he wasn't doing it because he had to. He wasn't doing it because he didn't have another choice, he was doing it because he was a cruel bastard.

And that's why he had to die.

And that loud bang…

I stopped to think a moment

Was a magic spell I had to use because his skin was too thick to be pierced by normal means

She could have confused look on her face before saying I thought only unicorns could use magic

To which I responded, have you seen anything like me before?

And if you want to eat sometime tonight you'll go into that forest and get me a 7 ft long flexible stick

Foot? Sundrop asks

I hold up my right foot that is currently inside a mens size 9 and ½ boot

That is exactly one foot long from heel to toe. I say gesturing to the back of my foot to the front as she gets a confused look. I continue it's a form of measurement back where I come from.

And I can talk about it until the sun goes down which is in about an hour and I don't like the idea of rummaging through a forest in the dark

Why not? she asks. that's when all the best hunting happens or at least that's what my father used to say.

Cuz I'm not a nocturnal creature. I replied.

Snapping her out of whatever internal thought process she had going on

Nocturnal? She said

I'll explain it later get that stick before it gets dark out

So how long did you want it? she asked while unfurling her wings

I want it to be taller than me skinny enough for me to wrap one of my hands all the way around it

I say holding up one of my hands. And it has to be relatively straight. I finish

And why do you need this? she says

Running out of sunlight. I reply. Do you want to eat tonight or not

And what the Huff she turns around and flies off up the hill.

I walk over to the bank and watch the fish as I think about how to catch them

Every successful fish spear I've seen has multiple heads or Barb's on it but I don't have the time to do that. but the water is crystal clear and I can see the fish easily and the bottom of the river. doesn't have sharp rocks in it. looking at the river and Seeing all these perfectly smooth Stones all in it. I briefly wonder if the river is manufactured instead of natural. and then I chastise myself for getting off track.

The river doesn't have sharp rocks in it so I could probably take my shoes off and I haven't seen any snakes since I got on this planet so I can take my pants off to

And let them both dry by the fire

But how do I get the fish to stick to the spear if I don't have any barbs or anything to keep the fish on after I stab the fish?

But I am unable to finish my thoughts as Sundrop gets back With what appears to be a uprooted a sapling

It's twice as tall as I am which is good because the base of it's too thick and the top is too thin. But it is straight.

so without saying anything I take it from her hands... Talons?

Draw my sword and cut off the extra branches growing out to the sides

And begin to work on the base close to where it was uprooted

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

When Sundrop decided to ask the question again. So what is that thing for

And I respond with. well if you haven't noticed I don't really have any natural weapons like claws or fire breath or sharp teeth so I'm doing my ancestors did and creating something we like to call a spear

I see her start to open our mouths to interrupt me so I do something very rude and hold their mouth shut like an alligator and like an alligator they don't have a very strong muscles to open their mouth with and I would consider two decent tactic against dragons if they couldn't reach their head so before she can start to reach up to swap my hand away with her scissorhands I make a shushing sound

Shhhhhhhh let me finish. and surprisingly she crosses her arms in irritated compliance

Instead of just severing my hand at the wrist

And I'm going to use this spear to catch the trout in the river over there

Trout? She said

Yes trout to type of predator fish that has a blind spot in it's vision and no I don't think you have to worry about eating you unless you somehow find one that is bigger than you are

Which will be fairly difficult cuz even the biggest one I've ever heard of would still have a hard time eating a human baby

Now if you got too close to its tail it'll definitely knock you out the legendary sized ones that is not the small ones I say as I finish making the pointy end of my spear Sharp with my pocket knife

And look at Sundrop who's got the zoned out look on her face

Then I say. so in short trout have a blind spot that we can exploit the catch them

Diary entry number 14

So continuing from where I left off

Pants

I unbuckled my belt removed my sword and sidearm from my hips remove my belt and laid them by the campfire I take my socks and shoes off

As well as my pants and lay everything by the campfire and maybe if I get lucky they'll be dry by the time I get back

I pick up the spear and start making my way back to the river when I notice Sundrop has got her back turned to me and a is standing a stiff posture

I decide to ignore her

And dip my feet into the water and remember how cold it was look at the top of the snow capped mountains and silently curse them

So yeah as I told Sundrop trout have a blind spot and if I remember what that old fisherman told me correctly trout look at the bottom of the river as well as the top but they don't look to the sides so realistically I should be able to walk up next to it crouch down and spear it to the bank

So the 20 minutes it took to get dark enough that I'd have to use a torch to continue fishing I caught four

And I wasn't going to bother continue fishing because I was cold

And I didn't want to get sick and I'm probably going to get sick anyway

As I approached the campfire with fish in hand

Sundrop covers her eyes and turns away

Realizing what she's doing and realizing it's something that would make my head hurt because lizards don't blush. Why? Because their scales are on top of their skin. I don't know. my head hurts

Anyways. I speak up saying. just so you know humans have secret smaller pants underneath they're normal pants

As I sit down next to the glorious warm fire picking up my pocket knife and beginning to gut the fish

What? Oh. She says picking at me through her fingers before lowering them

Few minutes of silence go by

I break it by saying. So what happened

What? She asks

To your head. I reply

Nothing. she says

Remember rule number one tell the truth and the whole truth no matter how bad it is. I remind her

My pray fought back. she answered

I wait a few minutes to see if she was going to continue but she didn't and with irritation only I noticed I asked. And?

And what. she answered

What was your prey. what was your plan of attack. Did you at least hurt it as badly as it hurt you.

I don't want to talk about it. she replied turning her back to me

That's when it was made clear to me that I had a morale problem on my hands

So I stopped a moment to mentally ask myself 'solvang morality problems' like I was typing a keyword into an internet browser

And like an internet browser I got a bunch of responses back

No worries this is supposed to happen

…

…

…

Beep boop

I whisper under my breath

…

Beep boop

I say a little bit louder

…

Beep boop

She heard me this time

She turned her head a little bit toward me

…

… Beep boop

What are you doing? She said

Beep boop? I said questionably

Why you saying that. She said but I could see that my plan was working

Beep boop. I answered

He- stop that. She growled trying to hide her emotions while leaning forward trying to intimidate me.

I remain quiet for a minute and slowly leaned in

Until our noses were roughly five inches apart

I saw of confusion her face but she stood her ground increasing the intensity of her growling

Beep boop. I said in a hi pitched voice well swiftly raising my finger and tapping the end of her snout

I was starting to have doubts near the end there

But my plan worked flawlessly like I was pushing actual button she immediately lost her integrity

I just wish I hadn't compromised my integrity so I could have taken a picture

(Wheeze wheeze) it's-it's okay if you still don't want to talk about it. I said

I just wanted to see if I could help improve your hunting technique

She laid there in silence well I skewered the fish and set them up to start cooking… no I didn't forget to take the scales off

I heard Sundrop speak up. A little ways up the hill I saw a turkey rummaging through the leaves

I dive-bombed it and as I was going for the kill a large beast came out of nowhere and attacked me so I threw the turkey at it and made a run for it

Can you describe the large beast to me I ask

And and as she did so I figure it out what she was describing

A cougar I say

What she asked

That's what attacked you I respond

Cougars are ambush predators. stealthy creatures

It was probably stalking the turkey you took down and you didn't see it because it's coat blended in with the dry leaves

Thay have hooks for claws to grab their prey

And then they rip out the throat of their capture with their teeth

It's got to be a having a hard time finding food if it was hunting something that small

And who knows it could be a mother

I notice sun drop giving me a weird look

What?

Nothing. Sundrop answers

Sundrop. I say with an authoritative voice

It's just. you're not acting like someone who just killed a guy in Cold blood. She said

it's not cold blood if the guy you killed hurts people for fun. I respond there's no redeeming people like that

But still it's like you're two different people

The kind person who values life

And the experienced killer.

I saw how fast you moved.

You killed him like she was an animal.

Hey that's offensive to the animals. I interrupt

Offencive to th- that beast tried to kill me for no reason. Sundrop said angrily

No reason. I said calmly. imagine your a mother with let's say three children they're hungry you're hungry all the larger prey is too dangerous to hunt. And some cheeky bastard is about to steal your kill. the kill you just sat hours waiting for the perfect moment to capture. The kill that will feed your children and let them live one more week. now tell me that is no reason

Now comparing that to what I did. that pig was using his natural ability to enslave that town

I bet if we arrived a few days later everyone in that town would be as hungry as you were two days ago

She looks as if she was going to say something but decides against it when her stomach growls

The fish is done eat up I'm going to sleep. I finish

well walking to other side of the campfire scooping up my vegetable bag and laying down to watch the Stars as I eat my dinner

The rest of the night was spent in relative silence

Diary entry number 15

I woke up early the next morning

Sundrop was still asleep

So I had some time to kill

So thinking about what to do

I remember the town we were just in

Judging from what I saw I doubt they have any sort of modern medicine so getting an infection would be a bad thing

So bathing would be a good thing to do as well as remembering to get myself cleaned at every opportunity

So I take off my remaining clothes and bathe myself

15 minutes later I got out. I was cold.

And Sundrop was still asleep

So I put all my clothes back on

And practiced my sword swing

Until my arms got tired and if I had to guess was probably about 5 minutes

And that was me pushing myself

So not good but better than nothing

So I sheathed my sword went down to the river and looked for a good stone that I can use to sharpen my blades

And I couldn't find anything that would actually work

But wouldn't riverstone's be perfect to sharpen blades?

No apparently not because they're too smooth

When you're looking for a sharpening stone

You're basically looking for a stone that is smooth and rough at the same time

For example you're looking for a smooth stone with microscopic holes in it

The stones in this River there certainly smooth and had holes in it but all the holes are too big

Now if I had a sling is would be perfect stones to have

But I don't have a sling nor do I have the skill to use one

What's a sling?

Basically the first version of a slingshot

This is around the time where sundrop woke up

Good morning sundrop I say

Morning Sundrop says drowsily

Do you still want to travel with me I ask

She pauses a moment to think before saying

I still owe my life to you

Well it's time to start carrying your own weight

I say

Go over to the river on catch some fish

I don't know how she said quietly as if she was disappointed in herself

I walk up to her and say let me see your hands she looks at me with a confused face as I take her wrist and examine her claws

This is the first time I saw them up close so I'll detail it. she had four fingers if you include a thumb her fingers by themselves were stubby compared to mine and on the tip of each one of them looks like a raptor claw if a raptor claw was straight ish

Which made up for it

Sundrop can you see the fish in the river from the sky I said

Yes she said

Jeez no wonder why they fear your kind I said

Yes I know it's because I'm a monster she said pulling her hand away and turning her back on me not noticing she just cut my hand open

Why are that so scared of me she continued

I never did anything to them.

all I ever did was ask for help

And every single time they chased me away and hurt me and beat me and then leave me to die

That day when you stood over me with that killer intent. I knew I wasn't going to wake back up that time.

But then I did she said turning back around and looking at me with a happy look in her face and posture

I had my left and injured hand press firmly to my hip in my right hand relaxed at my side

What? I'm not going to interrupt her

And then you fed me and that's when I knew after all my pain and suffering I finally found the kindest person alive

Quietly to my inner thoughts I can think of someone kinder. And no it does not matter if that person doesn't actually real

For only the kindest creature in the world would do such a thing

And now your even offering to teach me

So I know it is right in my heart when I say this

I offer myself to you sire she said kneeling

And in my head

Sire? As in king or royalty? Bold move seeing as she's only known me for a couple of days

But she is young and by the way she makes it sound like I'm the first person that hasn't tried to kill her on sight in a long time so I think I know where she's coming from

...ok I said hiding my confusion

So let's get a move on

I remember we still aren't that far away from town and I didn't stick around to see if they were mad that I killed that guy I say picking up my makeshift spear and checking to make sure the fire went out with my boot. Sundrop carry my vegetables please?

Ok she replies

Diary entry number 16

It's midday now the soles of my feet hurt like…

I haven't really paid any attention to my hand either so I call break Time

Sundrop looks over at me and asks

Why are we stopping

Lots of reasons I say

First off I don't think we're being hunted down and I want to Pace ourselves so we don't burn through are energy to quickly

Plus I just think this is a good spot to stop teach you how to use those talons to fish

I finish off walking over the bank sitting down

Give me my bag please

Okay so I took a while to think and I think I've come up with a good strategy

Sundrop kneels next to me handing me my bag

Ah thank you

So fly up and survey the area I say holding my right hand up just above my eye level spreading out my pinky and my thumb while holding my ring finger index finger and middle finger together

Spot the fish I say holding up my index finger on my left hand at shoulder height

And son drop spots my injury and interrupts me

What happened to your hand she said with concern

Nothing focus I say flicking her on the snout

With the middle finger on the same hand

The look on her face almost made me crack up

Like I was saying you spot the fish take note of its location dive down gaining speed at a location a little ways from the fish I say taking my hand bird doing a diving motion a foot away from my index finger and then I continue Visalia weather then pull up at a low level of altitude

Altitude? Sundrop asks

Stop interrupting I say flicking her on the snout again

And continue. Fly just above the water and when you reach the fishes location reach in and grab it

I say taking my right hand leveling if out just above the level of my index finger on my left hand and then moving them closer to each other

And then right at the end I touch my index fingers together

and don't be afraid use those hooks on the ends of your fingers

I finish gesturing at her hands

Diary entry number 17

We didn't travel anymore that day

I sat down relaxed and burned a hole through the fat end of my spear I plan on turning the thing into a stone ax

and I watched Sundrop try to catch fish all day

Which was hilarious

The first couple of times she was forgetting to use her talons and the fish kept wiggling out of her grasp

The first time she in she wasn't paying attention to wear her wing was when she pivoted to one side to let her arm reach-in and her wing caught the water and she was going so fast she rolled along the top of it

That second time she kept her her wings parallel with the water but forgot to just to adjust for the drag that her arm would get for entering a more dense atmosphere

She look like a skipping Stone bouncing across the surface

The look on her face when she saw me cracking up on the bank she was so angry I'm pretty sure the water was boiling

Wait the water was boiling literally

I watched a silently as I could as she went up one more time this time she reached in with both her claws and grab what I was assuming was a log and face-planted

And I couldn't hold it in any longer I burst out laughing for good 10 seconds which is a long time to be underwater because she didn't come back out immediately

I waited a few more seconds recovering from my sense of humor

But she still didn't come out

So I rushed to the water's edge and started searching for the water looking for that bright yellow splotch under the water hoping she wasn't taken up by the current

I was a little bit relieved and slightly confused when I saw her up River in my mind started racing as I made my way towards her

Why was she up River

What is she struggling with

Has something grabbed ahold of her

She grabbed a log

Crocodiles are usually mistaken for logs

It doesn't make sense the water's too cold for a crocodile

S*** she's under again

And then I stopped thinking and went into action

Grabbing a hold of her tail as she started going up River again

Whatever's got ahold of her is strong and I'm not doubting her strength I'm pretty sure she'd beat me in an arm wrestle any day

The reason why she went under was because of all the loose stones on the bottom of the riverbed

Now I'm going to tell you something about myself I've always liked the underdog

So every time I got to choose which side of the rope I was on in tug of war

I always chose the side full of skinny kids

Now I'm not strong person I've said that but I do got a good sense of balance and leverage

Let's just say it got a lot harder for the jocks to win when I grabbed hold of the rope

Now if Sundrop didn't have spines on her tail

She would have slept right through my hands

and if I hadn't had dug into the riverbed with the heels of my boots and found the top of that Boulder buried beneath the top level of stone I probably would have been in the same situation Sundrop was in

It was a struggle but I did manage to pull Sundrop close enough to myself so I could wrap my arms around her torso and help her get her head above the water

I did slip when I loosen the grip on one of my hands to reach for her torso

Which reopened the cut on my left hand but I pushed through the pain

Inhaled sun drop in place until she could find her footing

And when she did she pulled this fish out of the water to keep it from pulling pulling her off her feet again

That's why I found out why she face-planted

The thing was huge

It was roughly four and a half feet long

And if I had to guess it was probably... 80 lb give or take

Yes we kept it

After pulling the thing or enough away from the water Sundrop said with a smug look on her face. Not so funny anymore is it

Don't know it might be. I answer and coming up with the name off the top of my head I continued by saying. this is slock the reason why they get so big it's cuz they taste really bad

What! Sundrop exclaims

I would have taken a picture of her face but my phone was a wet and I had a loose grip from tired handsI didn't help all that much that I fell on my butt laughing

Hunun hahahaha (wheeze) (wheeze) (cough)

Ha ha I can't breathe. The look on your face

I thought she was going to kill me but I had lost all control myself at that point

By the time I recovered enough to where I could see

I can tell laughter really was infectious

Diary entry number 18

I had to use my sword to fillet the fish

It was a king salmon and I had everything I needed to cook it except a pan

So I used makeshift skewers

Sundrop didn't like waiting for me to cook it

She also thought it was weird to put plants on it

So of course she was hesitant to try it

by the look on her face in the sound she made I think she enjoyed my father's recipe

All It did for me was make me homesick

Thing is I've always wanted to go on adventures that's why I dealt so deep into fantasy RPG games Syfy hell even fanfiction anything and everything I can get my hands on

Except now that I'm actually out here…

And now I'm going to shove these thoughts in the back of my head and forget about them for as long as I can

Oh and don't worry about my hand I found some nice clean clay to stop the bleeding with

And they also managed to convince Sundrop the reason why I was bleeding was cuz one of her tale spines ran across my hand. Which was not a lie I just purposely forgot that her tail spine did not cause the injury

Hey sundrop

Yeah do you remember this morning when you called me sire

Yes and I meant every word

I hesitate trying to find the right words until I just cut down the metaphorical bush instead of beating around it

I get scared of people getting too close to me emotionally for fear of them hurting me

Just something to keep in mind going forward

And don't you dare start treating me like a glass figurine just cuz I said that

I said it in case I might hurt your feelings

No?no! Don't interrupt

…

I tend to separate myself from my emotions quite often

Turning me into a cold heartless bastard

Combine that with a solid motivation

And focus that erases the world around you

You'll get that guy you saw in town the other day

Heh sometimes I think the only thing separating me from a professional assassin is skill and experience

So continue following me if you want to I won't stop you

Just know not all the roads we walk down will be bright

Some will be dark

Some may be treacherous

And if you walk with me far enough

You'll see some roads that are absolutely terrifying I said

There was a long silence after that

That's three now sundrop sed breaking the silence

What? I said in confusion

It's like you're three different people in the same body. the cold guy in town

The funny guy that was pushing my buttons on the Riverside all day today

In the wise man who every time he opens his mouth knowledge pours out

It's not multi personality disorder if they're all the same person I say with a grin on my face

Sundrop just rolls her eyes at me and changes the subject

So that guy in town then you killed how did you know he was irredeemable

Because I've seen it a million times in a hundred different ways

A person gains power let's that power corrupt them and it takes a long time to get to the irredeemable part but the corruption slowly eats away at their soul until there's nothing left except a deep darkness that feeds off of suffering

Now I have to make it very clear cases like that one are very rare extraordinarily rare

Coleus may have had some good left in him but I couldn't see it from where I stood

And if you did have some good left in him he was enjoying himself too much to accept my help

And I know it was bad that I didn't even bother asking

But the people were suffering and I couldn't let that stand

I can't eat any more do you want the rest of my fish

That's a very generous amount of meat are you sure you don't want it

It's not generous if I eat any more I'll get sick

Plus the meat will go bad I would try to turn into jerky but I don't have any salt

What's jerky? And hay wait why you eating meat I thought you were a plant eater

Dried meat. and I don't remember ever saying that I was a herbivore I say taking off my sunglasses and letting her see my forward facing eyes for the first time and before you ask I'm a omnivore which means I can eat just about anything. from the birds in the sky. to the plants on the seafloor. if it can be digested I can probably eat it

So you can eat the grass that you're sitting on

Yes. but that does not mean I'm going to. It does not taste very good

Though I would consider it if I didn't have any other options. but when you can eat just about anything there usually is another option

Is that also mean you could eat me

Yes it is a possibility. but it is a big taboo

And I'd sooner eat the grass that I'm sitting on then hurt then hurt someone who doesn't deserve it

And why are you asking this question anyway I answered this question the day we met

Oh okay

Anyways it's starting to get late I'm going to get some sleep

Goodnight sundrop

Good night Sundrop said

Diary entry number 19

Okay so today we were attacked by wolves

Sundrop woke up before me and had taken into the sky was doing something when I woke up I was drowsy cuz I had a hard time sleeping last night.

don't know why

Well wondering what Sundrop was doing

Movement catches my eye

I saw something that looked odd the only reason why I noticed it is was because it was moving

But it moved into one of those indentations in the ground and then I could no longer see it

I'm guessing Sundrop saw it too cuz she lured her altitude and started circling around that area looking for it

She couldn't see it obviously cuz she made the same mistake she did last time

She decided to land

One second that's all it took one second she landed turn her head to the left and from the right she was pounced on by whatever it was

And of course she screamed

And of course I was running to help

Now to give you a little bit of perspective no it was not a ditch it was a slight indentation even laying on the ground I could still see sun drop

Getting back on track

The thing I saw resembled a wolf that is if a wolf was made out of grass

And while I was rushing over I saw more of them stand up and start rushing to aid in the kill

And they do indeed act like wolves because by the time I finally got there on my slow legs

They had already pinned sundrop down completely and the biggest one the leader of the pack was closing in

He was on top of Sundrop about to go for the jugular when he heard me and looked up

I was still several feet away so he and the other wolves had plenty of time to move out of the way of my swinging sword

As I reach Sundrop stepped over her and got on the the same side as the alpha

For he and the other wolves had only retreated a short distance

With an attentive stance

Giving us some time to compose ourselves

Sundrop back-to-back I say when I see her beginning to stand confirming she wasn't dead yet

And as I take a moment to think of the right words to explain what back-to-back is and why it's important in this situation

I feel a downward draft of wind and the sound flapping of wings

A quick glance over my shoulder

Confirms that Sundrop has fled the battlefield leaving me to fight. seven? Yes seven. Leaving me to fight seven wolves by myself

F****** dammit Sundrop

Now if this was a movie this would be the part or the camera would pan over to sun drop and watch her and not get back to me until until Sundrop does and the movie would have me sitting there waiting covered in injuries and looking dangerous

surrounded by the bodies of my foes

And still be good to walk

Too bad this isn't a movie

What really happened was

I was left standing there surrounded and outnumbered my best means of making out of this alive has been overcome with fear and fled

Three intense seconds pass by

And then I hear it the pads of the wolf behind me trying to take me by surprise and pin me to the spot

I twist swing my sword horizontally and keeping in mind that my target is shorter than I am

But in my hurry to defend myself I hit my target with the flat side of my blade

What a blunt damage was enough to get it to back off

And then another one came at me from behind sept this one was a bit to the left When I turned to meet it it immediately backed off suggesting that this pack of wolves do have some experience

Quick glance around seeing that all the wolves we're moving looking for a good angle only confirmed that

They were also closing the distance

Giving me less time to turn around and defend my backside

There was 3 seconds of pause in the attack

Making me think they we're about to enact a plan

So I prepared myself mentally

And as one of the wolves passed in front of me it charged

Seeing through there plan I took two steps forward to dissuade the one in front of me and then I twist and swing at the one coming up behind me

But it was a glancing blow

I cut the wolf along has left shoulder as he saw his mistake and retreated

They tried that strategy two more times before moving on to another and another.

4 long minutes pass of the wolves trying different strategies prodding me for weaknesses

And me barely keeping them out of reach of my blade

That is Intel they found one that worked

One at a time the came within range they would go in acting like they were going to strike and as I swung my sword they Dodge out of the way

One to my left one to my right and then one from behind getting me to turn around

And then one following right behind that one from directly in front of me

He didn't manage to get out of the way in time

He got hit in the side of the head with the sharp side of My weapon knocking him to the ground he wasn't dead but he didn't get back up

I step up to finish him off

And that's when they got my left leg

And my brain made it clear to me that this is a life-and-death situation

And with that burst of adrenaline and anger out racing the pain

I twisted dealt a fatal blow to the wolf with the speed and strength of someone consumed with anger

But unlike most people I kept myself focused on the task at hand

Popping open the strap on my holster I drew my pistol and without time to take proper aim shot at the alpha. I missed but the sound that was loud enough to make my human ears ring made them stop and flee

Knowing if I stayed here they would be back I limped over and washed my leg off in the stream dumped out my vegetables and used the bag as a makeshift bandage washing off any plant matter left in the bag smearing some clay on it and then wrapping it around my leg. I then pull down my pants leg and picked up my spear

And used it to hold myself up as I started making my way downstream again

And with any luck the wolves will find something easier to hunt than me

For those who don't know wolves don't give up that easily sure I manage to get them to back off

But it's likely they're just regrouping

And reconsidering their options

wolves can Hunt a single-target from anywhere between several hours to days on end

And seeing as I'm still seeing movement in my peripheral hours later it's only a matter of time before they decide that my injury has weakened me and challenge me again

Though I didn't give you people a proper description yet.

So here it goes they are normal wolves if you look at them closely enough

Except they have grass growing out of their coat a small sprout sticking out the back of their head where their skull and spine meet

So the basically normal wolves with plants growing out of them

I'm not a scientist spending time to observe them so I don't know if it's parasitic or symbiotic

What I do know is if they laid down in this big grass field they are practically indistinguishable from the surrounding terrain

And I can tell already I'm going to be paranoid of saplings in the future

Coming back to reality

I see that I am now standing in a field of wild strawberries

take note wild strawberries are drastically different from the ones you would find in stores the ones I am looking at about the size of a bean and after a quick test I can tell you they were also about as flavorful as a cardboard box

in fact now that I think about it the cardboard box has more flavor than these not a good flavor mind you

And looking at the mass amount of these strawberries and the nearby ruins this used to be a strawberry farm must have been a long time ago because all the strawberries have gone completely wild and there's almost nothing left of the buildings

and now that I've actually bother to take note of my surroundings I noticed the storm clouds that I've been over my head for the past hour and a half and the wind that's been picking up

So it's going to rain soon I head over to what's Left of the farm to see if there's any usable shelter

I wander around the place for a half an hour

Only finding stuff that wasn't useful to me old rusted farm equipment and buildings that were missing

To explain new abandoned building and leave it without maintenance the thing just falls down into a big pile eventually that's not what I was seeing here sure there was evidence that there was buildings here but there was no leftover wood from the ceiling or anything it's like after it collapsed someone came by and cleaned up all the excess wood that wasn't attached to the ground…

Man that wind is getting really pushy

I'm walking along the river still and I see posts sticking up out of it suggesting that there at least was a bridge there

I'm walking past the only remaining corner of The farmhouse the enjoy the blue lighting combined with the abandoned feeling but I'm getting out of this place when I finally noticed the wind is getting too loud

And if I didn't know better I would think it was a waterfall

And as I passed the wall and looked beyond it I saw a site beautiful and dangerous

I was immediately lost in the moment at the time I did not notice I walked forward towards them so the wall next to me wasn't impeding my view

Anything beyond that I am to illiterate to describe…

At least in the way I saw it

What in Tartarus are those things! Sundrop screamed from behind me breaking me out of my trance

Now looking behind me I notice the other side of that corner was a staircase which means the person who built this place wasn't an idiot

You put the staircase in the sturdiest part of the building

looking past Sundrop to find out where she came from, underneath that staircase was an entrance to a cellar I'm guessing that's where she was hiding this whole time

Oh yeah Sundrop asked a question

They're called tornadoes I said

What! Sundrop yelled

Noticing the wind was too loud for us to have a conversation I look behind me and realized the first one I saw out of the three

Was closing in on her are position

Taking sundrop by the wrist I as quickly as my left leg but allow me lead Sundrop into the cellar

Latching the door and the hatch behind us

Diary entry number 20

After closing the hatch behind me put my phone at of my pocket and turned it on so I could use the built-in flashlight

Yes I still have my phone

Yes it's still has power

reason why It wasn't dead and used up by now is cuz I had the to Common sense to turn it off

Didn't the River damage it when you were getting firewood that one time

I sure to get the most durable phone I could because I know I'm not most gentle person which means it has water ressistance

Looking around I find an old lantern hanging off of one of the boards on the ceiling

Taking it down and checking if it had oil in it

I ask Sundrop to light it

Sundrop can you light this please

When she didn't respond I turned around and looked at her and saw she was still standing by the stairs with a realization and worried look on her face and the rest of her body looking like it can bolt at the first sign of danger

Assuming she was worried about leaving me to die I say

Don't worry I forgive you

She flinches like she was about to run and immediately decided against it

And to translate she got jump scared by me saying don't. but had enough control to not fall off her seat

What? She said hesitantly

To which I responded. Yeah I know you probably thinking I'm angry. that I'm going to hurt you. because you basically abandoned me when I needed your help the most. and I got hurt because of it

You're thinking I did not notice despite the fact that you are a fire-breathing predator with sharp teeth and hard scales that you are a frightened girl that just got attacked by wolves

you're thinking that because you left me to die that I would hate you and force you to go up into that storm because you betrayed my trust

Is that what you're thinking?

y-yes something like that she answered

Maybe I am a little disappointed but I'm not going to get angry or make you leave just cuz you got scared

And before you say anything being scared isn't a bad thing when you think about it it can be kind of like a superpower

The reason why I'm still alive is cuz I was scared

I probably would have ran if I didn't know that the wolves would easily run me down

and then I would have to fight 7 wolves while out of breath

Now can you please light this lantern

I don't want to use my phone more than I have to

Oh right she said before taking lantern from my hand and looking at it with a confused look

Before looking at me and saying.

Help. in a tone of voice I don't think I need to describe

There's a lever at the bottom of the glass bulb push down on it

That will lift up the glass and you should find a wick like a candle you if you don't see it you need to find the knob sticking out and twist it clockwise I say explaining how a lamp works

Clockwise? She asks after finding the knob

I make the appropriate gesture with my hand. sticking out my index finger and moving my hand in a circular motion

With our lantern lit I turn off my phone and store it back in my pocket while taking the lantern from sundrops hands

And getting a better look at my surroundings

There was a few boxes of glass jars full of strawberry jam stored beneath the shelves on the wall in front of the staircase

On the shelves for jars full of other various foodstuffs mostly vegetables

On the far side of the room pushed into the left corner was a single bed

Though it was fairly odd

It was a bed frame with a thick fabric nailed to the sides of it making me think the person who made it wanted to have a hammock but also wanted to retain the stability of a bed

Or another way of explaining it is they tried to make a trampoline but instead of attaching springs to the sides they used nails

But it did have a pillow and blanket

At the foot of the bed there was a chest

With various tools in it facing the center of the room

Next to that was a stack of firewood for a small stove that was tucked into the right corner of the room making the shelves stop short

Also had various cooking utensils hanging from the rafters above it

The other wall had a couch and table

Piled against it

And sticking out of the cobblestone staircase that we just came down was the odd thing in the room

okay so standing in the room looking at the staircase the chars in your left and the couch on your right

There was a stone pipe sticking half a foot out of the wall our end was capped off the other and was going off into the direction of the river which would explain why there was water spewing out of the top of it to a second pipe which had a fulowernnel on it a foot above it

Initial pipe itself was around chest height to me

I am 5 foot 9 with my shoes off

Hanging the lantern on one of the various nails sticking out of the rafters I'll walk over to the wall and take the table down and place in the center of the room as well as roll the couch back onto its feet

Diary entry number 21

It's been about a half an hour since we took shelter

I took a closer look at what was in the chest and made claim to a nice hatchet and a sharpening stone

The rest of the chest had clamps and chisels in it mostly there's a miniature pickaxe as well as a couple of hammers and a manual saw that looks like it was made for something that didn't have hands

Scrap to the lid of the chest along with the chisels I also found a whittling knife that had teeth marks in it

For those who don't know what a whittling knife is imagine a scalpel with a knife handle and a bigger blade

As for sunset she was sitting on the couch

Doing something with her scales. I call it a couch the looks more like a bench with cushions strapped to it because on the bottom of the backrest there was a gap running along the entire couch that Sundrop could easily stick her tail through

To make herself comfortable

The pain in my leg becoming too much for me to ignore any longer I sit myself down and rest it on the table that has adjustable height

I'm guessing the guy who made it couldn't decide if he wanted a normal table or a coffee table take

note: this is not a curvy table legs of the table were square

So he cut the inside corner of each leg off all the way up

Andre detach them at a lower length using a wooden peg and pre-drilled holes

Hey uhhh...

Sundrop says turning to me looking like she's trying to ask a question before stopping and getting the same look I get on my face when I talkin and completely forget what I was going to say next

But I'm guessing that's not exactly what happened because she continued with

What is your name?

Why? I asked

I was going to ask what happened to your leg but then I realized we've been traveling together for nearly half a week and you've never told me your name Sundrop explained

I take a moment to think about it

I did know I did not forget my name I'm just thinking about the downsides of telling somebody my name

Well what downsides could there be you may be asking

Well Sundrop said that they're unicorns in this world and they can use magic through my obsessive studies of all things that are fairy tales I know that not all unicorns are good creatures

and when it comes to ritual magic names are very powerful thing

I remember a fictional story where a guy had to scoop out his own eyeballs with a spoon because they were about to explode

So taking inspiration from sundrops name and coming up with something believable I answer with

Comet coldstar. And I quickly change the subject to my leg for obvious reasons

As for my legI was bitten by a creature that looks strangely like a wolf with a parasitic grass growing out of it

and maybe if I'm lucky enough I'll turn into a dryad and the only thing I'll ever have to worry about is avoiding humans

What is a human Sundrop asked confirming that I have successfully changed the topic

You're looking at one I say with a smile on my face

Why would you want to avoid your own kind Sundrop said asking another question

Hey it's my turn you already asked three questions in a row

Okay… so… why were you traveling alone and big empty grassfield half starved to death before I met you

That's a very personal question Sundrop said after remaining quiet for a moment with it sad look on her face

Answer my question and I'll tell you why I want to avoid humans I said

She just looked at me in silence for a short while before answering

20 years ago shortly after my birth My father was asked by dragon lord ember

To aid Equestria in a war

And never returned

A year ago my mother went out to look for food and didn't come back and I've been on my own ever since traveling from place to place with every single place chasing me out with weapons and fear

Like I said before you're the only person who stopped and looked long enough to realize I wasn't a monster and at a time I wasn't even sure myself I was so angry tired and hungry that day I decided to become what everyone feared I even started to enjoy it a little bit before I collapsed

That was so disgusted with myself with that fact that I wanted you to kill me when I saw you standing over me with that blade in your hand

She said gesturing my sword

I wait a few seconds before saying

And that's how you get all the answers you're looking for by only asking one question

She gives me a look that my brain was too preoccupied to describe

As for me I'll keep it short

I was surrounded by people who loved me and would do anything for me except teach me how to make a living in the civilized world I was in

I know it's nothing compared to having both your parents die

But just imagine being surrounded by people who love you but won't help you when you need it the most

The feeling of abandonment you would get every single time but you love every single one of them so you forgive them every time without uttering a single word

Honestly I'm surprised I wasn't put in a mental ward years ago I say with a very serious and thoughtful tone of voice well looking through the jars on the opposite wall

And noticing the box on the bottom shelf closest to the stove had seasonings in it instead of jelly

After a brief moment I break the silence by saying we could make a boat

The look on sundrops face was funny but I continued

No I'm being serious it will take a little while to build. but seen as I can't fly

we will make up the time in the long run

You will be doing the most of the work seeing as my leg is hurt

but that's just another reason why we should make one

How we going to make a boat Sundrop asked

well we got all the tools we need right there in that chest we're not building a ship so it should only take maybe 4 days if we are only trying to get something that will float that just means the only thing we need now is a tree big enough to fit us inside of it. and this is where the hard part comes in I answered

Building it isn't the hard part Sundrop asked

No building it is the tedious part. I

mean it could be hard if you can't stand doing the same thing constantly for half a week I say

Now is physically hard part is going out and chopping the tree down from the mountain right next to us it means we have to pull it back out of the river and onto the up the bank or we have to travel quite a distance out into the field into one of those tree patches and drag it all the way back here

And I doubt I could help with either of those things

Which means it's probably an impossible task

because I don't think you can pull a thousand pounds out of that River by yourself and I can't walk all the way out into that field and back to help you with that log

so I'm pretty sure the only way that log is going to get here is a miracle of I say before I get interrupted

*Thud*

The cellar vibrated like something very heavy and blunt hit the ground

kind of like when you drop a sludge hammer right next to your foot except on a much larger scale

There was a dead silence after that sundrops eyes slowly turn toward the staircase after her pupils shrunk into pinpricks

I on the other hand after sun drop started staring at the staircase like she just went into a catatonic state walked over to the bed keeled and pray to my God that I'm sure you didn't just land on top of the stairwell I remembered that Sundrop was a dragon and then I thanked God for the gifts

Then I stood up turned around and went over to calm down sundrop who was currently sitting on the floor with her legs wrapped in her arms

note: for anyone who is reading my diary that is not me

Yes I do believe it was an act of God

No I do not expect you to do the same

also know I do not want you to feel like I'm forcing my beliefs on to you

and yes I do want you to think about it and come up with your own conclusion

Hey Sundrop can you hear me

I get no response

Sundrop I'm going to place my hands on your shoulders

Still no response

I place my hands on her shoulders and she did not flinch so I knew she could hear me

Rubbing my thumbs and circular motions I start trying to calm her with my voice

Sundrop the hatch is made out of wood so was the door underneath the stairs and it had to be a tree because boulders are too heavy

I feel her shoulders tense up more

No no that's a good thing trees are also made out of wood

Do remember you are a dragon you breathe fire

It took a solid minute but eventually the muscles in her shoulder began to relax

That was a good thing too I had begun to wonder if I was trying to massage water out of a rock I took that moment to look at Sundrop her scales were smooth like a snake and even with a dim light of the lantern she looked like a bit of sunlight took the liquid form and dropped out of the sky and formed into a dragon

Which made me want to…

Grab a geiger counter point it in her direction

The sun is a massive nuclear reactor after all I'm pretty sure Earth would look a lot like a Mars right now but didn't have an atmosphere plus a natural electromagnetic field surrounding the whole planet like a force field

I halt that train of thought and say

Come on sondrop you must be exhausted I know I am

Well helping her to her feet and leading her to the bed

I'm pretty sure she was asleep before she laid down

As for me I was just as tired as she was but I want to get this all down which was a pain by the way

have you ever tried to record your thoughts when you are too tired to remember half of them

Anyways, comet coldstar signing out

Diary entry number 22

Good news for once

we did not have to burn are way out of the seller

it was really close though as soon as we opened the stairwell door

We saw the tree about 20 ft in front of us

And guess what it had a Boulder wrapped it roots so as expected son drop turns to be and says

I thought you said the tornado couldn't move boulders because they were two heavy

To which I responded with

Boulders don't normally have sail attached to them

What do sales have to do with any of this sundrop said

No not sales sails I said

You just said the same thing twice

sundrop said

But I spelt it differently I said

What are you talking about you're not writing on anything sundrop said

Nevermind that. Anyways sales as you were saying it is it currency thing or the shop owner lowers the price of a certain item usually one with high demand already

In hopes that people will buy more of it because it is cheaper

And sails are usually a big cloth that is attached to a boat and use surface area to catch the wind pushing the boat forward.

And talking about boats we should get started

I finish cutting off whatever Sundrop was about to say

And with a sigh Sundrop follows me as I walked toward the tree drawing the hatchet from my belt

Diary entry number 23

We have successfully separated the main log from the top and the bottom of the tree before sunset used her draconic strength to break the hatchet

And I'm more surprised the handle lasted that long

I also realized it wasn't for Sundrop I'd be here a lot more than 4 days

I guess I forgot to take into account those people in the YouTube video

Already have their log cut down topped and split in half before they even started

Getting back on topic the I spent rest of the day making a new handle for the ax

Using a combination of my sword the hatchets head and my pocket knife

I had gotten a branch off and cut into a decent length and was about to get to work in to shaping it when I looked up and I saw Sundrop had found a geode cracked it open and was chewing on it like she was eating out of a coconut

Sundrop what are you doing I ask

Eating Sundrop answered

I saw some rabbits out in the field

And if you're still worried about those wolves I can tell you several things

Like every single one of them had a sapling sticking out of its head

So they're easy to spot if you know what you're looking for. and there normal wolves scorch them with fire a little bit and I can bet you money that they will run

What is a bet Sundrop asked

Man girl didn't your mother teach you anything I asked

After my father left my mother slept a lot and when she wasn't sleeping she was out trying to find enough food for the both of us

She's starting to getting better before the end she taught me how to read and write and do math and was even starting to teach me how to hunt on top of teaching me how to speak And wright in the traditional dragon language she answered

I pull my phone out of my pocket turn it on and go to the pictures and pull up the Skyrim dovahkiin to English alphabet translation picture that I took when everyone was trying to decipher what that text was in the breath of the wild 2 trailer and ask

Does it look anything like this

Sundrop glanced at it when going back to chewing on her Rock looking like she was about to say no before making a double take leaning in and squinting and studied it for a moment then she leaned back and frantically asked

Where did you get that

To which I answered

I'm an alien from another world I know a lot of things

To which she replied

This ain't no time for jokes comet

Only dragons know the dragon language

anyone that isn't a dragon that knows the dragon language is supposed to be killed

Then I guess that makes us even I said

Besides who said I was joking I continue as I put my phone away and get back to work

Sundrop just stands up and takes off into the sky

After an hour I finish making the handle for the hatchet and I made it longer and thicker than the last one so I have a little bit more leverage and durability

And I spend what's left of the day until sunset making wedges in preparation for splitting the log tomorrow

And then I head into the cellar start up that stove and start making a soup using some of the vegetables on the shelves

Sunset finally gets back at dusk walking down the cellar stairs carrying a beheaded grass wolf

Just as I was beginning to wonder where she was at

She walks in tosses it onto the table before sitting on the couch

And I can see that she turn the wolfs head into Ash

And when she sees me looking at it she says

They were lurking around camp half a mile out

I saw those little sapling sticking out of the ground now I remember what you said and I got a little angry

Though I did see something really freaky

I noticed that when I cut them roots come out of their skin and stitch them back together

That took me by surprise and I turned from the pot to look at Sundrop in the eyes

She was dead serious

Anything else I ask

I do remember when I started to get angry that's something I did not see was burned off my wrists and ankles

Which made me stop in my tracks

Sundrop take that thing outside and burn it to Ash please

Sundrop did so and when she came back inside I sat on the couch and pulled up my left pants leg to expose the bandage

I didn't see anything out of the ordinary but I asked Sundrop anyway

Is there a grass growing out of my leg

She just stood there with a stunned look

On her face before slowly nodding

Okay so here's what I'm thinking you said there was magic in this world so this carnivorous grass is probably using magic to hide itself from its host and maybe even others that have the same parasite

now here's the important question is it only growing out of my leg I asked

Y-yes Sundrop answered with a stutter

Okay that is likely a good thing so long there isn't a sprout sticking out of the back of my neck I should be fine

But I do need you to do something

What is it she asked

I can't see it so I need you to take off the bandage I'm gently pull the grass out of my skin by The Roots and it isn't very important that all of the root comes out cuz if it doesn't it is likely just to grow back I said

Couldn't I just burn It off Sundrop asked

Sundrop I'm not a dragon you put that kind of heat of my flesh you'll kill me I answered

You said you could use magic couldn't you just use magic to get rid of it Sundrop asked

Two things Sundrop one I am not actually a magical creature

Two I'm pretty sure magic is a lot more complicated then solve all your problems by casting a spell

Now hurry up before this gets any worse

It was a long excruciating and painful process

After she got the bandage off and started pulling at the thing it felt like she was trying to pull the nerves out of my skin but I did notice she was mostly focused on the area where I was bitten by the wolf and when she finished I had her take this stuff outside and burn it as well as get her to completely cleanse herself and run a gentle flame over everything in the cellar

The cleansing of myself was done by me and a stick with a bit of burning oily cloth wrapped one end after that I dumped out the soup

And I ate a jar of jelly well Sundrop consumed the insides of three more geodes

I asked her about it because I thought she was showing in the Rock because she was infected by grass but she explained to me that dragons eat gemstones alongside meat

So I asked her if a tracking can survive on just gemstones

With a moment to think she said it was possible but it wasn't exactly healthy

And would do unpredictable things to the dragon who did so

And when we lay down to go to bed that night I give myself time to think and I came to the conclusion that I was on the planet equus from MLP

Now all I have to do is find out where on equus and which version

Because depending on which version could mean I'm going to have a nice time before going home or dying eventually I'm going for the ladder seeing as I already got chase down by a dragon put down a slaver attacked by wolves with a parasitic grass growing out of them. and chase down by twisters on the same day

And then having that same parasitic grass have to be removed from my leg

And as I lay here drifting off to sleep writing all this down I feel like this is only the beginning

Comet coldstar signing out

Diary entry number 24

I didn't do much today my leg was in enough pain I and a hard time just getting out of the cellar

In my left hand didn't really like that I ignored it all day yesterday making those wedges the handle and showing Sundrop how to swing an axe

What she is a dragon you expect her to craft things before she met me

the only reason why she's making stuff now is for my benefit.

if I had the strength and natural abilities she had I wouldn't craft things very often either

and if you're asking why she doesn't just use her claws to carve the tree up I would say would you use a knife to cut a tree in half vertically… no you use the axe to start a split and use the wedges and Hammer to make this split and force it all the way down and through the tree just like I'm having Sundrop doing that's what I thought

Sundrop looks over to me with a concerned look and asks

Are you okay

I answer with yeah why

You're talking to yourself she said

hang out with me long enough you'll realize I actually do it quite often I reply

So don't worry about it too much it isn't the plant messing with my head I've been like this ever since I've been able to start hearing my dreams

How's it going with the log

It's not working

You put the ax in the top of the log

Yes

You put the wedge in

The wedge won't fit

that's cuz you're using the big one you're supposed to start with a small one

Oh okay

Bang thunk thunk

I realized if I wasn't going to help her constantly she was going to hurt herself so I gave her the following instructions helping her with the long-term thinking

This is her first project after all

Right now it's more important to hit it then it is to drive it in

And if you're not careful you'll hit your finger believe me I've done it a hundred times you hold it in and tap it little taps and then when it can stand up by itself you can slowly increase the strength of your Hammer blows with each consecutive hit as the wedge gets driven further in

And don't worry about pulling it out when you've got the other one driven in far enough it will fall out

Yes just like that now keep going until the log finally splits

Do be careful when you're approaching the end of it cuz it will roll I'm with how heavy that thing is I have little doubt that It will break your legs Or trap you underneath it and if you haven't noticed I'm not in the best shape to try to help anyone right now. if you're not careful that is

Okay now work the flat side of the log with the axe and rid of all the extra splinters

And try to make it even more flat no it doesn't have to be perfect

Good now cut a groove down the center of it

no don't go all the way to the ends of it

It is about it after all

Now seeing as your a dragon you have two options you can use your fire breath or we can burn down the center of that log with a groove is with wood

If you use your fire breath it'll go a lot faster but you also get tired a lot faster won't you

Then I suggest that we chop up a bit of firewood light It up and let it sit for a while

I'll stay here and keep an eye on it so it doesn't set the mountain on fire after a little break should go out and find some more food for yourself

Now that Sundrop has left you may be wondering why we're setting the log on fire

Seeing as we're trying to make a boat not firewood

Well there's a few reasons for that the first one is it's easier than trying to whittle the log down by hand

second one is that'll keep going even though we're off doing stuff like getting food

The third reason is when the water is burnt out of the tree the log will be a lot lighter making it easier to float

Mostly just because it's easier

It's been a few hours now

I got bored went for a short walk found out there used to be a barn but of course there used to be a barn this was a farm at one point in time went out and tried the strawberries in the field not very tasty I'm also pretty sure that I've already done this just forgot

Found an old shovel head sticking out of the ground the handle rotted away a long time ago but the head of it was still in decent shape…Only because the thing likely used to be an inch or two thick

The thing has obviously been left in the weather just as long as the staircase has if not longer

after pulling out of the ground and tapping it on a nearby Rock to get all the extra rust off I didn't tell the thing used to be heavy enough to be used as a weapon

Probably still knock someone out if you hit them on the head

but I still wouldn't consider it a weapon and less I made a spear point out of it

Talkin about Spears mine would make a decent handle for this thing and I need a paddle

And who knows maybe in the future I will turn it into a spear

Oh yeah the rest of my time was spent trying to clean up the shovel head and affix it to this pointy stick that I have

After that Sundrop still wasn't back. I didn't worry too much cuz she's a dragon as well as she's probably trying to work through some stuff which does require extra time

The first burn was done with the log as well so I took and scraped all the charcoal out back down to the normal wood cuz it's always good to know on how far you've gotten I don't want to burn too far through it and realize I've got a hole in my boat because of it

Didn't make very much progress but of course we weren't working with dry wood either so a lot of this burn was spent drying out the wood

Diary entry number 25

Sundrop got back as I finished up cleaning and dressing up my leg and hand.

And I realized later while writing this that I might forget why clay or dirt is a good bandage when I have nothing else.

Okay listen up future me that probably got a mind-wipe spell.

Basically you'll rub the dirt into your wound and a blood will soak into the dirt and a help scab over faster. And just in case I forget. Scabs are a good thing they help plug up the holes to keep all the precious liquids inside.

I hear humans only have a gallon of blood emphasis on hear

Anyways Sundrop, couple of large snakes I'd say they're about the size of full grown diamondback rattlesnakes but the patterns all wrong and they don't have that Maraca on the end of their tail

But they don't have plants growing out of it so I don't have to worry about becoming a treant. They're basically living trees

It's only about noon so I skinned snakes and roasted them and we had a tasty lunch I tried some of the snake with jelly it wasn't bad but I wouldn't recommend it

not like normal civilians would ever eat snake anyway they're usually pets and some people would frown upon it. But to me it is food and it's not poisonous

As for the snake skins my bag was burn to Ash last night so take me one of the bones from that wolf smash it into splinters and drilled a hole in one end I made a needle

Yes I had to finagle it a little bit to get it to be smooth and pointy

Yes I used my pocket knife to drill a hole in one end

What did I use for string I had Sundrop go up the mountain and fetch some leaves that she couldn't pull apart

Pull not tear or cut

And with her strength it might take awhile

As for me I kept myself busy working on the log making myself satisfied with the construction of my newfound paddle as well as NOT losing my needle... 3 times

But when Sundrop got back with the leaves and more food

I stripped the green off the leaves so I can get to the fibers and started weaving them together while simultaneously telling Sundrop how to prepare food for humans

The simple stuff like pulling the feathers out cutting the head off pulling out the the organs she was hesitant to do it

and looked at me like I was the real monster when I told her that humans butchered animals like this on a regular basis instead of just eating them feathers and all

Quail she caught quail

As for the string you need to strip it and weave it before you dry it out

And I can't teach you how to weave it I just know the way I did it, It look like a girls braids but smaller

And while it was still wet I took the string thread the needle folded the first snake skin in half and sewed it together as for the second one I made it into a strap and stuffed it full of dry leaves

and the next few days for the same as today Sundrop would go out to get Food as well things that I needed to build useful stuff un and do whatever manual labor that I could not do myself

And I would sit keep an eye on the log whenever it's burning.

Wait for my wounds to heal maintain the tools that we were using

Wonder what kind of war Equestria was in and if they won

And because I was in a little bit of pain between my hand my leg that would start screaming at me if I walked more than a hundred feet and my sore muscles from straining myself too much constantly. I would nap occasionally

Diary entry number 26

It took a while but we did managed to finish making the boat

So in the morning I packed a couple of those jam jars my new cane pole which is basically a fishing pole without a reel. about 50 feet of rope that I made. I emptied out a couple of those crates in one I put the pots and pans in and in the other the pillow and blanket from the bed and in my pack I stowed the to torches that I made over the last couple of days out of dried plant fibers wrapped around a stick and dipped in this thick flammable fluid Sundrop found that looks like tar

The hatchet one of the hammers the seasonings

A handful of wing feathers from those quail. And 5 foot of twine I intend to use as a bow string at some point

But this is after we put the boat in the water

And it's a huge relief to tell you that it floats

It was a tense first few seconds

After we confirm that it floats a lot out the breath that I was holding

So we packed in the stuff that I mentioned earlier and we set sail

Diary entry number 27

Boredom

Pure unadulterated boredom

It was kind of interesting the first day cuz I don't get to be in a canoe very often

But after that it just fell into a boring routine

Wake up get in the boat sale downstream until Sundrop catches up with food

Stop have breakfast get back in the boat

Sail some more until the start of sunset

Pullover set up camp for the night while Sundrop gets food again

Eat go to sleep wake up repeat

My leg is getting the rest it needs

But my back and arms are really sore from all the exercise

I suppose in the long run that just means I'm getting stronger but it's painful and I don't like it

so after a while I'm just sitting in the boat letting the river Carry me down stream

Only using the paddle to avoid obstacles like the size of the river and random Rocks sticking out of the middle of it

But after like a week of this I see an obstacle and I don't think I'm going to be able to avoid

Cuz in front of me picking out of the horizon

Is what I'm guessing the end of the mountain range

I keep going anyway thinking the river is just going to go around it or through a valley or something

Diary entry number 28

Yeaaaah that's not what happened

The river went straight into the mountain

Yes I know it doesn't make sense

But the cliff came down there was a cave there and the river went into it

Okay so I was sitting in the back of the boat because it's easier to steer from there

Sundrop usually sits in the front but she doesn't do it very often cuz she doesn't like it

I think it's because she's used to the ground being very solid and rigid

And if not halfway in between standing and flying

Whenever she lands or takes off from the boat I do have to work quite a bit to make sure she doesn't tip it

and I'm fairly certain if this thing was as narrow as a canoe it probably would have been tipped several times by now

But yeah when I saw the cave I immediately knew that go into it was a bad idea

But I decided to ignore my instincts

And go in anyway because I didn't want to walk anymore

And I don't have a doubt in my mind I would have been fine if I had bothered to remember that sun drop was not nearby and decided to stop and wait for her to catch up

Nope I decided to be an idiot. And go into a cave without a light source

And without my friend

Yes I know I have torches in the bag. but I don't really have anything to light it with. because without Sundrop I would have to stop and start the fire myself using very primitive methods

That's right I decided not to slow down and use my biggest advantage of thinking

I decided to go into a cave that had a very strong current that pulled me deeper into the darkness and by that point the only thing I could do was grab my bag and my paddle and try to keep the boat from sinking

I'm actually kind of glad that the handle to my paddle was semi-flexible

because if it was made out of oak or something stiff I would have come to a sudden stop and my fingers would not be able to keep the grip and I would have wedged the shovel

In the waterfall tube that made a sudden drop off and just kept going

But I'm alive

The shovel flexed and slowed me to a stop

And now I'm just alone in the dark trying my best not to drowned

Imagine if you will a ice cold shower that spit out hundreds of gallons of water per minute instead of a dozen

It was loud I'm pretty sure if I was screaming I wouldn't be able to hear myself

It was also cold I'm certain if I make it out of this alive that I was going to have hypothermia

And I have little doubt the sheer amount of water raining down on me was still shoving me down the hole I was just currently unable to perceive it

A lot of people severely underestimate the power of water

I think it's mostly because the only time they see it it's a very small amount coming out of a Small tube in their cookie cutter houses

I forgot to respect how powerful water was until it was pushing down on my shoulders

If I had let go with either one of my hands

The other one would have failed

Hanging there I knew I couldn't even consider giving up

Because I knew if I did my strength would immediately fail

But I also knew the will to survive would not be enough get me out of this hole

And with each passing moment I only grew weaker

I searched desperately in my mind or something anything that would give me strength

And I found nothing

I could not find any reason to live

I could not find anything to fight for

What about Sundrop you might ask

I already did my part there she can hunt she can fend for herself now

What about the family that loves you and supports you

I've already accepted that I was never going to see them again as soon as I woke up in that field in the morning

I finished all the tasks that God had given me

And God's plan for me was over

The only thing left for me to do was have faith and to let go

The end