Walking through the forest, Jack considered the options available to him. ‘He only said I needed to kill a living being so maybe I can find some insects and just kill them?’

Looking around, Jack was once again struck by how silent this forest was, none of the usual ambient insect sounds that you’d find in a normal forest could be heard here. ‘Either there really aren’t any insects in this forest or they’re also giga sized compared to the insects back on Earth.’

Unfortunately, the latter is much more likely and the thought of giant hairy spiders roaming the forest sends a chilling shiver down his spine. ‘Either way, It doesn’t seem like there’s an easy way to do this.”

Sighing, Jack trod onward towards (almost) certain death.

—————

Badger was close.

He was REALLY close.

He could feel the Flux surge through his furry body, filling it with seemingly infinite strength. He knew what this signified.

He was close to Advancing.

All he needed was a bit more Flux and he would succeed in becoming a true Flux Beast and finally be able to reside in the Core Area alongside the other Kings of the forest.

He could already feel his mind sharpening and becoming much clearer. All sorts of new and different words were appearing in his mind and although he doesn’t really understand most of them, his comprehension abilities were increasing at a rapid rate.

After all, Badger was a very smart Honey Badger.

He wasn’t like those lower life forms that still slithered and crawled around in the Outer Area, only good enough to be slaughtered by the humans.

Nor was he like those pathetically meek and subservient worms in the Inner Area that barely survived on the scraps and leftovers left by the Kings after they’ve sated they’re hunger.

No, Badger was a talented genius that would surpass even the Kings!

Badger suddenly stopped. ‘Wait, what does ‘genius’ mean? ‘Talent’? ‘Meek and subservient’? So many new words...’

Badger’s little brain went into overdrive as he stood there and tried to understand these new words.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t but they felt right so they must be true.

Having confirmed that he’s a genius, Badger nodded(?) to himself and continued strutting through the forest.

He needed to find prey and the best place is the outer edges of the Core Area that intersected with the Inner Area. It’s where the strongest beasts of the Inner Area prowled similarly looking for prey. As long as they were careful, the risk of attracting the attention of the Kings was minimal.

All Badger needed was one more kill and he would have enough Flux to Advance. This reminded him of the human he had killed earlier today and he couldn’t stop himself from repeatedly stomping his furry paws into the ground from anger.

That weird human had no Flux at all!

What kind of creature has no Flux?!

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Flux is life itself.

Badger couldn’t imagine anything being alive without Flux.

He thought that human was his ticket to finally advancing and even used his Flux Lightning to end the fight quickly but in the end it was for nothing!

Just remembering the taste of that human made him gag. He had only taken a bite of his arm but it had tasted like burnt ash. In the end, he had just left the corpse as it is.

What really confused Badger was why the human was in the Core Area. How had he not been ripped to shreds by the Kings? How did he even get to the Core Area? He was so weak...

Badger’s super-smart brain simply couldn’t find the answers to these questions and as such, they were thrown to the back of his mind along with his short lived spurt of anger.

Instead, he continued his search for prey.

Finding suitable prey would prove difficult though. Badger knew that the other beasts would choose to flee instead of fight him and while Badger was confident in his speed, the top beasts of the Inner Area were not easy prey and as much as he hates to admit it, some of them were even faster than him.

Well, unless he used his Flux Lightning but that brought it’s own host of problems...

Badger’s thoughts were interrupted as his body reflexively dodged to the right, his bestial instincts blaring loudly of danger as his ears registered the whooshing sound of something flying through the air towards him.

Where he once stood, a rock had smashed into the ground.

“Oh come on, how the hell did it even dodge that?!”

Spinning around towards the voice, Badger looked at the human before him with anger surging through his veins.

Anger that quickly turned into confusion.

Now, Badger hadn’t seen that many humans before so it can sometimes be difficult to tell them apart but Badger wasn’t some ordinary honey badger.

He was a genius!

Which obviously means he has a great memory!

He was fifty-percent certain that this was the human he had killed earlier today. He was completely sure that it was him and there is no way it couldn’t be him!

But how?

Badger was sure that he had killed him. He had even taken a bite of him. A very disgusting bite.

Jack watched as the honey badger stood there scrutinizing him as the small gears in its head whirled into motion, trying to reconcile the corpse from before with the human in front of him. ‘Huh, I think it actually recognizes me.’

Jack didn’t give the badger the courtesy of waiting for him to figure it out and immediately rushed towards it.

Seeing the human run towards him, Badger threw all the useless(hard) questions to the back of his mind as he prepared to use his Flux Lightning to immediately kill the human. The surging Flux in his body moved according to his Will, albeit sluggishly, and began sparking across his body.

Jack, seeing the honey badger’s body begin to be covered in electric sparks, immediately stopped and began running the opposite direction to hide behind a tree.

Unfortunately, Badger had managed to finish charging up and turned into a blur of lightning as he charged towards Jack’s head.

Jack didn’t even get a chance to turn his head before it was ripped off his shoulders by Badger. His body slumped to the ground lifelessly as Badger landed nearby, body back to normal, and Jack’s smoking, slightly burnt head on the ground next to him.

Badger appreciated his handy work with pride. Unfortunately, his happiness was short lived as his brain finally processed the fact he had used his Flux Lightning again. A shriek of anger ripped out of his mouth as he stomped and rolled around the lush grass in what could only be described as a temper tantrum.

It was that humans fault again!

If it wasn’t for him, he wouldn’t have used his Flux Lightning a second time today!

Eventually, Badger’s beady little eyes focused on the human’s corpse, wanting to take out his anger on it.

Or at least he tried.

The spot where Jack’s body lay slumped over was completely empty. Only the swaying grass greeted Badger’s eyes.

Looking around, the decapitated head had similarly disappeared.

It took a minute for Badger to process this before shrieks of anger and frustration, even louder this time, filled the air as his temper tantrum began anew.

At that moment though, a spine chilling tiger roar resounded through the forest shaking the trees and ground, and causing Badger’s fur to stand on end as he froze mid-roll.

Getting the message loud and clear, Badger scrambled up and ran away as fast as his short legs could carry him.

This was a genius’s tactical retreat!

In his haste, Badger failed to notice the faint black mist lazily following him, nor did he notice the trees unnaturally swaying in the windless morning as their vibrant sky blue leaves flashed dark purple before returning to their ‘normal’ color, a faint sense of anticipation beginning to slowly spread throughout the forest.

The Forest of Death shall soon awaken...