Chapter 01 Shelter Under the Apple Tree

Kaka and I continued our desperate scuttle from the horrors of the goblin breeding farm and the adventurers. The rain, a temporary ally in our battle for survival, fell upon us with merciless ferocity, obscuring our path from the ravenous jaws of the forest's most fearsome predators. Among them, the dreaded pig wolf lurked, its hunger for goblin flesh matched only by its insatiable thirst for blood. The morning rain had been both a blessing and a curse, providing us with cover from predators but also slowing our progress as we trudged through the soggy mud.

Kaka and I limped through the dense undergrowth, our bodies caked in mud and blood, every step a battle against exhaustion and pain. I looked at Kaka as his broken and hunched form staggered forward driven by sheer willpower. His face, already a mosaic of scars and bruises, bore the fresh imprint of a brutal blow from an adventurer's shield, the bones crushed and splintered, blood oozing from the gaping wound leaving Kaka's skull a twisted, mangled mess. Yet, he pressed on, driven by a primal instinct to protect his precious hatchlings, even as his own life slipped away. Unfortunately, I was the sole survivor clinging to his side.

The rain poured down in a relentless torrent, its icy fingers washing away our scent and offering a fleeting reprieve from the ever-present threat of predators. But Kaka knew that this respite would not last long, that soon the forest would come alive with the sounds of hungry beasts, drawn to the scent of blood and fear.

With each labored breath, Kaka urged me onward, his voice a hoarse whisper lost within the sound of rain and wind. He knew that our only chance of survival lay in finding shelter before the storm passed and before the monsters of the forest emerged from their hiding places to hunt once more.

"Shelter... before the dawn breaks. Shelter... before the monsters stir. Must protect... hatchlings. Must survive... for them. Safety... in darkness. Safety... in shadows. Keep moving... keep hiding. No rest... no respite. Shelter... before it's too late."

As we trudged through the unforgiving wilderness, Kaka's condition worsened, his mind teetered on the brink of madness, his vision clouded by a haze of pain and exhaustion. With each faltering step, he stumbled and swayed, his movements guided by a fractured consciousness that wavered between reality and delusion.

The dense canopy of the perilous forest enveloped us as we ventured deeper into its foreboding depths, the towering trees offered little respite from the ceaseless downpour, their branches bending under the weight of the relentless rain. With a heavy heart, I reached for a large leaf, its surface slick with moisture, and held it aloft, a feeble attempt to shield myself from the relentless deluge.

But as I sought refuge beneath the makeshift canopy, my gaze fell upon Kaka, his form swaying unsteadily as he pressed on, his body wracked with agonizing tremors. Each step seemed to inflict fresh torment upon him, his injuries festering beneath the filth that caked his form. With each faltering step, he pushed himself to the brink of collapse, his frail body teetering on the edge of oblivion. His once vibrant eyes are now dulled by pain and sorrow, their spark extinguished by the relentless onslaught of suffering.

But still, he did not falter.

 I watched helplessly, my heart heavy with sorrow, as he struggled to maintain his faltering grip on consciousness. 

After hours of painstakingly dragging ourselves through the relentless downpour, we stumbled upon a meager refuge within the towering trees of the forest. Kaka, barely clinging to consciousness, weakly raised a trembling finger and uttered unintelligible words, his voice barely a whisper in the howling wind.

"S-shelter... we go... we go... safe... we go shelter... little ones..."

With a sense of desperate urgency, I followed his gaze and saw it - a meager hole nestled beneath the gnarled roots of a towering apple tree, its entrance barely large enough to slip through our weary bodies. With trembling hands and faltering breath, we crawled into the shelter of the tiny cave, seeking respite from the merciless onslaught of the storm.

 Inside, the walls were smooth and worn, the result of countless years of erosion and decay. The air was thick with the musty scent of soil and dampness, mingling with the faint aroma of fallen leaves and rotting fruit. The walls curved gently inward, forming a protective embrace around us. A layer of soft moss carpeted the floor, offering a welcome respite from the cold, hard ground outside.

Inside our new shelter, Kaka's broken body finally gave way, collapsing to the ground in a heap of broken limbs and shattered resolve. But even as he lay there, his mind tortured by hallucinations born from his head injury and relentless fatigue, his instinct to protect his hatchlings remained unyielding.

With trembling hands, he reached out to gather the scattered pebbles that littered the ground around him, his fingers closing around them with desperate urgency. In his fractured state, he imagined each tiny stone as one of his lost hatchlings, their delicate forms pulsating with life beneath his touch.

With each pebble he collected, Kaka whispered their names under his breath, his voice full of warmth and love. He imagined their tiny forms, their delicate ears, and shimmering skin, their eyes filled with innocence and wonder. 

As he cradled the smooth stones in his hands, his heart ached with the weight of his sorrow, his mind flooded with memories of happier times spent tending to his beloved hatchlings. He could still feel the warmth of their tiny bodies pressed against his own, their soft chirps and playful antics filling the air with joy and laughter.

With tears streaming down his cheeks, Kaka whispered brokenly to the pebbles, his voice a fragile echo in the darkness.

 "My little ones, I'm so sorry... I couldn't protect you... I couldn't keep you safe..."

And as he cradled the stones in his palms, he finally fainted.

Frantically, I rushed to Kaka's side, my heart pounding with a mixture of fear and desperation. With trembling hands, I tugged at his skin, gently shaking him as I pleaded with him to stay awake, to resist the call of the endless sleep that threatened to claim him.

"Don't give in, Kaka. Don't fall into the endless sleep!" I pleaded, my voice trembling with emotion.

 "You can't leave me, not like this. Wake up, please... I need you. You have to wake up. I need you, Kaka. I need you!"

But Kaka, my beloved caretaker, remained limp and still on the cold ground, his breaths shallow and strained wheezing gasps. My heart clenched with anguish as I realized the extent of his injuries, knowing that I had to act quickly if there was any hope of saving him. Scuttling around him, I checked his wounds, my hands trembling as I surveyed the damage.

Upon reaching Kaka's head, my heart sank at the sight that greeted me. His skull split open and grotesquely deformed, exposing the bone and raw flesh of his brain to the unforgiving air. The wound was a horrific gash, a gaping maw that threatened to devour him whole if left untreated.

Desperation clawed at my mind as I surveyed the dimly lit cave for a solution. And then, like a beacon of hope within the darkness, I spotted a forgotten spider web tucked away in a corner, its delicate strands glistening in the faint light. By the web lay a dried-up giant spider, his reign over the cave long ended. I plucked a dried-up carcass from its sticky embrace, my mind racing with a newfound purpose.

From my past life as Shota, a fragment of knowledge flooded my mind. I remembered tales of using spider silk as a makeshift thread, its strength and flexibility making it ideal for binding wounds. And as I examined the dried-up spider more closely, I saw its needle-like fangs, once used to inject venom into its victims, now I repurposed them as makeshift needles for sewing Kaka's torn flesh back together.

With the spider fang now firmly secured to the silk thread, I possessed the means to close Kaka's gaping wound, but I knew that it would take more than mere sutures to mend his shattered skull. 

With a surge of adrenaline coursing through my veins, I positioned myself behind Kaka's head, my feet digging into the soft skin as I prepared to enact my daring plan. With a mighty kick, I drove my heels into the back of Kaka's fractured skull, my muscles straining against the weight of his broken body.

With a strangled cry, I seized hold of Kaka's upper jaw with my tiny, grubby hands, the sinews of my muscles straining against the weight of his broken form. With a painful effort, I pulled and pulled with all the feeble strength that I possessed, my joints popping and cracking in protest as I fought to realign the shattered fragments of his skull. With a sickening crunch, his skull shifted beneath my onslaught, the bones grinding together with a grotesque sound of agony. And then, with a sudden lurch, Kaka's skull shifted back into place, the gaping hole between the fractured bones clamping shut with a sickening squelch of blood and tissue.

Without pausing to catch my breath, I set to work with renewed fervor, the spider silk slipping through my fingers as I crudely sewed his scalp flesh back together, each stitch ugly and uneven. And as the last suture was tied, and the wound finally closed, I collapsed to the ground, my body wracked with exhaustion but my spirit soaring with a hope that maybe I had saved my beloved friend from the jaws of death.

With Kaka's skull realigned and his scalp stitched closed, I turned my attention to his labored breathing, each wheezing gasp filled me with fear of losing him. With trembling hands, I reached out to feel for the rhythm of his heartbeat, my fingers pressing against his frail chest with fear.

But even as I sought reassurance in the steady thrum of his pulse, I could sense the cold grip of death tightening its icy fingers around him. Kaka's breathing grew shallower with each passing moment, his body weakened by the loss of blood and the trauma of his suffering.