Sk8 Through Another World

Chapter 10

The next three days played out much the same way. Langa would be bored for the first half of the day, and Reki would be busy with the skateboard. Then, Reki would take Langa up to the rocky plateau to practice for the second half of the day.

However, on the third day, Reki was practically finished. Just before dinner, he was able to add a few finishing touches to finish out.

"Okay Clay, tomorrow, we can start learning how to hunt... or survive, or whatever you need to teach us." Reki said.

"Good. The things I want you two to know are what kinds of plants you can eat, what kinds you can't eat, how to find drinkable water, how to find sleeping spots, and how to not get found by the various nasty things that live in the wilderness." Clay explained. Reki gulped, Langa nodded.

"Alright." Reki said.

The two went to bed that night, not wanting to know what Clay meant by "nasty things that live in the wilderness". The woman they encountered had probably been one of them, right?

The next morning, the two of them woke up, and Clay was already awake, waiting for them.

"Okay, let's go now." Clay said.

"Our lessons start now?" Langa asked. Clay nodded.

"We need something to eat. You two will be helping me. Then, in the afternoon you can have time to yourselves." Clay answered. The two boys nodded, following his instruction easily.

Clay began leading them down the mountain and into the valley where the dense forests resided.

"So, rule number one in the wilderness. Always pay attention to what kind of surface is beneath your feet." Clay instructed. Reki and Langa nodded along.

"Tell me, what kind of surface is beneath our feet right now?" Clay asked. The two boys looked down at the rocky path.

"Gravel." Langa replied.

"Gravel is displaced by your footsteps, but not much. Only something very intelligent and very perceptive will be able to follow your tracks here." Clay said.

"So..." Reki began.

"The importance of paying attention to what's beneath your feet is making sure you're not leaving tracks. The thing that attacked you was intelligent enough to follow tracks, and human tracks are easy to spot. You need to make sure you're not walking on mud, soft dirt, or snow. If you are, pretty much anything'll be able to follow you, understood?" Clay asked. Reki and Langa nodded.

As the day progressed, Clay taught the two boys about several kinds of plants that were edible. He taught them about small, sour, and wild strawberries. He taught them about the glowing violet berries, which were called purafruge. He taught them about the glowing red fungus that was edible, but only once well cooked.

He taught them that strawberries could be found in meadows, purafruge could be found on the dimly lit forest floor, and the glowing red fungus was present in any location with decay.

After several hours of foraging and paying care to the surfaces they walked on, they began heading back to the cabin to eat what they had found.

Then, in the second half of the day, Reki was able to teach Langa far more easily now that he had his own skateboard.

As another two days passed, the two boys were given more lessons on survival from Clay.

He taught them the importance of finding fast moving water and the kinds of dangers that came with drinking stagnant water. He taught them about more kinds of edible plants. He also taught them to find sleeping spots that were out of sight and provided shelter from the wind.

Then, on the third day, came the most important lesson of all.

"You two have done a pretty good job of learning how not to leave tracks. This is so dangerous things can't actively find you. But, sometimes, you just stumble upon things that are dangerous. So, I'm going to teach you what to do if you run across something dangerous."

Then, Clay took them deeper into the woods than he had any other day before.