Chapter 10: The Lay of the Land
Looking at the surrounding terrain, he decided not to go too far today. While he'd love to sleep in a bed, he didn't think heading out halfway through the day to find things he had no idea how to find would be wise. He'd seen what the night brought, and while sleeping through the evening had somehow made him physically well the two nights prior, he didn't want to test the limits of that. His goal for the moment was to find, and try his hand at defeating, one of those slimes without allowing it to seriously injure him.
Walking to the top of the large series of hills straight out from the front of his structure, he intended on using this new vantage to see what he could see while listening for the tell-tale sounds of a passing slime. As he crested the top however, a light breeze surprised him with a crisp cool edge that seemed out of place in the otherwise warm weather. Closing his eyes, he let himself just enjoy the sun and gentle breeze that rustled the leaves and danced through his ruined hair and tattered clothing. He allowed his mind to just wander for the first time he could recall since waking up two days ago.
What brought me here? He idly asked himself, though he had no answer. Try as he might, he was unable to remember a single thing before waking up to Guile's smug expression. And the strange thing was, it didn't really bother him. There was no sense of loss, no desire to recover whatever was before… nothing. His only real concern at this point was whether or not he'd be able to face a slime and walk away unscathed. There was an underlying desire to sleep in a bed, instead of on the floor… but that was it.
That, actually bothered him though. He was sure this was something else that the Magic of the Land had done to him. It was clearly capable of getting into his head… so where did it stop? It was hard to imagine that he'd just been dropped into the world full grown, carrying nothing but the clothes on his back. So why didn't it bother him more? Chuckling a little when he realized that he was worrying about not worrying, he was also glad that he was able to actually chuckle about that. It was nice, even considering the discomfort, to have a few moments where his largest concern was his lack of concern. Taking a deep breath before adding his breath to that of the hill's, he let himself just be...
*Shlorp, Plop, fTchsh*
He snapped back to the now. He'd been lost enough in his thoughts that as he opened his eyes, he was surprised to note that a blue colored slime was bouncing his way.
*Shlorp, Plop, fTchsh*
Pulling the wooden sword out, he tried to figure out how to let his weapon help him by taking a few practice swipes at the air between him and the slime. As he was just barely cognizant for his first fight against a slime, he really wasn't able to contrast how the weapon handled in comparison, but he felt like it was better. As he swung the weapon, he tried to imagine it cutting through the slime with each swing.
*Shlorp, Plop, fTh..up, fTchsh*
His sword, swung in a downward slice, connected with the slime midway through its jump, its mass folding over the blade before sending it bouncing backwards. He hadn't intended to swing it quite like that, but it worked. Stepping forward, the blade seemed to move on its own as he continued his assault with an upward slice that connected with the slime's next jump. With his next step, he could feel the sword thrum as he connected with the slime in an angled cut that tore through the things membrane and showered the area with its slime.
The sensation of winning a battle that not too long ago would have torn him apart was invigorating, like a cool breeze for his already growing confidence. He looked around and was actually disappointed when he didn't find another slime nearby. The remains of the slime had quickly melted into the earth, and all that was left of his victory was the sense of triumph he felt. Reaching into his pouch, he noticed that there were also two more gels as Guile had named them. It was a little unnerving to have things just show up in his pouches… not that magical pouches that held an unnatural amount of things was that "Normal" as a matter of fact, even the…
"No!" he shouted to the trees and grass, startling a few little white birds out of the branches. He was moving forward. There was a lot that he didn't understand, but he had been doing good at going with it. Taking a slow deep breath, he closed his eyes and listened to the sound of the trees swaying in that crisp breeze, and let his concern ride the currents away from him.
Opening his eyes, he looked around from his new vantage, and decided that the view would be better from the top of one of these strange bob topped trees. Evaluating the selection at the top of the hill, he settled on the tallest of the copse and moved to climb it. Standing at its base and looking straight up the clean trunk, he didn't really know how he was going to get up there. While trying to figure out a potential solution using his pickaxe to assist him in climbing, a better idea occurred to him. He was almost wary about its origins, but decided to stop that train of thought.
Pulling a piece of wood out of his pouches, he lifted it over his head and placed it beside the trunk. Pressing it towards the tree, the wood narrowed and widened enough that he could use it as a step. After widening, the wood fastened itself to the tree, much like the torch had fastened itself to the wall of his structure before. Testing the strength of this step by hanging from it, he wasn't so sure he trusted it to hold all his weight, even though it was supporting him hanging. For a test, he placed another piece of wood nearer to the ground on a slightly different face of the trunk, low enough that he could climb up and stand on it, as much as he could given its limited surface. It widened and fastened itself just the same, and also had no problem holding him up completely… even when he tried testing it by bouncing on it while holding onto the trunk. It didn't so much as flex.
Climbing from the first step to the second, he carefully put another piece of wood up and onto the tree back in line with the first step, and then climbing on that, another over his second, so that his steps were zig zagging up the tree. This made it rather easy for him to use them as foot and hand holds as he scaled the large almost featureless tree. Reaching the top, he decided to try building out from the final step. Placing a second piece of wood adjacent to the last step, it widened and fastened itself seamlessly to it, forming what amounted to a small platform protruding out from the tree. Climbing on this, he decided to add two more pieces of wood along each side giving him enough room to stand or sit comfortably without worrying too much about falling off.
From his new vantage, he could see farther than he'd initially anticipated. The hill opposite the side he'd climbed plummeted abruptly into a sheer cliff that dropped unceremoniously into a lake. So smooth and perfect was the crystal blue water that he could see through to the bottom on the end nearest him. Further out the lake deepened, eventually taking on a shade of blue that he was at a loss to define. Further yet, the lake began to lighten in its color until it was softened by a thin veil of ice that was covering it, which then led to his first surprise.
While the air and environment on his side of the lake was more or less warm, and very green, the other side of the lake looked as if it was the middle of winter, complete with a gentle snowfall filtering out from the darker clouds he'd noticed peeking over the hill before. Snow so thick he couldn't imagine its depth blanketed the ground, and beyond the thin veil of ice on his side, the water touching the opposite bank was completely frozen over. The change was dramatic, and more than just a little unsettling. This explained the breeze he'd felt before, but that did little to console him. Looking beyond the bank, he saw a landscape ravaged by the snow winding and hopping along with a deepening darkness that carried darker clouds and heavier snow the further inland it got, eventually obscuring his vision completely.
Looking at the sky, he noticed that the clouds hung statically over the far bank. The heavens it seemed had drawn a line that the clouds were unwilling to pass. As if in petulant protest, the clouds responded to this invisible barrier by keeping a steady snowfall that edged out over the water a little bit with a playful breeze that did nothing to disturb the water's surface. The entire scene gave him a chill that had nothing to do with the temperature.
Turning his gaze, he looked to the right of the hill from where he'd climbed, and saw nothing new in the lower landscape that eventually became a marshy wetland with a thick covering of trees in the distance. To the left it was also the same, nothing new, rolling hills that grew thick with a heavier tree off in the distance before eventually climbing into the mountains. Back towards his structure however he could see further beyond the clearly visible building into the roughly hewn chasms that gouged the landscape.
The terrain was certainly erratic but even more than that, it seemed to take on impossible structures. Small chunks of land were isolated, seemingly suspended in space, from the rest of the land in several places. As the sun was further along he couldn't see into the chasms, the shadows played with the shapes making it difficult to really tell if he really saw what he thought he was seeing.
Far out into the distance beyond the ragged earth was a darkness that seemed to be deeper than the sun's shadow would have warranted. It was too far to make out any anything else, but just looking at it made him uneasy. There was something visibly wrong with it, that much was apparent even at this range. Shaking it off, he decided that he'd seen enough for now. It was probably time for him to head back.
Climbing down the tree, he didn't think he'd have time to really do any more exploring before night crept up on him. He did happen to hear a few more slimes nearby, which he was sure he'd have time to hunt. Heading off towards the noises of their passing, he did miss the well dressed gentleman stumbling around through the woods in a daze.