Chapter 2: New Beginnings

(This chapter was uploaded on Friday 12/January/2024 8:00 PM, timezone GMT+3)

('1), ('2), ('3), etc. means that there is some explaining for the thing in the notes at the end of the chapter.

"..." small moment of silence

"Talking"

"He-" Someone was interrupted.

'Thinking'

[Skills' names, chanting, spell keys and spells' names]

(PoV)

(Flashback)

Don't shy from commenting on typos and/or inconsistencies. That and/or suggesting a modification to certain things that didn't make sense to you.

I hope you enjoy reading this chapter.

(Line Break) (Henryk's PoV)

'Help him find happiness!' 

What? Who are you, exactly? I don't recognize your voice. 

There was no reply. 

I see, I may have been dreaming. 

Now that I think about it, I should be dead. Why do I feel like I'm breathing like the living do? Those who're dead don't actually breathe, do they? 

"Piee!" A beak I recognized pecked on my forehead. 

"Fey, have mercy" I whispered, my voice crisp and devoid of hoarseness. 

That shouldn't be the case. In my last moments, my throat was clawed at by that damned bear. 

Thankfully, I don't feel my warm blood running down my neck and shoulders like it should. In fact, I feel as good as new. It's as if I just awoke from a nightmare instead of dying. 

But the fact that I'm slumped against the trunk of a tree, just like in my nightmare, sends everything crashing down. I can feel my bow in my left hand and my quiver strapped on my back, pressing against the trunk of the tree while staying in its place. 

...

Norman, I hope that what I saw was simply a bad dream and nothing else.

"PIIEEE!!" The pecking grew more intense. I could also feel the breeze created by Fey's fluttering wings.

She doesn't peck me with the sharp end of her beak, at least.

A wet, slimy tongue slithers across my face as I'm still lying there with my eyes closed, attempting to wake me up.

Okay. That's it. This sensation's far too real to be a mere dream or the afterlife.

I opened my eyes to be greeted by a different forest from the one I was used to. The trees were a lot smaller than the enormous trees that my eagles nested on. The color and texture of the bark and the individual tree's thickness in relation to height, these're all trees that don't belong in my family's forest.

Let's look on the bright side. The eagles had been taught to survive without me. They should be able to look after themselves, I hope.

Norman, on the other hand... No, let's not dwell on what happened to him for the time being. With an injury like his, he could reach a hospital and get treated in time.

First and foremost, I must consider how I will survive. When I get back, I'll go check up on him. 

"PIE!!" Fey gave me a headbutt for ignoring her pecks and the subsequent lick.

"Hi! You playful little demon!" I scratched the skin beneath her beak. She enjoys the sensation, as evidenced by her remaining motionless and accepting the scratches with clear delight.

"Should we scan our surroundings?" Because it wouldn't be wise given my current circumstance, I didn't act on my panic.

Losing your cool in a forest, no matter how safe it appears to be, can be fatal. Animals can tell when a potential prey's scared or panicked. That's an easy meal for them.

First, I checked myself. Ignoring what I was wearing for the time being, I noted that it wasn't just my throat injury that had vanished from that nightmare-like dream thingy. There were no traces of crusted blood anywhere on my body and clothes. And, to my dismay, a good number of my scars have vanished without a trace. 

I was astonished, bemoaning the loss of my badges of honor as both a survivor and a hunter. Still, I felt comforted by the scars that remained. Many of them were covered under my sleeves. 

I then realized that I wasn't wearing the shirt I usually wear on hunts. It was my everyday outfit. 

The quiver had enough arrows in it to last me the entire day. If I was careful, I could keep them in good enough condition to use tomorrow and the days after that. 

My bowie knife is sheathed and attached to the straps. My firearm and ammunition, however, were missing. If an unexpected situation had arisen, that weapon would've come in handy. 

I was wearing my heavy-duty trousers and boots. They were pristinely clean, even though my previous ones had begun to show signs of wear and tear. This isn't a good sign. 

The weather was pleasant. It felt a little like the weather in my family's forest. Although it was a little colder, it was only a gentle breeze, not a howling gale. 

Fey got on my shoulders as I stood up to survey my surroundings. It's a good thing I cushioned two footholds for her talons. I wouldn't want her to accidentally stab my shoulders with those sharp talons. 

Fey's a particularly huge harpy eagle, at 1.3 meters tall. (That would be 4'3.18'') 

She's a little mischievous, and she likes to annoy the crap out of people for fun. She was also the member of the convocation('1) that was closest to me. Given that she's the only one who was raised solely by me, it was expected. 

I went to check on them after seeing that her biological father had stopped showing up anywhere for a few days. I was saddened to have discovered the mother eagle dead on her eggs. 

The fact that one of the eggs was broken pained me.

I gently scooped the other one and provided it with ideal hatching conditions. When the egg finally hatched, I met this amazing girl. 

She was a glutton from the beginning, always tweeting and pealing for food. She was also attached to me. She was the only harpy that broke into my cabin, and it was for the sole purpose of waking me up and eating breakfast with me. The others went about their mornings without me. 

Let's go back to the forest where I woke up. I definitely need to concentrate harder. I wouldn't really profit much from talking to myself right now. 

"Piie" Fey let out a short, barely audible cry while spreading her wings and pointing her beak in a certain direction. There must be something there. 

I ducked behind bushes to observe the thing that set Fey's senses off. Fey, on the other hand, flew soundlessly to a tree branch and perched there. 

What I witnessed was unnatural. 

A diminutive, green humanoid stood there looking about. It wore worn clothes and had a primitive stone dagger in its hand, smeared in the dried blood of its last victim. 

My stomach didn't turn or churn at the sight of blood. I was used to skinning and butchering animals for myself and the elderly eagles who couldn't hunt by themselves any longer. 

What made me uneasy was that I recognized this green humanoid with a bulbous head as a goblin. In the world I lived in, those things didn't exist. I'm in another world if this was real and this thing actually existed here. 

I hated every bit of it. I'm forced into a world where monsters exist, away from home, and I can't be sure of the safety of my one and only buddy if what I witnessed in that nightmare came true. 

I noticed another goblin emerge from the thickets. It was holding a wooden club, most likely a branch yanked from a random tree. For the moment, their heads were turned away from me. Taking advantage of the situation, I pulled out my bow and shot an arrow through the side of one's head, which went through its brain, killing it. 

*thud* It fell to the ground with a thud. 

The other goblin, the one with the club, swiftly whipped its hideous face in my way. 

It charged at me, which provided an excellent opening. 

"Fey, tackle, fly" Fey swooped down on the thing, tackling it to the ground. While the goblin attempted to strike Fey, she had already flown out of its reach. 

I stabbed my bowie knife deep into the back of its head while it was preoccupied with Fey. It was unable to let out its cries of pain. Even before it reached the ground, it was dead.

Since monsters exist, I need to know if their bodies are worth anything to me as the hunter. 

I sliced open its skull and carved its head, but nothing was there beside the brain. I then opened its ribcage by pulling on its ribs, snapping them. Then I carved around the heart and found a purple crystal the size of a fingernail. 

The goblin's body poofed into dark grey ashes the moment I removed the purple crystal from its chest. For the time being, I've attributed it to the logic of this world. It may be possible to determine the cause of this later on. But, for the time being, I should keep moving. I'm curious if there are any human settlements on the outskirts of the forest. 

I turned to face Fey and saw that she had retrieved the other goblin's purple crystal and was carrying it in her beak. 

Did she notice me and try to act like me? No, it isn't what's important right now. I have to stop her from swallowing it. We have no idea if they're edible. 

"Fey, give" Fey looked at me as if I were a thief who stole children's snacks. After that, she raised her beak. 

"NO!" I pounced at her, reaching for the purple crystal in her beak with the tips of my fingers. 

In response to what I did, she flew away onto a tree and swallowed the crystal there. 

Her eyes briefly became vertical slits as she froze in place. Those slitted eyes shifted to glance at me, preparing me for an attack.

Eyes like these aren't an eagle's. 

"Pie!" After a few seconds of staring at me, Fey's eyes reverted back to normal. She closed her eyes and produced a joyful peal, flapping her wings. 

I might need to make sure she doesn't eat any more of them. What happened there wasn't pleasant. I don't want her to be consumed by whatever that was. 

I placed the other crystal into the pouch. Sadly, the pouch was empty. I usually keep some other items in there, but I couldn't find anything apart from two rolls of bandages and some disinfecting wipes. 

I'd been living in a forest for over a decade, so I knew how to avoid becoming stuck in endless loops. 

The first thing to notice's the sun's position and direction. If it rises, the direction is east, and if it falls, the direction is west. However, the obvious flaw in this approach was how long it took to determine whether the sun was rising or setting. 

The time it takes using this strategy isn't ideal, even if I climbed the trees to get over their dense foliage. 

Marking the trees on one side and moving that way would be the next best thing. Take another look at the mark you carved into the tree if you think you may have deviated from the path. Once it becomes almost invisible, mark another tree and proceed in that manner. 

Using the markings on the tree trunks as my guides, I moved in a straight line and crossed my fingers. 

After a while, we came upon what appeared to be bipedal dogs. Standing just slightly shorter than the normal person, they were larger than the goblins. (Kobolds had an image in the manga that showed them to be close to Bell's height, at 165 cm, or 5'4.96'') 

There were perhaps five of them. You never know if another was hiding somewhere nearby. 

They were clutching wooden clubs, and one was wielding a crude stone dagger. 

"Fey, harass" Fey would begin attracting their attention while I sniped them from cover. 

*Twang* The sound of my bow's string rang in their ears. It drew the attention of two of them to my location. 

*Twang* I sniped one of the two who turned to face me from my hiding place in the shadows. It barely avoided it, but it found itself bending into the course of my strike. 

I went into action as soon as I saw it try to dodge the arrow. I ditched my bow in favor of my bowie knife. The one which dodged my shot was injured by the edge of my knife. It irritated me when it managed to put some distance between us. At the very least, the arm carrying the club was injured. 

The other one flanked me and swung its club. It was clumsy, but it struck me in the side. 

Judging by the pulsating sensation, this'll undoubtedly result in a bruise. 

I caught this one by the head before it could get away. A fast knife to the neck, and it was dead. 

The one with the wounded arm was already up and wielding the club even sloppier with its left hand. When it charged at me, I kicked its right side as hard as I could. It staggered.

I used the opportunity to pierce the thing's skull with the point of the knife as it dropped to the ground. It killed the monster by going straight through its brain. 

"Agh!" My side suddenly burned with pain. While Fey was dealing with the other one, I looked at the one with a crude dagger digging into my side. 

I grabbed its hand by the wrist and chopped it off with my knife.

"Grruh!!" The thing's right hand was now a stump that it was nursing. 

I drew the primitive dagger out of my skin slowly and cautiously. Although it left me with an open wound, the adrenaline temporarily dulled the pain. 

I choose to end this encounter before tending to the wound. It was simple and easy to kill the monster as it knelt in anguish. 

I ambushed the remaining one, which was still with Fey. It made a glass breaking sound when I stabbed the knife into its back. Another thing I noticed was the sensation of it. 

It appears that I struck the crystal near its heart, reducing the monster to ashes, just as it would if the crystal was carved out after death. I'll look for answers later. 

I made the mistake of tending to my wound first. Although that might appear to most people to be rational, it was anything but. Fey had enough time to consume three of the four intact crystals thanks to that. 

Fey was motionless like before, her eyes slitted as she stared at me. 

"Fey" I called out, desperate not to lose my daughter. 

This appears to have been sufficient. Calling her name brought her back to normal. But that didn't erase the memory from my mind. Those crystals, whatever they are, aren't safe to consume. I'm gonna stop her from eating another one if I could. 

The next group of monsters, a couple of goblins, were a good distance away. I simply sniped them from the shadows. I avoided getting discovered by slightly changing position after each shot. 

I grabbed both corpses and dragged them away from Fey this time. She objected, most likely upset because what she thought was a food item had been taken away from her. 

"PIIEEE!!" Fey objected by spreading her wings wide and loomed over me while I was kneeling to keep her away from the corpses. 

I noticed my hero, a rabbit, out of the corner of my eye. 

"Fey! Rabbit!" I told her so enthusiastically that she turned to look at the fleeing rabbit. 

"PIIEE!!" The unfortunate rabbit didn't go far before Fey caught up with him. 

"Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!" She dug in as soon as she got a hold of it, devouring it alive.

The rabbit made a lot of noise. It was their signal that a predator was nearby. 

I turned away and stopped listening to the poor creature's agony-filled cries. It was prey, and its predator was eating it; nothing out of the ordinary. Unfortunately for it, I couldn't end its agony since Fey was cautious of me taking away her meal, as I had done with the crystals. 

"For some reason, goblins are easier to deal with than wild animals. And those dog-like monsters are only a threat if I underestimate them or get ganked by them" I grumbled to myself. Shouldn't it be difficult for a normal human like myself to hunt a monster? 

(Line Break) 

After a few hours of walking, the sun began to set. It's getting close to dusk. Fortunately, we reached the forest's edge. 

"Finally, we're out of the woods!" I exclaimed, stretching my arms in a t-pose to feel the fresh air to its fullest. 

"Pie!" Fey performed a small dance with her wings. She relished the cool breeze. 

That's a human settlement, maybe. If they were humans, I should visit their settlement. See if I can convince them to give me commodity, or whether I need to survive in the wilderness, searching for food from sources that may not be safe to consume. 

I decided to wait until the next morning. 

As darkness falls, they may become more wary of me and Fey if they see an unfamiliar man and an eagle covered in blood. 

I found a tree with so many leaves that monsters would've difficulty seeing me. While Fey stood on a nearby branch of the same tree, I climbed one of the upper branches. 

"Good night, Fey" I say as I strap myself to the branch with my quiver's straps. They were long enough to tether the sleeping me to the tree. If I fell off, I'm sure they'd snap beneath my weight and the pull of gravity. But it also means that I'll feel the same pull. It'll wake me up, and I might be able to catch myself before hitting the ground. 

With an empty stomach, I closed my eyes for the night. 

I'm hoping they'll at least agree to tell me where I can get food and water outside of the settlement.

I was also hoping for some sort of remedy that I could afford. I don't want to go into the forest again while my midsection's injured. That'll make certain movements more difficult, potentially trapping me in a position that could worsen my injuries. 

And, not to forget, Fey's been patient with me today, but she remains a wild animal. I'm unable to predict her next move unless we find another prey she can eat like that rabbit.

(End of Chapter)

'1:

Colony/Soar/Convocation: Collective nouns for eagles.

(Line Break)

So, that is it. For those of you who came here after reading the other version of the story, tell me. How do you see this as the first couple of chapters? Are they better than what was in the other version?

Have a nice time, ladies and gentlemen.