I am alone again.
It is not a difficult situation for me to be in. I have outlived most of my relations and all the friends of my childhood. Still, after spending such a long time in the company of the Akatuyians, it is strange for me to walk the varied paths of Gods’ Hollow by myself.
Occasionally, I hear voices. Rarer still is when I see the person, or animal, which has uttered the noise.
It seems that I am a marked man, and it is not unusual for me to find a body or two. Often, there is a note left with the corpses, the usual tripe from my mother, proclaiming death and pain for whoever might give me succor.
I pity those I find, for they assisted some version of me, and for that, I am thankful. Each body is merely added to the butcher’s bill each iteration of her will pay.
My thoughts were traveling along these lines when I heard a rustling in the bushes ahead of me. With the shifting of the wind, I caught the rank odor of both man and beast, and I drew my Colts as the creature stepped into view.
For a moment, I couldn’t decide if it was animal or man, but when it moved, I saw it was a curious combination of both. It was man and bear, and it wanted my death.
I was slightly perturbed when I put two rounds through its chest, and the beast only stumbled on its way to me. Forced to sidestep out of the way, I shot it again, this time twice in the back. The creature screeched at me in a language I didn’t understand and came at me with a speed I did not believe it possessed.
In the end, I put all twelve rounds in the damned thing, and I still had to club it to death with the butts of the pistols.
Its brains leaked out as I stood up, legs slick with the creature’s black blood.
Holstering my Colts, I wiped the brains off my face and spat the same from my mouth as I started my walk towards home again.
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