CHAPTER 3: FINALE!

The light continued to dim and with it the temperature dropped sharply. Lucas passed a shallow depression in the ground full of thick shrubs. It could at least be a place to hide if he found nothing else. He wasn't exactly sure what he was hoping to find. He could try hiding in the ruins where he had first woken up, or find an entrance into the massive structure under the hill. It was decent shelter, but he might wake up with some organs missing if one of those robots came looking for more samples.

‘A cave, or even a hollow tree would be ideal.’

Twilight settled in and the birds above the canopy began to go quiet. A damp chill was seeping out of everything and Lucas huddled his arms around his bare chest, rubbing himself as he walked. It wasn't long till the last hint of sunlight was gone. The moon proved to be bright and strong however, at least when he moved into areas where the open sky showed through the treetops.

Lucas stopped. There was a very thick section of forest ahead and the gloom there was so dense that he couldn't make out anything past a few metres. He hadn't found shelter of any kind, and the shallow depression was looking like the best of a bad set of options. Fatigue swept over his body and he was tempted to just slump against a tree where he was. With a shudder he turned and started back, the forest was so dark now that he wouldn't have been able to find the place without his Map.

Lucas pressed his way into the thick shrubs, wincing as he scraped through dry, grasping branches. He tried not to think about what creatures might prowl about in the dark as he settled into the deepest part of the foliage. It turned out not to be that easy. There was no room for him to lie down in any natural position.

The best he could manage, after squirming and shifting amongst the shrubs, was to lie on his side twisted between the gnarly roots. The uncomfortable position wasn't the worst of it, his body heat quickly drained into the damp earth and decaying leaves. He was immensely grateful for his pants but started shivering violently, clutching his bare chest. To distract himself from the discomfort he pulled up his character sheet to look it over.

[https://i.imgur.com/ECD9UbO.jpg]

He had been regenerating Mana. He had been using Analyse on everything, but it only cost Mana when used on creatures or people according to the tooltip. At some point it would be important to test how fast his Mana regenerated. His newest skill, Detect Aura was there. Sensing the details were being summarised, he focused on it until a more detailed description popped up.

[https://i.imgur.com/mpmef4p.jpg]

The Spriggan’s Aura gave off feelings of peaceful curiosity as it milled about in the bushes, projecting what was going on in its mind. The part about the patterns, he supposed, was related to the Nexus of Anger he found earlier. He looked at his stats next; Strength, Agility and Spirit. Strength and Agility explained themselves somewhat but he pulled up the details on them anyway.

[https://i.imgur.com/Nw49Dqi.jpg]

Progress implied he would get stronger. He wasn't far from 100%, so he would find out soon enough what happened. His body had been quickly developing more muscle definition. He had pushed his muscles to the limit and exhausted himself several times today so if his feet got tough from walking it made sense he was getting stronger from the exertion. He looked over the other two stats.

[https://i.imgur.com/tQhW30p.jpg]

[https://i.imgur.com/6HSJUN3.jpg]

Auras were starting to make sense, but Mana was a bit of a mystery. He looked closer at the Mana count on his character sheet.

[https://i.imgur.com/lfcgItQ.jpg]

That description was loaded with implications. It seemed that he did need to eat, and the food would power his Mana regeneration. The pattern part he was becoming familiar with, but it wasn't just the forming of a Nexus; that was also how he developed new Abilities and even how he could increase his stats, like Strength.

Lucas was reading over it again when he was interrupted by a sudden bout of uncontrollable shivering. The cold damp ground was draining heat out of his body at an alarming rate. He squirmed to reach down and put on his Grandpa Shoes, they were at least a little protection. He pulled up his inventory to check if there was anything else that might help. There he saw the Badger Pelt and pulled it out. One side was slick with blood and grease, but the other was densely furred. It wasn't large enough to be an effective blanket, but it was at least something to drape over his exposed torso. Being from a warm climate and living his whole life in climate controlled houses meant he had zero experience with surviving in a cold wilderness. Still, he knew that hypothermia would kill him if his body temperature kept falling.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Shoes, pants and badger leather were not enough. Something had to be done. Simply getting up off the ground turned out to be one of the hardest and most painful experiences of his life. His body was wracked with pain as he forced cold stiff muscles through the awkward process of extracting himself from his tangled position amongst the bushes. A fire was guaranteed to bring unwanted attention in such a monster infested forest and he was too weak to fight. Also, he didn't know if it would work. Seeing it done in a movie didn't mean he could do it in real life.

Perhaps the moistness of the ground was the biggest problem. Slowly, he got to his feet, his arms wrapped tightly around him. When the slight breeze of the open air met the residual moisture from the ground it sent him into a bout of shivering so violent he almost fell back. When he had gathered himself, he started shuffling his way over to the closest tree. If he could rest in the branches he would at least be out of sight.

Forcing his cold, cramped muscles into the climb hurt at first, but they soon became blessedly warm from the exertion. A few metres off the ground he found a place amongst the branches that was stable enough to not fear rolling off in his sleep. Settling in, Lucas wrapped his body as tightly as possible under the meagre protection of the badger pelt, then tried to rest. It wasn't long, however, before his body temperature started dropping again. The pelt did little to protect him from the open air and his muscles went back into cold cramping. Every little gust of wind felt like it was passing right through him, dragging away what little warmth his body had managed to generate. Despite the cruel cold, he was starting to dip in and out of fitful sleep.

‘Fire.’ Came a thought, dim and distant.

It didn't fade like the others. Something about it was striking, important. It persisted as he drifted in and out of sleep, being distorted and twisted into vague nonsensical forms by his addled brain. Despite occasional moments of clarity that demanded he investigate that thought more clearly, his body's futile attempt to keep him warm was draining him of the energy required.

After what seemed like a long while he stopped shivering, and his body stopped hurting. Distant screaming was sounding in his head, full of terror and rage. Irritatingly the screaming persisted, slowly infecting him with its fear. Something deep behind thoughts was conspiring with it, drinking in the fear like a dying man’s last hope.

‘A dying man. A dying man… I am dying.’

Adrenaline collected in the distant void of his empty thought-scape, dragging in more and more, exponentially like a new sun igniting in the deep void. A sharp breath, and burning pain. He was awake again. The scream finally escaped his lips. It was horse and barely audible, but with it came enough strength to rage against the dying of the light.

“Fire,” he croaked as his faculties returned.

Climbing down the tree was more than he could manage, so he simply let himself fall. When he hit the ground a box popped up.

[https://i.imgur.com/Y93aGZ8.jpg]

“Fuck yea” he mumbled to himself, holding tight to the feeling of grim determination that had become the only engine pushing his creaking muscles into action.

Slowly, agonisingly, he stretched out his limbs until they grew warm enough for him to get up. Despite the obvious danger of inviting every monster in eyeshot, fire was his only choice. Lucas had a rough idea how to start a fire from seeing it done in movies. Some very dry wood to rub together, and some kind of super light flammable substance were needed. That second part was easy, birch trees with soft papery bark were all around. Lucas made his way to a clearing where the moon was shining clearly to the forest floor and started poking through fallen trees.

It made sense that an old dead tree would be dryer. He stopped by a dead birch resting on some rocks and peeled off wafers of thin, soft bark till he had a handful of the spongy material. Setting that on a dry rock, he started breaking off branches from the same tree. They broke easily as he sorted them into piles by thickness. The very thinnest he used to create a little nest for his fist-full of papery bark. He chose two straight and strong branches, one thick as his wrist one like his thumb.

Lucas sat down where he could wedge the large branch between two rocks to keep it steady, then started rubbing the end of his smaller branch up and down the larger one. The work warmed his muscles pleasantly even as they protested at the strain. Both branches were so round that, when he applied pressure, it tended to slide off one side. He kept at it doggedly and, after what seemed like forever, he managed to wear an off-centre groove into the larger branch that guided his movements.

In his delirious state of hyper exhaustion, wearing the groove into the wood became an allegory for Mana wearing patterns into Auras, like his popups had described. It got easier, but his arms had turned into jelly. To maintain pressure he had to stop and rest often, during which any heat he managed to generate vanished into the night air.

‘I wonder if this is increasing my Strength stat? It said I was pretty close to 100%.’ He didn't stop to check.

Wood dust was collecting at the end of his groove but it was off-centre, so the dust simply fell off the side. He adjusted his position so the dust collected on top, and after only a couple of minutes wisps of smoke were drifting into the moonlit grove. Soon after, a happy little orange ember was shining brightly. Once his arms were ready to fall off, he carefully put his bundle of paper bark on top of the ember and turned the whole branch upside down so his precious prize rested in a nest of thin spongy bark. Soon it was glowing brightly and smoke was drifting off in plumes. A gentle breath sent flame crackling to life inside, breaking up the gloomy night with a happy glow.

“Yes yes yes!”

He practically danced over to his nest of tiny sticks, placed the bark and ember there, and blew again. The whole bundle of bark burst into bright flame. He carefully put some thicker sticks on top. The light and warmth soaked into him. The fear and pain that had dominated him since he came here melted away before his beautiful creation. He felt like his ingenuity and determination had sprung to life, taken form, and subjugated the cold night that had nearly killed him. The darkness fled to hide behind the shadows of the trees. They loomed against the firelight, as if in indignation at the audacity of man. A massive smile stretched across his face and he laughed out loud, not caring if anything heard him.

[https://i.imgur.com/NKlIhUT.jpg]

Lucas pulled the shirt out eagerly, it was dense rough fabric. He sighed in relief as he pulled it over his head. Just being fully clothed felt like such an accomplishment that he laughed into the night again.