Awoken by the giant branch I’m under rocking a bit and putting pressure on me. Three hours until sunrise pops into my mind. I open my eyes and hear a clicking sound only a few feet from me. I know it’s the dead of night under a canopy that’s blocking whatever light is in the sky but I can still kind of see. Munching on the green leaves on top of the branch is a giant beetle or ant and there’s more than one. I slowly reach for my spear and grab it and try to stay silent while watching them. They seem like giant ants and I can see about a dozen. Most of them are around two feet tall up to their shoulders. A few are over three feet tall and seem more armored.
One of the small ones spots me and a few clicks later I am being investigated. The smaller ants back off from me as four of the larger ants get closer to me. They clearly see me as a threat so I strike first. I jump up and shove my spear at the one crawling down the branch. I impale it in one of its large eyes. Yanking the spear free ant innards and pheromones covers me and around me while it freaks out and falls next to me. The other three all attack at once. I jab my spear into the closest one and it gets lodged in the ants head. Deep enough to get stuck but not deep enough to kill. It starts thrashing and retreating as another ant clasps down on my leg just above the knee. I’m forced to let go of the spear and scream in pain. The third ant attacks the spear that’s harming the other ant. The ant latched onto my leg starts forcing me to move as I grab my Bowie and slam it down into its head.
Loud creaking and rumbling halt the fight. All the ants pause their movement then a second later more creaking and rumbling makes the ants break away from me and retreat. All but the dead ones. A large dead ant is still clasped to my leg as the rumbling and creaking gets closer.i wiggle and pull my knife free and sheathe it then try to pull the mandibles apart to free my leg to no avail. The creaking and rumbling gets more intense with every second. I use my Bowie and jam it into one of the mandibles. I yank the knife down, chopping the mandible off freeing me and all my blood. Instantly lightheaded and in serious pain I take a few steps back and I see it.
The outline of a giant tree moving. Its top is almost touching the canopy hundreds of feet high and it’s headed my way. I limp over to the giant tree the branch I slept under must have belonged to and rested on it. Sweaty, bloody, and covered in giant ant guts I remove my torn pants and wipe myself the best I can. I save a bit of my cleanest parts of my cargo pants for bandages for my wound I have been scared to even look at. I finally look at it and I can physically see it healing and I take note that that force should have broken my thigh bone. Uh the femur. I go to use my belt as a tourniquet and when I do I notice the healing process slows down instead of helping. With the adrenaline wearing off the pain starts to truly set in. It is by far the most painful thing I have ever gone through. My leg just above the knee was almost completely severed down to the bone on both sides. So this is what Magar meant when he said I would be tougher. Strong, maybe unbreakable bones and fast healing.
The creaking is now deafening and the rumbling now feels like a full on earthquake as the walking tree passes by. It clearly doesn’t care about me still hugging the massive tree. Mentally in equal parts awe and terror I thought something hundreds of feet tall shouldn’t be alive or moving. It takes about an hour for my leg to heal enough to walk again but I’m now freezing because I’m just in my briefs and belt.
Less than one hour until sunrise. Stop,think, observe, and plan. I notice my senses feel even better than yesterday. I can smell the musty forest and the ant pheromones still on me. I can hear the canopy waking up and the noise is clearer and more distinguished. My eyes are also noticeably sharper and I can see better in the night but it could be getting light now. I also feel full of energy, like I could jog all day. The plan for day two is to find water or an amazing shelter. Maybe even clothes? I take a look around the nearest branch for my next spear to widdle away on as I continue my trek north. At around midday the terrain starts changing from barren dirt to more rocky with underbrush scattered about. The massive trees also start spreading farther and farther apart causing breaks in the canopy. Through one of the breaks in the canopy I saw the sky and sun for the first time. It takes my breath away. The star seems larger than the sun is on earth and it’s much more red. The sky still looks blue, just a shade redder than earth’s sky.
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A few minutes later I heard it. The lifeblood of the known universe. Running water. Where there’s water there’s life and if the life I’ve seen so far is anything to go by, I need to go slowly and carefully. I walk slowly toward the sound of the water for what feels like ages in my excitement and caution. It’s a nice sized river and very deep. The water is pretty clean and clear looking though. The canopy overhangs much of the river. Slowly I walked to the edge of the water. My mind is racing and images of crocodiles shooting out of the water and striking prey enter my head but I keep going forward quietly. I crouch down at the water’s edge and cup some water in my hands and take a sip. It’s the best water I’ve ever tasted. Looking into the clear water I see fish that look normal to me but probably weigh more than me. I quickly rinse myself and my shoes off before deciding which way to follow the river. How do humans live here….maybe they don’t.
I decided to stay away from the river but keep it in eyesight and to follow it to the north west. After an hour of slowly following the river mostly west a streak in the sky catches my attention. I focus and see the largest bird I’ve ever seen fly down through the gap in the canopy and dive into the water. An ear piercing hawk type scream shakes me to the core as It hit the water and flew off with what looked like a bus sized trout. Humans definitely don’t live here. The humans of earth wouldn’t let things that dangerous live near them. Slowly building the nerve to move again I continue north west following near the river. It seems during the day that the forest floor is calm and quiet. Either that or the life in the forest is so stealthy I haven’t seen or heard them yet.
After a while the ground gets more and more rocky and the vegetation and underbrush starts filling the forest floor so I get a bit closer to the water. The massive trees seem to be getting smaller and smaller and more sparse. Only a few hours until sundown now and I start seeing the river open up to a large lake. Slowly like always now I head down to the lake. With no canopy over my head I can see the whole sky for the first time and it looks so familiar yet different. Everything just feels a shade off or too big or small. Glancing over the lake I can barely see the other side and it seems like something man made or creature made I guess might be over there. It might even just be a creature. It is definitely not natural but it seems like walls. There’s not enough time to get there so shelter and since I’m basically naked and it’s cooler here I’ll need a fire tonight if it feels safe enough. Looking around I spot about one hundred and fifty feet off the lake shore and before the edge of the forest there’s a group of rocks that have a V like crevice and another rock in the back forming basically three rock walls. I scavenge some wood and leaves to make a nice pad to sleep on in the crevice and make a solid roof on top of the rocks. I also build a fire pit and prepare a fire but don’t light it. During the scavenging I found another great stick for whittling into a backup spear. Less than an hour until sundown I head to the river for a drink and return to my makeshift shelter.
The bedding is actually quite comfy. I can feel the day’s walk and all the sore muscles sighing in relief as I lay there. Replaying the day’s events and thinking about what tomorrow brings. Investigating the wall-like structure across the lake is my best bet.
Trying to keep my thoughts off food I eventually my mind slowly drifts to thoughts of how my wife is doing, “Scry Maria.” An image of Maria who is clearly sad is sitting on the couch next to a very upset looking Lisa. She doesn’t seem upset at Maria. Regret is all over Maria’s face as she’s cradling her wedding ring on her finger. Lisa isn’t wearing her wedding ring. It occurs to me that Maria is expecting me home tomorrow. With that thought I slowly drift to sleep.