Limits

Chapter 9

The doctor started the treatment. He first told me to drink some kind of herbal medicine and said it will lessen the pain. I though 'I have nothing to lose anyway' so I drank it. After a while I could feel the pain being subdued, which I was happy about. The next thing, the doctor took my broken arm and with one swift move without any warning straightened it up to align the bones.

"AAAGHHH!!!"

I roared in pain. No wonder he gave me that medicine first, I almost fainted from the pain. Taking large gulps of air and trying not to faint, I saw that the doctor applied some kind of medicine onto my arm and then bandaged it together with some square stick on both sides of my arm.

I couldn't take it anymore so I fainted from the pain. I woke up in the morning, but I didn't know what day it was. I only knew that I was starving. I still felt pain in my arm but it was nothing compared to before. I could not move a muscle due to hunger and also added pain from my arm. I laid like this for couple of hours before the doors to the house opened and a middle aged woman came in with some food.

She placed it on a table next to the bed and left without saying anything. When she left and I looked at the food, I felt like a hungry wolf that had starved for two weeks. I somehow managed to use my right hand to grab some food and devoured it. The food was finished within seconds not minutes and I was not satisfied. At least it was hunger now not starvation, so it helped a bit.

I had nothing to do laying on the bed like that so I replayed the fight with the bear in my head. I found three crucial points that contributed towards my current situation. First, it was lack of experience and knowledge. I didn't know how to hunt properly or had knowledge about animals, medicine and so on. That was one of the crucial mistakes I made. Going into the forest inexperienced and without knowledge, hoping for the best was not a good idea. Second, I had no supplies. I was stupid enough to actually enter the forest without any type of supplies or basic tools. Now I understood that supplies were as important as my life. Third, lack of strength. I was simply too weak to travel alone.

When I thought about those three things I wasn't discouraged, no. I was more motivated. I wanted to explore my life even if I were to lose it and for that I will need knowledge, supplies and strength. Knowledge means to have an idea on how to do stuff and how to behave accordingly, this ties in with experience. I got experience already as I learned couple of things. This doesn't mean I'm experienced. Having someone to teach you how to do things is a good way to gain such knowledge, this then can turn into experience when you practice. The said someone will already know how to do certain things but you still need real life experiences like what I did. Just that I had no one to teach me first.

The options I now had were to either get someone to teach me otherwise maybe get some books on those subjects or continue the way I did but with more caution and mature mind.

Another issue with my traveling was supplies. I had no money. So finding a job, even low paid one would bring me some money to buy necessary supplies. Otherwise I could steal or something but I was not proficient in this kind of things, therefore I would probably get caught.

And last but not least was the strength. I thought 'There is no magical way to just get stronger' and I could get stronger only through hard work. Working out everyday and repeatedly training my skills.

All was nice and great but there was one problem with all of that. I now had a broken arm which was healing but broken. I was at a place I knew nothing about and the people who lived here… were not very friendly. I had no idea what they wanted to do with me and if they would just let me go after I'm healed. Because thinking about it, who would provide food and treatment for free. I had nothing on me that was valuable, so I could not pay them. I wondered 'What the hell might they want from me when I'm healed'.

The days passed like that. I couldn't regain my strength due to small amounts of food I was getting. The doctor that came once in a while just checked my condition and left without saying anything. Sometimes he would just apply some medicine on my hand again, then bandage it back and leave.

Two weeks passed like this. I didn't talk with anyone. Don't get me wrong, at the beginning I asked some questions and tried to talk but they all ignored me and only said what they wanted to say. So I gave up talking to them, I was less and less fond of these people. It was like a silent torture. After those two weeks I was indifferent to their behaviour. I stopped caring and decided to focus on my goals and my life.

After another two weeks, a month passed since I arrived in this village. I could now move my arm but there was still some discomfort in it. I guessed that it might had not full healed yet but it was at least not crippled.

On the day my arm healed to this stage, the doctor came again this time removing all the bandages and sticks while asking me "How does it feel?". I simply ignored him and moved my arm around. He got up and left but that was just the beginning.

After the old doctor left someone else came in. It was the old man who dragged me through the forest and threw me around with my broken arm like I was a rag doll. He looked at me and said "Now that you are better, you will work for us to pay your debt of us helping you with your injuries as well as the debt of us feeding you".

I knew they had some kind of motives, so they wanted me to work for them like a slave. I said to the old man "What if I refuse?" to that the old man raised his brows and said "We can just disable you and throw you back to the forest. Your choice"

I asked another question "What if I try to run?" to that question the old man just sneered and said "You can try". He then added "You will work for one year here, do whatever we tell you to do. Then you will be free to leave"

I thought to myself 'They may already have some kind of measures against me if I were to run away or if I disagreed they could just force me to work or kill me'. Then I remembered that my current goals were to gain knowledge, supplies and strength. All of that could be accomplished in this village. If I need to spend one year here, why not make it worth my while and train, get knowledge and try to accumulate some kind of supplies.

I said to the old man "Alright, I agree" to which he just smiled and left. I stayed in the bed for next couple of days to fully heal my arm and after that talk with the old man I got a bit bigger portions of food. Not a lot bigger but still. This would improve my hunger situation.

On the 6th day after the bandages from my arm were removed, the old man came again. This time He was holding some kind of paper. He threw the paper at me and said "Read it through. Those are the rules you will abide by and the tasks you will carry out." I looked at the list and my brows furrowed.