The morning air was thick with fog, dew clinging to every branch and blade of grass. Birds chirped softly in the trees, and Kurokami was already pacing near the edge of the clearing. Something was off.
"What's up, boy?" I asked, tightening the leather straps on my newly gifted arm guards.
He didn't bark. He didn't growl. Just stared into the woods, tail low, ears alert. Then, the trees moved. Not in the wind, but against it. A low, guttural creak echoed from within the forest as if the very earth was groaning. Borin stepped out of the cabin behind me, axe already in hand. He looked to the treeline and muttered under his breath.
"Bloody hells... I've not seen one of those in decades."
"What is that?"
"Treeant. Or what's left of one. Ancient guardian spirits corrupted by magic or rot. Twisted and bitter. And very much alive."
From the fog, it emerged, massive, nearly two stories tall, bark cracked and blackened like charred flesh. Branches twisted like horns from its head, moss draped across its form like a decayed cloak. Its hollow, glowing green eyes locked onto us with slow malice. It raised one arm, gnarled wood cracking like thunder and brought it crashing down. I shoved Borin aside, diving to the ground just as the earth exploded where we had stood.
"Go for the legs!" Borin barked, rolling up with his axe. "They're thick, but brittle near the root!"
I darted forward, sword in hand, trying to move faster than I ever had before. But something inside me clicked, my mind flashed to the etched spirals on my arm.
Wind.
I focused, twisted my foot, and kicked off the ground.
WHOOMPH.
A small shockwave blasted beneath me, launching me high into the air, higher than I should've been able to jump. Leaves scattered below as I soared just past the creature's swinging limb.
"HOLY, okay! That worked!" I shouted mid-air, half in terror, half in awe.
I landed hard, stumbled, and regained my footing. "Borin! I just jumped like, twenty feet!"
"Focus, genius!" he yelled, swinging his axe and shaving a strip of bark from the creature's leg. "Celebrate after we don't die!"
The Treeant turned toward Borin, raising its root-like foot. I charged again, this time controlling the shockwave, aiming it not just to go up, but forward.
FWOOOSH!
I launched straight at the creature's torso, driving my blade into a weak knot near its chest. It roared, more like a splintering groan, and staggered back. Its arms flailed. One caught me mid-air and swatted me into a tree like a leaf in a storm. Pain exploded in my ribs, but adrenaline drowned it out.
"Kai!" Borin shouted.
"I'm fine!" I grunted, crawling to my feet. "I think it cracked my soul, but I'm fine!"
Borin didn't wait, he launched in, rolling under the Treeant's swing and hacking deep into its leg. The creature collapsed to one knee.
"NOW!" he barked.
I charged again, this time with more focus. I planted one foot, released the shockwave downward, and launched straight up. My sword glinted in the sunlight as I spun mid-air and brought it down with all my weight, driving it deep into the Treeant's skull-like core between its branches.
CRRRAACK.
The glow faded from its eyes.
It groaned one last time... then fell forward like a collapsing tower, sending birds flying into the sky.
Silence.
I stood there, panting, hands trembling.
"Did... did we just kill a haunted forest god?" I asked.
Borin whistled. "If it bleeds, or bleeds sap, it can die."
I sat down hard on a nearby rock, my whole body aching. Kurokami trotted up beside me, sniffed the fallen Treeant, and huffed.
"You alright, lad?" Borin asked.
"Yeah. Just realizing I can jump like a flea and get slapped like a fly."
He grinned and patted my shoulder. "You're gettin' stronger. The wind magic suits you."
I looked down at my arm. The tattoo still glowed faintly, pulsing with energy. "It feels... connected. Like it's guiding me."
"Ay" Borin nodded. "And it'll keep changin' as you grow stronger. But brute force ain't everything. Time we taught you proper combat, not just fancy wind stunts."
We cleared a patch of grass that afternoon. Borin made me repeat basic stances, footwork, and sword swings.
"You ain't swingin' a fish here, lad. It's a blade, not a noodle!"
I groaned. "You're a cruel teacher."
He laughed. "Cruel? I haven't even made you run laps yet."
That night, I collapsed beside the fire, muscles aching from training, mind still spinning from the fight. But I felt... good. We were building something here, more than just a cabin.
A life. A future.
The morning sun filtered through the canopy, golden rays dancing over the clearing. I stood with my arms crossed, gazing at the untouched patch of land we'd marked for farming.
"We need a well" I said.
Borin looked up from splitting logs, wiping sweat from his brow with the back of his arm. "Ay. We do. But how do we make a well without resources?"
"Simple" I replied, grinning.
His brow rose skeptically. "You're gonna say magic again, aren't ya?"
"Nope. Think bigger. Or, well... think downward."
Borin leaned on his axe. "I'm listenin'."
"We use the water from the creek. Dig a trench, maybe carve a few makeshift pipes, and lead the water here."
He raised an eyebrow. "We don't have any iron for pipes, lad."
I pointed toward the pile of logs we stacked yesterday. "Wood."
"Huh?"
"We hollow them out, carve grooves, notch them together, maybe seal them with moss or pitch. It'll take time, but it'll work. Primitive irrigation."
Borin's eyes sparkled like a dwarf spotting gold. "Brilliant, lad!"
Within hours, Borin was already halfway done with the base of a well. He used sturdy stones from the riverbank, reinforced it with thick logs, and crafted a basic pulley system using scrap rope and a bucket made from an old helmet. It wasn't pretty, but it was functional. Meanwhile, I took up the less glamorous job of digging the trench from the creek to the well. Sweat poured down my face, the sun bearing down like it had a personal grudge, but I kept at it. Kurokami helped too, well, supervised. He mostly dug random holes, occasionally snarled at a bird, and laid in the dirt like a king watching a peasant work. With the trench finished and the well standing proudly in the field, I left Borin to his woodcrafting brilliance. The pipes could wait, I wanted to stretch my legs.
"Don't get yourself killed." Borin called as I slung my sword over my back.
"Don't finish the farm without me." I shouted back.
The forest greeted me like an old friend, dense, earthy, wild. I wandered deeper than usual, Kurokami flanking me with ears perked and nose twitching. Boars crossed our path twice, but they barely posed a threat anymore. Between Borin's combat lessons, my quick reflexes, and Kurokami's eerie ability to vanish and reappear like a ninja shadow, we made short work of them. My blade met flesh. A gust of wind surged through my feet, propelling me behind one of them, ending the fight before it could begin.
"Too easy." I muttered. "Almost feels unfair."
The trees opened into a smaller glade, overgrown and quiet. There, half-buried under moss and roots, sat an old torn bag. I knelt, brushing it off, and opened it carefully. Inside, a rotted cloth roll, a cracked flask, a rusted useless knife... and a scroll. No, a map. The ink was faded, but legible. A red X marked a shaded area surrounded by jagged lines. It wasn't far. My eyes traced landmarks, ravines, a forked oak tree, a boulder shaped like a skull. It led to something.
"Looks like a dungeon."
Kurokami padded beside me, staring at the map, then at me. Then he howled, a low, eerie sound that echoed through the trees like a whisper to the wind. I folded the map and tucked it into my satchel.
"Want to check it out?"
He huffed, trotting ahead like he already knew the way. I grinned, tightened my belt, and followed.
"Let's go then."