FMH ~ 11!

- Luke -

Luke walked around the pool of water that he had fallen into, looking at the waterfall that was seemingly pouring from the sky. There was no evidence that the cave he had jumped from had ever existed. The world just ended behind the falls. He crawled to the edge of the land and peered over, gasping at the scene. 

This place was full of surprises, it seemed. The entire world was shaped like a massive corkscrew, seemingly held aloft by nothing. Far, far to the north he could see the earth turn and slope downward, which was apparently the only way down without wings.

“Amazing.” Luke whispered aloud. He stood up, dusting off his clothes. Deciding he had better start looking for shelter, he filled his water skins from the falls and started walking down the gently sloping land. Just then, he realized that he was already dry. How had that happened?

“Everything is downhill,” Luke was speaking out loud a lot, not due to insanity, but mainly to stave off the crushing loneliness. “Well. Downhill unless I want to come back here…” 

He began searching for anything that could be used for shelter or a fire, but across the vast plain there was only longish blue grass. Not wanting to start an out-of-control fire, and it not being cold, he simply kept walking until he heard an odd sound.

*Thud.* 

*Thud.*

This sound kept repeating, sometimes punctuated with a high-pitched squeal. He pushed aside the long blue grass blocking his vision, and tried his best to understand what he was seeing. There were two long lines of what appeared to be tiny goats facing each other, and every few seconds one goat would charge an opposing one and bash heads. He moved a little closer, looking at their heads, and saw rounded bones protruding from their heads.

“What the abyss?” he was still talking out loud, not yet realizing what a mistake that was. The massive herd of tiny goats turned toward him, many letting out bugling screams. Differences apparently forgotten, the two lines ran and jumped at him, gaining speed quickly. Far too fast for him to block them. They bounced forward, the leading one reaching him and ramming his leg. It felt like Andre had just punched him as hard as he could, which made no logical sense from the shin-high goat.

“Ow!” Luke screamed as the worst beating of his life began. Well, worst beating so far. After only a few hits, his legs gave out and he dropped to the ground. The goats then were able to reach much more of him, smacking into his body repeatedly. His back, luckily, was protected by his pack, and he started swinging at the goats as they jumped at him. This was not a great success, as he started getting hit on his arms as well. Luke rolled and struggled to his feet as the abuse continued, managing to start running back the way he had come.

The goats pursued, raining blows on him from all sides as he sprinted up the gentle slope. His legs were heavily bruised, likely fractured, and nearly gave out as he forced them to work. Luke dodged a few bounding goats and took a wild swing at one as it passed him; managing to hit the goat just behind the head where the skull connected to the spine. The goat had locked its neck and spine into position to brace itself for the impact.

Specifically, an impact from the front, which it could easily absorb. When it was hit from the top, it flopped to the ground with a broken neck. Just like that, Luke realized how to fight back. Shockingly powerful blows were still rocking his legs, but Luke set about punching as accurately as he could; felling a dozen goats in only a few minutes. A loud shriek sounded from where the goats had originated, and the remaining attackers abandoned their prey and sprinted off.

Luke collapsed, breathing heavily. The pain was becoming intolerable as his adrenaline wore off, and he rolled up his pant legs to assess the worst of the damage. Huge bruises were forming, and he could tell from the discoloration that his bones were splintered in several areas. Pulling the pants back down, he slowly and painfully started to collect the bodies of his fallen foes. Pulling his hunting knife out of his pack, he quickly cleaned and skinned them as tears rolled down his face. It was an odd, satisfying revenge.

Deciding that he would risk a grass fire, he gathered as much of the long blue grass as he could easily crawl at. Shuddering every once in a while when he jostled his legs, Luke made an impromptu camp and fireplace. He pulled out his bedroll and sat on it, trying to keep his weight off his swelling legs. Luke had absolutely zero idea what to do to help himself, but since he wasn’t bleeding… he didn’t know if binding them would help. 

Trying to focus on what he could do, he pulled out some flint, and struck sparks into the grass. If there was a wildfire, at least it would kill all the goats as well! With a *whoosh*, the fire caught on the first strike, blazing very high; far too fast.

“Wahhh!” he yelled as he fell backward in an extra manly way. Looking at the burning grass, he saw that it was giving off almost no smoke. While the fire was high, the grass was disappearing slower than he thought it would. Putting his hands out, he could feel the flames were exceedingly hot already. Overall, fire seemed to act oddly on this world, but he wasn't complaining. 

While he was pulling the meat off the goat, he found something strange. Long years of proper care for hides had taught him how to collect them efficiently, and that meant taking the head off. Since he would need some tools to oil the hides later, he had also removed the horns. That was when he saw the lightly glowing pearl. It was no larger than the toenail of his smallest toe, and he almost missed it. Luke pulled it out, and held the item up in the fading light. He set it down, but checked the others. All of them had a glowing pearl, so he made sure to collect them. If he ever got out of here, he could sell them to a jewelry maker.

Getting into motion, he placed the small cast iron pan his mother packed for him onto the fire, cut off some fat from a small carcass, and used it to grease up the pan. When that started sizzling, he put on some of the meat, crudely frying it into something he hoped was edible. A few minutes later, he was staring at the cooked meat; praying that it wasn’t poisonous.

He ate all the meat that had been on the goat, and not noticing any ill effects, fried another entire creature. It took three of the creatures to fully satiate his gnawing hunger. After he was done, Luke reached for his water skin and took a few long pulls. It took him a moment to notice, but the water was burning in his throat and stomach; like the strongest alcohol he had ever tasted. He gasped, gulping in air in an attempt to alleviate the unexplained throbbing. 

Allowing the discomfort to pass, he sipped a bit more water and swished it around in his mouth, spitting it out after a long moment. A cloud of blue vapor appeared, a cloud which quickly dissipated. It took a moment to realize that no liquid had reached the ground.

“What is this?” he looked at the water skin, more than a little concerned that he had just drank whatever that was. Still feeling his stomach burning, he tried to discern if it was hurting him. As he waited, the burn resolved into a warm glow that seemed to fill his body. A sense of well-being settled over him, easing his pain and tempting him with lethargy. Knowing that he had to try to increase his supplies if he wanted to survive, he ignored the lethargy as much as possible, and began experimenting with the water.

“What are you?” He asked the ‘water’ as he poured some onto the dirt. Nothing happened, and it acted just like he expected water should. It slowly seeped into the ground, leaving a small wet spot. Next, he poured a bit onto the ground and spat on it. It evaporated instantly wherever the spittle hit it, releasing a small puff of vapor into the air that quickly vanished.

“Huh.” Pouring a bit more, Luke spat out a mouthful of saliva and the reaction was even more impressive. The vapor formed a translucent fog, which drifted away slowly; brushing against his arm. He winced as it stung him slightly. Looking at where it had touched him, he saw that a patch on his arm was completely hairless.

“Should I be drinking this?” he nervously muttered. Then an idea hit him, and his eyes started to sparkle. Grabbing the pelt of one of the creatures, he worked up as much saliva as he could, made a hole in the dirt, and combined spit and water. The vapor streamed out of the hole and he held the pelt over it, making sure he coated the entire skin with the stuff. As the vapor started to dissipate, he watched the hair on the pelt begin to fall off, leaving it bare and soft. He poured the water on the other, bloody side, and the same reaction occurred. Now both sides were clean and hairless.

“Perfect!” he celebrated. This would allow him to skip several steps in tanning, particularly the nasty ones that - without proper tools and chemicals - could only be done by soaking the pelt in urine and feces or letting it rot. He was now holding what should be rawhide when it dried. He pulled on it, seeing how much effort it would take to stretch, and was impressed by how elastic the skin was. 

“This is some high-quality hide…” Using some large rocks, he pulled the hide, stretching it as far as he could. After the first was set, he got up to get the other skins. “Wait.” 

Luke stopped, realizing that something was… different. He took a step, and felt very little pain. Pulling up his pant leg, the bruises remained, but the horrid discoloration that showed broken bits seemed to be less inflamed. “Is this healing water? Or is my mind failing me already? Was the bone not broken?”

He couldn’t say for certain that his leg had been broken, but it had felt like it was. Luke returned to the pelts, repeating the process he had tried on the first, and soon had a pile of skins stretching under several rocks. “Another dozen of these, and I’ll be able to replace the pants they ruined. Poetic justice, really.”

Digging a channel with his hands under the hairless skins, Luke formed a pit on one end. Collecting grass, much easier now that he could walk properly, he started a fire in the pit. Warm air moved through the hole under the skins, and he hoped that they would properly dry. By the time he finished, the sun was just beginning to set. Luke hunkered down and drank deeply from his water, hoping the fire would keep away any goats that were looking for revenge.