Alone in the Woods

Chapter 12 - Travel

I got really excited when I learned a new magic trick. While mentally connected to two trees I could use magic to step through one and out the other. I did not discover this by accident. I intentionally tripped into a tree while using magic and paying attention to stuff around a distant tree.

So I had discovered fast travel, and it was the bestest most awesome thing ever. From then on I maintained a 24 hour connection to a number of trees around the forest, for transportation purposes. One next to our den, another at the grove, one at the watering hole, and one by grumpy bear's den. Also a bunch of random ones.

I may have used my new power to pull a prank on the fox couple and some deer. Turns out teleporting is a great way to sneak up on animals. Except wolf mom, she always knew when I tried to sneak up on her.

Blue bird actually helped me experiment, turns out I can take others with me but only if I sense share with them. Unfortunately sense sharing with animals was still a bit much for my sensory issues. I had to limit myself to one animal share at a time.

Wolf mom refused to try teleporting with me. I even pleaded and did my best big puppy dog eyes but I still got a firm no.

Though teleporting never stopped being fun, the novelty did wear off after a day or two. It was now just a thing I did with less and less thought put into it. I still went on walks for the heck of it, but they were optional now to get places.

About a week after my haircut I met that raven again. The one who helped save me from the bear trap. Turns out he is kind of a loner. He also tends to leave the forest to fly around the land. That gave me an idea.

I asked as modestly as I could if I could sense share with him so I could see stuff outside the forest. He reluctantly said sure. Okay it was more of an I guess/I don't care, but I took it as a yes.

A while later he was off on another trip. Since he was a loner I did my best to not to talk to him. I didn't want him to feel uncomfortable with my mental tag along.

A bird's eye view of the forest was crazy. I knew it was big having spent months living in it, but it extended north all the way to some mountains. The monster bits went off into the western horizon.

Finally I saw in the distance a town. I bet that jerk who tried to kill me lives around there. There were fields of what I assumed was wheat separating it from the forest. The raven flew in that direction and I was happy that he did. I could make out fenced off pastures with familiar earth animals such as cows, sheep, pigs, and chickens.

As he got closer to town I was right in assuming a fantasy medieval level of tech. not a single car or light bulb. I bet they didn't even have indoor plumbing. Horse and some sort of large ridable birds tended to be the default. Oh and I spotted cats. If there was one animal the forest lacked it was cats. I bet they'd be fun to talk to.

Walking through the town was a group of three adventurer people. They were more heavily armed than almost anyone else, and one of them had point ears. This world had elves! The last I saw of them before the raven continued his flight was them meeting with a familiar grey bearded asshole.

I considered asking the raven to turn around an eavesdrop on them till I remembered I can't understand the language they speak. Also I didn't want to bother the raven more than I had too, he was already doing me a favor by letting me tag along.

He kept flying over the country side. It was nice to see but eventually it got to be too much and I had to disconnect. I shook my hands to let it out.

It was good to know that there was a settlement nearby, but at the same time I don't think I'd ever want to actually visit. The thought of being around a bunch of people was a bit much. Animals I could handle because overall they were simpler than people, easier to understand. Also they all liked me by default.

I had been sitting in the grove while on my tour of the skies, but I sensed wolf mom entering the den through a nearby tree. Less than a minute later I was also back at the den. Unfortunately, wolf mom heard me the moment I stepped out of the tree so I couldn't surprise her. Dang wolf hearing.

We ate, and then I explained about the things I saw through my raven friend. It became clear she didn't understand some of the concepts like that of a town. She did make growling noises when I brought up the hunter. Heck I growled too for solidarity. That guy sucks.

That said I did want to make sure I had some tree friends to observe through in case the hunter and his new friends decided to bother me and mom. Tomorrow, that was for tomorrow.