DCMAGR | Chapter. 36: Connecting With Nature

My face felt stiff and eyes were dry, I stretched feeling my back pop in the eerie silence. The room had no door⁠— the house was devoid of anyone and everyone. I looked at the curtains that were clearly closed, the shimmering light pooling underneath them. I blinked, feeling a slight headache. What had happened?

I brought my hand to my face and felt the flaky things around my eyes. Had I been crying? I frowned trying to recall things only to pause.

In the end, perhaps it was a mistake.

My mood immediately hit rock bottom, I clenched my fist in pure anger.

“Mistake…” I gnashed before taking a deep breath.

There is no point in getting mad. I wanted to be angry, but at the same time there was a part inside me that was reluctant to do so. I had seen so many beings get angry… It was an ugly feeling. Even if my mood was sour, I didn’t need to resent Ash, I just had to…

Move on…

Whatever that meant. I sighed. Part of me wished that things were simpler; that she had not said that, or maybe even not thought of things like that. But there were… other things to look forward to. Though there were no things to look forward to in my mind, I had to⁠— not think about things for now.

My shoulders slumped, then I realized something that bothered me even more; I was wearing the clothes from the previous day, a clumsy mistake. That also meant I had to wear new clothes but I had run out of shirts already.

I shook my head and slowly got out of bed, I moved as lazily as possible. All things considered I did not even want to go outside, but⁠— I stared out of my room towards the distance, I couldn’t quite see but Ash’s things were probably still in the living room, with that in mind I couldn’t really stay in the house. I didn’t want to talk to Ash if she were to come back, I just wanted… space.

I removed my clothes that were somewhat damp from my sweat and put on my original clothes, the ones that I had suffered injuries with, the ones that Ash⁠— I shook my head, I wore the clothes that I knew couldn’t get dirty, and not long after I was finally dressed, though there was still a problem looming. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do.

A sigh escaped me before I pulled out my phone. Maybe, just maybe it would give me answers. I opened the internet browser and began typing my truest thoughts.

‘What to do when you want peace?’ I tapped enter and soon a query of results came to view. The first result read; how to find your inner peace. I tapped on that one and I had a list of results.

Don’t let past mistakes define you, I scoffed reading that. Connect with nature. Connect? I tried to expand the list but it didn’t really do anything. But the concept stayed in my head. I backed out of the page and typed on the search bar once again.

‘How to connect with nature.’ I tapped on search once again, and tapped on the first result without really reading it.

Exercise in nature, gardening, I frowned skimming through the list but found something interesting, hiking ⁠— experience nature by walking on hiking trails and taking in the beautiful sights that await. I paused reading it, perhaps this ‘hiking’ thing didn’t seem too bad!

I just had to find a hiking trail and go there, just walk? Based on the description it was more like a recreational activity rather than anything. Which sounded just perfect for me to not think about things. Something to just⁠— take my mind off things. I nodded to myself knowing what I wanted to do.

I went to the map and typed ‘hiking trail’ and looked at the possible ones, a lot of them were surprisingly⁠— dangerous? Lots of steep cliffs and lots of walking, but I suppose that was part of the charm. I decided to pick one that based on the photos didn’t look that extreme and wasn’t completely away from civilization, it seemed relatively peaceful too.

I ordered a taxi and waited.

◇ ◇ ◇

Upon further research I was supposed to bring some type of food, so I ended up buying some meat sandwiches, though a lot of them seemed to have ingredients I did not understand, I did manage to acquire one that was just bread with meat, I had also acquired water. And that was it for my hiking supplies, all in the commodity of a plastic bag. Which brought me to the trail and its entrance.

The entrance to the trail was composed of⁠— two wooden fences with a space in the middle and a small sign that said ‘hiking trail’ there was also another sign that had a big shadow drawn onto it, it had four legs⁠— some-type of animal. It said ‘beware’ so it was probably dangerous. Though there was a⁠… hound?

It laid there just next to the sign, its fur was unkempt and dirty, at the same time it lacked beastial claws or the much more defined nuzzle this one just seemed a lot more… docile. It opened its eyes and glanced at me, it was much smaller than any kind of hound I had seen, it was thin and had droopy eyes. A bit too thin, it was… malnourished.

It was a pitiful sight, especially since it didn’t remind me of a monster nor was it any type of monster, it was just an animal of this realm. One that needed food. I looked at the plastic bag, I didn’t really need food or anything; worst case scenario I could just instantly go back home using my scythe. I sighed and took out the sandwich I had bought, it was wrapped in plastic for some reason⁠— plastic within plastic? I shook my head and approached the hound with all the calm in the world.

It looked at me but did not react. I felt pity as I removed the plastic cover from the sandwich and put it in front of the hound, who sniffed lazily and slowly stood up, inching itself closer to it. In no more than a few seconds it began to slowly consume the sandwich from the container, not without struggle but it didn’t seem to care.

Soon it finished eating and looked at me with its same eyes. Was it thirsty? I took out the water bottle that I had and unscrewed the plastic cap, I poured some onto the ground to get its attention; as soon as it saw the water it came closer to me, close enough to be within attack range and rip my arm⁠— well it couldn’t. I poured more water that it approached and began to lick, after a few seconds of it and half a bottle it finally stopped.

It wagged its tail and looked at me. I felt slight happiness come from it.

“I don’t have anything more…” I lamented.

The hound didn’t say anything but stare at me, it made me slightly uncomfortable but I opened my mouth again; I had already fed the hound and helped it, now it was time to go hiking.

“I’ll go now, okay?” It didn’t reply.

I sighed, feeling slightly silly talking to a hound, but the sensation did not last long as I looked at the trail’s entrance, the nature and greenery was abundant beyond it. I wanted to see what the dirt path had to offer, and where it would take me. I waved at the hound who simply stared, and after that, I began walking on the dirt.

A few steps in and I paused, hearing the patting behind me stop. I looked behind me only to see the hound stare at me.

“Go back, I don’t have any more food.” I shook the plastic bag that only held the water bottle and the trash of the sandwich. The hound stared and did nothing. “Don’t follow me.”

I resumed walking again, but the hound did not stop following, I could hear its soft nimble steps on the dirt after every second. I turned back to it, to see its beady eyes once again stare at me.

“Go away…” I sighed feeling a bit exasperated.

I just did not know how to deal with animals or monsters, they just did whatever they pleased. The hound was pleased following me hoping for more food, but I didn’t have any. I shook my head and continued walking, this time not getting bothered by the fact that a hound was following me.

◇ ◇ ◇

I passed by a few rooks that the hound had no problem treading through, the greenery was thick and full of life; the sun filtered through the tall trees and the wind blew singing a melody as it rustled the scattered leaves. It was quite relaxing, the earthly air was refreshing and the solid ground was⁠— it was a nice change of pace.

The hound didn’t seem to enjoy it that much, it wouldn’t really look around other than wherever I was going. It didn’t particularly bother me but I did wish I could share the sights with someone.

We crossed a river that had some wooden planks on it, the hound struggled a bit to not get wet but it managed. The path was becoming less clear as fallen leaves and ever growing branches littered the ground, making it slightly hard to walk on. But I still enjoyed the trek even if it became slightly less comfortable to journey through the paths.

At some point the path veered into a slightly raised cliff that offered a relatively clean skyview of the trees and the distant city buildings.

The hound walked to my side, and lazily sat down as I took in the view. I sighed.

“You know…” I spoke to the hound, unsure if it was understanding me. “I am just tired, I almost died and the person that saved me says she regrets it.” I paused feeling my lips tremble. “It was hurtful.”

The hound said nothing, but I continued. “I think… That’s fine.” I took a deep breath. “I just have to be stronger, and move on. Do my own things and stop bothering about her…” I shook my head. “I just have to take a few days and do my own things.”

I nodded to myself. “That’s what I have to do.”

The hound said nothing as I made my decisions.

◇ ◇ ◇

We continued walking down the trail, sometimes there would be less trees, sometimes there would be more trees; sometimes there would be small hills or other animals. But that didn’t matter.

“The Old man is really nice though,” I spoke to the hound with excitement. “He listens to all my worries!”

I pondered about what else to tell the silent hound about. I had already told him about getting slapped, or about Samuel and his journeys. As well as a few other things that had happened.

“Oh!” I recalled something. “We were at the apartment and with my roommate⁠— you know the grumpy person⁠— I saved her from getting killed by a tentacle monster by pulling her away from danger. There was a lot of corruption in the air, and I mean a lot!”

I gestured widely before realizing the hound had never heard of corruption before.

“Corruption is…” I frowned trying to think of terms, I stepped over some branches. “It’s akin to distortions in space that destabilize a realm…” I took a couple seconds to think. “I think it does that anyway.”

There was some distant rustling but I ignored it.

“Anyway the tentacle monster was very scary and had acid⁠—

“Grrr,” the hound began to growl, making me pause.

I turned to look at it, it had leaned forward and was growling. Had I said something wrong? The rustling came closer and the growling became much more aggressive. I turned to look at the nearby bushes and soon a deep bellow came from them, and in an instant a huge animal charged out, it was fluffy and completely black⁠— a bear? I recognized its ears and nuzzle, and its emotions were nothing but agitated anger.

The hound bellowed back and jumped the bear. In an instant yelping sounds came as the hound got hit by the claw of the bear, then it tried to bite it but barely managed to dodge it.

I froze for a second before hurriedly calling my scythe, the black object emerged from the palm of my hand and extended to its full length in an instant. I wasted no time pouncing onto the bear, feeling my heart rate increase in an instant, I had to save the hound. It was clearly malnourished⁠— it didn’t stand a chance against this huge beast.

The bear bit and the hound screeched in pain. I felt my heart skip a beat as I swung down the scythe, ripping through the bear’s ear onto his torso⁠. It bellowed like never before, an unholy sound that made me wince. I redirected my scythe and aimed at its paw, rending part of its flesh. It made the same sound once again but this time it backed off in terror, it looked at me and I threatened.

“I’ll kill you if you get closer.” I gnashed my teeth seeing the hound laying on the ground.

I rose my scythe once again, the bear turned around and ran away in sheer terror. As soon as it went away from the bush and its emotions became distant I moved next to the hound, it was whimpering and in clear pain; its red blood was pooling underneath it.

I gasped trying to find the proper words or what to do in the situation. “You⁠— you didn’t have to help me.” It said nothing as it stared at me. “Why did you fight back, I could’ve just⁠—” The hound was in clear pain but it didn’t hate me even though it had fought for me.

“You didn’t have to…” I muttered feeling helpless as I felt its emotions. It didn’t hate me. And it fought back for me just because I gave it food. “You really didn’t have to…”

I took a deep breath feeling the heavy burden, it had thrown its life again for me. I had to help it somehow. I had to make it happy somehow… My mind raised for answers. There was no way I could cheer it up or make its death happy⁠— if there was a sure way to make it not⁠—

I paused. Elysium.

Perhaps it was going to die, but maybe I could make it happy in the afterlife. I extended my aura enveloping the hound. I found its soul-string in an instant, it was flimsy and about to snap. Souls would generally vanish in an instant⁠— I had to grab it before it even finished forming.

I bit my lip, perhaps it was better to snap the thread and⁠— I shook my head I didn’t understand if it would be more painful. I⁠— I struggled to decide for a few seconds, a small whimper woke me up from my stupor. It was currently suffering as it slowly died.

“I am sorry hound…” I took a deep breath and moved my scythe behind the string. “This will hurt a bit, okay?” I sniffled and pulled.

The string snapped, I extended my aura around its transparent soul and tried to stop it⁠— it was quite instinctual. It was instinctual. My aura froze the soul in its place, now I just had to send it to Elyisum. I could see the soul floating above the hound it was devoid of form. I held my scythe up.

To Elysium.

And swung⁠— My hand was caught in an icy sensation. The entire trail, greenery and park became devoid of color as a gray mist filled the air. I saw my arm, the freezing sensation perviated it, a black hand of cascading shadows that struggled to keep its form held onto it.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Child of the Nekros family.”