Chapter 9A: Yourself

Alex was annoyed at the difficulty of finding fruit. The delicious sweet red fruit is a rarity. After a night of rain and thunder, she climbed down from the tree and started scavenging the waters.

A mysterious brown lump attached to an umbrella-like leaf floated by the tree Alex was perched on. It seemed to be calling for her as if it had the voice of nature. Alex reached out and grabbed the plant by its stem.

The brown lump was very likely a tuberous plant. If she remembered from the survival guide, tuberous plants would provide the most energy via carbohydrates. They are an excellent food source in survival situations. One problem is the levels of deadly toxins concentrated in the plant. Wild potatoes are known to contain traces of cyanide.

Alex had to prepare this bounty carefully. But with the ground still drenched in water, she couldn’t start a fire up in the trees.

Like a squirrel preparing for winter, Alex shoved the brown lump somewhere dry on the tree. She grabbed her fishing rod and began fishing. Hopefully, the flooded waters would bring fish near her perch.

The sun above casted a blanket of shadows as it hid behind a myriad of clouds. It no longer rained, but the clouds remained. A stiff breeze blew through her tree and shook her fishing line. Alex took in a deep breath. The smell of moisture and nature permeated her sense. It smelled fresh, alive even.

It was nature in all its beauty and splendor. A wise man once said, there is always the calm before the storm, and after the storm is yet another calm.

The period between the rains in this world of hers was charming.

A tug on her line snapped her out of her trance. It would seem a fish had taken the bait. She reeled with all her might as a large carp emerged from the waters.

“Looks like I’m eating well tonight!” Alex smiled.

______

While Alex was enjoying her world, her friends were still struggling with the bitterness of theirs. Some might wonder why there was such a large disparity between the worlds. To truly know that, one would have to ask Mother.

Nell was trying her best to hold in her sobs. But the streaks of tears gliding down her face betrayed her. It carried along a fine layer of dust along with it, leaving the streaks very visible on her face. It was now the day before the final day. But it would seem she had reached an impasse. With her back to the wall of a cliff, a giant beast stood in front of her, snarling with all its ferocity. Its rancid breath seethed like a miasma around Nell.

She was caught. Six days of careful hiding, all gone to waste in a single mistake. Nell was full of regret and fear. If she wasn’t so dehydrated, she might have soiled herself.

Not wanting to see the carnage that will soon happen, Nell closed her eyes and awaited her end.

A sizeable prickly tongue slapped onto her face. The oozing saliva caked her face as the beast sampled her flavor.

Suddenly, as if it was disgusted with what it found, the beast cringed and whimpered. Nell wanted to open her eyes and see what happened but the saliva was covering her face. Taking her sleeve, Nell wiped the ooze from her face and opened her eyes. She saw before her an amazing sight. The creature was off in the distance retching its lungs out.

The floor was covered in bile and stomach acid. Something made the creature seriously sick. Nell tried to make sense of what happened. It would seem something on her face repelled the beast. But what? Her face was covered in dust from the atmosphere. The giant rocky biome she was in had little regarding plant life. But there were many small cracks that she crawled into. Maybe something fell on her face when she was hiding in a crevice.

Nell looked at her body and spotted something small and white on her shoulder. If one were to look from afar, it would seem like dandruff. But Nell knew that she wasn’t the type to have dandruff. It must be something else, perhaps it is something that drove the beast away. Nell decided to sneak away from the creature that was now weak from drying heaving.

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She went back to the crevice she was hiding in and spotted something in the corner of her eye. Colorful mushroom that grew in abundance lined the top of the walls. It was true there was very little plant life, but there were plenty of mycelia.

Some spores must have fallen on her head as she slept. The beast must have ingested some of the spores when it licked her face.

Nell stared at the mushrooms intensely. With determination, she ripped some off the walls and shove it into her pocket. She didn’t know if the fungus worked with all the beasts, but having some protection is better than none.

The whole situation left her mentally fatigued. Nell decided to take a quick nap.

______

Kurt sat upon a throne made of wood. Before him were several monkeys lying in wait.

He had earned their trust and their admiration. By the time the monkeys realize they could not win, it was too late. Kurt had leveled enough to overpower them all.

Taking advantage of his situation, he made the remaining monkeys his subordinates. They gathered fruit and placed it in front of him in servitude. Taking a bite of the crisp fruit, Kurt smiled.

From despair, he crawled out and became a king. The overwhelming sense of accomplishment and pride washed over him. It was very different from his usual self. He was trained to be a soldier, a mindless puppet who follow orders. His pride was broken down again and again at boot camp until he became nothing but a cog in the machine known as the military.

But now he had regained it. It gave him strength and motivation. It was the shadow hidden deep inside of him. Now that his anima had been suppressed by his shadow, his real self can finally appear.

A king of voracity, Kurt laughed out loud as he sat on the throne. Little did he know, the fruit he was eating contained trace amount of chemicals that had an adverse effect on his psyche.

It made him aggressive, arrogant, and overall prideful. But it helped him get through the predicament he was in. Had he been a coward, he would not have won the respect of the monkeys.

Kurt loved his new self. Something just clicked in his mind. This world is a representation of himself.

The volcano was Kurt’s hidden thoughts of the military. He was angry often, but he couldn’t be vocal about it. His superior would completely demolish him if he were to speak back. Kurt tried to throw away the volcano within him just to survive the military world.

The forest was the mask he wore. It represented his tranquil obedience soldier self. Conflicted, yet bountiful.

Now that he had control over the forest, he realized that the volcano was never indeed gone. It always lied nearby, just a few steps away. He can never throw it away as it was a part of him. It was the volcanic ash that gave birth to the bounties of the forest. With rage, comes tranquility. He must use his strengths to make the world fit him.

He remembered words he once saw in an obscure book.

“The perfect soldier is a mass of powerful flesh which only follows orders, but the perfect general is the most cunning crow in the murder of crows.”

A soldier, he must not become. His goal is to be a general, to be the one making the orders instead of blindly following them.

Kurt’s eyes were now opened to the world and his path. His last two days of the trial were blissful.

______

Ruri looked at the hole in front of him. It was ready. He took a deep breath and yelled at the bear. It shook then woke up with a deep roar. The very cave itself rumbled as its voice echoed. It sprinted on all fours out of the cave, straight into the hole.

It fell with a very satisfying thud.

Ruri had already sharpened several punji sticks and laid them at the bottom. They impaled the bear and left it a bleeding mess. Ruri now just had to wait until it bled to death.

The creature roared endlessly with such rage that Ruri could feel his very soul tremble. But he stood strong. He realized something at this moment.

The world was a representation of himself. A cold, desolate world, an eternal winter wonderland. Since his memory was so good, he could remember every last event that happened to him. People often say, “Live and forget,” but Ruri never forget. This makes having social interactions difficult. He could remember every single moment when his friends and family would betray him, even the slightest. Because of his powerful memory, his family had kept their distance. His friends abandoned him since they felt insecure.

He was left with nothing. The wintery lands were his current life. But deep down, his shadow was hibernating. Awaiting spring to come and to thrive once again. His past was winter, but now with his new friends, spring had arrived.

It was time for the bear to exit his cave and to enjoy the spoils of nature.

Ruri glanced at the pathetic bear with a savage grin.

“Your death shall not be in vain, for I will eat you and survive till spring,” He said with a chuckle.

A burst of warmth spread over his body as a gentle breeze blew by. It was far too warm for winter.

A message displayed in front of Ruri as the bear took its final breath. It was the source of the warmth.

[You have leveled up!]

The bear gave him enough experience to level up in one go.

Ruri’s spring had now arrived. A new chapter of his life begins now.