The beginning of the 5th day.

He decided to leave the clearing on the 7th day.

Daire originally decided to leave after a couple weeks. Only once he built up his strength and learned proper magical spells. This thinking changed. He realized that Iris didn't have as much time as he originally thought. He needed to figure out his exact location in relation to Iris.

He "spawned" in the Meist kingdom. This was an unmistakable clause he dictated in his contract. Though, he was supposed to end up just outside a town.

Instead, Daire had ended up here.

The best answer as to why was that another power intervened. "Willow" being at the forefront of his mind. Violet seemed to revere the old tree. It harbored Violet for over two decades, transported books from Earth, and was assumed to control the nearby wildlife.

Connecting the dots, it made sense.

Willow stopped transporting books about a month ago. This was around the time Daire started reading a book called "The White Tragedy". He became obsessed with it. The author was phenomenal at world-building, breathing life into each character. Daire became attached to them, only to have them killed off.

Every night when he went to bed, he would dream of saving them right before their demise. He thought of ways to survive, learn magic, downloaded apps to cover his weak points, and started preparing for different scenarios in the case he would somehow be transported there in his sleep, like transmigration stories. This was when a shifter named Marcus showed up inside his shower.

Daire had been scared shitless and nearly knocked himself unconscious. The shifter thought it would be funny to suddenly appear at that moment rather than when Daire was prepared, or silently praying for help... or shouting fervently at the sky.

Several exclamations and one-sided arguments later, he learned that the shifter called himself Marcus.

He had come to grant Daire's wish.

On conditions.

"I will satisfy your hero syndrome if you sell me your soul."

Marcus stated his conditions. Daire accepted.

A contract was written out, and Daire had even made a few amendments, such as not sending him into a snake pit to die immediately and allowing Daire to bring some objects. Marcus was fine with every demand as he would get Daire's soul in the end.

The shifter's power granted him the ability to shift between planes and realities. Marcus had taken a liking to Earth. It was a planet on a plane of existence with no other shifters, entities, or gods. Having a spare plane in your back pocket was good for emergencies, or so he had said.

Daire realized he was likely selling more than his soul; he wasn't an idiot. Daire just thought that Marcus was a bigger sucker.

With the contract written out, each participant thought they had gotten the better deal, but only time would tell.

Daire was granted "about four years" for his quest. In that time, he needed to gather his allies, build up his power, and make the correct connections.

Other reasons Daire decided to leave earlier...

Iris' condition would only deteriorate as time went on. Daire needed to do more than just rescued allies. It would be disastrous if Iris were too far away to save. The second worst-case scenario is if Iris' injuries piled up or became permanent. Not to mention that Daire could be stalled any number of times during the journey.

The comatose bunnies were freaking him out. The clearing was likely to change more drastically the longer he stayed. Isolation was deteriorating his mindest. And he could always continue training while on the road.

That is why Daire was preparing to leave. By building a cage.

And why would a cage large enough to fit a bear be pertinent to leaving?

Because it would hold lots and lots of bunnies.

These accursed fur balls were still coming into the clearing in absurd numbers, and they weren't dwindling; they were increasing!

Daire decided to become a rabbit peddler. Depending on how long the journey was, they could use them as food as well. There should be plenty of opportunities for fresh meat to sell. To butchers, inns, weary travelers, etc.

Or he could sell them to village children to serve as pets. Since they weren't hostile and never ran away, they would be a hit with young girls. They were cute, soft, had large black eyes, and only ever at grass. Daire could see his rabbits become a staple in Meist culture. Every household would hold a bunny.

The pet business might conflict with his meat business, but he would cross that bridge later...

Daire scrolled through his phone to find out how to make a primitive cage. One that would hold together against natural elements yet simple enough to create using found objects.

Once he swept through the pesky ads, he found a decent blueprint, a step-by-step instruction guide with pictures.

Right now, its wooden bottom resembled what you would expect a raft to look like. The base was about 7ft by 7ft. There were poles of wood going up 7ft, creating walls on three sides. There was space in-between the wooden bars. If the rabbits had actually wanted to escape, they could likely squeeze through with some effort. Daire wasn't worried for obvious reasons.

Daire's wounded arm bothered him as he worked. If it were entirely on the outside portion of his arm, it wouldn't be so bad. He was careful not to reopen it. That would be a disaster...

Next, Daire made a top to the cage. It was a replica to the bottom, save a small square hole cut in the center. The fourth wall was still open.

He stopped for a bit, making lunch and spending a half-hour sword training. He shortened his practice, worried about his arm.

It will probably leave a nasty scar.

Although it could look cool from some perspectives.

Daire thought scars were cool when he was little. Even when he accidentally cut his hand when he was little, developing a small scar on his palm, he thought it was worth it. Battle wounds made the man. It gave stories to tell about.

But this time, Daire didn't believe it was worth the trouble, especially since the culprit was still around.

Daire glared at Light, who glared back at him.

They were tentative companions. Daire proved his strength the other day. Light had a wound on his shoulder as evidence of this. Light was likely still angry; he had gotten his noggin knocked repeatedly.

Daire displayed a middle finger.

The ferocious canines weren't violent towards him anymore. He thought of the wolves as large dogs. Ones that always had blood on their snouts from their kills. And constantly tried to stick their tongues in his mouth.

Seriously, what is up with that?

Daire turned back to work, creating shelves in the cage, separating the space into floors. Only three. He wanted six since a rabbit was only about a foot tall. He could've maximized the space that way but decided against it because that would look cruel when selling them to children.

Each had a square hole in the same spot as the roof.

Through a spark of inspiration, he diverged from the blueprints by making the shelves detachable. He did this in a way that he could attach them at any height in the cage. For now, he made them equidistant.

It was practically a bunny playhouse.

The fourth wall was the hardest to crack. It took Daire most of the afternoon to create this single wall. This wall had no gaps. Daire made it so that the entire wall hinged at the top, allowing it to flip open horizontally with some effort.

This entire wall was also made up of three identical horizontal doors.

So, not only could the entire wall flip open, three smaller hatches allowed access to the cage's individual levels.

It was quite complex.

Proud and satisfied, Daire made dinner. Rabbit food was starting to get monotonous, but he failed at his attempt at spear-fishing. There was no luck in finding more herbs or spices. He did find a bee's nest near the far end of Proud Pond.

Violet told him the pond's official name during lunch. He was unwilling to call it by such a ridiculous name, merely referring to it as "the pond".

What part of it is Proud? Didn't she only name it that for the alliteration?

Daire was unwilling to attempt acquiring honey. There were guides on how to retrieve some, but Daire deemed the task needlessly risky. He would make honey-glazed kebabs when he came back.

During dinner, he told Violet his plans to leave after tomorrow. She adamantly stated she was coming with and Daire had no intention to stop her. He was glad for the company.

They talked about the best way to travel. Daire could faintly smell salt on the wind to the south, so he believed the ocean lay in that direction. Not knowing if civilization was to the East or West, they decided to go North.

Violet asked again about Iris, but he remained silent, wanting to wait until they were on the move.

Other than that, they talked about food and imagined what the local cuisines were like. They were both very much looking forward to new dishes. For different reasons.

After dinner, Daire continued his work. Right now, it was just a primitive, yet fancy, wooden cage sitting on the ground.

More work was required tomorrow to finish it. For now, he constructed a chute. This chute could be placed at the top of the cage and deposit food on all three levels. This would make it easier to feed the rabbits all at once rather than handing them fistfuls of grass through the bars.

In some ways, this piece was more complex than the door. It was made of small parts that created a platform that descended the chute like an elevator. There were much easier ways, but Daire couldn't find any guides. This was entirely his own creation, making it impressive but also needlessly complicated.

Daire could just feel the fireball careening towards the cage like a figment of fate. All his work would go up in flames in a moment.

Looking up at the night sky, he hoped lightning didn't become a running joke.

Leaving the cage be for the night, he returned to his abode, using a bit of magic to draw on the wall.

Since Daire knew Earth magic, he could mold and move the wall as he wished. With some effort, Daire created a mural on the right side of the open doorway.

Daire didn't like that his room had a rather large draft, but he would fix it eventually.

His drawing was actually really well done. It wasn't cookies...

It was a relief sculpture, an impression carved into the wall.

He carved and molded a thick split trunk atop a small rise of land. Not a hill. Not flat.

He created roots that spread down into the bump of land. Then made several layers of drooping branches and leaves.

Finally, he created thin elongated storm clouds with lightning jumping through them.

The end result was Willow sitting atop a small hump of earth with a single lightning strike impacting. It wasn't your typical zigzag lightning bolt that kids drew; it looked genuine—an article of nature.

The layers were as followed:

Front: Roots, Leaves, Clouds, Lightning

Middle: Trunk, Ground, Branches, Leaves, Lightning

Back: Leaves, Lightning

The lightning strike was practically free-floating, but it was made possible with magic.

Daire spent so long on this artwork that it was past midnight. The fugue lasted hours.

"That's what happens when you get in the zone."

Satisfied with his work and exhausted from another long day, he turned in for the night.