The Water Sprite

A Hunted Hunter

Mo Yuan felt the energy of the thunderbolt seconds before it hit, but being so focused on Bai Qian he was not quick enough to react.  He too was thrown off the cloud to fall aimlessly and helplessly where his memories and knowledge were also taken from him.  Aware that he was falling, but feeling no fear as he fell, he merely relaxed his body into it, until he too landed on solid ground.

Finding himself in thick foliage among tall trees and rich vibrant blooms, he had sat for some time taking in his surrounding curiously yet unafraid.  Night had fallen, yet there was no movement or sound, the world was asleep.

He quietly stood and turned in all directions to get his bearings.  The moon was full so he had a good view of where he was but with no memories of his own to draw on, he began to walk aimlessly searching for someone or something to assist him.

In time his footsteps took him to a small wooden hut which appeared out of nowhere in the middle of this dense quiet forest.  Yet being night time he wasn't sure if should approach it or not.  It looked run down and uninhabited, but still, someone might be  asleep inside he had thought to himself.

With nowhere else to go, and alone in a world where he knew no one, Mo Yuan slowly climbed the three steps that took him to the small doorway.  Knocking on it, he stepped back and waited.

It was a few moments before he knocked again.  Yet no one came to the door, and going by the small window beside the door, there was no light coming from inside either.

So tentatively he opened the door and stepped into what looked to be quite a comfortable home.  And it was there that Mo Yuan made himself at home having found safety and warmth.  Like Bai Qians cave, his hut had a hearth that was still usable, and with a cast iron grating over the top, it also acted as a stove. 

Taking a look around, he soon found a bed, clothing and bedding as well as rudimentary tools and weaponry which he planned to enhance.  Whoever had lived in the hut, had not been back for sometime.  The dust lay thick on the ledges and cobwebs covered every corner.  But he was more than happy with it.  

Like bai Qian, the years passed him.  He met no one and saw no one, and like her, he also spoke to himself or to the birds who would sometimes visit.  But he was never lonely, that was because he had no memories of companionship, so he did not know loneliness.

Sometimes memories would come to him.  A face, or snippets of a conversation, and even knowledge when he needed it.  And as the years passed, he too became very proficient in hunting and survival skills.

Having found a large lake that was teaming with fish, he was never hungry, the forest was a source of every nutritional need.  Though in the initial months, he hunted animals solely for their skins, bone and teeth, which he used to enhance his weapons.  These were inbred skills that he did not remember learning, but he knew them and with his knowledge, he created many weapons and spears for fishing but he did not like to kill the animals, he only ate meat when his body lacked iron.

His dietary needs were met with fish, fruits and edible plants and roots.  They were his staple diet, and with the seeds from the rushes that flowered in the cooler months, he ground them down to make flour, of which he then made bread.  Yet he never once questioned how he knew the skills he was using, they were just something he knew and so he utilized them.

But he loved to fish.  He spent a lot of time at the lake.  Sometimes fishing, and sometimes jsut lying next to the water watching the clouds and birds.  The peace and quiet is what took him there, because the forest could be quite noisy inn the day time.  And it was while he was lying in the reeds waiting for a fish to take his bait, that he first saw her.