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Chapter 12 - Hags and bandits 2

Heydar experimented a lot on his way to the village with small animals, though he started feeling bad and decided to stop once the high that came with power washed away. 

Around 8 hours into his journey, he decided to take a brake. He sat down and leaned against a tree. *Brrrrr*...I'm hungry , he thought to himself. He undid his bag and took out a map and the food packed for him. I'm not too far away from the village now, that's good, I was running out of food and my body's aching,It would have been nice if I bumped into those horses. He looked up at the sky, it was getting dark. 

Suddenly, another disturbance in the forest. Heydar quickly put everything away, glyphs already forming a lightscreen. He knew the spell well enough not to need to close his eyes, instead staring at the source of the sound inching closer. Out from a thicket, a large black hound emerged, grrrrr, followed by 4 more.

Wolves 

They came closer and closer, their ears upright and their teeth bared. They were larger than Heydar, just a few meters away. Then, they charged! Heydars stomach dropped his heart rate quickened. He clenched his eyes tight and held an arm over them before extending another. With a hum, a blinding ray of light appeared out of nowhere, blinding the hounds, Heydar could hear their whimpering. When he opened his eyes he found them closer but shaking their heads with their closed shut. They were in a semi-circle, clearing planning to surround him and tear him apart before Heydar blinded them. He unfurled his sword and charged at them. They could hear him coming, they clumsily moved away from the sound. Heydar was faster, He got to one of them and his arms turned hairy and longer. He swung his sword downward with all his strength ! The wolf's head split apart, it came to a halt and fell. Heydar turned to the other ones, they were no longer running but it was clear that their vision was unstable, they drew closer. He chased another! It could smell the blood on him and hear his footsteps and panting, it met him head. One of Heydars arms went back to normal and a small ball of flame shot out and landed on the wolf. It whimpered and quickly dived headfirst into the ground and began rolling and thrashing its head about. Heydar quickly sunk his sword into its skull before it could react, Squelch! It quickly went limp. The others were barking. They were more weary and their vision better.

Heydar was glad they didn't immediately attack him. Using the fire inscription and ape augmentation took a huge toll on his mental strength and his core wasn't spent yet, he could cast 3 more. He closed his eyes and began constructing a slime ball. It took only five seconds, on the sixth the wolves grew restless and charged at him. He opened his eyes and his heart skipped a beat seeing how close the wolves were. A slimeball shot out and landed on the torso of one. The force of the impact sent it stumbling. The wolves didn't stop. The first to reach him was met with a tongue of flame to the face that caused it to whimper and stumble. Squelch!  Heydar managed to stab through its head. Ahhhhh! He felt a blinding pain come from his other arm. He swung at the wolf. Thud , he cleaved it's head off. Ahhhh! My arm my arm my arm . He gripped onto the arm that was bit, it was a mess; he tucked it between his legs and grit his teeth with his eyes shut. He was processing the pain.

After taking a few deep breaths he stood up. He heard whimpers; the wolf that was hit by the slimeball was stuck to the floor. The slime was like a sort of glue, the wolf struggled and struggled but nothing helped. Heydar stared at the wolf and then at his bleeding arm, a stinging heat and itch came from it. He was mad. He closed his eyes and began constructing a spell. His knuckles turned to stone. With fury in his eyes he slowly walked towards the wolf. Once there he began punching it again and again. The wolf began wailing "Stupid"! Thud!  wailing. "Stupid" ! "Stupid"! Thud! "Stupid"! Thud! The sounds of his fist connecting and animal wailing resounded. Eventually, it went from thud to squelch. The wolf became a bloody mess. Huff huff...Heydar slowly stepped away from the wolf. It no longer wailed, but it was alive, drifting into unconsciousness. The knuckles on his long furry arm returned to flesh, the arm itself also went back to normal. He stared at the wolf for a bit, most of the flesh on its head was either swelled and bloody or just not there, and the slime trapping it now had a red hue. No, not enough, that wasn't enough , the anger wasn't gone. He closed his eyes and started constructing a fireball. After some time he projected the spell. It hurled at the wolfs head, Boom! Its upper body exploded. The pieces of flesh scattered everywhere.

He felt so exhausted. Using so many different forms of magic and battling the wolves left him feeling as if he would vomit. The pain in his arm barely lessened. He collected his things and used some honey and cloth to patch himself up. He closed his eyes and fetched an augmentation. His arm turned long and furry with long claws extended. He started climbing up a tree. With great effort, he reached a branch capable of supporting him. He laid down and slowly went to sleep. Trusting his body not to fall off. Slowly, he drifted off into sleep

....

Tlou slowly opened his eyes. He lifted his arm and stared at it. The arm was very old and wrinkled. Some mould was growing in a few places, while other places just looked plain rotten. Nothing new, he commented. The arm though disgusting wasn't bleeding out nor were there any animal bite marks or scars. Tlou still felt a bit of phantom pain. He slowly stroked his arm, revelling in the intact flesh and trying his best to soothe his mind. He let out an exhausted breath after the pain was gone. He was still calm. Such a dream is the type that leaves you as tired as when you went to sleep, he thought. He decided not to get up yet, instead, taking a nap.