Tim got up from his slumber, having fallen asleep soon after finishing the boar with water on the side, and felt hunger once again. Well, perhaps hunger is the wrong word, near emptiness might be better. He could have sworn he shouldn't have felt so hungry, after having eaten an entire boar, but the hunger persisted regardless. He looked to his campsite, some Scavaero and their maggot-larvae were picking anything Tim left on the bones. Getting up with the Tusk now in hand, he left again to hunt for boar.
Walking around with the cold sending shivers all along his back and front, he desperately hoped he could keep finding boars, he would need their skins to keep him warm he figured. Not so much as a speck of fruit appeared within his search either, it foolish to hope for fruit in the winter, but it was all he could do with this hunger in his stomach. He searched and searched, but nothing edible seemed to appear for however far he walked. How far he walked he couldn't remember, but he simply knew he searched, his head jolting and twitching everywhere to find the sight of some kind, any kind of food.
Yet, it appeared by some miracle, he found it. Food, fruit in a tree! The Tree's thin but numerous roots completely covered the ground all around it for about ten feet or so. The fruit was a beautifully colorful red and purple stripe coloration, and so was the tree, with its own red and purple leaves among the white bark. It was quite relaxing to look at, as Tim walked towards the fruit he was certain was quite juicy. It looked so juicy and ripe, hanging so low.
But once he walked halfway to the fruit, where he was on top of the roots, they moved spontaneously down from beneath him, sending him falling twelve feet. From what he could make out after he recovered from the fall and his eyes adjusted to the little light available, beneath the tree was a large pit sloped near the edges at a steep angle. Inside of some very thick roots holding up the tree, the higher parts had been eaten partly, most likely by the Scavaero swarming near the hole. He'd guess they'd made nests down here in the pits, and also by the fact they hadn't moved on him, they were strictly scavengers.
The skeletons of other boars to have fallen down as well. There were also two boars that died more recently, and their rotting corpses were being eaten through by Scavaero maggot-larvae, the Scavaero themselves remaining near to their roots. Looking at the maggot-larvae and considering carefully, he knew he couldn't light a fire at risk of the tree crushing him and trapping him after it falls down. His stomach rumbled again, loudly, the pains hit him once more. As they hit him, he looked very closely at the Boar corpse and the Maggot-Larvae.
The hunger kept hitting him, and nothing could distract him from it, the hunger, he could feel it tip-tapping at the sides of his stomach, almost constricting it slightly. Kneeling on the ground, he would lean to the boar, pick up one of the maggots, and take a leap of faith in putting in his mouth to chew. By the time it hit his tongue, still writhing, the smell of the boar truly hit him, and in that moment he had turned his head away, and vomited profusely.
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His vomit was naught but bile, and some other strands of something that he knew he didn't eat. Looking closely, he realized what it was, and nearly vomited again. It was the same species as the 'Lung Lurker', in his bile. He realized the creature didn't restrict itself to dead animals or lungs, it must have managed to sneak into his stomach while he slept, partially eating his food as he digested it. No wonder he always felt so hungry and felt those pains, its legs had to tap the side of his stomach every now and then.
He figured if it meant to kill him, he'd be dead. For now, he would have to live with it and simply provide it with enough food so it wouldn't eat him instead. Bracing himself far more this time, he leaned down over the boar again, pausing to get somewhat used to the smell, picked up a maggot-larva, and put it into his mouth. Even as he chewed, it still writhed in his mouth and around his tongue, the taste of its skin and near mushy blood was wretched. Every leg brushing against his throat from the inside as he swallowed it while the blood stained his teeth and found itself a place between the front of his teeth and lips.
He repeated this process, going rather slowly, and only speeding up by seconds at most by the twenty-eighth maggot. At this point, he felt mildly content, but he knew he needed to feel as full as possible to wake up, and not be starving. So he continued and kept on until he was unable to eat anymore under any circumstances after the seventy-ninth maggot-larva, the area near his mouth stained with maggot-larva blood.
With that, he lay down against one of the steep slopes and lay to rest. Well, if you could call the bug induced nightmares, 'Rest'.
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Earlier two days ago, outside of the Bloodweb Forest, Elven Village of Xaolem.
"Ranger Instructor Faolong! Look, look! There's smoke rising in the Forest!" A young elf, about nineteen with shoulder length golden blonde hair tied into a braid, said as she lowered her bow, completely forgetting about the archery practice assigned to her by her mentor.
"I suppose this time you aren't making it up, good job spotting that from here little Meifeng." Her Instructor Faolong had said. "I think I've come up with an assignment as your ranger initiation."
"You have! Can I please have it, please! You know how much I want to be a ranger!" Meifeng said.
"Yes, I know. Your initiation assignment is this, Investigate the smoke and bring back anyone you find. Determining how far into the forest it is, how much food to bring, anything of that sort, is completely on you, and I will give you no help. I will go and ask for the elder rangers approvals of this as your first assignment immediately. If they approve, good luck." Faolong said, smiling at her student.
"Thank you so much! I won't let you down, Instructor!" Meifeng said, already rushing to get together her equipment as well as to figure out how many days into the forest the smoke was located.