Chapter 161: Day Two
Liraya froze mid-bite. Her eyes locked onto the spot where the leaves shook. The half-eaten meat suddenly felt heavy in her hand. Every muscle in her body tensed as she stared into the dense undergrowth.
The bushes rustled again, harder this time. Branches snapped as something was approaching her.
Whatever was coming, it was big.
She slowly lowered the piece of meat to the ground without taking her eyes off the bushes. Her right hand tightened around the crude stone blade. With her left hand, she picked up the second sharpened stone she had made earlier. Her heart beat faster, but her movements stayed steady. This body did not allow her the calm she used to have as a goddess. It only gave her stress, which surprisingly helped her be alert.
As the thing was approaching her, the foul smell reached her first, thick and musky scent of a predator that had followed the blood trail and the smoke from her fire. It was as if she had been making noise and sending signals for the past hour.
Realising this, she understood, ’of course something would come.’
She stood up slowly. Her legs still felt weak from the long work of butchering, but they held because of the stress she was feeling. She planted her feet firmly and made herself look like too high a cost. Both blades were visible in front of her. She kept direct eye contact with the moving bushes and did not back up even a single step.
Then the creature stepped out. It was leaner than the boars, with longer legs and sharper eyes. It moved cautiously, circling a little to her left, testing her.
Liraya also did not retreat. She stepped forward instead and raised both blades higher. When the beast made a quick feint toward her, she also moved into it rather than away and swung one blade close to its face.
The edge passed just inches from its snout. The creature jerked back sharply. It watched her for a few more seconds, weighing its chances. Then, it surprised her, turned and disappeared back into the undergrowth from which it had come.
She stayed exactly where she was and stared at the spot where it had vanished. Thirty seconds passed.
Then another thirty passed, too. Only when she was sure it was gone did she move.
After this encounter, she worked fast now. She cut the remaining usable meat from the boar carcass and wrapped the pieces tightly in large leaves. She tied the bundle together with another strip torn from her dress hem. She kicked dirt over the fire and stamped it out completely until no smoke rose at all. Then she picked up the bundle of meat, and her two best stone blades, and started walking northeast, away from the carcass, toward lower ground.
She knows that she cannot stay here any longer. The blood scent of the meat she was eating must have spread throughout the forest. So many beasts like that might come following that trail. So, she definitely cannot be safe anymore over there.
That’s why she was going toward the lower ground, where she knew from her memory that there should have been a road going through the forest. Her aim was to reach that somehow.
As she walked, she spoke to herself in a quiet voice. The habit had started yesterday. Hearing her own words made the huge forest feel a little less empty and overwhelming.
"So, it has been day two," she said under her breath. "I learned how to make fire in a better way. I also made two stone blades. I got food. And I only have small cuts. By the standards of this weak body, that is acceptable performance, right?"
Nobody answered her. She knew it, but still she kept talking. It helped her process things easily for some reason.
She kept walking. Her bare feet hurt on the uneven ground. Every step sent small jolts of pain through the cuts on her soles. Her ruined dress clung to her skin, still a little damp in places from the storm. It felt uncomfortable, walking wet like this, but she did not stop.
She reached a small stream after some time. As soon as she saw water, she knelt down, cupped her hands, and drank the cold water. It tasted clean and fresh.
When she looked down at her reflection in the water, she studied the face staring back at her, tangled hair, dirt-streaked cheeks, and a ruined dress that barely covered her anymore. Her feet were covered in cuts, and both hands were wrapped in bloody cloth strips.
She stared at her own face for a long moment with the same cold detachment she had been using for everything else.
"Kronos," she said to the reflection, her voice was low, but still hard. "Are you enjoying this? If you are, then keep enjoying it."
"Because I am going to survive. No matter the costs. And when I do, and find a way back with my powers, I will make sure you feel exactly how I feel right now. Count on it."
Saying her piece, she stood up. Water dripped from her chin.
She picked up her bundle of meat and the two stone blades again and kept walking.
The road she needed to reach was still two days away. But even though the journey would be hard, especially for a woman like her who never lived in a jungle like this, filled with hungry, dangerous monsters and beasts, still, she had already decided she would get there, whatever it took.
Her steps stayed steady even though her body hurt. Hunger no longer clawed at her stomach. The small cuts on her hands and feet burned, but they did not slow her down. She had food now. She had blades. And she had learned more in these two days than she ever thought this mortal body could handle.
