Chapter 3: Shelter and a Bow

I woke up to something rustling the forest. Old habits die hard. Back in my previous life, even when I'm sleeping, my consciousness and body remain alert for any movement around me. This is a way for me to get away quickly just in case someone or a guard finds me sleeping in the ruins. Getting caught sometimes means abrupt death. I look around from where the rustling comes from and it's hard to pinpoint it. I slowly back away towards a tree near the fire. The fire was a lot smaller now so it barely illuminate a distance.

I want to move but for some reason, my instinct is telling me I should stay put and keep my back towards a tree. My heart was pounding. From what the gods have told me, this is another world different from my own. So, wildlife in the forest is something I do not know of. Not until I see them. I've only seen a few fishes in the stream, a few birds flying across the vast blue sky and that's how far I got to know what type of life inhabits this unknown land. This is my first night and I should have been more careful.

I kind of regret not building a shelter or a proper weapon but, there is no point in crying over spilled milk. I clench the wooden ax hoping it would be enough to fight whatever it is that's coming towards me. But to be honest, I don't like fighting. If I can avoid it, I would. Running is not an option since the darkness of the night makes it's easy to get lost in the forest.

"A wolf?" I whisper as I see what was making all that noise. It was a wolf. But not any type of wolf I have ever seen. It had white fur that darkens towards its foot making it look like he had shoes on. It had a black blade-like horn in a shape of a thunderbolt on its forehead that reflects the light from the campfire. Its eyes were pitch black with a blue iris. I can see its hair standing up and I know that means he's wary of my presence. Its growl was terrifying and I probably prayed an infinite amount of times that it doesn't pounce on me.

"H-hey." I smile thinking it can understand me. My nervousness threw out my common sense as I place down my ax and held my hands up. "Look, I mean no harm."

I don't know why I did it. Maybe it's instincts kicking in or, maybe it's because I'm a forager. But then again, I'm just that stupid when it comes to danger. As soon as I dropped the ax, it stopped growling as the wolf sniffed around the camp. My dumb gamble paid off as it focuses more on the sweet potato skins I had laying around.

I should have thrown those away far from the camp. Its smell probably attracted it. The wolf started licking the sweet potato skins and I had an idea, maybe if I feed it a whole sweet potato, it will leave me alone. I whisper my potato bag in my mind and it dropped in front of me startling the wolf.

It went into a stance again growling at a distance. I kept my hands raised trying not to alarm it but I'm not lying if I told you, I'm sweating bullets right about now. I slowly open my bag and take out a cooked sweet potato. I held it in front of showing it to the wolf. It somehow relaxed as the wolf stopped growling but still kept its stance. I don't want to lose my hand from a wolf so I rolled the sweet potato towards it. It gave it a few sniffs before biting into it and running away towards the darkness with the sweet potato in its mouth. I was sad to lose a portion of my food but, in the end, I get to keep my life. A worthy trade in my opinion.

I was able to breathe again. My palm was sweating but at least this gave me a goal for tomorrow. Build my temporary shelter and weapons just in case it comes back. I'm tempted to just get up and leave but, I need tools and a good stock of food for the journey. For now, I have no option but to stay here, near the stream. I can travel around at night since that's what I did back in my old life but, in these unknown lands where my sense of direction is near zero, I'd get lost easily. Who knows, maybe there are more terrifying animals in the forest that I might encounter on my travel and a measly sweet potato might not save me a second time. I need to be prepared.

I didn't sleep a wink after that. Sun arrived and I wished I could go over the forest and see the sunrise. I wash my face on the stream and ate half of the sweet potato to reserve the rest for the day. My food was running low so I need to find another source. My mind was on the fishes I saw yesterday at the stream. My first task is, build a wooden spear. I look around for a decent size branch so I can shave it off to using the ax. It didn't take long to find one and I use a fire-hardening trick to make the pointed tip stronger. Not only it works well as protection, but I can also use it to dig around the area and make it easier to build my temporary shelter.

I cut more thin trees and made myself six pillars. Two of the pillars are taller than the four. I dug the ground as far as I can and placed the six logs into it filling up the space on the hole with rocks to hold it in place. It was sturdy enough not to topple over. I put a tall log in between two short ones so I can have an 'A-frame shape for the roof. I start carving small notches on all of the logs so I can attach a branch to help fortify it in place.

"Walls, what should my walls be?" I contemplate using leaves but, I wanted to have the fire near the shelter so I can keep warm during the night and at the same time, it can illuminate the surrounding area. If I use leaves and they dry in the sun, it becomes more flammable. I don't want to burn alive in my sleep. Since there was an overabundance of rocks near the stream, I collected a decent amount and stacked them up. I used the mud from the stream to close any gaps between the rocks. I can at least make a small barrier around the shelter and maybe I can use branches at the top half to cover the rest of the wall.

"Ok done, whew." I was happy with my creation. I left a few gaps here and there so I can peek out from inside. it wasn't a big shelter but enough for me to stay huddled inside during the night. "Now, the roof."

In my head, I know how to make clay tiles but, I need to fire harden them which means I need to make an oven. But that will take time and I rather do that when I found a permanent spot to build a proper home. For now, I'll just use branches and some giant leaf I found growing near the stream. These giant leaves look to be waterproof as it remains dry even when I use them to collect water for the hole.

Every minute was important, when I'm not building, I'm collecting water to boil. I want to try creating a clay pot but for now, I'll just keep using hot rocks to purify the stream water. Drinking a bit of ash won't kill me. After my second meal, I got busy working on the roof. There was an abundance of the giant leaf so, in no time, I was able to finish it. I placed the leave starting from the bottom working my way up towards the tip of the A-shape. This way, when it rains, the top leaf will catch the rain and pass it on towards the next leave underneath as water rolls down towards the edge of the roof.

I never knew why houses had an A-frame but now it all makes sense. the shape of the roof will guide the water downwards preventing it from accumulating at the top. I tested it a few times and it works, no water ever goes through and now I can safely say I'll be dry if it ever rains.

To make my temporary home more secure, I collected more rocks and create a barrier. It might not stop the wolf but, it might help deter it away. Unless it's their thing to jump over rock barriers then, I'm pretty much doomed. I wish it doesn't come back to try and eat me.

"I'm running out of sweet potatoes." I go over how much I have left. I ate three yesterday, then one went to the wolf, I ate one today. Now I only have two left. I ate half and saved the other half later on at nightfall. "I'll just drink water whenever I get the urge to eat. Two things probably drive my hunger. One is because I'm exerting a lot of energy building stuff and the other, my past life. I was always hungry day in and day out. Now that I have proper food, my past haunts me as it multiplies my hunger even more. I guess, my body is wanting to experience something I was deprived of. Food.

"Let me try fishing while it's still bright out." I grab my fire-hardened spear and walked to the stream. Somehow I knew how to work the spear even though I never had any experience in my previous life. Whenever I get a chance, I whisper a word of thanks to the gods who bestowed me these crucial pieces of information.

For fishing, I have to walk in the direction of the stream and never lift my foot above the water. the less splash I make, the less noise I create for the fish. This will give me a chance to get as close as possible and try to spear them. I felt bad but, I need to do it. I'm only killing a few out of necessity to survive right now. after a while of trying, I gave up. They were too fast. My spear was always a few seconds too late and all that's left is me watching these fishes swim away.

"What if I create a bow and arrow," I whisper staring at bird feathers on the ground near the edge of the stream. I collected as much as I can for the arrows. I knew how to make a bow and how to use one. All I need is a wood that can withstand the tension of being pulled. Lucky for me, I'm in the forest with so many different trees. Rather than carving a bow, I opted onto looking for a different tree. That has great stiffness yet, can withstand the tension of being bent.

I found the exact one further away from the stream. I'd mark the trees to make sure I can find my way back. After cutting the tree which is half the size of the width of my arms, I wouldn't even call it a tree if it wasn't rooted to the ground. I got whacking it with the ax. Creating a handle for the ax head made the job a lot faster as I was able to cut it down in a few minutes.

I drag it back to my camp and got to work on creating the bow. I gently split each end to run the bowstring into and use another string to tie it tight. As for the strings, I find the strands of the giant leaf were long enough. I knew how to make a twist bowstring. I grab two of the strand and twist them together. Then the twisted strand, I twist it again with another twisted strand but in the opposite direction. It was a lot of twisting but, the tension of the string trying to pull apart will never happen when it's trying to go both directions at the same time.

It was a relaxing day as I sat near the stream twisting the strands until I have a bowstring. I tied a knot on each end to act as a stopper when I jam it in between the spit. I twisted another string into short pieces to help me tie it together. Attaching it to the straight wood was scary. Using the ground, I pull the wood towards me bending it in place as I quickly slide one end of the string. Once in place, I use the short string and tied the split shut looping it until I can't loop it anymore.

And just like that, I made a bow with only a handmade stone ax, some knowledge, and some plants. "Why was a bow so expensive back in my world...it uses such simple materials."

I started working on the arrows trying to get them the right size and fire hardening each pointed tip. I was running out of time as I feel that the sun can go down at any minute. I want to catch fish before it gets dark or else, it will be difficult to see them swim around. I only have one and a half of sweet potatoes left. I have the raw ones but, I want to use those to grow more later on.

After making fifteen arrows, I start cutting the feather into even shapes and gluing them at the end of the arrow using tree sap. Luckily I saw a lot of feathers nearby the stream. I would see birds land now and then to get water in a few minutes to fly back up once they had their fill. Some will leave a feather behind as they flap their wings.

"Finally! Now let me test this out." I whisper while aiming the bow at a tree. I pulled on the string with the arrow as I prayed that the wood won't snap. I release my hold and the arrow went straight lodging itself in a tree. I was in shock. Such a simple made weapon could be so deadly. Without wasting any more time, I went back to the stream to continue my hunt for tonight's dinner. I was only able to carry one arrow since I didn't make a quiver.

"Relax your breathing...hold....hold..." I whisper as I aim the bow slowly following a fish. I gently release and the arrow went straight through the fish-killing it in an instant. "Yes!"

I pick it up and place it down a leaf near my shelter. I go back and hunt for one more. I know one fish won't be enough to keep me full. Just like the first fish, the second one was killed with ease. I didn't waste time and started de-scaling the fish. Looking at both fish, more information appeared in my mind. These are trouts. Freshwater fishes are usually found in fresh bodies of water.

I cut the belly open and yank out its guts. I place it on a leaf since maybe, I can use fish guts as bait later on if I ever make a fishing rod. I probably won't be able to use these to catch trouts but maybe, other fishes feed on trouts or their guts.

After gutting both trout, I started de-scaling it by running the ex from the tail to the gills. I did it a few times and shiny scales. I made sure to save them since maybe I'll find a use for the scales later on. I went back int0 the water and washed both fish. I let the fire burn out of the campfire. I didn't want to char the fish and the coal will be hot enough to cook the fish in a few minutes.

"I wonder if these giant leaves can be used." I wrap one fish with it. Drinking ash water was already enough, I didn't want the fishes to taste like ash also. Id blows onto the coal to keep the embers going. My stomach was grumbling due to the smell. I couldn't wait to eat my first freshly cooked fish.

I start another campfire to have some light. The forest is started to get dark as the sun slowly descends into the horizon. This time I'm prepared. I have a weapon and a shelter. Worse come for worse, I can climb a tree. I patiently waited for the fish to cook while gripping onto my spear. I could use the bow but, I think a spear would be better to drive a wolf away. Me being able to smell the fish as it cooks over the coals means, that wolf would probably smell it also. I know for a fact that it will come back to find the source of the delicious smell once more.

Would be nice if it becomes my companion. Then maybe my time here will be a bit more colorful.

TO BE CONTINUED....