I spent another two days in the village. It was an odd time, as I said no words to anyone at all. I set up a tent about a hundred feet from the main part of the village, and only visited to refill my water and pick up firewood. For the most part, I spent my time sparring with the various cacti and trees. I wasn't exactly sure whether or not I was getting any better, as the vegetation didn't fight back, but I was certainly getting stronger. When I wasn't sparring, I went around and picked berries from the bushes, stripping them of their valuable narcoberries to use in tranquilizers. On my third day in the village, I walked to the well to find it blocked. A wooden circle covered the well, and I got the message: my time to leave had arrived.
I visited the elder one last time that afternoon, and he pointed me in the general direction of the Blue Village. Although keen to get on my journey, I realized I wasn't quite ready to venture into the wilderness with just my meager weapons. My first step in leaving the village behind was to move about six miles away, where I stopped outside a natural well of water. Instead of a tent, I used thatch, wood, and fiber to build a moderately large shack. Not exactly sure how long I'd stay there before taking action, I decided to prepare for the long haul. My daily routine usually consisted of hunting in the morning, collecting resources and berries around noon, building structures and things to help in my private war in the afternoon, and then planning and sleeping at night.
It wasn't until my tenth day in my new home that something interesting happened. I was hunting as usual in the morning, but I'd strayed slightly farther from my home than usual. After skewering a jerboa through the eye with an arrow, I heard a low growl behind me. Slowly, I turned around to find a remarkably large dire wolf crouched low to the sand, fangs bared, and looking at me the way I looked at cooked raptor. I nocked in arrow to shoot my foe when I heard another growl behind me. I quickly assessed the new situation: there were two dire wolves immediately behind me, and one in front of me. As long as I stayed still, they seemed cautious, so I didn't move a muscle as I plotted my course of action. With my plan ready, I acted swiftly.
Fast as lightning, I launched an arrow through the body of the wolf in front of me, then dropped my bow in favor of the razor sharp sword at my belt. As I spun around, I yanked my sword from my built, smoothly slashing the throat of the second wolf that launched itself at me. The third wolf was already on its way, and I couldn't get my blade up fast enough. Heavy paws thudded against me, keen claws tearing into my shoulder. As the pain washed over my body, something else did too. A rush of strength and adrenaline coursed through my veins and threw the wolf from my chest. I rocketed to my feet and drove my blade through the heart of the beast. As celebrated my victory, pain shot through my shoulder as the first wolf snarled and sank its teeth into my shoulder. I screamed and fell to the ground. The jet-black predator howled and attacked me again, my gleaming silver arrow still sticking out of its chest. With my left arm basically motionless, I pounded my fist into the area around the arrow-wound. The wolf yelped, and I took the opportunity to grab my sword. I rolled out of the way and let out another scream as my decimated shoulder touched the ground. I slashed at the beast before me, tracing a thin line of blood along its side. The wolf took a step back, its haunches raised, then turn and ran away into the desert.
Suddenly woozy from blood loss, I collapsed onto the ground. I chanced a look at my shoulder, and almost died of revulsion. A rather large portion of my shoulder was missing, and I imagined I could see part of the bone. Grotesque tooth markings ran along the edge of the injury. I was shocked I hadn't passed out yet. In fact, I wasn't even bleeding that much. Sure I was woozy, but I should've been dead after enduring my injuries and fighting like that. But even as I watched, my veins glowed incandescent red again, and the wound slowly began to knit itself back together. Muscle and sinew, skin and bones reconnecting, stretching out across the wound and stitching together. I can only imagine what I must've looked like to anyone watching. As the process completed, I checked my chest for the claw-marks the other wolf would have left. Not surprisingly, those wounds were gone too.
My guess was that whatever energy I'd absorbed from the artifact in the village, it changed me. And so far, I was liking those changes. Apparently my regenerative abilities only kicked in after combat, however, because it sure as hell hurt when those wolves attacked, and my wounds were certainly opened while fighting. Which meant, unfortunately, that I couldn't rely on my superhuman abilities to protect myself. If there had been even one more wolf, or something stronger had attacked, I don't think I would have made it. I needed help; I needed an army.
