Chapter 21: Hurt
Zac only knew pain as he pushed forward through the forest, not even knowing if he went in the right direction. From all directions he could hear roars from different beasts closing in. His consciousness was hazy, and he only moved on instinct by now. He had been fleeing for a while since being forced to run from the roars in the forest. He had only had time to yank the mangled hatchet out of the Herald’s eye socket before using the little cosmic energy he had to speed away.
A crash was heard to his left and a barghest bounded toward him to intercept his flight. He intuitively tried to dodge but his feet did not listen to his commands, and he fell over. It was lucky too for Zac as the demon dog flew straight over his fallen form.
Zac numbly got to his feet and continued on. Soon the barghest had managed to run around and came toward him again. The scant cosmic energy in Zac’s body circulated as he suddenly turned toward the demonling and with a growl swung his mangled hatchet down in a mighty overhead arc.
The strike hit clean on the beast’s forehead, slamming the maw closed and its head into the ground. The power was so strong that its thick cranium cracked and both blood and brain matter covered the axe. The beast was stopped right in its track and lay on the ground convulsing
Zac had no time to finish off the beast as a movement in his periphery made him instinctively swing outward. The axe head hit a dark shape and elicited a pained yelp. It was a Gwyllgi which had planned to take advantage of the fight and strike a finishing blow at his head. Unfortunately for the hound, this had happened dozens of times by now and a response had been engraved in Zac’s subconscious by now.
The Gwyllgi fell down, likely with a few broken ribs from the impact of the axe. It had hit the beast with its blunt side, but with Zac’s power and cosmic energy such a strike was still lethal if positioned correctly. Zac wasted no time and finished it off with another swing down on its head.
The physical exertion worsened his wounds even more, and he suddenly puked out a mouth of blood with chunks of something else.
But he didn’t stop. Zac drudged on almost like a zombie, felling any foolish oncoming beasts in an eye-for-an-eye type of disregard for his own body.
After either a few minutes or a few hours the onslaught of demons had ended, a familiar sight jolted his almost dormant consciousness awake. It was a large oak standing solitary in a glade, with an assortment of flowers strewn across the ground. The sight gave almost a spiritual impression, like the oak was a spirit tree of some woodland elves.
And more importantly, this tree actually represented salvation for Zac. He shakily put his axe into his belt, and started to slowly climb the tree. His left arm didn’t quite respond, and he had to arduously move upwards with his right arm and legs. On a normal day he could be at the top of the tree in seconds, but now it felt like climbing a mountain.
He had completely run out of cosmic energy, and it felt like each cell in his body had been completely wrung out. Every movement was powered by force of will rather than anything else.
Finally he was roughly five meters above the ground, and crawled up on what looked like a plateau. It was three sturdy branches that grew in a close proximity in a row, with the middle branch grew slightly lower. They had together had formed almost an enclosure. Along the branches there were vines wired to make walls and flooring, and finally some cut of branches full of leafy growth had been placed around to insulate and hide the enclosure.
It was one of the many camps Zac had created over the last few weeks. Every time he found a tree, a cave, or some other natural formation that could be turned into a secluded resting stop he had stopped and turned it into a camp.
One never knew when one had to hide from beasts or wouldn’t be able to get back to camp, so he had prepared these as a precaution.
Zac slumped down on the blanket of leaves that were placed on the middle branch and dragged out a bottle of water placed next to the trunk. It had been placed by him there when building the hideout. He greedily drank half the bottle before the pain in his ribs simply stopped him from continuing. Finally he could take it no longer, and drowsily closed his eyes and passed out.
He spent the next few days stuck in the tree. For the most part he had slept, as he had problems staying awake when he was so utterly drained of cosmic energy. His amulet helped, but it seemed it would take a few days for him to recharge.
Even though he had survived, it did not feel like a victory anymore. The glorious feeling from right after the kill was long gone. He was incapacitated from pain and blood loss, and even with his high vitality it would take time to heal. His left arm was broken and possibly a few ribs as well, and the large gashes that crossed his whole back felt inflamed. Every time he moved different parts of his body screamed in protest, and he could only helplessly stay in the tree.
It was first after three days that he felt strong enough to get ready to head down. He could actually move his arm somewhat, but he wouldn’t try putting any force on it yet.
By now he was ravenously hungry, and couldn’t wait to get back to his camp. He hadn’t left any food in the small tree hideout, and had actually resorted to eating leaves and acorns the last two days. He had no idea if it was poisonous, but it felt like he had no options. Since his body had gotten stronger from the system he also had to eat a lot more compared to before. That’s why the food he and his friends had prepared had run out in only one week instead of two.
It was with a tinge of bitterness he prepared to get back. The three day convalescence unfortunately meant that he had failed in his goal, as the deadline of finishing within a month passed yesterday.
He still had two more heralds to kill, and also the general which he still hadn’t seen. He could only hope that he had been paranoid, and that nothing bad had happened now that a month had passed. He was however quite disappointed that he might have missed out on some extremely powerful building awarded for a quick completion of the quest.
Zac guessed that he would find out during the coming days, and it was no point to ruminate over it now.
He slowly got down from the tree after making sure no beasts were in the vicinity and started making his way back towards his camp.
Zac tried to glean if anything had changed on the island since the deadline had passed, but he could find no indication of that happening. The two suns still shone in the sky, and the malevolent pillar of energy from the incursion still glared in the distance. It did seem to have intensified somewhat, but Zac wasn’t sure if it wasn’t just his imagination.
The oak he had stayed in the last days were close to the edge of the island, in the western direction, and it would take a some hours to get back to his camp.
This time he walked carefully as he felt he was in no condition to fight any demons. Especially not if they had gotten empowered even further.
His axe was for all intents and purposes now simply a blunt weapon after the herald had slammed down on it. Killing monsters now would require a higher energy expenditure than before as he couldn’t simply bleed them out with a quick swing.
So it was with great care Zac made his way through the familiar forests until he suddenly heard rustle in the bushes ahead.
He immediately crouched down and hid behind a tree and some bushes while trying to see what lay ahead. After a quick glance he almost instinctively got up and shouted out to get attention, as what he saw was three people slowly making their way through the forest.
Luckily he managed to stop himself in time as he noticed a jarring discrepancy; the people had horns.