Chapter 6: First contact

It was now morning, when it was time for my main body and clone 1 to wake up. Clone 2 still on guard seems to falter not only by exhaustion from being on guard, but also because my mind is too overwhelmed by moving and living in three bodies at the same time.

My only option is to just let go of clone 2, the next moment she disappeared in a wave of magic.

‘Thanks you for your hard work.’

In my mind I thanked her, I didn’t wait for an answer, but something in me told me she had acknowledged her duty was done. Not paying more attention, looking quickly in my inventory, I monitor my meat condition and the rest of the fruits still in there.

My observation on this made me understand how interesting its effects were on the food. Even a day after the meat looks fresh while also not mixing itself with other things.

With it I can strictly say that its functions are really impressive. Some functions are found by accident. The first time was when I made two ropes with vines stacked by themselves when I was thinking of putting them in the same spot. The second time when putting food and thinking about a bit of space between them. Now even if they touch they don’t mix. But I can’t put something that's too unstable like water or blood in it. Maybe I need a bottle?

Thanks to that I now have a way to stock food, I don’t know if it would be useful later. My mind is a bit strange when I try to think for later, maybe I don’t need to think about it.

Now it was time to move, with the food in the stomach and now my first goal. I move in the direction of the first, maybe, village by following the river. In the way there are still animals, not in a big number, but the smaller ones are trying to multiply in any way possible.

Taking in account the tips from the Devil, I look for a way to hide my ears and tails. Thinking about different ways like with a twine, with a leaf and even some raptor skin. My only option was to make a headband with all of it for my head. It’s uncomfortable to cover my ears, and I can only hear muffled sounds like human ones. Of course I’m still used to it, but it’s like wearing ear plugs when you are a musician: you know it’s for your own good but you still want to hear it raw.

For my tail, a twine and a bit of technique without trying to cut it with too much strength and… Now my tail looks like a belt. Well it doesn’t hold anything, but I found it has its own charme. But not the same as my freedom… Free tail from obstruction! I think so, but I can’t do that… for Now.

A tad bit frustrated by my constricted tail, I followed the river looking far ahead. I now see what he told me, a little hill that would go unnoticed if you don’t look for it. Around it, I could only be surprised by things I couldn't see a day before.

Without much information, I could only rely on my eyes, my ears were a bit muffled. Looking around I climbed without difficulty, my body on the top of the tree at 4.5 m a bit tired from the climb.

What I thought all the time looked like a jungle, was a mix between tropical trees and bush of different plants in a mix. Making the whole zone more luxurious, with trees of different ages, some look really old and others really young. The other thing that made me think it was tropical is the air. It's humid and hot, I don’t know where I am nor which season we are, and I could only observe.

It looks like I’m near the coast, the river still follows for maybe 20 km and jumps into the sea. The wind is calm, blowing gently at my back. I can see rising smoke not only near the cave but also from another hill to the left of it. But the two are clearly different: Near the cave, I see several dark plumes of smoke. Maybe from multiple campfires. On the horizon, by contrast, there’s a light, white smoke, almost like a mist.

It’s past midday, and judging by the position of the sun, I’d estimate it’s about 5 kilometers north. With my good eyes I could distinguish a mix between smoke and mist. I don’t know if it’s a good or a bad sign, but I won’t tempt the devil for good faith. With the wind blowing in the opposite direction, I can’t smell anything from this distance except the humid air. Still, vegetation similar to the jungle is growing near it, more luxurious. I’m putting the idea aside for later, when I look again at the cave.

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The village was surrounded by a sturdy wall made of thick logs, sharpened at the top and tightly stacked side to side by primitive rope. At the front, a narrow entrance that lets people protect themselves against a big predator. Above the gateway stood a small watchtower, built in the same thick wood rising enough to observe the forest but also the village.

The tower itself is a flat surface with logs cut in half on it. A young man with black hair and brown eyes was on guard. I’m baffled to see them well even if I need another half hour of march to be next to them. In his hands he had javelin and at his leather belt a knife made of bones. Around, tree stumps and young trees were around the vicinity, the only way to tell it was a forest here before. It looks like this village is not half a century old. No road, no other protection, I could see the vast majority are thatch roofs, with a mix between wood and also hides to protect from the rain. Walls are a mix of between, more to make a house faster, than a safe way for architectural dreams.

‘So it’s really the stone age.’

While still fascinated by the view, I heard something that I couldn’t perceive near me while looking far away.

“Kyyyyaaaaaa!!”

Looking urgently around, I found between not far away from me a patch of clustered trees and a woman in a two piece cloth made with leather, running for her life. Brown braided hair, blue eyes and behind her.

*BOOM*

A violent sound in this paisible forest, a monster the size of a car, a boar.

It’s even more terrifying with its 4 tusks out of his mouth. And with its size and speed, break all the trees on its way. Something tells me I wouldn’t even survive if I ran at it, but I can’t let this woman die. She zigzags like a pro between the trees without slowing down, running for her life. Maybe 3 seconds were long enough for me to think of all the possibilities. But I only see two things, running away or fighting it.

My tail tried to tell me to not do it, but if I could maybe save her she'd let me take her clothes or get me some? No, I'm not stupid!

Without time to rest, I rushed down between the branches using my agile body and instinct to follow the perfect trail. My clone still at ground level follows me in the run, going at full speed with my set of spiked clubs. My target.

‘This big piggy!’

I didn’t need to plan when I now see food, but when the food is bigger, faster and stronger than you. You look for a better way than rushing it, and I run in his direction… It could work?

It didn’t take long to run fast enough to be between the woman and the big pig. My brain doesn't seem to know what to do. But my instinct told me to throw my weapon at its face, so I did it. It didn’t go far, because he was rushing at me now.

My thrown weapon pierces and embed itself into its snout by miracle. My body didn’t need to wait too much. I leap with explosive force landing 8 meters aways from his trajectory saving me from being crushed, my muscles are hot like I used it too much in one go. My leg felt like burning with this jump, but I couldn’t rest. In its charge stance, he keeps breaking another tree and finally stops, this time looking a bit more angry and a nose with blood starting to leak. Back on my legs I could only stand in front of him, weakly.

“It wasn’t me…” I’ve said with a trembling voice, the woman was of course not here anymore. She had already ran away from the danger, my headband not in place, running to the village direction.

“So this is it… I’m done playing!”

On a nearby tree out of his view my clone jumps and uses her descending force like a hammer on its head. But my effort was in vain, it didn't come through anything at all and his anger was still on me. Like a bull seeing red, paws the ground sending flying dirt everywhere and my only solution. Running! I run for my life! My clone on his back couldn’t do anything but grip its fur with full force, taking out her dagger and trying to pierce his thick neck but… nothing.

In an ultimate life saving explosive jump I could save my life a second time, but this time now my legs are sore. I’ve used my legs too fast, they are burning like hell. It radiates in my two legs, paralysing me to the weak position of being on the ground staying still to die. I try in any way possible to lift myself while my clone tries to pierce one of its eyes. But it only scraped it like bouncing, a bad joke from someone on a weak person. Feeling dejected to my own stubborn stupidity. I scream my last word.

“You son of…”

But before I could finish my last line, white light came like thunder from the left of the boar stopping it with brutal force in an instant. The force was so strong that my clone was thrown off its back. I couldn't even fathom the way to think I could hurt myself with my clone. She didn’t land on the ground, but on the arm of a man with grey hair. Green eyes and a big smile and his voice was deep, and profound.

“Are you alright Miss?”

Exhausted, I let my main body lie on the ground, looking at the boar. One thing paints the whole picture: a spear embedded in the left side of the ribs, radiating a white aura slowly losing its power. It’s a critical hit on its heart and lung, it was an instant kill. A new thing I discovered with this situation, my reaction time is faster than before and my eyes could see the world more slowly. In slow motion I could see the whole scene, my clone was slow, but that man was fast like the speed of a sprinter, maybe two times and a powerful hit.

I could only slowly lose consciousness, the world was heavier to me. And my clone fainted at the same time, a day that ended abruptly.