Soul Caller 1 - Chapter 4 (Patreon)

Shaken by his close call with the wolf and the gigantic pike, Merrick distracted himself by focusing on his most pressing need. While he would likely survive the night exposed, it would sap all his strength and might cause him to get sick. It was hard to concentrate, considering what he had just experienced, but the saving grace was that he had done this so many times during his runs that what happened next was second nature. He found a suitable tree that had fallen over, and dragged it up against some rocks, creating a small space underneath it. More branches were stacked up over top of the fallen tree trunk to form a ragged lean-to, leaving only just enough room for him to squeeze in. It wasn't particularly hard work, and as he moved his blood started to pump once more, and some of the terror faded. While he didn't like the idea of camping out next to the lake, it wasn't safe to explore the forest at night.

Once he had a rough shelter in place, he filled it with leaves fallen from the trees, forming something like a little nest. Burrowing down inside, he closed his eyes to try to sleep. Yet every sound that he heard pounded inside his ears, ringing inside his head, waking him from his tenuous slumber. When morning finally came, bringing with it the pale dawn light, Merrick decided that he was wasting his time trying to sleep. Instead, he got up and went to the lake, drinking a few mouthfuls of the bitterly cold mountain water. Washing off his face, he shivered and stood up, looking around to take better stock of his situation.

The area he had fallen into appeared to be formed by a large lake about half a mile across, surrounded on three sides by thick forests filled with towering trees. At the other end, a waterfall fell from the two hundred foot tall cliff that loomed over the lake. That cliff continued in both directions, and in the far distance, above the trees, he could see the edge of what looked like a canyon wall completely surrounding him. For a moment, panic set in as he realized that he was trapped in a basin completely surrounded by cliffs. Before the fear took over completely, Merrick shook his head. The fact that a large wolf had been in this area meant that there was likely an opening somewhere along the cliff walls, and even if there wasn’t, he could always find a way to climb out. But escape would have to wait.

He had no food, no real shelter, and it was clear from the sheer cliff next to the waterfall that climbing back up to the river would be a tremendous feat that would likely take multiple attempts. Making an attempt in his wounded state was out of the question. Instead, Merrick set his mind on ensuring his survival while he prepared for the return journey. It took some time for the sun to make it over the high ridge that surrounded the basin, and when the sun finally did start to beam its golden light down on him, he was quite grateful. Suppressing the chill that had set in was hard work, and Merrick knew that if he wanted to survive, he would have to do something about it, which meant proper shelter and fire.

Wary and ever listening for the sound of predators, he began to explore the area right around the small beach. From the tracks that littered the ground, it was clear that this was a commonly used watering hole for the local animals, so Merrick decided to move along the bank, heading back towards the fallen tree that had saved his life the night before. As he went, he kept a sharp eye out for a good place to set up a more permanent shelter, eventually finding an area with three large boulders jammed up against a few pine trees. It was up a slight rise from the water, close enough that he could clearly see the lake, but far enough away that he shouldn’t be in the path of the creatures coming to drink.

The boulders were roughly stacked, with a little bit of space in between them, and by shifting one of the rocks, he was able to create a six foot space that rested on a fairly level platform. The two boulders that were going to form the sides of his shelter were about five feet tall, so he began to hunt through the forest, looking for sticks and branches that he could use to create the walls. He had lost his knife in the river, so he could only use fallen branches and the occasional small tree that he could snap off. Climbing up on the boulders, he laid dozens of sticks across them, forming a fairly tight ceiling. The sun was high in the sky by this point, so he went down to the lake where there was a considerable amount of mud, and began to gather it, carrying it up in his buckskin shirt that he had fashioned into a bag of sorts.

Packing the mud along the sticks, he filled in with leaves, creating a roughly watertight roof. Once that was finished, he moved on to the back of the shelter, adding more branches until he had another wall, this one angled. Though it was hard work, he was happy to be doing it and he worked solidly through until evening. For the front of his structure, he built another wall, but didn’t attach it, leaving it to the side for the moment. The sun was just disappearing when the first true hunger pangs struck and he stopped for a moment and let out a sigh. Though his body was screaming for it, securing food was actually the lowest thing on his list. For now, he would get by with the clear water from the lake. Ever mindful of the giant pike he had seen pulling the wolf into the depths, he made sure to stay at the very edge, only proceeding far enough to scoop up a few handfuls of the cold, clear water to try and ease his stomach before going back to work.

His tattered buckskin shirt served as a curtain that night, hanging in the front of his new shelter, and though it had taken him all day to finish, he was quite happy with it. The two larger boulders gave him solid walls on either side and the stacked sticks and mud walls and ceiling formed a nice windbreak that would hopefully keep him relatively warm. This brought him to his next task, which was starting a fire. Creating a fire out of thin air wasn't something that came easily without the proper tools, but Merrick knew that if he did manage to get fire, it would solve multiple problems for him at once. Not only would he be able to stay warm during the long nights, but it could also serve as protection from the predators who stalked the forest.

Picking up the flat log he had found earlier that could serve as the base, he knelt down, keeping it in position with his knees as he dug out a small hole with the edge of a rock. Taking another stick in his hands, he held it perpendicular to the log and inserted it into the hole. It wasn't as sharp as he would have liked, but for fire, friction was all that was truly necessary. As he had been taught, he pressed the stick down into the board and began to spin it back and forth with his hands. It was slow and hard work, but little by little, he began to see the char on the edge of the wood growing as the friction from the rapidly spinning wood began to create heat. The hardest part of starting a fire this way was catching the first sparks, and it took him a dozen failed attempts before he managed to catch one.

When he did, excitement filled him, and he hurried to feed in the small pieces of tinder that he had gathered. Blowing gently on the glowing spark, he felt like he had captured one of the stars from the sky above. Slowly, carefully, he fed the flame, giving it dried grass and plenty of air, until a tongue of crimson sprang up. Nursing his fire carefully with twigs, he kept it on the board, using the board as a base, and continued to help it grow until there were clear and definite flames. Transferring it to the small fire pit he had made by stacking rocks around in a circle at the entrance to his shelter, he continued to tend it until he had a nice blaze.

He couldn't make the fire too big or he would attract too much attention and smoke himself out. At the same time, he needed to make sure that he maintained the coals so that he wouldn't have to restart the fire every day. Pulling the wood that he had gathered close, he sat in his shelter, looking down the hill and out over the calm lake as the fire snapped and crackled in front of him. There was something calming about the heat, something that filled him with hope that he would make it through, something that banished the cold fingers of fear that had gripped him the night before. And for the first time since he had slipped from the mountain near his village, Merrick felt like he might actually survive.

He could hear the song of the world rising and falling gently all around him. It hummed along at the edge of his hearing as the insects and night creatures began their routines, going about their lives. He could hear it in the whispering of the wind that blew in the leaves of the trees above him and see it in the glittering reflection of the stars on the calm, still lake. It lived in the faint thunder of pounding water falling from the cliffs in the distance and the spray that gleamed in the moonlight. Taking a deep breath, Merrick finally began to relax. And as he did, his mind wandered, remembering that strange thing he had seen when he first awoke. Simply thinking about it brought it back to his vision, startling him badly. Once again, the strange gray slate appeared before his eyes, showing him all sorts of strange words. It was a strange feeling being able to read the words but not knowing how he had come to understand them.

As Merrick looked the status window over, he began to gain a clearer picture of what he was looking at. According to what he saw, his spirit was the Warrior. This confused him, as he had no knowledge of any Warrior spirit. As far as he knew, there were only five great spirits, Bear, Falcon, Jaguar, Wolf, and Snake. Stranger still, he knew that he had already been blessed by Snake, just as his friend Maro had been blessed by Bear, gaining abnormal strength. And yet, here, this status that had appeared in front of him claimed that his spirit, his guardian spirit, was actually called Warrior. Thinking on this deeper, Merrick didn't know what to do. As far as he understood it, he had not finished the ceremony. He had not gone through the ritual baptism. He had not gained the approval of the great spirits. And yet, already, he could feel the power of the world healing his wounds, a mark of a warrior who had awakened.

Further down the status, he saw his skill listed. Merrick had never seen or heard of anyone who had something like this. This status revealed to him all of the secrets about himself. But it was with growing curiosity that he examined it. As soon as he thought about this skill that was listed on his status, it appeared before him, just as the status window had.

Warrior's Observation

The greatest tool a warrior possesses is not his mind or his body, but his eyes. To observe the world as it truly is allows the warrior to make the best possible choice in the shortest amount of time.

You have gained the ability of a seasoned warrior to both observe and anticipate your environment.

Clarity flooded Merrick’s mind as he realized that it was this skill of observation that had appeared the night before, warning him of wolf’s attack. Remembering the strange experience of seeing the wolf's trajectory even before it launched itself into the air, Merrick wondered if it was something he could do again. It only took him a moment of concentration to prove that using the skill was not hard. In fact, it came naturally to him, and seemed to trigger automatically. He simply had to concentrate on something to find information about it filling his head. Strangely, the information he received did not feel new, as if it was coming from outside of him, but instead came from within his own mind, like it had been waiting there for him to access it.

Sitting in his small shelter, the warmth of the fire radiating around him, Merrick gazed out over the lake, watching as the night birds began their hunts. His sharp eyes picked up a small bird on the opposite bank, and he watched it carefully. It looked around the lake, looking for one of the insects that would skim across the top of the water. And then with a flap of its wings, it rose into the air and dove. It launched itself from the branch, diving towards the surface. Just before it moved, however, Merrick saw it. He saw the shift in its feathers. He saw the way its wings would unfurl and the powerful leap it would take, propelling it into the air. He saw the curve of its dive and understood exactly where it would go. A moment later, that vision vanished, and the bird did just that, opening its wings, launching itself from the tree branch, and diving down to snap up an insect.

Startled and excited, Merrick took a deep breath. He had never heard of a gift like this. Anyone who became a warrior would be granted a gift by the spirits. But that gift normally revolved around some sort of physical ability. The only thing even close was the gift of Falcon, Farsight, which allowed warriors blessed by Falcon to see tremendous distances. But this was different. While they could see far away, this felt much more powerful. It was almost a predictive ability, allowing him to tell the future to a limited degree. It was a tremendously exciting ability, and Merrick found himself filled with curiosity. Yet no matter how much he thought about it, he had no idea where it had come from.

The faint echoes of the world song alerted him that it was early in the morning, and so he began to let the fire die down. His excitement over his new ability and the strange blessing that he had been given could not erase the hunger gnawing at his belly, and so he resolved to try to sleep. Throughout the rest of the night, he dozed, making sure to wake periodically to add more fuel to the fire. He didn't want to let it go out completely, and his goal for now was to build up enough embers and ash that he could keep it going permanently. Such was the way of those who delve deep into the woods. Such was the way of a hunter.