Desolate Mage: A Legend Reborn!
/ Desolate Mage: A Legend Reborn! 172 Life
As he rested, he tried to ignore the ring on his finger; the spatial storage artefact that was nothing more than a useless silver trinket at this time. No matter what he tried, without sensing the mana and flow of the world, he could not for the life of him make the wretched thing work! And as such, he was left penniless, resourceless and unarmed, dressed only in the rags that remained of his normal garb...!
He recapped what he had seen so far in this land that was assuredly not the landscape surrounding the Ancient Slith Sect or any mapped territory of the Wiarno Kingdom.
On the macro scale, there were not many differences observed - the sun still rose in the east and was now beginning to descend on the west. He saw traces of trails frequented by animals as he waded through a stream; making sure to quench his thirst but also not to make himself bloated on water. The greenery was also familiar and not queer - though he was no botanist and could not put a name to the plants around him.
He did cautiously pick out some safe-looking fruits, nuts and berries, at least safe as far as his limited knowledge of plants could tell. As he thought back towards the bitter, sour or woody taste of the food he had foraged, he winced - the taste was something that left much to desire. However, he soon found his body craving more of it and kept his eyes peeled for more sustenance. he would need it if his sojourn were to end up a prolonged one...
All in all, everything in this world was normal! So painfully normal that his encounter earlier felt like an odd, hazy dream... Or more like a nightmare in the deep of night...
However, he winced in pain as he could feel the numbness set in to the bite-wound on the right side of his lower back. There was no mistaking that this was real... Without magic to heal himself or medical supplies, the best he could do about his wound was to try to cleanse it in the stream; an experience that he had to grit his teeth and tough out due to the shocking pain.
After traveling for 3 hours at the rather slow pace of roughly 8 kilometres an hour - a pace he judged he could maintain for another day or two if he could forage enough fruits and berries - Lars' eyes perked up and his heart leapt within him as he caught sight of a trail of smoke rising yonder in the distance.
He was glad - thus far he hadn't been able to find any traces of people or establishments, not even any small villages or outposts! His heart had been sinking with every minute that passed when he could not see any traces of intelligent life - his worst fear was to be stranded in the wilderness far from any civilisation and end up unable to return home in time... Or return home at all...!
He quickly cast his gaze about and found a tall tree that looked climbable and scampered his way up it's trunk, making haste as he was desperate to find civilisation, shelter, information and, most importantly, knowledge and safety in this horrifyingly deadly world...!
And not just deadly. It was also the quiet that put him on edge. Not the quiet of his surroundings, but the fact that he could not sense Kizorik or Velzash around him anymore.
Peering over the horizon with his unaugmented, unenhanced normal human vision, Lars thanked the gods that he had perfect 20/20 eyesight, for if not for his perfect vision, he would not have noticed the wafting smoke. Now, seated atop the tallest tree in his surroundings, he managed to catch sight of where the trails of smoke were coming from, a reasonably large town!
Rejoicing within himself, Lars did a quick mental calculation and estimated the distance to be roughly 40 kilometres due north-west from where he was located - roughly 5 hours more at a steady pace.
'Let's see... Based on the time right now... I should reach there... Shit... Three hours past nightfall... Dammit!!! I'll have to brave the open wilderness at night in this dreaded land... I DO NOT want to find out whether that thing was just afraid of sunlight... Shit, SHIT!!! I've gotta move faster!'
Not stopping to think any further, Lars speedily clambered down the surface of the tree's trunk then hopped off for the remaining few metres, hitting the ground with a roll, then bursting into a run immediately after.
As he ran at a moderate pace, one that he could maintain for several hours, a chill traveled up his spine when thought about the terrifying existence that seemed to defy reality and the laws of the universe that he knew.
There was no time to waste... Not if he valued his life... And his sanity!
* * * * *
Lars had one thought as he raced through the woods, this time headed south-east, at odds with his original intention and his destination that was due north-west from his current location, about 10 kilometres away.
Just some minutes ago, half an hour past when the sun set, a niggling sense began to settle into Lars' gut while the hairs on the back of Lars' neck and arms rose.
Apart from the gnawing hunger in his stomach and the weariness in his lambs, he didn't see anything, couldn't hear anything or smell anything out of place in the woodlands he trekked through. But he could *feel* something in the atmosphere - a stillness, a quietness in the woods that was not there before.
While he was greatly disquietened by the quiet - pun intended - he was also glad of one thing - he was able to identify the source of the crawling sense of danger he detected, and it was not of the supernatural sort.
But that did not mean he was safe, which was something he would have much time to ponder later as he ran for his life from the pack of six goblins grunting, yelping and hunting him down!
*Zzztt!!*
'Dodge!!!' Lars felt his muscles burn as he forcefully threw himself to the side mid-run, feeling a sear of pain scrape across the right side of his torso as he barely avoided the goblin archer's shot - an archer that had been lying in wait separate from the group of 6!
His body hit the ground roughly, scraping his skin further as he hurriedly bounced back to his feet. He thanked the heavens for the relatively good footing as he managed to get back to speed and keep a lead on the pursuing goblin hunters.
And for the first time in his life, Lars was sent running helter-skelter from a pack of low-leveled goblins...!
* * * * *
After nearly an hour of fleeing, Lars felt that he had lost his pursuers. Just to be sure, he made a sharp turn to the north-east, veering off the path of escape he had traveled along thus far. Then he went another few kilometres before he came back to the stream he had crossed earlier.
Without wasting an iota of time, he carefully dipped his entire body into the water to ensure his scent and trail was wiped away. As he did so, he took great care to keep the noise minimal and not to leave any traces of his passing.
Then he crossed the waters further upstream, once more taking care to choose only stones as his footpath and then began to slowly trek upstream, still as fast as he could, but much slower as he was now focused on staying discreet.
As the adrenaline from the hectic chase began to subside, Lars found himself panting and shivering and his strength begin to wane. He resisted the urge to just find a tall tree or secure place to tide through the night and pressed on, not wanting to stay out in the wild for the night.
'What a travesty it is... Hah, how useless I am without my mana and blood energy... Without a weapon to defend myself, I doubt I could fight even 3 goblins... Maybe if they didn't have an archer, but with that sneaky hunter lurking in the shadows, I'd not last even 5 minutes...' Lars sighed. He felt weak and vulnerable, cold and helpless - a far cry from just a day ago when he had, in the glory of his powers, crushed two Legendary-realm powerhouses at the same time!
Right now, he couldn't even face weak goblins who were barely as strong as a normal adult...!
The only thing he was glad for was that he had still not seen any signs of that *thing* in the cave...
He shivered once more, this time unsure if it were the cold or something else and sighed as he continued to trek onwards, following the stream north, hoping that the roaming goblin party was just a stray group. For he feared that they were just a small part of a larger encampment and dash his hopes of reaching the town he had spotted...
And as Lars forced himself to continue on by willpower, he pushed away the dreadful thought that, maybe, the goblins were headed for the same destination as he... Perhaps for a raid against the town...
'Perhaps that was where the smoke originated...!' Lars eyes flashed and his pace picked up with even more urgency.
He had to get there fast...!
...And in one piece.
Chapter end
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