I made a breakthrough, I finally noticed something that was right under my nose the whole time. Madeleine also condensed his aura whenever he used his tongue to smell out danger, I bet that’s how he was able to sense the fairies even if they were invisible to the naked eye at the time. That meant that whatever power this condensing of aura offered wasn’t just limited to Sorbet, now all I had to do was find the way to unlock this power. I focused on my hands while working on rope or dismantling prey, I focused on my feet when I walked, I focused on my tongue whenever I drunk or ate anything. Nothing happened.
I needed to change my approach. With all the free time I had in my hands and Madeleine acting as an alarm I took to meditation. I hated it. Having to stand still and focus on my inner world was pure hell, who said I needed an introspection in the first place, what a loon. I quickly abandoned that idea and started working on a new project, a shield. I didn’t had any nails on me so it would have to be held together with the rope I was making which could potentially compromise it but that was for another time.
Why a shield? Above everything I could make with functioning rope why a shield and not the waterskin I wanted at first? Well that was simply because I was afraid, afraid of running into the bear or another danger without any protection. The goblin hunters always carried small copper bucklers with them so why shouldn’t I carry a wooden shield when going out? It was the most logical decision I ever made, even if it was governed by fear. I started construction on said shield, willing to waste an entire knife shaving down the wood needed for it.
After a couple of days of scavenging for wood and plenty of splinters in my fingers I managed to put together a good enough rectangular shield that covered a good part of my body, the rope handle left much to be desired as the wooden body dangled around but there was nothing I could do about it right now. All the while I was working on the shield I hadn’t forgotten about my research into aura and how to utilize it. On the contrary I was trying everything I could think off to get a reaction out of my aura.
I actually asked my boys how they did it but they both told me that they couldn’t understand what I was talking about. Does that meant that to them it was like instinct, their aura moved by the unconscious? Or that it was as natural as breathing that they couldn’t give me an answer because they couldn’t. Whatever the case the answer was clear, I had only myself to rely on in this matter. I went back to cooking up methods of making my aura move even a little, anything that came to mind I tried and failed to achieve a result.
On unrelated news I finally made a waterskin. Out of frustration I poured my everything into rope making and ended up with a fine thread which I used, alongside a long needle I collected from a plant and dried to harden, to sew together two pieces of hide and make the waterskin, after that it was easy enough to use some rope to make a handle so I could wear it over my shoulder. It held water well enough and it didn’t leaked which was all I could ask for, despite the small size. Even if I made it out of frustration I didn’t knew if I would get any real use out of it since I had convicted myself to not going anywhere further than the river.
With that out of the way I had to no other excuse, I needed to hunker down and meditate, really meditate, not play around like the last time. I sat down on the grass crossing my legs and tried to focus, it was a nightmare but one I had to endure if I wanted to get anything out of it. I wasn’t even sure if this would do anything since the last time I checked Sorbet and Madeleine didn’t need to meditate to use their aura. Still I tried emptying my mind and focusing.
I focused on the color, the feeling I got when I was seeing it. I felt like drifting away, soon I couldn’t see the sun thought my eyelids but a black void and then color, the same color that I came to loathe in my short life, the color of my aura, the color of my skin, cyan. Was this another one of fate’s cruelties I wondered. I was surrounded by cyan and at the same time I was the cyan, I am the aura. I understood my connection to the cyan aura than surrounded me, it was a part of me the same my arms and legs were and just like them I needed to learn how to move it just like an infant learns to grab and walk.
When I opened my eyes I immediately got up to my feet, grabbed my spear and started practicing thrusts. Now that I was aware of and had established a connection with my aura moving it had become possible. With a deep breath before and a sharp exhale with each thrust I condescend my aura forming a second skin around my entire body and weapon. This was something that I had misunderstood, I thought that I would use my aura similar to my friends but we were fundamentally different. While they used their aura to strengthen whichever part of their body needed it I reinforced my entire body.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
I tried a thrust against a tree in my reinforced state and the spear pierced deep into the wood, so much so that I had trouble pulling it out afterwards even at my reinforced state. As soon as I pulled the spear out I felt weak at me legs and as I collapsed to the ground I noticed that my aura had run dry. When I opened my eyes again it was already deep into the night and Sorbet had gotten back, my boy was sitting next to me keeping guard. I guess I had hit my limit for how long I could use aura.
I didn’t knew there was a time limit to aura reinforcement and one that punishing at that. I guess that’s what training is for, figuring out stuff like that. I had no time to light a fire so using my night vision I quickly prepared the meal that Sorbet had caught and ate it raw before calling it a night and falling asleep under the shelter with everybody. The next day I started training in earnest repeatedly thrusting my spear while using the simple breathing exercise I had come up with.
It was important to take breaks between exercises, a tale as old at time. So while I was recharging my aura I was making more rope for the traps I was going to set while also thinking of their design. I realized that trapping was serious business in need of serious thought, how so? Well when I first made rope I tried making some traps with it to try out its strength. Well I failed miserably and ended up hurting myself in the process. Since then I abstained from making any more traps until after I opened my schedule.
Why make traps in the first place when I had Sorbet brink me a fresh catch every day? Well that’s simple, it was because I didn’t wanted to always burden Sorbet with it. Even thought I asked him and he said he liked it I always felt like I was making my boy do all the dirty work while I enjoyed the fruits of his labor. Honestly I hated it, it was always in the back of my mind whenever I went out in one of my expeditions. Those past few days that I was stuck home siting I asked him to join him in hunting but he refused, only allowing me to observe him from a distance.
Still the incident with the bear tracks really shook me but at the end of the day I should have expected it, the animals here acted like prey animals should, twitchy and skittish, gone at the slightest sound, all the signs were there for a predator to be around. I should have been prepared even before I saw the tracks, still to think out of all the animals a bear and a massive at that for that. I only hoped that right now my base was outside the bear’s territory or else I was screwed.
I figured something, I could use my aura even when I was not practicing with my spear. It was quite an epiphany if I say so myself, even if in retrospect I should have expected it. That meant that I didn’t need to work my schedule around my aura and instead do things as I’ve been doing them before. Be it when I was making rope, practicing my throws or thrusts, made traps, skinned and prepared an animal I could practice with my aura and as the days passed I felt both my control and the aura itself strengthening.
Still a new problem appeared, Sorbet said that there was nothing to hunt by the river. My best guess was that we overhunt a bit and all prey animals became wary of the area and the strong smell of blood that surrounded it. I reassured Sorbet that I wasn’t mad at him for failing to hunt anything and we all fell asleep that day with an empty stomach. The next day the three of us set out for new fertile hunting grounds, after all the animals must have been displaced somewhere and we were going to find that somewhere.
We moved along the river venturing further than our usual territory. I had both Sorbet and Madeleine by my side so there was no way for any wild animal to sneak by us, especially a bear. Sorbet was brought up in captivity so he knew nothing about preying territories and hunting in them, every day he was walking to and back from the spot I had introduced to him on the first day and waited there for prey to appear. This was an oversight on my part, I should have known that despite his intelligence he shouldn’t be able to hunt like a normal wolf. In the first place wolves hunted in packs, not alone, but that was another subject.
We reached what seemed like a promising spot where the river widened and the currents mellowed and we set up spot there. We waited and waited until the large rodent animal appeared. Sorbet was ready to go on the offensive when I stopped him. It was my turn to show him the fruits of my training. Taking form I wind up my spear and throw it. As it flew through the air I turned to Sorbet who did not seemed amused with my shenanigans. That was until it hit the target, piercing it and pinning it to the ground as it cried out its final moments.
Sorbet was left with his mouth gasping while Madeleine seemed unamused having seen me struggle daily during target practice. I quickly went and retrieved my spear along with the prey and presented it before Sorbet. He refused it at first but with a bit of coaxing from my part he finally relented. I simply told him that as the hunter of the house he had to be in top shape and that just like how he wanted me to be well fed I also wanted that same for him. Leaving Sorbet at the new hunting spot I returned to base. It was quite a trek he would have to take everyday but that was the price we would have to pay for food.
