After taking a long while to rest after his harrowing encounter with the wolf creature, Aku went back to the river once more and washed his face of the fetid blood. This time, the frigid water was a welcome balm to his steaming hot skin.
After a while, he stood back up and looked down at the stream, his reflection gazing back at him.
He had to admit, even after a good wash, he was in rough shape. His clothes, though now clean, were still tattered and even more ripped now than they were before. His head throbbed with a dull, lingering pain from his recent battle, and he had a few bruises.
Despite all this, however, he was relieved.
He didn't seem to be in any danger anymore, and even better, he had food now! Before, that was his biggest problem, and now it was solved. Now, he only had to figure out how to cook it.
Speaking of… how the hell was he supposed to start a fire?
Walking back over to the carcass, Aku first studied the metallic tail spike of the wolf. It was freakishly sharp, making him realize just how lucky he was to have caught it in time.
He looked over at the wolf's split skull, grimacing.
"Yeah, not the best way to go."
He sighed and turned back to the tail spike.
"Now, how exactly do I get this thing off?"
He didn't exactly have many options. He obviously didn't have a knife, gods knew he would have used it against the wolf if he did. But then, an idea occurred to him.
He took the blade-like spike in one hand and lifted the rest of the tail with the other, then cut the wolf's tail off with its own spike as close to the blade as he could. There was still several centimeters of tail connected to the spike, but it didn't matter.
Satisfied, he stood up and looked around.
"Now, where did that lantern go?"
He walked off in the direction the wolf had sent it flying and quickly found it laying among a few bushes.
Surprisingly, the thing didn't have a scratch on it. Aku had expected the lantern to have a deep gash, or perhaps the glass to be shattered on it, but there wasn't so much as a blemish on its rough metal walls.
He raised the thing up in his hand, smiling proudly.
"Ah, I promise I'll never call you useless again, little guy."
The lantern had, after all, saved his life in his fight with the wolf. If he hadn't had anything to stop its charge with, Aku would probably have been ripped apart.
And now, he had a new idea for the thing.
Walking back over to the wolf, he set the lantern and makeshift knife down next to its corpse and went about gathering some firewood. In just a few minutes, he had gathered a satisfactory bundle of dead sticks from the forest floor and set them down in a pile. Then, he piled up some dead leaves on top and stood back, studying his work.
"Well, I'm no expert, but I'm fairly sure that'll burn."
Aku shrugged and picked up his knife and lantern, kneeling down beside the firewood. He raised the knife above his head, then quickly brought it down onto the metal of the lantern.
Bright orange sparks shot out from the impact and rained down onto the leaves, failing to catch anything on fire. Aku shifted and brought the lantern as close to the leaves as he could. He struck the lantern once more and this time, the sparks shot into the bundle and caught the leaves on fire, quickly spreading to the rest of the wood.
"Aha! Yes!"
He cheered, raising the lantern up to his face, he kissed the still unblemished metal and smiled happily.
"See? Not useless at all, are you?"
Setting the lantern aside, he quickly walked over to the wolf and cut into its rough pelt. The flesh beneath was a bright crimson, juices flowing freely down its fur. Aku cut out a few thick strips of meat, then shoved a few sticks he had sharpened through them.
Sitting down by the fire, he held the meat above the now surging blaze, drops of juice popping as they dripped down into the fire.
He couldn't stop his stomach from grumbling at the sight. It was still painfully empty, after all.
After a few minutes, he retracted the meat from the fire and took a bite, immediately yelping in pain and releasing the meat from his greedy jaws.
"Ah! Damn it, that's hot!"
He whined, trying to stop his tongue from burning.
A few minutes later, after allowing the meat to properly cool, Aku tried again.
He took a large bite out of the meat, juices running down his chin in rivulets. The meat wasn't seasoned and lacked proper preparation, but to Aku…
'Ahhh yes, this is heaven!'
It was the most delicious thing he'd ever tasted.
Or at least… the most delicious thing he could remember tasting.
Either way, to him, it was a culinary masterpiece.
He gorged himself on the first, second, and third strips of meat, satiating the awful hunger that had been gnawing at him for hours.
After finishing his meal, Aku went back to the wolf and began removing its pelt. The sharp quills poking out made it difficult, and it was rough to say the least, but he got enough of it to make a small pouch to carry some of the excess meat. After all, he didn't know how long he might be stuck out here for.
Wherever here was.
He even cut a hole in his waistband and used some of the hide to make a loop for his lantern.
It was a hell of an upgrade, if he did say so himself.
Gazing at the pale moon through the trees, he decided to rest up for the remainder of the night and set out in the morning, when he would actually be able to see in the ancient forest. So, for now, he simply packed up his things, stamped out the fire, and laid down on the soft grass.
. . .
Come morning, Aku opened his eyes to the shining sun overhead and birdsong once again enveloping the crisp air of the forest. He took a deep breath and sat up, surprised that he had slept without difficulties. Picking up his pouch of wolf meat and attaching his lantern to his hip, he made his way back in the direction of the path and quickly found it.
He walked down the path for hours, shaded from the sun by the thick trees on either side of the dirt road.
Despite his aching legs and bruised skin, he was feeling fairly well. He was fed, had the stream to drink from, which seemed to follow the same route as the path did, and he even had a new knife, courtesy of the wolf. Really, he wasn't even sure why he was still calling it that, because it was obviously not some simple wolf… at least not one that he'd seen before. Either way, it was dead now, not like it mattered.
However, even though he was feeling well, that didn't mean that he was the most confident in his chances of finding something on this path.
"What if the closest person is weeks down the path?" He scoffed. "I mean, I nearly got mauled to death within hours of being out here, so the chances of surviving…"
He trailed off, not wanting to think about it. He hadn't seen a single person moving down this path the entire time he'd been walking, so it was natural for him to be a bit on edge.
As he walked further, though, the ancient forest began to thin. It was hardly noticeable at first, but eventually, the trees began to get smaller and the underbrush less on the sides of the path.
Realizing this, he began walking faster, hoping against hope that he would finally find something, or even better, someone.
However, what he found was more than he had ever dreamed of finding.
Nestled into the top of a grand mountain, a magnificent tree as thick as a city breached the clouds, its golden leaves each like a miniature sun blanketing the sky. And at the base of that mountain, there was an enormous city. Thousands of grandiose buildings were carved out of beautiful white stone, with ruby red roofs that shone in the golden light of the sun. They were ornamented with shimmering gold, lining the walls and terraces. All of it was surrounded by towering walls with turrets lining the tops. Ruby banners were draped down the walls, fluttering in the wind.
Aku's search was over.