Chapter 3: Chapter 3 – Not A Dream

 

Aila was distracted as she carried the wolf back into the room she decided to take as her own. It had no windows from which another animal could attack through, and it had only one entrance, which was easily defended.

The reason she was distracted is because she held the wolf by the scruff of the neck and carried it easily. It was over two hundred pounds of lean hard muscle, bone, and a thick skin. The fat on its frame was leaner around this time of year, but the closer it was to winter, the more they would fatten up for hibernation.

She hadn't been able to lift herself out of bed for a few years, but how she was able to lift such a massive beast so easily?

"I have to be dreaming, right?" She whispered in a daze. She set the wolf down, bent down and picked it up again.

"I can walk." She said softly and turned around. She walked from one side of the room to the other swiftly.

"I was hungry, and I ate food."

"I threw a stone and killed a wolf."

Her blank look began to crack, and tears rolled down her cheeks. She had been sick and in pain for years. She felt no pain in her limbs now, didn't throw up after she ate the berries, and it was delicious.

"Mom." She remembered her parents and cried harder. "I don't want to wake up. I don't want to wake up!" Her emotions were chaotic due to the flame elements, and that made her feel some guilt as well.

Aila was still a young woman, and hadn't experienced life outside of a hospital, or her home. She felt healthy and strong, could walk, and eat food for the first time in years.

If this was a dream, she didn't want to wake up. She wanted to keep dreaming forever.

 

* * *

 

Aila got her emotions under control after half an hour of desperate sobbing, but when she was finished, she had also realized that this was not a dream.

She was healthy, could walk, and could eat food again. She had killed a huge wolf with a simple stone too. The reason she knew this wasn't a dream is that all of her dreams would end once her emotions got too stirred up. Her heart would beat too strongly, and it would jar her out of her sleep.

"I need things. This wolf is meat, although I'm not sure how good it will taste. I need a knife to cut it open." Aila started to walk around the room, and though it was a kitchen, she couldn't find any knives, or utensils.

"How strange. There are some household objects still here. They are rotted away, like that table, but everything else is just gone. Did they have to run in a hurry?" Unknowingly, Aila hit upon the reason in one go.

That area of the forest was dangerous. Flame wolves were one of the weakest forest denizens, which was the reason the former occupants loaded up their carriages and ran back to the closest town.

Once the toughest beast in this area, the rank one storm wolves became the weakest overnight, and was replaced by their closest neighbors, the stone bears. A hundred years is a long time, but most people have already forgotten that these beasts were once on the other side of the mountain.

"A storage room is back here. I can use this as a place to sleep." She smiled and walked around cautiously. "The stone is intact, and there aren't any signs of water penetrating into this area. Even the kitchen is relatively dry." She said quietly. As she walked, she didn't question why she could still see in that room, even though the source of light was far away, and outside the kitchen.

"Hm?" Aila made a soft noise like she asked a question when she stepped onto some wood and watched the floor of the storage room pass her eyes.

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"Ow ow ow ow...ow?" She quickly chirped and cried out instinctively, but opened her eyes on the last cry. She actually hadn't felt any real pain. The ladder was rotten, and it looked like she grabbed for it when she fell down. She tore the wood away from the wall, but she didn't hurt herself.

"Oh!" She had looked around as she was a bit dazed from the fall, and noticed several large crates piled up. She got to her feet and rushed over excitedly, only to push the crates over when she ran into them.

"Wait, are they empty?" She frowned and looked at the intact wooden crates. "That doesn't make any sense. Who would nail empty crates shut?" She grabbed the edge of the crate cover and pulled it off easily.

"Heh?"  She looked at the cover stupidly.  "Maybe the nails let go when the wood expanded and shrunk in the damp?"  Aila still hadn't gotten used to her strength, or the knowledge that she even had strength. She looked into the crate, and smiled. "Tools!" She reached in and frowned again as she picked up a large hammer.

"A big square hammer head, and looks like it's steel, or iron. Why is it so light? Is it painted, so the owner can cheat people?" She took it to the wall and smacked the hammer head hard on the stone. The clear sound of metal sounded out, but the stone wall cracked from the impact, as did the handle. She slapped herself on the forehead.

"Dammit. I forgot how easy it was to pick up the wolf! Of course it's lighter! Mom, go easy on me for this, but I'm going to swear again." She rolled her eyes.

"Fuck, I'm so stupid!"

 

* * *

 

"I am stronger, but am I really that strong?" She looked up at the hole, and sighed.  She threw bundles of tools, a few furs she could lay on, some leather used as wrapping to protect her new items, and slid a pair of boots on her feet.  It was too easy.

"That was a lot of noise" She said, referring to how the items sounded when they landed. She looked up. "But can I get out of this hole?" She thought for a few minutes, and continued to search the crates. She had already found a few stew pots, some pans, and some well made knives that only needed to be oiled and cleaned up.  The next crate made her smile.

"Boots!"  Out of the large crate, she found a pair that fit her.  They were a pair of short boots that was well made, but the sole was wooden with a leather insert for comfort.

"The merchant made this storage hole properly as there is no dampness. My boots didn't rot, and most of the metal items are in good shape. But how do I get out of this hole, if I can even jump that high?" Aila thought for several more minutes, all the while, she searched for things she might need.

"The poor guy who left all this stuff behind. Hinges, nails, boots, pots and pans, knives, a couple of bows and short swords. I even found an ax to chop wood with." Finally, she decided she had enough and needed to get out.

"Last bundle. I'll make a proper ladder, or maybe figure out how to carve....how in the hell." Aila thought about carving stairs, and the stone under her fingers dissolved into dust. She had left a six inch depression in the stone, perfectly carved to the shape of her hand.

"Okay okay okay okay, calm calm calm. In and out. Slow and calm." She had to take a few deep breaths as she wasn't sure what had happened.

"Okay, if I'm going to jump up and out of this hole, I don't want to pound my own head on the ceiling. Try a light hop, and see how high I can go." She squatted a little, looked up, and straightened her legs.

"Eh?" The lip of the trapdoor edge came right to her face much faster then she expected.

On an instinct, as she reached the edge of hole, and the top of her head impacted the ceiling of the underground storage room, she grabbed the lip with her hand and didn't fall back down.

"It was only a hop! Like what in the actual fuck!"

 

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