The Master of Uradan

After encountering the strange deer two times, Rohan didn't see it again. He still didn't know what was this beast that could disappear like that. This forest was indeed full of all sorts of creatures.

Rohan continued his way inside this forest, trying to find a way out. He ran through the bushes and the trees, but the region seemed to be endless. With the speed he could muster, and since it is already the fifth day he was in this place, he had already crossed hundreds and hundreds of kilometers.

The flora was still the same all this time, but it suddenly changed on the sixth day.

After jumping off a tree as every morning, Rohan took back the road, rushing in a direction to find an exit. His gourd had been empty since the day before already. If he couldn't find some water that day, then Rohan would have to track a beast and follow it until it moved somewhere to drink.

With this thought in mind, Rohan abruptly stopped to move. He still went after the footprints of the colossal beast, but as they were quite far away from one from another, there were patches of dense forest in between.

The problem was after exiting one of those areas, Rohan expected to appear once again in front of a small clearing with the soil and trees destroyed. Unfortunately, what he saw standing in front of him was totally different from his expectations.

He quickly retreated behind a tree and observed carefully to see if there was any movement. There, in front of him, the clearing wasn't the small five meters of diameter footprint with five claws engraved on the soil. It was several hundred meters large.

There wasn't any tree, only green grass, and a high palisade surrounding what seemed to be a whole village. A village inside this terrible forest, as well as in between two footprints left behind by a colossal beast that still made Rohan shudder even though he hadn't seen it. The young man couldn't believe his own eyes.

He waited as he looked at those palisades. Those were slightly taller than him and made of wood, with strange patterns drawn all over the infrastructure. The rooftops of some buildings could be seen beyond, proving the existence of inhabitants in this place. But after numerous minutes of watching over the village, Rohan didn't hear nor see anything.

The palisade was only ten meters away from him. If there were people inside this village, Rohan would have already heard them. He frowned. 'Could they be all dead already?'

He took a branch on the ground and threw it over the wooden barrier with such a thought. It fell against a house, but there was nos response or anything. This village was empty.

Rohan left his hiding place and turned around the palisade. Since there was no one inside, Rohan decided to enter via the entrance. While searching it, he continued to throw twigs, branches, and stones inside the area protected by the walls to be sure there was no one.

The entrance was a large double door closed embedded in the palisade. Since there was no noise from the beginning, Rohan hesitated for a few seconds before going forward. He pushed the large wooden doors, but they didn't move, not even a centimeter.

His muscles swelled up as he used all the strength he had. The doors shook as dust flew around. A curse left Rohan's mouth as he pushed again. Then, with a loud scraping against the floor, the two doors were pushed open. After the initial blockage, the doors opened easily without any issue.

What welcomed Rohan was an empty village, with a few wooden houses standing here and there. It was small, barely enough for a few hundred people, but there was no one here.

What was strange was even though there was no one present, nature didn't take back its right. The grass was cut clean while some trees bore delicious-looking fruits. The exterior of the houses was all clean, and no plants were clinging to them.

Rohan looked behind him, at the dense forest fighting the sunlight to keep their word in the dark. The clearing was cleanly delimited as if the forest didn't dare to approach the walls of this soulless village. It was strange, but everything in this damn forest was strange, so Rohan walked forward and prepared himself for any problem.

Apart from the few wooden houses and some trees, there was nothing else. The whole village encompassed an area with a diameter of five hundred meters, and at the center of the village, there was a larger building.

This building was a two-story house and was longer than the other houses. It should be the main building, where the most important people lived. Unfortunately, nobody could enjoy the profit and power of living there.

Rohan's eyes only glanced a bit at this building, before staring straight at another area. A hopeful smile stretched on his face. Along with this main building, there were also a few other houses forming a square, surrounding the stone item in the center. In the middle of the whole village, there was a well.

Rohan quickly moved toward this well and prayed for it to not be dried. Fortunately, the well was in a good state, and there was a full rope on the side with a wooden bucket tied to its extremity. Whoever had lived there one day, it shouldn't be long ago.

After verifying the other extremity of the rope attached and being sure it wouldn't snap because of any deterioration, Rohan threw the bucket inside the long and narrow pit going straight to the center of the earth. Not even thirty seconds later, the splash of the wooden bucket hitting a large quantity of water echoed from the well.

Rohan easily pulled the rope and with a relieved expression, he took out his gourd to fill it again with water. At least this place gave him water.

Since he had nothing else to do and no other appointment, Rohan undressed eagerly and decided to clean himself with the water. There were some wounds on him and even if he had a powerful body, it was known by everyone that someone could die because of an untreated injury.

After he was done, he simply wore back his clothes and strolled around. The tension he had in the forest surrounded by trees blocking his view at all times had already given way to curiosity, and Rohan visited every house of the village, hoping to find anything. Searching for a map was of course nothing more than a pipe dream, but there should be items that could help him.

He began by the nearest houses. The houses were narrow and there weren't a lot of items. Some wooden furniture, plates and other dishes, and a few clothes. The last ones were quite a good discovery, as Rohan only had the same clothes on him since he had appeared there.

He had prepared a lot of them before entering the Barren Lands, but he had used them foolishly to stop the bleeding done by the strange red dome in the center of the Kolmos mountain. If he had known he would appear later here with all his injuries healed, he wouldn't have destroyed them for no reason.

After he was done with those houses, Rohan turned his face toward the larger building.. If anything could be useful, the chance to encounter something there was the highest.