"There will be no need for that, I'm sure I will be fine" Autharyx says with a smile. His mind is already half in the forest as he wonders how he should get that elk he promised. Yesterday had come rather closer to being an embarrassment than he likes, and he's eager to impress Viltez where he had failed before. Logically he knows that the opinion of a mortal means nothing to him - even if it does concern a rather interesting mortal. Least of all now that he is inhabiting a fragile human form. If anything it should please him to know that a human form does not instil the same amount of awe as his proper form. 

He he pushes the line of thought from his mind as he waves his host goodbye. It may be a bit... disconcerting to realise how much he cares about the beast-man's opinion, but he is sure it's just a side-effect of inhabiting a mortal form himself. Mortals care about each other's opinions all the time, it's probably some kind of defence mechanism to force them to band together against the dangers the world poses.

He looks at the forest, hesitating for a moment before going back inside to grab a couple of supplies. He knows he doesn't strictly need anything, but he can't very well carry his prey back here in his true form, what with the proximity of the town and all. He digs up a coil of rope from a cupboard for the purpose of transporting his catch, and decides to take the bow and arrows as well. Might as well look the part of the hunter if he's going to go into the forest, he decides as he wraps the supplies in a bundle for carrying.

Thankfully he doesn't meet anyone on the path to the forest, so he his free to let his mind - and his perception- wander a bit. With Viltez around he's always made sure to keep himself settled firmly into his mortal body since he isn't eager to be found out as anything but mortal. Now, though, he is free to let his senses bleed out a little beyond the confines of mortal flesh, and he can almost feel the energies of the forest prick up at his passing. He's still looking through his eyes and listening through his ears, but now he can also [i]feel[/i] the pulse of life around him. It's familiar in a way he hadn't realised he missed, and for the moment he doesn't think about the purpose he set for himself as he makes his way deeper and deeper into the forest. 

Even though he's only shedding a little part of his mortal veneer, it's easy to fall into the familiar patterns of his timeless existence. Now that he's reaching out to the energies around him again, the gentle roll and pull of the sky above the treetops is a familiar rhythm in the back of his mind. There is life all around him on the forest floor as well, skittering through the underbrush and flitting through the leaves and branches at higher levels. At first they scatter at the sound of his footsteps, but as time passes Autharyx falls into the rhythm of the nature around him and the tiny mortal pinpricks of life pay him less attention. There are bigger beast too, this deep into the forest. A family of boars is digging up a dead stump to the north, to the great dismay of the badger that has her burrow situated there. There's a clearing off to the side, the verdant grass a lure that pulls normally-shy grazers out into the open. There's a family of deer, and even a young elk quietly grazing at the edge.

Autharyx frowns slightly, blinking a couple of times as he pulls his thoughts away from the tangle of energies around him. An elk... He is looking for an elk... As he focuses on the thought, he also starts to notice his body more. He feels... cold now that he thinks about it. The trees are blocking out most of the light from the sky, and he's been walking for... It's been pretty long, hasn't it? He can't see the sun, but he knows it must be past noon by now and he's been wandering the forest for hours. He's never thought to divide the day up in something as insignificant as 'hours' before, but time passes so much differently for mortals than it does for him. 

A shiver passes through his spine entirely separate from the cold he is feeling. Never mind 'hours' - for most of his existence 'days' barely had any meaning as well. He'd notice the seasons - and then he might have missed plenty here and there. Humans had always seemed so hurried, rushing around their little lives before they disappeared forever. He had never cared about it before, but now the thought settles uncomfortably in his chest. 

It had been so very easy to fall back into the flow of the world and the hours that had passed had felt like no time at all. What if he hadn't remembered? How long then before he would have thought to check back in with Viltez? Days? Weeks? Maybe even years? The knot in his chest tightens even further at the thought. Viltez is already so certain that Autharyx will leave him, so he probably wouldn't even be surprised if he'd stayed away. Just... resigned.

With that thought Autharyx find himself filled with a nervous energy. He won't be the cause for that resignation in Viltez, not if he can help it. His original idea had been to catch himself some game in his true form, but the thought has since lost all its appeal. If he just lost hours by letting himself bleed into the world a bit more, who's to say if he will have a good grasp of time in his true form? He hadn't even considered the possibility before, but now that he does he can't even remember if he ever really registered the passing of time in his true form as he does now.

He has had dealings with humans before, of course, but had he adapted to their time schedule? Thinking back he cant even remember if he'd been able to tell the humans apart, so there is really no way of knowing. Though being on completely different schedules would explain why the humans always seemed so impatient to him, always complaining when he went out or told them to come back 'later'. 

The cold is settling in properly now that he is standing still, and it's making his already sore muscles stiff. He can't sense the boars or deer or elk any more, and he doesn't dare reach out again. The thoughts impressing Viltez with game have fallen away completely, and now he just wants to make sure he gets back to the house before his host will have time to worry.

Finding the way back proves to be more difficult than he had hoped. He's not familiar at all with human ways of navigating the forest, and every time he reaches out to find the direction he needs to go in, he jerks himself fully back into his mortal shell before he can get lost again. Travelling is also a lot more tedious now that he's aware of the time, and he feels clumsy and unwieldy as he struggles through bushes and over fallen logs.

Eventually he does manage to find a path, and the progress gets slightly easier after that. It's still already starting to get dark by the time he's back at Viltez' house with nothing to show for his efforts. He can't quite bring himself to care about that, though, as his nerves pick up again when he nears the cabin. It had only been a single day, hadn't it? Surely he would have noticed a night passing?

He knows he must look slightly... wild by now. The trek through the woods hasn't been kind on his clothes, and he's guessing he has a some light scratches here and there as well from when he'd had no choice but to push through that wall of brambles. Worst of all must be the look in his eyes, though. He's been keeping himself carefully mortal, but  can't (won't?) tamper down on the tread of anxiety that has been weaving its way through his mind the whole way back. How long had Viltez expected him to be gone? Surely he won't have been worried already? 

Whatever the outcome, there is no sense in putting it off. When eh reaches the door, he raises his hand to knock on the solid wood.