Fresh determination

Ed awoke with fresh determination to not die today. It was a simple instinct many would take for granted but within the Exiled Lands survival appeared to be a luxury.

After a breakfast of gruel which had yet to spoil and bathing in the river he spent the day retracing his initial steps and stole some more eggs from the nest of shalebacks. This time he was determined to test himself and fought back against the lumbering Shaleback which tried to defend its eggs. The battle wavered thanks to the thickness of the creatures shell and Ed was floored a couple of times but having a sword enabled Ed to eventually prevail.

Emboldened by his success he continued on the area where he'd caught Flopsy and killed some more rabbits easily with his newly created sword then gathered meat and hide from their bunny corpses. Continuing on he came across another imp near where he'd one the day before, it was possibly even the same imp, with an anger and ruthlessness he'd never down before he slaughtered it in a cathartic rage. Exploring inside the cave he found a nest of the imps and struck them down in a frenzy before retreating back to the river to his hut where he gathered more resources and created some waterskins to aid in his exploration away from the river.

He considered **** against the couple who had murdered him but the thought of taking a human life still appalled him. It just wasn't something that he could premeditate despite the hardships he'd suffered. Yet the sword had begun to feel good in his hands when he'd massacred the small strange imp creatures and as an experiment he even made a copy of the stone daggers the woman had wielded.

He cooked the rabbit meat on a campfire outside his shelter feeling perhaps not safe but that he had made progress from the day before, the river seemed more beautiful than the day before and yet he knew not to be lulled into a false sense of security requiring allies to watch his back and guard him while he slept.

With food, clothing, weapons, shelter and fresh water now secured he spent the afternoon creating an actual bed to sleep in reasoning that the bedroll could be taken with him in case he had to camp outside.

As he began to appreciate the need for preparedness his determination to survive and thrive further hardened his heart and looking out across the vista stretching as far as the eye could see he knew that his success lay on the far side of noob river.