1 Murim
The forest was colossal, wet, and archaic. Its canopy was overshadowed by magnolia, hickory, and cedar, their crowns allowed for short beams of light to descend for disorderly shrubs to take advantage of the stony grounds below.
Thick branches embraced many a tree, and a range of flowers,and poison herbs which were found in the most quiet places, stood out against the otherwise jade lower level.
A medley of noises, predominantly those of vermin, echoed in the air, and added to the sounds of the croaks of frogs in the nearby ponds.
Beside the ponnd,a green spotted snake wiggled through the lush grass and a one- horned rabbit scurried away with a look of horror on it.
Suddenly an arrowhead struck it's left hindleg,causing the poor demon beast to stumble and fall flat on the ground.
The snake hissed in joy watching its prey whimper as blood oozed out of its orifices,as it wiggled faster towards it.
Why wouldnt it feel this way?
The rabbit was a free meal anyway.It didn't see any of those giants coming?
'why should it care?Maybe the heavens favoured it'the snake thought.
But alas the heavens never favoured anyone as it suddenly saw darkness in one of its eye.
An arrow was lodged into its eyesocket as yellow coloured blood oozed out.
The snake started wiggling ferociously and hissed to check for its enemy but all it could see was darkness as another arrow lodged into its eye socket.
The snake died immediately as it lay on the ground ,twiching after its death.
Suddenly from the bark of the cedar tree,a youth jumped down with outstanding skill and agility.
The youth was wearing a hood so discerning the facial features was difficult but as it walked up to the rabbit,the hood was finaly removed.
Towering at a height of about 5.4 feet ,the youth had his silver hair rolled up with a hickory bark,into a ponytail.
The youth was unmistakenly a man but his facial features made it a bit hard to discern from looking at him,making him bit androgynous but not to a big degree .
He had deep blue eyes pushed inside into his eye sockets,with eye bags under them.With angular brows and angular face shape in form of a diamond he unmistakenly had good facial features but looking at his malnutritioned scarred face people would thing otherwise .
His hair was oily and his face full of boils and acne.He smelled of piss and vomit,his attire was dirty,his robe was soaked in blood.
He looked more of a bandit than a master despite his good facial features.
It was very clear that the lad had starved for a long time to look such miserably, dirty.
The lad looked at the rabbit with apathetic eyes as he sized up his prey before killing it with his rusty dagger.
He finally looked a little relieved after killing it as he dragged his lanky body towards the green spotted snake.
He then looked upwards towards the sun as he tried discerning his location.
Picking up his arrows,he stored his bow and arrow in his backpack and dragged the body of the rabbit and snake towards north.
...
It was already noon as the sun had a reddish hue to it as it shone brightly above the lush greenery.
Sounds of dragging echoed as one could see a lanky youth dragging a snake and a rabbit.
The youth struggled to pull the two as he lacked the muscle mass to pull of such thing but he still didn't give up as he had a triaumphant and maddned look on his face as he continuously muttred,
"MEAT,MEAT...."
He then looked up as he arrived into a clearing of the Forest with less trees and grass.
He then stood near a dilapidated hut made of staws and mud.
He dumped the two beasts on the ground and stripped of all his clothes with a smile on his face.
He was obviously preparing for a bath to enjoy his meal after it.
Hurriedly walking around the house he stood infront of a barrel full of murky water,which looked somewhat edible.
It was rainwater,because,where else would he find water to drink or bathe?
There were no lakes or rivers near him and all he could find were ponds full of poisonous frogs and flowers which practically spelled death for him.
So inspite of dying he chose a better solution which was rainwater .But as it rarely rained in this forest,he had to stay in his dirty pair of clothes .
"Ah...that hits the spot"
The youth muttered with a satisfied look on his face as he took a dip inside the one Man makeshift bathtub.Then with a thoughtful look on his face he muttered.
"Hmm....the food i aquired will atmost last me a week if I eat atleast once a day,but I have those berries and nuts to make up for it so it won't be much of a problem to last for two weeks but what bothers me is water and the meat preservation.
It will most likely start rotting after a week even if I turn it into jerky and the frequecy of rain has also reduced..."
Thinking about such topics about his survival gave him a headache so he scrunched his forehead thinking deeply.
But suddenly his eyes shot wide open as he started shouting like a mad man.
"Oh shit!....I forgot skinning the leather and preparing for my dinner."
He jumped down from his bathtub as he ran naked towards the carcasses in front of his hut,his long hair barely holding onto the stick attached to it.
But what greeted him was the presence of 4 men clad in black robes and armour.
As soon as he arrived,all four of them looked at him with dark eyes ,measuring him from top to bottom like a predator would to its prey.
"Shit!"his body immediately stiffened up at the sight of the four men in Black armour.
He turned around as he tried running away but was suddenly caught up by his nape by one of the four men.
He became astonished at the inhumane speed at which he got caught as he finally muttered in a low voice,
"See..cond rate martial artists ...Sirs do what do I hold the pleasu...."
But just before he could finish his sentence he got struck by the neck as he immediately fell unconscious.
The other three men then came to where the forth was standing and said in a evil tone,
"Hehe..hehe...brother he is quite the beauty.....shall we play with him....in the end he is gonna die anyway.
Lets play before he gets tossed into those cages with those filthy slaves."
The other two laughed in an evil tone but he forth man said in a grim tone,
"No,the mistress has ordered to bring this specimen in good condition so we will not be able to play this time but....."
With an evil smirk on his face he glanced at the youth and said,
"He has better uses than just a fucktoy....."
