Before I even noticed, a new day arrived. I am still tired of all the weird things that happened yesterday, mentally and physically. I wouldn't guess, even if God gave me thousand lifetimes, that I would be killed, revived in a new world, and encounter a monster.
I got up and looked at the forest in front of me. The weather is clear, and there aren't many clouds in the air. I inhaled and began shouting at the forest. I don't know why, but it helps me.
I turned back and looked at the crushed skull on the ground. Perhaps pounded into dust would be a better way to define its current state. It is something that shows me that no matter how unnatural things this place has, they are killable, and perhaps fear from knowing the existence of those monsters is more dangerous than themselves.
My stomach loudly rumbled, no, rumbling would be underestimating, it roared, but that's what you get for having a body that uses so much nutrition.
Just thinking about food is enough for my body to use what remaining liquid in my body to create a waterfall of saliva in my mouth. I really need to find something to eat. I wish I ate a little more in breakfast.
I looked at the forest. "I can eat a whole cow right now, so better give me something."
***
The weather is clear outside, with little to no cloud in the skies and a bearable cold, but I will lie if I say I don't miss the warmth of my house. And it had been some time since I began my search, but I had not encountered anything to eat.
But what will I do anyway? Stop searching? Walking is my only option, and I am not the type that quit early anyways, and food might come out from any corner anytime.
And my compass, or the small but still working toy placed over my lighter, it is thanks to this I can wander a little deeper, but still marking a tree every now and then won't hurt, I cannot be sure all the time.
It is easy too. I choose a starting point and grave an arrow pointing towards the last tree I marked, then add some notches indicating how many steps away the previous tree is. I learned this trick when I was a child. Without it, I would most likely get lost in the forest and die while working with my grandfather.
I smiled because no matter how difficult those days were, I am still gladful to my grandfather. "Who would ever think I might use what you taught me one day, you old geezer." But back to walking.
***
After several minutes of walking through the large, secluded, yet relaxing forest, I finally found food, lots of berries growing on a huge bush. It might not be a complete meal, but I welcome anything that helps me go for another day.
And they look edible, even though most poisonous berries do as well. Thankfully, I know some tricks to identify some deadly berries.
I grabbed one and began inspecting. "Not white, yellow, or green. That's a good start." Then sniffed it. "Doesn't have a bitter smell too, and bush its growing from is not thorny nor dripping milky sap from its body, maybe one last test to be sure." I smashed the berry in my arm and waited for a minute, then put a little piece of it in his mouth, and waited again. Nothing happened. That's good news.
With the good news, my stomach rumbled louder than ever before. I began picking and digesting every berry I could. At the current point, it wouldn't even matter if these things could cause his death.
Thankfully, this bush has enough berries for two or three days. I think I have several more days with expendable calories to find food, but for now, I will keep eating more. Every bite feels more delicious than the previous one, and I cannot control myself.
***
After eating unhealthy amounts of berries, I stopped. My body feels refreshed after taking in calories and liquids for a long time. Even though I cannot survive only eating those, I wouldn't mind if it keeps tasting like these all the time.
But I cleared the hunger problem (at least for now) I can focus more on the real problem. Where the hell am I, how can I turn back to civilization, and how can I survive while finding answers to those questions?
I sighed, sat on the ground, and stretched my body a bit to relieve some stress. "I got myself some food, now I know I probably wouldn't die in this place because of hunger, at least for a week or so, but it also marks another question..." I suddenly stopped with a snapping sound coming from behind. There is something nearby. "Well, the question can wait for now. I think I found myself a problem."
And if it is another skeleton, especially one weak as the first one, I can easily handle it. Still, I have one more problem. I forgot to bring the mace I got from the monster. I must act more carefully. Fortune may smile on me today, but there is no guarantee for tomorrow and forward.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out my swiss knife with the hope of my current threat being something stabable.
I turned towards the sound and, big surprise, another skeleton, a little longer and bulkier than the one before, and with clothing this time, a medieval-looking fur coat, a bag hanging from on its side. Still, its clothes are not the problem, but in its hand, it carries a stupidly long sword, almost tall as me.
I learned many things from my years of training in the academy and tasks in the field, but among them, one lesson is more important than the others. If your enemy is armed and you are not, run.
So the much-praised soldier began running away from the skeleton with a blade long as a human. Or at least I hope to make it think like that. I won't just randomly dive deep into this forest. It will be too risky when I can easily make it lose my track and ambush it.
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Now it comes to what to use to kill it. I don't think I can crack this one's skull with my pointy tree marker. I need something blunt, something like a rock, but a sturdy one, and finding one wouldn't be easy.
I have thousands of possibilities, yet each and every one of them feels like a gamble. I know skeletons are weak, but something tells me this one packs a little more than the last one. Still, like how each beautiful rose has its thorns, victory has its too, and that thorn is gambling your life.
I smiled and slowed down, just enough for the skeleton to close the distance. I am making a bet by assuming this monster lacks needed critical thinking and planning to survive against ambushes and tricks. And luck smiled on the gambler's face. I suddenly stopped, turned to my pursuer, then charged and tackled the skeleton, but in the process, it swung its sword towards me, I barely avoided the sharp edge, yet I avoided it.
Skeleton dropped the sword as we both slammed to the ground, and the metal weapon hit the ground very loudly, indicating its weight.
I grabbed the skeleton from the skull and slammed it to the ground until I dizzied it enough to stop it from getting up. "Well, I need something to crack your skull, so don't get up now."
But one thing is important, this new skeleton is heavier than the one I killed before, at least triple the weight, but still nothing for a man who used to carry immense amounts of weight every day in the field, but the difference in the weight is not the only thing. There are some shining orbs inside its eyes too, and I am not sure if the one from yesterday had those or if I didn't see it, but weird.
After getting up, I grabbed the sword, thrust it through the monster's head (right through the empty space between its jaw and skull), and nailed it to the ground. I hope this holds it enough for me to find a rock. "Don't move," I ordered to the skeleton as I left it stuck. "I will be back in a minute.
***
Shortly afterward, I arrived at the fight point carrying a big rock with a sharp edge. It is fairly large, so I hold it using both my hands. "Using a sword good as that on you and chipping its edges would be a waste," I said to the skeleton with a wickedly cheerful tone.
Skeleton, meanwhile, was trying to remove the sword, but I think I overdid a little and pressed it too deep to the ground.
I placed down the rock, moved towards the skeleton, pressed on its skull, and grabbed the sword's handle with both hands. "Now, don't move much, so I can pull this out of the ground without damaging it too much."
I gave all my strength and pulled the sword out of the ground, and I think I even heard some cracking noises from the skeleton too, but I am unsure. But I got the weapon. "Quite an unorthodox design, but still good enough." I spun it around a little and inspected it. It is roughly made and has no decorations, only has enough for it to function.
I moved a bit from the skeleton, placed the sword down, and grabbed the rock. It is time to finish this. I leaped towards the monster and struck the rock into its skull. The sharp edge smashed the bone and opened one wide opening, but I only started. I followed my first attack with more strikes till a punch-sized hole opened in the skeleton's skull and the light inside its eyes faded.
And it is over, like, in every do-or-die scenario, death comes fast for the loser.
I grabbed whatever I could from the skeleton, then picked the sword from the ground with my left hand. "Let's see what we have inside." I opened the bag skeleton was carrying with my empty hand.
"A canteen, two metal tankards, a small hammer, some like leather strips, and iron nails, then some clothing which theoretically could function as a bandage in time of need." I smiled. "Now that's what I call treasure, especially in my situation. Now, time to go home."
***
After an hour of tracking the markings I left on the trees, I am back at my cave, but problems are still not leaving me alone, and I am watching it behind a tree. The reason for that is something walking near my shelter.
A monkey-like creature with fur-like body hair and greenish-brown skin, the things equipment and clothing look like it is from the bronze age, but I don't care about that now. I cannot afford to leave such a good cave.
"What the hell are you even wanting from there. I don't have something valuable at there or anything in general." I want to charge forward and slash this thing into two with my sword, but no. I must wait first.
"You are not alone, are you?" I said after hearing some sounds coming from nearby and crouched next to the tree. I must act more carefully from now.
And not even a minute later, two creatures from the same species came out of the forest and began screaming at the one standing near my shelter. I suppose the one sitting next to my cave was slacking from a job.
After some more time, a much bigger one joined them. This one had a club instead of a spear like the other three monsters. Big one joined the scolding and began hissing at the slacker.
Slacker listened to hissing for some time, but after being annoyed by the scolding, it decided to hiss back and direct its spear towards the other creature.
The bigger one got angry and hit the slacker's head with its club, then began dragging the thing away from my cave. I suppose this place is not that important for them.
The little show they gave was funny to a degree, but this cartoonish feeling is not enough to hide the real threat. There are creatures who are smart enough to craft equipment and communicate with each other, and possibly, they are hostile too. I must start making traps.