Enzo knew he was outside. The scent was still there. Even in the cold air, he could still smell it, like the smell of pine needles and the scent of earth after it rains.
He used to love it when it rained. Not because of the rain itself, but because of the scent of the earth afterwards, as a new cycle had begun. Now, smelling it on him, it made him want to get closer. But he knew what getting closer meant, and he wanted none of it.
When Riven left, he let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He lay on the bed, the cold air still seeping into the hut. Once again, he thought about the door he should put in.
Before long, he drifted off to sleep.
The next morning he woke up, refreshed. As usual, he was going gathering; however, when he arrived, he saw Gato. The older sub-beast called him over.
"Enzo, today you will come with me. I need you to help me pick some herbs. You can see them in their most natural state. We need enough to last the winter."
"Are there herbs now? Don’t you think it’s too cold?" Enzo asked. He knew that some herbs couldn’t thrive in winter conditions. Even if it wasn’t too cold now, they should be withered.
Gato responded with a sly grin, "Come with me."
They left on their own; the gathering team was still missing a few people. When they went out, they didn’t follow the same trail the gatherer did; they walked in the opposite direction.
It wasn’t only the two of them. Behind them, two beastmen walked with long strides. One was the man from yesterday; the other he only recognized as a warrior in the tribe. Both of them had their eyes on Gato, watching his every move.
Enzo saw it and felt superfluous. He scratched the tip of his nose awkwardly. Glancing at Gato, he saw the sub-beast throw what could only be described as flirtatious glances at the two males.
Enzo wanted to sink into the ground. Based on Gato’s age, which he found out was more than one hundred, he felt like he was walking around with his parents, and they were making googly eyes at each other.
He coughed, trying to get their attention. Gato actually blushed when he saw Enzo looking at him.
Well, at least someone’s embarrassed, Enzo thought. He looked back at the two males. Seemed like embarrassment wasn’t in their vocabulary, but they were still looking at Gato like they wanted to throw him over their shoulder and run back to their cave for a very thorough...spanking.
Not wanting to think about it, Enzo asked. "How much longer will we be walking?"
"Soon," Gato replied.
And he was right. No more than five minutes later, the group found themselves in a small valley. Unlike the surroundings, the place was exceptionally warm. The moment Enzo stepped closer, he felt the difference.
His eyes darted around the valley. It was a mess of greens, purples, blues, and every other colour one could think of. He recognized a few of the plants Gato had told him about before, but he didn’t recognize the others.
He looked at Gato, who, seeing his excited expression, let him take a look by himself.
Enzo walked into the valley and started touching things. At least that’s how it looked to Gato and the two beastmen. Only Enzo knew he was categorizing and finding seeds to see what he could plant in the space.
The sweet potatoes had been growing exceptionally well, better than he expected and faster than he expected, too. He had harvested mushrooms multiple times, but the amount seemed endless.
Even the mildly toxic mushroom that he stuck in a corner of the space was still fresh. It sat there like a tiny poisonous flag.
So, Enzo wanted to find other things to plant inside.
While looking for seeds, Enzo made a discovery. There was a distinct difference between energy-rich plants and those that had energy.
In the entirety of the small valley, Enzo found three plants that contained energy. He took a stalk of each and threw it into the space when no one was looking, seeds and all. He would study them later.
"Are you done looking?" he heard Gato ask.
He was hunched over a small plant that had red fruit dangling from it. He stared at the chili pepper and stuffed a few into the space, then turned.
"I’m done," Enzo chimed, grinning from ear to ear.
"And what have you seen?" Gato asked, hands crossed over his chest.
"I have seen all the medicines for the healing salves, preventative medicines, and others for internal use, but there are some I don’t quite understand. Like this one..." Enzo made his report, and Gato listened.
Gato nodded. "Good. Now let me tell you about the ones you don’t know. Firstly, all the plants here are from previous healers. Even if the tribe migrates, we keep them on hand so they can come with us. This way, we never lose our inheritance. There are three specific plants I want to point out, not for their healing properties, but for their effect on males."
He paused. "I know you have forgotten many things, but you should have heard around the tribe that many males are called warriors. But do you know that there are different ranks for warriors?"
Enzo nodded. "Zeli told me. The black rank and the bronze rank. Each of them has four levels: lower, middle, upper, and peak."
"Hmm, now," he pointed to the three plants Enzo had seen through his plant appraisal skill. "Do you see any difference between these three plants and the other plants in the valley?"
"They’re...more vibrant. They catch your eye faster. The other plants aren’t grown too close to them."
"Correct, except it’s not that they aren’t grown near them. We’ve tried planting other herbs close; they end up dying. So we clear a section for the three. Not only are they vibrant, as you said, but our warrior needs them to become stronger.
The three medicines, whether as a medicinal bath or a liquid, temper their bodies. It’s a part of the process of becoming strong warriors for the tribe. They contain beast energy, which is what all warriors need to surpass their limits."
Enzo listened. The more he listened, the more confused he became. Not because of anything remotely related to plants themselves. His confusion came from the words ’beast energy.’
He had never heard it in the novel. In the novel, they made it sound like the more they fought, the stronger they became, which is understandable given that they’re beastmen.
He expected them to get stronger when they fought. Now, it’s beginning to sound like a hell of a lot more than just fighting.
For the first time, Enzo thought, am I really in the book I read? Are these the same paper people?