The First Hellhound

I wake up refreshed and in good humour. The pain seemingly left me – but I am soon proven wrong when I stretch; there still is some tingling in my bones. At least my muscles are no longer sore. That makes me more confident, and the prospect of exploring the cave complex I’m in seems more plausible. But I need a weapon – I won’t make the same mistake twice. And I won’t settle for some improvized mace – today I’m getting back to get my belongings; I hope no wild animal got to them.

I eat my fill of the bear meat and organize my things. I couldn’t find crystals I brought with me anywhere – they were probably destroyed in the fight; honestly, it’s hard to believe the intensity of our fight didn’t collapse the caves. So the only thing I can really take is a good bone to serve as a weapon. I settle on a long, thin bone from lower leg. I can grip it comfortably in one hand, it’s not too heavy and still bigger than the biggest bone in my body; it will serve well. I put the skull on the meat – the horns still release cold aura – and the meat slowly freezes. Satisfied, I go on to explore the cave system.

I spend some time wandering around in darkness, navigating thanks to my sense of smell and my connection to Nyx; it seems there are more exits, but right now I am looking for the closest one. And I find it, undisturbed; it looks like other beasts either left during our fight, or didn’t even risk getting close to the bear. I am not surprised, considering how monstrous was power it unleashed during our fight – and I overwhelmed it. I still find it hard to believe.

I finally reach the exit after uneventful journey; turns out I worried about being attacked unnecessarily. What I should have worried about was the sunlight. Turns out that spending a few – probably, it’s hard to tell time without the sun – days in darkness and then suddenly going into the light is not very good for the eyes. So I sit down and think back to my time beyond the veil, after the bear fight. Did I… die, again? Or was it some sort of memory from earlier? Hallucination? A simple nightmare? I have no way of knowing, but there are some questions I still have to answer.

The biggest issue: the languages. I have been thinking in English so far, but… I know more languages now. Quite of them, actually; especially for someone who never learned other language besides English. Those are Kolokolan, Tamaran, Zheryman and Ponocnoi; I guess I had no need to use them – even Boromir contacted me with pure feelings rather than words. Speaking of – I realise why the name fits: it literally means something along the lines of ‘Forest Guardian’ in all of them. They have are clearly closely related to each other, so I wonder what the differentiates them and what it can potentially tell me about society using each of them.

I spend next hour or so thinking about the names of different things and concepts in those languages and come to some interesting conclusions. First things first, each language I know has several dialects – which I also can recognize – and they are roughly pretty mutually intelligible. Words in all of them have one of 3 grammatical genders – masculine, feminine and neutral, a bit like in German or some other languages on Earth. Besides that, grammar of every language is also based on similar rules; like the word order being less important than in English, instead favouring complex declension and relations between words. But the differences in vocabulary are the most interesting and allow me to imagine the society that uses any given language better.

To start things off, Zheryman and Tamaran have the most words regarding government, politics, trade, engineering, etc., as well as city life. Societies using those two languages are clearly the most advanced, prosperous, and have more contact with the outside world. Out of the two, the latter appears to be more parochial and the former - cosmopolitan. Especially because it has an impressive sailing and shipbuilding terminology, in addition to knowledge about several exotic spices, such as clover, ginger, nutmeg, or cinnamon; it doesn't look like those can grow in this climate, so they must be imported. The world – Yavea

, I remind myself – seems to quite well interconnected and more advanced than I thought; well, there is no name for a gun, so it's probably Middle Ages level at best.

On the other hand, Ponocnoi and Kolokolan lack words for many concepts, especially regarding urban or state administration. It seems societies that use those two languages are more tribal or nomadic. Especially the former, seemingly lacking even the concept of farming, gives me the picture of hardy people surviving in extremely harsh and cold environments. Latter on the other hand, seemed much more appealing to me; with no bureaucracy, taxes, or other problems that come out of powerful state, their way of living seems more chill. Still – they are considered barbaric, although way less than Ponocnoi, by Zherymans and Tamarans. But – by Cyvsiet! – my clothes consist of primitively put together raw hides! So I’ll use Kolokolan when interacting with locals for the first time. I nod to myself, satisfied with that response, but something bothers me; I realise that when I swore in my mind, I swore in Kolokolan. Huh. It isn’t surprising that they have a concept of Hell. My mood sours a bit, as always when I think about religion, so I decide not to think about it.

In the end, satisfied with my thought experiment and its result (excluding the final, upsetting realisation), as well as having my eyes adapted back to the sun, I continue my journey. There is no animal nearby – even the bees seemingly evacuated in the aftermath of my fight with the bear. Undisturbed, I soon reach the lake and see that most of my stuff – first and foremost Nyx, the last acorn and my clothes – are still here. I feel a bit more at ease; I haven’t realised just how important for me are my trusted spear companion and fulfilment of the tree’s task. The first one probably because of my safety concerns, the other cause I got paid in advance. If the seed got lost, I would have no way of finishing the quest and suffered from stings of remorse… so it is good that my worries are unsubstantiated.

I look towards the place I feel Nyx is; to my shock I see my faithful spear is stuck in the cliff, with only short part of the shaft sticking out. It seems that when I call her, she flies towards me using the shortest way possible; I will have to take it into account for future battles. For now I recall Nyx to my hand. To my surprise it is not as easy as I thought; she seems to be stuck somehow, so I swim there. I grab her, put my legs on the cliff and pull, carefully, infusing her with my power at the same time; it is enough to make her move, and soon I fly back and – with a loud splash – land into the water, holding the spear in my hands. Even though I know there is no danger close by, having my weapon back makes me feel safer.

I quickly collect my stuff – I allow my thoughts to wander, as I float on the water. The sounds of water – even the roar of the waterfall – are especially calming. I just relax there, feeling safe with Nyx within my reach. I decide to wash myself – in the cave I had different priorities and I would need to break the ice constantly. I take my time, carefully removing blood and grime from my body. I don’t have any horny thoughts, though – maybe because I am still not fully recovered.

After the bath, I lie down on the grass, drying and watching clouds go by. It’s so peaceful, I have a hard time believing that I was on a verge of being mauled by the magical bear not that long ago. But I survived! I look to the side, to see barely noticeable scars on my arm and summon Nyx to me; I might be growing paranoid, but as long as it keeps me safe…

I relax a bit longer, but finally decide it is the time to return. I collect my things and only now notice most of the feathers are gone; probably with the wind. I wear my clothes, which makes me immediately feel better. Finally, I gather some of the wood, berries and grass I’ve used as a seasoning earlier; bear is tasty, but it can be even better! And with those – I will be able to cook! Satisfied and with quite a heavy load, I go back; the return trip takes me longer – or at least feels like it. It might be because I carried too much weight and strained my muscles. It will pass soon, I hope. I am quite hungry, however, and get to cooking. As I eat bear with herbs – even better than I imagined – I decide what to do in the future.

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I spend the next few days meditating, bathing in icy water, eating through mountain of meat and exploring the cave system. It lead me to some interesting discoveries and developments. Firstly, the return of some creatures – specifically the cave dwellers. I still cannot sneak on them, but hey – I can now train! And they don’t flee from me immediately, so I got some different meat at last! Sadly, it turns out that bats are quite skinny and don’t taste very good; well, at least they are chewy. They also have crystalline eyes – I don’t know what they do, but whatever it is ENRAGES me. I seriously didn’t expect to go berserk on a fricking bat of all things, but well… it was savage. Every time. I think their eyes might have some sort of paralysis or hypnotic power; it seems that I instinctively and vehemently HATE this kind of power, in addition to being somewhat resistant to it. Potentially very useful – thank you, old Primordial Soul. Your feelings on freedom – and on the lack of it – align perfectly with my own; I guess we both used to be prisoners of some sort.

Second discovery is seasoning. There are mushrooms in the cave – not all of them are poisonous. Knowing better, I use them just as a spice, to add some variety to bear meat. I even try adding some berries, limiting myself to no more than two a day. Throw in some other grasses and plants – and my diet becomes less monotone; that, in turn, makes me feel absolutely amazing. It’s the best feeling I have had since my rebirth! Well… excluding eating golden acorn and drinking that tea GOD made for me. But it wasn’t me who made any of those things, so it is really the first time I have a blast thanks to my very own actions – and I don’t count the thrill I felt after felling the bear, boar, or the deer; it was less the joy of living, but more of a survival. Now, with more complex dishes, I feel more like a proper, civilized person – not like an animal, struggling to survive. I even made myself some makeshift tableware out of bones! Turns out that a giant skull can serve as a pretty neat improvized pot! I can make a stew! Or a soup! Or… Well… I would kill to get my hands on some bread, oats, or potatoes. I need to find other people soon.

Finally, I found another exit from the caves. Three of them, in fact – all seem to lead outside the valley. Today, I plan to use one of them. I spend a lot of time here – now I yearn for open fields. So I start packing. I still have a lot of meat – too much, honestly, to carry all of it out – so I think I will just do a short scouting, maybe for two days. I don’t need much, just my weapons, clothes, and some food, which I will have to carry; I wish I had a backpack or some sort of basket, but crafting is not my strongest skill. It feels weird to have a slab of meat at the back, but it’s the best I can do at the moment. Finally, I take the golden acorn with me – who knows, maybe the place to plant it is closer than I think.

And so I go. It doesn’t take me long to find the exit I wanted to use. I realise how much did I miss the feeling of the light of sun on my skin and the wind in my hair. I stand there, just outside the cave, and bask in midday glory; I am no cavewoman, despite looking like one. I take a deep breath and enjoy a symphony of smells and sounds in its full glory. I cannot help, but smile – have I longed for it ever since I returned to the cave? Or ever since I fought the bear? Regardless of an answer, I am here now – and I can experience outside world after what feels like a really, really long time. So I do not hurry, letting information flow to me.

But then I notice something. I feel… observed – but not like I am in danger; I just cannot wrap my head around it – then the realisation hits me, and various strong emotions – anxiety, curiosity, joy, unease, and many, many others – all hit me overwhelmingly, at the same time. I shake my head to focus and look around, my heart beating intensely. I search the area – and finally spot what I was trying to find. Looking that way, I swallow my saliva out of nervousness, raise my hand and shout:

“H-hello!”