A butler and a driver were sitting in front of a carriage, guiding the horses forward, as a fancy carriage behind them.
The butler turned toward the driver.
"How much longer till we reach the capital?"
"It's about six days of travel till we reach the capital sir"
"I see, that's faster than I thought. Most people take about a week or a bit more"
"Hahaha, sir, there horses are mutants from House Rhinedotter"
"Oh really? Well, that explains the speed"
"Yes, our service takes pride in our horses and travel time"
"That's good. My young lady must reach the capital quickly"
"Oh? What important business do you have there?"
The butler sat up straighter, his voice oozing with pride.
"My young lady is attending Sylvester Academy"
"The academy for heroes?"
"That's the one"
"You must be so proud"
"Of course, my young lady is the genius of the Donnalinger House"
The driver almost stumbled out of his seat. He looked at the butler with wide eyes.
"What? Really? Then why even use our service? You guys should have hundreds of horses and hundreds of drivers, and what about guards?"
The butler turned a bit serious.
"My young lady is being cautious. That is all I can tell you"
The driver nodded and wisely chose to keep silent. They continued to move forward in comfortable silence, but they soon perked up as they heard a whistling sound.
The butler looked around, alert.
"What is that sound? Are we being targeted by an archer?"
He jumped down and took a stance, as the driver tensed up and held on to the reins tighter, pulling the horses to a halt.
Then a blur passed in front of them. A flash of blue before it had rushed passed them. So quickly they weren't even able to see what it was before it was gone. The only indicator it had even been there were the broken trees that now lied around their carriage.
The butler blinked.
"What was that?
The driver just stared. A young lady with silver-blue hair leaned out of the carriage.
"Manny, what happened? Why have we stopped? Did something happen?"
The butler turned to her.
"Uhh...N-no young lady, nothing happened"
He climbed back on the carriage and gestured for the driver to continue. The driver snapped the reins as the young lady sat back in properly.
Marcus continued to fly. He hadn't seen them, of course. He had shot past them so quickly he had barely registered that he had left the forest for a split second. Once he stopped finally, he had also decided on a plan of attack. He knew how he was gonna get his lunch-or dinner since so much time had passed by.
He looked around for another animal. It took awhile, but he finally found a bear. It was a weird bear with scales and spikes down it's spine, but it definitely looked like a bear and that's all he needed to know.
He ran towards it, before jumping into the air. He grinned as he punched its head down into the ground. He didn't hit it too hard, but just enough.
"Concussion!"
As he roared the name of his 'technique', he shot straight into the air.
"and..."
Then gravity did its job. He started falling back towards the ground.
"Cannon ball!"
The bar pulled its head out of the ground, completely unaware of the human meteor falling right where it stood. Marcus crashed right into its spine, headfirst, and the bear cried in pain and surprise before its spine snapped and its middle was crushed.
Then it died, really quickly. It was over. Marcus had finally found a way to hunt, but before he could eat, he still had to learn how to properly cook it.
But as he lay on top of the body, covered in the blood of his prey, he allowed himself to burst into a fit of giggles and laughter.
He had done it. He had hunted his own food. Even with his cursed ability. Even though the elders in the village and his friends always told him he was strong but incredibly stupid. He had won against a powerful animal in the forest.
His eyes shone as he looked at the stars above his head, but his celebration was cut short by a loud grumble from his stomach.
"Alright, alright, I'm getting to it"
He got up and gathered as many dried sticks and dry leaves as he could. The elders used to do this to make bonfires during festivals, but in large quantities. He could make a small fire if he just did it in a smaller scale.
Once he had made a pile with it. He decided to first prepare the meat before starting the fire. He tore off the skin with his bare hands, since he didn't have any tools.
Halfway through the process, he looked at himself. He was completely reddish-brown, covered in both fresh and dried blood. He looked completely horrifying, and the meat was definitely bloody and dirty. He would not be able to eat this, and he didn't necessarily want to eat looking like this either.
So he tore off as much meat as he could, that he had been able to skin. He hadn't skinned it well, but it didn't have any skin on it and that's all he needed. He carried it with him as he searched for water.
It took him a while, but he finally did find a river after, in his words, what felt like 5 days. I'm sure he was exaggerating but I wasn't there so I'm letting him have it.
He washed himself and the meat and since he could not be bothered to find his initial pile meant for fire (and because he was hopelessly lost) he just made a new one. He succeeded in making a fire after around 50 tries and finally stabbed a stick through the meat and roasted it over the fire.
He cried tears of relief and joy when he took his first bite. It wasn't really good, of course. He had never cooked before, so the meat wasn't cooked all the way round, it was kinda raw and slightly chewy, but to him it was the most heavenly meal he had ever had in his life.
And that is story of how Marcus got a meal.