Chapter 24: Adventure at your own risks

After taking care of all the precautions and safety, that his little brain could think off, Kiel set out in his own little adventure.

Stalking patiently through the woods and it's shadows, looking out for anything unusual in the area, Kiel began walking slowly down a bushy undergrowth. The grasses around him reached till his knees. There was no clear roads, only some muddy paths, likely created from the regular trails of some wild beasts. The damp atmosphere added even more to the little kid's difficulty. But all those seemed to have no effect on him, as the ground seemed ever so familiar to him.

Curving down his shoulders a little Kiel was walking in a naturally tensed way; seemingly ready for anything unforeseen or unexpected. But even after walking like this for sometime, he still didn't find anything else in his sight except the messy woods. Not even a small animal.

 Although occasional chirps of birds echoed in the distant woods, those sounds were still pretty vague. Only the humming sounds of gentle winds sounds pitched in for the surrounding silence, along with the buzzing of insects.

"Strange, why is there no one?"

As it was still early in the morning, the weather was still fresh. There were still a little dew drops on the green surface of the grass and leaves, and it made his lower clothes a little wet. So Kiel didn't feel comfortable. But, the freshness still was beautiful. So he continued his trip.

Kiel passed by many beautiful flowers strange trees. There were many places where the small insects enjoyed their honey filled time. 

As he continued walking, Kiel tried to locate some fresh animal footprints, according to his previous studies. He had learnt to distinguish them earlier, but he still felt too difficult to observe any minute changes. He wasn't sure, neither was he accustomed to how hunting really worked. And without any assistance, it was even more difficult. But Kiel didn't mind it. He just planned to enjoy his round trip this time. 

He would sometimes carve, at other times look around for clues. Sometimes feeling tired, he would sit down, rest or drink a little water and recover his stamina. Kiel didn't walk fast. He was busy exploring the richness of the woods. The freshness, the greenery and even  the small croaks in the distance all seemed mesmerizing in his picnic. 

There were even many nuts and berries filled bushes along his way. But Kiel didn't try his luck on anything, afraid that maybe it was the last thing that he tasted.

As he strolled around slowly, the morning sun began to slowly change its place seemingly tired of being in the same place for a long time, causing the deep shadows to shy away and shorten themselves. As Kiel was taking in the peaceful feelings, he suddenly found his gaze fixed at a nearby bush. About 20 meters away from him, near  scrubby bush, Kiel saw a light pink rabbit munching on the leaves and berries around. After a long search, he had finally found his first target.

Kiel's eyes glowed seeing the little rabbit. Holding his breath down, Kiel slowly and silently started creeping towards the rabbit. He even took out his bow and readied it for action, as he tried to conceal himself as best as he could.  Reaching about 10 meters away from, Kiel saw the little beast's ears perked up. 

Remembering the warnings of the hunters, and watching the now tensed rabbit with twitching ears, Kiel knew that he had reached his limit. 

Settling down, he silently fetched an arrow from his back, nocked it on his bow, and waited for the little creature to loose it's guard again . But he didn't have to wait long, as only after waiting for about a couple of breaths, it slowly relaxed and started munching again. The rabbit looked for the source of the earlier disturbance it sensed, but not finding anything, it went to its meal again 

Getting his signal, Kiel took aim at the rabbit and focused himself as much as he could. He even held his breath to not make any unnecessary movement. Pulling back the arrow, in a smooth  motion and letting it out on the little one. Seeing his arrow leaving the bow, Kiel held a little expectation. 

But as the thought passed in his mind, the arrow passed through the air and pierced the bush way off to the left of the initial target. Startled by the sudden interruption, the rabbit immediately bolted to a nearby bush.

"Oh fuck! That was way off the mark. I nearly got it. "

Kiel woke up disappointed from the ground. He wanted to follow the rabbit, but it just vanished. Finding that there was nothing else he could do, Kiel then started his tracking exercises again.

Along the way, he came to face with another three targets. Two were rabbits, and one was something like a squirrel. But he didn't manage to succeed even once, but there was no disappointment in him. Kiel already thought that he would not succeed in his first day. 

As he continued on, he noticed the blue colour of the sky being  slowly coveted by a deep shade of violet. 

"Oh it's going to be sunset soon. I should head back. Otherwise I have to have a chat with mom again…"

***

Continuing on his adventures, Kiel made it a daily part of his training to hone his basic instinct.

After about four days of daily visits to the woods, Kiel had marked a long way of his travel route. 

Today was the same as usual. Entering the forest, Kiel followed his usual route. After reaching the end of his marks, Kiel took out his arrow and began marking his new journey. But this time he had entered a different area. The trees here were a bit short. The vegetation a bit yellow, rather than the usual green. But Kiel never thought much about it. He was just intrigued by the new place.

Along the way he saw many bizarre trees and even a few small sized animals. Kiel tried his luck, but finally understood that those small animals were really agile, and he had no hopes with them. He even saw some wildflowers with such beauty, that even roses from his previous world paled in comparison to them. 

"Big sister Amber loves flowers. Maybe I should take a few beautiful ones for her. She maybe even call me Husband, pleased with my efforts. Hehe… "

Beginning his search for beautiful flowers, Kiel's gaze gradually landed on a bushy violet flower, which had a central disc floret containing many tiny green pollens, along with the numerous bushy petals. Each petal seemed to be a flower in it's own. The petals were emerald in colour and had white outer rims. The flower seemed really mesmerizing to the view. Kiel was never interested in flowers, but was really intrigued by this one. He thought of bringing it back to his mom and sisters. 

As he closed his distance, Kiel felt a strange discomfort hitting him. There was no chirps or insects sounds around here like usual and the place was a little dried up. Yet a beautiful flower was growing here. So Kiel found it a little strange. So he observed the flower a bit.

"Is this a variant of the Dancing Rye? The normal one has pink petals, while this one has emerald. And it is silent around this area. No insects too."

As he was analysing his surroundings, a  pleasant aroma reached his nose. The smell even stimulated his nostrils. The smell was so soothing that it took away any inhibitions he had in the wilderness.

Reaching closer to the flower, Kiel bent down to take a closer look at it. Not thinking much ,Kiel stretched his small hands to pick up the pretty flower. But just as he closed in, the ground around him shook a little. Kiel didn't even get time to move around more, when suddenly three enormous leaf like structures rose from the ground and trapped him inside.

The enormous leaves of the flower immediately closed up and hardened, trapping him in the middle. Kiel felt himself being crushed down by a hammer all along. 

"Crap"

Surprised by the suddenness of the situation, Kiel didn't even have time to think, when his whole body felt like burning.

"Arghhhhhhh!!!!!"

Kiel finally understood what was happening. He wanted to pull out, but was deeply restraint within. The more he struggled, the tighter the grip on him became. "Arghhh ..." Kiel panicked this time. He had never been in such a situation. He was in so much pain and he just wanted to pull himself out. But the more he panicked the clumsier his struggle became. And the burning sensations became even more prominent. Kiel wanted to put more force, but the dizziness increased more. And the worst thing was, Kiel felt like this was natural and he shouldn't struggle.

But even though he was trapped, he just couldn't give up. So he began to think and consider his options. But the burning feeling was becoming stronger by the second, so were the crushing force on him, and with it the feeling of increased dizziness. The air around was his throat growing unusually sweet and Kiel felt like he would lose consciousness now. 

 Kiel knew this feeling very well. This felt like blood clogged in his throat. It was like death was welcoming him again and the moment his eyes closed, would be the time for his fall.

 He could feel his mind becoming chaotic and his struggles became desperate. So he started using tranquil force out of desperation.

As he used it, a wave of coolness flowed through his mind. Kiel felt totally refreshed. Unlike the panic a moment before. Totally refreshed. He could now think properly. So he considered his current situation and the way to come out of it. He felt the dagger on him at his belt.

After this, he picked up his dagger and slashed on the insides of the flower continuously. He didn't even feel the acidic fluid splashing more on him. Just slash and slash on it. The stems from the veins, he slashed everything. Kiel was truly scared this time. He didn't want to lose his life here. So he slashed more, to survive, as the pressure started boring down on him more.

Not knowing how much he slashed, he felt the pressure decreasing and the flower finally opening up. Kiel was slumped to the ground suddenly. 

Kiel could not think about anything else now. He was trembling all over, covered with white juices all around. Looking at himself, he could see that his beautiful skin became black and blue and a tiny bit of his flesh could also be seen. 

"Is it dead?"

Kiel became so frightened that he just turned around and ran away without even considering anything. 

"Momma I'm scared"

As he was running and running, the fresh breeze cooled him down eventually and  slowly and he finally came to a stop. But his heart was still beating powerfully like a big drum. The nervousness on his face has still not disappeared. Kiel wanted to think that it was just  a dream. But the sweat and the burned flesh with its stinging pain reminded him that it was too true to be false.

Kiel swallowed his breath and sat down. He didn't want to think about his dreadful experience now. Just before he was enjoying his little day out, but now he had nearly lost his life. 

Now that he calmed down, Kiel started checking up on himself. Seeing that he was not hurt anywhere else, Kiel felt a little relief.

"That's not the Dancing Rye at all. It was something else totally"

Kiel could still feel his fear.

"Didn't think that it was still dangerous. The hunters said that it was safe here. Safe your ass!! Well now I have to learn more about plants too. Can't look down on even the producers here!"

Now that he calmed down, he had a sudden thought. If he was the one before the rebirth, then he would never had been so scared stiff to even panic to act. He would have thought clearly and then acted on what was the best for the situation. Rather than any random slashings at the wicked plant.

"Seems like this body is causing adverse effects on my mental strength. Wait! That means I was influenced by my body till now! So that was why would I had such deep attachment to my mother. That would explain why I had become an idiot who could only think about boobs! Sigh! Is something wrong about me?"

 But he was too distracted now to think properly even if he wanted. So he thought about going home and resting and then coming up with theories and solutions about his current situation.

Sorting out his thoughts, Kiel planned to get out of the woods. He had enough of his adventure today. 

"I don't think that I can come up here again in a short time. This will surely leave behind some sequela for this body now !! I think I should just focus on smithing meanwhile. Well whatever it is time to go back. "

Just as the idea of going home entered the mind of the little kid, Kiel started searching for his way home. But the search led to a very horrible consequence to his tiny self. It filled him with even more than the man eating flower.

"Crap… I think I'm lost…"