Chapter 7

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“ARGHHHH!” I grunted as my injured leg bumped against a protruding root.

Si-ah who was carrying me said, “You deserve the pain, who the hell do you think you are, jumping at a bufan alone?? With no planning?? DO YOU EVER STOP TO CONSIDER THE FATE OF THE TRIBE LIES ON OUR SHOULDERS?!?!” He yelled, his anger gradually rising as he spoke.

“But I felled it didn’t I? Without your help, I sunk my dagger deep into the neck and eyes of the bufan and felled it!” I retorted.

“AT WHAT COST?! LOOK AT YOUR FUCKING LEG!!” Si-ah raged.

“Si-ah, have you lost your mind?” I asked quietly, “We are still deep in the wilds, do you want to let every beast know where we are?” I uttered questioningly.

Si-ah tacitly agreed, with a simple nod, both of us sinking into silence as Si-ah supported me by letting me lay my arm over his shoulder and lean on him as I walked.

“Regardless of if you felled the bufan or not… you will likely never hunt again, and if I were to return to the wilds or ascend to the stars, you would have damned the entire tribe. For what? Pride? To prove something to your father? He’s dead. My father is dead too. The tribe is close to returning to the wilds, for what? To prove something? I won’t accept it, there is always a better way. The path you’ve chosen…” Si-ah didn’t continue his quite rant, he just smiled bitterly and continued to walk in silence.

I stared at him deeply, a sinking feeling in my stomach. Perhaps I’ve truly messed up this time.

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Looking at the dead dambi that now sported a freshly slit throat, I felt a small tinge of pride. Perhaps for the people born in this world, felling a singular animal is no large feat, but for a modern man like myself, far removed from firearms and modern technology to reach this point is something to be proud of.

After allowing myself a moment to thoroughly pat my back, I hoisted the dambi up a tree, it head and neck facing downwards so that its blood can properly drain, making the butchering easy later on.

After letting the blood drain for about an hour, I nervously got to work. The reason for my nerves was two-fold: One, this was my first time butchering such a large animal, this was a completely different level than a couple hares. The second reason is that I have no Idea what predators this large amount of blood will attract. If I have a fire by the time they arrive, then fine, if not...

Regardless, it's time to get to work. Pulling the dambi down from the tree, I grab its member and swiftly chop it off. The fact that the dambi is a male confuses me a little, I thought male deer had horns?

"But this is a different world." I conceded to myself.

Swiftly forgetting about that, I toss the reproductive organ to the side before opening the dambi's stomach. I sift through the intestines, stomach, liver and other such organs, removing any waste and small bits of dirt and blood mixed together.

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'This is quite the treasure trove! When I butchered the lokin I forgot to take their bladders, but now I finally have a decent water container! Moreover, these other parts are good food according to other mind.' I thought ecstatically.

Once I'd properly removed all the good bits and thrown the rest into the duff, I completely skinned the dambi, before divying up its meat into breast, ribs, lungs...

Two hours had passed and I looked at my work with great joy. Layed before me was neatly cut-, or neatly as possible with a bone knife, portions of meat, organs, and large swathes of hide.

Before I could pause for another round of back patting-

A rustling echoed from my left side.

I twirl around at an astounding speed, picking a spear up from the ground and readying myself for whatever may come. A moment that felt longer than eternity passed, but I soon hear a soft grating sound in the underbush, assuring me that this new adversary is a snake, and likely not a dangerous one.

Although the incident wan't serious, it did remind me what I had to do next. A large smile branched my face, I can pratically smell the roasted meat.

...

All this talk of starting a fire, and I forgot one of the most essential components. I need a flintstone and a spark rock, shouldn’t be too hard…right?

“What the fuck…” I grunted unhappily.

After finally successfully hunting my first ‘big game’ I was on an adrenaline high, feeling on top of the world. Those feelings have faded now, when I remembered what was necessary to start a fire, I thought I’d be eating bar-b-que within the hour. How wrong I was, not any rock is flintstone, and not any stone is a spark stone. Sufficed to say although I walked around the edge of the lake, and searched the surrounding forest duff, I was unable to find any rocks that suited my purposes.

That brings me to what I am doing now, I’ve taken a rather short piece of rope and tied it to two ends of a rather flexible stick, while leaving a loop in the middle of the rope to insert another stick. Once that was all done, I laid some dry tinder into some dry bark, which is the closest thing to a bowl that I have and began shaking my contraption back and forth. The goal is to cause enough heat via friction to set the tinder a-smolder, then I will gently blow on the smoldering tinder until enough oxygen is provided to produce a flame. Once I’ve completed the three steps for fire, I’ll simply put the small flame into a larger batch of tinder, which will be the base of a larger fire. I could kiss my science teacher right now.

Since this will be my first attempt at making fire, I’ve prepared just about everything. From plenty of tinder, to digging a hole to place the fire, to various sized sticks. Now if only this tinder will start smoldering before my arms fall off.

“It’s going to be another long day.” I sigh as I mindlessly operate my rudimentary tool.

While my mind is busy surfing my memories of air-conditioned rooms, and pre-packaged meat, I smell something. It smells delicious it smells… smokey!

“Aki above!” I exclaim,

Right under me there is a small amount of smoke rising from the tinder I’ve been working on for the last hour. I carefully remove the Firestarter then bring the smoldering tinder towards my mouth.

“I’m happy I used moss, and wood shavings, lots of smoke and it will last for a while.” I thought aloud.

I gently blew on the smolders, then as my confidence grew, so too did the strength of the air I pushed from my chest. A small flame burst to life in my hands, its heat growing by the second. I excitedly rush to my basic firepit, careful to shield the small flame from the wind or anything else that might extinguish it.

I slid the bark holding the flame gently onto the tinder under the larger sticks… and waited, and waited, and waited.

Until finally I heard that familiar crackle, as Aki’s gift danced upon the sticks and branches in the firepit.

I leaped to my feet, yelling “EUREKA!!!” repeatedly.

Finally, I regained control of myself, remembering where I was.

As Aki pushed the Great Fire into the darkness, a small piece of it remained. Deep in a forest, close to a lake, with a madman dancing around it, screaming silently.