"You're good for nothing, boy!" his old woman said with a shrill slur. "You ought to take a hike until it's time you come home with some dinner for me and my husband!"
The door slammed before he had the chance to turn around or respond. Not that he would, as that might make his mother angry which would make his father angry, and that wouldn't end up well for him. Aodhán listened to his mother's cackle as she walked further into the home. He thought he heard her stumble into something and knock some bottles over, but he wasn't certain of it.
Rather than stick around and potentially make things worse, Aodhán decided to take his mother's suggestion and walk around for a while. He did have to find dinner for tonight, and if he got an early start he might find something that would make his folks happy and they could have a quiet dinner for once. He walked out to the street and then turned down towards the center of town.
He pulled out his trusty android and pecked carefully at the web of cracked glass that some might call a screen. Aodhán browsed the nearby food options and picked out a few candidates that fit his budget. Just before he'd had a chance to plot a route to the first option he felt himself bump into someone.
A startled yelp and an "oof!' came from in front of him. Quickly he pocketed his phone and looked at the person he'd just knocked over. A middle aged man stared up at him from the ground with a not so friendly look on his face. "Idiot! Stop looking at your damn phone and pay attention!"
The man, average in height and build, stood up and brushed himself off. Aodhán continued looking down at him. "I'm very sorry, sir. You're right, I should have been paying attention. Are you OK?" Aodhán felt a trickle of shame begin to wash over him. He'd gotten in the way again. He might not have hurt the gentleman if he just weren't so big, or so he felt.
The man's demeanor changed once he realized the difference in their sizes. "O-oh, uh... well, just be more aware next time", then he started walking away. Aodhán picked up on a comment he made under his breath as he left. "Yikes, what a freak, the dudes a behemoth! Just glad he was such a pansy..."
Aodhán blinked, then sighed and continued along his route. His size was wasted on him, and just caused him trouble. For as long as he remembered, he'd been unable to do things correctly. He used to get really excited and want to show off the things he'd done or discovered, but his parents would scold him, or his teacher deride him for stating obvious things or including inaccurate information in his work. No matter what he tried, there never was a time he'd met the expectations of those around him. There were times when some things he did were rewarded, like when he was generous and gave some of the money he'd earned to his parents or when he did nice things without asking. Most of the time he'd start with good intentions and end up either in trouble or completely failing to be helpful in any way.
He turned his attention back to the task at hand and followed the directions best he could while squinting through the cracks on his phone's screen. The GPS took him down a street through town he had not travelled before, and he realized it was part of the historic district. Lots of old storefronts and brick buildings with large glass display windows passed him by on either side. It was actually very quaint and he enjoyed the general feel of the place.
It wasn't until he passed by a large alley that the vibe started to change. A small crowd hovered around the entrance to the alley; Maybe eight people in total. They whispered amongst each other, took pictures of something further down the alley, and looked about uneasily.
Aodhán felt a prickle of caution as he approached, but curiosity took over and he joined the crowd quietly. At the end of the alley, which had been lit with Tiki torches with the tags still on them, a lithe figure ambled about with a hypnotic sway. They were dressed in a hooded robe like something out of an 80's Dark Fantasy movie, but it was the tattoos on their hands and arms that caught the eye. Swirls that twisted and curled covered their skin in patterns so complex they almost appeared to be moving like smoke in still air.
The robed person was setting up some kind of scene for the onlookers using powders and paints to draw weird figures on the walls and ground. After every several seconds they would utter some kind of phrase, but Aodhán couldn't make it out.
"OH! I know what this is!" A young woman in the crowd said in a hushed shout to her friends, "This is one of those crazy street artist performances, it's supposed to make you feel or think or something." The rest of the onlookers probably heard that as well, as they all visibly relaxed and an audible sigh escaped their lips. Even Aodhán felt the tension leave him as his brain accepted the conclusion as the only rational possibility for such an odd event.
All of them, except Aodhán who tried to say hello a few times too quietly for anyone to notice, began to murmur in excitement and speculated what the performance was going to be about.
The robed artist must have noticed, as they changed their performance now. They began to move about the patterns and figures they'd painted in a hypnotic rhythm, passing their hands over certain lines in smooth, practiced motions. As they did so, a thick cloud of smoke would billow out from the sleeves on their robe and multi-colored lights shone out from them refracting through the smoke.
The woman from before spoke up again, "Oh wow, those must be like, tubes hooked up to a fog machine and LEDs or something! They really went all out!"
As if in response, the figure redoubled their movements, shifting into a swirling, twirling dance that mesmerized them bringing a hush over the group. Aodhán looked around, the sudden silence giving him a small sobriety from the performance. He wondered why no one else had stopped to watch, but the street was empty save for a few cars parked alongside the curb. He shrugged; it must not be a very popular part of town, he assumed. His attention turned back to the dance.
The smoke had grown into a thick fog the was enveloping the walls and ground, slowly creeping towards them and outward. A few of the people gathered looked down as it passed around their ankles and flowed out onto the sidewalk.
A low beat had begun to play from some hidden speaker, and the robed figure had begun a chant of sustained notes that wearily drifted up and down in pitch. It was a haunting and beautiful sound, but for the life of him Aodhán could not properly describe it.
The sound moved across him slowly, gently flowing over his shoulders and weighing down on him. At first, the sensation was pleasant and relaxing. He closed his eyes and started to let go of his stress, allowing the chant to carry away all of his troubles.
"I- I think I'm gonna..." The young woman from before croaked weakly just before she collapsed to the ground. Two others did the same.
The weight on his shoulders and the sensation of flow over his body started to grow. Soon, he had to brace himself to stay in place, and the flowing sound became a current whipping past him.
Panic hit the rest of them as they began to look about and get away or help their friends up. Only now did they notice that the fog had wrapped around them, enveloping everything except for the nine of them and the robed artist. A dark light shifting between pinks, greens, and blues slowly pulsed through the fog.
The robed artist had become a calliope of movement and sound, the beat increasing to a thudding boom that shook to the very core of their bodies.
The sound, now heavier than most could tolerate, sent even more of them to the ground. Only three still stood, including Aodhán. It began to seep into them, through their skin and around the muscle and veins in their limbs and into the organs in their bodies. Their bodies reverberated with the chanting, in tune with the manic changes in pitch the robed figure made.
It was too much. The other two fell to their knees but Aodhán managed to stay upright. He had been trying to move towards the robed figure in hopes of stopping whatever was happening, but his legs were too heavy now and the sound of the chant worked into his very core, reverberating and pulsing through every fiber of his being.
As he felt his body become fully saturated in whatever was happening he collapsed. He fell on all fours, futilely gasping for air.
He looked up as his vision began to fade out and saw the robed figure had stopped. They regarded the fallen forms then pulled back their hood just enough to reveal a smile. To Aodhán, it almost seemed warm, and as he passed into unconsciousness he heard them say, "Don't you worry, you'll be just fine."
Achievement: Witness the Severing Ritual
For a long time, there was only darkness. It wrapped around and clung to him as it slowly shifted in all directions and the sensation of Aodhán's body stretched and shrank in response to it. He was not breathing, but that did not seem to be a problem for him wherever he was. In fact, no typical bodily function seemed to be a problem for him as he just sat there, somehow just existing.
He was aware of what was happening, but could not bring himself to think about the situation or anything else for that matter. He would have thought it bizarre, except he could not even begin to form that thought.
So Aodhán just was, and he was for quite some time, though he couldn't figure any length of it.
It wasn't until he realized that he was reflecting on this experience that things began to improve. First it was reactive thoughts that came back to him, like "oh, the feeling in that part of my body is tingly" or "whoa, my feeling of balance is completely off center", then the odd sensations of stretching and shrinking began to subside starting at his fingertips and toes.
The feeling of being knit together crept further along from the extremities inward, restoring Aodhán's arms and legs, then his torso, and finally his head. A switch flipped in his mind as it ended and he began to form proper thoughts, which naturally became panic.
He fought to open his eyes and move about, trying to escape the smothering stickiness of the darkness. There was nothing to grab onto and no ground to stand on. He wondered if he might be dead and panicked even more. With one final push he finally managed to open his eyes.
A cool breeze, sounds of birds, frogs, and a distant burbling brook immediately replaced the nothingness from before. The sudden shock of stimulus mixed with his struggling and he went from flat on the ground to his tiptoes faster than you could blink.
"AAaaaah!" He shrieked, then abruptly stopped as he looked around and realized he was standing in the woods.
The leaves covered any visibility of the sky despite the trees being decently spaced apart. Their broad canopies slightly overlapped each other, and a deep green gently moved back and forth in the breeze.
Aodhán blinked. He felt at himself and everything was where it should be. That gave him some small comfort. He looked around for any of the other people that were in the small crowd, but he was alone. It occurred to him that there weren't any woods nearby the part of town he'd been in. Why was he out here, then? Did someone move him?
A shock of cold flooded into his stomach. Had he been kidnapped? There wasn't any sign of a kidnapper, and he wasn't tied up, so that couldn't be it.
The cold sensation spread out and settled into a dull fear, but it kept him alert and active. The feeling was familiar to him. He'd adapted to these spikes of adrenaline whenever he'd screwed up or realized he had upset his parents, and they could be very useful when you had practice with them.
Instead of wildly whipping about, he began to really look at his surroundings. He wasn't in immediate danger as far as he could tell. It was quiet, and there were no signs of other people around.
Taking a quick inventory of himself, Aodhán found no injuries or signs of someone having gone through his stuff. In fact, his wallet and phone were still in his pocket.
He whipped the phone out in a practiced movement and pulled it up, thumb on the button to unlock it. Except, he wasn't staring at his cracked screen. Instead, he was holding a metal rectangle that was roughly shaped like a phone. He felt at where the screen should be, but the smooth, satin finish was more like the rest of the metal material.
After running his fingers over it a bit longer, he realized it was more like a stone, or if a metal had the qualities of stone. It had all the buttons his old phone did; a pair of volume rocker buttons, a button to lock the phone, and a little switch to put it in do not disturb mode. He flipped it over and found a little paper note stuck to the back. He peeled it off and opened it.
"Ahem. Dear Aodhán (or whomever is reading this note), I won't bother explaining the details of everything. You'll eventually figure out what you need to know, anyways. As for your phone, having such a device with you for the journey ahead is problematic so I've prepared a suitable replacement for you. I hope you enjoy it!
Signed, the most magnificent, magnanimous, misguided, and mortally inebriated Seneschal - Rungu"
The look of stupor that struck Aodhán's face would have been amusing if anyone were around to see it. Who the hell was Rungu? Did they swap out his phone with this rock? And why did they bother to include "ahem" on the note?
He crumpled the small paper and was about to toss it into the woods when he caught himself. He decided to pocket it instead, realizing it might be important if he wanted to figure out what in the world was going on.
Instead, he pulled up the "phone" again. The back side where the note had been had a few engravings on it. In fine text along the top edge it read "No charging needed!" and along the bottom edge his name was engraved. In the center was a logo of sorts he did not recognize. An ornately scribed stick figure seemed to be rising up with arms outstretched, except while its left side was well defined the right side unraveled into a weave pattern.
There wasn't much else to it. He pressed the lock button just to see what would happen, and was mildly amused to see the front surface light up. I mean, it was supposedly a replacement for his phone. He expected this to happen, even if he didn't have any faith that it would.
The screen stretched from corner to corner, which was pretty nice considering his old phone had pretty large bezels compared to the newest models. On the display was a menu very similar to what you'd expect on a smart phone; Apps, widgets, and the like. Except, there were far fewer of them and they didn't seem to have anything beside the most basic stuff.
He tapped a map icon and the screen changed to a typical gps style map, only it just revealed the surroundings he could see and a pop-up that read "explore to record maps of the places you've been". So much for finding a way back that way.
He was about to start poking around in the other apps when he heard a tip-tapping to his left. His head swiveled to the source as he retreated several steps. Footsteps for sure, but they were too light and too many to be a person's.
Expecting a coyote or a bobcat, Aodhán dropped to a crouch preparing to bolt at the first sight of whatever was nearby.
A dog, happily panting with tail wagging high in the air and tongue lolling strode into the small grove he was standing in. It stopped after spotting him and inspected him for a moment. It wasn't any breed he could recognize, but it did have similarities to a Golden Retriever, notably its light yellow coat of fur.
Their eyes locked. The dog's head tilted left. Aodhán's head tilted right.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Seemingly appeased by the gesture the dog resumed panting and wagging. It, or rather she, let out a soft woof and turned and resumed her stroll, entirely unbothered by the strange man standing scared in the middle of the woods.
Aodhán watched the dog go and let out a sigh of relief. He pondered a moment, then followed after the dog. It wasn't like he'd come up with any better ideas, and a dog that behaved like that likely was familiar with people and could lead him to somewhere safe.
He followed the dog for a few hours. At first she didn't pay him any mind, but eventually she caught on to him and kept some distance between them, occasionally looking back to check on him.
He let her keep the distance, and to avoid seeming any more suspicious than he already was he continued investigating his new "phone".
It had a number of functions that weren't too dissimilar from a regular phone's. There was the map, which was entirely blank and had some way of filling in as he walked, but didn't have much else to it.
Next was a health app, which had a number of data points handily presented in a user-friendly interface; weight, height, blood-type, and the like. It also had information that he was pretty sure was just default data, like a list of illnesses, conditions, medications, and body composition. The first three were blank, but body composition had actual numbers that were pretty accurate. It even seemed to track what food you ate and how much of it you'd eaten and how much water you'd had with recommendations for when to get more.
The other apps were a journal, which already had an entry, though it was pretty generic. It just read "Woke up lost in the woods" with what looked like an ID number or something next to it.
There was a music player with his downloaded library on it, and a camera that took pictures and video that looked really good even compared to top of the line smart phones. An app called Guidebook seemed to be some sort of empty guide that you probably needed to fill in.
Finally was the app called System. He thought it might have been a settings menu, but when opened it showed a dashboard of sorts with several sections; "Classes", "Traits", "Specializations", and "Achievements". They were all empty except Achievements which had a single badge with the text "Witnessed the Severing Ritual" under it.
That was it. There were a few configurable widgets, but they just made the information in those few apps quickly available on the main screen.
Now, he was standing against a tree watching the dog he'd been following drink water from a small stream. She saw him watching as she stopped drinking and prepared to do her "business" and barked at him. He looked away.
He was almost certain at this point that all these crazy events, the weird rock-metal-phone, the dog, and whatever else might happen was either a heavy drug induced dream or an exceptionally elaborate prank. He wasn't certain which of those options was better.
The sun seemed to be setting, indicated by the light through the tree canopy turning orange, then slightly red. It would be dark soon, and he felt the air begin to chill quickly. His thoughts turned to shelter, and warmth. He could find a small hollow or jerry rig some kind of overhead covering from branches and sticks, but he had no idea how to start a fire properly. He recalled scenes from movies he'd watched where people in similar situations rubbed sticks together for hours only for the chance they might get some smoke that ultimately amounted to nothing.
Aodhán groaned loudly and hung his head. The dog looked up at him, but he didn't raise his head to meet her gaze.
A few seconds later he heard her tip-tapping getting close and looked up to see her just a few feet away looking at him intently.
"Look" he said, "you seem like a fine dog, and you've been awfully nice to let me follow you, but I'm in trouble here. I've got to find a way back to civilization. I think I've been kidnapped, or pranked, or... something. At the very least, I need somewhere I can rest and be warm for the night." He stretched his arms and legs as he spoke and stared back into the dogs eyes.
It occurred to him that he was talking to a dog out of desperation, to which he groaned even louder, sat down with his back against the tree, and hung his head again.
He'd just begun wondering what he'd screwed up this time to end up in this mess when the dog let out a soft woof and nudged his elbow. He looked up. The dog trotted a few paces away then stopped and looked back at him.
He blinked a few times. She woofed at him again. "Ummm..." he stood up and the dog began trotting in the direction they'd been headed in before. "Ok, not going to analyze that too much," he murmured under his breath, "not many other options anyhow."
The dog let him follow her more closely this time, and looked back occasionally to make sure he was still there. They continued like this into twilight before she stopped, turned around, sat on her haunches, and stared up at him.
"Uh... miss dog? Are we stopped for a reason? There's nothing here."
As if in response, she turned her head and looked behind her, then back at him. He followed her movement, but couldn't make out much in the dim light. He hadn't found a flashlight on his phone-brick, so instead squinted hard.
Eventually his eyes adjusted and he realized the dark space he'd been staring into was a small alcove in the side of a hill. It wasn't a cave, it was far too shallow, but it was just big enough to fit him and a handful of other people if they squeezed. The floor of the alcove was mostly barren, but one corner of the room there was a pile of small bones, sticks, and rocks. Against the back wall was a pile of dried grass and other plants.
This must have been the dog's den, he realized. He stepped into the alcove. The dog brushed past him and grabbed a well chewed bone from the pile. She sauntered over to the pile of plant stuff, circled on it a few times, then lay down and started to gnaw on the bone.
"Wow, you brought me to your home." He took in the scene again. "You are a very kind dog, and clearly way more intelligent than I gave you credit for."
The dog gave another soft woof as if to say "And smarter than you."
Aodhán chuckled. "Well, whatever that woof means, thank you for letting me be here." For the first time today, he didn't feel total overwhelming fear for his life. Instead it was just mild fear for his life, gratitude, and as he just started to realize, tons of physical exhaustion.
It hit him all at once as the adrenaline finally stopped pumping through his veins. He nearly collapsed, but managed to stumble over to the back wall a few feet from the dog where he curled up on the ground. He didn't have time to even think before he fell into deep slumber.
It wasn't the whimpers, nor the barking of his transient canine guide, nor the guttural growling of what lurked beyond the alcove that woke him up.
The sound of the birds nearby taking flight is what caused him to stir. His eyes fluttered open, but it was still dark. A pale golden silhouette was crouched low, its tail standing upright wagging nervously.
The other sounds registered for him, sending a jolt of alertness that made him lurch into a sitting position.
Two pairs of gross green dots swayed in the darkness, oily blurs of movement following their movements.
Aodhán quickly rubbed at his eyes and squinted at the forms. He noticed the fur first. Long, greasy strokes of black, dark brown, and mud-matted fur swayed in response to the gentle loping of large, powerful legs. A patchy head hung low between a set of sharp shoulder blades, its maw just barely agape letting rivers of gross saliva ooze out from between large, ivory fangs and onto the ground.
It's neck convulsed in time with the slow guttural choke it made as it growled and studied him. The other beast waited several meters back, invisible save for its sickly green eyes.
Whatever they were, they had come hunting for him. The friendly canine that had led him here was barking at the thing, but it seemed to pay no mind to his acquaintance.
The dog ran up to it threateningly, then backed off all the while barking mad and baring its teeth. Still, the beast didn't so much as blink nor lose its focus on him.
He moved his legs under him and struggled to stand, weakness trying to force his muscles to relax, fear cooing in his ear to lay down and accept his fate. With great effort he managed to stand, though he did not know what good it might do him.
One step backward, then it took one step forward. Another step backward, it took another step forward. Soon, his back was the wall of the alcove. A bit of dirt fell from the root-tangled wall startling him. The sudden shiver it gave him was matched by the beast as it crouched low in the same moment.
His body had given in fully to the fear now. All the joints in his limbs locked up and his muscles tightly tensed trying to move in every direction at once.
Aodhán's mind raced trying to think of some way to escape, some desperate plea or bargain he could make with whatever higher being might exist. His panic only increased as each idea became more ridiculous and less plausible.
"Please!" He shouted as the beast closed the remaining gap between them. Its head was nearly level with his, despite its predatory crouch. "Please no! Please NO!"
He wanted to look away, but being so close now he couldn't tear his eyes off the grizzly appearance before him. The beast's eyes were sunken deep into its face and its dirty skin wrapped its skull tightly allowing the structure of the bone to show through clearly. He noticed now that its mouth wasn't open so much as it had no lips. The teeth simply were part of its face.
He broke down into whimpers and was about to shut his eyes tightly and brace himself when the thing lurched to the side. Fearing the killing blow his knees gave out and he let out a blood curdling scream, but death did not come.
By some grace, he still had his eyes on it, so he was able to notice the golden blur that launched into its side. For a brief instant, his fuzzy golden companion was clear in his vision, fangs buried deep into its neck.
The unnatural howl of pain that came next was deafening. Something about it took hold of his mind and body and he felt an icy grip hold him completely still. As soon as it ended, the grip it had on him broke and he backed against the dirt wall as much as he could and stood again.
The beast swung back in the other direction, throwing the dog across the alcove and into wall forcing a pained yelp out of her as she crumpled to the ground.
The shock of it triggered him to act. No longer able to think, no longer able to let his thoughts spin and spin trying to find a way out, his body simply reacted. What he had done was stupid, crazy, and something he would have never done in his right mind.
He stepped forward, and closed his hands around the beast's neck.
Unaccustomed to prey fighting back, the beast stopped for a fraction of a moment as it registered what he had done before it continued its assault. It pushed into him, attempting to break free, but his arms tensed in response and his grip tightened. It began to hack and cough as its mouth opened and closed with loud, violent cracks.
Aodhán tried to push back, but it was too big and too strong. Its claws dug into the rocky dirt and its teeth came closer and closer. The wall pressed painfully into his back but the fresh dose of adrenaline made him numb to it as he flexed his back and legs hard, using the wall as leverage to push back.
The beast clawed wildly at the dirt ripping and tearing at it and him. Its long dirty claws slicing the skin on his arms and sides but they were too close together for it to be able to press its claws into his belly.
It opened its mouth to howl again, trying to force him to lock up like before, but his hands were shut tightly around its airway and it could only manage an angry wheeze.
The beast seemed to realized it wasn't able to breath and that its prey wasn't going to let go and began to backpedal while tossing its head side to side to shake Aodhán off. He felt the pull and with a sudden fury pouring out from deep within him, lept forward and into the torso of the beast.
This caught the creature off guard long enough for Aodhán to kick his legs up and lock them around the beast's midsection. He felt his teeth grind down and crack as he poured every last ounce of that fury into the hands clamped around its throat. His arms extended as far as they could to keep the gnashing fangs at bay.
Oddly, the only two things Aodhán noticed in the following moments were the primordial fear-spiked hatred in the beast's sick green eyes and the baffling mix of guilt, relief, and terror that formed the undercurrent of his rage. He wept hot tears as he wrestled with the beast and its movements finally began to slow and become sporadic and weak.
That other beast that had been watching from the dark beyond the alcove had left, uncertain of their own fate should they try and take this prey.
He held his grip for a long time after the beast had gone silent and ceased moving. His arms only untensed after enough blood had poured from his wounds that his strength left him and he passed out.
Aodhán forgot all the pain and terror of the past several hours in the peaceful black void of unconsciousness. When he wasn't dreaming it was warm and comfortable and the dreams he did have were filled with idyllic moments; his mother thanking him for his hard work bringing home food every day, friends excitedly inviting him on a weekend trip and regaling him with the plans they had made and how fun it would all be.
At some point he realized he wasn't awake, probably when one of his dreams took a left turn after he had been awarded a medal for his unwavering dedication and he'd had to step into the presidency and run the country. After that he tried to keep it going as long as possible, but he was regaining consciousness bit by bit. His dreams changed to short moments of half-wakeful stirrings and the time he spent drifting in that cozy black void got shorter and shorter. Then he woke up.
"Fuck." he groaned. Light shone down through the thick green canopy above him making him squint and bolts of lightning shot through his head. The attempt to roll off of his back made him aware of the screaming chorus of pain his muscles made.
He managed to get to his knees and looked around. There was the forest beyond the alcove, which was peaceful and smelt of early morning dew. Then there was the beast lying a few feet away, a dark mar on an otherwise beautiful day. It was still, and the green of its eyes had faded to a light grey. Aodhán swore it must have been as a large as a bear. Looking at it now in the daylight he saw that most of its bulk came from the thick sprouts of long oily fur. In actuality, it was unnaturally lithe.
A movement in the corner of his vision broke his stare and he looked to the right. There, against the wall of the alcove, was the golden-coated canine that had led him here. She stared at him from where she lay and let out a long sigh. Her eyes conveyed a mixed sense of pain, exasperation, and care, or at least he thought they did.
"Still alive, huh? That's good to see." Aodhán smiled. She perked her ears in response and wagged her tail once. "You hit the wall pretty hard. You're not hurt?" He asked, pointing at the cracked dirt impression on the wall.
She seemed to understand what he meant and gingerly stood up, favoring her rear right leg. It was clearly broken.
The large man sucked his teeth. "Well, that probably hurts a lot." He replayed the scene from last night, and the image of the dog being launched into the wall flashed through his mind. "Thank you. I don't know how I did it, but I killed that... thing." He pointed at the dead beast. "Every bit counted, and that bravery of yours saved me from becoming its dinner." He smiled again, then added. "Again, talking to a dog, so I guess all the platitudes are for my own benefit."
A low woof was the response.
Slowly, the reality and absurdity of the whole situation settled in him. Weird ritual, random forest, friendly dog, horrific beast, and now what? Anxiety made soft alarms in his head. He felt lost, uncertain, and his hands shook from weakness and exhaustion.
Getting up took a few tries, each attempt informing him of his most tender wounds. The last, successful attempt also let him know that he had lost a lot of blood as he nearly toppled over and reeled with lightheadedness for a full minute. His wounds were just shallow enough to have stopped bleeding serious amounts of blood, but there were enough of them that he had lost plenty while passed out.
He needed medical attention but there was nothing he could do but rip his clothes for bandages. He stripped down to his thankfully long boxers then tore his shirt and pants into makeshift compresses and wrapped them over the worst of the gashes on his arms and sides. The process tore open a few of them and he gritted his teeth. He focused on the fact that the weather was warm and he wouldn't freeze to death to keep his mind off the pain.
When finished Aodhán appraised himself and decided that he looked just like one of those action movie stars after they'd been beaten blue by the villain. Then he decided that was exactly what he was, which made him feel a little bit better.
Another woof from the peanut gallery broke him out of that fantasy.
"Ah, right." He frowned. "I need to figure out what to do about you." He thought, cupping his chin with his hand. The movement caused a jolt of pain, so he switched to his other hand. He wasn't so great at elaborate plans or coming up with a strategy for this kind of thing. He'd always been on the more tactical side, making in the moment decisions based on what was ahead of him. He didn't think on it too long, though. Instead he hobbled over to the dog and put his arms under her chest and midsection, then in one motion heaved her up and rolled her one hundred eighty degrees so she was lying on her back nestled into his arms.
The dog's eyes went wide for a second and stared at him, then she got comfortable and licked him right on the nose.
"Agh! None of that!" He wiped the slobber on his shoulder. "Look, somewhere around here there's gotta be someone who can patch us up. I'm just returning the favor I owe you. Besides, I haven't figured out how to get out of this mess yet, save the thanks for if I manage to pull this off."
The dog woofed and looked in a particular direction. "Ah yes, of course, should have asked for directions first." He faced the indicated direction and started hiking.
A few hours later and he could tell he was nearing the forest's edge. During that time he'd picked up on a few interesting details. First, the dog was absolutely massive. When Aodhán initially met his fuzzy friend, he could tell she was bigger than most dogs, but after carrying her for miles in his arms he had become painfully aware that she wasn't just large for breed, she was large compared to her species and must have weighed one hundred and fifty pounds. Of course it wouldn't normally take that long to go as far as he did, but he'd needed to take many, many breaks leaning against a tree or sitting on a rock.
Another detail that he failed to notice until he had stopped to drink water out of a stream was how foreign the forest appeared. Branches bent and jutted out at strange angles, bird calls were infrequent but very low and always very far away, and the ground was incredibly flat. His path had gone up and down in elevation and there were hills and the occasional break in the terrain, but for the most part it was smooth and flat. The sensation he began to feel as he trudged along was liminal, he'd decided. Almost as though he were caught in a dream. Almost, except he was bleeding and tired and hungry and all the normal things associated with living in reality.
When he saw the edge of the forest he felt a surge of energy course through him. He imagined a restful field with some natural shelter they could take refuge for the night. Maybe even an abandoned cabin with firewood and supplies. What he saw was even better.
Rolling hills of tall grass swayed as the breeze blew across them. The terrain descended away from the forest's edge in a low slope with the occasional rise and ebb making a sort of rippling effect. Far, far out in the distance a larger hill rose up and a column of smoke lazily rose and grew upward from it. Actually, it was several columns of smoke rising up.
The source was the best thing he had ever seen, though admittedly confusing; A small city covered the top of the hill, and a single dirt road wound across the rolling hills and up into it. Except it wasn't like any city he'd ever seen, at least not any modern one. It looked too packed together to have any roads or streets and a stone wall wrapped around it making it look like something from the dark ages.
Nonetheless, it was civilization and he really had no place being picky given his and his new friend's condition. He shrugged tiredly, which brought the dog closer to him and felt a wet tongue slap against the side of his face.
End of Chapter 1
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