Sometime later, we were both lying on our sides due to our extended bellies. Apparently, my new nails were sharp enough to slowly cut into the pig. Since I had absolutely no idea how to properly dress a kill, I simply cut off some meat from the belly.

Not wanting to waste any meat, I stored the body back in my dimensional storage. Strangely, I didn’t feel as squeamish as I thought I would. The closest thing I’ve ever come to seeing a dead animal were rats caught in traps.

It brought to mind what Sam said about how differently we acted in the void. I should have definitely been hesitant about cutting into anything alive or dead. And Sam was never this excitable. We were city folk through and through. Being eager to hunt something down and smash its skull in was not normal for us.

Any further thoughts were instantly erased as I smelled the pork roasting over the fire. It smelled like bacon, juicy, delicious meat that nearly made me drool. Both of our stomachs growled fiercely while waiting for the meat to cook. After an agonizingly long wait, Sam pulled the meat skewers off the fire. Even though it was definitely too hot to eat, I didn’t care. It was honestly not the best bacon I’ve ever had.

Without the usual seasoning or curing process that would be typical of store-bought meat, it had a gamey taste that was just slightly off. None of that mattered much when, at that moment, the charred pork belly tasted heavenly. If anyone saw us at that moment, they’d probably think we were savages as we tore into the skewers with abandon.

After a reluctant wash in the river, we resumed our usual, and I went to sleep first. Despite finally being around obvious wildlife, nothing disturbed us during the night. We did what morning ablutions that we could and proceeded to continue our long walk through the forest. The only amount of excitement that day was when a bird the same size as me showed up. With vibrant yellow feathers and menacing black stripes, the giant bird was a frightening sight. After a few seconds, it seemed to have deemed us unimportant because it flew off in the next moment. I shared a look with Sam, and we ended up deciding to be more discreet as we trudged our way through the undergrowth.

When we camped for the night, we discovered silver-scaled fish swimming in the river. As much as I wanted to try grabbing some, we didn’t have any tools that’d help us catch them. Sam briefly entertained the idea of spearfishing with a sharpened branch, but we just ate some more meat from the pig again. It didn’t taste nearly so divine the second go around. Although, I did notice the faint hint of spiciness now that I was able to slow down and chew the meat properly. I lay down with my stomach full but not stuffed like last time.

Turning my head, I saw that Sam was sitting down while staring off into the distance. “Did you ever think the start to our new magical lives would just be a brief camping trip?” I asked her. She refocused her attention on me before giving me a small smile.

“No, I don't think I would have predicted this. But it’s nice. I always wanted to go out and hike up a mountain somewhere and camp. Maybe take a flight to Alaska and enjoy some cold air,” she said. Sam took in a deep breath before spreading her arms wide. “I don’t regret growing up in a city. Yet, this is a dream fulfilled so far. I’m finally able to explore a world through my own eyes instead of through a laptop screen,” she said as her hands motioned to our surroundings.

“I’d at least like a tent or something. Sleeping on the ground is too much for frail old me,” I complained.

“Eh, I’m sure we’ll look back on this and say that it helped build character.”

I glared at the blue-skinned woman for a few moments before I let out a small laugh. If living in this world meant I had to learn to rough it, I suppose I wouldn’t complain too much. Well, perhaps just a little.

On the morning of the new day, things became dangerous. Just as we were getting ready to continue walking, two shadows came rushing out of the forest. I only had enough time to yell at Sam before I was knocked off my feet. A small scream escaped my lips as a sudden sharp pain shot through my left arm. I was met with glowing amber eyes that glared at me as the creature bit down harder.

The beast looked like a cross between a ferret and a wolf. I couldn’t examine much else as it continued to draw blood from my limb. There was a small yelp of pain to my right, but I wasn’t able to pay it any attention. There was nothing around me that I could turn into an improvised weapon. Without wasting any more time to think, I used the only thing I had available to me. The beast was angled just far enough that I couldn’t shove my fingers into its eyes, but I managed to bring down my nails down its face.

The ferret-wolf didn’t release my arm and instead clamped down harder. I managed to get another swipe across its face before I was yanked forward. It started to shake its head like a dog playing with a chew toy. My arm felt like it was going to be ripped right off if I didn’t do something soon. Salvation came in the form of a very sudden and meaty fist rocking the wolf’s ribs. The beast released me as it shrieked in pain, thanks to Sam punching it. Unlike the pig, there was no instant kill. I stood up quickly as Sam circled to the beast’s right.

It stared at the both of us, less confident of being able to take two people on at the same time. As much as I wanted nothing more than to slit the creature’s throat, I was inwardly relieved when it decided to run away. My legs collapsed a moment later, and Sam followed suit soon after. Looking over at her, I saw that she had some claw marks on her leg, but other than that, she was no worse for wear.

“You okay, Cy? Your arm looks like it went through a shredder,” she said with concern as she stared at my mangled arm.

I merely grunted before I channeled my mana and summoned Áine. Thankfully, I didn’t feel as much pain as I should have, thanks to the adrenaline. Everything was as good as new after Áine finished healing it. It seemed to take her slightly less time than it did when she healed my burns. After giving me one last inspection to make sure she finished the job, Áine flew over and began using her glowing hands on Sam’s leg wound.

“Whatever the hell those things were, I’m going to come back and hunt them till they’re endangered,” I growled. Looking at my arm, it was completely fine without a single scratch or tooth mark. “If my arms and hands being damaged is going to be a running theme, I’m already tired of it.”

Standing up and testing her newly healed leg, Sam walked over and offered me a hand up.

I reluctantly accepted, not quite ready to go back into the forest. We made our way over to where the other wolf creature’s corpse was. Much like her previous use of her skill, the skull was smashed in.

Kicking the corpse, I turned towards Sam. “How come you didn’t use your skill when you punched the one attacking me?” I asked her as she examined the damage she inflicted.

She stood back up and looked back towards the forest. “Not sure, to be honest. I tried using it again, and I felt the cold feeling you get when you channel your mana. However, it felt like I twitched and messed up somehow,” she replied while turning to face me. “I think I could have, but I must have flubbed it. Sorry about that.”

She looked like she felt bad about the whole situation, which was silly. I shuddered at the thought of the creature actually managing to tear my arm off. There was no telling if Áine could actually heal missing limbs, and I really didn’t want to learn just yet. I put a hand on Sam’s shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t be dumb. If it wasn’t for you, I might have remained a chew toy for the damn thing. Besides, you’re doing pretty well on the whole, protecting my squishy butt and whatnot. Just wait till I get something equally destructive. So for now, continue being my mean, blue wall of muscles.”

She smiled back at me. “Fine, I can do that. So, you want to pocket the body and continue on?” she asked.

“You don’t want to put it into yours?” I asked her, raising my eyebrow.

“Hell no, first of all, it's weird to carry dead animals around.” She then held up two fingers. “Second, your little dragon buddy can just suck them up like a vacuum. You don’t have to touch it if you don’t want to.”

“Fine, fine, more loot for me anyways,” I muttered back.

Before I could summon my scaly storage creature, me and Sam turned as we heard a soft thud. Áine apparently wasn’t happy with the dumb animal for trying to kill us and expressed her displeasure by kicking it in the nose. She gave it one last stomp before crossing her arms and flying up back to eye level.

“Everything alright there, Áine?” I asked the small, angry fairy. She merely nodded before uncrossing her arms. “Well, if you say you're doing alright, I’ll trust yah. Thanks again for healing us. It's nice to be able to keep my arm.”

Áine proceeded to boop both of our noses before giving one last glare towards the wolf and disappearing back inside me.

“Gotta say that was kinda cute. At least you know your summon cares for you,” Sam said.

I nodded in response. It was comforting to know that my familiar liked me enough to get angry for me.

Activating my skill, the little dragon inhaled the wolf’s body into its mouth and promptly left. There was something to be said over the fact that I was already getting used to the bizarreness of it all.

With a quick wash in the river to get rid of the bloodstains and quench our thirst, we made our way cautiously through the trees. Our terrible start of the morning must have been an omen because, within an hour, it started to rain. At first, the canopy of leaves above our heads protected us. We were quickly drenched as the light rain turned into a heavy downpour. With the heavy rain, we were forced to slow down our march as the ground soon turned to mud. Every step was an act of resistance as our boots fought the suction of the wet ground.

Nothing else came to take a bite out of us, probably due to them being smart enough not to go walking through a muddy forest during heavy rainfall. While I was definitely soaking wet, I noticed I wasn’t cold. And looking at Sam, I saw she was covered in small scratches that she slowly accumulated during our hazardous walk. Looking back at my own body, there wasn’t a single scratch. Inspecting a small area above my right knee, I noticed there was some blood that hadn’t yet washed away. The small cut on my pants revealed there was no scratch that indicated I was bleeding. Thinking back on my perks, I pulled up the description for Scion of Calstrax.

Scion of Calstrax:

• You’ve become the adopted heir of the god Calstrax. With his blood flowing through your veins, you share some of his powers.
  • You have minor regeneration to most wounds
  • You have minor resistance to most common elements
  • You have a higher-than-average mana pool

Being adopted by a god had some benefits. I guess I never noticed the regeneration before due to Áine healing me whole whenever I got hurt. There was no room for me to complain, though, even if I did have a magical fairy that healed. Being able to heal even when I couldn’t summon her is an amazing thing to have. Giving Sam one last look, I continued focusing on moving my feet through the mud. Even if she didn’t have my perk, I doubt someone so attuned to the water element would be feeling cold over some rain. Considering that she never shivered once, I was pretty sure I was correct in my thinking.

Looking at the system time, it was about five in the afternoon before we started to see some lights ahead. Ten minutes later, we finally managed to emerge from the tree line. Ahead of us were stone walls that seemed to surround a village. They were twice the height of Sam and were completely smooth gray stone.

To our right, there was a large wooden gate that stood open. And underneath what looked like a small tent were two men in leather armour carrying spears. They were obviously guarding the entrance to the village and seemed to be able to stay out of the rain while doing it. We didn’t say a word to each other. At this point, we both just wanted to get to someplace dry and have a meal.

As we approached within twenty yards, the two guards finally noticed us approaching.

“HALT! WHO GOES THERE?!” came a loud shout from the man on the left. They both wielded a spear and currently had them pointed in our direction.

We both stopped in our tracks and put up our hands. “Just two people looking to get out of this cursed rain!” I shouted back, trying to be heard over the splatter of water.

The two guards shared a look before turning back towards us. The guard who spoke before slightly lowered his spear. I did note, however, that he still had both hands gripped, and he looked ready to pierce our hides if we proved hostile in any fashion. “Approach slowly and keep your hands up, travellers, make any sudden moves, and we will be forced to run you through,” the guard said, waving for us to come closer.

As we got within five feet, we were made to stop. The talking guard nodded to the other man, and the other guard slowly came closer. “And who are you two? We have never seen you people here in the village before. Especially you,” the guard said while pointing a finger at me.

“Why me specifically?” I said while narrowing my eyes at the man.

“I have never seen an elf with horns before, and especially not with eyes like yours,” said the other guard with an increasingly deep frown on his face.

“Hey! We’re just tired travelers who want to sit down somewhere out of this rain,” Sam yelled angrily at the guards. She clenched her fists and was obviously in a bad mood. The guard, in response, took a step back before crossing his arms.

“Be that as it may, I will have to go get the Captain before I let you in. While you haven’t done anything wrong yet, letting two strangers inside, especially when one is a race who we don’t even recognize, is not how we manage to keep the village safe,” the other guard said while scowling. He proceeded to walk back into the village and disappear around the corner. We were left staring at the first guard while we continued to get drenched in the pouring rain. The man no longer seemed like he was ready to spear us, but his attention never left the two of us. A few minutes later, the other guard appeared, walking in front of a large man.

The man in question was, without a doubt, the guard captain. He was taller than Sam and equally muscular. His armour was metal, while the others wore leather. It was sleek silver, and on his right arm was a blue armband that had a gold symbol stitched on. It was two spears crossing over what looked like a flaming tree. With glowing red eyes and straight buzz-cut blonde hair, the man had a large presence.

“These are the two strangers who want to enter the village, Captain,” said the other guard while motioning towards us. The captain didn’t say anything as he stared us down. Whatever he saw in his examination seemed to be enough because he turned to the two guards and told them to lower their weapons. “Let them in. I recognize the shorter one. He is a Felkin, very rare to see around our side of the kingdom. Not surprised that you couldn’t recognize him,” said the captain.

He turned and examined the both of us again before turning back towards his guards. “Not sure what an Oni and a Felkin are doing here, but they look harmless enough. They don’t even have any armour or weapons. I’ll be back at the guardhouse if you need me for anything else.” The man promptly left and disappeared back inside the village walls.

“Alright, the captain says you're good to go. Just don’t cause any trouble in the village and you’ll enjoy your stay here. If you're looking for a warm bed and a good meal, head over to Oleander’s Inn. That's just down the road,” the guard said as the two of them resumed their watch. We didn’t bother asking the guard any questions lest they decide that we were being problematic and headed past the village gate.

The village itself seemed decent enough. It was obviously not large, but I counted at least twenty different houses on our walk to the inn. The roads, despite being muddy, were mostly clean and even. Stone seemed to be the go-to material for building things around here. Every house seemed to be made of the same gray smooth stone that made up the village walls. It wasn’t hard to tell which building was Oleander’s Inn because it had a massive sign shaped like a mug of ale hanging in front.

I was hesitant to step inside while we were both dripping water, but the prospect of hot food and somewhere to sit was too enticing. Stepping inside, we tried to rub as much mud off our shoes as we could on the doormat in the foyer. Pushing the small wooden saloon doors open, we were instantly hit by the smell of freshly baked pie. It smelled like warm apples covered in cinnamon. We must have been drooling because there was a loud laugh before a voice called out to us.

“Come on in! Just finished baking a fresh hot pie!” came a cheerful, motherly voice. Focusing on where the voice came from, there was a large woman behind a counter waving us in. She looked three inches taller than me and had large, curly red hair. Her face was warm and inviting as we approached her slowly. “Oh, you poor things, you look absolutely miserable, all soaked to the bone like that!” she tsked while shaking her head slowly.

“Come sit. I’ll have a hot meal out for you soon. We’ll get you warmed up in no time,” she said while winking and preparing to head towards a door that probably led to the kitchen.

Sam and I sat down carefully, noting the empty room. I wasn’t feeling the most comfortable about getting the bar stool wet. “Uhm, as amazing as that sounds, we don’t have any money,” I said hesitantly. Sam glared daggers in my direction. As I mentioned, we didn’t have a way to pay for any food.

She paused briefly before giving us another wink. “No worries, the first meal and drink is on me. You're obviously new here, and I’m not gonna let some coin get in the way of fixing your miserable state.” Before we could say a word edge-wise, she turned and left while humming a small tune. In no time at all, she returned with two bowls of steaming hot soup and some warm loaves of bread. She quickly set down two large mugs filled with drink and handed us spoons. “Now go on and eat. When you're done, I’ll grab you both a slice of my famous apple pie,” she said in a voice that was still warm but with the commanding tone of a mother.

All the trepidation I felt was soon washed away as the first spoonful of hot soup hit my tongue. The thing was deliciously spiced and instantly made the pig bacon we had before seem bland in comparison.

A twinkle appeared in the innkeeper’s eyes as she watched us dig into the soup. Her eyes were briefly turned into orbs of green smoke. “Don’t eat too fast, or you might get sick.”

LlazyLlamaGW

I gotta say. I'm editing some of this as I port it over, and maaaan, my writing was so different back then. To be fair, it's been a year since I wrote this, so there were bound to be some changes.