Damien woke up and promptly realized how stupid falling asleep in the middle of this forest was. It seemed he was asleep for several hours at least as there was an orange glow piercing throwing the leaves above. As he got up he realized he may not have healed as well as he thought because where the rabbit had stabbed him was still quite sore and tender. Being careful, he gently moved over to inspect the rabbit. Its body was sagging in the middle where he had focused his final assault. This was when he realized that the red on the creature was dried blood, not its fur. It was also caked in the stuff. Damien truly comprehended the danger of this forest as such a small creature nearly killed him. Damien needed a weapon. The rock he used before likely wouldn’t work, the only reason it affected this creature was due to the small size and even then it had only stunned it.

After searching a bit Damien realized his stupidity; he went over to the rabbit, grabbed the horn near its base with his hands, and pushed his foot down on the animal's skull. The sickening crunch that accompanied every renewed effort didn’t deter him, though did bring a wave of nausea. Eventually, the horn cracked at the base, giving him a small dagger that was useful for stabbing and not much else.

Damien sat down wiping away the sweat that formed on his brow and caught his breath. His muscles were still sore, having been put under heavy exertion multiple times with only a few hours of rest. Damien replayed the chase with the rabbit in his head once more. Despite having felt like forever it had only lasted several minutes. And Damien remembered the wound it inflicted as it gently throbbed reminding him of its presence. All and all, Damien was just glad he was alive and avoided being gored like the wolf he had seen earlier. Though this did give him an idea. Damien knew his body naturally produced some natura energy and that the rabbit had used its horn to channel it. Could he do the same?

This immediately started Damien’s attempts at reproducing the feat. He had no idea where he was in the forest and was both hungry and thirsty. Push come to shove he would need to find a river and food to eat. Damien wasn’t very familiar with the plant life and what was edible so he deemed it safer to try to hunt a small animal, lest he finds himself spasming on the ground after eating an odd berry. All this meant that having a weapon that would inhibit healing would allow him to perform an endurance hunting despite his weakened state. If he could sneak up on an animal and get good hit in he would just have to deal with it until it succumbed to its wounds.

The process was far more difficult than he thought. He was just forcing power out in every direction not really into the horn. After taking a short breather to prevent mental fatigue, he continued his attempts. This time instead of trying to direct it he tried a new method. Having recalled the bright concentrated glow of the rabbit, he tried to pull the surrounding energy inside of it instead of pushing it. He was using a similar idea to how his fae cladding and regeneration techniques worked. This was what bore fruit and Damien made a note to himself to start with such methods first next time. While it wasn’t as bright as the rabbits, Damien noticed that he did manage to infuse magic inside of it. With more time he could probably accomplish the full effects, but daylight refused to wait for him and he would prefer to hunt in the day.

Getting up and focusing on his senses he realized that elven senses were not to be underestimated. He could hear a rustling in some bushes nearly one hundred yards away when he truly focused. He slowly made his way over, being extremely careful not to make a sound. Having spotted his target, his heart nearly dropped realizing it was another one of those rabbits. Steeling himself, he readied to strike it and executed. He barely caught its flank as it heard him step into his blow. This managed to cripple the animal as it tried to hobble away. Damien not wishing to take any chances chased after the creature and finished it off by stabbing it in its back.

Damien honestly would prefer not to eat these rabbits as he doubted the nutrition that one would provide, but it was push come to shove. He wouldn’t use the other rabbit as he had no idea how long he had left it sitting there and what insects gathered access to it. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to do a very good job field dressing it as he was inexperienced and the horn he had didn’t work very for the job he was going to assign it. Damien did his best job to preserve as much meat as possible but the amount was minuscule. He soon realized that he didn’t have a fire and started to gather materials for that.

Fire preparation he was familiar with having gone camping many times in his previous life. He found kindling and some sticks and dug a small pit with his hands. He would have made a pump drill but didn’t want to break his distraction rock nor create a primitive piece of string, so he sat down, poked a hole in the side of one stick, placed his kindling around it, starting spinning the second one in the groove.

Once it started smoking he picked up the kindling and gently blew on it to encourage the flame to grow. Soon a small fire was started and he used the horn of the second rabbit he murdered as a skewer for the meat. He was surprised by how alluring the scent was and soon bit off some. Despite his initial weariness, he found the taste quite pleasant.

Having gotten rest earlier, and being leery of the night time Damien stayed awake through the night, practicing his energy channeling and maintaining his fire to make sure he didn't fall asleep from letting his mind idle too long. Every crack and woosh started him, reminding him of his vulnerable state.

Feeling tired but still alert, Damien finally noticed the rising glow through the trees indicating sunrise. Standing up and Stretching, Damien decided to look around and see if anything could assist his body. Today he hoped he could take it easy and wait for rescue, as his underdeveloped body truly started to hinder him as the foreign stressing he subjected it to started to take its toll.

‘I hope I don't stunt my growth,’ He idly thought as he decided to try to make a wooden spear out of a nearby tree branch. Damien then searched for a sharp rock to chip away at it with. Having found one several minutes later he sat down and worked at his new project.

These projects were excellent at subduing the constantly rising panic he felt welling up inside him. He had gotten lost camping before, but he was an adult when that happened and in twenty-first century Earth, benefitting from all the technology that came with that status. Now he was an eight, nearly nine-year-old child that was in the equivalent of a fantasy post-classical Europe from what he gathered. At least when he was in the village he had soap. Damien had noticed he was caked in blood and his clothes were torn, he looked like a savage.

His idle observations came to an end as he roughly finished his spear project. It was both horribly fragile and extremely small as he didn't have the muscle mass to wield a particularly long spear, but any encounter he didn't run from would likely end in one or two hits, whether it was in his favor or not.

Next, Damien was curious if he could use the same anti-healing technique on his spear. Calling it a spell was a bit of a reach in his mind, but that wasn't too important right now. As he attempted to channel natura into the wood he realized it was extremely difficult. If channeling into the horn was lick sucking through a thin straw, this was like doing the same thing with a piece of paper shoved inside, sure there was progress but it was painfully slow and tiring for the effort.

Damien realized something about the horn made it great at taking in fae energy.

‘The benefits of evolution.’ Damien thought with a disheartened sigh. At least he had two of the horns, though the second has started to blacken a bit from the constant fire exposure. Though Damien didn't think his bones would have fared nearly as well in the fire so he counted his blessings. He needed something to store his horns in he realized, then searched for any plant that was particularly flexible. Having found something akin to a large but sturdy blade of grass he started to cut it free.

“Next time bring a backpack,” he grumbled aloud, having to poke eight more holes into his pants, four on each side to be able to tie the horns to his legs. He took his time, being careful not to stab himself, and then threaded the thick grass through his pants typing and knowing it on the inside, making a makeshift holster.

It moved in and out when the horns weren't forcing it in place, and he was confident it wouldn't last more than a day or two, but he hoped it was all he would need. If he was particularly lucky, or unlucky depending on perspective, the horns make act as some sort of thigh guard and protect him from damage.

Forcing down a giggle at the absurdity of one of those rabbits attacked being deflected by the horns of it's slain brethren he decided to relight the fire. His goal was to create smoke that someone might notice so he could be saved. But before that he needed water. His throat and mouth felt dry, and it would be nice to clean up a bit as his skin felt sticky and mouth couldn't even wipe himself without spreading filth around his body.

Damien decided it would be prudent to make sure he could return to his meds he called a base so as he started to walk away he marked every tree on his left-hand side so he could find his way back. Finally, after what was roughly twenty minutes of searching, he heard the gentle flow of water somewhere nearby. He followed the sound and eventually found a small stream.

Ecstatic, he quickly swished some water in his mouth the wash out any remaining aftertaste and food, before spitting next to him then taking a drink. Next, he washed his face for a bit but was careful not to let his guard down. Damien didn't want to come across a predator who was thirsty then die because he was negligent. Not washing his body as that would waste a lot of time and leave him very defenseless, he trudged back towards his campsite.

Roughly fifteen minutes later he returned, the trip was shorter as he knew where he was going. Damien sat back down near the fire to warm himself, as the water was quite chilly, though that had only made it more refreshing.

Damien had noted he had been missing for at least a full day, so someone was very likely searching for him.

“I wonder if I should expand my fire,” Damien thought aloud, “It would increase the chances of me being spotted, but then I might start a forest fire.” Damien decided against it, as he realized something.

‘Maybe if I follow the water I'll be able to head back to the village.’ Damien pondered for a few moments. Damien had both methods that first came to mind for finding the village blocked off. First, he couldn't use the sun as the canopy was thick and he couldn’t remember if it rose from the east or the west. And at this point, the natura around him was so thick that it would at least an hour of walking to tell if it was getting thicker or thinner. But he wasn't quite sure the stream was even the same waterway, which deflated his hopes somewhat but he had decided. If rescue didn't show up by the next morning he would try a combination of the three to try to find his way out.

Damien decided he needed to rest to keep watch during the night. Despite having only run into enemies in the day, he thought it safer to sleep in the day and risk ambush than getting attacked while suffering from sleep deprivation or ambushed at night where his perception was reduced. Elves had better night vision, but it wasn't perfect. Laying against a tree a few yards from his fire, Damien soon dozed off in preparation for the night ahead.