Reaching for the Stars

Chapter Nine

I woke up feeling oddly energetic, but I didn't feel that I slept particularly restfully either, it was weird, but I wasn't going to let this excess energy go to waste. I worked hard to improve my archery skills, I could hit squirrels and birds now, as long as I caught them unaware, so they were staying still, moving targets were still beyond me but I was getting there.

Now that I kept everything relatively tidy, it didn't take me long to finish my tasks for the day, meaning I had lots of time to practice archery, the extra time seemed to be helping a lot because today, I just couldn't seem to miss, I even got a bird that was flying once, though I missed half a dozen times on other moving animals as well. Something felt different, I felt better, less depressed, almost like things were improving for me.

Sure this may not be the place I imagined myself to be, in a forest filled with dangerous creatures, a place that many had lost their lives in, and yet with my current strength, weak as it was, I was still surviving here, I wouldn't call it thriving, not yet at least but I was getting there, as life became easier for me, I knew that this may have been the best thing to happen to me. To have the chance to toughen myself up here in this forest, maybe this harsher environment would finally mean a breakthrough for me.

Yet unbeknownst to me when I was awake, when I was asleep, I wasn't having dreams, but meeting with the ghosts of the dead. Nero in particular was fascinated by me, I didn't even have to go to him when I entered whatever in between place this was, where these ghosts survived, instead of ending up amongst the other ghosts that were next to their graves, I ended up directly in front of Nero again, this time his throne had disappeared and instead he had a table and two cushions, with him already sitting on another.

"So why power? Why not fame, wealth, or beauty?" He seemed to find me a conundrum, as if he still wasn't sure what to make of me, even though I hadn't failed his test, I wasn't sure I had passed it either.

"Fame gained too easily, is lost with one arrogant mistake, too much money just means I will be attacked to take it from me, beauty that I will age and lose, beauty that means nothing to me, because I prefer the way the deities made me, this is the way I was born, and this is the form I choose to stay in. As for why I chose power, I am not sure, truly the skill in medicine would be my preferred choice, I've never been particularly strong, but I always wanted to learn herbalism, to know which plants can save a life or end them, to use the earth for my benefit, I can see of no better way to spend my days." He frowns at me, cupping his face as he stares at me in confusion.

"So why not choose medicine, caution would temper the arrogance you assumed would appear." I rub my head, not sure if my answer is as foolish as it seems to me, and yet I couldn't think of a better way to explain it.

"I want to earn it, through hard work, I want to sweat and toil and make my own place in this world as a herbalist, but no one wants a disciple who is as weak in cultivation as me, with herbalism being a path that relies on both the strength of mind and body, I am severely lacking in one, while probably overwhelmed in the other if my parents are to be believed. They always did say I had too smart of a mouth for the good of me, but then again, they never did appreciate when I mentioned the mistakes, they made doing one thing or another.

Eventually though I still hold out hope that one day I will become a great herbalist, I have given up on seeking a master to teach me, I refuse to be laughed at any longer, because a weakling like me thinks I will do anything beyond the most basic of medicine. Back to your question of why I chose power, or rather so little of it, I suppose my answer is much the same, I want to earn it, I want to strive up from the ground with my own strength, though I couldn't resist taking just enough to finally reach the goal I've had for the last ten years." My words don't seem to provide much clarification to him, instead he almost seems to be more confused by me.