Outcast
A month and a half has passed since I was kicked out of the village. To say I was well off was an overstatement. Being the dead of winter, the air was seriously getting extremely cold.
The only reason I was surviving was because of Terry. He occasionally brought me blankets, food, and of course the most important thing, tools used for hygiene and sanitary purposes… which mostly just consists of water and a rag. I needed to keep up appearances so when I eventually made my grand return to the village, I didn't look like a beast from hell.
One of my favorite things that I’ve gotten from Terry is actually the bucket of water to see my reflection. I’ve used it quite a bit to observe exactly what happened to my physiology during the transformation a month and half ago. I’m not too well versed in magic unfortunately, so I can’t tell you exactly what happened, but judging from the things I’ve observed, I’ve acquired the ability of air. I would’ve honestly expected to get some sort of nature power since I got it from a flower and all, but as I said, I have no idea how magic works, so I’m not going to question it.
If only there was a way I could hide this magical physiology because it’s honestly quite troublesome for blending myself in. My semi-floating hair is cool and all, but it’s still a bit off-putting. I’ve also noticed that I’ve gotten “lighter”. Whenever I jump, it takes around a slightly longer time for me to fall down. However, it was just a minor difference that it didn’t practically matter.
Anyways, the final thing I’ve observed, (apart from the semi glow I emit), is that there is a passive swirl of air around me. The wind around me kind of blows things away in a sort of protective shield. Well, I say that however, it’s only strong enough to rustle some leaves at best. The most annoying thing about this passive aura-like thing is that since it rustles leaves, it’s basically a radar to everything around me saying “Here I am, come find me!” Most of the animals I’ve encountered hear me way before I am even able to get close to them. This means my main source of sustenance, aside from the food Terry graces me with, is berries and plants.
Looking around, I could say my dwelling has come quite a long way. Gifted by an ax that Terry brought me, I managed to cut down many other branches to upgrade my living spaces. Terry of course, used the excuse in which he dropped and lost his original ax in the forest while gathering. Oh, how am I forever grateful to have such a wonderful friend like him!
My small living quarters now has walls! Surprising, I know. Using the natural tree trunk as the back, a patchwork of logs and sticks decorate the other two sides to form the walls. The front of the house is draped with leaves and vines, creating a sort of curtain-like effect. It wasn’t particularly warm in here but it sheltered me from the harsher of the winds out there.
Outside, there was a ring of rocks used as a fireplace to cook food and provide warmth. Well, I say cook food but I don't usually have wild animals to cook. Not that I would be physically capable of killing one anyway. To the left, there is the basket I brought with me here with a variety of herbs and edibles inside. I made sure to spend an extra amount of effort in finding things to cure fevers and frostbite. I couldn’t afford to be sick now of all times.
Occasionally, I visited the village to see if they would let me back in. One would think that after this long of simply being idle and doing nothing, that I would be classified as safe right? Well, they have loosened their security a bit, and they aren’t on edge as much. They were probably fearing not me, but whoever “possessed” me. Even if I was docile, they weren’t sure if this was a ploy to lower their guard or anything.
My days passed by blandly. Perhaps even more dull and boring than my time at the village. As I pondered about what would happen to my life if I was never accepted back into society, Terry showed up.
“Hey! I’ve missed you” I cheered merrily. Indeed, I did miss him. Being all alone out here is very taxing on the mind and I’m extremely grateful to have such a great friend like him.
“Oh come on, it hasn’t even been a day”
“Ah, tsk tsk, a day or not, the loneliness settles in fast. You should just stay here longerr”
“We both know that that’s not possible” He said in a joking manner with a lovely smile on his face.
I had this pleading tone in my voice. Maybe it was just me, but whenever he’s here by my side I just feel super safe. Like everything is going to be okay. I mean, he is my only connection to the village at this point, I should obviously put trust in him. But how do I put it, is this normal? Looking at it from an objective standpoint, I’m always happier when he’s near me, when he’s gone I want him near me, and when he is near me I want him to stay by my side forever.
Wait a second, is this what people call love!?!? From a bystander’s perspective it could totally be interpreted that way. But there’s no way right? Just because we’ve known each other since we were little, we’ve only had each other to hang around with, and there were no other kids our age doesn’t mean I’m in love with him right? I mean, I’ve never really thought about this before. I’ve just considered him my dearest friend. Perhaps this is just a phase? An infatuation maybe? But arghh, I don’t want this to be just an infatuation. If I’m going to love him I might as well actually love him. Wait, does that statement mean I actually want to be in love with him? ARGHH I just don’t know anymore.
My face gradually got redder and redder as I blushed while pondering these thoughts. Ahh forget it, if it's love then so be it. I don't care at this point. Hmpfh.
Terry upon noticing my bashfulness, jabbed, “Hey you look like you’ve seen a lovebird or something. Something the matter?”
AHH YOU IDIOT. Something is the matter now that you’ve brought it up! Are you serious!? Out of all the things you could’ve said. Oh, I don’t know, I could be burning a fever or something and you choose to point out that I look like I’m in love with someone!?
“Well, uhh, umm-” I tried to say as I fumbled through my words.
“Ah, you’re just so predictable you’re hilarious to mess around with. Anyways, that aside, I have to head back now. See you tomorrow.” He said with a chuckle as he walked away.
I mumbled my partings.
Predictable? Did he just say I’m predictable? Does that mean he saw through me? I mean that’s the only reason why he would say that I looked love struck right? Wait if he’s saying that I look love struck, maybe there is a chance that I actually was.
Then that actually means I’m actually into him right? Then that means he knows that I’m into him! AHH, how do I approach him now? It’s going to be so awkward when he comes back. What do I say? “Oh, I’m not in love or anything, it's just a slight fever”. What am I an idiot? If I tell him I have a fever that’s going to cause more problems in the future. I need to stay rational. Rational I say!
Okay okay, going over what he said, he said that I’m predictable. However, he then followed that statement with saying I’m fun to mess around with. That must mean that he was just messing with me right? So there’s possibly a chance that he doesn’t know what I really feel. However, if he’s messing with me, then it’s also possible that he’s doing this on purpose BECAUSE he knows what I’m thinking. In which case he’s inciting these thoughts in my head right now.
Ahh screw it, I’ll just stick to what I said earlier. I’ll deal with this problem when the situation arises. I can’t believe that single statement from him caused this reaction from me. I’m wayyy too in over my head.
Snapping back to reality, I just realized how much time has passed while I was acting all flustered within my head. Deciding I was feeling a bit hungry, I decided to go to town on the rations I gathered. No one’s there to stop me from eating less now!
Unfortunately, I only had 5 Oun berries left. I was too lazy to cook things such as carrots and potatoes unless I was absolutely starving, so I usually settle for berries. Oun berries are pretty delicious. Maybe I’m just saying that because I worked extra hard to secure food for myself now. They look like these round blue water balloons about the size of a pearl. They were filled with a sort of juice that actually is quite sweet and addicting. Plopping them into my mouth, I decided to go foraging a bit more to perhaps gather some of those delicious Oun berries.
Oun berries usually grow on the upper parts of long vines that drape off of a certain tree, so they require quite a bit of energy to acquire. My eyes scanned the roof of the trees in search of these delicious berries. As my eyes darted from tree to tree, I noticed a peculiar sight.
It was dusk so how I spotted this minute1extremely small or insignificant difference, don’t ask me. In the distant sky, I noticed an abnormal amount of smoke in the air. I say abnormal because it would be normal for, say, people of the village to light fires to keep warm. However, that amount of fire wouldn’t produce this much smoke. It was as if a wall of smog engulfed the sky, plastering it gray.
Cautiously I headed towards the direction. If I recall correctly, it was in the direction of the village. I wonder what it could be. I know there is a spring festival in which we light a huge bonfire to celebrate the return of spring, however it’s still winter. It wouldn’t necessarily be surprising for a klutz kid like me to accidently start a fire and burn down a house. Well, perhaps that is a bit surprising.
As I approached the village, I thought about what could’ve been the cause, because the only reason something like this could possibly happen is… a raid.
I watched as my eyes were met with horror. Tens of people clad in dark gray armor with red highlights stormed the village. Swords in hand, bows at the ready, they ravaged the village slaughtering anyone who got in their path. I saw the soldiers pillage and set fire to multiple buildings. There was no way that these were normal bandits.
My eyes darted left to right, trying to find the one most important thing of mine. Amongst the midst of chaos and terror, I spotted him. Our eyes met, and in that instant we came to a mutual understanding at the gravity of the situation. It was over. There was nothing I could do to salvage this situation.
As illogical as this may be, I refused to accept this reality. Yes, there was nothing I could do. Yes, I was powerless, but I’m not going to just stand idle while the love of my life gets slaughtered in front of my eyes! I attempted to dash towards him, I mean he wasn’t that far away, however what I was met with widened my eyes in horror.
A bright light engulfed the entire village as a firestorm swirled and seared everything in its path. It rapidly swept through the village and in an instant, there was nothing. All the houses, charred to a crisp, were splattered on the ground. The floor was stained entirely black as the entire surrounding area was charred.
Even though I was a good way away from the blast zone, the heat was like a never ending torrent of hell. Beads of sweat vaporized on my forehead. How I was alive, I had no idea. However, the thing that made me collapse were the bodies. Blackened husks of the villagers littered the ground. It was as if it were loosely condensed ash in the form of bodies. A single gust of wind would wither away the fragile corpses.
I watched as a single ember floated its way to Terry’s corpse, praying it didn’t get any closer. The second it even neared the pile of ashes, the entire figure of the body collapsed and crumbled into a pile of dust.
The soldiers who were raiding the village were infuriatingly fine. They were a bit charred however it seemed like their armor protected them from the inferno. What is this bullcrap! What sort of unfair god would let this happen. You could vaporize an entire village, turn the dead into husks, but not kill these stupid soldiers!?!?
My brain was screaming at me to run. If they noticed me, they would surely go after me and kill me. I needed to run. I needed to get as far away as possible. Despite that however, every nerve in my body was frozen. I couldn’t move. The very sight I just witnessed chilled my bone. I never… even got to tell Terry how I felt. I could see the soldiers stalking around, searching for survivors.
It would only be a matter of time till they found me. Run, run. I have to run. Why won’t my body move? Why is my feet implanted in the ground?
Get yourself together! I screamed at my brain. Terry just died in front of my eyes. This is no time to be acting depressed and scared. I need to run. I can’t let him just die in vain like this. I need to live, for his sake! Just because one of us dies doesn’t mean we all have to!
Just as I hardened the decision to bolt out of the situation, one of the soldiers noticed me. Turning tail, I sprinted as fast as I could through the forest. I could hear the soldiers clamoring behind me, clanking their armor. I needed to shake them off my trail, and quickly.
With my low stamina and weak physique, there was not a snowball’s chance in hell I was going to outlast them. Crossing off all the invalid routes in my head, there led only one option. Swiftly dodging a tree, I ran towards my tiny shack. The foliage was dense there and I knew my way well, so there was a high chance I’d be able to make it there without getting caught.
Suddenly, a flaming arrow whizzed past my shoulder, implanting itself in the trees which caused it to combust into a blaze of flames. My eyes widened but I did not falter. I swirled past the flaming tree and continued running.
Sparing a quick glance behind me to assess the situation, I found 3 men chasing after me with an archer behind them. Crashing through a particularly thick thicket, I emerged at my lovely house. All the time and effort I spent creating this little shack over the past month and a half… gone to waste. This was no time to be sentimental. Regrets can come later.
Grimacing, I dashed over to where my stash of medicinal plants were and I picked up a handful of rachlik. They would be essential for my escape as they numbed my body to pain. If I was going to be bolting through the forest, I would be getting a lot of scratches. I couldn’t let the pain slow me down. Plopping some in my mouth, I threw my basket at the enemy to potentially buy me a few milliseconds.
My destination was the dense part of the forest where I encountered the magical flower. That was the only place I could survive as it was the highest chance for the enemy to get caught up in the vines and give up the chase. I myself was of a small stature, so I could weave between the trunks with ease.
Brimming with a plan and determination, I ran as fast as I could. The enemy was steadily closing the distance, but luckily we were just entering the denser areas of the forest. Sliding under a fallen tree trunk, I winced as the dirt and the rock scraped my leg. I must’ve been bleeding lightly but thankfully due to the rachlik, I could keep pressing on. As I swerved and swiveled through the forest, I noticed a river approaching me. Crap, the people were getting closer and closer. I didn’t have the time to switch directions. Was I seriously going to die here of all places!?
As I neared the river, I decided that there was only one option. I might have a very slim chance if I was able to make it across the river. Going around it was a death sentence and it was better than staying here and dying. And so, in an act of desperation, I jumped into the raging torrents.
As I was plummeting through the air, something within me clicked. A huge gust of wind erupted from underneath me which propelled me up and over the river. Landing with a thud, I had no time to ponder what the hell just happened. Scrambling up from the dirt and muck, I ran further and further away.
However, just as I was scrambling to safety, an arrow embedded itself in my shoulder causing me to shriek out in pain and agony. Even with the anesthesia from the berries, it couldn’t make me not scream from an arrow that pierced me. Nevertheless, I kept running.
I don’t know if they’re still chasing me or if they’ve given up but I had to keep pressing on. My vision was dulling, perhaps from blood loss, perhaps from exhaustion. Even if I got out of this situation, how was I going to survive? I had an arrow through my shoulder. Even if blood loss isn’t going to kill me, the freezing winter cold probably would, not to mention infections as well.
As I was running in a daze, I inwardly cursed myself as my body scratched more against branches and rocks. Every injury I received multiplied itself tenfold due to my exhaustion. Suddenly, out of nowhere, I jumped off a cliff. “Was there a cliff here? Just how far have I run?” I thought to myself as I plummeted down.
I needed to brace my fall. Attempting to conjure up that power which saved me at the river earlier, gusts of wind pushed me every which way. Left, right, up, down, my body flew in random directions as I tried to control my power. However, try as I may, it didn’t amount to much as I plummeted down with a loud thud. The last thing I remember before falling unconscious was the sound of wheels on a paved road.
