Forever

The roar of the river was a comforting, reminiscent of a time when life wasn’t as complicated, and wasn’t struggling for subpar food. Once again, he lay on the side of the river, waiting for a fish to swim close as he brandished the spear. It was his first task of the day, since he was still hesitant to get back to practicing magic.

Constantly fishing for his food was starting to get boring, the long periods of inactivity followed by a quick stab that led to a horrible fishy taste in his mouth. He was starting to get annoyed with it as a whole, letting out a quick shout of anger as the next fish that managed to slip away. Unfortunately, his magic wasn’t helpful either, pushing his spear only allowed it to stab slightly faster and if he lost his grip then he would have to quickly reach for it before the stream swept it away.

God, what I wouldn’t do for some steak right now. Maybe I could hunt a deer or something, I’ve heard that venison isn’t that bad.

The thought idly slipped into his head as he swore, a fish darting out of the way of his spear. Angrily he tried a second thrust but only caught water as it swam out of his reach, the fish seemed intelligent almost taunting him, although that could also be due to the rest of the river being out of his reach. His stomach growled as he failed to catch anything, placating the hunger pangs with the distraction of magic practice.

His fingers lit up as he slowly worked through potential avenues of the spell's shape, eventually giving up on the spark spell for the time being. It was like a frustrating feeling, like trying to build something without instructions or knowledge to rely on, blundering around in the dark until he succeeded. Swapping to push, he had much more success in “shaping” it, since the spell lacked a physical form.

Thinking back to the cliff, Salim attempted to recreate what happened, although with less power and the lack of a fatal drop. The effect was strange, he managed to move his body with magic, the spell pushing his feet in seemingly random directions as he kicked the ground involuntarily with his good foot. Wincing in pain as he brushed the dust off his legs, Salim tried to control the direction, attempting to direct the curl against the direction he wanted to send his leg.

With time, his efforts manifested as a constant aching pain that pervaded his legs, causing him to temporarily give up, picking up his spear as evening signalled his first attempt at hunting. He knew it wasn’t a safe decision, but he was determined, even though he knew his desire wasn’t coming from the most logical place. He craved meat, as long as it wasn’t fish, the constant taste was starting to wear on him, a gnawing hunger amplifying resolve.

He steeled his resolve, the idea of delicious meat and a break from the routine motivating him as anticipation filled his head. Unfortunately, he didn’t have anything that might attract a deer or something equivalent, however he reasoned that he might be able to just wait for one to pass by as he lay in a bush waiting. The glow of the evening light caused the usually dim forest to become a milky dark as he squinted, eyes adapting to the churning shadows.

Salim cursed in his head as his feet slowly began to feel the pricks of pins and needles while he lay in a large bush, trying to quietly shake the feeling away. As the feeling sprang up from his leg to fight him, he noticed several patches of brown move between the trees, alerting him and pushing away his exhaustion as hooves stepped over leaves. His body froze, honed from his months hunting the fish as the creatures trotted closer, at first he thought that they were just normal deer but from further inspection they had a few differences.

All of them had horns, even the fawns had small white pointed horns that stuck out of their head. Their muscles were incredibly thick, although deer on earth could have been similar, he wasn’t too sure. The herd itself consisted of three larger deer, a smaller one, and two that were definitely still growing.

Unconsciously licking his lips as he stared at the group, he watched as they trotted to the river, unaware of the strange creature that was hunting them. Salim thought for a moment, trying to see if he could single out any one of them, eventually having to settling on one of the larger deer that stood slightly off to the side of the herd. The smaller deer and the fawns were in the middle of the group, and he didn’t want to test the protective instincts of the pack.

Slowly he began to creep, army crawling, through the underbrush towards the deer, trying not to make a noise as he got within twenty yards, close enough for him to throw his spear with a degree of accuracy. He slowly adjusted his hand, making sure to stay still as the deer moved slightly, and prepared to throw. Pulling back his arm, he waited, holding his breath for just a moment, before letting loose the spear, boosted by just a small amount of mana, straight into the side of the deer, sinking a few inches into it’s flank

Two seconds were all it took for the deer to find him, and another three for it to be right next to him. The spear inhibited its movement, but as it leveled its horns at him, all thoughts fled his body and he threw himself to the ground, feeling the impact of two hooves slamming down on his back. Nothing felt broken, although the impacts shook his body, his stomach attempting to reject what little was inside of it as he tried to roll away, praying that the pack didn’t follow.

He reached out in a flailing motion, trying to grab onto its legs, as he heard huffed breath, the deer trying to kill him. Two more strikes had him seeing stars as a hoof slammed into his head, sending him scrambling as his vision tunneled. Frantically trying to gain control of the situation, he finally grappled one of its front legs, holding on for dear life as the deer backed up, attempting to throw him off.

With a head empty of any thoughts, he began to punch, hand smashing into steel corded muscle as his fist limply bounced off. Frantically moving to try and get the upper hand, he was able to reach around its side to the spear, still impaled and jerking around as the wound slowly bled. Reaching for the spear, he felt his fingers wrap around the shaft, only pushing the spear a few more inches inside before hitting what felt like bone, causing the deer to buck harder.

The rush was primal, his mind simply reacting to what was going on as the deer knocked him off its leg before sprinting away, a bloody trail for him to follow as he pulled the spear out as he fell. He ran after it, adrenaline pumping through his body as he pursued, at a slow, but constant pace since his foot made it difficult to quickly traverse the forest without tripping. The forest dimmed further, night falling as he continued to track the dear, the iron smell and wet texture making it easy to spot and follow.

But as he spotted moonlight creeping through the canopy, he slowed, realizing how far he had run, the sound of the river impossible to hear over the droning noise of crickets. He was sure that he could trace his way back, the area still looked somewhat familiar, and he had the trail of blood to guide him, so following a little longer wouldn’t hurt, right? His eyes had adapted to the dark, along with [Arcane Eyes] he could continue to stalk his prey regardless of the time of day.

Arcane Eyes has reached Max Level.

Event has been Logged.

You have gained ten stat points.

The box disrupted his pace, causing him to stumble over a root that jutted out, as was forced to reorient himself with the trail of blood. It was anticlimactic, he had been expecting a level up for a while, as the skill had been hanging at nine for the longest time while all the other skills caught up. Enraptured in his thoughts, he didn’t notice the body the of the deer until he was standing feet away, the smell of blood alerting him to the corpse.

Glancing around with caution, he didn’t spot any of the other deer through the tight-knit trees, a concern that hadn’t come to mind until he was thinking about how to transport it. The body was bigger than his, and the thick cords of muscle that made the majority of the body didn’t help. Clearly it was unconscious or dead, unmoving as it lay on the ground, the tangy smell of iron and wet fur in the air.

Being mindful of the sharp horns on its head, Salim walked around behind the beast, preparing to drape the neck over his shoulder and drag it, when the hair on his arms began to raise. The dull crickets and occasional bird cries had gone quiet as he went into high alert, flicking [Arcane Eyes] on, finding a blob of sickly yellow mana positioned to his left. Planting his feet onto the side of the deer, he yanked the spear out, only to find that it had splintered inside the creature, leaving him with a thin but sturdy stick.

Pretending like he hadn’t noticed anything, Salim moved back by the deer’s head, holding the broken spear tight as he tried to figure out what to do. He thought about how strangely calm he was being, still afraid of whatever was stalking him, but he had dealt with too much, seen too much to be frozen in fear. He crouched down, keeping his head tilted down while his eyes trained on the glow, focusing on it, watching with bated breath.

It didn’t move from its position a few yards away, still obscured by trees and vine, but Salim was sure that it could see him just as well, waiting for its moment to strike. He reached down to check the weight of the deer, only managing to lift the neck without the use of both hands, its throat gurgling, reacting to its forced movement. The noise seemed to cry out into the pitch black of the canopy, and, whatever it was, seeming to respond as the glow shifted left to right.

Thinking quickly, Salim moved to position the body in front of the creature, slowly backing towards the treeline, intermittently flicking his head to make sure nothing was sneaking up on him. Unfortunately, the creature began to circle, creeping counterclockwise to Salim’s slowly retreating position, still out of his view, as it stuck to the thicker canopy that obscured vision. Still retreating, Salim looked around, using the rough trail he made following the deer to guide him back towards the river.

The yellow mana seemed to speed up it’s pace as he found the trail, moving to try and cut off his retreat while speeding towards him. Salim noticed what it was trying to do immediately, as he broke into a sprint in a bid to break its encirclement and escape. The moment he did, the creature reacted, yellow mana flashing as a strange pulse was let loose, causing him to pause for a second as his body failed to respond to his movements, the creature seizing the moment to dash forward.

Fwoop.

Sticks cracked and leaves ruffled as a body flew towards him, hellbent on taking his life if he didn’t do anything. Through the darkness, a silhouette blurred as Salim felt a tube slam into his side, some fleshy material that seemed to hate him as it attempted to latch onto his face with as strange suction cup. He managed to throw it off of him, the tube writhing on the ground as he got away from it.

Fwoop.

Another tube was fired as he reached the edge of the yellow mana's encirclement, impacting his right shoulder at the same time as the previous tube lunged at his legs, causing him to lose balance and tumble to the ground. Attempting to get onto his feet, Salim was able to kick the two flesh tubes away, noticing their smaller mana signature before looking for the main monster. It didn’t take long as it had closed in while he was being harassed, viciously moving on its pseudopod towards him.

Salim tried to move as the giant slammed into him, the shell on its back providing enough weight to make him go airborne, the wind knocked out of his chest causing him to gasp for air. As he flew, the creature launched another tube, adding insult to injury as his thoughts slurred from the impact before his body wrapped around a tree. As his consciousness faded, he felt like he was drowning, trying anything he could do to keep his head above water.

His eyes closed, and with the last dregs of his strength, he pushed.