Water

It didn’t take long for Zachery to find water. He walked around for ten minutes at most before coming across a small, rocky stream weaving between the hills. Getting to it was trivial even for his relative inexperience with the terrain. Scaling up and down the hills was just a matter of keeping his footing.

The water was cool when he dipped a finger in, cooler than the air for sure, which was quickly warming with the sunrise. He questioned drinking from the stream when it was obviously not as sanitary as what he was used to, but it looked clear at least. His lips felt drier just looking at the water. Cupping some out with his hands, he drank it cautiously.

It was cool alright, his cold hands could attest to that. It felt good though, like being alive. Looking around, the whole world was getting brighter and more colorful. He knew it was just the sunlight illuminating more of the hills, but the effect was still nice. He couldn’t help but smile a bit.

Then he saw a hint of movement farther up the hill opposite him. His imagination went wild for a moment before he resolved the shape of it. There was a tan rabbit slowly making its way across the hill, heading up and around. It had just crossed the light line heading away from the shadowed stream area. Thinking of the last meal he had, before he woke up here, he wished he could catch the rabbit and cook it into something. It wasn’t like he really knew what he would do with a whole rabbit, but cooking one couldn’t be too difficult.

He began to skulk after the rabbit’s winding path, wondering what would help him most right now. Was there something that he could learn from the Curse of Knowledge that would actually help here? He could make something with both knowledge and time, but he had no time. So magic, there were probably countless spells that could be used for hunting or cooking. Fire could both kill and cook, so maybe something of that sort.

He had a couple other ideas already queued up by the time he realized that any long range fire spell would probably be useless for controlled cooking. Grass manipulation was the next thought on his mind when something large and feathered practically crashed into the ground in front of him with a rush of air and a heavy crunch. The rabbit perhaps 30 feet ahead of him could only barely be seen beneath the figure now rising off it. Huge tan and brown wings lifting off the ground to reveal a womanly figure beneath them.

She was a weird mix of allure and horror, large breasts bared, hips flared, and wicked talons in place of feet. He could only see some of her from the side, but it was obvious she was naked and she looked as beautiful as a monstrous harpy could. He knew what she was from stories, but this harpy was both more awe inspiring and perhaps more worrying than any story had prepared him for. Her form was slightly gaunt and out of proportion, a very strong looking chest and back for one, with larger breasts and butt than seemed practical when every bit of weight must matter in flight. He couldn’t decide if he wanted to bed her or never see her again. Then her head cocked to the side for a moment, and snapped around to stare straight at him, slick brown hair settling around her shoulders as her eyes bored into him with avian scrutiny.

They both held that position for a few heartbeats before her impassive lips twisted upwards into a strangely disarming smile. It was bright and happy, like an innocent girl meeting a new friend, though it only barely touched her eyes. Then, before he had a chance to do anything more than wonder at the change, she opened her mouth and began to sing.