Chapter 4

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Exploration

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Awakening to the light crashing of waves, Teng opens his eyes. Pain is the first things that hits him, albeit a bit dulled. Teng glances at his left shoulder, before then looking at his right thigh. They both look monstrous. With no skin, but clearly visible muscles and veins he’s unsure what to do about it. It seems drying them out worked, though the details allude him.

After he fell unconscious it seems he has recovered somewhat. As much as you can from a life and death encounter.

It seems even the blood vessels were dried and closed off in his energy use. Teng still doesn’t know what made him be able to use such power. It seems his emotions being stimulated was a fuse that could have set it off or maybe it was due the cosmic rift in the sky somehow. Perhaps it’s a mixture of both.

Not wanting to stay lying on the ground he tries to get up. Enduring the pain in his right thigh and left arm, he clumsily stands up. He notices his life jacket must have been lost in the scuffle, clearly broke away with his arm. Not dwelling on it any further he lifts his eyes.

Looking around it seems he is on some topical island. Along the coast are caverns, sand, an endless ocean, plus some smaller islands in the distance. Further into the main island are many tall trees, and dense jungle making Teng unable to see much further ahead.

Teng organises his thoughts. First there is this new energy he wouldn’t mind getting accustomed to, if he can remember how he used it. Thinking about it, he wills it to manifest. Teng feels a slight stir from within, but other than that nothing else. Like a stone thrown into a lake, with only a few ripples. Maybe it did something, but for now it is impossible to grasp.

Unsure if it was a one-time thing, or he overstretched his limits, he decides to leave it be. Perhaps he will be able to use it again in the future. With all the life and death events he went through in the last three days makes Teng realise something. Life is fragile. The life someone builds can be snuffed out in a heartbeat. Sighing helplessly, he considers what to do next. He decides to explore.

Picking a direction, he starts walking. Specifically, he wants to find a safe place to sleep in the future. Teng wouldn’t mind building himself a little outpost, but for now he can only make do with what he has. With no tools for survival he will have to start from scratch. Teng has seen simple ways on how to build a survival shelter online, but being in a strange unfamiliar environment surrounding, its best if he just picks a safe haven at the moment to hide. Once he gains first hand experience of the dangers he can plan accordingly.

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Hopefully the environment isn’t too vastly different from earth, otherwise he will be in a dire situation.

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Trudging through the tropical forest for over an hour, he hears no insects, or birds which is odd. But he supposes an island falling from the sky was already taking number one position for that.

Heading in land Teng comes across a huge tree stretching as wide as a car. Feeling lucky he starts climbing the tree. He doesn’t get far up though as he only has one arm which makes things difficult. Generally, Teng isn’t too mad about it, after all the shark died by his hands. With his new exploration quest of the island most of Teng’s depressing thoughts go out the window as he focuses on the present.

Unable to climb any higher Teng has to stop. He did find a nice place in the future to rest or scout in the future though. Carefully climbing down, he checks the sun, seeing it is nearly midday. All he knows is that the sun heads from east to west, if we are still on earth. So, at the moment the sun is rising up in behind him. Meaning behind him would be east. In front west, left South, and right North. Hopefully he can find some landmarks to remember his direction in the future.

It seems he must have skipped a day while unconscious, so this is his third day since the crash.

A night at sea, the morning to waking up to the rift, then travelling across the sea to the island through the smaller islands. He encountered the shark at the end of the day. Exhausted and tired he fell unconscious on the beach. Totalling two nights, or what could be considered three days. Today being his third day.

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When the sun is setting Teng had explored only a small portion of his side in the east. It seems his place is mostly filled with caves. Although the island is brimming with trees, and even some small fresh water ponds. Not many animals so far have been seen besides a few birds and crustaceans he saw earlier.

Teng managed to drink a large amount of fresh water at one of those ponds too. Not willing to be too far from it, he picks a cave to live. Taking some dried leaves and wood he started making a fire, but eventually gave up. The tropical island is warm enough at night. Even though Teng still has some daylight he is still exhausted and wants an early sleep.

During the day he tried communicating with his new energy, but still no results. One interesting thing is he feels himself recovering. He noticed it because he hasn’t eaten anything for three days, but is getting more energetic. Although he will still need food to survive, it is no problem in assisting in his recovery.

The energy comes in small increments. At the moment that is more than enough, as his body really needs whatever it can get. Teng will see tomorrow if he can find the things he needs to build a weapon.