Changing World- The Beginning

by Sergei Katz

  The Spiky Thistle. This is a wild forest flower. Animals do not like this plant and avoid it. It is used in potions, alchemy and can be an ingredient for spells.

  I tried to break one of the flowers, for which I immediately lost 18 life points. The second attempt cost me another 22 life points. No matter how much I tried to pick up the stalk as neatly as possible, without touching the flower, I couldn’t do it. The flowers grew close to each other, forming a sphere of thorns that my hands just couldn’t penetrate. Even my forester's gloves were of no use, as they were not flexible enough to break the stems from the bush.

  My efforts to break off a whole branch full of buds also ended in failure. The branches bent as if they were made from rubber and refused to be snapped off.

  — Okay, if you don’t want to cooperate then I’ll just have to find another way! — I announced.

  Although I was certain that if the bush hadn’t wished to cooperate before then it definitely wouldn’t do so then.

  I brought the blade of the leaf sword to one of the bush’s stems. I could sense that my sword was not keen to be used as a pair of garden secateurs, but I didn’t give it an option: the stem was cut, and the first flower fell into my hand. Even though it was just lying on my palm, I could feel its thorns through the glove. Now it appeared that my arsenal had just been upgraded with a new type of weapon.

  Returning from a flight around the nearby area, the Copper Wing sat on a nearby tree branch and watched my behavior in amazement. The bird clearly expressed his opinion that we should not be wasting time on this inedible flower.

  Completely ignoring the desire of my Totem to continue our journey, I proceeded to systematically cut all of the flowers from the bush. I had very far-reaching plans for these prickly flowers, even though I had no information regarding their use, but I was interested in finding out if my theory would pan out.

  Guess what? It worked!

  We killed the next bear with much less effort, having our strategy already worked out. Based on our previous experience, we knew what to expect from the bear’s attacks, so there were no surprises. On top of that, we were both much more agile than the bear, plus we used the “Wild Protection” spell in advance, and we used our recently collected spiky flowers to throw under the bear’s feet, and that gave us time as the bear had to stop to remove them from its paws, allowing me to invoke the “Falling Leaves” spell on it. After that, while my Copper Winged swooped in and out at the angry beast, taking its attention, I came up behind it and with two “Slanting Strikes” totally maimed the bear’s right leg. After that we had no more problems and the fight was over in a couple of minutes.

  Once we learned how to deal with the attacks of the wild animals living in the forest, we started progressing much faster. My Copper Wing, no longer afraid, flew through the forest, sometimes disappearing from view. He was hunting small animals, not to mention the fact that he terrorized all the local birds, thankfully there were no predators out there for him to worry about.

  Going through the forest became quite an easy task for us. We were aware of potentially dangerous enemies before they even knew that we were there. The smaller animals weren’t causing me any trouble, even if they attacked unexpectedly, as I was constantly using the “Wild Protection” spell at this point, even before any conflict arose.

  It was getting dark. I started looking for a tree to spend the night in. This time I found a tall one, with thick foliage, in which it would be difficult for me to get noticed. I could find no burdocks in the area, but there were quite a few other broad-leaved plants. I picked up a bunch of these leaves and began climbing the tree trunk.

  Suddenly, something hit my back, and I felt a great pain in my spine. At the same time, my Totem cried out. Something struck his wings, but at the last moment, my Copper Wing managed to dodge the attack, so he was able to fly off. The unknown projectile just knocked a couple of feathers from the tip of his wings.

  I dumped the leaves to the ground and ducked into one of the bushes near the tree I had chosen. I immediately activated my last magic protection, and only after that I began trying to figure out what was going on. We were being attacked by a group of strange creatures. They looked very much like shabby badgers, but they moved on two legs and were dressed in animal skins.

  There were three types of these creatures.

  The first of the three creatures, the smaller ones, were archers. They were aiming with blow darts and my falcon was their main target.

  Five of them were warriors carrying very short spears, around fifty centimeters long. A first one of them was already fifteen steps away from my bush.

  I found the third type of creature to be more of a problem. It was taller than the others and was dressed in better looking animal hides. It carried either a staff or a big branch, and it was used to propel some kind of enhanced magic over the fighters running at me.

  I had no time to waste, so I invoked the “Falling Leaves” spell on the warrior closest to me. Unfortunately, this spell didn’t do any damage to it at all, because it had already breached the protection zone. However, the two warriors following it were caught in the middle of the downpour and they lost around 30-40 percent of their life points. I could see their life points displayed above them, so I could calculate the damage that had been done.

  I decided to ignore the first warrior and finish off the wounded. Pretending to attack, I rushed straight at the first badger, and, when it prepared to block my blow with its sword, I threw a thistle flower into its eyes with my left hand, and this left it howling in pain and allowed me to run right past it. The damage from the flower wasn’t great, but my action stalled the warrior for some time, and that's exactly what I was counting on.

  I ran to the other two wounded soldiers and began to attack the badger with the fewest life points. At the same time, I had to defend myself against the spears of the other two. I was fortunate: my next strike was a “Critical Impact”, and the first attacker fell. However, with that strike my luck ran out.

  Two other badgers approached me, and at this point I was being attacked by three spears. But that wasn’t the worst of it! The richly dressed badger was not only stronger than the others, but it had healing powers! Its power wasn’t very strong, but it still managed to heal the other warriors. My “Evasive movements” ability and the still effective protection spell were what saved me. But I knew that soon the protection spell would run out...

  Soon the first warrior returned to the fight. It was incredibly angry and attacked with more rage than the others. Its right eye was covered in dripping blood, and scratches left by the thistle were visible around its eyes.

  I knew that I couldn’t keep this up much longer, so I decided to try to use the same technique on the badgers that I had used against the bear. I spun around in a circle, holding the sword out straight in front of me in an outstretched hand. It was a risky maneuver: if the sword became lodged in one of them, then all would be lost for me. Fortunately, all the badgers had excellent reactions, and they jumped back a step. This was exactly what my maneuver was designed to achieve: I reached into my bag and took out 10-15 spiny thistles to use as bullets. I anticipated the badgers’ next actions. They rushed at me, and this was their mistake. I threw the thistles around me, and the barefoot badgers fell into the same trap as the bear had done.

  Without losing a second, I dealt the strongest blow that I was capable of to the neck of the warrior standing between me and their healer. Luck was once again on my side: one “Critical Impact” strike and the life points of the badger fell below the red warning line. I still didn’t know what percentage of life points the red line showed, but by eye, I would say that it was less than 10 percent.

  I finished off the unfortunate creature with another blow, and while the others were in a state of shock, I charged at their healer. I found myself face to face with the healer, who hadn’t expected such a turn of events, and I tried to quickly do something about it. Unfortunately, killing the healer p
roved to be a difficult task. I did manage to strike it, but it appeared to have a more effective version of “Wild Defense” than mine.

  Another difficulty was that the badgers with the blow pipes turned their attention away from my Totem, and turned towards me. They realized that they needed to realign their forces to defend their only healer. In principle, from a tactical point of view, I agreed with their actions, but from a personal angle ... it was something of a problem. Having to dodge their darts prevented me from doing more damage to the healer. As the seconds passed, I knew that more warriors would come to its assistance soon enough. I had absolutely no idea how it would all turn out.

  Fortunately, my Copper Wing was a clever bird. He pretended that he had flown off to heal his wounds. Instead he circled around, and then attacked the shooters from behind. This decided the outcome of the battle: he managed to kill one of the three shooters, and the other two fled. That gave me an opportunity to get busy with the healer. First of all, I noticed that a stream of green energy was flowing from its hand into the staff. I needed to interrupt this flow of energy, so I crippled the arm holding the staff.

  As soon as the staff fell out of its hands, the badger healer stopped restoring its health, and the protection shield seemed to be weakened. Past that point, everything was over in a matter of a few seconds: a thistle in to its eyes, and a blow from my sword to one of its legs. After that, screaming from pain, the enemy could no longer resist and was destroyed.

  The rest of the fight was much easier, but it still lasted about a further three minutes. Last of all I finished off the warrior with the scratched eye. It fought longer than the others, but was unable to resist the simultaneous onslaught from both ground and air.

  I collected the skins from the healer and two small spears as a loot, the characteristics of which I was yet to make out. Throwing everything in with the collection in my bag, I slumped to the ground, exhausted. I took out a couple of handfuls of yellow fruit from bag for me and my feathered friend. We had both been badly damaged, and we needed to restore our life points.

  A little more of that and they would have killed us! — I shared my thoughts with my Totem.

  My bird moved one of its wings a little and, jerking from pain, he confirmed that he agreed with me with a sad nod.

  — By the way, until my “Attentiveness” increases, I will have to rely on you for your intelligence.

  My Totem looked away in shame.

  Don’t take it personally – it is what it is, — I sighed. — The main thing is that we are alive, but from now we can’t afford to relax, even if everyone we meet can be killed just by looking at them.

  The bird was actively nodding its head as if saying: “I agree with you. That’s the way everything will be in future.”

  Having restored our life points with the fruits, we sat on the grass a little longer, after which it was decided that I would spend the night in this tree. However, first of all, before I even started making a bed, I put the “Noisy Guard” spell around the tree.

  The night passed without any incidents. In the morning, we continued on our way, but we moved very carefully. We came across units of badgers here and there. Fortunately for us, there were never more than three or four soldiers and one or two archers, and none of them had healers.

  At some point, I finally learned the name of the badger race: Forest Hobs. At the same time, I was given the ability to “Identify Creatures”: it's strange that I had to wait for it for so long. It was crucial for me to find a quiet place and read the book given to me by the fairies.

  Eventually we reached the edge of the forest. What lay ahead of us was really impressive! It was a natural amphitheater, almost a regular round shape. The “walls” looked a bit like a staircase with steps that got smaller as they led to the base. At the very bottom was a plateau, interspersed by shreds of different shades of green, and in the middle of the plateau was a huge dark blue lake, next to which there lay a hamlet of about thirty houses.

  It wasn’t possible for me to see any more details from where I was standing. In any event, having a roof over my head was incredibly desirable. Except for the time when I hit my head against that tree, when I nearly died, I still was able to enjoy walking in the woods, but unfortunately, I was already suffering from exhaustion. It didn’t matter how much I enjoyed the nature around, I needed a break. Apart from that the village provided an opportunity to earn some money and change my clothes to something more suitable.

  According to my estimations, there were only a few hours left before it got too dark to see, and distances could sometimes be deceptive. So, Copper Wing and I increased our pace as best we could. To my surprise, it seemed that my Copper Wing had also had enough of the forest and was craving something new. I also believed that he was hoping that he would be treated with something delicious to eat in the village. He agreed with my desire to get there as quickly as possible enthusiastically.

  Once I had already descended to the plateau, and crossed many fields with unfamiliar plants, the thought suddenly occurred to me that the village might not be a solution to my troubles, but perhaps only be another one. Having decided that it was unlikely that the first village that I came across would be a trap, I continued on my way regardless.

  It had already begun to get dark when we reached the village. Halting a mile from the first houses, I observed the settlement from a distance. All the houses were woven from branches, like baskets. The windows were covered with animal skins, and all of the houses had straw roofs.

  At first glance, all the houses looked identical, but in fact this was not the case: each house had some quality that made it different to its neighbors. Minor differences made the houses unique, but a not so observant traveler would have considered them to be identical.

  I could recognize the different animal skins covering the windows. Another house in the village had a painting of a loach fish on the wall. Yet another one, in the middle of the village, boasted a pretty hedge around the garden. It was immediately obvious that the people living here were very proud of their village, and everyone wanted to express themselves in some fashion.

  What concerned me was the absence of any residents. It was as if they had literally all fallen off the face of the earth! Deciding not to take any risks, I sent my bird to fly over the settlement. My Copper Wing returned a couple of minutes later with a look of surprise on his face.

  — What? Nobody there? — I asked.

  My Totem nodded.

  — Okay, let's go look around. Fly in circles as high as you can. If I need you, you can help.

  The Copper Wing implied that he knew what was required of him and he soared upward.

  I reached the first houses and entered the village. A rustling noise to my left made me turn around. I immediately took up a defensive stance, ready to repulse an attack.

  There was no one to be seen!

  I peered around, but I still didn’t see anybody.

  “Probably just a small animal ...” — I relaxed and turned back to the middle of the road, but as I turned I knew that something wasn’t right. — “I’ve been played like a naive child! It's odd that the Totem did not give out a warning cry of danger.”

  I jumped back, ready to defend myself from an attack.

  — What the BLEEP! — The phrase came out without me even realizing.

  Opposite me stood an old man, dressed in something more like a haystack than anything else.

  The old man smiled.

  — Don’t worry yourself! —he said and then disappeared from view.

  — What on earth... — I turned to another rustling sound behind me. A bearded man appeared in one of the windows, as soon as he heard what I had said, he disappeared with a smile.

  I was touched on the shoulder, and I automatically finished the sentence:

  — ... Is going on in this place?

  In front of me was another villager. Hearing what I said, he also silently disappeared. This time I managed to notice a name a
ppear over his head, but I still couldn’t figure out what was going on until a branch hit me on the head.

  — You…BLEEP! — Turning in the direction of the offender, I found myself looking into the eyes of a pretty blond-haired girl. She smiled guiltily, and then also disappeared.

  — So, that’s how it is isn’t it, — I sighed, watching another villager coming down from a roof.

  It dawned on me that I was being trivially provoked into uttering phrases, and the fact that the fleeing peasant suddenly had a name, suggested to me that the villagers had chosen a rather original way for obtaining new names. Relaxed, I began to walk around the village and say the first thing that came to mind, trying not to repeat it.

  “There are loads of them here!” — I was already beginning to get tired of this game. I uttered phrases without consciously thinking about them, because I had other things on my mind.

  Suddenly a ten-year-old boy appeared in front of me.

  “No way! Let the adults ruin their lives getting strange names, but I'll give this child a normal one!” — I got angry, and then I said:

  Alex!

  I didn’t even know why I chose this name. It seemed to me that it was the right choice.

  A gong sounded! The same way it had done the previous time during my last visit to the meadow.

  — What now?

  The boy stood and looked at me sadly. Other people gathered around me who had happy cheerful faces earlier on, but at this moment I could read sadness and despair on them.

  — What just happened?

  You have obtained the reputation of “Instrument of Fate”. You have attracted Fate’s attention. Without even being told your quest, you have fulfilled it according to her wishes. Perhaps in the future, Fate will entrust you with something more serious, and then you will be able to prove that you are something more than a simple tool.

  The first old man that had come to me in the village, approached me. Now above him I read the name that I had given to him: “Whatthebleep”.