Cloud Forest

"Wake up!!... HEY!!!.... WAKE UP!!" The voice of a man sounded in Erics mind.

Opening his eyes with great difficulty, Eric saw a man around 6ft leaning over him. His face looked aged, if Eric could guess he would say around 30+ years was his age. The mans wore clothing that made him look like a hunter, with light leather amour covering his chest and legs.

Standing up with a shake of his head to wake himself up, Eric at the man and questioned "Whats your problem, why are you shouting like that?" "Come with me, before that big fella comes to eat you" said the hunter while pointing towards the edge of the clearing.

A beast stood there, it looked like a bear only the size of an elephant. Its teeth were showing as it snarled while looking towards the 2 men in the clearing. The beast startled Eric as he looked into its eyes. Eric couldn't remember seeing any giant beast yesterday when he was walking through this forest. "Where did this guy come from?" Asked Eric.

"Cloud forest is full of creatures like this." replied that man like it was common knowledge. "NOW FOLLOW ME!!" he shouted at Eric.

Eric saw the giant bear run towards him. The ground shook with every step it took. Seeing the man run, Eric followed closely behind him as they ran into the forest. The small man was like a panther, the forest seemed to bend to his will. Eric was struggling to follow behind, tripping on roots and rocks he was barely keeping up. He saw a gap in the forest just ahead, a dirt path leading out, following the man out on the path he stopped. Eric was bending over, catching his breath. "What was that thing??" he said to the man.

"A Cloud Beast... We were lucky it has only just woken up, otherwise we would be dead," said the man with a serious expression. The man looked Eric up and down, noticing the blood-stained rags he asked, "What happened to you, man?? You look like shit. Come with me my cabin is just over the stream there. Ill fix you up with some clothes," Seeing the man meant no harm, Eric agreed to follow.

"Whats you name??" asked Eric as they walked to the hunter's cabin. "My name is Tyon," said the man. "Im Eric, why would live so close to the forest with those giant beasts inside," said Eric probing for information. "Ahhh, well, I left Pearlwood when my wife died. Now I just hunt in the forest and sell the carcasses in town when I need money. Also, the beasts can't leave the forest, a powerful magus a 1000 years ago cast a barrier spell on the forest." the hunter said all mysteriously.

"Here we are", said the hunter. They arrived at the cabin, walking inside a small room with a stone fireplace. Burning wood crackled and the heat of the fire welcomed Eric inside. It was cold outside today instead of the normal boiling sunshine that tortured him for the last few weeks. "The season must be changing," Thought Eric. Tyon motioned to a bench that lay in front of the fire, Eric sat down next to Tyon warming his hands. "The cold is coming faster this year" said Tyon with a worried expression on his face. Eric said nothing but could tell from Tyon's expression that the season shouldn't be changing so fast.

After warming himself next to the fire, Tyon went to fetch Eric some clothes to wear. Coming out from one room, he passed a bundle of clothes to him. "This should do you for now. There are some spare boots here. They belonged to a hunter who stayed with me last winter. Go in the back there and change, I don't know why you are in bloody rags and I don't care. Just do nothing wrong by me and you're welcome to stay for the winter. You can also head towards Pearlwood it's a quite a trek, but you can make the journey before it gets to cold to travel."

Eric thought for a while in silence while changing. He eventually decided to stay with Tyon for the winter. "Ill stay with you if that's ok, just until winter is over then ill go to Pearlwood and look for some work." Eric said with a finality to his voice.

"Thats no problem as long as you do me no wrong your welcome. But your on the floor next to fire, I share my bed with no man!!!" Exclaimed Tyon.

Tyon and Eric stayed awake till it was dark talking. Eric learned that this planet's name was Buzuno. Buzuno had only 3 factions as it was a low level world. There was the Hagon faction to the south. It was the smallest of the three, but a nephew of the Ironfire's leader rules the kingdom. Ironfire is a family belonging to one of the High-level worlds, so nobody gave Hagon any trouble. The place where Eric is belongs to the Bresal faction. They class this faction as independent as it has no connection with a big family in the higher level worlds. There is also the Magus Association that controls a small part of the world. The mages association is the largest of all the factions because it has a claim on every world they find. The Magus Association finds worlds that contain magicite and shares this information with the family's from the high level worlds. Then the family's dominate the local natives of the worlds, after the natives have been subdued they become a part of their armies and used to fight against each other for more control over the low and medium level worlds.

How Tyon knew so much about the way things worked. Eric didn't know, but he suspected there was more to Tyon than meets the eye. Eric considered a way to ask Tyon how he knew so much, but eventually gave up the idea as he needed a place to stay while he figured things out and didn't want to spoil things by asking too much. "Besides, he didn't ask me questions" thought Eric.