Chapter 3 - Following a set of tracks

This time he had no dream rather he slept warm. Before crawling out he decided to check on the meats he left in the cocoon wrapped in leaves. He counted them and organized it into four batches. As he left he took one with him and covered the entrance. While he walked to the edge of the clearing he tripped.

'Shi-.' He got caught off hitting his face in the dirt. 'Son of a, the hell was it.' Looking at where he tripped he found it was the bandaged sword.

'Wait a minute, wasn't it near the stump.' He thought to himself wondering how it got further out. It was concerning since the stump was a good few steps away and he couldn't figure out how it got there. So to make sure he knew where it was he decided to drag it back to the stump. The sword or atleast what he thought was a sword felt heavy as he dragged it to the stump. However as he looked closer he saw that the bandages had been coming off. Beneath the tearing bandages he could see the blade, it was a pitch black like an empty night sky. It gave off an otherworldly feeling almost as it would consume him…

Shaking his head he regained his thoughts and decided to ignore the sensation it gave. Now he was stuck planning on what to do, for some reason he hadn't found any other people yet which he deemed odd since such a bountiful forest would be wanted by anyone. Deciding to travel in the opposite direction from the day before he was met with the glare of the sun. Ignoring it he walked into the forest with his arrow, a spear and enough dried meat for the day. Entering the dark forest slowly he felt more comfortable with his surroundings. The dirt floors still felt uncomfortable and the small stones pricked his feet yet he didn't care and began searching for a road. As he looked for a road the forest was filled with silence only occasionally differing with the sound of rabbits running away or birds chirping. While walking, he saw a makeshift path in the forest littered with steps of what looked like a large wolf. The worst part was the branches above his head had been snapped and gave an impression whatever walked this way was searching for something. Another thing he found peculiar was how heavy the prints were, even if the wolf was large it would not reach overhead so it only left a couple options, whether the wolf was much bulkier than he'd thought or it was some kind of bipedal creature. Praying it was the former since wolves slowly gained duller senses as they got larger, a way to combat the overwhelming amount of strength they still could hunt prey easily. But if it had been a werewolf he would need to leave immediately. Chancing it he decided to travel further inwards to see what it may have been. After a while of following the tracks he was out of breath as they had gone on for a long time, he assumed there was a chance of escaping since the tracks did not have many turns or bends. Grabbing an apple from a nearby tree he ate it alongside the smoked meat, it had a refreshing taste along with the dried meat that filled his stomach and quenched his thirst.

He resumed following the tracks, whatever creature it was it had been confident enough to leave obvious tracks. Then he began to smell smoke ahead of him. His heart lit up thinking of it possibly being a settlement. However as he approached the voices were speaking in a language he couldn't understand but had felt familiar yet blinded by the chance of meeting others he moved on till he got right to the edge of the clearing. He froze, slowly he realised why it had sounded so familiar it was a tribe of goblins. Quickly sinking into the bushes he scouted them out to see the tribe. Judging by its size it may have been around thirty or forty goblins. These goblins seemed to be quite capable with racks of smoking meat and bark baskets of collected fruits. The children looked like they had been playing and the villagers seemed discomforted. He felt somewhat guilty, since looking at those goblins it looked as though they may have not been simple monsters and the trio he killed may have indeed been innocent. The thought was enough to make him feel nauseated but he convinced himself it was for his own greater good. Then setting his sights further he could see some parts near the back of the tribe had been destroyed. There was also blood everywhere which implied a battle had occurred. That's when he saw a small group of villagers returning, one had a familiar spear through his skull. It was the goblin he had killed himself.

Watching them mourning he couldn't help but feel tormented and that was when he realised the monster had attacked them. But the fact the entire village was not destroyed signified something special about the monster. The monster had attacked the village but was careful enough that they did not resort to destroying the entire village. If it was indeed a large wolf without a doubt the village would've been ravaged apart but since it was not it showed the creature must've held sentience. At that moment his arms began itching.

'Bloody hell,' he cursed in a muffled voice. Without paying attention he had brushed his arm against, poison ivy and it was unbearable. It must have been a different variant to the common weed as it made his skin feel like it was being set alight. Not wanting to be found he began running following the trail of prints backwards. Stumbling his way through the forest he needed to find a remedial herb, a common herb used in curing poison ivy. Looking around for it frantically he managed to find a small patch but that was when he locked eyes with it. A boar with it's brown beady eyes stared at him, irritated at the fact this person was disturbing it in the middle of a meal.