As I was a poor sod with complete lack of ability to use my innate energy I was forced to try and make fire the old fashion way due to not wanting to ask Phoenix to do it.

Gathering some branches and dried leaves and twigs, I cut a little hole into a thicket branch and started twisting another small stick in the whole with broken down leaves and twine. Took about 10 minutes considering it was my first time but managed in the end to make a cozy little fire. Fire was odd too. Slight greenish outline was there to be seen if you stared into it long enough but I figured it was just the environmental effect.

I cooked up some goblizard skewers with meat from its hind legs and nothing else as I didn’t even know what could be used for spices and didn’t want ask Phoenix as I was still upset over the ridiculing.

There I was, eating goblizard skewer on a foreign planet with a dick of a slime in my head. My new life.

‘ Totally what I wanted.” I sarcastically thought.

The meat wasn’t that bad actually, it tasted somewhere in between tender beef and pork chops. It was an odd mix but felt refreshing none the less. I had dried some goblizard skin near the fire and managed to turn it into a small pouch where I kept some of the cooked meat for later use which felt slightly unsanitary but used tree leaves as a wrap around the meat before using the pouch and germs should have been killed off by the fire anyways. I hoped.

With everything in tow, I decided maybe looking for a cave or something for the night would be a better idea than staying outside as I had no idea how to build a tent or hut or anything much for that matter.

With all that we set off. I wandered about the sparse forest keeping a vigilant eye while reminding Phoenix to watch my back as it was able to literally sprout a tentacle eye on the back of my head. ‘ I literally have eyes on the back of head, hehe.’ I chuckled.

We walked for about 30 minutes before I noticed another goblizard eating on some sort of dead fox looking thing. The dead fox had some red on its paws while the rest of its body seemed to be slightly green. Odd fox, well odd everything. I couldn’t see much else but I didn’t want to fight another goblizard as we didn’t even require its body or meat at the moment so I just detoured around the thing. I now knew there were fox looking things running around the area too so had to keep an eye out for that as well.

We kept walking for a about another hour before I noticed in the distance a series of trees that seemed to be oddly bunched together. I was glad it was still day and the sun was out as I couldn’t even imagine the amount of times I would of shat myself if I had ended up here at night, especially if a goblizard had popped in. In any case, I had ended up sneakily going closer to the trees and was surprised to see that there was some decrepit looking cabin built near the center of those trees as the trees surrounded it.

First thing that went to my mind was that there was civilization in this world too. I didn’t know yet to just what level but it had to be said that if you can make a decent size cabin, you had a village type place for sure. I however didn’t know until what point it has been developed.

I headed further towards the cabin while checking my surroundings and making sure with Phoenix that there weren’t any noticeable danger as Phoenix did seem to have better vision however the hell that worked.

As I stood in front of the cabin, I notice how it seems just enough for one person as its size was considerably small and it was really worn down. Pieces of the wood was cracked and holes were everywhere on the cabin. I slowly open the front door which was already slightly ajar and walked in.

I already made sure there wasn’t anything by looking through one of the windows when I did a full round of the cabin because my paranoia never left me which I complimented about myself as even on Earth I was paranoid as all hell as if I owned government secrets because I just enjoyed my privacy that much. Never really learned why I was so paranoid but I just figured some people had ‘quirks’. Fascinating person I am.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

A regular dose of ego inflating commentary later I continue to explore the little cabin that seemed to be equipped with a nice little kitchen counter with a rusted pan I noticed. A small brazier made of some stone in the living area/bed room which had some rags on the floor for what I assumed bedding.

‘Seems beds weren’t a popular choice for whoever lived here’

I turn to one of the closets and open it wary of what I might find only to jump and almost squeal in fright.

I saw a man of average height with raven black hair and an average face with nice thick eyebrows with a creepy looking green tentacle popping out of his head. Straight out of the top looking around as if some alien with an antenna. Indeed, it was a mirror or at least it was a piece of stone that was extremely reflective.

I chided myself for the fright as I got scared of my own self but I let it go as I wasn’t used to my appearance with Phoenix popping out.

I continued to inspect the closet which was just a small regular closet with the mirror in it and a small box off in the corner. I inspected the mirror a bit more and it really was just a piece of long and thin rock that was reflective as the edges seemed naturally curved into with jagged edges either that or it was the style in this world. Moving on to the wooden box, I carefully open it to see some notes with writing I was utterly confused about and a small dagger that seemed to be made from some obsidian colored material with a dark blue edge that was about a foot in length and a handle with no cross guard. The handle itself was actually made of wood but it was a darker wood than what I have seen so far but still dark blue bordering black and had some design carved into it for style I guess.

Another weapon…GET!

I thought about the dagger for a bit as it seems this world wasn’t too advanced as the weapon didn’t seem too old, which Phoenix confirmed, and it also meant that creatures around here were tough little shits to deal with. I wasn’t sure what to expect if I did encounter any of the people but I was still hoping there was some technology as I was curious about maybe visiting with Phoenix to its super max civilization. Whatever, I could always find out later.

I did a one over of the cabin again after having tucked away the pretty dagger and didn’t find much else.

“Jupiter let me take a look at those notes.” Phoenix asked seemingly curious to which I just laid them on a table and took a seat on a stool nearby.

“Can you read it?” I asked because if Phoenix could, that means we are still somewhere that is part of its previous community.

Though it turned out to be a fanciful thought as Phoenix couldn’t recognize the writing at all which left me a little disappointed but I guess you don’t get more luck after getting lucky against space death.

“I can still learn it but we would need to get our hands on more of this writing or meet a native and have them teach me.”

“Sounds like a pl…no. I don’t want to go meeting anybody anytime soon. What if I turn into some creepy looking thing to them and they just kill me off, or arrest me and torture me for my origins, or turn me into some science experiment? Hell no!”

There it was, my antisocial behavior came back in full drive but with valid reasons this time.

“Jupiter, it can’t be that bad. Well, we could always take a peek then decide.” Phoenix said as even it wasn’t 100% sure like usual, just blindly optimistic I’d say but taking a look wouldn’t be so bad but I would want to get some sort of insurance first.

I walk out of the cabin to get a look at the sky and notice I had maybe another three or so hours of daylight which seemed to be enough so I started gathering some wood and started trying to fix up the cabin as I needed a base of operations and this one just happened to be a pretty convenient one. Considering my extreme paranoia I still walked about a mile away from the cabin and spun around the area once over to make sure we weren’t right next to some village or anything and to make sure there weren’t any more dangerous creatures aside from the foxes which I dubbed foxhorns as they had a weird white horn growing out of their heads after I caught sight of a few more moving in two’s and three’s in the distance. They were fast and so I kept hidden as I really didn’t want to face those mutant things.

I returned to the cabin with some thinner logs about an hour later and got to work on fixing the place up which really equaled to me building an exterior wall sort of thing that was just me driving logs into the ground where the holes in the cabin were, blocking off the holes. Simple and it worked. That’s all that mattered.