...It feels like I blacked out or something there.

Where did I… What happened here? Everything is dark. Is it still nighttime? But I feel hot, and sticky, and…

Memories from the night before flood my mind and I feel like vomiting. My-, my arm, my legs…

They’re all there. It seems they recovered while I was… I don’t think I fell asleep, but something like that clearly happened here. This cavity I’m inside doesn’t feel all that tight. Now that I feel around a bit, there’s next to nothing in here.

Ah, is that a hole? Great, let me just…

I emerge from the fox’s corpse with a pop. My eyes fall on some great something that seems to be dragging the body I’m still within. It looks like a huge mossy rock but it’s brown. I can’t see its eyes, so it probably hasn’t seen me yet, but what the hell am I-,

Brown Bear(D+)

Stage: Elder Health: 204/204

State: Happy

...Ah, is that so?

Silently, carefully, I slip out of the empty cavity of the fox’s stomach and hop off the bear-ride. The bear, happy with its stolen prey, gently lumbers away. Right. Okay. Next time I see you, you’re dead, okay? But not now. I still feel shaken from the fox, so-,

Lilltroll(E) Lv.9/30 Stage: Juvenile Health: 30/33

State: Tired

Strength: 8(+0,8) Dexterity: 5 Grit: 7(+0,7)

Racial Skills: Absorb, Strong Body, Tail Lv.4, Lesser Hamnskifte Lv.3, Lesser Regeneration Lv.2 Normal Skills: Stab Lv.5, Stomp Lv.2, Choke Lv.4, Lizard’s Tail, Claws Lv.4, Sharp Teeth Lv.5 Titles: Oknytt, Bloodthirsty, Natural Deviant

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-Yeah, there it is. As usual, you’ll just show it whenever you want, huh?

Well, either way, that leaves me with one less prey. Fuck.

If it comes to it, I guess I could always eat insects, right?

A shiver runs down my back and I increase my pace.

...Damn it, where the hell am I? That damn bear must’ve dragged me pretty far off, not that this forest changes much from place-to-place. It’s all just the same kind of scraggly spruce and pine forest, with barren branches and dead pine needles.

I look up at one such tree.

...Maybe, if I climbed it, I might be able to find my way back to that clearing? It should be pretty visible as a hole in the forest, so even though the sun hasn’t risen yet, I guess it’ll help. Otherwise, I’ll at least be safer high above the ground. Killing the fox didn’t make me noticeably bigger, so that state-change might still be a fair way off.

Enough brooding, let’s get to it.

With agility I didn’t even have as a child, I fly up the side of the tree, using my sharp nails to great effect. The further up I go, the darker it gets as the pines shade the moon. So, too, does the stem of the tree grow thinner, until it is only barely big enough to wrap my hands around. At this point, the tree has begun to sway lightly with my movements, giving a little rustle in the wind.

I pop my head out of the tree, trying to make sense of what I’m seeing.

On one side is a large lake reflecting the moon contained on every side by forest. On the other is a massive mountain, boldly poking out of the trees. I can’t tell exactly how tall it is since my perspective is skewed (I am only the size of a squirrel, after all) but it’s easily bigger than any mountain I’ve seen before. There’s no snow at the top or anything, but if I look far into the distance, I can see the forest bulge and sway, though never erupting into a bald mountain-face like here.

...I kind of want to go there. Just for the thrill of adventure.

But not now. Not yet.

Since I really want to survive, I’ll focus on heading for the lake. I’m not really thirsty at the moment, which I attribute to the fact that I probably drank a lot of blood while I was inside of the fox. I actually can’t remember what happened in there. It’s all a blur, much like when I fought the mouse. I should consider myself lucky that I was inside the fox or I might actually have acted stupidly enough to attack that damn bear.

...One day, I’ll be sure to get back at that thing. I swear it.

Nevertheless, I’ll probably get thirsty in a few hours, and by that point I should at least have found a river of some sort. I can’t see any rivers from this angle, but if I just head towards the lake I should find one.

I descend from the tree, returning to the forest. But I don’t jump down quite yet. Something tells me that I’m not alone any longer. I’m not sure if I can hear or smell it, but it’s approaching. It’s rather big, though not larger than the bear. Squeezing my body against the bark of the tree, I initiate hamnskifte.

From the shadow of a tree, a deer approaches. Just a normal deer. Alone. Which is strange in and of itself since most deer are part of larger groups, but maybe this one got separated from the rest?

I focus my eyes on the deer. Something here feels familiar…

Deer(D-)

Stage: Adult Health: 87/87

State: Drowsy

...It can’t be. Can it?

Silently, I crawl down the trunk of the tree, training my eyes on its face. Deer all look alike to me, but there is one thing I recognize.

Its nose. It has a tiny, almost unnoticeable scratch on it. The scratch has long since healed, but it left just the tiniest, imperceptible scar. But it tells me everything I need to know.

My chest swells with murderous intent.