I woke up with a start and immediately sat up, only to instantly regret it and sink my body back to the hard dirt ground with a moan. “Oww…” I said, my voice trailing off as I remembered what had happened to me. ‘Well, looks like I am still alive. Alpha must have healed me right as I was passing out.’ I thought to myself, recalling the events in my fuzzy memories and trying to make some sense from my situation.

‘Maybe he had to stop before I was fully healed. That would explain why I still feel like there is a hole in my chest.’ I continued, feeling the pain on my chest spike as my thoughts turned to it. “Urg… Alpha? You there?” I moaned out through the pain, wondering where he ended up. I couldn't hear a reply however and that caused me to become concerned, until I felt Alpha along with the other eight members of the pack in my soul space. Though oddly I can sense that he feels… diminished almost. Like some sort of force that is keeping him alive was used up.

That was concerning on a few different levels, but not an immediate concern as I could sort of feel he was recovering from whatever had happened to make him like that. It was slow, but I could tell that he would be fine.

But that does not help me now.

I stayed lying back on the dirt for a few seconds longer, just looking at the pack in my soul space and specifically at the newest member. The lizard didn't make it out of that fight it seemed. That fight could have gone better.

As for what exactly happened… I was not sure. I think that the lizard might have spat some kind of paralytic acid at me. It might sound ridiculous, but nothing seems to be constrained by science as I had known it anymore and from what I knew about the effects of acid and paralytic venom it added up. This… Paracid, was strong stuff. If only I hadn't found that out the hard way.

But time waits for no man. Well, not for me anyway. It is time I got a move on.

I sit up, clenching my teeth from the pain pulsing through my chest and the sudden bout of weakness that seemed to spread through me with the motion. ‘I might not have died…’ I thought as I looked down at the burn hole on my shirt, ‘But that does not mean that I am fine.’

The revealed skin beneath the hole in my shirt did not look good. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, I have seen some people absolutely messed up by acid burns, but it was still not good. My skin was bright red, with small welts all across where the burn was and white splotches and it looked really rough. It seemed to be just on the front of my chest though, so that was relieving. Once Alpha recovers enough to heal me again, I would be surprised if he has to do it in more than a few seconds. It does make me wonder how bad it was before Alpha healed me up though.

Now that I have checked myself over, I need to check my surroundings and check for dangers. If I have learned anything about this forest, it's that these monsters are extremely territorial. Unless they are pack animals, there won't be monsters within a mile of each other. Let's hope that stays true.

I look around, taking in my surroundings with a keen eye. The stream is not far from where I am sitting, gentilly winding its way down through the forest, cutting a path through the dark and threatening trees that I have been following for the last few days.

This part of the forest seemed more dead than threatening though. Its silence was only broken up with the gurgle of the stream as it went by and the darkness only broken by a small beam of light from the moons that were visible in the high sky through a large gap in the trees around the stream. My backpack was also lying on the ground nearby, looking untouched.

Its silence was comforting to me, but what was more concerning was the fact that it was night. I didn't know how I had not noticed the second I had opened my eyes, but it was apparent now. Apparent and concerning.

I had not been on the forest floor during the night since I was attacked by Alphas pack on my first night, and for good reason. From my knowledge of Earth forests and the wild in general, predators were more likely to hunt at night due to a not small portion of them being nocturnal.

Maybe my fears were unfounded seeing as I was still alive after being unconscious for so long, but something seemed to still whisper that fear to the back of my mind and I was inclined to trust my instincts.

I looked up at the trees around me, looking for the usual tangled branches that seemed to be everywhere in this odd world. There were a lot of branches to see however and through the sparse light of the night sky I saw nothing that was immediately usable as a bed to get me off the ground. I might have looked around more closely, butI was not sure if I could even climb up to one even if I saw one.

Maybe I should just summon the pack to guard me while I sleep? They didn't really even have to sleep as far as I could tell with them being spirits, so it should be ok…

I lay back down onto the hard ground with a thump, causing me a flash of pain but it passed in an instant. I checked on the pack carefully with my mind. The four wolves from Alphas pack seemed to be fine, nothing like the draining that happened to Alpha. The deer seemed a little bit drained, but not to the extent Alpha was so I judged her as fine. The gorilla was not drained at all, like the wolves, and the bear was the same. The lizard seemed really drained however, almost in between the deer and Alpha in terms of how much, so I left him alone for now.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

The rest of the pack I summoned to guard me while I stayed still for sleep, and after a few mental words with the wolves, deer, gorilla and the bear, I fell asleep on the ground to recover from my injuries.

----------------------------------------

The next morning, I woke up with a wet tongue licking my cheek and I swatted it away with a groan as I came to my senses slowly, the pain in my chest still stinging with every moment and every movement sending a fresh wave of light pain through my body.

I looked around me with belearly eyes, seeing the forest as it had been yesterday in the daylight for the second time and the lightly glowing animals around me, the members of the pack that were guarding me as I slept.

I sighed as I felt my soul space and I took a look at how Alpha and the only other remaining occupant in my soul space, the lizard, were doing. Alpha greeted me as I looked in at them, but I only got a small sense of recognition from the lizard. That was fine though, as I was glad and hopeful because they were conscious now and I felt how they were doing.

It seems like the rest in my soul space did them good and they had fully recovered from whatever had caused the drain, which meant that Alpha now had a chance to heal me before I got ready to deal with the day and continue the journey I had started a few days ago.

With a thought, Alpha started using his healing flame on me once again. The sensation of the flame emerging and healing my chest was still very strange and I shivered at the sensation, but it was definitely a welcome one as the pain started fading to nothing as I watched the acid burns fade from my chest through the hole in my shirt.

A few seconds later, once Alpha had finished healing me, I stood up unsteadily and I looked to the pack of supplies to my left to begin the day with a strong breakfast.

It took me a few minutes longer than usual to set up the spit and start the fire to cook up the deer meat because I was still shaky and unsteady on my feet after the paracid had gotten me yesterday, but that was probably to be expected. Once I had finished setting and cooking up my breakfast however, I started examininging Alpha and my thoughts turned to confusion when I noticed something odd.

“Alpha? Why are you more drained now than when I woke up?” I asked the wolf in confusion, only to realize what was going on as I finished the question and my eyes widened at the realization I had. “Your flame uses the energy that is keeping your spirit alive?!” I said, more wonderingly and concerned then actually asking Alpha, but Alpha still sent me the mental equivalent of a nod.

This was a huge revelation for me and my thoughts came quickly, only stopping when I came to a conclusion. It really didn't change anything. Not right now anyway. It was useful to know that even the magic abilities my summons and the monsters of this world at large had limits and I needed to learn to work around those limits, but for now my actions in my journey in this world would be unchanged.

On with the meal then.

The next few minutes went by fast, the pack getting ready to leave as soon as I finished eating and cleaned up the mess from my meal and they checked the area for threats once more before I unsummoned everybody but the wolves and I started the ride on Alphas back to find civilization once more.

The hours blurred together as I rode with the pack through the forest, blitzing through the path made by the stream unbothered by random low hanging branches or the occasional bolder by the stream as we sprinted on and kept up a good pace. I was genuinely sure that my summons did not have the capability to get tired at all at this point. I was almost completely sure that wolves would have to take a break from full out spiriting for half an hour, never mind the hours my pack was going on.

Lunch was a good break from the hours of riding I was doing, but I was sure to keep some of the pack summoned to guard the area while I ate. I had learned my lesson once too many times to not have some protection during breaks.

Luckily, nothing happened and my meal was uninterrupted.

The ride began again shortly after I finished, but during this stretch of the run I started feeling something odd that only increased as the hours went by.

I started noticing things. They were odd little things. Not very important by themselves, but as the sightings of similar things started cropping up more and more often, the effect started adding up. Shadows being pierced by beams of light through the dark interior of the forest that I could see. The buzz of an insect. The trees looking farther and farther spread apart and less dense as I looked out at the forest. Plants and bushes popping up more often.

Something was different about this part of the forest. It could be a good sign, the forest growing brighter and full of life as I went farther, but it still made me feel odd. This whole new feeling, making me feel almost like this part of the forest had an entirely different aura. A different feel and environment.

Just as I was about to stop for supper, with the changed feeling of the forest seeming almost cemented now, I heard a roar that shook the trees and we turned to the source in panic.

Only, after a few seconds there was another. Farther away instead of closer this time. Then another sound rang out that caused me to freeze in shock. A voice. A human voice. It was distant and unclear what they said, but it was definitely human. Human and coming from the same direction as the roar.

The pack started to run. Not away from the thing that caused the powerful roar, but towards it with reckless abandon. There is another person in these woods, and the pack will find them.