The Guardian
Chapter 2: Once Again
When I opened my eyes, countless creatures swarmed around me. The creatures resembled worms, and had multi-legged bodies. The worm's carapace was black and there was a shine to them that reminded me of metal reflecting in the light.
In the center of the worm swarm was a something called a hatchery that resembled an octopus. It was immobile as each leg was burrowed into the ground to make it stable, as movement would ruin it's production capabilities to produce more worms.
I realized I wasn't physically among them, but more was like a spectral, and I could see and feel every creature that was there. The swarm's collective thoughts slammed into my being, they wanted one thing and I instinctively knew my purpose that moment.
They wanted to feed.
- - -
I missed my little humans. I missed watching them, but my mistake cost me their lives. I had fallen into stagnation because I was content with watching.
Now I was alone again alone within the blackness.
This was my punishment. I had thought this world was like my former world where it was safe and the worst someone would suffer was a bear attack. I had been wrong.
A light burst into existence. This light resembled my old light. This time I observed it closely. I could see a forest in the light and it felt like looking through a keyhole. I went closer and enveloped it with my essence.
The world exploded into being. A human village laid in the forest, it was tiny compared to the village I had watched before. It reminded me when I first began watching them, was this world a different world? Or was it the same world as those creatures? I had no idea.
This life was slightly different unlike my last life, the chief had a different title, he was called the Reverent. Since the first chief, and every chief after him I had filled them with my essence, and I forced them to feel my presence. They couldn't see me, or hear me, but they could feel my energy and my emotions.
The village changed as well. With my urging and danger the Reverent built walls around the village and set up security outposts at each entrance of the village. There was three in total. One was pointing towards north. The same direction the creatures from my last life attacked from, and south and west.
In the village I watched them. I watched them clear the fields, I watched them gather fruits and herbs. I watched them prepare for the hunt. I watched the hunters hunt in the forest. And then I urged them to go deeper into the forest, I needed to see how far the forest extended. It didn't happen right away. The hunters had an instinctive fear of the unknown but slowly the black fog extended beyond my past life's range.
Then finally the hunters escaped the forest. A vast plain greeted them. The hunters had never seen anything like this before. The hunters returned and told everybody of the sights they seen. The hunters continued to hunt in the forest, and didn't venture much into the plains. Even after generation passed, the hunters continued their way of life.
Time continued to pass, and more farmers preferred the vast land of the plains rather than the forest. It was easier to plant and grow food without clearing acres of land like within the forest, and a small outpost settled into the area.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
A change also occurred in the village. The villagers discovered a way to shape and mold iron with an outdoor forge. They called them ironsmith, but to me it was just blacksmithing. The ironsmith could only forge simple tools such as arrowheads, spear heads, and daily utensils like cooking pots and pans.
This created a need for more resources. Iron veins were constantly scouted within the forest but barely few were found. Mostly towards the mountainous regions where the forest lay.
I found myself attached to a single villager. I wasn't sure when I noticed him, but I guess it started when he ventured into the plains to farm the lands. The plains carried some dangers but life was easy behind walls. Goblins and smaller creatures constantly harassed the farmlands, and the occasionally dangerous troll or two would pass by. Then one day that farmer stumbled across a troll going through his lands. It chased him for days across the plains until he swam across the river that separated the plains from the mountains. I tried my best to keep him safe but the river's current dragged him far down before he could safety reach the other side, and he had injured himself.
That farmer was the first to meet another bipedal species. It was awkward encounter at first. They could see each other as some sort of intelligent creature that could think and feel. The farmer spoke to them in his language and they replied in a different language that he couldn't understand.
The bipedal creature the farmer encountered resembled humans a lot. The only difference it seems was their ears was pointed. At first the farmer had thought he had returned to civilization but the clothing they wore was completely different from the fur and cotton clothing outpost people wear. It was more natural, it resembled leaves and branches, but was tightly held together to form makeshift armour. They carried bows and spears. They were scouts I assumed, but they didn't attack the farmer. Instead they helped him and led them to their village. There was more forests when you went closer to the mountains, and that's where they entered.
The people the farmer discovered was more in tuned to nature than he had thought. The people lived in wooden trees, and didn't cut down trees to create walls or more space, instead they thrive with nature.
Their leader called themselves the 'Umpriel'.
- - -
“Alexander,” he pointed to himself.
He watch the shirtless male point at himself.
“Nandanay,”
The man resembled his people a lot, and he wasn't sure if they were really a different species, but that nudge or feeling at the back of his head confirms they aren't the same.
Alexander wasn't sure but that feeling was always with him since he was born, maybe it was just his instinct, but that was what helped him survive that troll attack. It had guided him and showed him which path was safe to take.
Alexander sighed, and wondered what he got himself to. He was a young farmer just into his young adult years, and he was just about to ask the girl of his dreams to became his wife. Now he was in some unknown land, with unknown people, and no way to return until he was healed.
“Humes” Alexander pointed all of himself. Indicating his race.
Nandanay looked at him confused.
“Alexander Humes?” Nandanay pronunciation was off but at least it was progress.
“Home,” Alexander said. He pointed to the village.
Alexander was inside a tree truck hovel with the leader Nandanay and his two bodyguards. The furniture was made from wood and he wondered how they made them. It seemed it wasn't build from logs cut into boards but was grown into that shape.
Alexander spent the entire day exchanging words with the Umpriel leader, and made some progress. He had somehow gotten it through that he was in trouble and needed a way back home, and the leader agreed to shelter him until he was healed and safe to travel home.
- -