Chapter 3 Exploration

Chapter 3: Exploration

"Saint Veronica, I'm just here looking for an answer." Xavier did not stop because of that command to halt.

"Do not come any closer. The Sacred Tower enshrines the Goddess and is forbidden to men." Saint Veronica blocked Xavier's path.

"But you allowed Lord Sirius to enter. You collected his bones," Xavier said.

"He was an exception. He is dead, yet his soul wanders the mortal realm. A heroic spirit such as his should not be left exposed in the wilderness." Saint Veronica maintained her stance, still locked in a standoff with Xavier.

Xavier finally stopped, no longer approaching the tower by the water's edge.

Led by Veronica, the Fire Priestesses dedicated their entire lives to guarding the Sacred Tower without ever leaving it. Yet, within a single month, they had broken their vows twice—once for Sirius, and now, this second time.

The priestesses, their eyes covered with white veils, held their torches aloft, silently encircling the base of the tower. If Xavier took another step closer, they would burn him to ashes with their eternal sacred flames.

"Is he truly dead?" After a long silence, Xavier spoke again.

"We held a mourning ceremony for him, placing him in a small boat filled with flowers and letting it drift downstream," Saint Veronica replied.

"Alright, I understand. Thank you." Xavier placed his right hand over his heart and bowed deeply to them.

Saint Veronica said nothing, just waved her hand to signal the sisters behind her to retreat into the tower.

Xavier straightened up and turned to leave without a backward glance, walking slowly downstream.

The torches of the Fire Priestesses wound their way up the tower, the flames and ethereal hems of their robes ascending in silence to the highest level, to the never-extinguishing sacred altar. The dazzling firelight illuminated the ink-dark river and also watched over that solitary, receding figure.

The river flowed towards the Misty Forest, a place of banishment and, simultaneously, a place of refuge.

"Mother Veronica, why didn't you just tell him that Sirius isn't truly dead?" The youngest nun, Anne, whispered her question to Saint Veronica.

"But we didn't witness his resurrection with our own eyes either, did we? Fire Priestesses only speak of what they can see before them," Saint Veronica said with a smile.

*

Sirius did not have a good night's sleep.

He blamed his poor sleep on the wandering spirit that had drifted through his dreams.

The name seemed to be Xavier?

What an annoying fellow, preventing him from getting proper rest.

Sirius yawned as he got up, crawling out of the tree hollow to greet the morning sun.

"Good morning, Bob. Did you sleep well last night? I didn't." He spoke to the skeleton.

The response was a series of bird calls. Looking up, he saw two birds fighting over a piece of fish.

Hmm... Suddenly, the color of this fish seemed a bit familiar, somehow.

This yellowish hue, why does it look so much like the smoked fish he made yesterday... This *is* the smoked fish he made yesterday!

Sirius whipped his head around to look at the drying rack. Sure enough, the rack had collapsed onto the ground with dragging marks, and most of the neatly hung fish were gone. The few that remained had been pecked at and scattered.

Judging by the claw prints left on the ground and the marks on the smoked fish, there were at least two groups of culprits.

"You horrible thieves! Not only did you steal my smoked fish, but you're eating it right in front of me! I'm going to spank your bottoms hard!" Sirius shouted, jumping up to strike the branch where the birds were perched.

The two birds glanced at each other, simultaneously released their beaks, and the piece of smoked fish landed squarely on Sirius's forehead.

*Thump—*

It didn't hurt, but it felt deeply humiliating.

The birds let out two caws and flew off, leaving Sirius alone under the tree, clutching his forehead and sulking.

"Look on the bright side, Sirius. At least you can still have breakfast," he comforted himself.

The comfort wasn't effective; he was still fuming. He became even more displeased as he squatted down to pick up the fish.

Those thieving creatures were truly wasteful. The flesh from the bellies had been torn off and gnawed clean, a few bites were taken from the backs just for a taste, but the tails were left untouched.

Only 3 small fish remained on the ground, and the only edible parts were the leftover tails. Sirius wasn't hungry enough to endure the saliva of unknown creatures.

He chopped off the intact fish tails, poured water from his sheepskin bag to wash them vigorously twice, and placed them over the charcoal fire to roast.

The already half-dried smoked fish became even drier after roasting, taking on a rich, amber-honey color. Besides the smoky aroma, there was a faint, thread-like hint of sweetness.

Sirius blew on the roasted smoked fish and cautiously took a small bite from the edge.

It really was sweet!

Sirius's eyes widened, and this time he took a big bite.

That sweetness wasn't the fresh, natural sweetness of the fish itself, but a rich, sticky-sweet flavor reminiscent of preserved fruits or candied treats.

The fish, after being smoked and dried overnight, had already lost its moisture. It separated into distinct strands in the mouth. Aside from the minor drawback of having dense, tiny bones, this smoked fish was incredibly delicious!

"Ptooey! Ptooey!" Sirius spat the fine fish bones onto the ground like a spitting archerfish shooting water jets.

He spent a long time eating this breakfast. Although the flavor was excellent, it required careful chewing; rushing would lead to getting pricked in the mouth.

And the worst part was feeling hungry again right after finishing, which defeated the purpose of filling his stomach.

Sirius sighed and continued searching for food that could satisfy his hunger.

He had two choices before him.

Option one: Go to the riverbank. It was known that the river contained sweet but bony fish, but catching them wasn't guaranteed.

Option two: Venture deeper into the forest. The depths of the forest were unknown, but there was a high likelihood of finding berries and mushrooms. With even better luck, he might catch some prey.

Sirius thought for a moment and decided to go into the forest.

Before leaving the hollow tree, he first took stock of his pack.

His personal sword—this was essential to bring. It was very useful, whether for hunting prey or chopping wood for fire.

The sheepskin bag filled with water—could quench his thirst.

His cloak—although inconvenient for walking through bushes, bringing it could serve as a makeshift bundle cloth. What if he found a lot of stuff?

Let's go!

Sirius headed deeper into the forest.

Every so often, he would stop and use his sword to carve a clear mark on a nearby tree.

Distinguishing direction in such a forest was difficult unless one had an excellent memory, which Sirius clearly lacked.

He'd thrown away all his memories; who knew when he might lose them again? So making little marks was easiest.

When he made the 27th mark, Sirius stumbled upon several wild apple trees.

The wild apple trees grew on a steep slope, their roots anchored in moss-covered protruding rocks, their branches laden with greenish wild apples.

Apples ripen from summer to fall. These apples weren't ripe yet, not fully red, still a ways from being fully ripe. It was pretty cool in the forest, and he still needed a fire at night to keep warm, so it was probably early summer.

Sirius looked up at the apples, trying to decide if they were worth hauling back.

They were small, about the size of duck eggs, with a greenish hue. The red parts were like a thin layer of rouge, only on the surface. Most of the wild apples' skins weren't very smooth either, with black, scarred spots where bugs had bitten.

Eaten by insects, with wormholes—they should be sweet, right?

Sirius grabbed a branch and picked the reddest one, casually rubbing it on his sleeve before popping it into his mouth.

Sour!

So sour his scalp prickled, as if his skull had flown off and his soul was rising from within, buzzed by a swarm of tiny-winged wild apples chanting, "So sour, so sour, so sour…"

Sirius forced himself to swallow the mouthful of sour apple, but the one in his hand, he threw away without a second thought!

"It must be because you’re not ripe yet. I don’t blame you. I can wait a few more days until you turn into sweet, edible apples," he said to the apple trees.

He headed on, deeper into the woods.

He found a patch of brown mushrooms and picked them.

Mushrooms +6.

He found a beehive, but they were hornets—run, run, run!

Chased by hornets, he stumbled into a thicket and came away with some berries and two nests of bird eggs.

Berries +61.

Bird eggs +7.

He found a wild chicken’s nest, but it only contained feathers.

…

After a morning of foraging, Sirius plopped down against a tree and took stock of his harvest.

Three clusters of unknown brown mushrooms, three handfuls of berries, seven pale blue bird eggs, and three bunches of fresh dandelions.

He hadn't run into any game—no rabbits or wild chickens—so it seemed today’s luck wasn’t as good as yesterday’s.

The bird eggs would be a pain to carry back, so he figured he'd build a fire and eat them right there.

Sirius lit a small fire but didn’t put the bird eggs directly in. Instead, he skewered the mushrooms first to roast them.

He threaded several brown mushrooms onto a thin branch and held them over the fire, turning them back and forth.

The mushrooms sizzled lightly over the flames, and soon a rich mushroom aroma wafted from the slightly browned caps, smelling a bit like the earthy scent after rain.

Sirius hadn’t brought any salt, so he ate the roasted mushrooms plain, getting their pure, simple taste.

The thick mushroom flesh locked in a slightly sweet juice, and his tongue could detect the distinct, rich umami unique to mushrooms.

Delicious!

Sirius only roasted one cluster of mushrooms, about seven or eight pieces. After eating them, he didn’t feel full; instead, it just woke up his hunger.

A little ash had built up at the bottom of the fire, not enough to bury the bird eggs yet. Sirius added another handful of dry leaves to the fire.

While waiting, he could eat a few berries to curb his hunger. These small fruits didn’t keep well either, so he planned to finish them within the day.

Sirius slowly chewed the small berries, placing each fruit with his tongue against his teeth, gently cracking it open to first suck the juice, then chew the flesh, and finally swallow the skin.

This way, they lasted longer.

The small fire soon burned out, leaving only some charred branches and a thick layer of ash. Sirius carefully wrapped the bird eggs in leaves before placing them on the embers, using a stick to gather the ash over them to cover the eggs.

Then came another long wait.

Sirius sat nearby, thinking hard about what to do in the afternoon.

Should he continue deeper into the forest, or head back the way he came?

Going deeper, he might not find much more food. Returning the same way would only mean picking sour apples for tonight’s meal.

Sour apples—not only sour but probably making him hungrier. Better not.

The residual heat from the embers slowly cooked the bird eggs. Sirius peeled back the leaves, rolled each egg out of the ashes, let them cool slightly, and then picked them up one by one.

The pale blue bird eggs were only about the size of a thumb. Pressed between his fingers, the shells cracked easily, revealing the egg white inside.

The roasted bird eggs had a slight gamey taste, not too bad, still edible.

Sirius ate them all in one go, and finally felt full.

He stood up and continued his exploration deeper into the forest.

There were no paths in the forest. Sirius mostly hopped between moss-covered rocks and giant tree roots, occasionally wading across streams.

Further along, he lucked out and found many more mushrooms, securing dinner for tonight.

Just as he finished picking the last mushroom, feeling pretty satisfied, a few clucking sounds caught his attention.

Sounded like a wild chicken?

Not sure, listen again.

Sirius froze, holding his breath, tilting his head slightly to look in the direction of the sound.

A few more clucks.

This time he could both hear and see it—in the bushes ahead, there was a tuft of brightly colored tail feathers!

No mistake! Definitely a wild chicken! Tonight’s dinner had arrived!

Sirius crouched low, taking quiet little steps as he slowly approached the wild chicken.

He already had his sword out, waiting for the right moment.

Rustle.

The tail feathers suddenly retracted into the bushes, and a head with a bright red comb popped out. Two beady eyes locked with Sirius's, his sword at the ready.

"Hello, may I..." Sirius decided to show some courtesy to his intended dinner.

"Squawk!" But before he could finish, the pheasant darted away.

This was likely a pheasant with ample escape experience—Sirius ended up chasing it quite a distance, as it vanished into a burrow one moment and took flight the next. Sirius followed, scrambling up and down, finally pinning its wing near the riverbank.

Pheasant +1.

Since he was already so close to the riverbank, he might as well dress the pheasant here.

Walking to the river, Sirius noticed the river here was wider than near the hollow tree. Strangely, there was a dam made of piled branches damming the river, dividing it into upper and lower sections.

Near the dam were several bulging mounds of branches, that looked like dwellings.

Was someone living here? Sirius wondered in surprise.

Just as he was about to step forward to investigate, a beaver emerged from the water. It wasn't completely fur-covered—it wore a pair of bright red shorts on its lower half.

Sirius gaped, a little stunned. The beaver seemed to notice his gaze and turned to meet his eyes.

"Ahhh! A human! A living human!" the beaver let out a loud, terrified shriek.

"Ahhh! A beaver! A talking beaver!" Sirius mimicked its tone, shooting back a perfectly parallel reply.

The beaver's expression grew even more horrified.

Author's note:

----------------------

Remaining food inventory for Sirius on his expedition:

Mushrooms × 2

Berries × 26

Dandelions × 3

Pheasant × 1