Read Merek's Ascendance for Free Online

remember how long it had been since he had last relaxed. He wasn’t sure he ever really had.
    This was an opportunity he wasn’t going to waste.
    Merek didn’t know how long he sat there, watching the water. The breeze was refreshing on his naked torso, and the scent of the water was still interesting and mysterious. In all honesty, despite the pain in his leg and the lingering pain in his arm, he was almost happy.
    Almost.
    His eyes darkened and the water disappeared from his gaze. The wound in his right shoulder seemed to get worse, so much worse, making Merek grab onto it and mentally begging it to stop hurting. He thrust his head back, hitting it against the tree with intentional force.
    It didn’t help nearly as much as he was hoping.
    Upset, Merek climbed down and started to walk again. He should probably endeavor to make it back to the cave before night fell. Who knew, maybe the bear was there and Merek could get his mangy coat back on his back.
    He nearly chuckled. Like that was going to happen.
    Regardless, he started walking in the general direction of the cave, following the stream in reverse. On his way, he found a branch that was nearly as tall as he was and remarkably straight. It would make an impressive shaft for a sickle or hoe or another such farming tool.
    “You know, I bet if I cut off these extra branc hes you’d be useful.”
    Merek looked around, thinking hard. The stream had a few rocks, but none of them looked sharp enough to be of use.
    Deciding to at least start it by hand, Merek started cracking off pieces of wood as he walked. The stick – now looking more like a staff as time went on – might be just what he needed. If he found a sharp enough tip, maybe he could use it as a spear. It wasn’t one of his favorite weapons the knights wielded, but it should help him survive.
    Then his stomach growled, as if to accentuate the point.
    “Oh right. I’ve had nothing but berries today. Well, I guess it’s time to see if I can catch any fish with you,” he said to the staff. What he wouldn’t give to have kept one of those arrowheads…
                 
     
                  It took him roughly an hour to find a path that lead him passed the waterfall. Twenty minutes after that, he found himself standing in the stream trying to catch fish. He used the staff to swat at them, but that was proving fruitless. They jumped out of the water, wriggling and twisting, but he just couldn’t manage to hit them.
                  He was at it for ten minutes before annoyance took its toll. He had no way of catching anything, especially not when they were so much faster than he was.
                  “Alright, stupid, stop just flailing about and think,” he scolded, leaving the stream for the moment and sitting down against a tree trunk. “I need to catch fish. The fish are quick. Meaning I need to either be quicker, or… or I need to cut off their escape.”
                  Merek frowned as he thought. He couldn’t cut off the stream, even if he wanted to. So that meant he had to narrow down the existing water for the fish to swim through.
                  “So what? I don’t have anything to build with, no tools. I guess I’ve still got my brain, for whatever that’s worth. Not that this hump of rock has ever…”
                  The idea hit him like a burst of sunlight during a rainstorm.
                  First, he went back into the forest to pick some more berries. Though they weren’t very filling, they would keep him alive. Then he got to work.
                  Merek spent the better part of two hours lifting rocks and replacing them in the stream, every so often trying to catch a fish and failing utterly. If he couldn’t catch the fish with his staff, he was going to catch them with his brain. Sort of.
                  When he finished his work, he had crafted a small trap in