I didn’t realize it earlier, but I was famished. I hadn’t actually eaten anything since I was born, besides that grass I spit out, and I’ve done a lot since then. From being taken away by my parents, to killing the deer. I chomp down on the deer, my mind a bit foggy by just how hungry I am. The deer tastes really good compared to the grass. It's also meat, and my body seems to be more suited to eating that. My observation is confirmed when, during the next bite, a stray bone gets in the way. I shatter it while barely even taking note of it.

I finish my meal around what I assume to be 10 minutes later. After I eat my fill, leaving a bit of meat, shattered bones, and the head, I look up. Huh, maybe that wasn’t a good idea. I look around much more warily, now that my hunger is sated and I’m out of that trance. Yet, even though I was figuratively wide open, nothing took the chance to attack me. There probably just wasn’t anything in the area. I’m glad that I checked for that while I was hunting the deer. It might’ve just saved my life. Now, what should I do next?

The moment I think that, I’m hit with a wave of exhaustion so intense that I almost pass out on the spot. What the heck was that?! Oh, wait. I’ve done a lot of things today, and I’m exhausted. And now that I’ve taken care of my hunger, my other need, sleep, is calling for me. Also, why is it dark?

I look up, and see a sea of stars. There is a large line, which almost looks like reality has been sliced, and the webs of dark sky and color look like reality is trying to stitch itself back together, with an otherworldly white light peeking through the still-wounded area. Although, I can’t see much of it through the web of branches and leaves above me.

Woah. I’m struck speechless by the beauty above me. I need to find somewhere to sleep. I can think about the stars when I’m not tired. I look around the path once again, except this time I’m searching for a place to rest safely, rather than any dangers. After a quick scan of the clearing, I find somewhere that looks safe. It’s a hole in one of the large trees, and it looks like I could just barely squeeze through it.

I stumble my way towards it, quickly climb up the short stretch of log, and collapse into it. The moment I’m entirely in and have landed on the floor of the hole, I let myself pass out. Everything goes black as I lose awareness.

. . .

I wake up to the sound of birds chirping, and the smell of rotting wood. I open my eyes blearily, and blink until everything comes into focus. I’m staring at the back of the tree, and I’m curled in on myself. I slowly stand up, still keeping my tail curled against my body. I turn towards where I entered, and dig my claws into the trunk to hoist myself up.

I raise myself to the lip of the hole, and carefully extract myself from it, slowly and carefully changing the position of my claws, so as not to fall. I slowly climb down, my claws digging deep into the wood as I do so. When I finally reach the ground, I notice something odd. Why is the ground so torn up? It looks as if something large flailed about, and put lots of scratches into the ground. And I certainly didn’t do it.

I start looking around. It takes me a moment to notice just how torn up the ground is. There are large gouges that couldn’t possibly have been made by something smaller than a bear. Why did something this massive even come here? That’s when I see the remains of the deer, or at least, where they should be. The area surrounding it is covered in gore. It almost looks like it was just splattered around, instead of being eaten. What could have possibly done this?

I start walking towards the gorey remains of the deer when I hear a roar coming from behind me. I turn around and see a massive bear that’s just barely shorter than the canopy that I ambushed the deer from. It’s emerging from the underbrush, and charging towards me. Or, more accurately, towards the remains of the deer. I’m not even sure it notices me

It has thick brown fur, and has a V-shaped crest in white across its chest. This massive bear is also charging towards me. I turn to run, and even get to start, but the bear roars again. However, this time its roar does something different. It paralyzes me, stopping me in my tracks. The paralyzing effect doesn’t last long, only a couple of seconds, but that’s enough time for the bear to close in on me. Okay, it definitely notices me! I have to stop this thing from just charging at me. How can I do that? A thought occurs to me. Is the bear’s fur flammable? Because if it is, I might have a chance to escape.

I quickly remember how to use Spark. Just a couple of seconds before it’s right on top of me, I turn around and open my mouth. A dozen superhot sparks shoot out, and the bear has no time to evade. The parts of its fur the sparks touch burst into flame. The bear roars again, except this time it has notes of pain and rage in it. However, the more important thing is that the bear stops chasing me, and starts rolling around on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames. I use this chance to run into the underbrush, escaping the bear’s sight.

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Why was there a bear there? It wouldn’t have splattered the meat around like that, so there must be some other reason. Maybe it was lured in because of the smell of blood? It was rather intense, and bears are carnivores. But that doesn’t explain why the remains were splattered around like that.

It’s not like I have anything that will let me find out why that happened to the deer. I should probably pay attention to the more important thing. The fact that I only escaped that bear because its fur was flammable. If it was resistant to heat, it would’ve torn me apart. I need to get stronger so that if something strong finds me again, I can kill it, instead of needing to run away. But to do that, I think I need to level up more. I got a huge strength boost when I leveled up. I’ll probably get even stronger If I have more levels. But I also need somewhere to stay. The bear already made it clear that just sleeping anywhere isn’t safe. Maybe I can find a cave?

A feeling wells up in me, something I’ve never felt before. It’s impossible to describe, however, I would call it some kind of approval of the idea. What is this? What is this feeling? Nothing happens. The feeling doesn’t make itself known again. Well, whatever. It hasn’t done anything, so it probably isn’t bad. Anyways, back to what I was thinking about before. A cave would probably work really well, especially if I find a small one. Nothing big could come inside, which would be much safer than me staying in a tree, where anything with claws can just open a hole inside it. Ok, so I’ll look for a cave, but where though?

I look around, seeing nothing. Then I send a cursory glance up. I catch a glimpse of something in the far, far distance. I look up again, and see the distant, blurry shape of a mountain. Ah ha! A mountain will probably have tons of caves. I’ll easily be able to find a spot to work out of. Well, it looks pretty far away, so I should get moving. I fully turn to the direction of the mountain, and start walking. Maybe I’ll get there before nightfall.

. . .

The sun is setting again. The shadows keep growing longer. And even after a full day of travel, the mountain doesn’t look any closer. Well, I should find a place to sleep. I don't wanna know what comes out at night. I examine the small clearing I stopped in. It is completely covered in tall grass, and surrounded in the same trees that permeate the forest. I look around for somewhere safe to sleep, like a hole in a tree, or a small burrow. Something catches my eye.

One of the trees has a large cavity that’s pretty high off the ground. I give the rest of the trees a cursory glance, just to check if there’s someplace better. There isn’t. I run to the tree, my claws digging into the bark as I climb it. I reach the hole and carefully inch in. However, unlike what I was expecting, I don’t find any platform. I flail my arms for a second, before I fall in.

I land on a pile of small chips of wood. It’s surprisingly comfortable. The comfortable pile of wood, and my position in it, finally makes me realize just how exhausted I am. I’ll probably be fine. If there’s something in here, it definitely would’ve attacked me already, anyway. I let myself sleep, and promptly black out.

. . .

I wake up to the sound of screeching. I bolt upwards, but whatever ground I’m on sinks the moment I put weight on any of my legs. What’s happening?! It takes me a moment to calm down enough to remember where I am. Well, that at least explains my feet sinking into the pile of wood chips. But, more importantly, what’s that shrieking? I look to the direction the sound is coming from, which is upwards, and see the source of the incredibly loud sound.

A squirrel, covered in black fur, is staring down at me with its mouth open. I can practically see the waves of sound disturbing the air. It’s that loud. Is this its den? Is that why it's shriekin- The squirrel falls onto me, curling into a ball with its tail sticking out. It starts spinning, moving faster and faster, until it hits me. It smashes into my back, breaking one of my scales, and sending a blast of pain through me. Owwwwww!

The squirrel jumps back up, while I collapse. The pain dulls for a moment, and I try to stand up. However, the moment I do, My back gets smashed again. Another scale shatters. Stop it! I try to stop the squirrel by batting at it, but it’s already out of reach. The only other thing that comes to mind is using my [Spark] skill to burn it, which will give me a chance to recombobulate.

The squirrel smashes me one more time, before I decide it’s time to use the skill. I turn my head to face the squirrel, open my mouth, and use Spark. A few really hot sparks shoot out, and burn the inside of the trunk. One of them lands on the squirrel, and it starts to hiss. It backs up, clearly trying to put out the spark. By the time the squirrel manages to put the fire out, I’m fully aware of my surroundings, and the fog of pain has mostly dissipated.

Agh! I’m gonna kill this thing! I open my maw again, preparing to shoot out some more sparks. The squirrel notices, and drops downward to try and stop me, but it’s already too late. The sparks shoot upward, right into the squirrel's back, and begin to burn it alive. It tries to back away, but this time, I don’t let it. I jump up, slashing my claws at its face and killing it.

I hear the ding of a system notification as the squirrel falls on top of me. It doesn’t feel like anything more than a heavy weight, even though it’s on fire. If I let the squirrel just fall onto the pile of woodchips, then it will burst into flames. It’s not even impossible that the whole tree will be set on fire, eventually. I should put it out before I do anything else. I drop the squirrel onto some of the exposed wood, next to the pile of woodchips. I make sure that none of the wood chips are even close to the burning remains of the squirrel.

Once I’m sure nothing else will catch on fire, I scale the inside of the trunk, and peek out. The small clearing is completely empty, except for the tall grass, and the birds are still chirping, which implies that there is nothing big in the area. Good, there’s nothing here. I drop back down, to the burning squirrel. I quickly put it out, so that there is something left for me to eat. It might not be much, but at least it’s something. something.