Downpour

It was wet. It was damn wet.

After a 3-hour long downpour that turned all but the most unyielding dirt roads into pits of mud or even downright rivers, quiet dripping from the wet leaves and the lack of thunderous strikes breaking the darkness of the night, had finally marked the return to peace and quiet here in the outskirts of Hunter's Heaven.

The deepest parts of the forest were mostly flooded, due to it being in an unevenness of the terrain that brought the water from all corners of the roads surrounding it, down to the middle.

It was this phenomenon that actually provided the region with so much fertility but in cases of an extreme deluge like the one that had just occurred... Well... let's just say that it will take some time for things to return to normal in Hunter's Heaven...

Naturally, such a disaster would have certainly destroyed that poor hovel in the heart of the woods, were a certain pair of individuals made their home...

And that was exactly what happened. Nothing remained. Everything was 1.5 m underwater right now... Wood planks, pieces of paper, chunks of meat and some hides floating around... All gone, in a matter of minutes...

'This is what happens when you come to live in such a place... No matter how beautiful or peaceful... Mother nature will always find a way of taking back what its rightfully hers.'

This is what a drenched Alexander was thinking as he made his way further and further away from were once stood said hovel... His destination? Whatever remained of the closest road or path, that could lead him out of this green territory, and out to the world...

There was nothing left for him to do here, and, if there was to be a 'right' moment for him to go on his way, this would assuredly be as good as any...

It's not like he could have used his nonexistent climate manipulation abilities to protect Jennie's and Lou's stuff. He grabbed whatever basic provisions he could and put into a venison hide pouch.

All the materials he had been reading through up until a couple of hours ago, were obviously all gone...

Luckily for him, he had already memorized whatever he thought of value to him and had a rough idea of what, where, and how, he was going to do regarding his near future...

All in all, things were working out for him. He wouldn't dare to complain, considering he had come out of this forest with valuable knowledge, his physical health mostly restored and some items.

He didn't care too much -if anything at all- for the home and possessions of the ones who had helped him... This didn't mean that he was completely indifferent about them, especially the girl, but he wasn't really bothered by this either...

He had barely spent any time with them after all... And at the end of the day, they were just a couple of strangers to him.

This may sound cruel in a sense, considering they saved his life... but he had given it some thought...

Truth be told, moments before his standoff against the demonic wolf -or rather the 'cursed wolf'- he believed this realm to be a paradise... All that natural beauty...

But he was quickly proved wrong by the good ol' harsh reality and was even more convinced after his 'scholarly sessions'.

This was a cruel and unforgiving world... And in such a world, it would be foolish to hastily trust in the first people that were nice to you, regardless of the circumstances...

Be quick to trust, be quick to suffer.

This was a lesson Alexander learned too late in his past life...

Considering that so far, this world had yet to prove itself to be any different from his old one, in a way he felt like he had never left his own world...

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A group of 5 adult men, of different ages and ethnicities, were gathered around a small fire they managed to put together on top of a dead tree stump, by the side of the road. The less-flooded side of the road, since it was right next to a downhill turn that led towards a certain town...

Whatever green there was yesterday was now either mud or mudded rainwater. The men were wearing makeshift raincoats with whatever pieces of cloth they had. They weren't cloth merchants, but -rather unfortunately for them- weapons dealers...

"Who would be dumb enough to start trading weapons around these parts of Labal anyway??!!" -Shouted reluctantly the youngest of the group.

A white 20-something years old guy with an uncut black beard and a slightly below-average face. His complexion was average and his becoming on the humbler side.

"Shut up already, would you Narr!

We're f*cked up enough as it is, for you to start b*tching for the Nth time!"

A black man of similar characteristics tried his best to reply, without throwing a raging fist towards the gut of the complaining individual.

The other 3 guys remained silent, putting their hands as close to the small fire as they could, drowned in their own thoughts. By silence the agreed with the annoyed black man, and the oldest one of the group -another black man with a gloomy look in his eyes- merely gave Narr a small glare.

The 'just shut the hell up kid...' glare.

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Narr got the message loud and clear, a finally shut his annoying trap, allowing the rest of the men to devise a plan out of this mess.

Their merchandise was mostly done for and was taken by the current an hour ago... along with their cart... And with it, most of their food and money...

They barely managed to get their ox disengaged from the cart, and used it to get out there.

Hence, this was their situation...

Quite the disastrous occurrence, that rain was...

With the roads flooded and nowhere to go except -that- town... But they couldn't go there...

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Suddenly, and as if an answer to their mental question of 'could this get any worse'...

"HEY!!"

The five men immediately turned their heads to the origin of the voice...

A man on top of a horse accompanied by another 8 men on foot, proceeded to speak, now that he had made his presence acknowledged by the dispaired group...

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING SO LATE ON THIS ROAD???!!!"

It was clear to them that he was not asking, but rather, recriminating their action of... trying not to freeze to death... They -were- in the middle of nowhere, soaked to the bone and with nothing but their campfire...

"Excuse me, Sir, but I don't think we ever got your name?"

The oldest man in the group, of around 50-something close to 60, said with an expression quite different from the one he had a moment ago as if he had seized an opportunity. One of aloofness and politeness...

"HMMMPH! You scum think you deserve proper formalities?!" -The mounted man snorted in reply.

"Why don't you get that stick out of *ss, before you dare to speak like that to the Doctor!!!"

Yep, you guessed it, that was the not-so-smart Narr talking...

"Hahahaha, all right, we don't have time for this...

Kill them all and do it quickly, we have to get going!"

The mounted guy commanded his armed lackeys, and they promptly started to ominously draw their swords, and walk towards their soon-to-be victims...

The other 3 men of the merchant group just didn't know what to do now... Meanwhile, the one regarded as 'the Doctor' remained with an unimpressed look in his face...

They may have been weapons dealers, but by no means would they dare to call themselves warriors of any kind...

But still, with their lives on the line, they understood that it was kill or be killed...

They found it very hard, nonetheless, to meet their aggressors in combat... They stood frozen for a few seconds...

The men in front of them looked the part of some type of soldiers, after all...

Would they even present them with the slightest difficulty? -They thought.

Whilst the rest were succumbing to panic, and without any more than a moment of hesitation, the black man that spoke against Narr's complaining led the charge.

"I certainly won't die like this!!! Will you??!!"

Taking a small dagger hidden inside his toolbelt that ran across his shoulder down to his hip, he brought out the remaining men.

They were cornered and scared, but they weren't going down without a fight!

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