"Something is very wrong with those trees." Valen contemplates as he trudges through a bug-infested forest.
Three days of walking through the diamond-encrusted forest and no living thing can be seen or heard anywhere.
"It was so weird" Valen whispers under his breath.
Upon leaving the vicinity of the forest, insects, various plants, and animals start to show up.
"And that wolf was much too hard to kill.”
The wolf in question was an animal whose size equates to a large bear but runs in stature similar to a wolf. The defining feature that greatly sets it apart from the canine species on earth is that its bones cover a great deal of its body. The exoskeleton covers most of its body, the exceptions being its joints.
The bone wolf was attracted to Valen’s gunshots. The shots fired towards a small creature that looked edible to Valen, were heard from a significant distance. The bone wolf ended up finding the creature that had invaded its territory, and with a mighty roar, it charged towards Valen’s position.
Valen reacted quickly during the fight and summoned an assault rifle, which he presumed to aim down the sights and shoot the charging beast. The result was a lucky shot that saved Valen’s life. The thickness of the wolfs bones was significant enough to halt the penetration of Valen’s ammunition, but a few bullets were able to penetrate the joint in the wolf's leg, causing it to tumble in its charge and expose it lightly armored belly to a salvo of bullets.
Valen watched slowly as the resulting monster of a beast stops dead in its tracks, only a meter away from were Valen stares, fear, and bewilderment on his face. The whining sound of the dying animal is the only thing that allowed Valen to regain his wit. Summoning an elephant gun, Valen proceeds to fire an extremely large caliber round into the wolfs head, easily penetrating its skull and killing the wounded hunter. With a trembling hand, Valen summons his mana and absorbs the corpse of his defeated foe.
"What's done is done," Valen exclaims, dispelling the memory of almost being mauled by the 13 hundred pound carnivore.
Looking up, Valen notices the slowly declining light, and resigning to it, quickly makes camp.
A campfire forms into being and Valen quickly sets it alight. With a thought, a bowl filled with seasoned meat forms in his hands. Slowly Valen attaches the meat to metal rods and stabs the rods into the ground as they hover over the flames. With a tired yawn, he summons a lounge chair and watches the fire as it slowly cooks the meat.
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Lin has been running away from the slavers for many hours now. Her racial night vision is the only reason that the orcs were not able to keep up with her. Their torches did not extend far enough into the forest, while her eyesight can see many times farther. Regardless, Lin's strength is waning fast, and her body is both bruised from the long trek, and hungry from the low supply of food given to her by the slavers. As she continues to move through the dark forest, Lin notices a fire from a great distance. Tired, wounded, she forces her body to move towards the light, hoping to find help and food.
As she approaches the camp, she finally notices the smell of burnt meat and a beige colored being stands before it, talking to himself in a foreign language. As she gets closer for a better look, a large and beastly growl emits from the confines of her empty stomach, scaring the man, and causing him to yell and jump while dropping the stick and burned meat on the floor.
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Valen, having set up his sleeping bag and waiting for his food to cook, finds himself slowly dozing off. A few hours later, the smell of burning meat wakes Valen up and groggily he opens his eyes to the sight of ashen black meat over the fire. With an aggravated sigh, he gets up to clean the burnt meat off of the sticks.
With a careful hand, he picks up a stick with burnt meat and carefully analyzes it.
"You would think I should wake up to the smell of slightly burning meat, not goddam charcoal," Valen exclaims as he begins ripping chunks off the sticks.
"You know......falling asleep with roasting meat is probably a very bad idea. I mean, a predator could have shown up at any time and I would have died in my sleep."he muses as he works.
"I wonder how that bonewolf meat might taste if I roast it over a fire, granted it might not be eddi......"
"Rooooooaaarrrr" with a loud sound abruptly interrupting Valens musings, a scream of surprise releases from Valens' mouth, though many octaves higher.
"Shit" Valen yells, abruptly turning around with fear evident in his eyes. What greets his eyes is anything but a dangerous predator.
A little girl, barely three feet in height, stands still with a hand on her stomach. She has yellow fur with orange stripes, ears located on the top of her head, with eyes similar to many of earth's felines. Her fur, which covers most of her body is riddled with dirt, claws are extended by an inch on her hands while her tail is in the air, puffed out. Her clothing, which doesn't even cover much of her body is ripped and shredded so much that it seems to be practically useless. Valen and Lin continue to stare at each other, one afraid, while the other curious.
"Grrooowwwwlll" the silence, only broken from the sound of Lin's stomach.
"So little one, you are hungry, aren't you?" Valen says, with a much more relaxed smiling expression donning his face. Lin continues to stare, with both interest and fear, as a creature never before seen, speaks in a language never before heard, with clothing that seems extremely expensive with its bright colors and sturdy design.
"I am Valen, what's your name" Valen continues to talk, not moving a muscle.
Silence continues between them.
"Well, it seems you don't understand my language, regardless, your clearly hungry, and I am also hungry," Valen glances at his burnt meat,"unfortunately dinner will not be fresh barbecue." a disappointed smile on his face.
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With a slow stroll, Valen moves slightly away from the fire, Lin following his movements like a predator stalking prey. As Valen stops walking, he calls upon his mana and with a force of will, a table and two chairs pop into existence. Lin immediately jumps back, completely on alert from the casual usage of magic.
With careful ease, Valen sits at one side of the table and using his magic, makes a large square box form onto the table. Moving his hands on the box, Valen slowly takes the cover off, and stares at the deep dish meat pizza, only a few minutes old for something bought over a year ago.
Lin's curiosity is peaked as she stares and smells the aroma from the box's contents.
Valen slowly grabs a slice of pizza and takes a slow juicy bite. Chewing slowly, Valen pushes the box of pizza towards the opposite side of the table away from him.
"Take a seat and eat," Valen says while pointing a hand to the seat opposite of his.
At this point, Lin's fear is quickly being replaced with hunger, as she slowly moves closer to the seat opposite side of Valen. With careful steps, Lin climbs upon the seat and takes a look at the food before her. The intoxicating aroma of meat, cheese, tomatoes, and bread quickly remove her inhibitions. Lin slowly grabs a warm slice of pizza and carefully sniffs before putting it in her mouth. Upon realizing how tasty the food is, she starts to quickly eat and fill her mouth and stomach, Valen all but forgotten.
Meanwhile, Valen just stares at the dirty tiger girl as she quickly stuffs her mouth with food. Slowly Valen materializes 2 cups and a liter of apple juice. Opening the bottle, he pours the juice into both cups. The sound of liquid pouring reminds Lin that she is in the presence of a stranger. Her eyes look upon the glass longingly as he fills it up, then slowly he pushes the glass toward Lin, who is eyeing the drink warily.
"A toast," Valen says" to the first intelligent being I met in this world," And then he grabs the cup and starts drinking the juice.
Looking at the cup, Lin slowly moves her dirty hands around the glass. Smelling it first, she slowly takes a sip. That sip quickly turns into huge gulps.
Valen watches with an amused smile as the little tiger girl makes a mess of her fur; the juice pouring down the sides of her mouth, right on to her fur.
As Lin finishes her meal with a content smile, she realizes that the man has been staring at her the entire time. Her tail straightens into the air as her attention returns to the stranger.
"It seems that you enjoyed the food, and I am quite happy that you did," Valen says with a small smile,"But I believe introductions are in order," pointing at himself" My name is Valen. Can you say, Valen?." Lin continues to stare at the strange man as he waves his hand around attempting to communicate in a foreign language.
"Vaaaaallllleeeeeennnn" Valen says slowly while pointing at himself.
"Valy," Lin says with a confused look on her face.
"No not Valy, its Valen"
"Valy" Lin repeats with more enthusiasm, a smile donning her face.
" Dammit.....whatever, just call me Valy then" Valen sighs, rubbing his head.
" What is your name then?" As Valen stares with an expectant look.
"Valy" Lin repeats with a smile on her face, clearly enjoying the frustrated look on Valen's.
Pointing at himself "Valy" Valen reiterates and then pointing at Lin, he waits for her name.
With a cheeky smile and a straightened back" I am Lin, younger sister of Leona, daughter of Grendel" Lin states with a proud smile on her face. Valen, on the other hand, stares at the cute girl with great confusion.
Lin, realizing that Valen did not understand a word that she said, points at herself and says "Lin," and then points at Valen and says "Valy".
"Ahhh so your name is Lin, and you are a smart girl as well as a cheeky brat," he answers with an amused smile on his face.
Getting up off of the chair, Valen waves at Lin to do the same, in which she complies. Turning his concentration inward and on the table, Mana quickly engulfs the table and chairs, disappearing quickly before Lin's eyes, which are now filled with a childish curiosity instead of fear.
"Now what are we gonna do with you Lin," Valen starts, interrupting Lin's musings. With a flick of her ear at the sound of her name being called, Lin looks into Valens hazel eyes.
"Well it's night, and you seem lost, so I think we should go and sleep. So with that said, let me pre----" Valen is interrupted as Lin spins around on her feet, staring into the darkness of the forest, her ears twitching at attention, a growl coming out of her mouth.
Valen, noticing Lin's change in attitude, cautiously prepares his magic as his attention changes to the direction Lin is facing.
As she continues to growl, he finally starts to hear the sound of grass and twigs being trampled. Slowly Lin walks backward, closer to Valy as the sound of crunching leaves increases in volume.
Straight out of the woods, two large orange skinned humanoids come out of the darkness, no hair to speak of, covered in dirt, and wearing armor that has seen better days.
"You fucking brat. Do you know how long we have been in that forest chasing you? It has been fucking hours!" The orc explains, fury evident in his eyes.
"Let's grab the tall one while we're at it!" the other orc yells with similar fury.
At the same time, both orcs retrieve their weapons from their sheaths, covered in rust as they are, they would still be a good blunt weapon. Lin, noticing the sound of weapons being unsheathed, runs quickly behind Valen, her long tail wrapping around Valens' leg as she attempts to hide behind him. Valen can discreetly feel Lin behind him, still growling at the two approaching orcs.
Realizing that the orcs in question are clearly intending violence, Valen summons his assault rifle into his hands, causing the two orcs to stop their pace.
"Either you sheath those swords and walk away, or I am going to pepper your body with bullets," Valen says, with a posture anything but relaxed.
The orcs, confused by the unknown language, heed it no mind and continue their pace towards Valen. Immediately the sound of sound suppressed bullets quickly leaves the Chamber of Valen's assault rifle, penetrating armor, skin, and bones of the two orcs. Within a few seconds, Valens rifle is out of bullets, and the two orcs are on the ground, dead, blood flowing from many wounds throughout their body.
"Ok, so bullets are overkill on humanoids, got it," Valen says, as he transports new ammo directly into his gun's magazine, filling it fully. Only then does he feel sharp claws stabbing at his leg. Looking down, he finds Lin, scared and tightly wrapped around his leg, claws all but penetrating his skin.
Looking up, Lin finally notices Valens gaze. "Lin, can you let go of my leg, your claws are pretty sharp and very uncomfortable" Val wiggles his leg slightly. Lin, realizing what she is doing, retracts her claws and further hugs Valens leg, a cheeky smile on her face.
Sighing loudly, Valen starts to limp towards the orc corpses, Lin attached to his leg, giggling like a little girl who wasn't getting hunted by slavers. Slowly, Valen gets to the corpses of the orcs, and with a release of Mana, teleports the corpses, armor and all into his storage. Limping away from the bloodstained ground, Valen picks a relatively flat piece of dirt, and with an exceptionally large force of will, Valen summons a small trailer home.
With unrivaled curiosity, Lin finally lets 's go of Valen's leg, and stares openly at a large amount of metal in front of her. Valen instead opens the door and finds himself staring at 4 bunk beds on one side of the home, as well as a bathroom in the back, and lockers opposite the beds.
"Well, this trailer is made as a mobile home for workers like lumberjacks, and occasionally military," Valen explains to Lin. Moving to the side of the entrance, Valen picks up a gas lamp and slowly lights it. With a clear light, Valen enters the trailer, lin following behind.
he moves towards a bed, slowly moving the sheets away, then looking at Lin," it's time to sleep. This trailer is made to handle very hard weather, and thus it is quite good at keeping anyone I don't want from coming inside," Valen explains to Lin, who is finally starting to feel the rush of exhaustion trickle in. Without another word, Lin climbs upon the bed, laying on her back, as her head hits the pillow. Slowly, Valen covers Lin up in sheets, and Lin quickly falls into a deep sleep.
"Goodnight Lin," Valen whispers," and sweet dreams."
As Lin sleeps, Valen closes and locks the door, turns off the light, and takes the bunk next to her.