"Chrip chrip"
"Urgh"
A single grunt, mixed with the constant cries of birds early in the morning could be heard, as he woke from his slumber and tried to sit.
"Sore, my entire body hurts and I still feel tired"
Moving through the desert and the cave took a toll on his body greater than he expected, and couldn't have a proper rest since it was hot in the morning when he rested, without mentioning where he slept.
Reaching the forest was a game changing for him, the temperature was surprisingly mild, even at night it only got a bit chilly, but pleasant still after being cooked for days under the sun.
The relaxin aura of the forest, together with the sound of rustling leave's made the perfect lullaby, before I knew I had already fallen sleep.
Sitting in my improvised leave's bed, I grabbed a bit of dry meat and water for breakfast, by now I had surrounded myself to the awful taste and no tears would fall from my face anymore.
Finishing my breakfast I turned towards my equipment and gave it a fast check, and after making sure it was good, I was ready to go.
After exiting from my cozy adobe and slightly stretching to keep my body in the best condition possible, I began to walk in a random direction, everything looked about the same no matter which way I looked so after choosing a random direction I began moving.
Venturing deeper into the forest I made sure to leave marks on the trees I passed every now and then, so I could find my way back if I need to, the mark was of triangular shape, similar to an arrowhead but the bottom was not fully connected leaving a space in between both sides.
It looked oddly similar to a certain game that I played but it was probably my imagination, definitely not done on purpose and I'm soooo no planing on putting a hood on my head and have hidden blades on my wrist….. I'm definitely doing that latter.
"SSSCCCRRRRRYYYYYYYY"
A sudden screech broke the constant noises of singing birds, immediately putting me on alert.
Raising my arm until it was around my chess, elbow vent, I enter into a semi guard state, in my other hand I held the dagger in a back grip position, covering my left side.
Getting ready for a possible combat I glare at the position the screech was heard.
The sound of rustling bushes in front of me made me aware that something was coming, I could feel my heart beating faster as adrenaline began circling inside my body, my brain screamed to get away from there since something dangerous was coming, a typical fight or flight reaction I would say.
Slowly a figure began to appear from the bushes, it was less that halve my size and it's skin was bright red, small sharp horns were visible in his head and a thin tail that moved from side to side as he walked near me.
"A… goblin…, no, it's different from what I read, it look more demonic, an imp maybe?"
"SCRREECHHH"
Noticing me, the little beast let a small cry before charging, it's mouth open now, revealed a small set of fangs, sharp enough to tear flesh, drool gushing out of it as if he hadn't eat for days.
Looking at the beast charge to wards him, Alex lowered his sword and began charging toward it.
They were a few feet apart from each other but would make contact in less than 5 seconds.
But as they got close enough to each other, suddenly, something fly towards the imp head, hitting it in the eye.
Alex thrown the dagger at the beast in an attempt to kill it, but since he did it with his non dominant hand and he wasn't no knife throwing expert, the dagger just hit the imp in the face, but that was all he need it.
The dagger hit the imp in the eyes, causing it to stagger for a second, blinding his vision, but it was all he need it.
Getting in front of it, Alex raised his arm over his head and took a long step forward, getting the enemy in his sword range, then, twisting his waist and lowering his arm at the same time, using all his body weight and momentum he slashed the creature, cutting the imp from the neck down to it shoulder in a vertical slash, splitting it in half and ending its live in an instant.
"uuuffffff"
Letting a big breath out, relaxing his nerves and slowing his heartbeat, Alex began to calm himself down.
Looking ever the ground he notice the now dead imp, splitter in half, red blood gushed from its wounds and formed a small puddle around the corpse.
"It really is an imp, sigh"
Looking at the creature he was now fully convinced that he was not longer in his own world, while he didn't know every animal on the planet, he knew this one was not something from Earth.
He more or less knew that he was no longer on earth, but deeply on his mind he still hoped it wasn't true.
Maybe some psychopath did some mass kidnapping and placed us somewhere in South America, or maybe China, but seeing the monster in front of him broke what little hope lingered in his mind.
"I need to get out of here, the smell of blood will attack other predators and after seeing this one I'm not keen on meeting the stronger ones"
Waking out of his Inter thoughts, Alex picked the dagger he had thrown earlier, then with his sword he cut one of the imps legs, he needed food and while not the beast, he won't throw away free food.
Is still better than eating worms or slugs, he wasn't French or needed to impress some Tzar so if he didn't had to eat them, he was good.
After a couple of minutes letting the leg bleed out he tied it to the belt in his waist and began walking away from the area.
"Well unless this thing is poisonous I have fixed my food problems for now, next is water"
Looking positively he increased his speed, going around the trees while something jumping in between its roots, looking for anything that might indicate a water source was nearby.
And after 30 minutes walk he found the ground near him different, it was darker and slightly softer, looking around he noticed the plants were bigger and also greener than the rest which excited him
.Advancing in the direction where the greener trees were, he finally managed to hear the sound of running water near him.
"Yess!"
Imposible to contain his excitement anymore, he began following the sound, and after a few steps, the trees around him opened creating a clearing that cut the sea of trees in half, in the middle a river quietly flows, it's crystal water made it posible to see the rocky bottom.
"Beautiful"
Those were Alex honest though as he watched the calm river in front of him, finally he resolved his water problems, and also his hygiene ones.
…. He needed a shower…. Pronto!
❄️❄️❄️
While Alex began preparing his camp near the river, one creature had found the remains of what it once had been its subordinate, It was cut in half, one of its limbs missing.
"ROOAAARRRRRRRRR!!!"
The creature rage couldn't be suppressed, his hearted at what had killed its own was impossible to satiate.
Raising its head he managed to capture the scent of blood, it was faint but still left a small trace around the forest, a clue to the culprit who killed his kin.
"Screech, screech"
"Screech"
"Screech screech screech"
Dozens of yells could be heard around him, it's kin wanted blood from its fallen comarade, and so him.
"ROOAR"
With a single order they all began running in the same direction, following the smell of blood, as he follow behind them.
It was time to hunt.