Where the hell am I?

Gazing from atop the tree he’d climbed he scoured the landscape around him. To say that he was in the ‘wilderness’ would be an understatement, as the world around him was entirely different from anything he’d ever seen before. Trees so large they nearly touched the clouds, the sound of beasts roaring and the lack of any kind of human life anywhere he could see. Let alone a city, there weren’t even any outposts he could see from his vantage point. His search for Lilliha had also turned up useless, as the woman had either flown away or had turned herself invisible, again.

That invisibility magic is bullshit, I wouldn’t even be able to find her if I wanted to if she was using it. Also, how is it my fault for walking in on you when you’re in the shower when you can turn invisible? Not like you lock the damn door… getting off topic here.

His constant throbbing irritation aside, he could easily tell that Lilliha had dropped him somewhere far, far away from humanity. And where the cities weren’t, the beasts were. As proven by the numerous roars and the sound of the smaller animals scattering around him. He didn’t expect any of the beasts to be able to truly hurt him anymore, whether that was arrogance or fact would only be proven through actually meeting one, but he wasn’t entirely gung-ho about testing his theory.

Albeit, knocking a few wolves out would be a good way to let off some pent up frustration from that wolf fight… maybe later.

Scouting the land around him had almost proven entirely fruitless, until he saw what looked like massive amounts of steam or vapor of some kind rising from somewhere south of where he was. The trees blocked most of his sight of whatever was causing it but the knowledge that there was a possible source of water, something he’d definitely need if Lilliha planned on leaving him out here longer than a day or two, was encouraging.

The chances of me stumbling across an outpost here is slim to none, if I get stuck out here for a month I am going to need water to drink. Scouting out that mist might just cause me to stumble across a massive tar pit, or it might be a geyser or something. Either way, I won’t know until I get there.

Judging from the distance it was at least a few kilometers away from him, and he bet he could make it in a few hours at most. As long as he didn’t come across a literal dragon or something there was very little that could actually deter him.

Making sure he’d mentally mapped the direction to the mist he looked down towards the forest floor. He had originally intended to simply climb down, but then he got a different idea.

I easily fell twice this distance and it barely even hurt. ‘Terminal Velocity’ only really applies to baseline humans, I think… I wonder if I can stick the landing?

Hyping himself up for a moment he took a deep breath, his lungs expanding enough that he was almost worried they would pop, before exhaling and taking a small leap off of the branch.

The leap was easy, the fall was more surprising than he gave it credit for however.

As he began his fall time began to slow, not as much as it had during his fight against the beast but enough that he could register it. It lasted long enough for him to blink, before the effect ceased and he was sent plummeting full speed towards the ground. While it had been jarring, he’d already ‘studied’ the effects of Ascending, and how it affected one's perception of time so he didn’t feel the need to panic.

It didn’t help him stay focused on landing safely, however.

Hitting the ground with enough force to leave an impact crater on the ground he bent his knees on impact, softening the landing as much as possible. The tremors that shook his body were painless, but made his knees feel like he’d just taken a crowbar to the both of them. Dirt and foliage flew away from his landing area, and he knew from the tearing sound his pants had given off that he was going to need a new pair when he got home.

Luckily the pain left as soon as it arrived, and he was left standing in the small crater he’d created.

Fuck yeah, superhero landing for the win!

Dusting himself off while laughing he walked away from the small crater he’d created before moving towards the direction of the mist.

Hopefully it’s water, and hopefully there aren’t any giant crocodiles or some shit protecting it.

----------------------

Fuck this place!

Falling for what felt like the hundredth time rolled, before leaping back to his feet and continuing his march forward.

He’d grown used to the constant maneuvering around obstacles, namely massive trees wider than a house and nearly as tall as some of the skyscrapers inside the city, but the constant, almost purposeful, pitfalls he’d encountered were beginning to infuriate him to no end.

He could be anywhere, next to a tree, on flat grass, even on top of a rock, and suddenly he’d discover the land beneath him had been trapped by something.

The first few times he thought it was an accident, after that he thought it was people and had almost gotten hopeful, then he’d fallen into a larger pit with a massive snake inside it.

He might be superhuman, but a snake the size of a dog was still terrifying.

Some of the animals within the forest were obvious ambush predators, like snakes, massive birds, Altered cats and dogs who hadn’t fully mutated into wolves or lions, the like. And a vast majority of the ambush predators had obviously become accustomed to using traps.

What that said about their growing intelligence, and the future of humanity, was something he could debate with Lilliha later. For now however he just had to make sure he checked his corners, and his footing. The constant caution had lowered the amount of times he’d fallen into traps, but it had also slowed him down to a snail's pace.

If I don’t get to that water soon it’s going to get dark, then I’ll be moving even slower.

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While the prospect of moving at night wasn’t appealing, it wasn’t something that would stop him anymore. His vision had improved by leaps and bounds, proven by the fact that even with the blinds closed and the lights off he rarely bumped into anything in his apartment at night, let alone in an open forest with moonlight to illuminate the area for him.

The fact his eyes somehow glowed a blackish purple when he looked at himself in the mirror didn’t help however.

More traps, practically every thirty feet at this point.

Jumping over a relatively obvious pitfall trap he landed on the root of a tree, before hopping further away from the attempted ambush. While he doubted anything inside could hurt him, getting covered in even more dirt and meeting face to face with some wild animal was unpleasant, and slowed him down considerably.

Coming to a stop on a patch of grass close to the tree he looked up towards the sky, making sure he was still going in the correct direction. He’d already made the mistake of going solely off of ‘forward’ when he’d accidentally looped around in a circle, twice in a row, and had begun using the sun’s position in the sky as a marker.

If someone had told him a year ago he’d be in the forest using ye-olde-timey-direction skills he would have called them an idiot, or assumed they were setting him up for a joke, but here he was - covered in dirt, almost entirely lost, and somewhat unsure whether or not he was even on earth anymore.

It really did sound like the set up to a bad joke, one with a punchline that made people want to laugh out of pity rather than amusement.

Following his ‘guide’ towards his goal he continued his journey throughout the wilderness. After an hour or so he began passing flowers that on any other day he would at the very least snap a picture of when he came across a few smaller animals. With pure white fur they somewhat resembled the combination of a fox and a rabbit. With rabbit-like legs, the head of a fox, and twin tails, the little creature was almost cute enough to make him forget his situation.

He stopped to watch the small critters eat a few of the berries, before their ears perked up and they turned to look at him. Gazing at him for a moment they tilted their heads side to side, judging him. He expected them to run, or at the very least to just turn around and keep eating the small berries on the bush like they had before he interrupted them.

Instead one of them hopped towards him until they were only a dozen or so meters away from each other. Sniffing him from a distance the Rabbit/fox hybrid thumped its small feet on the ground before sneezing.

It’s adorable, I wonder if the city sells these as pets? If not I bet a few of these would go for a damn mint to some of the wealthier people in the city center. What would you even call them? Fabbits? No that sounds too close to a slur, maybe ‘Roxes?’ Sounds like a stripper name…

Crouching down to eye level he attempted to coax it over by gently patting the ground in front of him and speaking gently. He’d never owned a fox, or a rabbit, as both were nearly extinct in the modern day, but he’d had friends who owned dogs before. Maybe they worked similarly?

The rox thumped the ground in front of him again in response to his patting and for a moment he wondered if he’d actually manage to get it to come over, before it opened its mouth.

To call it a ‘mouth’ would be a mischaracterization, it was a gaping maw. The rox nearly widened its jaws to the height of its body, and the inside was entirely made of small, needle-like teeth.

What the fuck?

His reactions were much faster than before he Ascended, and even faster now that he’d been able to ‘link up’ properly with his Symbiote. When the animal had begun to open its mouth his arm had sent heat throughout his body in a warning, which he hadn’t reacted to immediately. Call it unfamiliarity with his Symbiote, call it carelessness, either way he hadn’t taken the warning to heart. Once its mouth had widened far beyond what he knew was normal however he had immediately done his best to create distance between the two of them.

His ‘best’ being that he leapt from his crouching position backwards in an attempt to get as far away from the small animal as possible, but he hadn’t been fast enough.

Within half a second of it opening its mouth it let out an ear piercing screech loud enough to deafen even low level Altereds. Even he felt the repercussions of the blast for a moment as his ears began ringing, and his balance became skewed.

Many people don’t account for the fact that a vast majority of a person's balance came from the small vestibular organs in their ears, and when they are damaged by exceedingly loud noises, such as explosions, or mutant animal screeches, they tend to be damaged, causing one to lose their sense of balance for a short period of time, or even permanently if the damage is bad enough.

Maybe the beast evolved specifically for that purpose, or maybe the screech was just a way to debilitate attackers for them to run away, either way it didn’t bode well for anyone caught within its range.

Landing several meters from his initial location he landed on his back, rolling several times until he managed to stop himself and get to his hands and knees. Attempting to stand through the blurred vision and ringing ears proved fruitless for several moments, as his body attempted to heal the damage to his ears.

What the hell was that? Magic? I know some of the more powerful beasts can do some wild shit, but a damn rox? I guess size doesn’t equate to strength when it comes to beasts.

Looking forward he tried to focus, forcing his body into overdrive, familiar heat spreading from his chest to his eyes and ears, so he could get his sight and balance back. Fortunately by the time he had managed to recover the small creatures were already long gone.

Scanning the area around him he slowly stood up, making sure to keep himself appearing as stable as possible. While he didn’t think the beasts were strong enough to kill him, the fact that a single one of their screams was enough to knock him on his ass was worrying enough, what a dozen of the things could do wouldn’t be pleasant, to say the least.

The last time I try to have a ‘disney princess’ moment in this place, next time might end up with me in the jaws of some bear or something.

Once he was sure the little monsters were gone he sighed in relief. Putting his hands on the sides of his head he let out a slow moan of exasperation.

“This place is just doing it’s best to fuck with me, isn’t it? Mutant animals, traps, fucking magical rabbit-foxes that screech my damn ears out?!”

Throwing his hands down he spat onto the ground, a small amount of blood coming out along with the unhealthy amount of phlegm that had either been dislodged from somewhere or created by the screech.

“Fuck this place.”

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“Gettin’ real tired of this shit!”

Running along the forest floor he jumped, grabbing onto a tree branch before using it to throw himself over another trap. Landing beyond it he continued his mad sprint, the heavy sound of thumping behind him following him closely.

The sound of branches breaking, foliage being thrown to the side or stomped flat followed him, and he knew he didn’t want to be caught by the thing causing the destruction.

He had been minding his business, having crossed the halfway mark of his journey as the sun began to dim, when he came across more of the small roxes, the same ones in fact. He’d intended to go around them, not eager to revisit the sonic attack they had hit him with before, when they began squeaking before hopping away.

He’d thought that was the end, they thought they’d killed him and when he came back they got scared off and ran from the ‘walking corpse’. How wrong he’d been.

Traveling for another few minutes he’d begun to feel soft vibrations, from the ground this time, traveling throughout his body. He’d originally stopped, trying to figure out if it was some kind of earthquake or something, when he was nearly stomped flat by a rox the size of a short bus.

Bigger, badder, and with a size that definitely implied it was the mama-rox of the group, it was here and it was pissed.

While it had missed him by a couple feet, the sudden arrival and near-deadly assault had surprised him more than he cared to admit, and it had taken him too long to react, again, before he’d begun running away. It had taken him two seconds to react, and half a second for the Rox Mother to correct the course towards him, covering the six meter distance almost instantly.

With a leap it drop-kicked him, like something out of an action movie, sending him careening nearly a hundred meters into a tree trunk. The impact shocked him again, but the impact itself had only hurt as much as the average fall would have beforehand. His back burned lightly, his head probably had a bump where it slammed into the tree, and he was sure the entire front part of his body was one giant paw-print, but overall he was fine.

What wasn’t fine was the Rox Mother that had immediately begun rushing him in an attempt to finish the job.

Which was how he got into the situation he was currently in.

Running, jumping, using low hanging branches to throw himself in different directions, and constantly trying to think of a way to get the Rox Mother to go away.

He’d tried running, he’d tried hiding, he’d tried climbing the damn trees. But it was only a tad slower than him, always catching up when he thought he’d gotten away, had decent enough senses to sniff him out when he hid, and could easily jump from branch to branch to catch him when he was in the trees.

By the time he’d gotten to his current predicament, having dashed into an open clearing he’d just about had enough of the cat and mouse game.

I can’t run, as it’s nearly as fast as me. I can’t hide, because it can smell me from a mile off. I can’t even climb the damn trees because they can jump like forty feet in the air easily… All I have left is to fight back.

It’s either me or it, right? No more time for this hide-and-chase bullshit.

He turned around, preparing himself as the Rox Mother charged toward him.

Lets get this over with already.