Let's Make A Campfire!

He's... He's not here.

Where did he go?!

We just split up for a second and he's somehow magically disappeared out of my radar!

Me: "Hey, Noah! Can you hear me?!"

I walk further away from the cave and almost deeper into the forest as my paranoia gets worse every second.

Me: "Noah! Come on, kid! This is not funny!"

My heartbeat begins to beat faster as a cold sweat drips from my temple.

I craned my neck around the forest just to see a dark forest displayed due to the darken daylight and-

Noah: "BOO!"

Me: "AHHHH!!!"

I kicked my right leg instinctively at Noah as he suddenly springs out and surprised me from behind.

Luckily for his small body, he reflexively dodged my defensive kick to the side with a frightened expression plastered on his face.

Noah: "Holy shit! The hell was that for!?"

Me: "...."

When I realised that it was Noah who spooked the shit out of me, I froze...

A moment later, I quickly took him into my embrace, washing away all of my concerns at once like melting ice.

Me: "Oh thank all the gods! I thought that I've already lost you!"

Noah: "...Bal?"

Without any hesitation, I rapidly tap my hand on Noah's forehead, putting a good amount of force in it to let him know how much I was worried about him.

He flinched in pain by the action.

Noah: "Ow ow ow ow! Hey, what's the deal!? Stop it! I said stop!"

Me: "Idiot! I thought that I've lost you!"

I hugged him again but this time with more passion.

Me: "I thought that I've already failed to protect you as I've promised to your father that I'll protect you no matter what! Do you know how worried I was when you just suddenly disappeared out of my sight!?"

Noah: "I...."

I gripped both of my hands on his shoulders as I pushed him away from me and held him in front of me, not letting my hands off his shoulders.

I look straight, deep into his eyes.

Me: "Did you think it was funny!? I was scared to death thinking about what will happen to you when you're actually gone! I was scared about your life!.... For Jonathan. What am I suppose to tell your father if I truly had lost you?"

Noah raised his eyebrows in the realisation of what he had done and hopefully, regretting on what he just did to himself.

Noah whimpers to himself as he makes a small cry as he feels guilty of his reckless action.

Noah: "I'm... I'm sorry. I was just too excited that I was finally able to explore and travel out of the village. I know that I shouldn't have gone ahead of myself but I just can't help it. I thought...*sniff*... I thought that I could pull a little friendly prank on you as this is my first time adventuring to anywhere or with someone before in my life.... B-but I didn't know or even considered enough to realise on how worried you're going to be about me. Please...*sniff*... Please forgive me. I p-promise that I'll never do that again."

Hearing that somewhat breaks my heart.

Me: "Hey, it's okay... You're fine. It's alright as long as you know what you did wrong. It's fine for you to pull a prank with your friend like that but you also have to consider and wait for the right time and places too.... And I'm sorry too for scolding you like that. I should've been more reasonable and not let my anger get the best of me. Besides, that was a great dodge you did back there."

Noah: *sniff*" ... Huh?"

He wiped his tears off his cheek with his hands.

Me: "You know, you could've been badly injured if you took the blow from my kick earlier. Base on the size of your body you'll practically break your ribs or any other severe injuries. I gotta say that you've got a good reflex, kid."

Noah: "Hehe, you know I do. And I'm not a kid. I'm fifteen."

Me: "Pfft. We're certainly gonna talk about that for sure later."

Noah: "What do you mean by that!?"

Me: "Let's just say that you looked relatively.... Young... In that height??"

Noah: "So you're saying that I'm short?"

Me: "Not directly but..."

Noah: "So you are saying that I'm short!"

Me: "Yes! I am saying that you are short!"

Noah: "Damn you, Bal!"

He ran himself at me with innocent bloodlust but I just simply put my hand on top of his head so he couldn't come at me.

And now he's just trying so hard to squirm his head out from my grasp which is kinda cute to watch to be honest.

Minutes later after playing around, even though it's night I can see the gathering clouds floating lazily on top of our heads.

The smell of rain can be smelled miles away from the sky.

A raging wind then howls throughout the forest as the leaves on the trees rustle against each other's branches and twigs in a result of an uncountable amount of dried leaves fell onto the ground and drifted away, following the path given by the wind.

Tons of thunder boom along the vast sky, shaking the very earth we're standing on.

The air feels cold, filled with a damp sensation that surfs through my fur.

Me: "A storm?"

Noah: "Looks like it. You said that you've found ourselves a cave, right? Where is it?"

Me: "Ah yes. It's not far from here. Follow me."

I gestured my hand at Noah as a sign for him to follow me.

-Later-

-In the cave-

Right after we entered the cave, the rain started to drizzle itself, soaking the land with its cool, natural water from the sky.

The night sky was entirely covered up by the dark clouds. The colour between the sky and those clouds made a huge difference in existence.

No moon can be seen at all.

Me: "Wew. That was a close call."

The wind still howls ragingly outside as the cold seeps itself slowly into the cave, invading our comfort zone without any care.

Noah: "This cave looks awesome. Look! There's another path deeper into the cave! We should check it out!"

Noah's voice which fills with excitement echoed along the walls inside the cave.

This place is very spacious and filled only with bunches of small stalagmites and stalactites at the end sides of the cave entrance and walls.

The ground is quite uneven and slippery enough, only waiting for accident to happen.

Soon as he was about to wander into the cave that resembled a dark, creepy hallway without him thinking twice, I snatched the edge of his collar behind his neck as the shirt simultaneously got pulled against his trachea making him gasp desperately for air.

Noah: "Erk! Can you not do that!?"

Me: "I won't... Only if you behave first."

Noah grumbles in frustration.

Me: "Don't complain. Jonathan's order."

I gently let go of his collar.

Noah: "Ugh, fine. Anyway, we need to make a fireplace so we wouldn't freeze to deat-"

He unusually paused himself from talking after he turned around as he sees me.

Me: "Hm? What's the matter?"

Noah: "Y... Your eyes! They're glowing!"

He shouted at me as the cave amplifies the noise after he overreacted to my natural eyes condition.

Me: "Hey, don't shout! You're hurting my ears!"

Noah: "B-b-but your eyes..."

Me: "I'm fine. This is normal. Beastman's eyes always mildly glow if they're in a dark place in order to adapt to the darkness around them."

Noah: "Ouh, o-okay then. I thought that I just saw a ghost earlier."

He muttered the last part to himself.

Noah: "Ahem. As I said, we need to make a campfire before the cold kills us both."

I hover my eyes around the cave and wondering what am I suppose to do to make that work.

Me: "How exactly are we going to make one?"

Noah: "...."

Me: "...."

Noah: "Let me be frank here. You've never gone into the wild before, haven't you?"

Me: "Excuse me. I have went into the wild before.... But that was 8 years ago when I went for a training camp in summer and since that day, I've sworn to myself that I'll never let myself near the forest ever again.... Because it was a hell for me to go through."

Noah slaps his forehead lethargically.

That's the third time he did that today.

Me: "I mean... Why trouble yourself going into the wild forest when you can just stay inside of your warm, cosy house, am I right?

Noah: "For a wolf, you sure whine a lot about nature."

Me: "What was that!?"

Noah: "N-nothing! Just... Just go find some dry leaves and twigs that you can find in this cave and bring them to me while I wait here."

He walked away towards a medium-sized boulder for him to sit down on and put his oversized backpack beside the boulder and begins to squint his muscles thus creating bunches of popping noises.

Me: "Aight.... Wait a minute. Why do you get to rest here while I'm the only one who's doing all the work!?"

Noah sighs as he gives his attention back on me.

Noah: "Correction; I'll do all the work to make a campfire after you're done with your part."

He ended his sentence with a nod of certainty and continues to lay back against the rock he sat.

I can't help but feels like he's using me but since I can't lit up a campfire or having any knowledge about living out in nature.... I'll listen to him for now.

-A few minutes later-

Even if the inside cave was dark, thanks to my eyes, I managed myself to finish the quick errand requested by Noah instantly without breaking any sweat.

Me: "Hey, I got the things you-...."

After spending minutes worth of my precious time, finding twigs and leaves to make a campfire(it's actually not that hard) that I've brought in my arms...the only thing I found right now is a human boy, sleeping like a log on his boulder who doesn't care about the world.

So he was using me! I can't believe that I've just been used by a fifteen years old kid!

What happened to the 'Great and Almighty Balthazar Brook'?!

....

....Fine, I created that name for myself but that's not the point here!

I need a revenge to regain my reputation! And I mean now!

....

I smile deviously to myself.

I bent myself down a little and placed my muzzle on the side of his ear and...

Me: "WAKEY WAKEY! UP AND AT 'EM!"

Noah: "Waaaaahhh!"

Noah jumped off the rock and landed himself on the hard, cold ground, surprised by the sudden alarm that has been set for him.

Oh shit! The reaction! HAHAHA! It was priceless!!!

Me: "Wake up, you sleepy head. It's time to make a campfire."

I smiled joyfully at him, putting the piles of leaves and twigs that I've searched earlier in the dark cave all by myself in front of him on the ground.

Noah: "Why would you do that!? I thought I would have died because of a heart attack!"

Me: "How does it feel to taste your own medicine? Hm?~ Consider it as a payback for what you did outside the cave and for leaving me doing all the work alone while you got to rest here like a pup."

Noah: "My head is still ringing because of your screaming earlier so I can't really hear what you're trying to say."

Me: "Nevermind that. Just make a campfire for us quickly because I can feel my fingers are freezing because of the rain."

Yeah, it's still raining outside and I think it's not going to settle down any moment now as the rain keeps pouring down heavily by the moment passes by.

Thanks to the jacket I'm wearing, plus the fur I have covered all over my body, it helped me to keep warm when I was trying to find those leaves and twigs for the campfire inside the cave.

If I'm the one who's wearing layers of clothes and have fur covering my whole body still can feel the unswerving coldness, how can Noah, a small human without any fur could bare with such condition?

Noah: "Yeah yeah. No need to tell me twice. I've got this."

He kneeled himself on the ground and shifted the piles of leaves and twigs together in front of him into a fireplace nest.

Next, he rummages his hands inside of his backpack and took out a flint rod.

Me: "What's that?"

Noah: "This? It's a 'flint rod'. You use it to create a fire."

Me: "A flint? Only seen it in movies or medieval games before but not in real life. Cuz we have lighter and matches for that."

Noah continued himself, not even caring what I was mumbling about to myself.

He takes the flint rod with the spark-making side facing up, angle the rod down toward the tinder at an angle that will allow the sparks to fall onto the flint shavings.

He then rustles his left hand inside of his backpack and takes out a small knife and scrape down the flint rod as sparks are being produced by the boy expertly.

The nest of a fireplace then lit up slowly with a small ember and the flame grows as bright as a blossoming flower in summer, radiating the warmth we have longed for, illuminating the cave with its warm light at the same time.

I sit down on the cold, hard biome of the cave, indulging the heat released by the fire dancing in its fireplace as I stretch my hands near it.

Me: "Oooh~ That's better."

Noah: "Mhm. Looks like we're not gonna freeze to death after all."

Me: "Can you stop that? Hearing you said that is kinda disturbing."

Noah: "But it's true though. If we couldn't manage ourselves to find a shelter or fire in time, we're practically on the verge of dying. We're still here, safe and sound because we worked together you know that? You found the cave for us to cover ourself from the rain and I made a fire to warm us up from the coldness. We are just lucky that we have such luxury for ourselves out in the wilderness. However, our journey to the Capital is still far away from its end. Who knows what could happen to us on our journey through these five days of a trip."

Me: "True. You know, for a kid, you do think like an adult sometimes."

Noah: "I'll take that as an offence. I've always thought like an adult. And second, I'm not a k-.."

Me: "...You're not a kid. I know. But if you're still under eighteen, hence you're still a kid in my book whether you like it or not."

Noah: "Tch."

Me: "Don't you dare click your tongue at me, young man."

Noah: "You're starting to sound like my father."

Me: "Thank you."

Noah: "It's not a compliment!"

I simply laughed at him as a response.

What a déja vu.

Me: "So, do you know anything about this place? The cave I mean."

Noah: "Nah. I've told you that I've never gone outside deeper into the forest before. This is also a new experience for me."

Me: "I see."

Without warning, a long, loud thunder boomed into the horizon, grumbling the land as we can feel the vibration on the ground we're sitting.

Seconds later, followed by a bright lightning bolt striking a nearby tree and flashes its blinding light that can be seen not far from the entrance in the blink of an eye.

Noah and I both jolted by the sudden scene and turn our heads to look at the burning tree which soon knocks over onto the ground due to its burning trunk.

Me/Noah: "Woah."/"Wow."

The rain then begins to drop heavier as the wind also starts to blow harder, forming a raging storm right outside the cave.

The trees and bushes are all swaying like crazy as if they were forced to dance following the wind without any consent.

Me: "Seems like it's not going to calm down anytime soon."

Noah: "Yep. Anyhow, we need to talk about our plan for tomorrow."

He grabbed his backpack towards him and took out a familiar map in his hand and laid it next to the fireplace for better lighting.

Noah: "We'll leave at dawn. The earlier we start the journey, the sooner we reach to the Sentua Village."

Me: "Ah, I forget to ask you this before but why don't we speed up the travel time by riding my bike?"

Noah: "What? I thought that you've figured it out by yourself this evening?"

Me: "Well, the only thing you said was that we're going to use this path to go to the village but didn't tell me the reason why."

I pointed my finger on the map at the black line he showed me this evening which is going to be our next path to follow tomorrow.

Noah: "Fair enough. The reason why we can't use any kind of vehicle in our journey for tomorrow was that...we're going to walk off from the original path set in the forest."

Me: "Woah, woah, woah! Back it up a little! You want us to get out of the way that has been set for travellers like us!? Don't you remember what the warning said about being astray!?"

(Back at the forest entrance)

The warning sign:

"Beware travellers! Follow the path! Do not seek to astray! If you did, only death awaits!"

(The present)

Me: "... Remember!?"

Noah: "Yes, yes! I know! But this road here has been drawn by my father himself and has been said that it's going to be a secret path for us to go to the next village. He said that the road there is not going to be easy as there's no road for us to follow there in the first place. That's why we can't use any form of transportation to go with."

Me: "Then why are we going to trouble ourselves any further? Why he's so certain that this plan is going to work? Why can't we just follow the safe path instead of getting ourselves in danger?"

Noah sighs.

Noah: "He knew that you're going to ask that."

Me: "Jonathan?"

Noah: "Yeah. Back in the village, my father told me that if you're in any doubt, I need to tell you this..."

(Before in the evening)

(At the village)

Jonathan: "There are two particular reasons why I chose the path aside from the original ones for you guys. First of all, I'm the one who found the route. Back in my youth, I'd always travelled out of the village with my friends and one day, I'd decided to make a secret path for myself. The path I've drawn on the map will lead you straight to Sentua Village. It's not going to cut the duration of travelling but it's going to be safer. Especially for Bal. And that's the second reason for all of this; It will be safer for Bal to travel as the path is more hidden and secluded as I'm the only one who knows about the passage I've created."

(The present)

Me: "...For me?"

Noah: "Yeah. He said that we can't risk ourselves by encountering with other travellers when we're on our way to the village and I think that it was more efficient and rational choice for both of us. He also said that he had marked along the path years ago if we can't really follow the map."

All of that trouble...was for me?

Noah: "And lastly, this is the only thing that he could do to help you in finding your answer about your arrival in our world as he can't follow us on our journey because of the other issues he has to take care of in the village."

My heart flutters as my tail wags in happiness and joy by itself after I've learned about the reasons.

...Ouh, Jonathan. How charming can you be?

Me: "W...wow. I don't know what to say."

I blushed as I could feel my face getting hotter every second while I scratch the fur on the back of my head.

Noah: "Don't say anything then. And now you know why we're going to use this path. So can we stop this useless argument and continue our discussion about the plan?"

Me: "Yeah, sorry."

Noah: "Haah, it's fine. Back to the topic, we'll use the path that my father has chosen for us to go with. We have to trust my father on this one. The path is not going to be easy as my father said if we go farther to the North, we'll find an old bridge that connects to the other side of the land. This is the only way for us to arrive in Sentua Village safely."

Me: "Umm, question."

Noah: "Yes?"

Me: "Other than people, is there might be any chance that we would probably encounter with wild animals or beasts?"

Noah: "That...was a stupid question."

Me: "Yeah, I know. Just wanna make sure."

Noah: "Of course there will be wild animals lurking around because this is a forest, duh."

Me: "Of course."

This is totally not gonna end pretty.

Noah: "But other than animals, in a worst case scenario, there's a high possibility for us to encounter with Devillings too."

Me: "Seriously? There's more?"

Noah: "Of course there are more of them. They are scattered everywhere, scavenging around the place where people least expected all over the world."

Me: "What a pain in the ass."

Noah: "Heh, tell me about it."

-An hour later-

As we were talking about the plan for tomorrow's journey mixed with empty conversations in between, our stomach then grumbled at the same time, starving for some nutritious meal.

Me: "Oof, dinner time!"

Noah: "Yeah, I guess I can cook something for us tonight but it's not going to be fancy as the food from the tavern. Let me take out the cooking tools first.."

He started to rummage himself inside of his backpack again, trying to find the cooking utensils he stored from the village.

I almost feel sorry for the backpack. He's completely stuffed everything that he could find in his house into that thing. I think I can hear it screaming in agony on how much stuff Noah put inside of his backpack.

But before he could take any of his cooking tools, I push the button on my gauntlet and grab two ready-to-serve canned food and a small black plastic bag from the inventory and hand one of the canned food to him.

Me: "Here. No need to trouble yourself."

Noah: "Huh? What's this?"

Me: "A canned food."

Noah: "It's...food?"

Me: "Let me show you how to open one. Just follow my lead."

Noah: "Oh, okay."

Me: "Take your knife you used with flint to make fire earlier."

He did what he was told politely.

I also take out a small kitchen knife from my gauntlet for me to able to teach him.

Me: "Now, position the tip of the knife against the inner edge of the lid. Hold the knife so that is vertical, rather than at an angle."

He craned his neck a little towards me to see and imitate my hand position.

Noah: "Like this?"

Me: "Good. Then grip the handle such that your fingers won't be in the way of the blade if it slips. The back of your hand should be facing up."

Noah: "Got it."

Me: "Next, use your second hand to lightly smack the back of the hand that's gripping the knife handle."

This gentle smacking motion would likely cause the tip of the knife to puncture the lid of the can.

I'd always used this method if I was lazy enough to grab a can opener.

...Which means most of the time.

Noah: "Alright. Then?"

Me: "Scoot the knife over and make a new hole. Position the tip of the knife a few centimetres over and repeat the action to puncture the can again."

Noah: "This is fun."

He said in a slow, soft tone with an innocent smile engraved on his face.

Me: "Continue until you've punctured holes around the edge of the can. Circle the entire lid as it should now be loose."

Noah copied my hand movements exactly how I showed him to do.

He is a quick learner which is kinda impressive, I give him that.

Me: "Lastly, slip the tip of the knife into one of the holes. Use it to pry the lid off. Gently pull the lid from the can and... Tadaa~"

I showed the opened lid can to Noah as he did the same.

Me: "Good job! You got it in the first try!"

Noah: "Hehe, that was fun! Thank you for teaching me."

Me: "You are welcome. Now let's eat. I hope you don't mind with chicken."

Noah: "Wait, this is chicken?"

Me: "Yeah. Why?"

Noah: "N-nothing. Just never seen this kind of serving before."

Me: "Ahh, it's called chicken curry. It is chicken that was cooked in a spiced curry broth."

Noah takes a whiff of the content of the can and his eyes are now sparkling with nothing but hunger.

Me: "Do you need a spoon?"

Noah: "Oh, no thanks. I got one for myself."

He showed me a small wooden spoon in his hand and then scoop it on the food carefully not to spill any and continue savouring on his first bite.

Noah: "OH. MY. LORD! This is heaven!"

Me: "I know right."

Noah continues indulging his first curry dinner in his life when I'm doing the same.

-Minutes later-

After we've finished eating, we gathered the empty cans into the plastic bag that I'd brought out earlier and stored it back into the inventory.

We're both now too tired to move as we've probably eaten too much for ourselves.

I mean, three cans each. How could we weren't?

And don't you dare judge us! The curry was so good and don't you deny it or I'll bite your ears off!

Noah: "Wow. I've never tasted anything like that before in my whole life. If father was here, I'm sure he's going to enjoy this just as much as I did."

Me: "I bet he will."

We both laughed at each other in satisfactory.

Me: "Hey, I want to give you something."

Noah: "Hm? What is it?"

Me: "This."

Noah: "Isn't that..."

I lend him a smartphone that I'd sneakily took out from my gauntlet to surprise him. And just like how I'd imagined, he did surprise by the sudden gift.

Noah: "But why?"

He gently caressed his hands on the phone.

Me: "As you're now my adventuring partner, I want to protect you while you're under my care just like how Jonathan wanted me to.... And that's what I'm going to do right now. This phone will be an important lifeline for us both in the future."

Noah: "But... I don't how to use it."