75 Fer Lei Lak Ovarak

A few days passed by before everything inside our new hut was completed. Me and Shelly had a nice bed lined with fur gathered from our hunts. We also had some meat stocked up, but with Shelly's appetite, we were bound to hunt more.

Throughout the whole hut building process, the weird dream that used to haunt me, didn't appear. I even forgot about the whole thing, since we were preoccupied with our hut. That was until the dream returned, and reminded me of a hooded figure draped in black robes.

The dream was a bit different though. Clearer, and wouldn't repeat itself like last time. Though the words spoken by the mysterious figure were clearer, they still sounded like gibberish to me. "Fer lei lak ovarak. Therak devorak, eres therak pheres...", as the dark figure spoke, a sudden headache took over my thoughts. I still couldn't move, nor could I stop the figure from speaking. This felt more like a nightmare rather than a dream.

Suddenly, blackness enveloped my eyes. Once my eyes opened again, I was back in my bed. I wasn't only hungry, but sweaty as well. The temperature of the hut was decent, and wouldn't make me sweat so much. "What... The... Fuck...?", I questioned my sanity. The first few words spoken by the figure were deeply embedded inside my mind. I could remember each word spoken, and even the way it was spoken.

"Fer... Fer lei lak ovarak...", I spoke the words as if trying to figure out what would happen. Nothing happened though. No consequences nor benefits, these were simply words of some sort of ancient language. My thoughts were disturbed by the growling of my stomach. "I'm afraid of what's to come... If this continues... Maybe I'm really going insane?", I quietly questioned myself and grabbed some food.

Shelly woke up a while later, of course unaware what happened to me. There was no need to explain and potentially make it worry, we simply ate our breakfast as usual. After eating and exercising a bit, we left the hut in order to stock up on meat. Especially since my appetite was growing, while where it'd stop was anyone's guess.

If we encountered a small groups of animals, such a boars or wolves, I'd let Shelly sort that out. Otherwise, we'd hunt together. Neither me nor Shelly were fussy about the food we ate, I learned to eat pretty much anything thanks to Rand and his people. Shelly on the other had ate anything anyway. We managed to get our hands on a few wolves and a few boars. No bears roamed around as far as we could see. 'I don't care if it's the normal bear, but those variants a bit too much to deal with'.

I collected a lot of meat, and we also took all the fur. Though it wasn't as tough as the silver bear's, any sort of fur was useful. Whether for bedding, or for staying warm during winter hunts. Happy with our spoils, Shelly immediately asked me to cook the meat upon our return. "You know I need to roast this anyway, right? We can't have mounts of raw meat laying around, it would spoil. Are you really that hungry? I saw you taking bits and pieces while I was working on the carcases", I said before taking out some meat to grill.

Shelly complained as usual, and even assured me that my roasted meat was better than raw. 'Heh, that little glutton. Not that I mind. If Shelly eats so much, it means its growing. I'm not going to complain about a stronger Shelly', I thought while looking at the happy expression on Shelly's face.

The rest of the day past rather uneventfully. I focused on my training with the Art of Stealth, while Shelly worked on its senses a bit. The night wasn't uneventful though, the same dream happened again, and again after a splitting headache I woke up in the morning. To me, it was only an instance, yet a whole night passed. There was a difference that time, I didn't wake up in cold sweat.

The next few days passed, and that damned dream would haunt me another three times in a row. The weird thing was that each time, it would get better. The hunger wasn't as severe as the first time, and the splitting headache turned into just a headache. Perhaps the difference wasn't that great, but this meant improvement.

That wasn't the only difference. The daily routine of training brought some results as well. I even suspected the dream wasn't as severe due to the exercises, not anything else. I felt stronger, and more flexible due to the pose from the diagram. Moreover, getting through the forest and obstacles became a bit easier. My body got used to the environment, and to some extent I was able to chose a better route while running.

Shelly saw some improvements too. Being blindfolded pretty much everyday, allowed it to pay more attention to its surroundings. This was good news for me, I didn't have to be on edge all the time. Shelly was there to take some of that burden away from me during the night, or our hunts.

Like that, the winter arrived, and with it the pure white cover of snow. Our hut had plenty of wood for fire, while the temperature inside remained warm. Animals were a bit tougher to find though. A lot of them became less active during the winter, albeit wolves were exception to that rule. We didn't have to worry about bears either, since they were a rare sight during winters.

All seemed to be perfectly fine, until one evening we heard a commotion outside. I got up from my bed to check it out, but the weather outside was exceptionally bad that night. Strong wind hurled the snow in any direction it so desired. The visibility wasn't great either. "What's causing such a commotion in such a blizzard?", I asked myself quietly. Shelly joined me at the door to have a look, but we couldn't see anything.

"Probably some wolves trying to hunt something for supper. Let's get inside....", before I managed to finish, a faint grunt came from within the forest. "Argh! No!", this time it wasn't just a grunt, but a struggle of a person. That was not my business, even though that might sound cruel. I was in no position to stick my nose into other people's business. Who knew, I could be next for trying to play a hero. With that in mind, I closed the doors.

I heard a few more shouts, but then it got quiet again. Except the raging winds and snow, no more cries could be heard. Not until a while later, when I heard loud footsteps coming towards us. "Shelly, be prepared for a fight. If they attack us, kill without remorse", I said quietly and got off the bed. If they wanted to mess with us so badly, they'd pay a price.