Volume I: Chapter VI: Man's Best Friend:
Ugh! When am I going to find a fish in this stream?! I haven't seen one in days! I hope I didn't accidentally kill the entire fish population here. Since I haven't found any fish, I've been mainly eating whatever small animals came my way (which were mainly squirrels and sometimes king fishers that would occasionally fly by).
"Whatever, I guess." I think to myself with a defeated sigh. I was starting to get tired of fish anyway. So, you know what? I don't care. In fact, I needed a break from fish.
Anyway, it's been about thr— what was that?
I jerk my head toward the stream in response to the noise of what sounded like something hopping out of the water and landing back in. I look around frantically, yet completely focused, with an intense look in my eyes and a stone-faced expression. After a few seconds of darting my eyes around the bank of the stream, I find it.
(Gasp!)
A fish! A fish! Finally! I haven't found one in this stream for days!
I can't let this one get away! I pull out one sai and follow along the bank of the stream to stalk the fish while also hoping that my stomach doesn't rumble and scare it away. The thought of my stomach rumbling possibly scaring it away makes me wonder something: can fish even hear? Anyway, once I get confident enough, I take aim with my sai and beam it at the fish. I land a direct hit as the weapon impales the water-bound creature through the side and pinning it in place. I've noticed that I'm starting to get better with my throws since I started trying to conserve my remaining ammo. I pull the fish out as it thrashes and flails around, desperate to escape my clutches.
"Sorry to have to do this to you, little guy." I say to the fish with sympathy in my voice. "But I haven't had fish in a while and I'm also starving, sooo..."
Without finishing my sentence, I proceed to swing the fish as hard as I could against a solid rock that was sitting on the bank, instantly killing it and then begin to prepare it for lunch. The first thing I do for preparations is I use my mother's knife to saw off its head and then scrape the blade against its body to remove the scales. I then make an incision down its stomach and proceed to open it up and remove its insides. After I take care of that, I bring the dead fish over to the stream and hold it in such a way so that I can wash it out and clean it off.
After that, I look for and gather a few twigs and sticks lying on the ground or break some off a few nearby bushes as well as grab some stones lying around near the stream so that I can make myself a small fire. After the fire's been made, I take a long stick and skewer it through the wound of the fish and hold it over the fire to roast. Once I feel it is finished, I bite down on it and eat, making sure to steer clear of the bones. It would really suck if I came this far just to die from choking on a fish bone. It tastes alright. Not bad. Not great. Just alright. At least it's better than starving though. The reason why I prefer to catch and eat fish over other animals has nothing to do with a preferred taste, but more it is because I personally find it easier to prepare and less tedious.
Now where was I? Oh right!
Anyway, it's been about three days since my fight with the colossus. My side still really hurts from when it threw me during the fight and it makes it a bit difficult for me to breathe and move around, so I've been trying to pace myself these past three days. Also, when I was bathing yesterday, I couldn't help but notice that on my side, there was a large bruise on my hip area just above my thigh and another not as large, but still very noticeable bruise on a section of my ribs. I honestly have no idea how to treat this kind of thing so I've just been soaking in the cold water when I take a bath and trying to take deep breaths. I still can't tell if it's working or not. Maybe I'll be able to get proper treatment at Oniyuri. But hey! At least I can still eat though. After finishing my lunch, I get up to scoop some water to put out the fire and then continue on my journey.
A few hours of me following the stream pass until I begin to notice that the water is starting to get faster and rougher and the terrain is starting to become rockier and is starting to form a bit of an incline. Something tells me I may be approaching some rapids. They're not too bad though since the area I'm in isn't that mountainous and is still a bit forest-like, but I should still be careful not to fall in. I decide to stick to what I'm doing and follow along the rapids while staying a good distance away from the bank.
After spending some time following the winding, snake-like waters, the rapids eventually began to straighten out and reach a bit of a "calm" area. In the distance, I could hear another loud distant noise that sounded like rushing water. Another waterfall? I didn't somehow go in a circle did I? Who am I kidding? There's no way. Making sure to pace myself, I briskly jog up to the sound of the rushing water hoping that I am correct to doubt my suspicions. When I got closer I noticed there were a lot of sun rays shining in through the leaves of the trees, which caused me to partially shield my eyes so I didn't get blinded. Maybe I didn't go in a circle. Whatever it is I'm coming up to, it seems like it's a very open area. When I get closer to the waterfall, I begin to hear something else. It sounds like...seagulls and crashing waves?
I jog up ahead and I am instantly greeted by a large vertical drop (that I almost ended up running right off of until I stopped myself just in time) as the large waterfall poured out from the top of the cliff and into the sea or bay or gulf or whatever type of body of water I'm staring at right now.
"What?" I say out loud in confusion.
I thought this stream was supposed to lead me to Oniyuri, so why on Remnant am I standing at the edge of a cliff?! I've been following this thing for over three weeks now! Was following this thing nothing more than a waste of time? What's going on?
I look to my right and I see a long shoreline with a very large hill just behind it. Hmm. Maybe I can climb to the top of that hill so I can get a view of the surrounding area and get some kind of idea regarding where I am.
I walk along the edge of the cliff while being wary not to step on any loose ground that will send me crashing into the water (and probably some jagged rocks) should it collapse under me. The ground gradually levels off more and more underneath me as it forms a steady downward incline and I eventually reach the end of the cliff and step onto the beach of the shoreline. As I step out from the tree line and into the open area I begin to feel the full effects of the sun's brightness today as I once again shield my eyes from the rays. For once, I actually wish for there to be a few clouds in the sky for some shade. Oh well. At least the beach itself makes for a bit of relaxing atmosphere—more specifically the crashing waves, which I find to actually be pretty therapeutic to listen to.
Where I am currently standing, it's still very rocky, especially near the water. There are even a few tidepools there that gradually increase in quantity (but more spread out in distance from each other) as they go down the shoreline. Maybe I can find some food in them like a crab or two or maybe a small octopus if I'm lucky enough. The length of the beach seems to stretch for a very long, undeterminable distance. I can't even see the end of it from here. From the beach to the hill behind it, I see it gradually gets grassier and grassier as the ground just eventually becomes normal soil that begins to make a steady upward incline to the peak.
As I walk along the beach for a bit, I begin to notice some indentations on the ground causing me to crouch to get a better look and inspect them. Animal tracks. Hmm. They look canine. Too small to be a fox. Too big to be an adult wolf either. Maybe it's a pup? Or maybe a really big coyote? If I had to guess, whatever it is, it's probably about as tall and big as I am. I let my gaze follow the tracks and as I look down the shoreline, I can see what is making them: A creature with dark grayish fur. Although I can't tell exactly what it is, one thing I can confirm is that the creature is without a doubt canine. I move down to some of the tide pools for cover and use that cover to get a closer look at the creature.
It doesn't look to be a grimm despite its fur appearing a bit dark, but more of a grayish shade as I've noted earlier. Also, when it's in the sun, I can see there are some spots of golden brown all over its body, but that is probably most likely due to how the sunlight hits its body. It's pretty far away, so I can't really tell for sure, but that is what I am ruling since that's what seems to be most likely. It also looks to be very malnourished— almost like a walking skeleton. I'm still having trouble making out exactly what this creature is. And honestly, I'm starting to not care anymore because whatever it is, one thing's for sure is that I'm starting to get hungry again. Perhaps I can make dinner out of it. The sun should be setting soon anyway. I shouldn't have to worry about making too much noise when I approach it since the crashing waves should be able to cover any possible noises my movements make.
As I make a move toward it, it suddenly stops and begins to turn toward one of the tidepools to get a drink of water. Now is my chance. But I can't get too close to it though or it might notice me and run. I'll have to use one of my bullets and make it count. From where I'm standing, I am about 50 yards (45.72 meters) away from it. I might need to get a bit closer. I stand up and start making my way forward. After a few seconds of stalking my prey, the creature eventually jolts its head up, which made me immediately duck back down behind one of the tidepools. Looks like I'll have to shoot from here, which is now about 30 yards (27.4 meters) away. I don't think I'll be able to get closer.
It seems like it's on alert now. It probably caught my scent or I must not have been quiet enough. I slowly poke my head up and see that it is back to drinking water from the tidepool. I take this chance to pull out one of my sais and flip it to the other side so I can shoot it. I then take a deep breath and hold it and aim to take my shot. Now that I look at it again, I can definitely confirm that it's about as big as I am. A bit skinny and bony though, but it'll definitely feed me more than whatever I find in the tidepools could. Anyway, I have about three shots left so I can't waste this one. I steady my arm and aim the barrel at the creature's head. My finger is on the trigger. Just a little more pressure and then Bang!
Just as I am about to pull the trigger and send a bullet careening through its skull, the canine finishes drinking and turns to head back to the woods. As it does so, I couldn't help but notice something hanging from its neck that caused me to hesitate. There's something around its neck. What is that? A piece of cloth? I squint my eyes to and lean my head a bit closer in its direction. It looks like… a scarlet and black bandana… with a diamond shaped pattern. Upon seeing this, my heart beat immediately sped up as my hands started to involuntarily tremble.
"No! It can't be! There's no way! Is it really him?" I thought to myself.
I quickly take my finger off the trigger and put my weapon away. I then grab a nearby rock and toss it into a tide pool 20 yards (18.2 meters) in front of me. The canine takes notice and moves toward it out of curiosity of what could have been the source of the noise. Now I can get a closer look without having to leave my position. I look closer again and I can barely contain myself as I am about to be overcome with emotion.
The gray fur that I noted earlier is not fur at all but is actually a layer of ash covering its actual golden-brown fur underneath (which was not an illusive result of the sunlight hitting it). There is no mistaking it. That has to be him. The golden-brown fur and the scarlet bandana. It's him! It's really him!
"B-Bru-" I struggle to get it out as I try to keep my voice from breaking. I try again and manage to get it out.
"Brunooo!" I yell loud enough for him to hear me.
Bruno's ears perk up and he sharply turns his head in my direction, almost as if he immediately recognized my voice (even though he rarely ever heard it). I stand up and race toward him at top speed, forgetting about the pain in my side and ribs due to my excitement, and Bruno follows suit, tail wagging, eager to reunite with his best friend. When I got closer, I noticed he wasn't really running toward me but more just weakly and slowly stumbling toward me- like he just came out of a marathon- obviously due to his severely malnourished frame. On one hand, it's extremely sad for me to see him this way. But on the other hand, I am just so happy to see him! I can't help but be excited. As I reach him, Bruno trips on himself and falls, but I got there just in time to catch and hold him up. He's so light! I then knelt down and gave him a hug as I wrapped my arms around his neck, his warm dog breath hitting me in the back of my neck.
"I-I thought I would never see you again! I missed you so m-much!" I say sniffling and trying to hold back my tears of joy. And to think I was literally seconds away from shooting him. I am so happy I didn't go through with that.
I release Bruno to get a good look at his face and in response, he immediately licks my face like he always does.
"I love you too." I say with a tearful smile and a small chuckle.
As I wiped the tears clouding my vision away, I couldn't help but notice one of his eyes is closed.
"Bruno, your eye!" I say with a worried gasp. "What happened?"
He was missing his left eye. He must have lost it trying to get out of Dorado. Maybe something fell on him? Or maybe he encountered a beowolf or something on his way out? I don't know. Right now, what matters is that I have Bruno back and that is more than enough to make me happy. I didn't want to be alone. He's the only family I have left.
"Poor thing." I say with a sympathetic voice, but still maintaining my smile out of just sheer excitement. "All skin and bone, can barely walk, and missing an eye. Don't worry, Bruno. I may not be able to do anything about your eye, but I'm going to make sure you eat well tonight and help you get your strength back. We'll take care of each other."
I guess the grimm didn't take everything from me after all.
...
As the sun slowly set on the horizon, the blue canvas would slowly be painted black by night as hundreds— no, thousands of stars would make their presence known, lighting up the sky like a bunch of little lanterns. The shattered sphere that was the moon was especially vibrant tonight as well as it hung over us and reflected off the sea as if it were looking into a mirror, inspecting itself. There was an area near the cliff that Bruno and I were going to spend the night under that provides a good source of shelter (or at least I think so) before we head off in the morning up the hill to see where we are. It was a small overhang where I had already built a fire mainly for warmth since it was pretty cold in this area at night. The night sky provided enough light as it is so the fire didn't really matter much in that specific regard.
(Sigh.)
I hope I find Oniyuri soon. Even though it's late August (the 29th to be exact), Fall isn't that far away and it's only going to get colder out here.
Since I decided against shooting Bruno (really glad I didn't do that), I decided to take a look in the tidepools earlier for anything we could possibly eat tonight. I mainly found oysters and a few medium sized crabs that were molting that I caught, killed, and prepared. I've learned tonight that I really like soft shelled crab. The oysters, on the other hand, were okay. They weren't bad or anything, but they have a bit of a salty taste that caught me off-guard. But aside from that, those tide pools were a real life saver or we both would have gone hungry tonight. I figured Bruno was starving so I shared my dinner with him
"Here you go, Bruno." I say as I pull off another piece of my soft-shelled crab and feed it to him. "Eat up okay? You need this waaay more than I do right now."
I watch Bruno look at me for a second with his one eye and then proceed to lower his head as he took the pieces of crab in his jaws and wolfed it down in just a matter of seconds. Poor thing. It must have been really hard for him. He lost everything too— arguably, more than me. I still wonder how exactly he lost his eye. But at the same time, I don't think I want to know. Hopefully, we can get him treated and some more food once we reach our destination, wherever it is. A yawn then begins to escape me as I slowly succumb to emotional and physical fatigue. But I'm not ready to go to sleep just yet.
I then take a moment to take in the noises surrounding us as Bruno was laying down, grooming his paws. The waves faintly colliding with each other and crashing on the shore were a bit quiet but still audible enough to clearly make their presence known. It was somewhat soothing. Almost like nature was trying to sing me one of its lullabies. It also got a bit breezy for a little bit as well, but it wasn't bad. It actually felt kinda nice. The feeling of that cool air softly blowing against my face was as gentle as a motherly kiss. The bugs singing and chirping in the woods, though very faint and distant, also contributed to the atmosphere. I then let out a fatigued sigh.
Nature's chorus. There's truly nothing like it.
Just then, a seagull flies up to us, interrupting my thoughts. The winged intruder was eyeing me and Bruno, hoping to snag some of our food away. I get up and throw a stick at it, scaring it off for now as it let out a series of squawks almost as if it were cursing at us. Normally, I would go out of my way to feed an animal if it came up to me for food, but (even though I've never seen one) I'm smart enough to know what happens when you feed a seagull. I've heard the stories and I don't feel like attracting an entire flock. Plus, we're hungry and we need to eat too. The bird can just go snag something from one of the tide pools if it wants food that badly.
I stare out at the beach for a few more minutes and then look back to Bruno and see that he was done with what I just gave him as he was now licking his chops and staring at me with a begging expression.
"Want some more, bud?"
Bruno responds by walking over to me, still with a begging look on his face, almost as if he were saying "Yes, please."
"Oh, Bruno. You should know better. You don't have to beg me for food. Here you go, buddy." I hand Bruno the last few pieces of my crab (a couple legs and half a claw) and I finish with eating a small handful of oysters.
I'm still a little hungry, but I'll survive. Bruno finishes the rest of the crab and walks over to me and lays down beside me, his head resting on my lap. I begin to gently pet Bruno as he slowly falls asleep and I proceed to kiss him good night on the top of his head. Eventually, his breathing becomes slower and more relaxed as he finally falls asleep in my lap. I then put out the fire by grabbing handfuls of sand and piling it on the flames, smothering them. After that's done, I lean to my left side with my head resting on Bruno's bony back and close my eyes as I slowly drift into the realm of dreams, listening to nature's lullaby as my head slightly lowers and raises with every breath my canine companion takes.
...
"Come on Bruno…" pant "…we're almost…" pant "…at the top." I struggle to say as exhaustion starts to hit me.
It is now morning and Bruno and I have almost reached the peak of this massive hill. We've been walking for almost a straight hour at this point with no rest. I thought it'd be easy because it was a steady incline, but it's actually quite taxing—more taxing than I initially thought it would be. Maybe it's because of a lack of sleep? No, it couldn't have been because I didn't have any of those nightmares to wake me up last night. In fact, I didn't wake up at all last night. It was actually the best I've slept in weeks. However, Bruno's bony back didn't make for a very good pillow. Then I guess that means it's most likely because of my injury that I am running out of breath so quickly.
Anyway, we had a bit of an eventful opening to this day. We woke up surrounded by a flock of seagulls, who were hoping to steal whatever possible scraps we may have left. I got up with Bruno following suit and we spent a good minute or two trying to scare the feathered pests away. Man, they were annoying! I also made sure to go to the tide pools once more to grab a few more raw oysters for lunch later and stashed them in my pocket (since the other one is still torn).
As we get to a certain point, my side starts to hurt even more and it was becoming harder and harder to breathe. But I'm so close to the top! Just a bit more to go. I go about another 100 yards (91.4 meters) before I feel absolutely spent. I look behind me and see Bruno also struggling to keep up. I guess we should take a break after all.
I lay down on a large rock sitting on the hill and it feels really cool and somewhat refreshing. I wait for Bruno to catch up and he lays down with me. After catching my breath, I take advantage of this time of rest and use it for us to have our lunch break and eat the oysters I snagged earlier today. I cracked them against the rocks and opened them. It wasn't a lot so we ended up eating them in about less than a couple minutes. Still not used to that salty taste though. It gets me every time.
Welp, no time to take it all in (my surroundings I mean). We have to get moving again.
After our small break, Bruno and I get up and resume to soldier the rest of the way up the hill. We eventually made it to the top, exhausted and dirty and (in my case) sweaty. But it was worth it. The view is amazing up here! It feels like I could see forever. There's an awful lot of green though—not that that's a bad thing… it's just that there's a lot more than expected. I looked behind us and the beach now appeared very distant and small from this height and distance. Behind us, a forest of blue. In front of us, a sea of green. Each just as open and vast as the other.
"Huh. Interesting contrast." I mentally commented.
As I looked closer from the top of the hill, I noticed some kind of line running through the forest. Wait! That must be a path or some kind of road! That means civilization! As I carefully followed the trail with my eyes, I eventually started to notice a small faraway spot where there was no green and something somewhat large (but still distant) barely poking out from the top of the trees. It's a village! That must be Oniyuri! I guess that river did lead me to it after all… in a way. From this distance, we look to be about a few days away (that is if we keep going at the pace that we've been going). We should get there by September 2nd. We just need to get to that trail and then we have a clear shot to our destination—to getting our lives back.
I still can't believe I'm almost there. The goal is in my sights. There it is: Oniyuri. Just a little bit more and then Bruno and I can finally get our lives back. But first, I think I'm going to take a longer break this time. I need to catch my breath again.
*CHAPTER END*
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Hey everyone! Guess who's baaaack?!
School just got out for me and I finally finished all my finals and papers last Friday. And you know what that means: I no longer have an excuse if I end up going a while without posting.
Speaking of which, there is something I wanted to announce regarding my posting schedule. Usually I like to post a new chapter every Friday, but I want to slightly alter my posting schedule to posting a new chapter every other Friday. I am doing this purely out of necessity because when I was originally posting chapters every Friday, I pretty much had to stay up really late everyday both working on the later chapters and editing the next chapter for posting. And because of that, I ended up not getting a lot of sleep and not getting a lot done. I'm sorry to have to do this, but me changing my schedule to a new chapter every other Friday instead of every Friday means that I can dedicate my off-week to working on the later chapters and I can then use my on-week to edit the next chapter for posting while also not ending up going to bed at sunrise.
Whether this schedule change will be permanent or temporary all depends on when I completely finish Volume I. Right now, I have just finished writing all the anthology chapters for Volume and I still have to revise them. After that, I will need to work on chapters 16-20 and then the epilogue chapter. And once all that is done, I can then get to work on Volume 2.
Anyway, sleep deprivation aside, I am very happy to be back and writing again. I've been itching at this for almost 4 weeks now. And now that school's out, I should be able to get a lot more done, which means you'll be able to see a lot more from me. Now before I go and see you all again two weeks from now, I will leave you all with fun fact #6:
Fun Fact #6: Bruno is based off my dog, Bruiser. He was a great Pyrenees mixed with a golden retriever. Bruiser was pretty much my best friend for pretty much the first 17 years of my life until he passed away in Fall 2017. In fact, when I was going over Bruno's design in chapter 1, that was literally just me giving an exact description of Bruiser. The only difference was that Bruno in this story has a red bandana, but Bruiser just had a red collar. Also (moving on from the subject of my dog), this was originally going to be chapter 5, but I didn't like the idea of Bruno returning so soon after the fall of Dorado, so I ended up moving this up to chapter 6 and wrote the new chapter 5 (The Sole Survivor) just to put some space in between.