The Grove was eerily quiet, that, or Jacob's hearing had improved. The sound of creaking wood and swaying branches became a symphony of nature. The purple stain, it permeated his hands. A pulsing sensation came from inside his body. "{Ka-thud, Ka-Thud, gurr-urrgle}" A crashing noise, like a stomach ache started inside of his body, Jacob clenched his abdomen and bent over. He felt a rising level of awareness, strange chasings, traces of energy, traces of life, a source of his body's ability to cope, it was changing.
A bright purple and golden light came from his eyes as he struggled in pain. Several thoughts passed through his mind in those moments, primarily he was wondering why Shortie hadn't gone through such a painful interaction.
Like a slicing motion, his soul split. His mind drifted away from his body, he sat outside of it, looking in. He was panicking and knew that he had to calm down, struggling inside he tried not to let himself go berserk with screaming fits. Jacob watched his body, it screamed. It didn't matter if he tried to stop his spirit body didn't make noise.
Jacob fell into a trance, it hurt. It hurt a lot.
Shortie seemed worried, he guarded Jacob's body.
Jacob's spirit body drifted around wherever he wanted, it was a strange form of movement but easy enough to manage. His hands and body shook, they were fast. Very fast, it looked like seizure. Jacob was worried that he was dying, the concept of leaving the body was usually associated with death. Returning to his body, there was a flash of light.
It filled the area.
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
They had been traveling for four days straight, there was no sign of civilization. In the afternoon on the fifth day, they stumbled across a trail. It was wide and well traveled, the scent of beasts was easily traced by anyone with a nose.
A youth, holding a spear riding a strange looking beast entered the eyes of a group of travelers. They were running at a quick pace and chasing a deer. It was pink and white, strange knob-like horns grew from its head and it left a trail of pink light.
Darting from side to side, it crossed off the road and into the woods. Shortie turned and tried to keep up with the deer, he dove over fallen trees and crashed through the brush, lunging at the deer.
Every time Shortie missed, Jacob tried stabbing it with the spear but the Deer would shift position. It was a chase, one they had been on for almost half an hour. The Deer turning into the woods was unfortunate, they were making up the distance between the two of them during the straight away. A rock face blocked the deer's advancement and it turned into its sprint and tried to climb the wall.
Jacob leapt off of Shortie's back and thrust the spear through the side of the Rose Snow Denendo. It reared up and fell down onto the ground. Shortie gripped its neck with his jaw and broke it, ending the Denendo's life.
Thanking God, Jacob used the spear to clean the deer, he had seen all the camping videos last year. Animal tanning was covered in the first weeks, he removed the bowels and organs, setting them aside. Shortie helped himself to their contents and Jacob skinned the deer with the spear. 'This is so much easier than I thought it would be.' Jacob was quiet while he worked the edge of the spear tip.
When the hide was almost off, it was still connected to the head. Jacob cut it off as high as it would go then cut the head open to search for a core. Removing the brain, he fumbled through it with his fingers. He found what looked like a pink marble. It was bigger than the Purple and golden cores. Jacob pocketed it and broke the rest of the skull plate apart to take the horns. Setting them aside with the hide, he looked around for firewood.
He needed to cook the meat, Jacob made a fire and makeshift rotisserie from some larger sticks. Roasting the deer whole was all he could do. He laid it on the side and bound it with some of the grass ropes that were wrapped around his body.
Roasting meat didn't go unnoticed. The caravan that had seen Jacob riding by had gone to investigate were led by the lingering scent of meat. The Rock face hid his presence from the eyes, they wouldn't have found him if he wasn't cooking.
Jacob's clothes were ripped, his shorts and shoes were in decent shape but his shirt was a disgusting mess, he took it off and noticed the change in his body. He had gotten a lot more fit, struggling to eat everyday had taken its toll. He down to his last match, one had been blown out by a gust of wind, wasting it. He was wearing a grass hat, it had taken a whole day to make and he was happy to have it.
Although there was a large beast that stood behind the man wearing a large grass hat, it didn't seem to be angry at the approaching people. The humans, they were all dressed the same like a family. An older one came up to the front and pointed to the deer. "That smells great! Can we perhaps buy some of it from you, none of us would ever dare to openly roast a Denendo but since you're doing it, could we trouble you for some of the meat? We have a few children that could use the bone strengthening."
'Bone Strengthening?' Jacob looked at the meat, it was almost time to turn it. 'Kids?' Jacob wondered if it was a good thing, but there were adults. "Yes," He agreed and then told them to sit down. "I can't spare much, we can't carry everything and if a small bit could help your kids, then I don't feel too bad about holding some back if its worth it. We need the food."
"Food?" The old man coughed a few times and then pointed at the roasting Denendo. "That's a sacred beast. Its not food, but its meat is used to temper the body. We will pay you a very reasonable rate."
'Pay?' Jacob didn't know. He stopped himself for a moment and felt greedy. 'Maybe just a little..' "Okay, what can you offer me?" Jacob looked over at Shortie and gave him the 'SHHH!' look, they had gotten use to some light tactical skills between the two of them over the week in the wilderness.
The Old man turned his hand over and three large bags of food appeared. "We have this for food, but we're merchants, we sell medicines. I can offer you a lot of things, do you need medicines or.." Looking around the camp, he didn't see any packs, bags or totes. The large beast didn't wear a saddle and the boy holding a spear had no ring. "Do you travel with nothing?" He stopped his conversation, cocked his head and looked terrified for Jacob's situation. 'A child in the wilderness, living on the land with a beast?' "Are you okay? Where are you parents? Are you all alone out here?"
There were some questions that Jacob didn't want to answer, but he decided to take the opportunity to talk with humans. "I'm from Blue Forest Camp, My parents are away and I'm a bit lost. We've been out here for a while now." Jacob pointed at Shortie.
"Oh, I see. Well, we don't know which direction Blue Forest Camp is but Teksivion City is only half a day north of here by cart. Maybe someone there knows the way. About the meat.. I can trade you three thousand contribution point tokens per kilo but not a single more." The Old man finished speaking and watched the essence of the meat drop into the fire, he wanted to reach out but the aroma filled his nostrils and he settle down in a peaceful state.
"Five thousand for two kilograms, and you show me the way. By the way, where did those bags come from? You didn't have anything in your hands." Jacob tried negotiation, it didn't go badly, but he did cut the price down.
"Ha Ha, Hah ha." The Old man laughed. "You've never seen a storage ring. They aren't rare but they can get expensive. Tell you what, I'll trade you a storage ring for one of those horns."