“The wilderness holds its own laws, where mercy is nonexistent and every breath must be fought for.” — Jack London Riven continued following the trail.
The path was narrow and overgrown, with branches occasionally blocking his way.
He had to push through bushes and step over fallen trees, but he kept moving.
Every so often, he stopped to examine the ground, making sure he hadn’t lost the trail.
He hoped it would lead to a town.
As the day went on, the forest began to change.
The trees grew taller, and the undergrowth became thicker.
Sunlight filtered through the branches above, casting patches of light across the path.
Riven kept walking.
His stomach growled several times, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten since escaping the camp.
He tried to ignore it, focusing instead on finding somewhere safe.
He had water now, but that alone wouldn’t keep him alive.
By midday, his legs were aching.
The stolen sword at his waist was heavy, and carrying it for hours had begun to hurt his back.
Still, he refused to stop for long.
He didn’t know how far he was from the nearest town.
For all he knew, he could be walking in the wrong direction.
As the sun began to set, Riven finally decided to stop.
He found a relatively sheltered spot beneath a large tree, away from the trail.
He checked the surrounding area before sitting down.
There was no sign of anyone nearby.
He leaned against the tree and pulled his knees toward his chest.
His shoulder and back ached from the day’s walking, and his stomach was still empty.
He wished he had something to eat.
For a moment, he thought about the camp.
At least there, he had been given food, even if it was barely enough to keep him alive.
He quickly pushed the thought away.
He wasn’t going back.
Riven placed the sword beside him and lay down, keeping one hand on its hilt.
He knew sleeping in the forest was dangerous, but he was too exhausted to keep walking.
Before long, he drifted off.
A sudden weight crashed into him.
Riven’s eyes flew open as something snarled above him.
Before he could react, sharp teeth snapped near his face.
He screamed and shoved at the creature.
It was a beast, roughly the size of a medium-sized dog.
Its body was covered in dark, coarse fur, and a single horn protruded from its forehead.
Its eyes glowed faintly in the darkness as it snapped at him.
Riven scrambled backward, desperately trying to get away.
The beast lunged again.
He threw up his arm to protect his face, feeling its teeth catch on his sleeve.
He kicked at its body, but the creature barely moved.
His hand searched frantically for the sword.
There!
He grabbed the hilt and pulled it toward him, but the beast was already on top of him.
Its claws dug into his clothes as it tried to bite his neck.
Riven swung the sword.
The blade struck the creature’s side, but it only seemed to anger it.
The beast snarled and lunged at him again.
Riven rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding its jaws.
He struggled to get back on his feet, but the creature was faster.
It charged at him, lowering its head.
Riven tried to move out of the way.
He wasn’t fast enough.
The horn pierced his shoulder.
A sharp pain shot through his body, and he cried out.
The force of the impact knocked him backward, leaving him pinned against the ground.
He could feel the horn lodged in his shoulder.
The beast snarled and tried to push forward.
Riven gritted his teeth and grabbed the sword with both hands.
He knew he couldn’t hold it off for long.
The creature was stronger than him, and his injured shoulder was already making it difficult to move.
He forced himself to act.
With a desperate swing, he drove the sword into the beast’s neck.
The creature thrashed violently.
Riven screamed as the movement sent another wave of pain through his shoulder.
He held on, pushing the blade deeper until the beast finally collapsed.
For several seconds, he lay beneath it, struggling to breathe.
Then he shoved the creature off himself and crawled backward.
His shoulder throbbed.
Blood was running down his arm and soaking into his clothes.
Riven stared at the beast’s body.
He had killed it.
He sat there for a moment, trying to calm his breathing.
His hands were shaking, and the pain in his shoulder made it difficult to think.
Eventually, he forced himself to stand.
He needed to deal with the wound.
But first, he remembered something.
The core.
He had watched the old man remove them from the orcs back at the camp.
Every monster had one, usually near the heart.
They were valuable he might be able to sell them when he got to town.
Riven crouched beside the beast and examined its body.
He wasn’t entirely sure where its heart was, but he remembered what the old man had shown him.
He carefully cut into the creature’s chest.
The work was difficult with only one good shoulder, he had to stop several times when the pain became too much.
Eventually, he found the core.
It was smaller than the orc cores he had seen before, about the size of a large marble.
Its surface was a deep red, and it gave off a faint glow.
Riven carefully removed it and wiped away the blood.
He stared at it for a moment.
Another valuable item.
He tucked it into his pocket.
Then he remembered something else the old man had told him.
Some monsters had parts worth collecting, such as their hides, teeth, claws, or horns.
Riven looked at the creature’s forehead.
The horn.
He didn’t know how much it was worth, but it seemed like something a person might want.
He decided it was worth taking.
Using the sword, he cut the horn from the beast’s head.
It took longer than he expected, but he eventually managed to remove it.
He set it beside him and looked over the rest of the body.
The hide might be useful, too.
Riven had no idea how to skin an animal properly.
It was slow and messy.
His shoulder hurt with every movement, and he had to stop several times to rest.
Still, he managed to remove a large portion of the hide.
He wasn’t sure if he had done a good job, but it was better than leaving it behind.
Once he had finished, he sat back and examined his shoulder.
The wound was worse than he had hoped.
The horn had pierced through his shoulder, leaving a deep hole.
Blood continued to seep from it, and the pain was making his arm difficult to move.
He needed to stop the bleeding.
Riven grabbed the bottom of his shirt and tore off a long strip of cloth.
He winced as he pulled at the fabric, but he managed to rip it free.
He folded the cloth and pressed it against the wound.
The pain made him grit his teeth.
He wrapped the remaining fabric around his shoulder as tightly as he could, tying it off with his good hand.
It wasn’t a proper bandage, but it was better then nothing.
When he finished, he leaned against the tree and took several deep breaths.
His body was trembling from the fight, and he could feel exhaustion creeping back in.
He looked at the dead beast, then at the horn and hide lying beside him.
He had managed to kill it, but he had nearly died in the process.
His stomach growled again.
Riven looked at the beast’s body.
There was plenty of meat, and for a moment, he considered cutting some off.
He was starving, and eating something would give him the energy he needed to keep going.
Then he remembered the lighter.
He had thrown it when he lit the fire, thinking it was useless to him.
Now, staring at the meat, he deeply regretted that decision.
‘Stupid’ If he still had it, he could have started a fire and cooked some of the meat.
Instead, he was left with the choice of eating it raw or going hungry.
He grimaced.
“Should’ve kept that damn thing.” For now, he decided to leave it alone.
Riven glanced at his sword.
He was going to need to get better at using it.
For now, however, he needed to rest.
His shoulder was badly injured, and he had no idea how much farther he would have to travel before reaching a town.
He pulled the sword closer and settled against the tree, keeping the monster’s horn and core beside him.
He hoped the next night would be quieter.