Leon woke up to the heavy, damp scent of the forest and the lingering musk of the wolf hide. The air was cold, a biting chill that made him want to pull the fur tighter over his shoulders, but the weight of the previous day already felt like a physical burden on his chest.
He shifted his position, feeling the stiffness in his back from sleeping on the uneven ground. When he opened his eyes, he saw that the fire had long since died down to a pile of gray ash and cold charcoal.
Bai was already sitting up near the entrance of their small shelter, his silhouette dark against the soft, teal light of the morning. He was staring out into the trees, his hands resting on his knees.
"You're up early," Leon said, his voice sounding thick and dry in the quiet air.
Bai jumped slightly, then looked back with a small, weary smile. "I couldn't sleep much longer. Every time a branch snapped out there, I thought the water-man was coming back for us. Besides, the ground isn't exactly a mattress."
Leon sat up and rubbed his face. His jaw still ached from the punch Jax had delivered, a dull throb that served as a constant reminder of how quickly things had fallen apart. He stood up, his joints popping with loud, sharp cracks.
They didn't have much to pack. Leon grabbed his sharpened blue-wood spear, and Bai took the heavy wolf hide, folding it as best as he could. They didn't speak much as they began to walk. The forest felt different today. The trees were taller here, their branches weaving together so tightly that the sky was almost entirely hidden.
The glowing mushrooms from the night before had dimmed, replaced by a strange, shimmering moss that grew in patches along the bark, casting a faint silver glow.
They headed north, or at least in the direction Leon hoped was north based on the way the light filtered through the canopy. The terrain was difficult.
The ground was a maze of thick, coiling roots and sinkholes hidden by layers of blue leaves.
After two hours of trekking, the silence of the woods was broken by a low, constant roar. It wasn't the sound of a beast, but the steady rush of moving water.
"Do you hear that?" Bai asked, his pace quickening.
"Water," Leon replied. "A big river, by the sound of it."
They pushed through a final line of dense, waxy bushes and stopped at the edge of a wide bank. The river was massive, at least fifty yards across.
The water was a deep, crystalline blue, so clear that Leon could see the smooth, pale stones at the bottom. However, the water seemed to shimmer with a metallic sheen, and the current moved with a heavy, swirling energy that looked almost like liquid glass.
Both of them stood there for a moment, the spray from the river cooling their faces. Their stomachs growled in unison.
The wolf meat from the night before was long gone, and the physical exertion of the hike had left them hollow. Leon looked at the water and saw shadows darting beneath the surface.
"Fish," Leon whispered. "But we can't exactly jump in there. That current would sweep us away in seconds."
"We need a rod," Bai said, his eyes scanning the shoreline. "If we can find something for a line, we can use the meat scraps or some insects as bait."
They began to search the bank. Leon looked for thin, flexible branches while Bai scouted near the base of the larger trees. After a few minutes, Bai let out a low whistle and waved Leon over.
He was standing next to a cluster of hanging vines that looked like thick, translucent thread. When Leon touched one, it felt incredibly strong, like braided nylon, but it was covered in a sticky, sap-like substance.
"Look at this, Leon," Bai said, pulling on the vine. It stretched slightly and then held firm.
"If we strip the sap off with some sand, this would make a perfect fishing line."
"Bai, you're a genius!" Leon exclaimed, his voice filled with genuine relief. "I was looking for spider webs or something thin, but this is way better. It's like natural high-test line."
'He really is coming through,' Leon thought. 'I would have just wandered around until I fell over.'
They spent the next hour preparing their gear. They used the sand from the riverbank to scrub the sticky residue off the vines, leaving them with several yards of strong, flexible fiber.
Leon used a small, sharp stone to carve a tiny notch into a thin sliver of blue-wood, creating a crude hook. He tied the fiber to the end of a long, springy branch he had cut from a nearby willow-like tree. For bait, they used a few grubs they found under a rotting log.
They sat on a flat, sun-warmed rock jutting out into the water. Bai took Leon's spear, standing ready near the edge. "I'll try to snag anything that comes close to the surface," Bai whispered.
Leon cast his line into a calm eddy behind a large boulder. For a long time, there was nothing. The sun beat down on them, the teal light making the water sparkle in a way that felt almost hypnotic. Then, the tip of the branch dipped. It slammed downward with violent force.
"I've got something!" Leon yelled, bracing his feet against the rock.
The branch bent into a sharp arc. Whatever was on the other end was heavy and incredibly fast. It pulled with a strength that made Leon's arms shake.
He felt his boots slide on the wet stone, and for a terrifying second, he was pulled toward the churning blue water.
"Bai! Help! It's going to pull me in!" Leon screamed.
Bai dropped the spear and lunged forward, grabbing Leon around the waist and anchoring them both. Together, they heaved back, their muscles straining.
The struggle lasted for several minutes, a desperate tug-of-war against the river. Finally, with one massive, synchronized pull, a huge shape burst from the water and landed flopping on the bank.
It was a fish, nearly three feet long. It looked somewhat like a largemouth bass from Earth, but its scales were a shimmering, iridescent silver that shifted through the colors of the rainbow.
It had three sets of dorsal fins that looked like jagged glass and two large, intelligent eyes that glowed with a soft yellow light.
"We got it!" Bai shouted. He lunged for the fish, pinning it down before it could flop back into the river.
They both stood there, panting and covered in river water. The tension of the last few days seemed to break all at once.
Leon let out a wild, breathless laugh and grabbed Bai in a clumsy hug. They stumbled back, laughing and shouting, running in a small circle on the sand like children.
"Bai, when did you get so strong?" Leon asked, clapping him on the shoulder. "I thought my arms were going to snap!"
"I don't know!" Bai laughed, wiping the spray from his eyes. "I just didn't want to see you go for a swim. Leon, you're a genius! Look at the size of this thing! We've got plenty of food to last us for a while!"
The joy was infectious. For the first time since the crash, the weight in Leon's stomach felt lighter. They decided to set up camp right there on the bank while the sun was still high.
The warmth of the light felt good on their damp clothes. Leon set to work cleaning the fish, which he called a "Silver Batch" because it reminded him of the perch and bass back home, even if it looked like it belonged in a jewelry store.
He used his spear to scale it, the silver flakes flying off like tiny coins. As he cooked the thick, white fillets over a new fire, the smell was sweet and clean, nothing like the heavy, gamey scent of the wolf.
"I used to wonder why people went camping for fun," Leon said as he handed a steaming piece of fish to Bai. "Now I realize it's all about the food."
Bai took a bite and closed his eyes. "This is incredible. Leon, do you think the others are eating like this? Jax and the girls?"
Leon looked out at the river. "Probably better. They're disciples now. They probably have people bringing them fruit and wine. But they didn't catch it themselves."
"True," Bai said, his expression softening. "We're doing this on our own!"
They talked for a long time as they ate, sharing stories of their lives before the crash. It felt like a lifetime ago. When they finished, they packed the remaining cooked fish into a piece of the wolf hide and started heading north again.
The forest grew quieter as the afternoon wore on. They followed the river for as long as they could, but eventually, the bank became too steep and rocky, forcing them back into the deep woods.
As the sun began to dip below the horizon, casting long, violet shadows across the blue moss, they found a small grove of trees with thick, low-hanging branches. This time, they worked together with a rhythm they hadn't had before.
They used the wolf hide for the roof and reinforced the sides with woven branches and thick layers of moss to keep the heat in. It was a much better shelter than the night before, sturdy enough to withstand a heavy rain.
As they crawled inside and settled down for the night, Leon felt a strange sense of accomplishment. He was still talentless. He still had no magic. But his stomach was full, he had a friend at his back, and he was still alive.