People have always wanted to see the stars and the planets and wondered what it would be like to see them personally from space. On my trip I found the experience to be terrifying and something that I would like to never have to do again.
That may have been due to the fact that I had been free falling at the time and not sure if I would survive or not even if I had the contract. Luckily it seemed that the god that sent me here wanted me dead so soon. After all if this killed me how could I entertain it.
I now knew why people in movies of ancient Greece try to destroy them. Tyrion was right on his opinion of the gods. Crawling out of the crater that my body formed when I had finally stopped landing was a task I didn't accomplish until hours after I had landed.
It wasn't because of the pain. I just wasn't motivated to move yet. I was sure Garxon would find the fact that I just laid in a crater for a few hours boring but that was my way of getting back at him for the surprise fall.
I had landed in a forest going by the trees that had been knocked down around me. I would have felt bad for the trees in this situation if crashing through them hadn't added to the amount of pain I had felt.
Getting out of the hole was the easiest part of my journey so far. While landing in a forest and not a place with sentient people had probably saved me from being poked and prodded by the possible locals and prevented me from hurting anyone there was still a huge problem for me.
I had no idea where I was and I had nothing to me besides the clothes on my back and the power over flames that were given to me by the contract that I still had no idea how to use.
So I walked to find anything or anyone that could talk and give me directions. It had been better than waiting for hunger and thirst to affect me and sent me searching for things when I was weak.
That had been a week ago and still no sign of civilization. Just trees, fruits, and animals. I had mainly survived off fruits, berries, and luck. I avoided the animals as I didn't know how dangerous they were and even if I did kill them I did not know how to skin and cook the meat.
All it would have done was tempt me and I would have given in once annoyed enough.
So I avoided the situation all together and tried to figure out how to use the power I had been given. It began by thinking deeply on the natural instructions laid within my mind by the contract.
The way the process was described was that due to the contract I was bringing out my aura and when I began to use it the contract would convert it into fire. The process would tire me out but as long as I didn't go too deep into my life force this body wouldn't die.
It would be too embarrassing if I returned to that library because I killed myself learning the basics.
Starting small was the answer. It had taken me a day to learn how to use my aura even with instructions and another day to learn to use it to ignite a twig. I was guessing the passage of time with the rising of the sun and the moon.
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"Back you godless abominations, Back I say." These abominations that were trying to steal my treasure deserved nothing else but death. I was being kind just swinging a big stick at them trying to scare them off . I had scavenged for hours for these fruit.
There was no way I was letting these freaky squirrels steal my food. These fruits may seem weird with their odd shapes and swirls but it was the only thing that I could eat without dying either by it or from it.
These squirrels were the size of chihuahuas. There beady little eyes made them even more creepy and their sharp black claws did not help.
Even back home I considered squirrels nothing but the pigeons of the trees. Here they were bigger and creepier and possibly deadlier but that would not stop me.
"You want some!" This was no longer a situation where I would try to scare them off. More and more were approaching and it was looking like they wanted to make this a fight.
I would not lose to a bunch of squirrels.
I refused to lose to a bunch of mangy squirrels. Even when the squirrels surrounding me extended their black claws and spikes popped out of their tails. While that made me wonder what kind of evolution or magic made them this way I refused to back down.
After sleeping on the ground under a blanket of leaves and suffering through heavy rain and questionable foods that I still wasn't sure were perfectly healthy for human consumption I was going to stand my ground.
I had survived too much to run away now.
"Burn." With a palm open and extended I blasted one of the blasted squirrels that had jumped at me with it's claws aimed at my face. The only thing left afterwards was bone.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
"See that. You better run." I was still trying to show mercy on these creatures. Killing them would be a waste as I could not sell them and I could not eat them so there was no profit for me.
They had terrible instincts however as instead of retreating into the forest they began growling at me. Their beady eyes turned a crimson red.
Just when I thought these ugly little rodents couldn't get any worse.
"Bring it on." I had tried being reasonable and kind. If these squirrels wanted to ignore that it was their own faults.
The squirrels tried surrounding me. If I focused on one at a time I would mostly likely have died so instead of using precise control I went for a more spread out range.
Twirling around with both hands on fire and having it extend outward would tire me out but watching those squirrels burn was very therapeutic. Even as the trees around me caught on fire my laughter continued.
After calming down and picking my fruit back up I began to walk away. That was when the world decided it didn't like my victory. If mother nature was a thing here she was very firmly my enemy.
Trees were knocked down and a deep roar was heard. Seemed like I had a new problem to deal with.
"You want some come get it!" Never knew what was sentient and could talk in this world. Forming assumptions could be a costly mistake.
Out of the bent down trees came a bear. The bear was huge. If a guess was to be made the bear standing up was the size of about three of me. It had deep red claws and brown eyes.
"You're a big one." There was no a way a stick was going to scare this thing and I would not win in a fight with a bear especially one this big with just my weak hands.
That just left fire.
Igniting my hands on fire and waving it in front of the bear like a torch did nothing. The creatures in this forest were beginning to irritate me. What was with them not being afraid of fire.
"Take this." Sending a fireball at the bear's chest did nothing. That was when I realized why it was not afraid of me and my flaming hand.
"You are immune to fire." There was only one option that ended with me surviving.
I dropped the fruits and ran.
Fire was my only other weapon and it did little to no damage against the bear creature. The type match was not in my favour so I dragged my skinny legs and had them carry me as far away as possible as fast as possible.
The bear was in no mood to give up and accept my retreat. I could hear it chasing me. There was no need to look back. If I did I knew that I would stop running and freeze in terror.
That wasn't an option.
"HHHHHEEEEELLLLLLP!" Screaming for help however was an option available to me.
Either someone would be heroic and rescue the kid screaming at the top of his lungs or a group of bandits would be somewhere in this forest and when I found them they could be a distraction for the bear and I would live.
Either way it ended up in my favor.
This forest had to end eventually. I just hoped that it did not end in a cliff or a ravine.
The bear had picked up speed and was catching up to him.
"Why don't you take a break." Burning through some trees and sending them into the path of the bear might be a temporary solution but it had given me enough time to turn and run in another direction.
Hopefully it had distracted the bear enough for it to lose focus on me.
Hearing the growling behind me I knew it hadn't and pushed my legs even further despite the burning sensation and the desire to simply stop running and catch my breath.
I truly wished that I had worked out more. However I ignored those feelings and just kept running. Jumping over roots and ducking under shovels that the bear just broke through without a care I cursed Garxon for bringing me here for my first adventure.
While wondering if he did this to every contractor or just me I hadn't been paying proper attention to the ground and I tripped over a root.
Rolling on the ground I closed my eyes and waited for the bear to approach. I could hear it pushing over trees in it's way.
My eye kept shut as I heard another thud sound. The only thing I could do now was hope that my death wasn't too painful or if it was that once I returned to the library that I wasn't traumatized.
"You can open your eyes now. Your safe." A voice said to me.
I didn't trust that voice. For all I knew it could be the bear wanting me to watch as it took its first bite into the fool that had challenged it.
"Seriously. You are safe." When I felt an actual human hand touch my shoulder I decided to comply. I couldn't help but hope that the voice was serious and that someone had heard my desperate and embarrassing shouting.
"You okay?" the person standing above me looked to be three years older than me. He was tall and lean with short dark hair.
He was wearing white hakama with a white haori covered by armor that covered the bottom half of his chest. He was wearing gloves that were tied to his hand by his fingers. His footwear looked like what a ninja would wear.
"Yeah. Who are you?" It was true that he had been screaming for help but he had been aware that he might get the attention of a good friendly person he was also aware that eh might get the attention of a group of bandits.
"My name is Hien Grand and that is my friend Lance Kairi." he said and pointed to a man with blonde hair wearing a black version of a quincy outfit.
"Who are you?" Hien asked with a grin on his face as I stood up and dusted off the dirt that was on my outfit. After spending a little over a week in this forest meant that that my clothes were already dirty I still wanted to save as much dignity as possible.
"Kaiser Ignis." It had taken little effort to decided what I wanted my name to be and I fully intended to to fulfil its promise.
I would be the emperor of flame.
"Thanks for the help." I said to them as I looked to the bear that had been chasing me for the last hour. Even if my legs wanted me to sit down I had to see how it had died.
Grabbing a tree to keep my balance I looked to see what it was that had taken down my recent predator.
Sticking out of the bear's stomach and back was a halberd of absurd height. The blade made up of over two thirds of it. It was wide as well as big. The handle was skinny and ended in a crescent.
"So what do you think Lance? Was this our target?" Hien asked his blonde haired partner who pulled a picture out of his pocket.
"You got it boss. This is it." Lance replied and I watched as Hien cheered and yanked his halberd out of the bear and watched as it shrunk and put inside his haori.
"Let's go back to town then." Hien said picking the huge bear up on with one hand and shoving it over his shoulder and showed no signs of fatigue or stress.
"Can I come?" I was sick and tired of roughing it out in nature. I needed a place that had people and not dangerous animal/monster hybrids.
"Sure." Hien said without a care and Lance just followed Hien's decision.
Even though I just followed them without showing emotion on the outside on the inside I felt like crying and shouting in relief. I was finally getting out of this blasted forest.