Author's note: I'm updating the story's main page, basically what I'm thinking right now is of changing the release schedule. I'm sure someone's noticed that I haven't released any chapters for about a month. I ended up rewriting 3 chapters that have been unreleased as of yet, including this one. Thus, there will be three chapters today. With regards to the change in release schedule, it will be changing to 'many a month' from what it is currently. Basically, I'll be releasing chapters I complete every month, unless something changes, or the opinion of readers demands otherwise. Thanks for reading!

TL;DR Changing release schedule to once a month unless something changes.

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My tutor’s words come to me, a profound thought in the limited realm of my mind.

“Familiarity breeds contempt.” He had once said, bless him. I couldn’t agree more at this moment in time, as I recall the pain of that white light that lead me into an unwilling sleep. It feels like very little time has passed.

“Call me old fashioned, but I really regret getting knocked out many times in short succession.” I try to say, but all that comes out is a long moan. My favourite friend is back, the headache. I hope this isn’t a trend.

I follow the same procedure as always: open my eyes, look around and so on. I’m in the same forest, in the same spot. The only thing that’s moved on is time, it appears. The sun shines through the multi-coloured leaves of the trees to my right. Above me, I spot some long necked birds flying in a V-formation. Wondering what type of bird it is, I grumble incoherently; a few words meant to be the names of birds from my time were butchered beyond reason.

Shaking my head, I look back down to the ground. The books both lie on their backs, neither has a title nor content anymore. The letter that I had been holding along with the most recent book lie beside the black box. I pick up the letter and stuff it into the pocket of the clothes I’m wearing.

After a moment of thought, I decide that I should start moving somewhere, if not to find civilization, then just to get some exercise. Maybe I’ll find the limits of this body of mine, which was able to crush wood to dust.

Leaving the books behind, I set off at a light jog. I should say, I try to set off at a light jog.

I take a nice, slow first step to a run that will take me through this forest at a reasonable pace. Instead of running however, I’ve jumped more than 20 metres in the air with just that tiny amount of exertion.

I scream as I fall down, felling a tree on my way to the ground. Birds in the forest all around me freak out and leave their trees chirping madly.

Back on the ground, I’m glad to see that the tree I’ve knocked over has a lack of inhabitants. That relief is short-lived however, as I notice the inside of it. It’s crawling with bugs.

All manner of bugs lived in this tree: beetles, ants and even a few hornets. Regarding the hornets, upon further inspection the ‘few’ hornets have noticeably increased in quantity, I suppose their hive was inside of this tree. And I just knocked it over. And now they’re flying at me.

“AH!” I scream once more. I kick off the ground, completely panicked. Being afraid of getting stung, I apply my full force to try to get as far away from those angry insects as I possibly can. At a later time, I’ll probably regret doing that.

Well, the future is now. I’m flying ever higher, the force of me pushing off the ground was sufficient to launch me towards a cloud. At this point, I’m wondering if I’ll fly above it.

I look over my shoulder to see if the hornets have followed me. I’m not yet free of the memory of their angry stingers, glistening in the light. I can’t help but gasp.

In an expanding ring, the forest is collapsing towards the point where I just jumped from. In the centre of that point, I have created a crater the size of a hill, roughly 2 kilometres in radius.

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“Did I do that?” I can’t help but wonder. Of course the only thing that could have done that is me. It’s just too unbelievable, this strength of mine.

Eventually, I reach the peak of my trajectory. The horizon is huge, expanded many times over by my position in the sky. I can see many criss-cross patterns in the forest, lines of grey. In an instant, I deduce that these are roads.

I can see very clearly many details of down below despite my height, and my eyes follow the roads as they branch off, meeting with what I know is a house. How I know that the object I’m looking at is a house from my new perspective in the sky is beyond me. It’s like I’m being fed this information as I look at things, perhaps there’s a relation to those books I was left with and tried to read.

I must be at least a kilometre and a half into the atmosphere, and now I’m falling. Down, down, down… I fall faster and faster. It’s a bit concerning, but I don’t feel anxious about falling from this height. I guess it makes sense, seeing as my legs had the ability to send me this high, I guess they wouldn’t have any problem landing.

I speed toward the ground, feet first. I’m still about three quarters of a kilometre above a new section of the forest fairly distant from my launch point, when a glimmer of light catches my eye.

Off in the distance, I just barely have enough time to catch a glimpse of some sort of structure reflecting the light of sun. It glints only for a second before it dips under the horizon.

As I’m about to land on another section of the forest, the sight of the forest broken with a crater in the middle of it flashes in my memory. I have to try to prevent the same cataclysm from befalling where I’m about to land. I angle my body with the flats of my feet pointed toward the ground. The wind is screaming in my ears while I make my approach.

There’s a moment of dead silence in the forest as I’m about to land, it’s like the creatures of the forest know what’s about to happen and are collectively holding their breath. It is at this time that I land.

I try to roll as soon as my feet touch the ground, to disperse the force of my fall over the length of the motion. I trip up the movement however, resulting in my head speeding towards the ground with the full force of my fall. Please… No…

My near instantaneous pleading is useless. My head smashes into the ground, which is luckily soft dirt. This does nothing to ease the pain, and as it rushes into my mind, I try to scream. I do not succeed in doing so however, and instead chomp down on a nice mouthful of dirt.

I can’t open my eyes, my mouth is filled with dirt, but I can move my legs and arms freely.

“Thank god for this body.” I groan in my mind, as speaking won’t do. Really though, if my body was any less durable, I would have died. Guess that’s what comes with being immortal.

As for the situation at hand, it appears as though I am a dart, trapped in the board of the earth. My head being the needle, I’m just glad my neck didn’t snap at the force of the impact.

Metaphorically biting down at the pain which still plagues me, I use my arms to push my head free. A sickening “POP” sound occurs as I wrench myself from the soil, and I sit down on my backside as soon as I get out. It isn’t a very graceful motion, in which one goes from planking with just the support of one’s head to sitting. I don’t feel proud of myself either, although I am relieved to see that the forest around me is very much intact and brimming with the sounds of life again.

To reorient myself with the direction of the interesting structure I saw from the air, I look up at the sky. With as few clouds as there are, I’m able to deduce by their layout in the sky that heading toward my right will lead me to the structure. And so, that’s what I’ll do. I should be able to find people near that thing.