Soul Caller 1 - Chapter 3 (Patreon)

Even as he watched, he could sense the wounds on his arms starting to heal. It was a strange, itchy feeling, and as he focused on it, the feeling intensified.

[Basic Regeneration: All warriors possess the ability to tap into the life force of the world around them, using it to stimulate their own life force, increasing their healing substantially.]

Shock stormed its way through Merrick’s body as he realized what was happening. He had gone through the test of the warrior, only to fail in the end. He had not completed the test, and should have been disqualified from becoming a warrior, but somehow, he had been chosen by a great spirit anyway. A deep thrill followed closely on the heels of the shock, and he felt himself filled with motivation and courage. The question was, which spirit had actually blessed him?

He knew that since he was a child, Snake was the spirit who favored him, blessing him with natural speed. Yet now that connection that he instinctively felt with the world, the connection that allowed him to run freely, was different. It had changed in a way he didn’t understand. Focusing on the connection, he tried to recall what that voice in his head had said, looking for a clue as to what was going on. It was at that moment that something appeared in front of his eyes, causing him to squint. Yet even then, it remained perfectly visible. He could still see it hovering in front of his face, a flat, gray rock of some sort with squiggles all over it. Recognizing what he was looking at as writing, the same writing that the elders and the shaman were always hounding the warriors to learn, he squinted again, reaching out to try to touch it.

When his hand went straight through it he seriously considered whether he had gone mad from his fall. Maybe he had struck his head and was now completely crazy. On the one hand, he knew that he had never learned to read, and yet, looking at the words on the slate he realized that he knew exactly what it said.

STATUS

NAME:  Merrick

SOUL PATH: Warrior

LEVEL: 0

EXP: 0/10

SKILLS: [1]

Warrior’s Observation [1]

The fact that he could read it was confusing enough, but how he understood what he was looking at was even stranger. This was a status screen, a basic approximation of information about him. It contained his name, his Soul Path, and the skills he knew. Something deep within him had changed fundamentally, and it terrified him. With that thought, the screen in front of him vanished as information that he had never encountered before flowed through him, bursting from deep within his soul. This was not new knowledge; this was his knowledge, though where it came from he could only imagine. With that thought, he fell unconscious.

When Merrick awoke for the second time, it was deep in the night. He could tell from the position of the stars overhead and from the sounds of the insects and the birds that it was early in the morning. The People had always possessed a deep connection with the land and Merrick was no different. From a young age he had learned to hear its voice, to understand its song, but now Merrick felt something else, something sharper, something stronger, a type of connection that had not existed before. With a start, he sat up, realization dawning on him. The connection that he had only ever felt when running had expanded, and now, he could feel that connection thrumming inside of him, as if his heartbeat had been joined to the grand song.

From childhood, he had been blessed with the ability to run almost endlessly. To understand the land with all of its contours, its dips, and its rises. To understand how to place his feet securely. And yet now, he had that same sense, that same understanding, but expanded. As soon as he concentrated on any particular thing, like the insects in the forest, he knew their voice and could instinctively tell how they fit into the grander song. As he was marveling at this new ability, a faint crunch in the far distance tickled his ears, and he quickly turned toward the dark forest.

That was not just a footstep, but the footstep of a wolf, and a big one at that. How he knew so much, he wasn't sure, but the knowledge came to him like a flash, along with a dozen other details. The water behind him, the cold mountain breeze, and bright gleam of the moon above all stood out, as did the sure knowledge that he was upwind from the wolf, which meant that it had already smelled him. It didn’t help that he was sitting at what was likely the only watering hole for some distance. Adrenaline coursed through his body, and the chill he felt vanished as he surged into action, looking around. There were no weapons at hand, not even a rock or stick. Getting caught in the forest at night with a wolf was risky even if you were a warrior of the tribe and while Merrick was now a warrior, combat had never been his strong suit.

Coming to his feet, he looked around, his mind racing. There were very few options and another crunch signaled the wolf was getting closer. Merrick, growing desperate, looked for a tree to climb or somewhere to try to get up and out of sight. While wolves had excellent noses and fantastic hearing, they couldn't climb trees. Yet even as he spotted a tree that might work, he realized the wolf was coming toward him from that same direction. To move toward the tree now risked getting trapped when the wolf emerged from the forest once again. The strange feeling of concentration appeared again as he heard another step, and he knew that the wolf was speeding up, undoubtedly having smelled him on the wind.

There wasn’t time to get to the tree, which only left one viable option if he wanted to survive. Turning around, he quickly waded out into the water, gasping as it washed over his thighs. The water was cold to the point of freezing, but he didn't hesitate. Once he was up to his waist, he clenched his teeth and dove into the water, shuddering as it rolled over him. The shock left him sputtering for breath, but he was still in the shallows, so he forced himself to swim out with strong strokes as, behind him, the wolf burst from the trees. Glancing over his shoulder, he knew that he had made the right choice as the wolf raced to the edge of the lake and stopped. Larger than the timber wolves that roamed around the village, this wolf stood four feet tall at the shoulder. Thick muscles bulged in its neck and legs and its hair stood up like sharp spikes on its back. In the bright moonlight, the wolf’s teeth glinted as it bared its fangs, growling at Merrick who was now treading water, unsure what to do.

Merrick tried to stay clear of the shallows as the wolf began to wade in toward him, clearly interested in picking up what it thought would be an easy meal. Kicking his legs, Merrick swam further out as the wolf came toward him. It was scary, but Merrick was able to remain calm, since he knew that the wolf wouldn't actually swim out after him. Wolves were notorious for their cautiousness, and while he may have seemed like an easy meal, the deep water would hold too many unknowns for the wolf to risk it. Treading water about twenty feet off of the lake’s shore, Merrick prayed that there were no large creatures lurking under the depths. He had his own healthy fear of large bodies of water and it was only the much more concrete threat of the wolf’s huge teeth that had given him the courage to swim.

At an impasse, he stared at the wolf and the wolf stared back at him. Its breath coming in bursts, steam rising from its jaws in the chilly air. It was walking back and forth along the edge of the bank and didn't seem to want to leave, as if it could sense that Merrick's arms and legs, unused to treading water, were starting to grow tired. Worse, the chill from the freezing water was starting to cut deep into his core and he could hear his teeth chattering, making him wonder how long he could keep swimming. The wolf, who seemed to have an instinctive understanding of his weakness, stayed, eventually sitting down on the shore as if to mock him. It stared at him with fierce eyes, but Merrick, who had just undergone the test of courage, simply laughed.

"I'll drown out here before I give you a meal," he said, his breath coming in gasps.

Turning in place, he looked along the shore. Most of it was sharp rocks and tall trees, broken by the occasional mud beach, but about one hundred feet away he finally spotted what might be an opportunity. There was a large tree that had fallen into the lake from the shore, and its thin branches extended far beyond the large trunk into the water. Thinking he might be able to use the extended branches to keep himself afloat without getting out of the water, Merrick took a look at the wolf and decided he was going to have to chance it. The wolf, seeing him move toward the tree, trotted along the shore, often glancing over at him. Its leering expression revealed its fangs, but Merrick ignored them and focused on his task. It took him what felt like an eternity to swim through the freezing cold water to where the tree had fallen and when he arrived, he found that many of the branches were much too thin to support him. The only saving grace was that they would be too thin to support the wolf as well. As best he could, Merrick grabbed at a few of the branches, pulling them down into the water, hanging on while he recovered his strength.

The wolf, sensing its own opportunity, popped up onto the large tree trunk and began to carefully make its way out toward him. The top of the tree, which had been laying in the water for some time, was not smooth going as the top of the log was slick with moss, but the wolf was sure footed and soon had made its way as far out as it could, coming within about ten feet of where he was. Once again, Merrick and the beast stared at each other, gauging each other with their eyes. Despite his chattering teeth, Merrick refused to lose out to the wolf, knowing that if he let his guard down, he would likely die. The wolf was a powerful hunter, and its jaws would easily rend his flesh from his bones. Unsure what to do, he remained where he was, trying to think of another solution.

Not so content to wait, the wolf shifted its feet a few times and decided to act. It started to crouch and Merrick recognized the sign, feeling as if he could see what was about to happen. The wolf would gather its strength, coil its muscles, and leap through the air, landing on top of him. That would drive him into the water as it latched its teeth into his shoulder and tore him apart. With that clear sense of what was coming, Merrick understood that the wolf had hunted along this bank before, and he felt as if he had fallen into a trap. The vision of the wolf’s coming movement was clear as day to him, and as he blinked, he felt the world snap back into place, seeing that the wolf was only now starting to crouch.

In desperation, he reached up and grabbed a few more of the branches, pulling them down with his weight as he tried to scramble up and out of the water. Hopeful that he might be able to dodge, he heaved with all his strength, getting his whole body clear of the water. The wolf seemed to snicker in the face of his futile effort as it launched itself forward, following exactly the same path that Merrick had seen a moment before. With a yell, Merrick dove to the side, using the branches he had gathered to push off, trying to get clear of the wolf's landing zone. With a wet flap, the branches rose through the air, slamming into the side of the wolf, sending it off course as Merrick jumped the other direction, splashing through the water as fast as he could. He kicked his feet, grabbing onto some of the other branches, and scrambled into the tree, holding himself clear of the water as he turned to look.

He saw the wolf now paddling in the water, staring up at him in disbelief. It was as if man and beast had swapped positions, and for a moment, Merrick couldn't help but laugh. But then, the reality of the wolf's large teeth set in again, and he realized that he wasn't out of trouble. The wolf was thrashing in the water, trying to scramble back up into the tree where he was, and just when he was preparing to try to defend himself against the wolf coming up his direction, he saw something else that sent a spike of fear through his skull and down his spine. Thin bubbles rose from under the wolf, and somehow, Merrick knew exactly what it meant.

Seconds later, his premonition was once again proven accurate as a massive pike rose from the depths, its huge, underslung jaw full of sharp teeth digging deep into the wolf's soft belly and hind legs, causing the wolf to yell in pain and terror. At close to seven feet long, the massive fish jerked its head, completely submerging the helpless wolf, and with a switch of its tail it was gone, pulling its prey deep underwater. Merrick's heart pounded as a cloud of dark blood rose in the clear mountain water, billowing like smoke under the surface. Moments earlier, he had been in that water, and had the wolf not jumped, he would've been the one vanishing into the depths.

As he climbed back towards shore, his body trembled. Merrick knew that it wasn't just the fear coursing through him at his close call. Instead, the icy cold water from the mountain lake had sunk deep into his body, and his wet skin was chilled further by the cold mountain air. Shimmying along the log, his ears straining for any sound that might prove another predator nearby, he finally made it to the shore. From there, he worked his way along the rough rocks that lined that side of the lake towards the small beach where he had washed up before. His buckskin shirt, nearly frozen, was still there, laying on the rock where he had draped it, and as he shook, Merrick realized he needed to find shelter fast.