I doubled over as my lips parted in agony, the pain immediate and excruciating, not to be denied. It felt like a fire was burning the insides of my body, every organ in me rising to a temperature that should not have been possible. The pain started everywhere in my body, but as time passed, it slowly centred near my torso, the temperature highest right where my Core should have been.
With nothing to do but endure the pain, I let myself fall to the floor, my face pressed against the soil, and breathed in laboured, measured breaths. Every movement of my lungs chafed against my burnt insides, bringing waves of agony as it did. I’d dealt with pain before, but the pain of the moment was unlike anything I’d ever felt before. It wasn’t the worst I’d ever felt, but it was certainly the most unique. The only thing remotely similar that I’d ever felt was when I’d Revived that one time when that rock had bashed my head in.
As I waited and waited in silent torment, my barely open eyes caught sight of movement from where Ren sat. Gathering what little will I had left at the moment, I moved my head slightly, just enough to see what had happened. My vision had blurred with the pain, but I eventually made out Ren’s figure slumped over the ground, clutching his chest in pain.
For a second, I wondered if this would be the end of us. If the pain wasn’t because of my Core but simply some hidden predator in the jungle that hunted like this. It was entirely possible, and I had to squash the disappointment that rose in my throat at the prospect. I had been so excited for everything the future had held, but I’d always known in the back of my head that something like this could happen. After all, I’d been dropped onto a random planet in the middle of a jungle, with almost no knowledge of anything about it. It had been childish to expect the jungle to not be hostile.
But I shut that thought away, banishing it from my mind. I wasn’t going to accept the end until I couldn’t possibly do anything more. And right now, as scary as the pain was, it hadn’t killed me yet, which meant I could still fight.
But as I waited for whatever had done this to me to emerge from the shadows, I soon realized that the pain had not been caused by an enemy. Instead, as the pain slowly began to fade, I realized that the same reddish brown smoke as the first time I’d undergone my Cleanse had begun to rise off of my skin. The nostalgic, pungent smell pervaded the clearing, and I quickly noticed that the same was happening from where Ren lay as well.
Time passed as the both of us lay there, immobile and in pain. I didn’t know how much time, but it was enough for me to slip in and out of sleep a few times. Eventually, as the sun succumbed to the claws of the night, the pain finally backed off a little, the heat in my chest waning with the sun. I was left sweating in the dirt like I was breaking out of a fever, but the relief that came in the wake of the pain far overshadowed the discomfort.
Soon, I felt good enough to pick myself off the dirt and up to my feet. I was shaky, wobbling at my knees, but I pushed myself through it. I had not enjoyed the feeling of feebleness that accompanied the pain, and the anger that coursed through me gave me the strength to quell my weakness.
Taking a few deep breaths, I brought my dirtied palms before me and studied them, trying to understand what had happened.
Pushing my senses inward, I experimented carefully with the Flux contained within my Core. And the second I touched upon the dormant power within me, understanding came to me, complete and immediate. The volume of Flux within me had almost doubled, and I could tell it was far more pure than it had ever been before.
As my mind was silenced in disbelief, I began to move the Flux through myself almost on instinct. The liquid moved through my veins smoothly, far faster and better than before. A lightness filled my body as the power reached every crevice of my body, filling me with strength. I clenched my fist, feeling like I could shatter rock with a simple punch. I could tell at that moment I was stronger than I had ever been, and I had no clue why.
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As the wheels in my head spun, I arrived at the most likely theory I could come up with, given the knowledge that I had. I must have met some kind of condition that sparked an upgrade, some kind of step into a higher realm of strength. Maybe it was a certain amount of Flux that I needed in my reserve, I wondered. It makes sense, I guess. The body would need to constantly become stronger to handle an ever-increasing amount of Flux, and a Cleanse is probably the way we upgrade our bodies when our Flux reserves get too much for us to handle.
My line of thinking made sense to me, but I knew that I had no basis for my assumptions. For the first time, I wished that we had actually gone to the school instead of crashing here. At least that way, I would have gotten the answers I craved so badly.
On this planet, in the middle of this jungle, there was no promise of ever finding any kind of information. Even if we happened to stumble across some kind of civilization, there was no telling if they’d even be hospitable or help us out in any way. And that was assuming we figured out some way of comprehending their language in the first place.
I was getting a headache just thinking about it, so I simply dropped the matter entirely. After all, no amount of thinking about it would help me at the moment. And more importantly, I had just gotten an incredible boost in strength. The fact that I was still standing here, wasting time thinking when there was a fight to be had was embarrassing. Ten-year-old Ruby would have been so disappointed.
Especially when the opponent that had presented itself was a massive alien gorilla that looked like it had come straight out of the pages of a fantasy novel. Ten-year-old me would have been ecstatic to have a chance to fight something so unique.
Ren and I hadn’t bothered to clean up the Cores that had rolled all around the clearing, and they’d been leaking Flux into the air the entire day. Judging by the way the gorilla stared unblinkingly at the Cores, it was obvious why it had come. And I quickly realized that it had not been the only animal that had shown up. I could feel the presence of dozens of other animals hidden in the thicket around the clearing, their eyes of varying colors peering through the darkness. Yet, despite the clear hunger that simmered in their eyes as they watched the veritable feast before them, not a single one of them dared to approach or attempt to steal anything.
And I didn’t blame them. The gorilla was terrifying, no doubt the strongest animal I’d ever seen in my life. And it was likely the strongest animal in this part of the jungle, too, if the actions of the other animals were any indication. It stood at a proud twelve feet tall, with piercing red eyes and golden brown fur everywhere on its body aside from its chest and face. Random patterns of black lines marked its fur, which was peculiar, but by far, the most interesting feature of the frightening animal was the jaded stone spikes that poked out through its fur. Like the spikes on the back of a stegosaurus, the sandy brown stones drew a line on the gorilla’s arms and spine, joining at the animal’s neck before traveling higher and making a ring around its head resembling a crown.
It was a regal, if terrifying, sight.
The dying rays of the setting sun painted the massive animal in golden, giving it a majestic brilliance. The animal sat crouched at the edge of the clearing and didn’t move an inch, its chest puffed out as it posed in the light.
It took me a moment to understand why the thing hadn’t already attacked, but eventually, I realized that it was posturing in an attempt to intimidate us. But unfortunately, that only made me more confident in facing the animal. If it was hoping to rely on intimidation to deal with us, then it likely wasn’t entirely confident in its own ability to defeat us in a fight. Which meant that it wasn’t as powerful as I had imagined it to be.
Ren was still out of it for now, but I was sure he’d come back soon enough. And come back stronger than ever. Which meant all I had to do was hold off long enough for him to wake up. And with my newfound strength, I was more than happy with that. I was already itching to test my new limits, see what kind of benefits my new Cleanse had brought. The ordeal had been excruciatingly painful, but I was slowly realizing that Flux was very fair. Pain was always followed by reward, and the greater the pain was, the greater the reward would be.
So, instead of cowering like the gorilla was hoping I would, I stared it down with a wild grin, letting the Flux within me run faster and faster through my body. With a kick, I popped my pole off the ground and grabbed it, lighting my hands on fire.
“Alright then, you overgrown ape!” I called out to the monster. “Let’s see what you’ve got!”