Dorin spent the day searching for food. Even though he had devoured the forest the night before, he had never felt more hungry.
Dorin lifted his shirt and saw ribs poking out of his chest. 'I must've lost five pounds at least.'
Eki looked at Dorin, tilting their head. Dorin felt a twinge of fear every time he looked into Eki's red eyes. The horror of meeting that shadow would stay with him forever.
'I need to get Eki some food or else he might choose to eat me instead.'
There were many small animals in sight of Dorin, but he wasn't sure how he was supposed to hit a small target. His luck had been pretty good when throwing things in recent times, but the only training he had was throwing around imaginary egos as a child.
. . .
"Come on- COME ON." Rae shook dice in his hands before throwing them to the floor. They bounced around their shared home before landing on a seven and a three.
A set of chuckles filled the room from Dorin, Prat, and Lonn.
"Not good enough to beat mine, Rae." Lonn pointed to his dice, and picked up the longest stick.
"Man . . . how could I have gotten two ones?" Dorin groaned as he grabbed the short stick.
"Maybe if you didn't hit me with them it would've been better." Prat rubbed his arm before picking up the second longest weapon.
The four of them got into various stances, all with their respective weapons in front of them.
Dorin yelled as he started the engagement, and ran towards Prat who took a step back in surprise. Prat couldn't get his weapon in position in time to block Dorin who struck him right in the chest.
. . .
Dorin shook off that memory, as it didn't end well for him despite getting the first hit.
There was a surprising lack of fruit and berries in this forest compared to the Spire's world. Dorin didn't know what the smaller animals were eating, and so he had no bait.
Dorin watched a rabbit jump around far ahead of them. It looked like it was chasing something. Him and Eki slowly creeped towards the it, and soon they saw a grasshopper jumping back and forth.
The rabbit opened its mouth with each bounce and Dorin saw how they were able to survive. Just like the elk that he had impaled, even these smaller creatures were carnivores with sharp fangs. It seemed that this forest was kill or be killed, with no alternative.
Eki walked closer to the rabbit, who was in still in the middle of its hunt. Dorin was prepared to help if needed, but there was no way a mere rabbit would be able to handle Eki.
In its hunt, the rabbit didn't notice Eki's advance. They were similar sizes, with Eki being a little bit taller and the rabbit much wider. Suddenly the rabbit looked towards Eki, and stopped moving completely.
Eki merely walked right into its face, staring right into its eyes unblinking. Eki raised its front hoof and tapped the rabbit on the forehead. Dorin watched as it fell to the side, dead.
'That was . . . dark.' Dorin was unsure how that worked, but he knew that Eki would have far more success hunting than he ever would throwing around stakes.
The problem now was fire. From what he could tell, the only thing safe to eat would be the same thing that the rabbit was hunting. 'Anything to survive.'
The day went by as Dorin and Eki hunted their respective prey. Dorin was surprised at how much Eki could eat. 'They all seem to be running away before he can . . . scare them to death.' Dorin didn't want to believe that was the case, but every single creature he hunted just fell over as soon as Eki got near.
Eki rubbed its head on Dorin's leg, smearing some blood on his tattered pants. "G-good boy." Dorin patted the fawn's unsoiled body instead of its blood-covered head.
The elk's red eyes had dimmed, and Dorin could finally see its pupils. They held the same golden tint as Anya, but they were impossible to notice before.
Dorin was a bit jealous of Eki, but he knew that the fawn was now his only chance to survive.
As the sun set on the forest, Dorin noticed that it wasn't nearly as dark as on that first night. He wondered if they were getting close to the boundary.
'Maybe it was that shadow. . .' While Dorin had never heard about anything like that shadow, he had heard of strong beasts affecting their surroundings.
"Maybe you're the ruler of this place now, Eki." The fawn gave him another meep before continuing to walk forward. There was a light in the distance, and Dorin thought it might be the way out.
The temperature increased the closer they got, and Dorin was reminded of the burning forest from the Spire's world. 'I wonder if Lonn is the new spark.' In the last life it was between him and Ara, but without Dorin's influence maybe something changed. Dorin grimaced thinking about the state Lonn was in the last time he saw him.
Eventually Dorin saw where the light was coming from. The forest wasn't burning, but an entire village just outside of its boundary was on fire. Dorin had finally made it out of the forest, but the devastation in front of him didn't give him any hope for something better.
Dorin knew that it was a risk, but he didn't think he could survive on bugs alone for long. He needed to sneak in and steal a piece of that flame.