From what Silen could see, the village of Rim was established in a forest opening, with merely thirty or so houses in view. But that was not his destination. The wooden house he had just stepped out of was the farthest from the village and closest to his destination.
Silen began his journey towards the forest. There was a small path worn into the grass leading from Ehi's house to the forest. He was walking directly over her path.The wind flowed calmly, making his clothes flutter and rustle as he walked.
'For now, the plan is simple. Manifest a gnosis. Thankfully, I have "that" with me.'
As he was lost in his thoughts, he had already entered the forest. As time passed, he went deeper and deeper into the heart of the wilderness.
Eventually, the path he was walking on led him to a lake.
'Well, I guessed it right, but this is still too close to people, meaning it must be relatively safe. I need to go deeper.'
He stopped at the lake anyway, since its relatively large size and the clearing around it might reveal nearby mountains or other landmarks that were not visible from within the forest. There were none, meaning the entire land was plain.Unsurprised, Silen continued on his journey. This time, there was no path to follow.
'Is this what living is like? To make decisions?'
He kept walking. His pace was slow but undisturbed until he came across a strange sight: a plant with small, transparent berries, each containing a glowing golden seed, and no leaves at all.
This intrigued Silen, and he immediately loosened the spiritual pouch he had on his waist. Since it was the first time he was foraging, he decided to be experimental. He collected three things: first, a single berry; second, a whole branch with berries; and third, he plucked the entire plant out. It was easy to get the first two into the pouch, but for the third, he was lucky that the plant had an extremely thin and rigid trunk.
'So, the only limit of this pouch for now is that it has a small opening, while the potential weight and amount it can hold are still unknown.'
He held one of the berries in his hand, unsure what to do with it. Was it useful or poisonous? There was no hint given about its nature. The berry simply glowed with its own light. Silen brought it closer to his eye. He could see the seed more clearly; it was not star-shaped at all, instead its form was rather irregular, with five contortions stemming from a single mass.
Limited in his knowledge of plants, he decided on a simple test. He took a leaf and placed it on the ground with the berry on top of that leaf. Then he stepped on it. When he moved his leg, he saw only transparent liquid.
'So, it's not corrosive, and the seed loses its glow immediately when the berry is burst. Too bad that the seed is covered in dirt now; I really wanted to see it up close.'
Making a mental note, he began his undisturbed pace once again. Along the way, he suddenly felt a cold shiver rise up his body. He inspected his surroundings but found no wind or intent. In the end, he could only shrug off the feeling.
The deeper he went into wilderness, the more a thought insist in his mind.
'Why have I not seen a single animal?'
The more he thought about it, the stranger it got. He found himself becoming actively more stranger to the forest. As if it hid something from him, that he deserved to see.
Although the wilderness showed him many strange trees and plants. He was not here for them. He was here to experience to forest and challenges of life at risk. His thoughts wander around.
The sunlight leaking through the tree canopy eventually became his focus.
'Would someone believe that from such depraved and incestuous becoming came this world into existence?'
Thinking of it brought back a memory of his only sole friend of the past.
'Is this what Rinces meant when he used to rant about alienated from fellow souls. Maybe ignorance truly is a virtue. Not that I can forget my experiences now.'
He clicked his tongue in contempt.
'Experiences and knowledge that I did not ask for.'
It did not take him long to come across yet another strange sight: a tree bearing fruits with human faces. This time, he decided to avoid the strangeness instead of being curious about it.
He did not stop walking but decided to make a detour, which disrupted his usual flow of walking. He moved to the left. Then, from the corner of his eye, he saw it: a terrible form of a human, its body filled with overgrowth in strange and unnatural locations.
Caught off guard, Silen reflexively turned his head to look at the creature, unsure if it was real or just his imagination. The creature was real and incredibly close.
'Since when??'
His eyes widened in shock, his mind froze, and only the instinct to flee remained. He wanted to run. The creature grew closer in a moment. It was as if the creature had been waiting for such a moment, having lurked and stalked him closely for a long time.
Facing such a monstrosity face to face did not faze him much. He was immune to such horrors. It was death that he feared.
Not focusing on or being distracted by the horrors of the creature, Silen instinctively noticed its means of attack: claws. Its limp, arm-like protrusions ended with three razor-sharp nails at the end, each around the length of a finger.
At that moment, the creature was only a bit more than an arm's length away from him. His mind was not working in words anymore. It worked in reactions, and Silen saw the creature's attack clearly. It moved its torso to slash at Silen. The force behind it was considerable.
Before its claws could slash his neck, he had already stepped back in fear. Taken by surprise, Silen lost his footing immediately. He awkwardly fell backwards. The creature persisted in its attack, making only a shrill noise in frustration at its failure. It did not seem to have recognized the vulnerability of its opponent.
Silen's hands trembled as they sought to get a grip on the blade at his waist. He could feel the pulse in every finger, rapid and erratic. His body was warning him of the death looming above him. After his fingers were cut and stabbed by the complex hilt of the blade, he finally got a grip on the handle. Yet before he could draw it out, the creature followed up with another attack, stepping forward and lunging at Silen with its wide jaw open, revealing rotten, human-like teeth.
The creature was so close that Silen could clearly see its rotten skin and wriggling muscles. Realizing that the creature had more ways to kill him than just its claws, but his body reacted before his mind fully grasped it. He rolled to the side, avoiding the attack. The creature fell to the ground, unable to get its intended prey into its grasp, and the crash produced sounds of flesh tearing apart, hinting at its immense weight.
But the creature refused to remain still and immediately moved towards Silen, who was crawling backwards after his roll. Its jaw and mouth were bloodied, broken, and mangled, yet it forced its way forward as if it would devour Silen. Against such a force, he rolled once again, but this time he was not quick enough. The creature hit him in the shoulder, throwing him back a distance. Though he was only grazed, Silen was physically weak, and the creature was immensely strong for its size.
Silen's momentum came to a pause when he hit a tree with his back. He writhed in pain; his shoulder was likely dislocated or worse, broken.
'I can't die here.'
In a fit of painful rage, Silen found a new sense of clarity.
The creature had not stopped for a moment in its ravenous pursuit. Although the previous attack had put a considerable distance between them, it was already closing the gap with its burly legs, its limp arms flapping around. When it ran, its torso was close to the ground, propelled forward by the force of its legs. Its momentum was destructive to itself, yet it did not seem affected by pain. Only the man in front seemed to matter to it.
Silen held the blade in his bleeding hand. He had never used a weapon of any kind, but cutting came naturally to intelligence.
'Even if I did manage to stab it in its head, it would still crush me into paste. There is no way to end it in one attack.'
In that moment of respite, his mind was utterly focused. His observations directly translated into potential solutions.
'Standing up would only make me an easier target. Rolling seems sufficient to dodge its one-dimensional attacks, which is its weakness. The creature is rather unintelligent and possesses strength that could destroy itself...'