Reaching for the Stars

Chapter Six

I clutch closer to the soft fur blanket covering me, loving the heat it's giving to me, it takes me only a second after waking up to realize that wasn't quite right, I didn't have any sort of fur blanket, merely a thin silk one. I open my eyes, my fingers slowly twitching on the soft fur they were touching, what ever was on me wasn't very big, probably the size of a Shadow Cat, famous for their skills to sneak in and out of places, blending in with the shadows.

The black nose I see does not belong to any shadow cat, it is on a snout and piercing gold eyes stare at me curiously, as I notice the fluffy black tail swishing gently behind the creatures back. I knew what it was, had heard of them in stories and read about them in books, but I had never seen one before, they were extraordinarily rare. It was a fox, likely a young one because it only had one tail, as foxes got older and stronger, they earned more tails until they eventually had nine and then they were fearsome beasts everyone feared.

Their ability to conjure fire, or create illusions was renown, no one wanted to mess with foxes because they would inevitably take their price from you ten times worse than what you did to them. I had come here, to this forsaken place, escaped all the creatures residing in this forest, and here this baby fox was, likely to kill me for just looking at it wrong, I was frozen in terror, even young they were notoriously strong, and mostly easily angered.

It didn't look angry yet, maybe I could convince it to leave if I just kept staring at it, I stare unblinkingly at the fox, almost stiff with tension, as my eyes water and twitch from not blinking in a while, the fox rolls its eyes at me, lets out an audible huff and gets off me before curling up on the exposed bed, on top of the blanket I had apparently kicked off in my sleep. I scramble out of the bed and look at it warily, not quite knowing what to do, I think about my knife that I placed under the bundle of clothes I was using as a pillow before I went to sleep, I slowly walk forward and lift up the bundle and look around for my knife, but it is not there.

Could it have disappeared in my sleep? Did the fox do something to it? I glance at the fox suspicously but when I realize I am practically glaring at the little beast, I hastily look down, trying not to offend it, my cheeks become warm as I see my knife lying perfectly intact on the ground, obviously I had knocked it on the floor during my sleep. I wasn't usually so active in my sleep to toss my blanket off and shove things off my bed, but I guess the past few days had made me a little restless in my sleep.

Though I had definitely slept better last night than I had for the past few nights on the tree branches. My stomach rumbles and I move over to my pile of supplies, pulling out a piece of bread and two pieces of jerky, I begin filling my stomach, only pausing when I notice the previously curled up fox is now standing upright and staring at the jerky in my hand hungrily. I feel reluctant at the idea of giving away any of the small amount of food I have left, but I also knew that I couldn't risk offending this little fox, not if it would burst out into a rage and attack me.

I stuff one piece in my mouth and reluctantly offer the other piece of jerky to the little beast, I hardly have it offered for a second when the beast snatches it from my hand, almost biting my fingers in the process. As it happily munches on my food, I begin accessing my new home properly now that daylight finally shows me all the damage, the straw roof needed to be fixed, I needed to patch up the holes in the walls, and re-affix the shutters somehow, and that was just the basics, I suppose I should be grateful that the door was still on properly.

I take one last look at the fox still gnawing at that piece of jerky and set out to start working, I couldn't waste time worrying about whether the fox would kill me or not, nothing I could do would stop it from doing whatever it chose, and I needed to start getting to work. I collect mud from the stream that runs through what I've taken to calling the safe zone, which is the area surrounded by those strange white flowers that keep the beasts away at night, using the mud and rocks I patch up the holes in the walls, before I move up onto cleaning up the tree branch that fell through the roof.

Apart from the small amount of furniture, which included a small table at the height that I could sit and eat at, a bed, some shelves with some wooden plates and bowls, and utensils, a metal teapot hanging in a hook on a fireplace, a broom and ladder I will definitely use, the place was empty. The shelves that had once likely been used to store food were barren, the counter to prepare food only had some wooden plates and such, all of which was covered in dust. I collect up all the stray dried grass I can, hopeful to use some of it on the roof, even though I know I'll still have to collect more.

This was going to be a lot of work, and I still had to deal with that little beast who refused to leave, but after the day of hard work I did, I was past caring and much desiring that bed, no matter what creature was also currently curled up on it, I collapse on it after eating some more bread, my dwindling food would probably be my next worry, but right now I still had a day or two left. What I would find to eat out here, I wasn't sure but I would have to make do, because I refused to let myself die of starvation in this deadly forest, how stupid would it be to escape all the vicious beasts in here only to die of starvation.

I refused to let the Dagon family win so easily, I was a fighter, I wouldn't give up just because of a little hunger, I would use this time to adapt and grow stronger, become a force to be reckoned with, of course I had to figure out how to get past the second common qi level to do that, and it wasn't as if I hadn't already been trying for the past eight years, but I would have to worry about that once I solved all the others plaguing me, right now that was low on my list, with food and repairing my home above that.

The little beast grumbles as I go on the bed, but I don't react to it, pulling the blanket on top me, it had moved off of it at some point, which I was thankful for, while the days were still very warm, the nights were slightly cold it would have been hard to fall asleep without a blanket, and I didn't trust the chimney to properly funnel smoke out so a fire was out of the question right now. If any other member of my family had been sent here, they probably would have died in the forest already, not used to tough circumstances, spoiled as they were, but I was no stranger to struggling for survival.

I could be thankful that my parents' horrible attitude towards me had actually given me the knowledge and resolve to maybe actually survive my time here, but since this was only my fourth day here in this forest, I suppose I still had to wait a while to know if I would actually survive being in here. It only took me three days to get the house into at least semi-working order, enough that I could feel comfortable exploring more of the forest in search of food.

I had managed to stretch my food another day, could have probably managed for another two or three days if the little beast wasn't determined to eat part of my food each time I had a meal. I was wary to forage for any plants, even though I wanted to be a herbalist my knowledge of the plants that resided in the Silver Woods, and possible poisonous look-a-likes was abysmal, I didn't know nearly enough to risk it. I at least had plenty of clean water with the stream, or at least I thought it was clean, it tasted fine, but for all I know it could be contaminated by something, but I had little idea of how to tell any of that, I could only hope it was safe for consumption, though I had little choice but to drink it anyways.

I had one chunk of bread left, and one piece of jerky, though I knew I wouldn't get the jerky, no the little beast would claim that as his share. I walked around the safe zone in the forest, hoping to come across some wounded animal I could put out of its misery for food, it wasn't that I was against the idea of killing something for food, but more to the fact that I had almost no way of doing that.

The only weapon I had was a small knife, and that wouldn't help me against the bigger animals, or even the smaller ones that fled as soon as I got close, if I had a higher cultivation level maybe this would be easier for me, but I had been hoping for that for years, I doubt being in the Silver Woods would change that. So, after a day worth of searching with no luck, I went to bed with a growling stomach, after having ate the small chunk of bread and watched with envy as the little beast ate the last piece of jerky.

It would be so much easier for me if I knew how to set traps or if the stream was large enough to have fish, than I could at least wade my way in and try to catch something, well maybe not, who knows what other creatures may be lurking in the darker deeper sources of water in this forest. Water dwelling spiritual beasts while uncommon were not rare, and they were supposedly very vicious, it wasn't something I would have much luck winning against if I came across one.