In a strange world as a Doppelganger

Chapter 33 - Back and Back

I must have fallen asleep! Shit! Surrounded by darkness and feeling the cold of the night creeping down in my skin I stand up and blink the fatigue from my eyes.

The stairs and moon are giving some light as I adjust and while I'm feeling better I'm covered in smaller spiders. Disgusting. I wipe them off and look around some more, trying my best to get my bearings. It's really hard to tell which direction I originally came from. Do I make a camp? Do I pick a direction and just hope it takes me somewhere safer.

A few minutes of thinking an Idea hits me. I sit back down and focus. I feel my body start to shift, the skin rippling and a grinding of bone as I slowly take the shape of a goblin. Opening my eyes I can now see a lot clearer even in the dark. Mostly in shades of black and white but a massive improvement. Hopefully my smaller stature and darker coloration should also help me stay out of sight for most things that rely on sight.

Even though the goblin form lets me see better and blend in to some degree, smart money says to stay put. I've lived through a nap in this spot so far and why not stay here for a little longer. The noises all around keep me on edge for a while and every now and then something of discernible size passes by just at the edge of my visual range.

There's a singular moment where a massive spider passes by just 20 feet away but seemingly it doesn't spot me as I sit, knife in hand, doing my best to stay ever so still.

When the sun starts to rise and the cover of darkness isn't going to be much help anymore I put some brain power towards how to get away safely. I've only regained 2 points of health from the nap I had and running into something else here would be certain death.

Digging through my mind for what magical abilities I might have access to I land on a really stupid idea. Holding my hands out I unleash a small gout of flame and wait a moment for the nearby webbing to ignite. Which does not take long and it spreads like a lit fuse. Using this distraction I start bolting in the only direction that looks familiar.

The fire roars behind me as it builds and I can hear skittering and noises of many large bugs and spiders. Still running, careful to not tangle into webs, I make it out of the worst bits and run into a centipede barreling down in my direction. I hold my hand up and a torrent of water jets of from my hands hitting the creature square on and it punches a hole through its head. Nice shot, I think to myself.

As I come back into the wooded area I step on something and a loud squeak startles me. A weasel had just poked its head out from among some roots and I accidentally stepped on it. Before the creature can rear back to bite me I point a finger at it and will water vapor to freeze around its face. I grab the now limp body of the weasel and keep moving. Letting myself slow down a bit in safer surroundings.

My stamina seems to have returned to me after resting though my hit points have not.
I contemplate eating the weasel but also thinking it might taste better cooked and with some salt at least.

By midday I am back in the clearing and the fatigue is coming back.
I crawl down into the burrow and just hand the dead weasel to the rat, who doesn't hesitate at all before digging in. I wasn't even sure if it would eat it but at least it wasn't a complete waste. I'll get more food for me tomorrow. Right now I badly want some sleep.

The next morning when I crawl out of the hole there's a dark set of clouds over head and I wouldn't be surprised it rain would hit soon. I have reverted to my original form and head into the woods to find food in any form.

Edible mushrooms and berries don't take too long to find but it's not quite enough to fill me up properly. I've been hunting a lot and there seems to a be risk involved every time. I'm only at 5 hit points currently and anything of decent size would pose a lethal threat at this point. Sitting on a rotten log, picking up bugs to eat while thinking, I spot something in the underbrush. One of the goblins.

The goblin comes up to me and looks around tentatively before asking
"Ehm, excuse me, would it be possible for you to come to the village?"

I furrow my brow before responding.
"I guess, why?"

"The scouts are planning to run off some boars that have been bothering the farmers and they said it'd be good if you could help since you have magic now. I offered to come find you."

"I see, well I was thinking of heading back there anyway so sure, lead the way."

The goblin, who introduced themselves as Thi, was apparently a level 1 rogue as it turns out. Giving them a knack for sneaking around and exploiting weaknesses. Makes me consider if that was one of my options and if that hadn't been smarter. But regret isn't going to get me anywhere. Thi tries to ask questions about my magic but it's very hard to explain that I just know. That the knowledge isn't really knowledge and more of instinct and feeling.

Thi asks if it ever hurts to transform and to be honest I am not sure, since I seem to fade out on consciousness mostly. But with the last transformation taking only a few minutes I can't say it hurt per se but it was definitely not comfortable.