3 First Contact

Me: "I'm bored..."

I muttered as I grumbled to myself out of boredom.

Sure, the river and the forest all around me were pretty breathtaking at the first sight but now it's pretty much getting old; The same scenery of the river water flowing and splashing against the stones and pebbles while the leaves both the greens and dry ones from the forest rustling on each other as the wind goes by.

At the same time, here I am getting agitated with thousands of questions residing in my head...

Ok, maybe I'm being overdramatic about that but I sure do have lots of questions pop up in my head waiting for me to ask such as; "How did I get here?" or "On what purposes am I even being here?" or "WHO THE HELL SENT ME TO THIS HELL HOLE??!!".

I'm not some kind of rag doll that can be tossed around just like that!

Me: "I have feelings too, you know!"

I yelled at the sky above me in angst, gesturing my arms pointing up and wide.

Me: "Now I'm yelling at no one."

I sigh.

But that's quite an assumption I did there. To assume that 'someone' ever tried to transfer me here. Isn't that kind of bold of a statement?

How am I sure enough that I didn't come here myself and no one is involved with my sudden arrival here?

Again...WHERE IS 'HERE'?!!

Me: "Tsk, I need something to distract me before this boredom taking my sanity away and I mean ASAP!"

I thought to myself irritatedly.

Then, I look at the gauntlet on my left arm as I shrug as I've decided to play with it for a while in order to protect my sanity from shrivelling.

Without hesitation, I hit the small button on my gauntlet as a small holographic screen pops up above the gauntlet, showing a different kind of information; my current health condition, Aura flow, Aura capacity, etc.. are all being measured in numbers and percentage exactly like in the RPG game system(and yes, I'm the one who programmed it to act like the Status feature from the game I played back in my youth).

Other than that, it looks like I'm in a pretty good shape with zero injuries or casualties which I am truly grateful to get here uninjured.

Otherwise, I'll be doomed if any of that kind of incident ever happen to me because I don't even know how to do first aid.

Talk about shame, really.

Only Angie's the one who always patched me up whenever I got injured either from training or after doing dangerous missions such as fighting villains or saving the civilians from any kind of catastrophes.

Next, I pressed the [Subdimensional Inventory] panel on the screen which brings me to a window with lots of small boxes, organized by types and different sizes which filled with lots and lots of things that you could ever imagine and I mean seriously, I literally put everything in it for the god who knows what and how long has it been in there including foods, drinks, medications and clothing.

But don't worry, my inventory was called 'Subdimensional' for a reason you know.

The inventory can hold up for hundreds of loots and of course, it has limits of its own which I can't fit an object larger than a house or any living objects. Only nonliving objects have access and are allowed to get to the other side of the inventory. Imagine it as an M*necraft inventory for players.

Oh, don't forget about the time ratio between this reality and the inventory, which is accurately calculated by me as 1:1.

Meaning, that's a month of this reality equals one second inside of the inventory. Therefore, all the food in my inventory will be mostly fresh like I just walked out from a convenience store with their food products hours ago.

Pretty neat, huh?

My stomach begins to grumble as I was talking to myself about food.

Ughh.... A'ight, while I'm at it, I think I'll just grab some food before proceeding babbling to myself.

So let's see, what did I bring here with me because I still remember that one of my Elf professors from the academy gave me such a valuable piece of advice which he told me that: "Mages always prepared! Hahaha!"

...Yeah I know, he's crazy...but still good and kind at heart nonetheless.

I reach my hand into the screen as it submerged right inside of it without getting my hand passing through the screen.

I know exactly what I want for dinner and guess what it is?~

Me: "Tadaa~ Egg Filling Onigiris with Nutritious Low Sugar Green Tea! Great for a late evening picnic. (>wO)/"

A whole pack of onigiris were already being held in my paw after I pulled them out with my hand from the screen and repeat the action but this time with a green tea bottle after the next pullout.

Me: "And the most important thing is..."

I sniffed the food pack carefully.

Me: " Yep! It's still fresh just as how I mentioned it. Ahh, how nostalgic. I still remember when I stuffed these things into the inventory years ago after class. And I'll always eat this for lunch on recess with the rest of the gang. Good times."

I tear up the plastic wrapper and put it beside me and suddenly another cue of drum parade of grumbling can be heard emitted from my stomach.

Me: "Yeah yeah, I know that you're hungry."

I felt silly in my own words.

Wasting no time, I begin to wolf down my whole onigiri with one bite....pfft, get it? I'm a wolf...and I'm eating so...no?

Ok.

Anyway, as I continue eating my other onigiri sets and several chugs of my green tea, all the frustration from my hunger earlier slowly faded into nothingness and I think I'd eaten too much as I almost fell into a food coma.

Me: "So good~"

Later, as the day becomes darker and the sun slowly returns to its slumber as it sets into the horizon, the air begins to get colder and colder past by the minute.

The cold air is itching my nose but I think I'll manage.

I lay on the ground facing the river, waiting for the food to digest itself down to my stomach while peering my eyes into the beautiful bright night sky lit only with the brilliance of billions of stars with a wide variety of colours and sizes, light years away from here, from this uncharted piece of land.

Me: "Now, this is what I call peace. Feels like I'm on a vacation, ain't it?...*sigh*... If possible, I really do wish that I could enjoy this lovely moment with the rest of the gang right now."

I said those words full of satisfaction with a twist of reminiscent at the last part as I slowly close my eyes.

I sharpen my hearing senses just to hear the sounds of crickets chirping melodically within the bushes, the soothing sound of the river peacefully slides through its riverbed... and when I think about it, the water is receding much more than before since the first time I came here.

Maybe it's because it's night? Does nighttime have anything to do with the water level of a river?

I don't really know.

Momentarily enough, I continue by sniffing the air to smell the earthy scent of my haven and...

...

I gasp shockingly.

Me: "...blood."

I said with my eyes dreadfully opened wide.

I stand up in a sitting position as I turn my back around to see the forest behind me where the strong metal scent came from.

I gulped.

Me: "The smell of blood....is something I've never ever smelled before. It's not even blood coming from an animal. That's not normal, right? What's happening here?"

I glared my eyes straight into the darkness of the deep forest in front of me.

I don't know why but it seems like my body suddenly stiffens up, the fur behind my neck bristles as my body reacted by itself to whatever...or whoever is inside there.

Me: "I... I need to go inside."

I absentmindedly thought to myself.

-Minutes later-

Me: "I can't believe I'm doing this..."

A sudden complaint came out of my mouth as the urge of me wanting to get out of here as soon as possible is becoming stronger and stronger.

Walking inside the forest in the dark is nothing for a beastman especially for a predator like me. It's like taking a mere stroll in a park, except it's darker and I am sure this is definitely NOT a park.

Right now, my vision is almost like when you're wearing a pair of night vision goggles. The dark space of the forest here was all lit up as my eyes adjusted to the teenie tiniest light thus amplify it to be brighter.

I don't know if that makes sense but that will do for now(as if I'm about to explain this kind of thing ever again).

Nothing can be heard other than my own footsteps as my shoe soles scrape against the ground, crunching over the grass and dry leaves underneath.

This kind of silence in the forest is kinda disturbing, to be honest.

Later, I can smell the blood scent is getting stronger.

The scent is few metres away from here as I fasten my pace straight into the endless void not really know where or what I am going after in this dark forest.

I walk and I walk towards the metallic scent, which eventually only ended up standing in front of this one particular bush under a crooked tree and it's...

Shaking?

I stretch my arm and grab the bush to remove it to see what's behi-

????: "GRRAAAAAHHHHH!!!!"

A deep, terrifying, deafening roar then without warning boomed out through every edge of the forest, shaking the very ground I'm standing on.

My adrenaline rush quickly kicks in as I can feel sweats falling beads from the very tip of my fur including my heartbeats which gradually elevate to the level of me almost hyperventilating.

Me: "What the fuck was that?!"

I shouted at the back of my mind in horror while covering my ears shut from being deaf because of the thunderous roar that occurred just now.

I'm readying myself in my battle stance, sharpen my guard.

My eyes move wildly, monitoring every corner of my surroundings nearby the vicinity while sniffing the air to see if there's anything out there that is dangerous enough to kill me.

And I found nothing.

Later, I finally get to calm myself down by taking a few deep breaths, giving my attention back to the bush behind me and right after I landed a slight touch to it...

????: "Eep!"

It squeaked....

THE BUSH FRIGGIN' SQUEAKED!!

I was startled by the sudden squeak and leaps backwards. I gulped hard on my saliva and- Swoosh!

I kick off the bush to the side to unravel whatever is hiding behind it only to see...

Me: "....a child."

Those words slipped out from my lips with an unimaginably soft tone.

I blink as I noticed something about the toddler. A child who got unruly, black hair. His body size is also a bit bigger for a small child.

Me: "No, he's not a child. He's a boy! A wounded boy!"

I exclaimed far in my thoughts.

I walk towards the kid slowly, trying not to present any sign that would scare the child which I assume to be about twelve of his age.

I start to look at him more intently thus I saw blood gushes out from a deep flesh wound on his left leg.

Even though he's pressing his hands on his wounds to block more blood from pouring out than it is, the blood still doesn't stop or slowing down a bit as the blood eagerly gushes out more and more from his leg.

Although even if it's dark I could see the kid is crying which is probably because of the pain from the flesh wound he suffered while closing his eyes shut in terror as his body is continuously shaking like a newborn fawn.

Those wounds...looks like it caused by some kind of claws from a huge beast.

A very huge one.

The boy: "Stay away from me, you monster!"

Taken back to reality, I stop myself from coming towards near him after the boy just rudely yelled at me.

I really am confused right now. Ó_Ò

Me: "Hey kid, what are you doing here out in the forest? Where are your parents? Plus, you're injured pretty badly so let me help you, okay?"

The boy: "I've nothing to tell you and I don't want your help from you, DEMON!"

His voice was released with full of anguish but the hatred ambience was disturbed by his squirming tone.

Me: "Ouh ok. I've to stop you right there, kid. First, I'm not a 'demon'. And second, come on it's obvious. Can't you tell what kind of race I am? Don't you ever go to school, kid? It's supposed to be common knowledge for every creature of Agrian."

I chuckled playfully but the kid's expression says otherwise.

Yeah, shouldn't have made a joke like that.

The boy: "You're lying! I don't trust you!"

He continued to yell at me with his shattered voice.

The boy: "And school is for the nobles only. What are you anyway? I've never heard the name of Agrian or seen a demon like you before."

He added, sobbing while his body's trembling in fear.

Me: "Wait, what do you mean by nobles?"

The question popped out in my mind but I rather keep it to myself for now.

Wait a minute...

The way he dressed...why does his clothing look weirdly familiar?

Like someone from a medieval era; An old, brown, thin piece of clothing that very much resembles a tunic.

He looks like a villager. A village boy? Am I somewhere in the countryside?

Wait, it doesn't matter right now. Are you telling me there's civilisation here?!

That's gotta be it! Yes, looks like I'm gonna live after all!

Me: "Aight, listen, kid. I don't know what your deal is here in the forest, but I can ensure you that...I'm not a demon. I came here in peace and I mean no harm to you."

I slowly walked towards him and then he noticed me approaching him and begins to lean harder on the huge tree behind him, terrified by me.

That's hurtful. No one has ever been terrified of me before. Except for the one who tried to oppose me, of course.

Me: "No no, don't worry. I will not hurt you. Trust me."

I smiled softly, said each of my words with the most gentle voice I could ever make, in hope that I'll gain the kid's trust.

At first, he hesitated. But then, as he stares deeply into my eyes, I lend him my right paw as a sign from me to him that I'm here just want to help him and not the harmful opposite.

He raises his hand while the other one still pressing the wound. Our hands are very near, only inches from each other.

But before I could even take the chance to grab his hand, I hear a sudden rustling from the other bushes on my right, shaking and rustling energetically as huge, muscular monstrosity creatures jumping out from the bush with two massive ram horns on their head followed by much more smaller horns and bone spikes lined up from their back all the way down to their tail.

They also got claws as sharp as wolverines but instead of normal claws they're made out of sharp blades cleanly made out of steel while at the tip of their tails unnaturally assembled with big battle axes on them.

They roar again in rage just like before ready to go on a rampage.

????: "GRRRAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!"

There are three of them standing right before me and the kid a few metres away, glaring at us both full of bloodthirst with their frightening glowing blood-red eyes.

Growling and snarling like a bunch of feral....no, that's not the right word...

Savages...

Yes, that's more like it.

They're growling and snarling like a bunch of savage animals.

Me: "Oh shit..."