Limits

The group of humans got closer and finally arrived at my camp. One of them walked closer and said "Stranger, we are looking for a middle aged man with a large sword on his back. have you seen him?" I looked at them and said with a straight face "No. You are the only group of humans I saw, since I been here". The man looked at me and I could see sharpness in his eyes. He asked "Are you sure?" to which I replied "Yes, I've been in these parts of the forest for about half a year and you are the first humans I saw here".

When I finished my sentence, I noticed that the man was trying to do something so I was preparing as well to throw my daggers. Before the man acted up on his thoughts, another man interjected "If you've been here so long, did you see any unusual beasts?"

I looked at the man and said "What do you mean by unusual beast?" to which he extrapolated "Something that wasn't a simple animal". I thought about it and said "I think I might've. I don't know if those two beasts are what you mean but I saw a silver wolf with flames on its back as well as grey bear with flames on its paws". I said nothing about Black Mammoth on purpose.

The man's eyes lit up and asked "Where did you see them?" I said "In the south. The two beasts I saw were running deeper into the forest, they didn't even care about me. If you want to find them, I guess going towards the western direction would be your next destination".

The man nodded his head and asked "Do you know who we are?" to which I answered with a question "Do you know who am I?", they seemed surprised while I continued "We never met each other so think about it, how would I know who you people are?". The man smiled and said "Give him something for his trouble" he then turned towards me and said "Your information is very useful to us, we don't leave people unrewarded when they help us". Another person from the group threw something at me.

I caught it and looked at the item. It was a bag, it looked similar to the one I had but it wasn't the same one. The man who threw that bag said "I saw you don't have a proper bag with you, so take this one". The man who asked most of the questions explained "This is not a normal bag, it will fit loads of things inside while staying pretty much the same size. Watch out though, it will have the same weight as the items inside it".

I replied "Thanks! This is very useful indeed". The man smiled and said "Alright, let's go. We have some beasts to catch" and they left. I was glad they just left and I knew who exactly they were searching for. When I said to the man that he will die sooner or later, it might be sooner than I thought. 'If they get their hands on him, I don't think he will have a chance to survive' I thought to myself. I checked out the bag left and right. I check the inside and played with it as if I never saw it.

It was all a sham, these people were dangerous and they might still be somewhere around, trying to test me. I placed random objects inside and out. I put in loads of stuff and checked the weight. All with smile on my face. I acted as if I got my hands on a very expensive toy. If they were watching then they would assume I was telling the truth and perhaps leave.

If the man I met before was correct, these people were the ones who chased after him. I wasn't planning to run away like he did. If I had to, I would fight but only if it was really necessary. After playing around with the bag, I hid all my animal skins, food and what not inside. I then moved towards north. I couldn't stay in this place, I didn't want for anyone observing me while I train.

I moved towards north and didn't practice my skills. I only hunted when necessary and did so with makeshift weapons instead of my daggers. I didn't want for them to know anything about me. It might seem paranoid but if that group of people went as far as to chase one guy deep into the forest, I preferred to be paranoid than dragged into that mess.

My days looked simple, I would travel towards north and hunt from time to time. I wouldn't practice anything on my way but I had loads of time instead to modify the 3rd diagram. I made a bit of progress with the 3rd diagram due to my so called paranoia.

At night, I made camp and sat next to the fire that was burning away slowly. 'So they are indeed following me'. My paranoia turned out to be useful and I discovered them hiding away in the distance. 'Pffft, you were trying to hide from a guy who learned the Art of Stealth. That is just laughable' I thought to myself. They probably wanted to see if my story was truthful, it wasn't but they couldn't know. I thought 'Let's see who has more patience, you guys or me?'.

I would do the same stuff everyday and it seemed monotone but that didn't mean I was just lazing about. Couple of days passed and I was at a crucial point with my 3rd diagram. I felt that I was about one or two crucial changes from a completely modified diagram. I already tried most of the things and finding the final details would not be easy but I was getting close.

They still followed me after those few days. I wasn't bothered, I just lived my own life and didn't care about them. If they decided to attack, I'd fight or run but for now, I didn't have to do such things. 'As soon as they watch enough, they will leave. I don't believe that they would seriously just follow me for very long' I thought. Even judging their behaviour, they were quite impatient people, maybe besides the guy who asked the most questions. I assumed him to be the leader. The others were not as calm and collected as he was.

The group would soon give up and continue on with their own things. If not, they were welcome to follow me north. I went inside my shelter to sleep. I knew I would have no dreams that day. Normally I would be happy but this time, I actually wanted those dreams. 'It's always like this. When you need something, it's never there and when you don't need something it's always there' I thought and fell asleep.