It took a while but my butt finally stopped rocking like a boat. I was still wide awake even after relaxing as much as I could. The pain was still there but had not returned to the degree it had been at first, even after the alcohol seemed to have been filtered from my system. It was a surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one. Odd, where had I heard that before?
The body next to me seemed to put me on edge and since I couldn't sleep (maybe I didn't need as much?) I decided I would do now what I had planned for the morning.
But first, realizing that I had still a lot of uncooked meat laying behind me that would probably not last too long, I decided to cook. I grabbed two stones from outside my cave, placed them on either side of the fire and placed the sword on top of it. I was going to use that as a surface to cook meat on, hopefully it wouldn't burn while I was busy outside...
When I cut out another piece of meat, I was surprised how fresh it still was, the looks and texture were exactly the same as when I had made the first cut. How did that even work? Not knowing the answer, I simply blamed ''magic''. I wasn't sure if it existed, I wouldn't be surprised if it did, but it was an easy excuse for not having to think about it deeper on the subject.
I wrapped some cloth on a stick, drenched it with alcohol and lighted it up as a makeshift torch, I hoped it would last long enough for me to finish digging a hole.
I went outside placed the torch in the ground and went to work. I started digging not too far from the entrance, my many legs working through the earth. Okay, they wouldn't move the most earth but when I worked with four legs at a time I managed to do just fine. I realized I must have looked like a dog digging through the dirt.
I shrugged, 'As long as it works, right?'
I quickly checked the meat over the fire and worked it down quickly before preparing the next piece, and went outside again to continue on the square-shaped hole in the ground. When I got about a meter deep, I figured that would be enough. I checked the man one last time for any valuables that would help my survival in this new world. I found a previously unnoticed pouch that seemed to contain coins in one of his pockets.
Opening it up I found several round and one square coin of different colors, the one thing that stood out was a miniature wooden rabbit. Was that a good luck charm or something? It certainly didn't bring him any, although, he kind of had himself to blame for that. I guessed it was some kind of personal artifact, I couldn't take it from him so I decided I would bury it with him. I placed the rabbit in his hands. They were cold to the touch. I had never touched a corpse before, it made me shiver as I clenched his hands tight. I removed his tag from his neck as I had plans for it.
I dragged his body outside and let it down the grave as gently as I could, before I put the dirt back. My torch was already running low on fuel when I started filling the grave back up and had gone out completely a minute or two before I finished up. I decided I would just work in darkness, I couldn't be bothered making a new torch for two minutes or less of work.
When I felt no more dirt to fill the grave with and instead found only damp grass, I knew it was done. Now to go for the finishing touches. That was a very awkward thing to think about when it came to graves, it made me look like a psychopath in my mind. I simply disregarded it as me being a perfectionist, maybe it was my heritage.
Back inside, I rummaged through the random pieces of wood I had remaining looking for something I could use for a cross. I found two pieces of wood about an inch in diameter that, once slightly altered would fit perfectly. I cut down one of the pieces with the knife that would be the horizontal part of the cross, can't have odd proportions now, can we? Then, for lack of screws or nails (or the tools to use them) I bound them together with some sticky silk.
On the bottom end of the vertical stick, I carved a point at the edge to be able to place it in the ground with ease. I then took out the deceased soldier's tag and hung it around the top. If that was truly his name on there, then people would be able to recognize who this grave belonged to. The idea of an unnamed grave didn't sit well with me.
I took another piece of cloth that I had torn the previous day and made another torch, I didn't use any alcohol this time as I didn't need long, and I wanted to save that as much as I could should I need it again. I was about to light it on fire when I noticed it wasn't completely dark anymore outside.
I peeked outside and noticed a full moon in the sky, that explained why I could actually somewhat see the area around me.
I put the torch aside, grabbed the cross and skittered outside. Then I noticed something I definitely didn't expect to see. High in the sky above me was another full moon. Wouldn't that screw with the tides on this planet? How was that even possible? I shook my head. I really should stop being surprised by things.
With the moons' light illuminating the dark sky somewhat, I made my way over to where I had buried my assailant. I placed the cross at his head end before I circled around the small cave, collecting several stones to put on his grave so time would not wither its location. I placed them on top in a small pile and paid my final respects before heading back to my fire.
'If it wasn't completely dark outside, I might as well get some more firewood now, right?'. I thought as I started eating, again...
It seemed like a great idea assuming no nasty wild animals showed up hellbent on mauling me to death. I decided to prepare some more venom, coat my spear in it and take it with me, just in case. Axe in one hand, spear in another, coconut of venom in another and a lot of pain in my last I went out in the middle of the night to procure more wood.
I hoped swinging wouldn't be too difficult considering I was right-handed and, of course, that had to be side where I broke everything I could break in one arm AND took an arrow to the shoulder. At least it wasn't a knee.
I wondered if my knees, my many, many knees, were susceptible to arrows in the first place. After all, one arrow had hit a chitinous part of my body and simply bounced off. I knocked on the chitin and it produced a hollow sound. Guess these parts are pretty tough, eh?
I walked to the edge of the clearance and picked one of the smaller trees to fell, I would have to try to not put too much pressure on my body as it was. I put the venom coconut down and got to work. I had barely started hacking before I heard a howl far in the distance.
''Of course there are wolves here, why not, hell, why not toss in a bear while we're at it?'' I said sarcastically as I continued hacking away.
The sound was way too far away for me to worry about it, but I remained alert nonetheless. I continued cutting until I had a nice wedge about three quarters through. I circled to the other side of the tree and pushed it, but it didn't budge. I gave it a few more chops before trying again, I had to be careful after all to not have it fall in my direction.
This time I managed to push it over and it landed with a thud followed by rustlings from the branches and leaves. I started cutting logs from the still moist trunk when I heard the wolves' roar again, this time it was closer. I really hoped they weren't coming after me.
After having some logs cut, I brought them over to inside the cave before returning to cut more. The howling sounded once more, again closer, but still far out. It did start to make me at least a bit nervous.
After I had cut out two more logs and the sound echoed through the forest for a fourth time, again closer, I decided I would stop what I was doing. I Brought the two logs inside and came back to grab the coconut container. Once I had everything inside, I stepped in front of the fire and scanned the surroundings, envenomed spear in hands. I couldn't see anything beyond the outer line of trees but if anything came into this clearing I would know.
I assumed that they had stopped coming my way and turned around when I heard another howl, painfully close. I grabbed my torch, ready to ignite it to scare off a hungry pack of wolves with fire if needed.
The rustling of leaves and the movements of a shadow drew my eyes to the left. I could see a bipedal figure making their way into the clearing, it most definitely wasn't a wolf. A few seconds later, more and more shadows appeared in hot pursuit of the first. Whoever was being chased was running my way fast, with a sword in hand which worried me.
That sword was obviously not intended for me but what would they do if they saw me? I mean, the last person I helped had decided to try to kill me. The dark figure seemed drawn to my fire, it made sense in a way, it could keep vermin at bay, probably worked for wolves too.
''Help me, please!'' A cracking female voice shouted out.
It made me think. A lone female in this type of world running to a fire, she must be naive or truly desperate for help. For all she knew some bandits had made camp in this cave who would take... advantage of her, so to say. From what I have seen so far, it would not surprise me if something like that regularly happened, this world seemed pretty medieval after all.
Wait, did she just speak my language?
I snapped back to reality in an instant, cursing myself for assessing the situation when someone actually called out for my help.
''In here'', I shouted back, ''but don't do anything funny.''
She quickly dashed beside me. I could hear chain armor rattling as she did, while I kept my eyes on the sword, in case she was going to actually do something to me. When she didn't, I turned my attention to the wolves that were encircling the entrance to my cave. Heavy panting and a sword falling to the stone ground behind me confirmed she wasn't out to kill me. At least I'd made progress there. To be fair, if she was truly chased by wolves for so long, she wouldn't stand a chance anyway. I was impressed by her stamina, though.
I lit my torch as it appeared one of the wolves was getting awfully confident in itself. When it came closer, I could make out its features better. It seemed to be a wolf, yes, a wolf, nothing special, dark grey fur and ears standing upward at attention.
'Finally, some normality' I thought in relief.
Maybe I shouldn't have done that. The wolf saw my momentary lapse in attention and leaped forward. I was quick enough to hit its belly with my spear, penetrating its skin and flesh. While I had the wolf whimpering on my weapon, another jumped forward. A burning torch to their face threw a wrench in their plans. While it was still recuperating from the blast of fire, I pierced its body with one of my legs. It appeared the other wolves had seen enough; one by one they left their packmates to die as they retreated back in the woods.
I signed as I extinguished the torch in the wet grass and tossed it aside. I turned around and saw the human, still breathing heavily, staring at me. Wait a second, that was no human. The first thing I noticed when I checked her face were two long pointed ears sticking out above her silver white hair.
'Okay, so an elf. And more importantly, she speaks my language too.' I thought.
It was insanely helpful to finally have someone that would understand what I was saying. I can't imagine how much of a hell this would have been had nobody spoken my language, I doubted anyone would dare to teach me. I looked over at her again, her physical state seemed to have improved but her eyes... Wait, she had two different eye colors too, one green and one blue, cool! They were filled with fear though, as I saw them tremble.
''No, I won't kill you, not unless you try to kill me first, that is.'' I stated matter-of-factly.
I sat down with my abdomen against the wall next to the fire which still had the sword over it and took a closer look at who had just made their way in my new home. An elf warrior was a conclusion that I could easily draw. She didn't seem the type of elf archer that was commonplace in fantasy, the lack of bow and arrows and the presence of a longsword confirmed that.
Not only that, but she also didn't seem to wear armor that was associated with archers. It seemed far too heavy to move fast and freely. Ok, she was pretty damn fast when she ran from those wolves, maybe I made a hasty conclusion there but still.
She had a chainmail vest that covered her upper body and arms completely. Below that were hardened leather leggings with metal plates covering the upper and lower front of her legs. Her face was soft, must softer than I would expect from a fighter, and no scars were visible which made me think she wasn't too experienced. That would probably be a bad thing to assume given to what ages elves lived in fiction, I wondered if that was true for this world too. She may have been hundreds of years old already and a combat veteran, it would be unwise to gamble with elves, I concluded.
Eyes in said face were still fixated on me, or rather my spidery parts as she stumbled to speak.
''W-w-w-w-w-w.'' She didn't get the words out it seemed. I saw and heard her swallow before she tried again, I already knew what was coming.
''Who are you? What are you?''
'Here we go with the most obvious question, how am I even supposed to answer that', I thought for a moment before I just replied honestly.
''As for who I am, I actually forgot my name when I came to your world.'' I paused for a moment, thinking, ''How, I do not know, but when I woke up here two days ago, I woke up like this, to be fair, I don't even know what I am myself other than some freaky human-spider hybrid.''
I hoped that would calm her down, even if only a little. It was the truth after all, I couldn't change the truth. I hoped that seeing I was truthful would not force her hand to kill me. I'd hate to kill a pretty elf like her.
''What do you mean your world?'' came her reply.
''From what I have seen so far, this is not the world I am used to. We did not have goblins, trolls, weird cone tailed squirrels, coconuts tasting like strawberries and, that'', I pointed to the deer corpse in the other corner.
''I mean we have animals like that one but they don't have a tail like that and they certainly don't have a horn, the rest is almost exactly the same. We also didn't have, well, your kind, to put it nicely''. I tried to be considerate.
I had no idea if she was actually an elf or whether they called it differently here. I considered mentioning that we had had elves in fiction but figured that if that is what they were called she might think I am some kind of spy, so I kept my mouth shut on that part.
I am not sure if she even believed a word of what I was saying but she continued to inquire anyway, which made me hopeful that this wouldn't end in us killing each other.
''How did you get here, then?''
I rubbed my forehead. ''I legitimately have no idea. I don't remember what happened before I got here and appear to have lost a bunch of memories like where I lived, what my name is, my family and more.''
Thinking about it all got me worked up and I guessed she saw because she remained quiet after that. I leaned back against my hairy abdomen to try to relax somewhat. I didn't dare to close my eyes, however.
''Velariah.'' she said softly.
''Hm?'' I replied, not knowing what she meant.
''Velariah.'' She said again, ''It's my name.''
''Oh.'' I paused, looking to the ceiling of the cave while leaning back, ''I wish I could give you mine.''
I got up and walked to my wood stash which put her on edge, she placed her hand on the hilt of the sword that was lying next to her. Yep, I would probably have to get used to distrust. As a show of good faith, I laid my spear down with the other weapons. I doubted she would turn against me, she was far too exhausted to even stand, which was understandable judging from the distance she had just run in all that armor.
I reached for two moist logs when I heard a growl coming from her direction. When I turned to check what it was, I saw the elf looking down to the ground, hiding her face.
''You hungry?'' I asked out of courtesy.
She shook her head, obviously lying. I grabbed one of the coconuts and rolled it her way.
''Help yourself, I've also got a canteen of water if you want and there's plenty of deer left.'' I said as I pointed to the animal corpse. ''It still seems to be fresh even though I killed it early on last day. I have to warn you though, I used venom to kill it, I have no idea if that makes it bad.''
It appeared she didn't know what to say but she did pick up the coconut that had rolled against her foot and took a knife out from behind her back and started working on the fruit.
''Thanks.'' Came a delayed response.
I sighed as I put two logs next to the fire to dry them first. Then I went back to cut out another piece of meat, organs started to become visible one by one now that the flesh around them was removed. I decided I would probably bury those somewhere, I had never liked organ meat, after all. I was not intending on trying it now. While I was cutting, she continued to talk some more.
''It's called a white-spotted unibelea.''
I looked at its fur and scratched my head.
''The white spots disappear when it reaches adulthood, that's then the horn starts growing too.''
That made some more sense. Imagine if the horn was there at birth. I cringed, that sounded painful.
She had almost succeeded in carving a hole when she asked a question.
''How did you get these?''
I blinked as I wondered if I had done anything wrong. Were these the forbidden fruits of this world or something? They tasted way too good, maybe they were forbidden because of that? That would be weird.
''Uh I simply got them from one of the trees that grow them quite far from here.''
''I mean, did you knock them out of the tree or were they on the ground when you got them.''
What was that kind of question? Did she not like banana flavor or what?
''These were harvested from the tree, do you not like the flavor when they are fresh?''
''You mean you ate them fresh?''
I simply nodded. She really seemed to hate banana as her eyes grew wide.
''They are deadly poisonous when they are fresh.''
Oops, I didn't know that, I mean how could I? I loved bananas and any fruit in general, really. The thought of them being poison was shocking. But wait, I was fine. I guess that confirmed that I had some kind of poison resistance, that was neat.
''So, banana is poison and strawberry is not?'' I asked
''I have no idea what those are, I guess you are referring to the smell, if so, then yes you are basically right. When the smell has changed it means the poison is neutralized which generally happens a few hours of being cut off from the tree.''
At least there was an easy way of knowing for her if it was good to eat or not. Still, I felt kind of sorry for her for not being able to enjoy the other flavor. It seemed she had caught what I was thinking earlier as her next line referred directly to it.
''Seems you got some poison resistance inherity, that's pretty useful, more useful than mine anyway.''
Now this was new for me, I had never heard that word before but the first part was familiar. I asked her what an ''inherity'' was but she didn't seem keen to answer that.
''Never mind that.'' was all she answered.
'Alrighty then, I hope I can get some more info on that later, it sure sounded interesting.' I thought as I put another piece of meat above my campfire.
Velariah had finished making a hole, took a long deep sniff and drank. It was interesting to see how she repeated the same steps I had taken, but I guessed for her this actually mattered. Dying to a banana flavored coconut seemed like a sucky way to go.
''How about this?'' I asked, pointing to the sizzling meat.
''I can't believe you use a sword to cook meat on.'' She looked disappointed, deeply, deeply disappointed. Her eyes were scary.
''I didn't mean that.'' I snapped back, ''Is it safe for you to eat?''
''The meat of unibeleas tends to be poisonous due to the plants they eat. Some goes into their flesh as a self-defense mechanism against predators. Normally its meat is safe to eat when cooked all the way through. Their liver filters dangerous poisons and venoms extremely quickly, If I were to guess it tried to filter yours but it accumulated in its liver too quickly.''
Okay, that part about elves seemed to be spot on. They knew crazy amounts about the local wildlife. I mean, so did we, technically, but our civilization was bout 500 years more advanced? And I believe a lot of information on plants and wildlife was gathered in that time so this was nothing short of impressive. The elf started cutting up the coconut and work on the flesh inside.
''So, what about the other races I mentioned. Are you familiar with those, or are they called differently here?''
''You mean humans, trolls and goblins? Yes, we have those.''
That would make things easier. I already had issues trying to remember that this ''deer'' was called a white-spotted unibear... unibella... unibelea, that was the word.
''And those?'' I pointed the two halves of fruit in her hand.
''Tree hardfruit'', she stated simply before digging in again.
Are you kidding me? And here I thought we had terrible names on earth. Eggplant is one that came to mind. I mean, the name made no sense when you looked at the vegetable when it was matured. But the name was a perfect way to describe when the vegetable was still a small bulb. Still though, hearing this for the first time made me giggle slightly. Another growl coming from her direction made me shake my head, that ''tree hardfruit'' wasn't going to cut it. I flipped the piece of meat on the sword with my knife to make sure it would be well done on both sides.
Several minutes later I was pretty sure it was done but remembered what she had said earlier.
''Do you think my venom would be rendered harmless by heat?''
''Not sure, haven't run into anything like you, really.'' She replied, eating the last few pieces.
''I am not part of any race? What about the language we're speaking?'' I never actually considered the fact that maybe this language is called something differently entirely in this world. I honestly doubted it was called English here. To the credit of the British though, they did colonize a large part of Earth. Though, it would be hilarious to find out that the memes where Britain had colonized Mars with a 17th century ship turned out to be true.
''I don't know, I just know I haven't seen anything like you, maybe my father knows. As for language, we're speaking new-Elven.''
She really didn't seem like I talker but I did get some interesting info. I grabbed the sword which suddenly got her attention. I wasn't sure if it was mistrust or a soldier's reflexes.
''You should have some proper food, if it's okay for you to eat, is there any way you know?''
I decided to be a hospitable host, maybe she would be able to help out with a few of my... issues, clothes for example, I still had a pristine deer fur and now there were two dead wolves right outside my cave that would provide nice furs as well.
She seemed to hesitate, before she shook her head.
''I can't tell, there is one way but it would require some of your... venom.''
That was an awkward statement, why would she need that? did she plan to use me as a bio-weapon?
She pulled out a small leather bag from behind her and took out four small vials filled with colorful liquids, I could see a green one, a yellow one, blue one and a red one. Potions? Are those the famous mana and health potions? But what about the yellow and green ones? She seemed to hesitate between the blue and yellow one and decided to keep the blue one and put the other three back.
''What's that?" I asked curiously, if there were health potions in this world, maybe they could fix my arm. After thinking about it I felt my arm's pain again. Odd, maybe I had gotten used to be pain and simply ''forgot'' it. Was that a thing?
''Universal anti-venom, or rather it will be after I mix it with venom, I'd rather not use it freely but I'm so done with this day and that steak is calling to me with all its heart.''
I walked over to where I had put the venom filled ''hardfruit'' and noticed the liquid had become brown instead of its usual lime green. That didn't look good, seems it has an expiration date?
''Uh, can I have one of your coconut shells? It seems the venom I had prepared earlier has gone bad, I think?'' I somehow turned it into a question.
''You mean the hardfruit? Sure, by the way a few drops are enough.''
She handed me a piece of shell and started eying the steak. Yep, I could totally imagine her appetite.
I awkwardly deposited a few drops of fresh venom in the shell, I was actually curious how this worked. You had some mixture, added a venom you wanted to neutralize and you got a cure for it? This would cause wars back on earth, and here this woman would use it to eat a steak.
She uncorked the vial and used her knife to deposit a few drops inside. Once she did, she corked it again and started shaking the vial rapidly. When she finished, the liquid inside had turned from blue to orange. She drank half the contents and eagerly started working on the meat. I prepared another cut, laid it on the sword and started cooking again. Valeriah seemed content and I decided to ask, hoping she would be willing to help a being such as me.
''I'm pretty sure you noticed, but I got an arm that got smashed to pieces earlier, do you know anyone who could help with that?''
She swallowed before responding. ''I have a minor healing potion, I doubt it will help you much, but someone back in my village could help you out, I kind of owe you after all, I would sully my reputation if I didn't pay it off.''
That sounded nice, but I was wary, I would rather not go to a village of people I didn't know, for obvious reasons. If all Elves were like her, I would stand little chance. She seemed to read my face.
''However, I doubt you want to expose yourself like that. While I am thankful, I do not know if the other villagers will be so nice after they see you. So, I propose we try to persuade them to accept you first through other means.''
I thought for a moment, my arm hurt but I wasn't being torn to pieces by it anymore. Could I hold out that long? Would my bones not start healing in weird ways?
''I could always get you some healing potions for the pain, but we don't have the ingredients to make anything better than the one I have, I doubt it will do much in terms of actual healing.''
I sighed. I guessed something against the pain would be okay for now, I always had more arms after all...
''So...'' I started, ''Something like trade first?''
''Sounds like a start.'' She took another bite. Then, suddenly disregarding etiquette completely she went on to speak with a mouth full.
''Also, do tell me about your world, I still have a hard time believing, convince me.''
The night that I was expecting to take long suddenly didn't seem so bad anymore.