The Outing

Silence took over the cabin as the conversation with the goddess ended. All that was left was Octavia standing amongst a large broken egg, the crystal ball and various furniture. All she could do as she stood in the silence was contemplate what she is going to do next.

"Right. Now what?"

Looking down at her new tail she tries to get a feel for it, trying to determine how it moves and works.

"I should probably try and figure out how this works. It just feels so strange. When I go to move forward it still feels like my legs are there trying to move."

Trying to will and somewhat force her tail to move in specific ways, just brings about various strange sensations over her body. The idea of her legs having been replaced, and trying to understand how a snake normally moves, just brings about a lot of confusion and problems. Eventually, taking the time to try and get a feel for her body she is finally able to get a few twitches and twinges across her tail. It is at this point that she realises, while she doesn't have legs, when you normally move, you don't have to will your body to do so, it just happens naturally. So that's what she tries to do, by relaxing and just letting it happen.

After many attempts, a few trips and trying different ways to just move naturally, she is finally able to slither at a reasonable pace. The feeling of being able to move without one foot going in front of the other is a very odd one to say the least.

"This is so weird!" She practically squeals out as she watches her tail move in different directions as she is propelled forward, curling in an almost 'S' shape as she moves.

*Crash*

"Ahh."

With the excitement of seeing her tail move, she ends up forgetting to watch where she is going and hits the chair, knocking it and herself to the ground.

"Urgh, I really need to stop doing that. Falling down all the time is getting old very fast."

Getting back up and placing the chair back where it was, Octavia then decides to get a good look at the room for the first time, as opposed to seeing it groggily from sleep and most notably from the floor.

"It's very minimalist. Looking at it all now it's also really dusty in here."

Meandering her way over to the table, she notices something strange about the dust pattern though.

"That's odd. It's quite a light layer on this side with the chair, but the other side is caked in dust."

The same could be said for the other furniture, the top of the chest of drawers similarly has a thick layer of dust across it, but the bed only a light sprinkling.

Thinking about the implications of this, she comes to the conclusion that who ever lived here only used it for the bare necessities. It is likely it was just used for eating and sleeping, so this wasn't someone's home, just a stop on a journey or temporary base of operations.

"So, what happened to the person who was staying here. It hasn't been that long given the dust that has built up… I wonder if they left anything."

Heading over to the chest of drawers, where given all the excitement with the crystal ball originally, she hadn't paid attention to anything else, so she opens the top drawer which was where the ball was originally located and finds it empty. Moving down she opens the middle drawer, where she finds a couple of bottles with some sort of murky green fluid inside.

"Huh, well if this is anything like the fantasy setting from other novels I've read, these must be some sort of potion. Not sure what green liquid would refer to though. Better not try it until I know what it is."

Placing them on top of the table along with the crystal ball, she opens the last drawer and finds a small knife and a bundle of string, the knife of which being practically the size of a bread knife, but quite a lot sharper than one.

"Well, it's not much, but it's better than nothing."

Laying it and the string down next to the bottles, she turns back to the room, looking for any other places of storage, but finds none. Looking down at the bottles and other items, she tries to figure out what to do with them.

"I really hope they have storage rings or something similar in this world. Until then how will I transport this stuff."

Searching around the room trying to come up with some ideas, her catches the bed in the corner of her eyes.

"Looks like that's the only option." She says as she makes her way over to it.

Taking the knife to the bed and carving up the fabric, using it and the string, Octavia eventually cobbles together a wrap to go across her chest and a small amount of bedding to enclose the bottles and crystal ball in, keeping them safe from damage. The last item she makes is a makeshift belt to hold the knife.

"This will have to do for now. I really hope the wrap stays secure, until I find some actual clothes.

One last look around the room, seeing nothing else left to do there, she comes to a final conclusion.

"I think it's about time I left this place and find a town or village. I need to learn how this world works, learn how to protect myself, maybe even make some friends. Would also be cool to see the different species in this world."

Opening the door to the cabin, Octavia takes the first step or more like slither outside into the wider world. Looking around, trees and greenery are all that can be seen. Thankfully, it is still light out and the flora in the forest is illuminated nicely, where rays of light managing to find openings in the canopy, can be seen creating spotlights on various sections of the ground and plants.

"Wow, this looks so much better than the forest at home. Especially since I don't have a sneak through it and its not full of hunters…I hope."

Wandering around the area she enjoys looking at the various flowers ranging in what feels like all the colours of the rainbow. Given the lack of knowledge, she makes sure to just look and not touch, lest she ends up with some affliction or poison in her system.

"It's so beautiful here. No wonder someone built this cabin here."

Turning around to get a better look at the cabin she was 'born' in, she sees the wear and tear in the wooden construction. Multiple types of damage are seen in the front of the building, ranging from what is likely rot and weathering, to what appears to be several gashes, that from her limited knowledge look like arrow holes. At its base, along the side of the cabin is a cobblestone path leading all the way around the side of the building.

"For lack of having a map to follow, taking the path is probably the best option. A bit odd the path doesn't come from the front though."

Making her way around the building, the path continues around to the rear. At the side of the building nothing of note is seen, just more of the dense forest. At the back of the building the cobblestone path meets the middle of the cabin and then veers off into the forest for a few meters, where multiple trees and shrubbery have overgrown and sandwich the path, making it almost impossible to leave it and head elsewhere. At the end of the cobblestone path, it continues as a well-trodden dirt path.

"I hope that even with the overgrown forest, it gets less restrictive after a while. Having to stick to a single narrow path could cause some problems.

Continuing the journey takes her further into the forest, where eventually she finds something odd.

"Why is there a leather boot here?"

Just off to the side of the dirt path, a slightly worn leather boot can be seen laying on its side. Picking it up, Octavia inspects the boot, but sees nothing of interest. It's almost as if someone just took off their boot and left it here.

"Who does this belong to? Could it be the owner of the cabin? It couldn't have been here very long, as its nowhere close to being buried in dirt."

Not really having a need for a boot anymore, given her changes, she drops it on the floor and continues onward.

A little further onwards she sees a few scraps of brown cloth and some leather on the ground, practically camouflaged in with the leaves and dirt.

"A random shoe, shredded cloth and leather. Could someone have been attacked?" She wonders, looking around for any more items of clothing. A little further and while completely dried into the dirt, dark brown-red splotches can be easily seen.

"I really hope that's not blood." She asks bending down to get a better look. "But I think it probably is."

The blood trail, as she would expect with her luck, goes in the same direction as the path. "Of course it does" she thinks to herself, "I just hope who ever this blood belonged to manages to get to safety."

As she follows it and the path, she scans the area as she goes and suddenly freezes on the spot. It's at this point she realises just how wrong she was. Just a ways away she sees something that looks very much like a pile of bones, some of which still have what looks like rotting meat attached.

"Oh no."

The real problem comes from the two wolfs feasting and gnawing on said bones.

Deciding the best thing to do is to back away slowly and hope the wolves don't notice her, she puts that plan into action. As she manoeuvres her tail in a way to reverse slowly, she keeps her eyes on the predators. Looking at them in more detail, she sees one has quite the gash across its front leg, whereas the other looks to be as fit as a fiddle.

Thankfully the plan ends up working.

…

For about twenty seconds. Where at this point the healthy-looking wolf decides to look up from its current meal and growls after seeing its next main course.

"Damn."