Chapter 3 - Return of the Runebound Professor

His second trip through the forest went quicker than the first. He hadn’t managed to memorize everything perfectly, but he’d gotten enough of his bearings to retrace his steps. It was several hours, but he spotted his body lying on the ground across from an equally dead monkey.

Noah grinned despite the bitter cold. He jogged up to his corpse and stripped it, pulling his pants back on and tucking the gourd into a loop on his belt. Whole once more, he turned in a slow circle. The fog in his mind finally peeled back, letting him think properly again.

Unfortunately, the dead forest stretched in every direction for as far as he could see. Rows on rows of scorched, dry trees stood in silent parade arrest for a general that would never come.

What the hell was this Vermil guy doing here in the first place? Did he have a death wish? He had to have some way to get out.

No answers came. Noah pursed his lips, then shrugged. Standing still was making the chill even worse, so he set off once more. There was only one thing on his mind, and that was survival.

Noah continued for several more hours, but he quickly realized that there was a bigger problem. He was starving, and weariness had started to set in. It had taken longer than Noah had expected, but it was relentless in its approach.

No more than a few minutes after Noah first realized he was getting tired, he found himself barely able to drag his feet across the dry ground. He staggered up to a large tree and, after a cursory glance in the area to make sure nothing was watching right behind him, he curled up into a ball around his gourd and fell into a restless sleep.

Noah wasn’t sure how long he slept. When his eyes cracked open again, the sun hung directly above him. He grimaced, blinking heavily and wiping the crust from his eyes as he slowly stood up. He was absolutely parched, and his stomach rumbled irritably.

At least nothing attacked me this time.

He reoriented himself, then strode away in search of pretty much anything other than the endless trees.

Time passed. How much Noah wasn’t exactly sure. The sun was moving overhead, but he had no idea if the days were as long on this planet as they were on Earth. The burning emptiness in Noah’s stomach grew stronger with every step, but he had no choice but to ignore it.

Trees blurred together as he passed them. Either the forest was getting more uniform, or he was just so exhausted that he couldn’t recognize the differences in it anymore. Noah was so distracted as he walked that he nearly bowled straight into a monkey hanging from a tree directly in front of him.

Noah caught himself at the last second. He’d managed to come up on the monster’s back, and it didn’t seem to have noticed him yet. He raised his hands. A blade of wind shot from them, carving straight through the back of the monster’s head. It dropped from the tree before it could make a noise, dead.

A wave of energy rippled through his body, starting at his toes and rising up until it reached his head. With it came a strong feeling of refreshment. Noah’s hunger abated and his parched lips felt just a little wetter.

Noah froze, basking in the feeling for a few seconds before it faded away. He glanced around, checking to see if there were any other monkeys in the area. When he found that there weren’t, he wasn’t sure if he was relieved or disappointed.

Killing the monkeys seems to sate me. Good. I’d really rather not starve to death. As long as I can kill these things, I can live.

Before he moved on, Noah’s eye caught on the monster’s long claws. He paused a moment, then knelt beside the monkey. He gingerly picked up one of its hands, holding a claw like a knife and working out one of the claws on its other hands.

Just in case I get killed and need to fight again.

It was bloody, grisly work that ended with him covering a good portion of himself and the monkey with rancid blood, but he finally managed to hack it free after several agonizing minutes of constantly glancing over his shoulders to make sure nothing was gaining on him.

The claw came out with a finger length piece of bone attached to its end, which suited Noah just fine. He tested its weight in his hand, then nodded to himself. He’d handled more than a few knives in his previous life— and every single one of them was for cooking, not stabbing people. Still, the claw felt hefty and sharp enough. He set back off through the forest, leaving the corpse in his wake.

* * *

The monkey was back. Noah pressed his back to a large tree stump, struggling to control his breathing. The huge, lanky monster that had killed him just seconds after his arrival in the burnt forest was somehow right in front of him, and he was pretty sure it had been looking in his direction.

Everything had been going so well. He’d killed several more of the small monkeys and had managed to avoid further death himself—and that had let him get complacent.

That didn’t matter anymore. What did matter was the slow, uncomfortably heavy breathing of the massive ape as it slowly grew closer. The beast took deep, ragged breaths, as if savoring the scent of his fear.

Noah’s eyes darted around and he searched for any place to hide or trap the creature. Running wasn’t an option. He’d already gathered that much. And, worse, he’d brought the gourd with him. If his suspicions about the gourd were correct…

A shudder ran down Noah’s spine. He could end up getting killed over and over again—forever. Or, worse, the monkey could end up severing his ties to the world and sending him back to the line. Dying now wasn’t an option.

There was another option, though. He did a quick mental check of what he had to work with. A gourd. His book. A pair of pants. A monkey’s claw. He barely suppressed an amused snort that would have given his position away immediately.

I’d almost wish for a monkey’s paw over a claw at this point.

An excited hoot echoed through the dry forest. Noah flinched, but nothing happened. For whatever reason the monkey hadn’t done anything yet. It was close, though. He could smell the stench of its matted fur, like a mixture of sickly sweet earth and week old feces.

Noah’s grip tightened around the claw in his hand. He stilled his breathing even further and carefully placed his gourd on top of the tallest tree branch he could reach. Then he turned, his grip around his makeshift dagger tightening.

As long as I can come back, I don’t care about dying. We aren’t playing the same game, monster. You can kill me as many times as you want— I just have to kill you once.

Noah sprinted out from behind the tree, bringing a blade of wind to his fingertips. The monkey jerked upright, standing just a few trees away from him. It spun in his direction, opening its mouth in a shriek.

The wind blade carved into its chest, splattering thick blood across the ground. Noah charged the monster and it reared back. In the back of his mind, Noah noted the move. It was the same one he’d been killed with.

He dove to the side, predicting the monster’s strike. Its claws ripped through the air where he’d been standing and he rolled to his feet, lunging forward and driving his makeshift knife into the monkey’s chest.

The padded fur was far harder to penetrate than he’d expected. His claw bit deep, but not deep enough. Noah cursed, trying to disengage, but he heard the next strike coming before he saw it.

He threw himself to the ground, but it was too late. Thick claws raked across his back, tearing apart flesh and snapping bone. Noah screamed in pain. The wound was definitely fatal— but he wasn’t dead yet.

Pain didn’t matter. His life didn’t matter. All that mattered was his continued existence.

Noah rolled to the side as a heavy foot crashed down, just barely missing his head. Shoving the burning pain out of the way, Noah surged to his feet.

The monkey reared back and swung down at him.

It was the exact same attack that the monster had just ripped his back open with. Noah rolled backward, narrowly avoiding the massive claws as they carved through the air above him. It reared back, lifting its paws above its head.

Noah lunged, driving his weight into the knife in the monkey’s chest. He twisted the blade, then threw himself to the side just in time to avoid the monkey’s overhead slash. As soon as its hands hit the ground, he ran forward and slammed himself into the dagger again, matching the monkey’s pained scream with another defiant roar of his own.

Something crunched as Noah’s shoulder slammed into the monster’s enormous ribcage. Bone gave way and the dagger punched deeper, driving into the monkey’s heart. It shuddered, and Noah locked eyes with it for an instant.

He bared his teeth in a primal snarl, fury and determination swirling in his eyes. All that met them was terror.

The monkey pitched back and crashed to the ground, blood pouring from the deep wound in its chest and flowing down its fur to pool in the ground around it. Noah took a shaky step back, his head still pounding furiously.

Energy filled his body, rushing through his limbs like a cold river—more than what he’d gained from killing the smaller monkeys. Much more.

Then he fell back, the adrenaline no longer enough to keep him running, and died.

Noah’s soul lifted into the air, looking down at the bloody scene for just a few seconds before he was yanked back down. Wind rushed past his face for a moment before he fell face first onto the dirt.

Swearing in pain, Noah rolled over and clutched his nose. He stared up through a throbbing headache at the tree—and the gourd within its branches—above him.

Noah started to laugh.

I was right. The gourd is my binding point. As long as it’s safe, I come back to life.

He pushed himself upright. One more victory or not, he couldn’t afford to rest. Not until he was safe. Not until he knew who had killed Vermil.

If anyone ever figures out how this works, it only takes one good blow to shatter the gourd—and then who knows what happens. I die for good, probably. I don’t plan to find out. First, I need to get out of this forest. Next, I figure out who’s gunning for Vermil’s head and deal with them.

Noah staggered over to what remained of his corpse and pulled his pants off. He tugged them on, then trudged into the woods to retrieve his gourd. He looped it into his belt, then headed back over to the monkey.

He pulled the claw from the monster’s chest, shaking the blood from it. Noah looked down at his tormentor, his lips pressed thin. Part of him almost felt bad for it. That part was very, very small. After all the time he’d spent dead, Noah had absolutely no desire to try it again. If monkeys had an afterlife, he hoped that its wait would be extra-long.