Chereads / Dawn of Steel and Blood / Chapter 6 - Surviving

Chapter 6 - Surviving

BearstDue to the vow of silence Lark promised it was just quiet. With only the sound of nature in the background everything was just plain and boring. Until Lucius himself asked him of assistance. All that could be heard was Lucius's activity, by smoking all the meat he managed to harvest from his hunt. And fumbling his way about on how to tan the hide he harvested the day before. While removing the excess fat and meat off the deer hide he suddenly recalled the process and needed materials to prepare a deer hide. Soon after Lucius set to working the only materials he really needed was a chemical called tannin that one could harvest from a bark of an oak tree. That would then be used as the solution to tan the deer hide so that it could be processed as leather.

After remembering the needed materials Lucius then went out to venture into the forest, but not forgetting to bring his journal, gun for self defense and his mono-scope. Looking for trees that might contain the much needed materials to tan the deer hide. However as he ventured along the forest to find the right trees, all he could notice were trees that were unfamiliar to him. They were foreign, when this realization Lucius became discomforted. Knowing nothing about the trees infront of him, he started testing each individual trees that he caught in his sights.

Until he spotted a tree that appeared to be the same as an oak tree back from his former world Earth. As he smelled and tested the bark of the similar tree, he deemed it fit to be used and took pieces of it back to his camp.

Yet when he looked behind him. Lucius came to the understanding that he ventured too far from the clearing where he set his camp. But thankfully he luckily ventured to an area that he roughly mapped of. Thanks to the marks he placed when he hunted the deer Lucius successfully guessed his location on his map.

After finding the way to return back to the clearing, Lucius continued back with the needed material to tan the deer hide. As he walked the edge of the clearing could be noticed beyond the trees, when Lucius found his way back he kept walking and walking until noticing something wrong. As Lucius began to grow tired, he quickly discerned that he was trapped in some kind of space that didn't move him. Trapping Lucius to a space in time that he couldn't escape from.

As Lucius felt fear of what was happening, thinking that it might be a trap sprung that came to get him. And not finding another way to leave from that space. Lucius thought up and idea of hurting oneself, to see if that could shake his mind and possibly wake him up. As Lucius decided with his course of action, he took out the knife that was given to him when he was transported. With the intent of prickling himself, an action that might lead him to be freed from the space or illusion. Feeling ready Lucius pricked himself, his vision warped and came to hug the face of the ground.

Hearing roars and noise of fighting around him. Lucius stood up frantically while clutching his head, as he observed his surroundings. A scary yet magnificent sight appeared within him, a fight between 2 behemoths. They were large. If the largest bear recorded nearly weighed a ton in his former world. Then the bears fighting infront of Lucius was 2 if not 3 times larger than that. It was simply a fight between Titans. Lucius couldn't help but comment. "Amazing"

After watching on for a moment as the 2 Titans clashed with one another, he saw the bear on the right slowly get overpowered ever so slightly. Fearing his fate may turn for the worse once the bear on the right loses. Lucius then turned to the opposite direction and made a quiet and sneaky escape. Intending to take a longer route back to the clearing. When he got far enough Lucius asked aloud.

"Lark! What were those?! Bears?! Are those what you meant of magical beasts?!" After hearing Lucius's question, Lark answered seriously. "Stop running. We're far away enough take a look at your map and make way for east some 200 meters and you should find a mark of yours. And yes those are Magical Beasts, if you're wondering why you came under an illusion, it was because of the bear on the right, the one that was slowly getting overpowered. I must say, it's quite rare for a bear to have an ability like that. Anyways I once mentioned that the ring protected you from nigh everything, and that's true. But I did something else to let the illusion of the bear to pierce and get to you."

When Lucius heard the Saints last statement, he couldn't help but feel anger within him, which he showed in a shout. "You knew and just let it be?! Do you know what could've happened if I woke up later?! I could be dead Lark! Dead!" if there were other people around Lucius, they would've easily branded him as crazy.

"Relax Luke. The danger has passed, and you wouldn't have believed of what I said few days earlier if you saw no proof of actual magic and the Magical Beasts. As they say. Seeing is believing." After saying this, Lark then immediately gave a cheeky offer to Lucius. "So what kid? Have you yet to changed your mind about wanting to learn magic?"

When Lucius caught on to what Lark said he replied, taking this matter seriously. "Very well. I'll see for myself whether your so called magic really is true or not."

After hearing Lucius's quick and skeptical reply, The mischievous Saint couldn't help but think to himself. 'About damn time' after this thought, Lark mentioned something to Lucius about accepting his plea of help. "I'm glad you finally made your decision. I'll teach you on how to proceed after you return to your camp."

As Lucius got on the right path back to the clearing. Far away from the fighting of the two behemoths, he journeyed his way back. After feeling the need to make a stop at the nearby pond, Lucius made his way over. After seeing the size and power of the 2 behemoths he had felt the much needed wake up call when he washed his face. That compelled Lucius to take every single matter now seriously, ash his life regarded upon it. After brief yet long self reflection within his mind, he asked a question to The quiet Saint.

"So what now? Where do I start?" after Lark heard Lucius's questions about magic, he replied excitedly. "Look within your mind. Focus and try to connect that appears to be a Sparking blue ball, everyone who arrives in Lenius must first go through this procedure. But you, Luke are a special case, waking up only after a moment of arriving is an amazing feat that has only been done by one. You."

"Is that all? Is that all I need to do so that I could use and feel this so called magic?" skeptically asked Lucius of Lark, unconvinced on the ease of it. "Well of course not. This is just awakening your core, in order to fully use magic you'd need to learn on how to fully control your core energy, we don't want for you die due to reckless practice of magic now do we? We'll wait until you head back to the clearing." after Lark heard Lucius's skepticism he replied back in quick order.

After Lark replied back, almost instantly the Saint found something amiss, as he focused his attention on Lucius's left side, he spotted something. After the Saint located the danger he quickly shouted at Lucius's mind about the arriving danger. "On your 10! A pack of wolves quickly running your way! Stop for now and hide. Let them pass through."

As Lucius heard The Saints warning, he immediately dived down to a thicket. When he dived down and took the time to peer on the outside, a pack of wolves ran past by ignoring him. With their size being slightly larger than their Earthen counterpart. In the front ran a Large wolf with some weird greyish stripes on its mane. despite not reaching near the size of the 2 behemoth like bears. Lucius still found it to be abnormally large.

"That wolf pack must've felt the shockwaves of the fight of those 2 behemoths. Now quick! Return back to the clearing before any more animals are attracted to the fight!" informed Lark to Lucius.

Now hearing about the potential danger of staying longer in the forest, Lucius quickly made his way to the clearing. Making sure to dodge or zigzag around any packs of animals or magical beasts he encountered as he returned. As he arrived at the edge of the clearing Lucius couldn't help but feel tired from the fatigue, as the adrenaline slowly dissipated from his body. The fatigue instantly made him lie to ground. Seeing the situation of Lucius, the Saint reassured. "Don't worry, before I died I set some barrier that halts anyone from entering, only those I allow can freely enter and leave this place. Even a Magi or Grand Magi can't pierce this Barrier." With this Lucius survived his fourth day with a close call to his life.