Aan and the Darkness

Borent's Hut and the Aquats' Magic

When Aan awoke he was on a bed in a hut. It was a strange hut and it was full of weird things. The walls were painted a dark green, and there were no windows. The walls were covered with shelves on which sat bottles filled with every color liquid imaginable. There were bowls of powder, and different, odd looking stones were laid on the shelves as well. There were ancient masks made out of plants and rock beads. The floor was just as weird. There was a large fire place with a cauldron hanging over it full of boiling... something. There was a smaller fire place were a flask was hung heating. Also there was a basket of glowing coals on which were a pile of strange looking leaves giving off a large amount of nice smelling smoke. The smoke filled the room and Aan kept breathing it in. Potted plants and trees made the floor look like a jungle. Aan had never seen such peculiar plants before. There were ones with purple leaves, red leaves, and blue leaves. There were flowers shaped like bells, and butterflies. Some of the flowers were even transparent! Baskets also lined the hut. Dried herbs of every kind hung from the ceiling.

A short old man was bending over a bowl that was over a small basket of burning coals. He kept poring different liquids and powders into it. Occasionally he reached into one of the baskets and pulled out some weird thing. He pulled out a bat's wing and placed it into the bowl. He pulled out a tooth and put it into the bowl. Once he even grabbed a whole squid from a bowl of water, chopped it up and dumped it into the concoction. Aan tried to sit up. He felt a searing pain from were the club had hit him. He looked down and saw that that area was covered in a thick brown paste. Aan looked next to him beside the bed. There were five things. His pouch lay there. So did Slindre's satchel, his climbing stakes, and his sword. And coiled up next to them was... Slindre! Aan old friend was coiled there starring at Aan. The old man came over with the bowl.

"Some snake there." The old man croaked hoarsely, "He saw you falling and caught you just before you hit the ground. He immediately came to me, old Borent. I patched you up the best I could. Then made that healing paste that you have on your side. Your snake says that you are Aan, and you are looking to defeat the Dark Lords. Well, I am certainly glad about that. Those fiendish tyrants. I am the greatest healer this side of the planet. Your snake was wise to bring you to me."

"Wait," said Aan, "Slindre rescued me?"

"Indeed he did," replied Borent, "I have never seen a snake so attached to its master. He truly is a wonderful snake. Eat this, it will help you feel better."

Aan looked into the bowl. There was the bat wing, tooth, and squid pieces floating in a chunky black liquid. It smelled like burning tires. "Trust me," said Borent "If you drink this you will be ready to leave in two hours. Plus, if you didn't you would have waisted one of my few Romanian Death Viper fangs." Aan tried to choke down the concoction with as little as possible gagging. It tasted even worse than it smelled. The viper tooth scrapped against his throat, and he wasn't sure that all of the squid was dead. But he ate it any way. Surprisingly he felt much better whence he drank it, and he gave the bowl back to the old man thanking him. "No problem," retorted Borent, "It has been a while since I had to treat three broken ribs and a squashed kidney. The medicines are such fun to make." Aan reached down into his pouch and grabbed the Book of Gelatin and the Aquats gem. All his stuff was here. He could still continue the quest for the tribal gems.

Aan spent the next few hours talking to Borent. He found out that he was in the forest, a good deal north of the Dark Lords castle. Borent was a man who lived by himself in that small hut, healing whoever came to him and making medicines. Borent made many potions, and enjoyed doing it. Aan also discovered that he knew a great deal about tribal magic. Aan showed Borent how he could set his hand on fire and make the fire do crazy things. Borent was delighted. Aan eventually got up the nerve to ask him the question that and been bothering him for some time.