Anywhere that a person stayed for extended periods of time would begin to feel like home at some point. Feelings of reminiscence flowed through Barandir as he surveyed the packed up campsite. He had made a backpack of sorts from branches, bushes and moss. It wasn't perfect, but it allowed him to carry a degree of nuts, fruit and jerky with him, all of it covered in layers of moss in order to hide the smell it exuded. And using the sinews of the monkey he had made a make-shift rope, and a raggedy monkey armour and sleeping bag. The skull of the monkey had sinews tied in through the eye holes, the skull used as a container for water, although he didn't have a lid or anything, at least he had something that allowed him to carry the water with him.
Barandir's determined gaze faced the forest and the upcoming challenges, as he left behind his camping area, and ventured out into the forest.
He had crawled up a tree and surveyed the best he could before he left, which wasn't easy, the trees weren't the same size, and his view was largely obstructed. He knew that he wasn't going in the direction of the waterfall. For one he didn't know if the protection of the water would still remain, but his real concern was; that from the vista of the cliff he saw nothing but forest! Although there were eye techniques that allowed a person to see farther than their eye's natural limits, these techniques relied on natural energy. Regardless there was no telling as to how far the forest continued in that direction. This left him with several other directions, but the best one seemed to be to simply follow along the river for now. It would provide him with a modicum of protection from the forest at large, and it was also a fresh source of water.
Barandir walked by the riverside at a brisk pace, the sun was reflecting in the river making it look almost golden. He had realised a couple of things about the world during his years of training. For one it was most likely his old world, the seasons seemed to match the yearly cycle that he was used to. Although the winter climate of the forest was barely cold at all, instead it felt like a prolonged autumn until spring came around.
It was currently summer. The birds were singing and the sound of insects humming in the air was a constant, occasionally he would hear strange roars and growls from further away from the river.
…..
It didn't take more than a day before he reached the first splitting of the river. It was a gathering of several smaller streams that formed together into the larger and more surging river that Barandir had followed.
Some of the streams were small and barely noticeable, whereas some were larger and almost the size of smaller rivers themselves. The question was which one he had drifted down from, although the largest river he had landed in originally, hadn't been creature resisting, he was fairly certain that one of the side streams must have been, as he had not been attacked during the entirety of his drifting. He quickly excluded the smallest ones, this left three larger ones. Barandir began measuring the depths of the waters with his temporary walking cane.
One of the larger streams was much to shallow. This left him with two options, there wasn't a need to overthink his choice, and he soon after followed the furthermost right one. The thought had occurred to him that If he could make it back to the area where the original Barandir had fallen down, he might be able to find a clue as to where there were other people, but this was easier said than done! He didn't know how fast he had drifted, and there was sure to be more split rivers and streams; not to mention the fact that it had been dark and he had been injured, chances were that he would pass right by the place where he had jumped in. Trying to deliberately find his way back wasn't a good choice, no it would be more reliable to simply follow the larger rivers, eventually he would surely either get out of the forest, or find some village of sorts.
. . . . .
Two days had passed since he had chosen the furthermost right river, and it was now clear to him that this was not the right choice.
Two snarling Spotted Lynxes were intensely watching Barandir while lying lazily on a tree-branch. Barandir didn't lose his eye contact with the animals as he put down his backpack slowly. He knew he couldn't possibly outrun the forest lynxes, their speed and tracking skills far surpassing the monkey's. No this was a fight he could not run from, luckily these animals shouldn't prove too strong, although they would certainly be a challenge.
Barandir exploded forward, under the shadow of the trees, before the lynxes could even jump down from the branch. The human's sudden move had surprised them. Not for long though as they quickly reacted by jumping down in two different directions.
Barandir saw this, but he didn't seem to care as he released his bloodlust the moment the animals were in a free fall. Both of the cats staggered in the air landing heavily on the ground, hardly on four legs. Barandir arrived before they could recover, his spear moving swiftly and heavily in a stabbing motion that was as fluid as the very flow of the river itself! With a splat it penetrated with practised precision through the eye of the lynx closest to Barandir, the spear sank deep eventually breaking through the skull's opposite side.
The other lynx hissed in anger as its companion died before it, its anger overcoming its fear and suppression of the bloodlust. It moved at high speeds close to the ground, and it was upon Barandir in moments, he barely had time to block the lunging cat with his spear. Its full height two heads taller than Barandir when it was stretched out in front of him standing on its hind legs.
Its ugly contorted faced snarled and roared right in front of Barandir, covering him in saliva. The strength of the animal would soon overcome him, or the spear! Barandir used his downgraded movement technique Fifth Step to Overcome as he twisted his body letting go of the spear at the same time, throwing the lynx to the side. Using the momentum of the technique he stepped forward in a blur, his palm shooting out clapping the animal right below the armpit. Afterwards he jumped back.
The lynx had a slightly confused expression as it had not felt any pain or push, but the look of its dead companion made it push the confusion away. It spun to face Barandir, before it collapsed, blood sputtering from its mouth, the confusion that had been pushed away was now very much present in its final moments.
There was no compassion in Barandir's eyes as he looked at the fallen pair of lynxes. In the woods it was to hunt or be hunted. Had he not attacked first, they would have.
There wasn't time to skin he animals or anything of the sort, the fact that bigger wildlife appeared here would most likely mean that the smell of death would attract some kind of animal or beast soon. The lynxes were large however he still succeeded in pushing them into the river, this would buy him some time. Shocked he still looked into the river, there still wasn't any fish to be seen, not even after he dumped the two large animals there. He couldn't help but wonder, if this was indeed the right river after all? Was the effect somehow more contained here? If this was the right river, then would it protect him against the more dangerous animals such as the monkey? Or should he return and try the other river, would it protect him as much as the first one, or would his life be at stake.
Indecision had killed many soldiers on the battlefield, he had seen this, time and time again. Barandir picked up his backpack and spear, and hurried onwards. The cool shade of the trees kept the summer heat from being overbearing, however it didn't stop the hurried Barandir from sweating heavily as he traversed the brown forest floor, and as soon as he saw a rock he skipped to the other side. He found a suitable tree and began crawling. Afterwards he settled on a sturdy branch high up. It didn't take long before he saw a bulky black bear underneath him, twice the size of the cats. The bear jumped over the large stream, a full ten meters! It landed heavily, and began sniffing the air, shortly afterwards it ran in the direction of the lynxes.
He saw several more animals during his time in the tree, more lynxes and cats, small boars or bigger bears, but no beast like the monkey. Barandir half concluded that this was the river, and that the larger more smart animals did avoid it, similarly to his camp, where the small unintelligent animals had been living, and here it was a step up with larger and stronger animals.
He tied himself to the tree-branch with the sinew ropes, and decided to sleep there for the night. Although there might be lynxes or other animals, this seemed like the safest area, and by using the Hibernating Bear's breath he could stay vigilant.
Barandir was in a sitting position as he slept, as was still wearing his backpack. His legs and lower body firmly tied to the tree. It was during this period in the dead of night that he felt a sudden bloodlust! A split second later he stabbed his spear up over his head. The spear bend under the weight of the animal that had attempted to sneak up on him!
The spear penetrated but also began breaking under the weight of the creature. Sharp pain ran through Barandir as he felt long nails stabbing into his left shoulder. Meanwhile the creature squealed in pain. He urgently twisted his body around turning himself upside down on the branch. The creature slid off the spear with a stomach turning sound of blood and bones. A squeal rang out like an alarm in the silent night, but ended with a loud splat as the creature made contact with the ground below, several other thumps could be heard following the splat, it was Barandir's supplies.
Fortunately he could use his breathing technique in combination with his increased muscles to largely stop the bleeding, although it took a great deal of concentration. He quickly got back up on the branch and untied himself, the sound of the creature would've alarmed either others like it, or some completely different creatures of the night.
A small stream of blood continuously flowed from the wound, he knew that he had to clean it soon if he wanted to avoid any possible infection. Fortunately luck was on his side as the moon was out and reflected in the large stream bringing him some clarity in the night.
With all of his strength and speed he climbed down from the tree and rushed to the stream, and jumped in, dropping everything on the way, he was stark naked.
He had barely made it to the stream when a loud growl was heard from the bank of the stream. Cat-like eyes glinted in the darkness, however the cat did not jump into the river, it simply stared at Barandir for a moment, before turning around, quickly running towards whatever the creature was that had attacked.
In the midst of night Barandir began swimming upstream, it was a slow painful process, and much to his chagrin the bear from earlier was walking next to him, occasionally slapping at the water trying to reach him.
Eventually Barandir reached the main-river that the stream had been an offshoot off. The water flowed much stronger here, making his swimming much more laboured. Luckily he saw a rock protruding from the river, right next to the area that the stream connected, maybe he could catch a hold of it. The joy of seeing the rock did not last long as the bear must've seen it too, and quickly ran over, showing its excellent agility once more as it jumped onto the rock lithely.
'Why! Is this bear so intelligent!' Barandir cursed in his mind. He began treading the waters, should he float all the way downstream or try to get past the bear? Before he had made his decision the bear got swallowed whole! It hadn't been a rock at all, but a rock-like fish, its mouth had opened up its craggy tongue had spat out, and the bear, well the bear had disappeared entirely.
Momentarily stunned, and his eyes wide open at the sight, he simply stared at the strange creature. Back on dry land and stark naked he stood, weighing his options, the large river was clearly too dangerous to try and cross, he might get lucky, or he might end up like the bear.
His wound had cleaned up too, and had stopped bleeding, thanks to him using his breathing technique during the night of swimming. He realised that he needed to get dirty again and camouflage himself once more.
…..
He moved much more carefully up along the large river, his nerves and attention picking up on every little thing.
…..
It took him two weeks of danger before he found something completely unexpected. Although time had passed, and moss and wear covered the signs, he could still see a collection of big and small trees that were completely uprooted and large marks of almost faded hoof prints could be seen in the dirt, some type of large beast must've raged there, and it had done so for several kilometres judging by the long trail of destruction that followed. His mind wandered to that first day, and the beasts that had followed him, he remembered that they had been waiting for something. Was this the place, and what would happen if he followed this trail of anger?
He took a deep breath as he begun down the pathway. No more than a couple of hours later did he see a spot in the forest where a lot of light gathered, a small patch of grass in the otherwise brown forest floor grew there eagerly. This was almost certainly the place that he had arrived, on that faithful day of reincarnation. He looked around carefully, and when he didn't see or hear anything suspicious he decided to move forward until he stood in the bright light of the sun. He turned his head upwards as he allowed the warm beam to warm up his body, his mind somewhat tumultuous when he thought of all that had passed since.
Opening his eyes he saw the clear blue sky above, and a weathered satchel... His pupils constricted! Had this satchel been there when he had reincarnated, had he missed it somehow because he was distracted? Could there be clues to where the original Barandir had come from? Would there be a map? A map that could lead to people!? For a moment he almost lost his mind, solitude was not the natural condition for humans, although Barandir had not gone insane, and he had kept busy with training and surviving, he still missed the company others.
The satchel was stuck on a branch high up, he would never have been able to pick it up when he had reincarnated, but now he could. As the sun was setting it coloured the sky in a dark shade of red. Barandir finally made it to the satchel. He didn't have the patience to crawl down again, nor did he think it was prudent, generally trees would be safer at night-time. The satchel was not too big, its leather was extremely weathered and faded, and the belt buckle that was used to close it had long since rusted. He carefully opened the satchel.