Chương 5: New and Dangerous

Reaching from the mountain passes far north all the way to the ocean in the south, the Zipan river has split our content in half. Serving as the cultural and national boundary line for hundreds of years, this feature is well documented but relatively unexplored due to a serious lack of resources. Simply put, the king doesn't care about a river and trees that might spark a war with the east. Better to keep close to our people and enjoy the peace we have developed over the many years.

— excerpt from (Croteas's Geographic History vol. 4)

"BLICK" "BLICK" "BLICK" Making my favorite noise, I climb the largest tree around. It's a long climb, but nothing as bad as that cliff I conquered back then. Lesson learned. Think before committing to a large project. And this armor weave I've been working on for the past forever already needs pieces remade because my arm doesn't fit inside the first piece anymore. As frustrating as the work is, this place makes it worth every day. In the dark, some of the flowers glow in brilliant colors.

Some sway away from me as I walk past them like they are aware. The goal today is to find another food source. And those little fuzzy things climbed into what looks like a nest above my head. So here I am about to risk falling out of a tree for some kind of fuzzy thing I hope has some meat and doesn't fight back too hard. Waiting until the scurrying stopped above was the hard part of this hunt. Sneaking up a tree while my possible food sleeps is easy.

I'm half as big as father was now and my bulk arms and legs carry my weight easily now. Reaching into the nest, I'm grateful I took the time to make arm guards. This critter starts flailing and scratching as soon as I clamp my 3 fingers and thumb around it. Prying it loose from its nest I see chunks of my arm guards flying away quickly and hurry to smack the little guy into the limb beside me. With a crunch it twitches and goes limp in my hand. I guess nothing hunts these because this little guy is thick.

With my new meat cooking by the river I look down to figure out what to do about my busted arm guard. It seems a few sticks wrapped with ivy wasn't really that much protection. I should make all this better if I want to survive any real threat. Deep in thought while I eat and toss some rocks into the water repeatedly. I'll never tire of that noise. Almost done with my meal I feel a weird tingle in my chest.

With a shrug and an itch that definitely hits the perfect spot I think nothing of it and consider how to improve my weave armor. Maybe more ivy? Ok two strings of ivy… maybe doin them together? Three strings would make it stronger I bet. How to twist three strands together tho? I still enjoy making things and my new fixation takes my entire next few days of trial and error. Holding up the tightly braided ivy vine to the bright sky I smile knowing this will work.

I need strong sticks for this, maybe some hard bark to cover them? Trial and error prove some ideas work while most fail. I grow use to throwing away a half finished project and starting a new one with a slightly different approach. Eventually I finish an arm guard made entirely of braided ivy, thick but slightly bendy sticks for a foundation and a few thin slabs of tree bark to cover them. I spend what seems like days foraging acceptable materials to cover my arms and legs.

Then I decide to find a way to chop into a tree to shape a piece to cover my body. My claws do help cut and dig, but they are not for wood cutting. I tried… with a lot of frustration. Walking with all the added weight was a task, but there was no rush in my random wondering life. So I endured while I hunted, climbed and ran after various critters. I took it off as I waded into the river up to my chest and found I float really easy.

That was a fun day of splashing and dipping my head underwater in search of wobbly colorful things. I did find a rock that had legs and what looked like a flyers pointy mouth. As I watched with curiosity it snapped a squirmy thing in half so fast I barely saw it move. Deciding I want to keep my fingers attached, I moved along in exploring the river and wood for many days. One night by the fire I noticed a pair of eyes in the water slowly moving my way.

Not knowing what those eyes were attached to I stepped away from the waters edge. When I past some undefined line the eyes dipped underwater and I didn't see them again that night. From that night in I watched more carefully at the waters edge. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. I followed a branch of the river deeper into the wood than I had been before. Using the water as a marker as to not get lost.

The water got a lot dirtier the further it went, eventually becoming a brown nearly matching the muddy bank. I paused staring at what looked like a log floating near the edge of the water. N o branches? From a great distance I sit midway up a tree and watch the log slowly move against the flow. Logs don't float upriver. I know because when I was floating for fun I only ever went the direction of the flow. Ok I guess it's a new hunt. It took nearly two full days to figure out the log had a pattern.

It also had thick strong skin. Watching it snatch one of those little fuzzy things off the bank and not get a scratch while the fuzzy flailed and bit into its snout was worrying. The same fuzzy critter destroyed my first arm cover so I know how dangerous those claws are. The log didn't seem phased. Looking at my own claws I made a cautious decision to try something less dangerous. Day three of the log hunt was turning out to be the most work I have done since climbing the cliff. I braided a lot of ivy.

And I mean a lot. I found the biggest rock I could lift and tied the thick braid around it several times. Hauling it to the thickest tree overhanging the logs usual hunting path was a chore. So much of a workout I took my armor off after the first few feet. I tied a small rock to the end of my ivy braid and threw it over the branch, then climbed up myself. There, above the brown water, holding a handful of braided ivy I waited.

When I spotted the log slowly moving up the river from afar I began pulling up my big rock. Oh man was this work. I had to stand on the branch and lift with both arms and legs. When I got it over halfway up the log came close and I froze holding tightly to my braid. One shot. The log crossed under my branch and I let go nearly falling backwards by the extreme weight shift. With a loud BLICK the rock crashed into the top of the log and the water around it.

The crazy log flailed and splashed in the shallows below me for far too long. I was shocked the rock didn't kill it outright. But I guess even tho it lives in the water, it can't actually breath with its head held under by a huge rock for half a day. I sat up there and waited. I hunted for three days. I could wait till this beast was definitely dead. Dragging the log out of the water started off easy in the waist deep water. Near the edge of the river as the log creature surfaced it got absurdly heavy.

I gave up before reaching the bank and decided to gut it here in the water. Finding a soft spot my nails would cut was difficult because I didn't have the strength to roll the beast over. Managing a cut under one of its front legs I ripped and pulled releasing this monster of its insides. That at least made the thing lighter and I heaved it onto the muddy river bank. Knowing I needed to wash off after this, but knowing the size of the predator I just killed in this murky water…

yeah I'll just be sticky and gross until I go back upstream to clear water again. Wow was this meat juicy!!! And I can't get over how strong the skin is. Thinking about my makeshift leaf cover, I decided this hide would serve the purpose better. Digging small holes in the hide with my claws took time and effort but I had plenty of meat to chew on while I worked. So a new cover was slowly born of angry log hide and braided vine.

It completely hid my body if I laid flat and had an off green kind of shade that I assumed would help hide me in the jungle brush should the need arise. With a happy hop to my step and a little more weight on my back I made my way back to the main river where I could wash off in a bit more safety and find a hide hole for the night.

Behind my closed eyes, I saw a pulse of blue light. Abruptly waking and looking around this dark hole barely big enough for me and my new cover. Nothing. After itching my chest a bit and coming to the idea that whatever woke me had passed, I lay back down and wondered off to sleep.