Ch. 7 Perish

Entering the hut, the Perish stumbles over to a workshop and begins grinding some herbs together. Kaz watched her and stayed silent. He was not sure what to do next. Being in an unfamiliar world gave Kaz a lot of questions. He did not want to let her know he was from another world just yet. He was not sure if she would believe him or what she would do.

Taking a seat in one of the chairs in the hut, Kaz continued to watch her silently. She seemed to know what she was doing as if she had done this many times before.

"Is it common for you to be attacked like that?" Kaz finally asked. Perish continued grinding herbs and did not look at him.

"Of course, bandits and hunters occasionally stumble upon my hut and decide that I am better dead than anywhere near them." She sighed quietly and began mixing in a strange fruit to the herbs, grinding it down into a red and green paste. Applying the paste to her wound, she let out a sharp yelp and winced at the pain it caused her. Standing up, Kaz walked over to her and extended his hand out in an offer to apply it for her.

She gives him a back-off stare, but Kaz stands his ground. He grabs a chunk of paste and looks at her calmly. She watches him and looks shyly awake before extending her leg out to him.

He gently applies the paste making sure to cover the entire area. Getting a closer look at it, he can tell that it needs more than that to fix it. He finishes applying the paste and takes his backpack off. Shuffling through it, he finds what he was looking for—the half-empty red potion.

"This should help with the healing process." Handing the potion to Perish, she looks it over and sniffs it. Her ears perk up as she smiles a little.

"Where did you manage to get one of these?" She asks, surprised, and excited.

"I found it after defeating some adventurers. It looks useful, so I kept it." Kaz said, careful with how he phrased it.

Happily gulping it down, Perish's wounds began to close up immediately. They were not completely healed, but they were much better now. Kaz was surprised at just how effective the potion was.

She looks at him and grins.

"If it were full, my wounds would have been completely healed. You are a lifesaver, Kaz. What did you say your goal was in life?" She looked at him with a new light. She was much friendlier now and seemed cute when she smiled.

"I am looking to rebuild my clan. A group of humans destroyed it. I managed to avenge them, but now I am all alone." Kaz tried to look saddened by his loss of comrades, even if he didn't know any of them. It seemed to work cause Perish put her hand on his shoulder and shook him a little.

"Well, you're not alone anymore. I will join your clan. Not sure how much help I will be, but I hate seeing the humans constantly walking over us monsters." She smiled again, Such a pleasant smile. Her fangs glistened in the light through the windows. Her white and grey fur seemed to shine like a well-kept coat. Kaz liked his new companion and was happy not to be alone anymore.

Feeling more comfortable around her, he decided to ask her some questions. "Where exactly am I? I am from this area."

Casually Perish answered his question. " We are in the human-controlled lands of Artim. I am surprised you made it here without knowing that. You are smack dab in the middle of human lands."

"If it's so dangerous, why do you stay here?" Kaz responded curiously.

"I didn't have anywhere else to go." She looked at Kaz with her big blue eyes. "Until I met you, that is."

Kaz began to blush a bit. This was weird. She went from utterly hostile to damn near flirting with him in a matter of hours. He was not sure what changed her mood so suddenly, but he was not sure he liked it. He cleared his throat and continued asking questions.

"Where do you think the next best place to go would be? Do you happen to have a map of the surrounding area?"

"Of course, it's a little dated, but it has kept me safe from human towns for years." Perish limps over to her desk and grabs the map inside it. She unravels it onto the table, and they looked it over.

"We are in the western part of the forest. To the north and east are human villages, and to the south is a wall that separates the human settlements from the monster ones. No monster can pass the walls without being attacked. So most monsters stay on their side of the wall. Unfortunately for us, that means staying on the side that wants to kill us."

Kaz looked over the map and saw their predicament. The only thing he could think of would be to try and sneak across, but he knew full well it would not work right now. The only course of action he had was to get stronger and try to survive.

This sucked! Why was he reborn into such shitty circumstances? Maybe Xora would have some tips on what to do next. But he was not sure if Perish would understand what he was doing.

"Perish, do you know what magic is?" He figured it would be the best way to describe it to her. Perhaps it was not too uncommon to cast spells in this world. He did fight a mage, or at least Xora said it was a mage. She never threw any spells before she died.

"Magic is dangerous and scary. It can do strange things to people who chase after it. Why do you ask?"

Well, that answered his question. He was not using Xora in front of her.