Wanna be friends?

One year ago

It had been a week since Isaac's hand had been impaled by what he now called 'The Hedgehog'. During this time he found out many things. 

For example, he found that not too far from his abode, there was a small waterfall which he used to hydrate himself. Granted, he almost died to a crocodile-like monster.

He also found out that the small berries which grew out of these bushes had different effects. The Purple berries gave immense diarrhoea to whoever or whatever ingested it. He found that out the hard way.

The Green berries acted as a numbing agent. After consuming it he found that he couldn't feel his tongue for a day. He figured this would be good to rub on wounds which pained him.

The Blue berries worked the same way as sleeping pills. Once eaten it would knock out the glutton brave enough to consume it for a couple of hours.

Finally, the Red berries had no effect. They were normal berries which were quite sweet and a good food source. 

Isaac could be seen sitting in front of a fire in the middle of the day, cooking pieces of meat run through by a stick. One would ask where he got these delicacies until they looked at the Wyvern and saw that it had a chunk of flesh missing from its thigh. 

He was eating the Wyvern. In his mind food was food, he didn't care where he got it from. It didn't help that the Wyvern meat was exceptionally delicious. The first time he had tasted it he couldn't get enough. He had never tasted something quite like it.

As he waited for his food to cook he looked at his hand. His hand had the leaves of the  'Miracle Goo', as he called them, wrapped around his pierced hand. After he had been attacked by the Hedgehog, he quickly applied the Miracle Goo and used the leaves as bandages.

It had only been a week yet it was almost healed. The Goo worked wonders.

However, something else was noticeable about his hand. He had slight burn marks on them. Turns out the Goo was extremely flammable. The first time he had tried to light a fire, his hand was engulfed in flames. If he hadn't collected water before that he would have been in trouble. 

This was both good and bad, as now he had an easy way to start a fire, seeing as he didn't know how to. However, it was bad because he had been in agony for a short period.

Due to this and the Hedgehog incident, he had learnt to always be cautious of everything in this forest.

While he was thinking about this he heard low growls coming from behind him. He casually looked over the Wyvern corpse only to be met with a familiar human-faced lion, drooling as if it hadn't eaten in days.

Isaac had learned of the Manticore's patterns this past week. It would come bright and early from deeper in the forest, and stay in that same spot, waiting for a moment to strike. It would then leave at sunset back into the forest. This was when Isaac would leave to gather water and other necessities. The only thing Isaac didn't know was where it was going.

Nevertheless, it would never come close to the Wyvern. Isaac knew that this small clearing was similar to a safe zone, therefore decided to stay inside it.

As he began to eat his cooked food, the sun started to set. And as he anticipated, the Manticore got up to leave. After gobbling his feast, he stood up and made his way out of the clearing. After walking for a minute or two, he came to a stop in front of a bush with countless blue berries.

As he looked at the bush for a couple of seconds, he started to collect as many berries as he could in a makeshift pouch he made out of the Miracle Goo's leaves. After a couple of minutes of collecting, he went back with a full pouch. 

He came back to his safe zone and started to carve out a piece of meat from the Wyvern. He then proceeded to smear the berries on every corner of it.

"Tomorrow. Tomorrow is the day you die" He declared as he looked in the direction the Manticore left.

As the sun started to rise, the Manticore could be seen following his normal routine and making his way to Isaac. Except for today, before he made it to his destination, he was met with a blue piece of meat the size of a forearm.

The Manticore is quite an intelligent creature. Not only did it have a human face, but it also had a similar brain too.

Anyone could tell there was something wrong here.

However, even a starving human won't listen to logic if he is presented with such a delicacy. Therefore, it bit into the meat and started to chew aggressively. After it was done, it started to look around for more. Except, when it was done, it started to wobble. Soon after it had fallen to its side, completely knocked out.

After a minute or two, the tree above the monster started to rustle, and Isaac came falling to the ground with a Wyvern scale in hand. He landed on the Manticore and used the fall to thrust the scale into its skull.

The Manticore's eyes flicked open as it stood up, spreading its wings as it roared in pain. Issac was flung off as he slammed into a nearby tree. The scale was still impaled in the beast's head.

The Lion slammed itself into the ground in pain as it got up and started to look around.

It witnessed the prey it had been eyeing for days, clinging to a tree as he got up. Only then did it realise who was responsible. 

It charged at Isaac who wasn't in the best shape, he started to look around for a way to dodge.

Suddenly, the Manticore stumbled and slammed into the ground. After getting up it tried flapping its wings and flying. However, it had the same result as it fell face-first into the ground.

Furious, It got back up and aimed its scorpion tail at Isaac, shooting it out.

But it missed.

Isaac, who had closed his eyes thinking it was over, saw this. The Manticore tried again but the same thing happened.

Isaac looked at this and realised what was going on. Not only was the creature injured, but it was also heavily drugged. It was having trouble with coordination.

Knowing this, he pulled out his second Wyvern scale and sprinted to the Berserker.

The beast tried to sting him with its tail but to no avail. 

He used this opportunity to plunge the scale straight into the Manticore's eye.

The Manticore wailed in agony as it smacked Isaac away. 

Isaac rolled onto the floor, blood dripped from his shoulder as 3 large gashes could be seen.

The Manticore rolled around in torment and after a couple of minutes, it had succumbed to its wounds. 

After a couple of seconds of heavy breathing and the uncertainty about whether or not he was going to die today, Isaac got up and made his way to the corpse.

He pulled out his weapons from the Berserker's eye and was met with a messy scene of the Manticore's brains. 

He looked at this scene, disgusted, before turning around and hurling in detestation. After he was done he looked back at the body. But instead, he was met with a bright red glow emerging from the corpse. 

He hurriedly jumped back with his weapon in his hand. After living in the forest for a week and being surprised by every little thing he was curious about, he learnt to be careful of everything.

As he squinted his eyes, he looked back at the anomaly, only to see the bright red glowing orb, hovering above the deceased Manticore.

Isaac looked at it in amazement. He knew to be wary about the things in this forest but for some reason, he wanted to touch this orb.

It's as if it was calling to him, beckoning him to come closer. And he did, he slowly approached the orb and placed his hand upon it.

It was warm. He couldn't help but feel at peace and relax a little.

Without his knowing the orb slowly started to be absorbed by him. The warm and calming nature was now gone. Replaced with a sense of strength and vigour. A feeling that made him feel as if he could carry the world. It rushed through his body like a drug and one could see his muscles contracting.

After it was all over, he saw that the orb was gone. It must have done something to him because he felt powerful.

As he tried to test this a searing pain ran through his body. He forgot about the injury he had sustained during the battle. 

He sat against the tree and started to treat his wound.

After applying the Miracle Goo and wrapping it in its leaves, he stood up and stared at his accomplishment. 

"I think I'll take the mane. It gets cold around here."

He started to skin the Manticore. With his newfound strength, he was having an easier time than he thought. Granted the reason for that could be the incredibly sharp Wyvern scale.

After finishing he saw that the mane was bloodied and unusable as of now. 

"Maybe I'll lightly burn this part so that it dries"

Just as he said this an idea came to his head. After a long debate with himself, he decided.

"I'm just going to take a look. Let's finally see where this Manticore was going."

He said as he made his way to where the Manticore had come from.

After walking for a while he came across a narrow path that led into a dense thicket of trees. Isaac's heart started to pound in his chest as he scanned the area for any sign of movement.

As he entered the thicket, the sounds of the forest faded away, replaced with a chilling silence. The only sound was the crunching purple leaves under his feet as he made his way deeper into the thicket.

Suddenly, Isaac came to a halt as he spotted something ahead of him. It was a small opening in the ground, partially covered by leaves and twigs. 

As he got closer he could see that it was a den, the entrance to the Manticore's residence.

Peering inside he could just make out the shape of a Manticores body, curled up in a ball at the far end of the den. It was a baby.

This was what the deceased Manticore came to every day at sunset. It was a mother.

Isaac was perplexed. He knew he had to kill it, but why was he hesitating? His hands were shaking as held the cold metal of the Wyvern scale.

"No, I have to. It'd do the same to me if it had the chance." He told himself.

He turned the corner and started to charge at the baby cub. He planned on killing it before it could react.

As he approached the beast, he slowed down. It was asleep.

"Good this will make it easier." He said, clearing all uncertainty from his head.

Before he could strike it down, he noticed that the cub seemed to be unnaturally thin. Almost malnourished. He walked closer, and as he did the cub woke up and spotted him.

It jumped to its feet, exposing its small wings, trying to look intimidating. 

Despite Isaac's cautious behaviour, he was not intimidated by the small feline. The cub seemed to be struggling to stand. He could see the hunger and desperation in its eyes which made it immensely less threatening.

Against his better judgement, Isaac pulled out a small piece of meat and threw it in the cub's direction.

"Eat it." He said as he saw the beast hesitating. Not that it would be able to understand him.

The cub stared at the piece of meat for a couple of seconds, before slowly approaching it and snatching it.

After devouring it, it looked up at Isaac with its big yellow eyes and started to walk towards him. Isaac stepped back out of instinct. 

"Hey now. Stay right there." He threw it a couple of more meat and watched the cub gobble them.

When it had finished its meal the cub trotted to Isaac. He was a little less cautious and let it approach him. It slowly rubbed itself on his leg as it purred.

Isaac looked at this and was silent. After a couple of seconds, he bent over.

"Hey, wanna be friends?"