This is just gunna be a little short story I might make a comic of later. Idk. :P
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     I tucked the cape over my shoulders as I stood there, still as a tree. The orange sunset rest before me. From the top of the tall hill I could see tree after tree after tree after tree. They stretched endlessly. Paranoid as I was that this world would never end, or that one day I would suddenly fall off of it, it was comforting all the same to know I would never truly get bored with my surroundings.

     A sigh. I decided it would be here on this hill that I would build a little shelter. It wouldn't be a permanent one. None of them were, but it would protect me when night came.

     I stacked a bunch of wood planks on top of each other to form short term walls, and stretched logs over the bunch to create my roof. By the time I was done, I couldn't decide which was stronger: my hunger or my lost sense of spacial awareness. Either way, I would get nothing done in this state. Not even sleep! As I closed the crude oak door behind me, I furnished the small space with a single furnace. Inside of it, I cooked some chicken breast over an annoyingly selfish furnace, which constantly begged for validation from me by stoking its fizzling coals. When I could finally step away, I untied my torn old cape from around my neck and set it over the grass to the furnace's left... Yep. That was my bed.

     After a dry meal of overcooked chicken, a slice of watermelon, and a beetroot someone left on the ground, I sat in contentment, stomach full enough.. and laid on my little gray blanket for the night.

     I woke up in the night with severe pain. Quickly, I sat up and kicked off my boots. Drats, they were getting worse! Dark purple stains covered my feet, crawling up my ankles slowly. I had no idea what to do about them. Only that holding them by the fire seemed to combat the burning pain just enough. So, in an attempt to help myself and go back to sleep, I rolled up my pant sleeves, woke the fire once more, and laid in an awkward kind of position, too cramped in the small house to stretch out now. At least, the actual heat of the fire masked the burning pain in my toes and feet... The purple almost made it look like I had frostbite. Except, of course, I knew it couldn't be that bad... The pain completely faded away after a while. Direct contact with the air must have helped it. All that remained was a strange tingle that crawled around the ends of my limbs.

      I was too tired to think about what all of this meant. Too numb to consider it had anything to do with that dragon... Too weak to think there was a way I could get rid of it.

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     The next morning, I disassembled my little house and set off again to wander some more. I tucked my boots into my inventory this time, since it pained me to wear them at all now. That meant I was restricted to walking on grass alone. No more rocky terrain. Hhh... I liked the mountains... That, and I would have to be extra careful every time I took a step. My bare feet weren't exactly used to being free, and so had almost no protection from sticks and random stones.

     I journeyed westward for a time, slowly on foot.

     About two years ago, I probably would have been excited to spot a village. Might have traded with them, or simply plucked a couple potatoes from their gardens myself to feed my hungry mouth, but now...

     My blank gaze overlooked the bright, happy day resting over the frolicking villagers outside. The children played tag and the adults talked casually, only occasionally working. I didn't realize how long I had been staring until a green robed villager noticed me. He was all alone, circling the village perimeters before his eyes at last landed on me.

     "Hur!" In fright, he called for the others. None of them took notice of his cries, however. Lucky for me. I immediately shushed in his direction, signaling with my hands and face that I was of no harm to him or the others. After a moment of the villager confusingly staring at me, I realized this was a great time to take my chances.

     I pulled out an emerald. That seemed to get his attention. As I tossed the emerald into the grass by my feet, I swiftly dug through my inventory for a sign. Aha! I found one, quickly pulling it out to write on.

     " 'I'll trade for food.' " I wrote in what I hoped would be their language. The villager leaned in a little closer, wide eyed. He recognized the letters and the words they formed! But then he looked down at his green robe and sighed.

     "Hurr..." He pouted. I stood there thinking for a moment. I didn't want to make a commotion, but, at the same time... I had too many useless emeralds and far too little food. His head rose again when he heard me me scribbling.

     " 'Just trade half of these emeralds with the others.' " I offered, tossing him nearly half of my stash. Was I being a little too trusting? Yeah. But it would be even harder to go hunting with the condition my feet were in. " 'Tell them you will pay the other half later. Then, give the food to me and I will give you the rest.' " There. Now, we both had to trust each other for this transaction.

     "Hur hurr?" The villager questioned. I tilted my head and shrugged, letting him know I couldn't understand what he was saying. Though a little iffy about the whole situation, me just asking for food wasn't suspicious enough to call for help about. So, after some thinking, the villager nodded. I backed away some as he rushed forward to pick up the emeralds, quickly evading my imaginary attack with a role over his shoulder. We both stayed clear of the other, carefully watching each other's movements. After a slow second, the green robed villager smiled and ran off.

     I sat around for about an hour, wondering why he was taking so long... Had he really stolen my emeralds? Hhhh... Guess I would need to start hu-

     "Hur!" The green robed villager suddenly bound back, arms full of food. Potatoes, beetroots, bread, cooked meat, anything really! My mouth watered at the sight. Mentally slapping myself in the face, I knew I would have to conserve a majority of it for later if I ever wanted the food to last long. But still... I could smell it already.

     The villager carefully set all of the delectable treats down on a piece of cloth, then backed away. I, more carelessly, tossed the villager the rest of my emeralds, pouncing over the food to quickly pick it all up. Holding the four corners of the light blue cloth full of food in one hand, I pulled a loaf of bread from it with the other and began munching right away.

     The green robed villager stared at me, seemingly in a daze as I downed the filling loaf of bread. My stomach growled happily as I stood there, only a few feet away from the villager. I suddenly snapped back when he took a step towards me. Like a fearful animal, I scurried a few steps away. That was easily enough to let him know I had no intentions to stay any longer around this village and its inhabitants.

     "Hurr?" The villager tilted his head. I just kept my two watchful blue eyes on him as I chewed. I didn't want to get too comfortable around any other villages again, only to then accidentally bring about its doom. That, just...wasn't my thing...

     After a moment of us just standing there on edge, I stood straighter, stepped back, and waved a goodbye. The villager, cautiously, did the same...

     I left without a word more spoken between us. Unfortunately for me, it was already getting dark, so I had to build a little shelter not far from the village in the end. At least...I didn't hurt anyone.

     ...This time.