When I woke up, I already was not in good shape. My head was killing me, and my joints ached. I needed water ASAP. I could not last too much longer like this. Even the healthiest people like me had a breaking point. I simply dragged my bag and trudged along the road. I kept on the path to conserve energy. I kept both my eyes and ears peeled for signs of water. It was dusk when I heard a faint bubbling sound. It sounded like it was coming from behind a rocky outcropping a mile or so off the left side of the path. At first, I did not believe it. I could not believe it. I was on my last legs. If I was wrong, I would die there. However, it was probably the only place to get water for miles. If I did not get anything to drink today. I would die at the end of my journey. It was worth the risk and I made my way over. I was bit and stung by bugs and things in the tall grass. I could not stop for them. If I did, I would never get myself back up again. The sound of water got louder and louder in my ears as I got closer. I stumbled along the edge of the rocks and found a small brook. I got on my knees and crawled.
Drinking my fill, I rolled over on my back. I had to let go of my bag so I would not drown with how weak I was. I then crawled over to the bag and rested my head on it. My first crisis was over. I had survived. "Another adventure in the tale of Real Rhombus." I murmured to myself before exhaustion hit me. I did not dream that night. I woke up to my stomach growling at me. Now that I had found water, it was time for gathering food. This was going to be another challenge. I had no clue how I was going to be able to hunt for food. I never had to do it before. I could kill something. I knew that. I was extremely proficient with my knives. I did not know the first thing of cleaning out and animal of preparing it. I would be living hand to mouth until I figured out how to preserve meat and such. I looked into the brook and saw there were not fish. That would have made things much easier for me. I would just need to roast it over a fire after skinning the scales off and gutting it. I sighed to myself. I was in deep. That was when I heard the sound of something really big coming towards me. It scared me a lot.
I did my best to hide behind some massive boulders. I had very little energy. There was no way I was in shape to fight off an animal or monster. I was warned of centaurs towards the north. Who knew what was over here. There was no way I could take one on right now. It sounded like something was scraping along the rocks. I was just leaning along the rocks. I did not even dare to peak over the boulder. If I was spotted by an enemy, it could be game over. After 12 minutes, I heard some talking. "How about here? This is a pretty nice spot." one of them said. The second voice said "We have meat. We have space and now there's water. There is no way any alphas will track us here." "I think this first heat will be a success." the first voice chimed in. It seemed that they were hiding out here as well. I gathered some courage and peeked at them. I had to hold my mouth to keep from making a noise. It was serious. The two over by the water were monsters. From the stomach up, they were human. From the scaly waists down, they were massively large snakes. Both of them looked identical.
