BrightMoon: Path of a Witch King

Chapter 3

“Petra. What the hell is that?” I asked as my palms and back started to sweat. Roughly sixty feet in front of me was a mountain lion nearly the size of a horse, it was also covered in red fur. How was I supposed to hunt with predators like this around?

“It's a mountain lion, oh and it looks like it just killed that deer. If you kill it quick then you can sell both pelts.” Once more the little light was chipper as ever with me facing mortal peril.

“Petra, I can't kill that thing. It's like three times my size!” I hissed at my guide.

“What are you saying, you are an earth spirit, your body is basically made of stone and metal. If anything that little p***y cat is unlucky, go and test your strength. Earth spirits may not be the most powerful when they are first born, but they have some of the strongest bodies a spirit could ask for.” Petra used their tiny body to try pushing me forward.

I barely felt the tiny orb, “I don't think so Petra. Let's start off with something less claws and fangs ok?” 

“Sure, but you might want to tell that to the pussycat over there first.” the little orb cackled out a laugh and flew up into the trees. I looked over to see the monstrous lion stalking towards me.

I crouched slightly, “Oh come on Petra! This is insane.” The large cat must have taken my movements as a challenge because it charged me, a few breaths and the lion lunged. I side stepped the lunge of the massive cat and heel kicked the beast in the ribs the moment it landed.

I heard a crunch and yowl of pain as the cat lifted off the ground and slammed into a tree ten feet away.

“No freaking way.” I looked down at my dark gray hands. I heard a branch break and looked back at the lion, the lion stared back at me with fear in its eyes. “Oh you are so f****d pussycat.” I taunted before I rushed at the lion. The beast turned and started to limp away, I used my newfound strength to leap into the air, I nearly over shot the feline but luck seemed to be on my side. I landed on the large cat's neck, tackling the beast to the forest floor.

The cat gave up on retreating and jumped on me, I felt the claws dig into my skin, my heart started pumping hard and I could feel the mana coursing through me. I grabbed the cat and rolled it onto its back, it managed to shove me off and climb to its feet but I jumped onto its back and wrapped an arm around its neck. I screamed as I started to strangle the beast, the lion bucked and tried to throw me off but it didn't last long. 

The lion tired quickly without oxygen, I felt the beast was nearing unconsciousness, I didn't have any weapons so I did the only thing my caveman brain could think of. I let go of the cat and grabbed the largest rock to me and started hitting the cat over the head. I didn't stop my barbaric attack until I felt the large body under me shudder.

“Well that was certainly impressive. If not horrifically barbaric, I thought maybe you would just have spears of earth come up from the ground or maybe make a pitfall. I didn't think you would bash its brains in with a rock though.” Petra commented from above me.

My chest rose and fell from the exertion but I felt exhilarated from the hunt. Petra had swiftly made my victory feel rather foolish, though I had no idea about what I could do as an earth spirit so I shrugged off the feeling.

I looked down at the lion, a smile spread across my face, ‘Being a spirit is pretty awesome.’ I thought to myself. I looked over my shoulder at the large deer corpse, the pelt was a dark gray, compared to the lighter brown from my past. 

I looked down at my kill, I was going to need something sharp to cut the pelts, I checked the claws and teeth of the lion. The claws were slightly serrated while the teeth had a much smoother edge, using my enhanced strength I decided to use my trusty rock once more. After a few good hits the tooth was knocked out of the lion's mouth.

Using my improvised dagger I began skinning both the kills, the cleaning took a little longer due to the sheer size of the beasts, once they were skinned I used some thick vines as rope to hang my kills and drain the excess blood. 

With Petra keeping me company and showing me where I could find some water I got to work on cleaning the pelts. 

“So Petra, how far are we away from town?” I asked while I scraped the fat and clumps of meat from the pelt.

“Oh not far at all, an hour's walk at most, which is lucky for you. Otherwise you would have to fend for yourself while moving all about this mountain range, though with natural survival instincts like these I guess you would be alright.” The little light spun around me before landing on a branch nearby.

I hummed to myself as I worked, using part of the deer and lion pelts I made myself a simple skirt, it wasn't pretty but it covered me well enough that I could go to town. I also wrapped a few long cords of the hide around the tooth giving it a better grip, I rolled the pelts together while wrapping up the claws and teeth from the lion in the center. Using a few more vines and sticks I was able to make a makeshift pack and bind the hides to it, that way I could keep my hands free.

“So what about all that meat?” Petra said, landing onto my shoulder.

I looked up at the carcasses hanging twenty feet off the ground, “I will come back for them after we check out the town, besides where will I stay? All I have are these pelts and those two slabs of meat, I don't even know how much they are worth.” I explained. “Now which way to town?”

Petra told me to head north west, the town was built next to a river that was used to travel down into the valley and towards the coast. I followed the instructions of my guide, I crossed the stream where I got my water and started off at a slow jog. 

I took in deep breaths of the mountain air, it was something else entirely compared to earth, not only did the air seem to be fresher but it was charged with mana. As I breathed I could now feel the small currents of mana joining with me and making my body feel refreshed.

With my tough as stone skin, I moved swiftly through the forest without having to worry about what I stepped on, the trees that surrounded me were like the pine trees back home. The only difference was that the needles and bark, the needles were a dark blue with an almost neon purple tip. The bark of the trees was a deep brown, like overly watered soil.

I left small marks on the trees as I passed, leaving a small almost unnoticeable trail back towards my kills. So far my journey to a new world was to my liking, though Petra had illustrated quite a picture of violence and from my earlier display of strength I could imagine that it was possible I was living in a time where the person with the biggest fist might be the only thing that mattered.

I followed petra for a little over half an hour before I started to hear the sound of flowing water, pushing through the foliage I was met with a sight of a small town nestled against a large river. From where I stood I could make out less than a dozen large buildings while the rest were houses and shops, though the architecture was rough it wasn't all that different from the houses built in asia. Though I didn't see any rice paper walls, though in the mountains I wouldn't think they would be all that comfortable.

The tree line hadn't been pushed back too far but there were a few large gardens being attended to outside the town's wall, though the wall wasn't a masterpiece it looked thick and tall enough to ward off most beasts. It looked like they had shoved trunks into the ground and sharpened the tips to make a semblance of battlements, though with beasts being as big as they were I wasn't sure how effective that would be.

Petra brightened up at the sight of the town, “Ok! Now no one is going to be able to see or hear me, part of being a guide and all that, that means if you talk to me they will know you are new to the surface and might try to take advantage of you. So try not to respond to anything I say or look at me too often.” Petra advised.

I gave a curt nod and started my way down towards the town. I followed the river, a few boats passed me, they were piled high with baskets and barrels. 

I wondered where the goods were coming from, I looked behind me and followed the river up into the hills, not surprised the river was hidden from my sight less than a mile from where I stood. The mystery of where the goods came from would have to wait until I got to town where I could get a map.

Only a few people on the boats or along the river gave me a friendly acknowledgement, most of them just gave me a look before returning to their own business, when I finally reached the entrance to the town there were no guards for the gate. People walked freely in and out of the town, though I had to say I was in every fantasy nerd's wet dream at the moment. 

All types of races were present; elfs, dwarves, humans all walking around in the same society there were even those animal people that were in anime and manga.

Stepping into the town I noticed that the roads were made of compacted earth, the dust being kicked up by the foot traffic made it clear that it had been a while since it rained. Looking around I saw the surrounding buildings were in a good condition, I was worried that I would walk in and see slums or civilian mistreatment.

“Over there on your left.” Petra said before zooming off to a building a doors down.

The sign above the door had a pelt and needle on it. I pushed the wooden door open to reveal a comfortable looking shop inside. There were clothes on mannequins in the center of the shop, the designs were not overly flamboyant and more practical in nature.

After a quick glance at the outfits I made my way over to the counter where a young boy and girl were going over a few ledgers.

I took off my pack and set it down on the counter in front of them, the pair jerked their heads up at the sudden sound.

“Sorry about that, is this the place where I can trade some pelts?” I apologised for spooking them.

“Of course! Let me go get papa, Elo watch the shop.” the little girl responded quickly before hopping off her stool and running into the back.

“Thank you for coming into our store, if you could unroll the pelts so our papa can examine them that would be appreciated.” Elo said as he put away the ledger. I smiled and started unrolling the pelts on the counter, I placed the teeth and claws off to the side after unrolling both pelts.

A man and the little girl came out from the back room just as I got the pelts ready. “Good morning, my name Gola, it's a pleasure to meet you. I heard you were looking to trade?” Gola, the store owner I presumed introduced himself with a smile. The man looked human, though he did have green hair.

“Likewise, and yes I have a few pelts I was looking to trade.” I motioned at the pelts on the counter.

The man walked up to the pelts and started his examination, Elo and the girl followed their father and made notes as he spoke about the pelts. After measuring and checking the quality Gola came back to me, “With the quality and the great work at preserving the pelts I would normally offer three silver cubes each but since there were a few cuts taken off I can offer two cubes and four disks each.” Gola gave me his offer while pointing out the cuts I had made.

“The deal is good, though you should ask for clothes made from the material and take the change.” Petra said from above Golas head.

I nodded towards the shop owner, “That's a good deal, however I am in need of proper clothes, can I trade the pelts for the work?” I took Petras advice and made my proposition to Gola.

The shop owner smiled, “Of course. Though you will need to bathe before we take your measurements, Ela and Elo will take you to the back where you can wash off.” Gola said before giving the kids their instructions. Elo and Ela came around the counter, the young girl looked me over before running to the shelves and picking out some clothes while the boy motioned for me to follow him. 

The family run store was a nice change compared to the mega corporations back on earth, I followed Elo to the back of the store, we came first into the shop where the pelts are worked on. There were two other rooms in the back, one was a fitting room, and the other was a bathroom with a large wooden tub in the center.

Elo led me into the bathroom, I watched as he extended a pipe from the wall that came above the tub, he pulled a lever and water poured out of the pipe and into the tub. Elo came over and watched the tub fill up, a few minutes was all it took before he turned off the water. 

The young man ran to a stone box in the corner of the room and grabbed a pair of metal tongs, using the tongs he pulled out of the stone compartment a large glowing stone and dropped it into the tub, a few more rocks were  placed in before he grabbed a wooden grate which went right into the tub.

Ela came into the room and placed a set of clothes on a stool, she gave an adorable bow before exiting the room with her brother.