Hours of monotonous walking passed with little change to my scenery. There was nothing but an endless array of trees as far as I could see. Fortunately, the sun was out, and the temperature was only slightly chilly instead of freezing like the night before.

The constant practicing of my magic was enough to keep my mind distracted from the boredom of constant walking. But even after hours of practice, I couldn't increase the speed at which the energy gathered. Around 10 seconds was my limit. I would occasionally fire off daylight for no other reason than to alleviate my boredom.

I idly wondered what someone else would think of the randomly burned holes in trees, stretching for miles. While I was pondering, I noticed a new sound.

"Water." I whispered.

It was faint, but to my left there was definitely water flowing somewhere. If there was, that means my survival could be extended by weeks, even If I couldn't find food. Following the sound for several minutes, I eventually ended up finding a small stream, probably 5 feet across, flowing slowly. Getting closer I examined the water.

Though it was clear, it was probably best if I boiled it before drinking, but I had no way of doing so. Sighing, as I had no other choice, I knelt next to the stream and drank several handfuls.

It tasted better than what was in my waterskin.

"This was probably better than what's in there anyways." I said.

I dumped out the brackish water and refilled the waterskin. With a desire to clean myself, I took a tentative step and entered the stream. Not wanting to deal with wet hair, I gathered it all up and wrapped it around my throat like a strange scarf. Looking down at myself in the river I saw my face for the first time.

Distorted as it was from the constantly shifting water, it was clear to see that it was beautiful. If not for obvious appendages one would think they were looking at a woman. What was most distracting however were my eyes. They were a bright purple and far larger than what a human should have.

I knew my features would be alien to me, but the sheer strangeness was enthralling. None of the unending information about anatomy and physiology could explain what exactly I am. The way my large irises contracted. The constant twitch of my ears in response to some sound off in the distance, with a little effort I could consciously move them. All of it was alien.

Watching my expressions of confusion on a stranger’s face was too much to deal with at the moment.

I cleared away much of the dirt and grime of the previous day. The water was cold but, compared to the icy chill from last night, it was bearable. Once I was relatively clean, I sat on the bank of the stream until I dried.

I examined my left arm, and with that my suspicions were confirmed. Earlier in the morning the scabs were tender, but pretty hard and firm. Now I could see that some of them were starting to fall off and new skin could be seen underneath. My right arm, however, was largely the same. Thinking back to how deep some of these gashes were I realized that this was more like weeks of healing. A bit of hope started to rise in me as my chances of survival increased.

Now that I knew that the magic could somehow heal me, or at the very least accelerate my healing.

I decided to distribute the concentration of energy to more than one part of my body. The power kept concentrating until discomfort became pain. Once this occurred, I would release the energy and start the process again. Sometime later I was completely dry, and with one last glance of my reflection in the river I started heading downstream.

Following the stream's path was as exhausting as walking in the forest. It twisted and turned in random directions, however I figured that following it would be my highest chance and finding civilization. The sun was high in the sky at this point and the area around the stream widened into more walkable terrain.

After hours of walking, I finally spotted an animal. A few hundred feet in front of me was a four-legged creature. I couldn't make out much other than it had gray fur, and it was rather large. Quickly noting the wind was blowing into my face, I tried to be as stealthy as I could.

I moved into the dense forest brush and carefully wrapped around behind the creature. This might be dangerous, but if I could take down the animal, its meat could last me for days. I slowly moved towards the creature. Hiding behind a bush not much taller than my waist I got a better look at the animal.

It was a wolf, likely as tall as I was. That gave me some apprehension at my chances. But from the outline of its ribs and hip bones in its fur, I presumed that it was starving. Its coat looked rough and lacked any sheen. It might be an old wolf that didn't have the strength to hunt prey anymore. In other words, the perfect target.

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Though it was quite large, I had the confidence that I could take it down. I just had to lure it in my direction and fire a daylight into its face. Channeling double the energy into my chest, I walked out beyond the trees, daylight in my left hand and axe in the other. I noticed a small rock on the ground and gave it a kick.

The noise was just loud enough to get the wolf's attention. It Immediately turned around and locked its gaze on me. A low growl escaped its throat as it sized up its new target. It was only 50 feet away from me, but I wanted it to get to at least 20 before I released a blast into its face. The wolf instead stood there watching me as its growl became louder and lower. These few seconds felt like an eternity as the wolf prepared to charge.

Then there was a sudden burst of motion, and the wolf sprinted towards me. Its large gate meant that it took only a few strides to reach me. As soon as it got within 25 feet, I released daylight, aiming for its eyes. Within the same instant I dove to the right.

As soon as I landed, I glanced behind me. I saw the wolf tumble end over end, as the right side of its face was turned into a burnt ruin. I quickly got to my feet as the wolf slid to a halt, a little behind where I was just standing. Before it could recover from the blast, I hefted my axe in both arms and brought it down on the creature's neck. It jolted to the sudden attack and stood up faster than I expected.

The sudden movement of the large wolf ripped the axe from my hand. It took a wild bite in my direction that didn't really come anywhere close to me, as it was likely flash blinded. It was then I noticed that I didn't actually hit its eyes, my attack instead charred most of the right side of its mussel. I backed away and started to charge another attack even stronger than the last. But before I could fire, the wolf, in its mad thrashing, dislodged the axe and sprinted into the forest.

Grabbing the fallen axe off the ground, I dissipated the energy and immediately gave chase. My energy levels had dropped significantly from that first overcharged daylight, but I should have seven or eight more in the tank. I followed the trail of destroyed brush and blood for several minutes, until I could hear loud panting. I found the wolf lying next to a tree.

It was most likely dying as a large pool of blood was gathering around its body. I apparently hit an artery, and dislodging the axe only made its death quicker. Unlike my first monster, I felt no pleasure at its suffering and resolved to end its life quickly. It tried weakly to defend itself, but it could do little more than twitch its head in my general direction. I brought the axe down once more and with a final whine the wolf died.

I stood there, next to the dead wolf, wondering how I would cook and eat it. The beast was probably over 250 lbs., so dragging it back to the river was out of the picture. I figured I could cut off one of its legs for now and try to make a fire by the river.

Using the small knife, I found on the creature, I cut through the skin on the shoulder joint. As soon as I broke the skin a pungent stink began emitting from the wound. Gagging at the smell I took a closer look at the cut I made.

Inside the hand length cut, I could just make out a writhing mass of worms that seemed to be burrowing out of the wound. Completely disgusted by the sight, I jumped back from the creature.

It was infested with some kind of parasitic worm. Immediately information flooded into my mind warning me of the dangers of a parasitic infestation.

Depending on the parasite, the meat could be safe to eat so long as it was cooked at a high enough temperature. But I was far too revolted at the sight of it to consider eating it.

"Dammit." I said in frustration.

Hours of walking and the only animal I ran into was an infested wolf. My hunger was becoming worse, and I was fairly sure using my power was accelerating the process. If I am to survive, I'll have to minimize its use. I headed back to the river and washed the blood off of my axe and knife. With nothing else to do I continued following the river. Dark thoughts started to enter my mind, casting doubt on my ability to survive.

Was there any actual civilization in this world? Even if there was, how long would it take me to reach it? Weeks? Months? These doubts kept spiraling in my mind for the next several hours until the sun started to dip below the horizon. I thought about trying to build a fire to give me light through the night. But I didn't trust that other creatures wouldn't come to investigate. Sighing, I spotted some dense bush to hide under and curled up into a ball to preserve warmth. Perhaps tomorrow will be more fruitful.