Taking a Breather

After everything that had happened to him, he wanted time to rest and reflect on his thoughts and actions. He was sitting on his self-made bed and started thinking about what was going on in the village. The first thing he thought about was the creatures he had seen. He kept asking himself, "what were they?, why are they here?, and how do I beat them?". None of these questions could he answer, but he knew he had to come up with something or else he would be dissatisfied with himself. He decided they were there because they needed resources and his village was in their path. The only thing he could say about what they were was a hybrid of animals or some kind of unevolved/evolved human due to them having superior weaponry but hairy like the other animals he had seen. Although they seemed to have superior strength and intellect, they had to be able to be killed just like any other animal; he should be able to use his bow on them the same as any other animal provided he had enough force to pierce its muscle. If they surprised him and surrounded him or grabbed him he would be screwed, but if he had an opening he would be able to get away from them easily enough. However, he was still terrified of them because of their supposed strength, but he knew not to show fear in front of the enemy or let it cloud his judgment. After figuring out what he thought he needed to know, he then thought about the mysterious man he met in his house. He was still wary about the actuality of the engagement but he still felt the need to gather his thoughts on it. He shot the arrow at the man but he caught it; he knew the arrow was going extremely fast and nothing he had ever seen could ever do what that man did. And the glow around him, it was very unnatural; he would understand if the sun was behind the man but it wasn't...it was above them. He had to possess some kind of light source to create the shine, and the flash before he seemed to have vanished, he knew how fast the man had to be but there was no way he could have run around him without causing any disruptions around him. The only thing he could have done was disappear, but that's impossible, isn't it? Also, the house was the most mysterious and confusing thing of them all. He had to have entered it, he knew he entered it, but after he ran outside and looked back...it was gone. Maby, it was the man, he was the last thing Merlin had seen before leaving the house. It was possible due to the other feats he had accomplished, but those were minor compared to what happened to the house; catching an arrow and disappearing were one thing but making a house appear normal one second and burned in the next, it had to be impossible. For Merlin to keep his sanity, he decided not to dwell on the topic and instead take a well-deserved break. He would not worry anymore about what happened or else he would go mad getting himself killed or taken. Although he wanted to lay in bed and sleep he knew he wouldn't be able to without thinking about everything, so instead, he thought it was a good idea to enjoy the waterfall he was fortunate to find. He walked outside, stripped-down and ran into the water. He thought playing in the water would be fun, however, he forgot that he didn't know how to swim. After everything he had mastered, he didn't know how to swim; he had no lake or pond to learn in so it was reasonable. He remembered this fact as he started to drown. Luckily, the water was only a foot deeper than he was tall and he had not jumped very far, only a few feet from the bank of the river. He managed to grab something that could support his weight and pull back onto the land. This gave him a challenge he felt the need to overcome and it was a good way to occupy his time and get his mind off things. He went to the shallow parts and began his training. He started by paddling his arms in the water like a dog and felt that he was doing good for a few hours before trying to swim with his arms stretched in front of him. This was much easier and faster than the first way he tried to learn. After many hours of trying different techniques, he became a decent swimmer. He was always a fast learner; learning everything twice as fast as it took the other kids. Before it got dark he swam around where the water fell to see if there were any rocks; there weren't any. After discovering this he ran up the waterfall and looked down. It was a far drop but it was also a straight shot into the deep water, he backed up, ran, and jumped from the ledge. He felt as if he was flying when he noticed the creatures that could fly; there were birds, many of them flying around above him a distance away. It was mystifying the most amazing thing he had ever witnessed. But, it had to end, not six seconds after he jumped he hit the water...hard. He was very shocked when he hit and needed a few seconds of drowning to realize he needed to get air and start swimming. He was completely fine after he got to the shore, almost laughable. He was glad he had this adventure because he could think about what he saw while falling; this thought gave him a good feeling. He sat on the side a while dangling his feet staring at the reflection of the stars on the water. Getting up he grabbed his dry clothes and changed them for his wet ones. After putting the soaked undergarments up to dry he headed back to his cave.