Alone in the Woods

Chapter 9 - Healing

I turned to face the bear. His eyes were fixed on wolf mom, while his deep growl shook my bones.

I feebly placed myself between them. "Step aside little cub." He told me clear enough I could imagine it as words. I knew my gesture to defend her was pointless as he could easily brush me aside to end her.

He waited impatiently. "She's my family and I won't let you touch her." I declared with all the fierceness of a mewling kitten. I used my foot to continue pumping life energy into her.

We stared each other down till I had exhausted my healing again. I'd never run out of magic this fast before. Until yesterday I'd never run out at all!

The rain had stopped but everything was still soaked. My wet hair clung to me uncomfortably. It seemed brighter out than when I passed out, which I mistook for morning. It soon became clear it was evening, and this was still the same day as when we faced the monster.

Wolf mom stirred. She slowly got up and took in the sight of me standing between her and the bear.

Grumpy bear took in the sight of me and wolf mom and eventually backed down. He turned to leave seeming dejected.

Before he left I told him. "T-Thank you for saving me. I… I'll be back later to uh heal the rest of your wounds." I sent as much sincerity and thanks vibes as I could muster.

He paused for a moment but did not respond before leaving.

I turned to wolf mom and she licked my face. I got her back by licking her face. She was a wolf and I was a dork. I followed with a hug and tears. I collapsed into a messy puddle of emotion, worn out from the longest day of my life.

I was thankful when wolf mom let me ride on her back as we returned to our den. She had far more energy left than me. However, we were both still injured, but not to any serious degree just aches, pains, and open cuts.

Morning followed after our rest. I gave us a splash of healing but it was clear to me something was off. The healing was slow, and I felt drained far too quickly. If we were going to get back to full health I needed more magic, and there was only one place in the forest I could get that from.

I let wolf mom know of my magic troubles and how I wanted to fix them or at the very least get around them. Wolf mom had no objections so we headed out.

I noticed along the way that some of my hair had gotten cut in the monster encounter. Around a third of my hair was now only a little past shoulder length, while the rest still threatened to eventually reach my knees. It'd be nice if I could have gotten the rest cut as well. The monster was thankfully dead so I wasn't getting anymore haircuts from it.

Wait, its corpse was still in the northern woods, and its sharp bits were probably still intact. Wolf mom was puzzled over my excited jumping. I told her about my idea and she gave me an 'are you seriously this excited about cutting your head fur shorter?' eye roll. I stuck my tongue out at her.

Following my mossy path, we arrived in good time. Wolf mom scoped out the location having never been here before, while I knew exactly where to sit down. I smirked when I saw my mossy dick drawing on the meditation rock. A display of the limits of my artistic ability.

I sat down and tried to draw on the magic of the grove to get to work. Using it was quite easy, the air was so thick with magic I could practically swim through it. My wounds and pain faded like a distant memory as the glow enveloped me. Wolf mom finally scoped the place out enough to feel safe and I got her to come over to make the rest of her wounds vanish as well.

Next was the bear, and that was a problem since I couldn't bring the grumpy butt to the grove and I couldn't take the grove to him. Meditation was clearly the answer, I hoped. I did my blinking light routine for a bit and lo and behold I was once again on to something. My magic felt normal again, like it was coming from me rather than pulling it out of the air.

That was good but I wanted to know why. I tried to see if I could exhaust myself while here and I couldn't. I was regaining magic faster than I could expend it. Hmmmm. I wracked my brain but came up short on an explanation. I needed a wise old shaman to show up and teach me all the things. Being self-taught kinda sucked sometimes.

I tabled the exploration of the mechanics of my magic, and left to go home with my mom. She wanted to go hunting, and I wanted a nap in the den.

One nap and meal later, I headed off to fulfill my promise to grumpy bear. I decided to take a longer route to avoid the whole trail of destruction. At the same time, I was making a new moss path. Try as I might my thoughts kept wandering back to yesterday. My hands trembled, and breathing grew strained.

As I neared the den of the bear my I had to stop growing my mossy path as I felt the strain on my magic once more. I also saw the monster, my eyes looked to its claws. I ran away. I didn't stop running until I made it back to the den.

Wolf mom was there. She asked me what was wrong but I couldn't answer. I wrapped my arms tightly around her neck. I drowned in a sea of emotions.