Discovering a Sense

Different kinds of smells had started to assault him. He followed the scent to its origin and collected the samples. He recognized many of them and placed them in his bag in the order that he received them. The day passed as Liam collected different plants along the riverbank. Nio hadn't come looking for him yet. He hunted a few more of the creature he could get his hands on and skinned them. Saving only the skin, he shared his kills with Biff and Haru. Both seemed happy about that.

The next day arrived and Liam found a bandana-like leaf on his side. Its texture felt similar to cloth, he wondered what this plant was. Still, he smiled and put it on. Liam started his day blindly. He did everything that day instinctively. He cleaned yesterday's skins from residue fat and meat like that, packing them. He started to enter the forest when the furry one blocked him.

Liam combed through Haru's fur and comforted her. He explained to her about the game he was playing. Well, it couldn't be called a game anymore, it was more like a task to survive. After all, Liam was nearly a grown man. After some coaxing Haru relented and let Liam do as he liked.

The day started off badly, but Liam made huge progress by the end of it, even hunting. It had taken him two hours to kill that thing, but he had eventually managed it. Splitting it up and throwing one part of it into the river, the other half was devoured by Haru. Both grumbled but didn't say anything else.

Biff had observed the boy's progress and was amazed by it. He didn't think that he would manage to kill that creature without one of his main senses. It also looked ridiculously funny as he kept stumbling and tripping over seemingly obvious things. He shared some of those highlights with Miki and she was also amused by them.

The third day of travel started and Liam received two spongy objects.

He thought for a moment and started to put them in his nose. But then he smelled something foul and shoved them in his ears. Pleasant-smelling pollen arrived.

This was their communication. If he did the right thing he would get something that smelled good, if he did the wrong thing he would find foul or even poisonous pollen in his nose.

He continued the journey. On this day, he had to be without being able to listen to sounds. At first, it looked like it would be easier, but as time went on he grew a bit paranoid and looked at the forest all the time. His eyes flashed in every direction.

A rule was placed on Haru. She wouldn't be seen or heard by Liam during the traveling time. She could stay close by, but unseen by Liam.

On this day, a different kind of sense had started to take root inside Liam. He couldn't hear, but he could smell, feel, taste, and see. Those four senses started to interact with each other, but they weren't complete. As Liam couldn't hear.

The night was approaching and Liam hadn't hunted a single being.

Liam sat down. He was facing the river and his back against a tree. He closed his eyes and started to breathe in a certain rhythm.

It was new to him. He hadn't done this style before. It felt intoxicatingly satisfying. Every intake of breath brought him secrets. Every exhale of his breath let those secrets free, to take in new ones. He was like that for an hour before opening his eyes and getting up. He looked like he was possessed by something as he took off in a certain direction and ran toward it.

Liam had unlocked a tiny secret, a tiny part of something. He knew that and was excited to learn new things. He could now feel the environment with his breathing and this breathing had allowed him to see the forest like never before. He had seen three creatures ripping apart a carcass as they ate and this looked like a perfect opportunity for him to hunt some food for his two companions.

After all, he had to say thank you somehow to them. They were keeping him safe all this time.

He could not hear, but that was a minor inconvenience to him at this moment. He used all his body was capable of and moved silently as he could. He didn't know if he actually was silent, but it didn't matter at the moment anyway as his prey was distracted.

They were pulling apart a corps.

Liam appeared suddenly for those three and slashed with the snake tooth knife and one started to bleed out fast. He kicked one to the side pushing it further away and attacked the third one by sliding at its legs. Retreating for a moment, stopping for a moment, and looking at the closest being. He assessed it, as it could actually hurt him. He was smaller than it but that didn't matter. He put his knife away and charged toward the creature. He infused his punch with his internal energy and aimed at the creature's strongest point, its chest.

Liam could feel the skin split, muscles tear, and then the flesh, that was warm against his own skin, twitching. His fist kept moving forward, going as far as the heart. It pulsated against his fist once as it got torn up.

Liam pulled his hand out of it and looked up to see the last one running toward him. Attacking him. Liam didn't wait and charged toward it. He leaped to the tree, grabbed a vine, collected quite a bit of it, and landed behind the creature, who had been prowling under the tree. The creature turned and charged toward Liam but he calmly observed the creature, waiting for the right moment to attack.

He jumped as the creature got close and wrapped the vine tightly around the creature's mouth, effectively sealing the most dangerous part about it.

He jumped to the next tree and collected more vine while the creature tried to get rid of the vine. Liam come down again and kicked the creature to the side, it fell and Liam wrapped up its hind legs. Again, he collected more vine, and this time he tied up its front paws which had incredibly sharp needles and claws. It took Liam several trips to collect enough vine to wrap it strongly enough. Finally, he knocked the creature out and waited for Haru to appear.

She did in a moment.

Haru looked confused as she saw the creature that was unconscious, but still alive.

Still, she took her position next to it. Liam took the bag that Haru had brought and pulled out a knife. He started his work with the corpses and skinned them. He had done this so many times now that it felt like a simple task to him. He tossed one skinned corps to Haru and left the other one for Biff. Finally, he looked at the corps the three were devouring before and found it to be humans. That was just a guess though. There wasn't much left.

After that, he went back to the beast, who had woken up some time ago. It was trashing around, but couldn't get free. Liam slapped the creature with his internal energy and looked at how it would react.

It had stopped moving, but then it started its struggle for freedom once again.

He hit the creature once more to knock it unconscious and wrapped it in some more vine as he had to carry the thing toward the river. Once he had gotten the heavy creature onto his back, he took the other skinned corpse and threw it on top of it.

As it turned out it was a great weight. He hadn't found anything that was heavy to him anymore. Now that he did, he felt his calves burn and he started his walk toward the river. Haru had been left with Liam's bag and was silently trailing behind him. Not that Liam could hear anything at all and this made him vigilant as ever. He couldn't let his hunt be wasted or stolen by any other creature.