I didn't notice when I fell asleep, but I sure noticed when I woke up. With a painful back from sleeping on a rock and a splitting headache from crying too much, it was as uncomfortable as it could have been. The dog was still there, lying next to me. There was no way my sleeping self would have enough strength to force such a large dog in place, so it was there because it wanted to be. I petted the dog. It had come to me in a situation of distress and asked no questions as it had comforted me. Felt a lot better than what humans had done.

  Thinking about it, it was humans that painted these animals in such an evil, murderous light. Just like they did to me. They just assumed I was evil and tried to kill me without me doing anything. I shivered. I didn't want to think about people right now. Just this dog. This dog was like me. It was a good boy.

  I got up and left the rock. I needed water. Normally I would have water available at just a few steps distance, but normally I didn't wake up in the woods. Just happened twice now, so maybe it was becoming normal. I remembered there should be a stream somewhere nearby. It took a while to get there the first time, but if I walked in a slightly different direction I should be able to get there pretty quickly this time. The problem was that I didn't know what direction I went when I first got here. Back then it was an unfamiliar forest and I just wanted to leave it behind and walked in a random direction. Even now I didn't recognise much of my surroundings, only the comfortable feeling of the forest air. That feeling was way stronger than anything I felt when I was with the herbalists, so I was probably way deeper into the forest. Good. I didn't want to be close to those people anyways. I decided to just pick a random direction again. If I saw the stream I would know not to follow it.

  When I went on my way the dog followed me. I liked it. Made me feel a little less lonely. And a dog wouldn't understand anything about me being a demon, so it was safe.

  I didn't see the stream. I must have been walking in sort of the right direction but completely missed it, because I heard talking and footsteps before I ever heard water. I hid myself behind a nearby bush. If these were the same as Terron, they wouldn't find me and just walk past. Terron wasn't that great at spotting things. Or maybe he was, but just pretended not to see anything that didn't attack him.

  The dog was next to me. Crouched and tense, as if ready to attack. I remembered what happened to the first dog I saw and couldn't let that happen to this one. Aside from that seeing an animal die shocked me, this dog followed me around. It was mine as far as I was concerned and I would not be seeing any of my pets die, even if I didn't have a leash to hold him back. I put my hand on its back and some of the muscles that were so tense started to relax a little bit. Not enough to sit or lay down, but I wouldn't either in this situation. They got so close I could hear what they were talking about.

  "... demon."

  "Crazy to think that it happened right here!"

  "Yeah, scary that its so close. I heard it outmatched a room full of armed men!"

  I felt sick. Rumors were already spreading, all wrong of course. I just didn't want to think about it anymore. I blocked out the sounds and as soon as it was safe I ran in the opposite direction, away from the city and its people. Dog ran with me, excited, like nothing was wrong. Like we didn't just almost die. But it was probably used to people trying to kill it on sight. The dog needed a name. Though I had no way to keep it with me, the dog seemed to follow me around. I couldn't just call it Dog all the time.

  "... Rex."

  The dogs ears perked up. I guess he liked it.

  I ran until I was out of breath and kneeled on the forest floor. Well, that failed. Instead of getting water I was only getting thirstier. I didn't catch my breath as quickly as usual and black spots danced through my vision, which slightly worried me. Just rest a bit. If I took it slow, I'd be alright. For a while at least.

  "Dont you know where to find water?"

  I couldn't expect that much from a dog, but I was happy to have someone to complain to. Felt less lonely. But to my surprise Rex actually took the lead. At first a few steps ahead, waiting for me to follow, later he would disappear into the bushes only to return a few seconds later when I wasn't as fast. I just followed him.

  It felt strange, like he could actually understand, which didn't make sense. I knew dogs. They were intelligent and could pick up on a lot of things, but they couldn't understand speech without being taught. But I also didn't have any better ideas. I just had to keep walking, keep going somewhere if I didn't want to give up, and Rex's direction was as good as any.

  I couldn't keep up the pace as much as normal and required a lot of rest. But no matter how much I rested, the exhaustion never seemed to go away. After about two hours we reached a lake. I felt like just walking in there and dropping down, letting myself be cooled by the water, but the small amount of common sense I had left said this was a quick way to drown. Exhaustion and water is a dangerous combination. That didn't stop me from drinking. A lot. Making a cup with my hands as I brought water to my mouth as fast as I could, until I accidentally breathed some in.

  "Thank you, Rex." I managed to say as soon as I stopped coughing.

  The lake was clear and shallow, at least for how far I could see. It wasn't that big; I could easily swim across in just a few minutes, if I were in better shape. The lack of trees allowed free space for the wind, which created small waves that shimmered in the sunlight. The beach was mostly sandy, but with quite a few pebbles of various sizes and even some larger rocks.

  Closer to the lake the trees grew sparser than in the rest of the forest, so it made for a light, open space. A few trees were growing partly with their roots in the water. They were big and old and because the lakes water was constantly taking their soil away, they were slightly leaning into the lake. They wouldn't fall for a long time though. Big trees like that had big roots that went deep, keeping them stabilized.

  I rested by the lake for a few hours. It was a nice spot on a nice day and the exhaustion had sunk deep into my bones. I wasn't ready to move yet. Rex took it upon himself to play, though he stayed close to check in on me from time to time. It was fun to see him run around, disappearing behind trees and reaching top speed for short whiles. Nothing can compare to a running sighthound.

  As I was sitting there, catching the few rays of sunlight that made it past the canopy, it started to dawn on me that I hadn't eaten since yesterday. Its not that I wasn't hungry, but there had always been some discomfort that dwarfed the hunger in comparison, so I just didn't notice. But as the ache in my legs slowly subsided, the hunger came in with full force.

  Yep, I would die here. My legs felt like spaghetti, my willpower approached zero and I didn't even know if I would walk in the direction of a city. Even if I did, I didn't have money. Maybe I could eat, like, treebark or something? I had no idea what was edible around here. Even if I remembered some plants of my week long apprenticeship, they didn't exactly teach me what was edible. And I didn't want to look back at that time anyway. Forget it and move past it. I just felt confused the more I thought about it. Would the ever smiling Sallo really point a weapon at me? Though I found it hard to imagine him standing up for me, to imagine anyone standing up for me. Even Carch didn't.

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  Wait a second, I was near a lake. If I was lucky, there would be fish here. Grudgingly I got up. My legs felt like they could give out at any moment, but I knew that if I wanted to fix that, I needed food. After a few minutes of searching I found a nice stick: long, not too heavy, and with several side branches. I knew fish wouldn't get caught by a normal spear, you needed a harpoon for that, but I didn't have a harpoon, so this spear would have to do. I broke the branch near its end to make it sharper. Then I removed the side branches so the slippery fish would hopefully get caught behind whatever was left of them.

  It was a plan and I had good hope, but no success. The lake was cold, shallow and I barely saw any fish. The ones I saw where too small to be speared. I tried, but the fish were too fast and I wasn't skilled enough. One time I even saw a bigger fish, but it swam away before I even got close. Guess thats the disadvantage of not having a boat.

  After a while Rex joined me in the lake. The water splashed everywhere and significantly slowed down his speed. Would have been fun if it didn:t chase away all the fish. Still, nothing Rex could do about it. It was all me being stupid and not bringing food with me everywhere I went in case I randomly teleported in a life or death situation.

  "I don't suppose you can catch me any fish?"

  Rex looked my way. I didn't even say it that loud, surprised he could even hear it over the sound of his own splashing. I got out of the lake, back to my sunny rock. No need to give myself hypothermia if I wasn't even going to catch anything.

  I went over my memories. Maybe there was something useful in there about surviving in a forest? I knew several ways to build a fire, but as far as I remembered have never actually managed to start one. I knew you could lay traps to catch wildlife, but aside from some cartoonish ones, I didn't know any. I could make a bow, but that required rope, which I didn't have. And I'd have to have a good aim, which I very much doubted.

  I'll sit here for just a few more minutes. I knew I'd have to move eventually, but my spaghetti legs still hurt. If this location didn't give me food, maybe the next one? It felt hopeless. I couldn't even imagine what kind of location I'd need.

  Even if I saw a city, I'd need to beg or steal to get food. And I didn't know if they had a concept of a prison, but I very much didnt like the alternative. Maybe I'd stumble upon a half eaten carcass. Chase away the wolves, weak as I was. One could always dream. I closed my eyes and let myself disconnect from the here and now of reality. Only the warmth of the sun on my face.

  I opened my eyes to Rex putting something wet on my belly. It was a fish. He sat there, looking really proud of himself. I couldn't believe it.

  "You actually got one?"

  I stared at the fish in disbelief. It was a decent size too, would make for a good meal. He looked very proud of himself.

  "Good boy Rex, good boy!"

  I didn't fully grasp the situation. Did Rex understand my words? Did he sense I was hungry? But whatever happened, he was worthy of the highest of praise and I made sure he got it.

  Then it was up to me to make fire. I knew it was a bad idea to eat meat raw. For some reason fish seemed more complicated, but better not risk it. I gathered some tiny branches, larger branches and leaf litter. For now I'd just need the leaf litter. I also placed some rocks in a circle. Fire safety is important, eapecially when alone in the forest.

  There were a few methods of making fire that I knew, but only one of them didn't require materials that were unavailable. Unfortunately that also seemed to be the hardest and most unreliable method. But it'd have to do. Rex already worked so hard to catch a fish, I could make fire.

  I needed a flat wooden surface and a pointy stick. Sticks were littered all around, but it would have been easier to make them pointy if I had a knife. Unfortunately I didn't, so I went around breaking sticks like I did with the spear, until one came out with a somewhat decent shape. The wooden surface was the hardest part. There weren't any planks in the forest and I had no idea how flat it had to be. I walked around for a bit, hoping to get lucky, but eventually came back with a part of a rotting tree I kicked off.

  It didn't work. I knew this method was the hardest of the ones I knew, but in the end everything depended on perseverance. I had rotated the pointy stick between my hands for a while now and nothing happened. I didn't know exactly what it would look like, but it should be able to generate enough heat for the leaf litter to catch fire.

  But reality was way more messy than that. More than once the stick slipped and I could start all over again. My hands were painful from moving the stick, but there was no visible progress. Even when I felt the wooden platform with my fingers it didn't feel hot at all. If only I had rope... No, that probably wouldn't have worked either, since I simply suck at making fire, have zero experience and no natural talent.

  I let myself fall backwards to be caught by the mossy forest floor. Was eating fish raw really that bad? My memories said it could be done, but I felt like there were certain prerequisites that I probably didn't have. But even then, my hunger had only become bigger and my efforts to make fire amounted to nothing.

  While I was contemplating on wether or not to eat the fish raw, I heard footsteps. They were soft enough that I only heard them when they were already close. I immediately sat up straight. Looking me in the eye was a giant moose. Well, probably a normal moose, but since moose were already big and I was sitting, it looked huge. I knew moose were bad news.

  They were stong enough to easily kill a person and since they were herbivores they didn't kill for food, but because they feel threatened. Or just because they could. I didn't know the proper way to deal with a moose if it was already this close, but I knew my life was entirely at the mooses mercy. It just kept staring at me, while I remained unmoving.

  I could see some differences with the moose I remembered. This one had red eyes and the tips of its antlers were slightly charred. I guess this is a monster as well. At this point I didn't even wonder why a monster didn't attack me anymore. It was a lie told by humans who attacked monsters on sight: of course they would fight back, or even attack preemptively if humans are that much of a danger. And really- if you name something a monster, you will only make negative assumptions about them. At that moment I vowed to not call them monsters anymore, but animals. That was the least I could do to my fellow outcasts.

  It was Rex who ended our staredown. He was all energetic barking and making playbows around my would be campfire. At first I was scared it would trigger the moose to attack either me or Rex, but it turned its head towards the small pile of branches and leaves, as if assessing the arrangement. Then it turned the rest of its body and gave a massive swing with its head. I was so glad not to be the target, but even being this close scared the shit out of me. This was a creature to be respected. But at the highest point of its head swing small flames appeared in its antlers. Those flames became bigger the faster its head moved, and when at its lowest, like a duelling position, the flames left the antlers to fly about a meter to the front, igniting the leaf litter and smaller branches in its path.

  It took me a while to process it. Magic! Real magic, not the press a button one, but making things appear from thin air magic. I looked in awe at the moose, whose flames had entirely disappeared now. It struck a pose as if it was proud of what it did. If I wasn't so terrified, it would be cute.

  "Thank you." I managed to whisper. The moose waved its ears and folded its long legs underneath itself to lie down.

  That gave me the courage to slowly move towards the fire. The moose didn't react. The fire was burning well, but with that amount of wood it would soon stop. I put some of the larger branches I found on it. It didn't burn immediately and was sticking out on all sides, but it would have to do. Next the fish. I would have loved to have a metal raster on which I could put the fish, but I didn't, so I roasted it marshmellow style.

  After I shared the fish with Rex I lied down to sleep. Just right there, without bed or roof. Every day I slept outside like this was a gamble if I'd wake up safely. The moose could trample me, though it felt as if it wouldn't hurt me, at least on purpose. But other wild animals could come too.

  Or humans. I always thought I was a part of humans, but they are really vicious towards anything thats not them, and I guess it was just that easy to become 'not them'. If any would find me while I was asleep I would be done for. Unlike yesterday I kind of wanted to wake up. I cared about my life again, even though I couldn't see any future for it.