Stubby Chronicles

Manifest Drakon - The Yaashka Forest

Part 2 with Manifest (Mani). Continuing with his backstory, before he meets the characters of my friends.

I'm not entirely sure how far away from Camnewk I am. Who knows when I'll reach the next kingdom? I don't know how long I've been in this forest. It seems like it never ends. The moment I think it's almost over, there are just more trees. There's no way a forest is this big! Right?

~~~

I did not plan well enough for this. Had I known the forest was this big, I would've packed more. I thought I could be out of here in at least a day. It's been about a week and I'm still deep in the forest. Luckily my parents taught me all about which plants were edible and which ones I shouldn't even think about putting in my mouth. I've come across a lot of berry bushes. The ones I can eat, I've put what I can in my pack. I'm not much of a hunter and I can't carry meat around, I'd attract predators. So I've been living off of berries, roots, fruit, and other edible plants. I feel like a rabbit. Eating nothing but plants, watching my back like something is gonna come out and attack me.

I didn't plan for this. I didn't even consider packing water! Not that it would've lasted long anyway. I haven't come across many streams or small bodies of water. The times I have, they've been small puddles or little pools in tree knots. Not the cleanest, but it's water. There was one time, a few days ago, I found a small lake. I figured I could rest a little while having a sort of bath. It was a bad idea. I ended up getting about a dozen leeches.

~~~

I've been walking since sunrise and I'm super tired. I should probably rest. The sun is starting to go down anyway. There are some trees close together, I can probably set up some sort of platform to spend the night on. The forest floor is never safe at night.

I start to gather some large sticks. For some reason, there is a lot in this area. A few small trees look to have been cut down too. I can use those as the main support.

~~~

The sun is almost completely gone by the time I finish building.

This thing isn't exactly super stable...I'm sure father could've done better. 

I guess it's fine. It's not like it needs to withstand everything nature throws at it. It'll only be used for one night.

I climb up; the whole thing wobbles and I seriously hope this thing doesn't come down in the middle of the night.

~~~

I wake up to the feeling of falling and I'm awake when I crash to the ground.

"I knew this thing would fall..." I mumble to myself.

I don't register the voices until I hear the word "Changeling". I look around, wondering who said it and where in the world it came from.

Goblins. A lot of them.

I realize that they probably tore down my platform. They keep talking to each other. I speak a lot of languages, Goblin being one of them. Except it's the one I don't practice much so it's hard to keep up with them.

"He took our wood!"
"He's a Changeling"
"I've never seen him before!"
"Interrogate!" 

"Interrogate! Interrogate!" they all started chanting.

The ones closest to me start to close in, grabbing me. I try fighting them off but there are just too many of them. None of my spells are strong enough for all of them. They manage to put a cloth bag over my head and I hear them yelling at each other before I feel a sharp pain in my head.