Muto seemed to have saved my life, once again, I was saved by someone else, this started to remind me of the time my brother used to save me, 3 years younger and still had the inner strength of someone three times my age. Multiple times in situations of life and death he would remain calm, I was often wondering if we really were living in the same world. Where I saw darkness and despair he saw darkness and opportunities, It wasn't until his death a year later that I could relate to his way of thinking, I swore to myself that survival was crucial and despair and fear was unnecessary and a hindrance in the path of survival. Honestly the realization was not the thing that changed me, the death of someone very close too you eats you up inside until your whole existence is consumed. Your thought's, your passions, your desires, all disappears and become one single constant, determination. Determination to survive, the cruelest of worlds and fighting the darkest of darkness.

I left my thought's in the dust and looked up to Muto, the expression in his face was still present, It was either surprise or the face of pity. Since I was never any good at reading people I couldn't tell. We can't stay here at least, they might return with greater numbers fuelled by revenge. I calmed myself and looked over at Muto,

"Should we go?"

Muto who seemed to be dumbfounded faced towards me and just nodded,

We continued to walk in the direction I suppose we were heading in the first place, I didn't have to confidence to ask Muto, his mind seemed to be in distress and interfering could prove fatal. Making enemy of a monster who made a large number of even bigger monsters flee for their life seemed rather unwise. Even though that's what I thought it seemed like, Muto noticed that I quite frequently looked over at him, like someone who just had to ask a question, but instead it was Muto who spoke up first,

"What was that anger you emitted over there, Creature Fey?"

The question was not something that I expected and I turned to Muto in surprise,

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well, It seemed like you were very angry during our encounter just now"

"No, not really, well, they were enemies that wanted us dead, Isn't it common knowledge to want to survive"

"Wanting to survive, huh, I don't know if that's the normal response"

"Hmm, It's like in my world, you cannot fight darkness with light"

Just as the words left my mouth, Muto's face turned from surprise to doubt, In my mind that way of answering seemed rather valid, but obviously we are not from the same planet, maybe things are different there.

"Huh!?"

"How should I explain it, hmm, In a world where there is no happiness and darkness is present around every corner, you use it fuel your determination, I suppose"

" Creature Fey you think wrong, I had good parents, even though I betrayed the one who was the one and only toe licker, I lived a life surrounded by light, don't you agree?"

"Maybe that's the case"

Even though my situation was nothing like Mutos, I was not a person who liked to share what I have experienced with anyone, even though that was what I thought, I spoke up:

"Muto, If you would have to decide between your own survival and killing the one who was dearest to you, which would you choose?"

Muto's face seemed to turn grey, maybe this was a difficult decision whatever world you were part of, I could see that this was not something pleasant for him to answer,

" I won't decide, I would never end up in such a situation in the first place, Creature Fey"

"Hmm, yes, I mean if you decide to die you don't live anymore every possible future you would ever had would disappear, and if you decide to survive you won't be living a life worth living"

Muto seemed to have flown deep into thought, I didn't seem to be affected, my mind was steady, empty and strong. We continued to follow the forest path in silence, the sound of birds could be heard everywhere. the life of the forest was once again astounding me. Forest of endel, a truly alluring place to venture around in. Just as I slowly focused my glaze further up the magnificent trees I caught a glance of something moving at far, by the look of it about 50-100 meters away, by the movement I could definitely tell it was the fastest Creature I have laid eyes on since my arrival in this world. I gave Muto a quick punch on his shoulder and pointed in the direction of the unidentified object now standing as still as possible.

Muto also turned his gaze and looked in the direction, his face still and collected, my mind though went into turmoil of the thought of another bandit. But this seemed to be only one creature and even if it's size was enormous the strong Muto could probably take care of it.

The creature seemed to glaze over here but I couldn't possibly tell if it was directly looking at us from this distance, not only the distance but there were also a bit of forest vines in the way. Muto stood still and just observed, I didn't feel like he was ready to fight this creature.

"Foe or friend?"

"Depends"

The creature suddenly dashed towards us, in mere seconds it stood before us. The creature in front of us was even smaller than me, the psychical features was entirely the same as a human male, could this possibly be one?,

Muto looked down and seemed to put on a small smile,

"Hey, little one what are you doing out in this forest?"

"Hello nice you meet you, I am Marius of planet Token, I venture in this forest in search for food and other stuff, the small village of Nikt is located just outside of the forest of Endel and is need of supplies."

Token huh, not Human then I guess, this kid looks exactly like one though, just more like a Hobbit in the lord of the rings, could this be frode?. Jokes aside he didn't seem to be hostile, and Muto was smiling as well which was definitely a good sign. The kidness could clearly be seen in his eyes, this was probably not an enemy. Muto who seemed to be smitten by the small boy's toes, I mean one can assume that was what he was starring at smiling in an odd manner, didn't seem to talk back so I took the initiative,

"Hello Marius, it's nice to meet you as well, I am Fey and this weird looking bull is Muto, I apologize in advance if he tries to lick your toes."

Marius started laughing a little and answered,

"I am well familiar with Irue tribes customs, but I can't say I am a fan of the initiation of friendship, haha"

I smiled too and answered quickly,

"I would have to agree"

Muto seemed to be rather frustrated by the conversation that was going about and gave out a small shout,

"Hey!, The Irue tribes customs are not something to take lightly, and toe licking is very pleasant if you truly let go"

I couldn't hold myself and started laughing, Marius seemed to be doing the same, Muto just started for a second and then also put on a big smile.

"Well Muto, Fey, Would you do me the honor of helping the small village of Nikt to gather supplies, especially food but some healing herbs would also be good."

Muto looked over at me and nodded with a small smile, I nodded back. Helping someone in need was a sure way to at least regain some remorse, climbing out of darkness one step at a time. In response I answered

"Of course Marius, Maybe you could teach me a bit about these healing herbs they could probably come in handy when we decide to travel onwards."

"Yes definitely, they are actually rather easy to spot, but there numbers are rather small even in a lush forest such as the forest of Endel"

"Oh and food wise me and Muto recommend the Smiling Cat or what you call them, they are especially good."

"I will definitely agree with creature Fey, those things were really good."

The thought of having those cats again was truly intriguing as soon as I had spoken my piece my mouth almost started watering, the power these smiling cats had over my mind was truly frightening. The smiling cat the first monster I encountered in the forest, my first meal, my first kill, they truly held a precious place in my memory. By the look on Muto's face he seemed to feel the same.

"Sorry those smiling cats, are way to small to feed the village, we will need to go north from here and try looking for much bigger prey"

I really didn't think that sadness would actually struck me for the loss of a smiling cat meal never the less it did, bigger creatures, than those cats, I haven't witness many bigger once yet.

"How much bigger are we talking about?"

"I would suppose about Muto's height and larger"

I felt like a living question mark, fighting creatures bigger than Muto for food?,

Why would we do such suicide mission for a small village, maybe Marius have a gun stashed somewhere.

"Can we really defeat these big monsters, do you have some kind of weapon?"

The one answering was not Marius but Muto it seemed, he spoke up in confident,

"Little Fey, during my time as a hunter I chased and killed animals 3 times my size, not to worry, my superior intelligence destroys all"

"You, Intelligence, huh who would have thought."

I probably spoke to quickly, the face in Muto now made was truly terrifying, could this be the end of me???!

"You guys are truly funny, haha"

"But yes Fey it's as Muto says it will be no problem, I may not be big in size but I am actually a renown supply hunter in my village"

Renown in a small village, doesn't show much confident, I was never a coward but I would not attempt something if my survival rate was not high. Well two relatively powerful hunters by my side would really skyrocket my survival rate though,

"Well let's move then"

Both Marius and Muto nodded at me and almost flew of to the north, I also started running since that was both of them was doing, in mere seconds Marius was out of sight and Muto also far away. Muto seemed to notice I wasn't around him, he turned around and looked over at me, ran to my side, and just causally picked me up and threw me on his back and continued to run. How humiliating....

Seeing forest disappearing in my face truly reminded me of ridding on a moped, the wind in your face and the world flashing you by, the speed I was travelling was truly terrifying, this speed could easily match a leopard, what was even more terrifying was Marius. Marius was way ahead of Muto and had to stop from time to time in wait for him to catch up, How could one possibly travel at that speed with such a small body, I was never a physicsenthusiastic but I could clearly tell this was not something possible in such a small body on earth. This world was truly a terrifying place, the possibilities endless, A normal race from one planet would certainly be revered as a god on our planet.

Muto suddenly stopped and put me back on the ground again, the reason was that Marius had stopped and looked at a yellow flower, this one I had seen before when travelling with Muto, the colors so bright it might be the color of the sun more then yellow. The beauty could clearly be seen from far away, even if most of the forest of Endel was truly beautiful this flower stood out.

"Fey, this is the healing herb I was talking about, the beauty is intoxicating isn't it?"

"Yes without doubt"

"Well, you don't eat the actual flower instead you do this"

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

Marius pulled the beautiful flower from the ground, and from under it a big amount of roots appeared even larger than the actual flower in it self, he pulled away the flower and just held up the root,

"If you cook this root over a fire and drink the content that comes from it, most injuries will heal, not instantly but much faster"

"Even though age is irrelevant here, I suppose one is not immortal"

"That's nonsense, we do age here, even if it's slowly there are still people who die by age, who told you that?"

A bit of anger took flame inside of me as I glanced over at Muto, he didn't seem bothered and just smiled and said,

"Well the powerful Muto can't know it all."

Marius instantly started laughing, not very loud but a bit of sound could be heard, seems like Muto had another talent except fighting, maybe he could scare away the blue Asura tribe with a joke next time.

"So how slow does one age, is there even time of year here"

"Well, we all have different time of year I suppose, and I don't know much about your home world, but our species live 5 times as long as we usually do."

"Okay but if 1 moon and 1 sun is one day, and a year is 365 of those how long would you live?"

"Hmm, my tribe about a 1000 years then."

Aside from his insane math skills, 1000 years could clearly be considered an eternity, I would never have wanted to survive that long in my old life, that hardship a 1000 years, no death, death was a release. But if my average is about 80 I suppose I will be here for around 400 years, I finally have the time to redeem myself.

"But Fey back on the topic of the healing herb, I would not recommend shopping of your arm, limbs doesn't seem to regenerate"

"Shopping of my arm is not something I would have done anyway"

"Some have done that though"

"Those people don't seem very bright"

"Well, I suppose."

As soon as he said that Marius started taking out flowers all around us, removing the beautiful flower and ripping lose the roots, the flowers numbered close to a hundred and the pile of roots he had set up started to steadily grow, Muto caught on and started helping and so did I, In mere minutes the pile was complete, It was actually as high as Muto and much wider, one couldn't possibly be able to carry these all the way to the village right? Was what I thought, but before I could comment Marius took of the small backpack from his back and put it on the ground, Marius was currently wearing full leather clothes, brown in color almost shiny like they recently have been polished. As I stared at his attire he noticed and started inspecting me as well, he laughed a bit and began to speak,

"Those pants, haha, Would you like to borrow a full attire?, I don't think people will take those pants to liking when you

enter the village?"

Marius was continuing to laugh a bit as a he put his hands down the backpack and took up a pair of long silk brown pants and a black silk t-shirt, he then continued to throw them over to me,

"You should wear these you strange fellow"

He was clearly enjoying himself, I couldn't blame him, I looked really strange in the common view of things. I stripped naked and put on the clothes, as I was changing I noticed the pile of roots was clearly a lot smaller all of a sudden. I was dumbfounded but it appeared as he was stuffing all of the roots in the small backpack he earlier took of his back. Marius looked over at me and Muto who were both sitting there in total cluelessness. Muto spoke first,

"What is that Demon backpack?, that dark magic, get rid of it!"

Marius again started chuckling a bit

"Relax there is no demon power present, this is a magic backpack from a city near the Mountains of Cerckel, It can hold 1000 times the amount of a normal backpack, every hunter in the village of Nikt have one"

The Mountains of Cerckel, could this possibly the city that I am currently on the path to, as I thought that I looked over at Muto, he who for the most part was usually very collected, at least to a degree was drooling, the drool was overflowing from his mouth. Muto spoke up,

"Muto, want that!"

"Haha, If you are a hunter of Nikt you will get one, but you have to be qualified though."

"I was the best hunter, in my village, people come from far to lick my toes and....."

Muto continued to give a speech of his great conquest of acquiring food when the village was close to starvation, and about of all the toe licking.... Marius continued to laugh most of the time,

"Marius about this magic city, near the mountains of Cerckel, is it easy to get too?"

"Yes, relatively, it is currently the 3rd biggest city in the northern part of this continent and therefore have quite the amount of trade routes leading there, why? are you going there?"

"Yes, since I am weak I want to learn magic"

"Owh, that's a good plan, it's not as simple as it sound though, becoming a magician requires you to already be a potent magic user, It may sound strange but the magic city receives millions of applications every year, and therefore only accepts the talented"

"This world is rather rude to the weak, the strong rule, the strong make the rules, I am sure Muto have already told you though."

I hesitated for a bit since I was in a bit of a flunk being told this horrifying truth once again, with surprise the one who spoke up was Muto,

"Creature Fey don't seem very intimidating, but when he is angry, he can appear truly dangerous"

The words lifted my spirit, even though I knew these were just to make my mind at ease, I was never a quitter I will not surrender in this world or the next , I am and have always been a survivor. Marius continued to pack roots without a care in the world, he most likely caught onto Muto's lie and decided not to question it any further. Soon the entire root pile was put down in Marius bag, he turned towards us and spoke up,

"Well we should hurry, I need to be back in 2 days to make my supply report."

2 days, Muto and I looked at each other and could finally remember that we were hungry, due to the sudden events we didn't really have the time to think about those things. We both sat down at the same time and starred of in the direction of a small creature in the far distance, this creature, this food pleasure, this smell, It's no other then the smiling cat. Muto turned to Marius and spoke up,

"Creature Marius, We have not eaten in quite a while"

As he said that he continued to stare in the direction of the cat, If I had to guess it was about 100 meters from us, and there appeared to be other smiling cats lurking around it. Marius put on a smile and looked towards us sitting on the ground,

"Of course, food is important"

Smiling he put his hand in the backpack, suddenly he drew a bow from the backpack, the wood not something of earth, it was black but shining, truly an awesome looking bow even though the appearance except from the color was rather average. He pulled up two arrows put them in position and fired, in an instant, the two cats 100 meters away fell to the ground. Both me and Muto looked at each other in surprise, both thinking the same, that terrifying AIM, let's NOT make this guy our enemy.

Before we knew it, all of us sat by the fire eating the delicious smiling cat, both me and Muto were truly hungry and could not talk, we were consumed by the taste of the cat, that ecstasy, it was truly heaven on earth or this world...

When we were done eating, I couldn't keep my eyes open for some reason, I was too tired to even tell I was going to sleep. Sleeping something I haven't thought about since just know seemed to take over and consume me, a consequence of the flowers previously eaten maybe?. As I went into deep slumber, I was sure I was going to be consumed by dark nightmares, waking me up in a fluster. But nothing came, I slept, and nothing seemed to bother me....

"Heeey, Fey, Wake up!"

I opened my eyes and clearly saw Marius face, he was smiling like always, that hobbit face was really comforting for some reason, like he had  no problems in the world, like he was a light in an eternal darkness. I flustered for a bit and spoke up with a sleepy tone,

"yes, what is it?"

"Good you are awake, Actually you slept for quite a  while me and Muto have been out hunting a bit while you were away."

"Owh really?"

As I looked around this was definitely not the place that I woke up at, the trees were clearly different, they must have moved me to a new position. Marius seemed to notice my questioning look and turned towards me and spoke up,

"Yes we moved you a bit, you are currently about 10 minutes from the village"

"I was moved and I didn't wake up?"

"Yes Muto was carrying you but for some reason you didn't wake, you must have been super exhausted"

"Yeah it seemed so" Must be those flowers..

Suddenly Muto came flying over from the trees, carrying what seemed to be a big horse under one of his arm, probably even bigger than himself, that he could move that thing that was heavier than himself was truly terrifying. As soon as he saw me he put on a big smile on his big bull face and spoke up,

"Yeah!, your not dead, that's good!"

Muto...

"Well that is one way to respond, I guess"

As soon as I spoke up  Muto handed the horse to the small Marius who continued to pack it right into the small backpack, the experience couldn't be described with word, It was by all means truly, a weird sight.

Marius looked over at me with a questioning face and spoke up,

"Hey, Can you walk?"

I was by all means well rested, sleeping this much was not something I have done in my entire life.

"Yes, I feel very rested"

"Good then lets head towards the village"

As we started our walk, Muto started spouting about all the dangerous and big monsters he had slayed, all from huge dinosaur looking creatures(In his words) to smaller and more agile wolfs. The whole time Marius was laughing a bit, which gave away the truth, these conquest were probably a bit over exaggerated, defeating 1000 large wolfs seemed, well, a bit much....

As we were closing in on the small village Marius who was walking in the front turned around and looked at us, this was not the face of the normal Marius, no the seriousness in his eyes could clearly be seen,

"Fey, Muto, as you all know this world is ruled by the strong, my village have a system commonly used  all over this world, and it might be a bit hard for you"

I focused my gaze on Marius who was doubting himself and said,

"Continue"

"Well, the village have a so called caste system, you gain citizenship level depending on your strength and since you are new, you will treated a bit harsh, be ready."

Both me and Muto looked at each other and nodded, as we continued walking, I fell into thought, a small village wont treat people so bad, this will be okay, I continued to reassure myself until we reached the edge of the hill we were currently on. What I saw was not a small village, Nikt had wooden houses as long as the eye could gasp and there were life everywhere.

I looked over at Marius and said,

"Small, heh?"

"Yes, A million citizens give or take"

Yes, small.....