Finding the Perfect Aim | Part I

[Isodol]

118th Trial of Ashan
The Wilderness

It was all an act of survival. It was all for the greater good; for her good. She was doing this for her survival and no one else’s’, nothing else’s’. She had to do this in order to keep on living. Why did she even care? She didn’t. But she was very much an over thinker. She thought about things deeper than the layer of superficiality. But she didn’t think too deeply about things. That would only cause strain on her brain, cause a headache. And she need not have any pain while she was performing an act of survival. It was ironic wasn’t it? Surviving was pain. Living was pain. But here she was trying her hardest to avoid such a thing.

She took out her flask, the steel seeming a little decrepit from years of use. Bringing the mouth to her lips, she took a sip of the acrid tasting liquor and stabilized herself. She was terrible at things like this. She didn’t care for the life of the thing, but that didn’t make killing it that much easier.

Stowing away her flask, she brought her bow up to position on her shoulder. It rested somewhat eye level so she could see through a little space to her target. She pulled her arm back, the cord of the bow following suit. She had an arrow secured on the little indentation at the front. Everything was ripe and ready to go or at least that’s how she’d seen in happen before, but what did she know? She’d never been hunting with a bow before!

Squinting her left eye, she judged the distance between her and her target. She didn’t even know what it was, yet she was attempting to target it. It was food, clothing, money and she needed that money in order to survive. Taking a life in order to save anothers’. Wasn’t that just survival of the fittest?

There was that word again. Survival. Was that all there was to life? Surviving until you could not longer have the effort to survive? What was even the point to all of this? Was she even satisfying some sort of longing within her she didn’t even understand? Or was she just playing the game, the game of the immortals- testing the mortals to their limits. Living wasn’t supposed to just be a game of survival. It was supposed to be filled with development, improvement, pleasure and even happiness. But that word was unfamiliar to her. When had she ever been genuinely happy? When had she just sat idly to the side and thought with a smile on her face, I am happy?

No. She was doing all of this so she could fucking live and sometimes, most times, it was exhausting as hell. So she sucked in a breath and cleared her mind and thought nothing because that’s what you’re supposed to do in times like this. It was either you or them and right now all she tried to focus on was herself while aiming to kill the thing that rivaled her ability to progress in life.

With her lungs full of air, she held her breath and aimed. The thing wasn’t moving. Was it a beaver? A dog? A gopher? She didn’t care really, just that she had to shoot it and be done with the whole thing. The thing was, while she was okay at hunting, she wasn’t very good at hunting using a bow.

She pulled the cord further back, so it was at its maximum tightness. She focused on the thing in front of her; motionless, idle, like it was eating or taking a moment to survey its surroundings. Maybe animals did that too: think about the things around them, wonder if there was more than just survival. Or maybe they didn’t.

She let go of the cord and the arrow sailed through the air, skimming the trunk of a tree many feet away from the creature. Nice job, Isodol thought with ample sarcasm. The creature scurried off, fearful of the noise and the prospect of almost meeting death in the eye.

Isodol sighed and let the bow sag to her knees. How the hell was she supposed to survive if she couldn’t even shoot a beaver?

She hefted the bow around her shoulders so that it lay flesh with her back, crossing her chest in the front. Then, she moved forward, stepping forward until she met the spot where the animal once had stood. There were no tracks to be seen, making the direction of where the best had traipsed off to almost impossible to decipher.

She groaned and threw her head back so that her eyes found the sky. It was cloudy, like it was about to storm. And perhaps it was right to begin raining. Perhaps it was only just to start thundering and hailing and screaming at her for her defeat at being unable to accomplish such a fundamental and essential task.

Her determination was not a fickle thing, though. There were plenty of wild game in this forest. There were plenty of things to catch and kill and sell. Maybe she would even befriend the likes of luck and catch a few extra things for herself for food. She need not sell everything she hunted.

The weather had yet to make itself physically terrible, meaning the rain had yet to fall and there were no sounds of thunder approaching her ears. In fact, things were so quiet in the forest that she was able to make out the sound of crunching. The bushes to her left let out an audible moan, signifying something was rifling through them. Maybe her ears were playing tricks on her, or maybe she was just desperate for a find that her mind had decided to conjure up an illusion to satisfy her hunger for success. Either way, she delicately and even so quietly pulled out one of her daggers from its position inside her boot. She drew it up so it was right in front of her. Her knuckles were white with the tenacity of her grip as she took a tentative step towards the bush. Without thinking twice, she lunged forward, crashing down on the bush with such a might that it caused bruises to form as she landed on the unforgiving ground.

She heard the squelch of something wet, the bristle of vegetation scraping against her flesh, the clink of her dagger hitting a rock, and her own body connecting with the hard forest floor. Her eyes were closed as she made contact with… something. Or maybe it wasn’t anything at all and she was just fooling herself into thinking she had outwitted the woodlands.

Sweet victory, she thought as she rummaged through the bush. Hope filled her veins alongside the pulsing sensation of adrenaline.

While expecting something substantial like a beaver or a rabbit, there lay nothing more than a squirrel, its eyes still open as life drifted from its soul and into the otherworld.

This did nothing to deter Isodol. She had caught something. Whether that something was the length of a spoon or not, she had caught something in her murderous plot to survive. And she was determined to sell it for whatever value in order to keep herself from dying. And going insane.

[Isodol]

118th Trial of Ashan
The Wilderness

She was dissatisfied with the price the merchant was offering her. She had caught a damn squirrel for goodness sake! Why was he not offering her more? Her ego, as it seems, had started to go to her head after her murderous escapade.

With her bow still slung along her back, she less than gratefully accepted the currency. Her outstretched hand was limp with disappointment. But what else was she to do? She knew not the ways of bargaining, especially in a town like this. The people here were less than consoling of her struggles and even more so of her efforts at obtaining such a… common specimen. So she dutifully accepted her pay and moved on.

But something caught her eye. Someone only a couple of stalls down was requesting help for discovering flora for a research project? She couldn’t tell unless she was standing directly in front of the manager of the stall.

“The Intelligentsia are looking for individuals willing to catalogue the flora of Scalvoris. Information is paid for on a case by case basis,” the woman said from behind a makeshift wooden counter.

“How much do I need to collect?” Isodol asked, perplexed. She had never aided in the research of things before, let alone flowers and the like.

“It’s a case by case basis,” replied the woman. Her hair was a dirty blond, strewn across her face in a wild fashion like hay after a cow had just foraged through and picked only the parts it liked.

Isodol contemplated for a moment, wondering what was in it for her. She vocalized just that, hoping to win big, to continue her perpetual struggle to survive in the wastelands of nothing other than.

The woman beamed. Her smile was almost contagious. Almost. But Isodol was a hard customer to please, and only had one thing on her mind at the moment.

“Access to flora for free!” She stated with a little too much enthusiasm.

Dejection found itself way onto her face, turning the grim line of her lips into a subtle frown. So many thoughts flowed through her head all at the same time. It wasn’t money, so it wouldn’t give her an edge over any expenses she saw in her future, but it wasn’t necessary a lose in any sense. She would gain something in exchange for her services, so was it really a waste of her time? No, she thought, bringing her hand to her chin as though thinking over the prospect of searching for flowers amidst the wilderness.

“I’m up for it,” she finally said. “Isodol is the name and any place is the game?”

The woman took down her name or something and gestured to everywhere or so it seemed. She had a twinkle in her eye. “Bring whatever you may find back to me and you’ll be awarded handsomely.”

“…with free flora,” Isodol finished for her, only slightly disappointed that she wouldn’t be earning any financial currency.

She hadn’t ventured much into the forests on the outer rim of Scalvoris, much less even held the prospect to do such a thing, but she was a woman of adventure. She craved exploration and the possibility of uncovering new sights and experiences.

She pulled the strap of her backpack taught over her shoulder and began to head towards the woodlands. She wondered what she would find. She wondered what the woman was hoping she would find. But above all, she wondered how no one else had done such a laborious task before, and if they had, then why wasn’t most all flora from Scalvoris discovered and identified yet?

Brushing a stray strand of hair from her face, she hefted her backpack higher onto her back and held her bow tightly in her free hand. Perhaps if she came across something astounding enough, they would name it after her. Or perhaps she would come across an ingredient used to make an unusual drug, something that would give the user effects similar to being drunk. That notion made her smile.

[Praetorum]

Isodol

Points: 10
Magic: No
Skill Review: Appropriate

Knowledges
Psychology: Is survival all there is to life?
Psychology: Life is what you make it
Hunting: Tracking a target via footprints
Hunting: listening for signs of life, Hunting: Delivering the final strike
Combat bow: First attempt at hunting rarely succeeds
Combat bow: holding ones breath to aim better

Taking on her first odd job
The Intelligentsia: Flora searchers
Scalvoris woodlands: A hierarchy of surviving creatures

Loot: N/A

Injuries: N/A

Renown: N/A



Overview
It’s the ciiiircle of liiife….

I really love how introspective Isodol is about the act of hunting; there’s a nice push and pull between philosophy and practicality. It’ll be interesting to see what direction you take her in in the future.

Enjoy your rewards, and feel free to PM if you have any questions, concerns, comments or emojis for me.


Word Count: 1957