Chapter 26

Lwanda watched the sunrise, the golden rays that broke through the horizon and made their way through the thick canopy always had their way of cheering him up.

He bathed in the warm glow allowing it to cover every inch of him, the warm, the bliss of the gently touch thrilled him today just as it had always had for the last couple of days.

“This is the 7th sunrise”

Lwanda mumbled softly as he added one more stroke on the ground, he’d been keeping track of time by marking each passing day and this was indeed the 7th day since he’d been trapped in the labyrinth of vines.

The jaguar beast stayed where it was all that time waiting him out like a faithful servant not willing to leave his master’s side. Over the last couple of days, it had tried using its cloaking technique to trick Lwanda into getting out only to launch a sneak attack on him, after almost falling for it twice Lwanda decided to play the waiting game with it instead.

Although one week had passed and he was now running low on food, he still had enough for a couple days' worth, the jaguar on the other hand didn’t seem to eat much, it was Lwanda’s hope that it would leave soon enough and that would be his golden chance, so he waited.

Three days passed as Lwanda stared at the jaguar in curiosity, all it did was glare ferociously at him, prancing around from time to time and sometimes cloaking itself for a minute or so, it never left Lwanda’s side not for long periods of time at least.

Lwanda was rather puzzled, the determination in the jaguar’s behavior was beyond reasonable to him, just why was it so eager to eat him? What brought on such deeply rooted rivalry and hatred, he had no idea.

Having played the waiting game for a couple of days Lwanda had attempted to attack the jaguar using some of his most powerful techniques, he’d attacked the jaguar on more than one occasion, this pissed the jaguar off and it attacked back furiously.

The clashes would always end the same, the jaguar would ferociously tear and rip into the vines to no avail, Lwanda would use the chance to attack some more inflicting more damage to the creature, but every time it felt overwhelmed it would run away and come back a few minutes later, completely healed and as good as new.

“What the fuck?! Again?”

As he watched the jaguar slowly walking back, Lwanda felt a wave of frustration, all his thirty plus minutes of constant damage dealing was rendered all for naught again, he furiously glared at the fully healed jaguar standing before him, the corner of its mouth slightly twitching almost like it was smirking at him.

He expected as much but still it made him furious.

“Just what the hell does this jaguar have going on?”

“Does it have some sought of super healing technique too?”

Lwanda was puzzled, the occurrences of the past couple of days was unsettling to say the least, with the jaguars mysterious healing ability and it never leaving his side, Lwanda knew it was only a matter of time till he died here.

He stared at his last ration of food, it was enough to last him just one more day, after which he’d be starving. To add onto the damage, the mutation going on in his body never stopped during this time, instead it worsened, almost every inch of his body was covered in hideous black veins and as usual he felt the toxic boost in strength and ability, it was only a matter of time till he dropped dead, high on power like an overdosed steroid head.

Lwanda clenched his jaw at his lack of options, things were not going well at all and he knew he had to come up with a solution soon.

“Every time I deal damage to the jaguar, depending on how severe the damage is he usually takes longer to heal it, that’s the only window I have, I just have to find a way to deal as much damage as possible in the least amount of time.”

Lwanda smirked, it was a do or die time for him, his food was running low and he had to make his move now or he’d never have the chance again.

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Lwanda glanced at the jaguar perched on a massive tree brunch before him, he felt for his stuff ready to execute his plan.

Just as he clasped his staff, much to his surprise the jaguar vanished, gone like it was never there.

Lwanda stared at the bizarre scene with his mouth wide agape.

“What the hell? Why did it up and vanish like that?”

Lwanda was terrible confused, this was out of character for the jaguar, over the past couple of days, it had been taking any damage he dealt it like a boss, it hiding out like this completely caught him off-guard.

Lwanda tried figuring it out but he couldn’t quit put his figure on it, with the jaguar cloaked he could neither aim nor fire, his only option was to wait.

Five more days passed, Lwanda had run out of food four days ago, he’d been surviving on nothing but sips of water. As he took his last sip, he knew just how desperate his situation was.

A trace of fury flashed through his eyes, even though the jaguar didn’t show itself for the five days, Lwanda was sure it was still there, just biding its time waiting for the best opportunity to pounce.

With his food and water reserve completely gone, for the first time ever since entering the labyrinth of vines Lwanda felt trapped, and worse still trapped by his own self. He rubbed his growling stomach, he was dying for a meal, he plain right couldn’t take any more of this.

“Fuck it !!!!”

Lwanda yelled as he clawed his way out of the vines, he knew it was dangerous but he had no other option, he could either stay in there and die slowly and torturously; starving to death or he could face the jaguar and hopefully die quick.

He hated the fact that his corpse would be food for the carnivorous bastard but it was clearly the lesser of two evils.

Lwanda clawed and clawed, as he was nearing the last stretch of vines a sudden unfathomable sense of danger came from before him. A chill ran marathons down his spine and all the hair on his body stood on end, he knew just one more step was all it would take to end his life.

Lwanda was drenched in sweat, he felt his heart racing, he’d never sensed such intense bloodlust before, only death awaited him if he carried on.

Feeling the grim reapers blade on his neck, Lwanda quickly pulled back, mauling his way back into the vines.

**Grrrrowwl**

As he took his third step, he felt an intense yet soft growl behind him, the threat was so real Lwanda could have sworn he felt the warm breath of the beast on his neck.

“That was a close one”

Lwanda mumbled as he turned around to look at the beast glaring at him. Clearly the beast hadn't left, and it was waiting for this exact opportunity to pounce, too bad its intense bloodlust exposed it.

Lwanda sat with his legs crossed, lamenting over his terrible luck, his health worsened and so did the hunger, the beast of chaos was determined to wait him out and all his options were sealed at the moment.

After one more day of starving Lwanda couldn’t take it any longer, he tried rummaging in the ground for some worms to eat but found nothing, not even a single one.

Two more days of the same torture and Lwanda was at his final straw, his vision was getting blurry again, his health was worsening, he glared at the jaguar that seemed to be smirking at him. Hatred; that was exactly what he felt for the jaguar, pure unchecked hatred he wished to kill it in the worst and psychopathic way possible.

Lwanda licked his dry cracked lips, he knew this was it, after today he wouldn’t have enough energy to wake up if he ever fell asleep. With his hands tired, Lwanda could only turn to his last resort.

He glanced at the vines all around him, this was it, his final option. He'd always made it a last resort to eat the plants in this planet because he found out (the hard way) that most of them were poisonous, one wrong move and he’d die from poisoning instead of starvation.

Having no other choice, Lwanda grabbed a vine and bit hard on it, even while still in his mouth he could feel the super regenerative ability of the vines, he had to keep biting on it to allow the juices to flow into his mouth.

Lwanda cringed as he felt the mucus sup like taste in his mouth, it was not the worst thing he’d ever tasted but it sure wasn’t the best either. He closed his eyes and bit hard, hard like his life depended on it because it did.

Five minutes in Lwanda started feeling a warmth in his stomach, it was like someone had lit a fire in his gut.

As he was about to explore the strange phenomenon, his pupils suddenly dilated

“What?!”

and he fell to the ground convulsing aggressively

“Ffff....fuuuc....kkkk”