The slivers of wood drifted to the ground, Sahjaíl was fashioning a makeshift spear from a nearby branch. The last fight had taught him how important it was to have a melee weapon with a little range. When that hyenadile pounced on him, he had really wished he had a spear to shove down its throat.
Sighing, he tested the tip, not sharp enough. He gave the wooden point a few more licks with his blade until it up to expectations. It was sharp enough for the job at hand, at least that is what he hoped. Ziri had been skulking around the area, checking for any noises or disturbances. Gorat, as usual, seemed to make it his duty to watch his back. He had to admit it felt a good deal safer having a 500 pound golem watching your back.
Looking at the sun he thought he would have a couple more hours till dark. That was assuming the sun here moved as fast across the sky as back home.
I also really need to figure out where to go.
He spotted a tree that was a good deal larger than any of the others. He jumped up to the lower branch but couldn’t quite reach. Before he could even start to ponder the problem, Gorat grabbed him by the hips and just tossed him up to the branch. In a mad scramble for a hold he managed to swing a leg and arm across a branch. Cursing he looked at the golem standing below him, he could almost picture a look of wide-eyed innocence on the emotionless golem. Shaking his head he climbed further up the tree. Meanwhile muttering below his breath about golems and idiocy.
After carefully making his way up he finally reached the top, the view that spread out before him filled him with awe. Nature, untouched and left to grow, stretched out as far as the eye could see. There was forest, forest and even more forest in every direction. A few mountains popped up here and there. As far as he could see, even with his enhanced elven vision, there was no sign at all of civilisation. He saw a ring of mountains a reasonable distance from where he was. Perhaps a couple of weeks travel. Not having any better place to go he decided to head to the mountains.
Might be a mountain civilisation holed up there, dwarves or something similar.
He deftly climbed back down, his new dexterity making it a lot easier than it would have been in his old body. Hanging from the last branch he dropped softly back down on the grass covered ground. First things first, he had to make a camp for night, he had seen a small gap in the trees a half hours walk or so from his position. He really wanted to have some distance between himself and the treeline at night. Especially on the first night, who even knew what skulked around here during the darkest hours of the day. If the Hyenadiles were any indication of the inhabitants of this forest, night time would not be fun.
It took them longer to get to the clearing than he had expected. The dense wood made it rather difficult to move through ,it would take him a while to get used to all the over sized plant growth. Once they reached the clearing he commanded Gorat to get as much firewood as he could, he made sure to mention only to pick up wood instead of breaking it off. Even before he had become an elven druid he had abhorred cutting down trees. Nature had always been his refuge, both as a child and later in his life when his mental issues started to manifest.
Thinking about it, I’m already a full blown wood loving elf on the inside, maybe that is what the class was based on. I wonder what the others have gotten and where they are.
Shaking the thoughts, he focused on his preparations. He wanted to have a fire that would burn throughout the night. Which meant he needed wood, he had the light spell but each cast would only last an hour per level. As he was level one they only lasted an hour. He wanted to hold those in reserve for when it was necessary. The best idea he had was making a few caltrops to spread around the area. Limiting the directions where he could get attacked from. Ziri was surprisingly useful in the creation. She actually managed to tie the three sticks together with the braided grass he made. How she managed to do it without opposable thumbs was a mystery to him. That was until he saw her use her fangs to hold the rope in place and the claws to hook the grass.
My companion is smarter than a lot of people, more useful to. He thought, the edges of his mouth twitching in amusement.
He only had about an hour to make his preparations, they had managed to finish eight caltrops which he spread around the fire he had just brought to life. It wasn’t long until he started seeing things move from the corners of his eyes. Cursing he watched Ziri, as expected she wasnt reacting to the movement in the slightest.
These bloody hallucinations will be the death of me yet, I’ll just have to trust on Ziri’s senses, mine aren't nearly as trustworthy.
At 17 years of age he had a girlfriend, he had felt connected to her on a level he hadn’t thought possible. All is his life he couldn’t connect to people, he just didn’t feel anything for them at all, not even his parents who tried so hard to improve his life. They were outstanding parental figures, no one could wish for better, yet he was incapable of making an emotional bond even with his direct family. He had thought it was just the way he was until he met her. The girl had been weird just like him, not something that was noticeable in everyday life. Just something that people started to feel was of.
She had been of italian descent, Dalida her name was. She was extremely smart, and not just clever as in she does well in school, she was borderline genius, maybe even just plain genius. She had started Uni, her mental capacity brought with it its issues. She got into fights with her parents, eventually separating from them to live in the dorms. She was surrounded by people at least three years her senior. Even the youngest student in her class was two years older. In the end she had snapped, blown her head of with her dad’s hunting rifle, he hadn’t even known until one of her friends had told him about it a week later.
That was when his Schizophrenia had started to manifest, that and according to his therapist he had borderline as well. Over the years the symptoms had increased, he had cut of contact with most people in his life. He was under strict therapeutic supervision, he had gotten to the point where reality was hard to distinguish from the hallucinations. Life was chaotic for him, sometimes entire days that he thought he had lived through turned out to be an hallucination. Eventually he had…
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He was ripped from his reminiscence when Ziri started growling at his surroundings. He saw shadows moving from the corners of his eyes. This time Ziri’s eyes were following them as well. Tensing he prepared himself for battle. One of the creatures walked into the light, the shadows framing a head not unlike a panthers, the body was thicker and more muscular than Ziri’s. It had a slick hide, reminding him of shark’s skin. Six legs, two at the front portion of the torso and and four at the back. What surprised him was that the creature had no tail to speak of.
Knocking an arrow on his bow, he stretched his arm and pulled back the string, he could feel the hunger from these creatures, and he would make it abundantly clear that he was no easy prey. Aim, exhale, release. The arrow whistled through the air, planting itself in the creatures neck, it howled in agony. Then all hell broke lose, more of the monsters rushed in from the shadows charging at him, Gorat rushed forward, grabbing one by the head and smashing it into the ground. Ziri zipped past clawing, one of the monsters, then darting back into the shadows. Knock, draw, exhale, release, another arrow shot from his right through the mouth of one of the creatures pouncing him. Knock, draw, exhale, release, the next arrow hit a creature chasing Ziri.
Gorat was wrestling a creature to the ground with one arm, tossing another of them onto an caltrop, sticks pierced its flesh as it howled in pain. Sahjaíl kept calmly repeating the pattern of knock, draw, exhale, release. Now that he wasn’t shocked by the sudden pounce as he had been by the hyenadiles, he was reacting a lot better. Arrows hitting their mark, with calmly placed shots. The caltrops were doing their job, funnelling the creatures to Gorat, leaving only a few other spots where they were free to rush him. It made shooting all the easier when you knew were the enemies were coming from. As fast as it had started it ended, the creatures fleeing into the night. Ziri and Gorat went around the clearing finishing of any creatures not yet dead.
Sahjaíl got a notification that he had levelled up. The only option he had was to pick spell list, the level One spells now available to him. The previous spells had only been level zero. In the end he picked the upgraded cure minor wounds, which was still named the same but had a plus added to the end showing its increased potency. The other spell was one he was really happy with, the spell was called entangle, for the duration of thirty seconds roots would burst from the ground and entangle anyone in a 15 meter radius around him. He only had three uses of the spell, so he would have to use them carefully. The other spells he had gained an extra use, he could also pick another zero level spell to add to his list, he chose flare. It wasn’t nearly as powerful as it sounded. It just shot a handful of sparks from his hand, but it was convenient for starting fires.
He ordered Gorat to drag the bodies closer, using them just like the caltrops as an improvised barricade. He went to work on skinning the creatures, although he would like to use all the meat the amount of kills he had made in the last few hours made that impossible. His fathers motto of leave nothing unused was just plain unreachable. He did take what he could use, he cut of the tenderest pieces of meat, and skinned the creatures rolling up the hides and adding them to his backpack. In the end they had managed to kill seven of the things. He still had to come up with a name for them as well. He decided to call them Pitt Panthers, there muscular bodies reminded him of pitbulls and head was extremely similar to Ziri’s.
Ziri gave him a look as if she resented these creatures being compared to her.
Well sorry yer majesty, but you can’t deny the similarities!
Ziri’s stalked away, tail swishing behind her. Arrogance drooping around her as she walked amongst the corpses of the creatures she considered wildly inferior. She melted back into the shadows climbing up a tree and laying down on a branch. Keeping a watchful eye on the surroundings. Despite her princess attitude Sahjaíl knew she would protect him with everything she had if push came to shove. Smiling at the uncompromising feeling of loyalty he layed himself down next to the fire, telling them to wake him up if anything approached.
The rest of the night went blissfully uninterrupted. Not having anything you needed to do in the morning felt strange, he just got up, grabbed his backpack and headed further into the forest. Ziri needed sleep like him, and had curled up next to him when slept. Gorat on the other hand had no need for rest, he had kept watch the entire night. Giving the other two time to rest.
Sahjaíl really wanted a diary or something similar to write in, there were all these plants and tree species that he didn’t even recognise. Maybe some of them had healing qualities, or they were poisonous. There were a multitude of ways to test that to minimise risks, he really wanted to list what was useful and what was dangerous. Even the dangerous plants could become useful when utilised properly.
Since he had nothing to write down his findings with he had to settle for just noting the characteristics of everything he saw in his head. Gorat and Ziri were patient with him whenever he excitedly walked over to a plant or tree that he had never seen before and started studying it. He may never have been one for people, but plants and animals had always fascinated him. Being able to make your way through your lifetime by just sitting in one place and soaking in the sunlight. The mere concept of sunlight and water being enough to sustain an existence was incredible to him.
Surprisingly he found himself quite enjoying the new life, his emotional issues may be unchecked, but this freedom was a balm on his troubled soul. He started humming, which then blew into soft singing, until he wasn’t singing that softly anymore.
“ Somebody once told me, the woooorld was gonna roll me! I ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed.”
Even Ziri and Gorat got caught in on the song and started swinging a bit to the beat, the golem stomping a bit harder on the ground to emphasise the beat. Ziri was growling in tune with him, probably creating the weirdest mini band to ever walk the earth. Or whatever the planet they were one called itself.
They were so caught up in the song that they didn’t even notice the gleaming red eyes that were following them. The eyes did not emit any hostility, rather they just followed the weird trio with curiosity. A small frame blending itself with nature, near invisible it followed.
After a while Sahjaíl came across a stream where they rested to take a drink and he started a fire to cook some of the meat, Ziri having gotten a taste of the cooked meat now wouldn’t settle for just raw meat if there was the option of having it cooked. Some of the plants he had come across he had recognised, he had picked the herbs because they would be great to accentuate the cooking with.
Then he realised a problem, NO POT! Cursing he thought about how he could cook properly without a pot, he looked around the river bed and saw a slab of stone about forty centimeters in length and twenty-five in width. It was thick, about eight centimeters. He glanced at Gorat.
“Hey big guy could you hollow this out a bit so it can hold liguids?”
Gorat stepped forward and grabbed the slab then started rubbing his finger on it, he kept rubbing at it slowly removing thin layers of stone. Whatever the stone was Gorat was made of sturdier stuff as he started seeing the dent the rubbing was making. Leaving Gorat to his work Sahjaíl headed to the river to see if he could spot any fish, he took of his fur lined boots and waded into the water. Spearfishing was nothing new to him as he patiently waited for one of the scaly to swim in range.
Eyes following the erratic movements of the fish he arched his arm backwards ready to pierce, he stood in the position for a few minutes till he saw his chance. In a burst of movement the spear pierced the fish and he pulled it out of the water. Smiling as he removed the prize from his spear he quickly ended its suffering with a quick cut from the hunting knife. He was glad to see Gorat had finished turning the slab into something that could be used for cooking. He dug the firepit into the side of small mound and lighted a fire in the gap. He put the slab on top and put in a thin layer of water. He put the meat in the slab and started deboning the fish, checking on the meat every few seconds he added some of the herbs and once the fish was deboned he added it to the pot.
A few minutes later the thick aroma of meat,herbs and fish floated around the river clearing. He gave some of the meat to Ziri as she ravenously bit into the meat tearing it apart. Sahjaíl took his time to eat some of the meat and the fish. Wiping his mouth once he finished eating he put the slab together with the hides in his backpack, he thought about drying some meat so it wouldn’t expire but going at the rate of encounters he had so far, he deemed it unnecessary.
—————— Red ——————
They crossed the shallow river and headed further into the forest. Behind him Red Eyes walked over to the fireplace, gently poking at the heat while cocking its head. It grabbed a branch about the size of the spear Sahjaíl had used and sharpened it with a nearby rock. It then stood in the river and attempted to copy the spearfishing, after many failed attempts and a good hour of work Red Eyes was able to catch a fish, it happily pranced around the clearing with the fish, stabbing the spear in the air proclaiming its victory. It started eating the fish raw as it followed the tracks Sahjaíl had left behind. Curiosity ever-growing.