While we were perched high up in the tree, I had a clear view of our surroundings. I could even see our campsite in the distance, almost 700 meters away. The landscape was vastly different now, with tall trees and strange-looking animals, and many of the buildings we once knew were now in ruins. It was as if nature had reclaimed the land that we had taken from it.

In the midst of my observations, I noticed Kero shooting a small ball of fire from his hand.

John was skeptical, gesturing that it wouldn't do much against our enemies on the ground.

Kero challenged him, asking what he could do. Instinctivel John picked up a piece of fruit and froze it solid with his powers.

"Oh nice, you can freeze stuff." Gestured Sarah.

This gave me an idea - we could freeze some of the fruit and throw it at our attackers from our elevated position, potentially causing some damage.

"Hey, guys with all of us having some form of elevated strength. What if we hit them from up here with the fruits John freezed?? Or even just the fruits on a whole. Toss it with all out might." I stated.

"Well....it seems like the safer method of doing things because we wouldn't have to be close to them." Replied Josh.

"But would thar even work?" Asked Ariel.

"These fruits seem heavy enough, so it's worth a shot." Replied Robert.

"Yea plus the height we're currently at will make it even better." Said Josh.

"How so?" Asked Landa.

"More speed, more power." Replied Kero.

The tree was loaded with fruits, which we intended to use as weapons against the beasts below. However, we quickly realized that there were limits to our powers. John managed to freeze about 10 fruits, he almost passed out from the effort, unable to continue. We needed to act fast to avoid the frozen fruits melting.

Josh and Terrick quickly sprang into action, using the blue vines hanging from the tree to descend to the third story.

With their impressive accuracy, they managed to knock out all the beasts tossing frozen fruits and regular fruits. They smashed down unto their heads with a loud noise. The beast tried to dodge from tine to time but we were all now throwing the fruits.

After out barrage of fruit missiles,Terrick ventured down to check on the now unconscious creatures, while the rest of us began to climb down from the tree.

As we descended, I suddenly felt a strange sensation, like a tingle of warning that something was not right. The beasts, were starting to stir. The largest of them, which was almost twice the size of the others, began to rise.

Terrick was already on the ground checking the other two for weak spots to kill them before they wike up.

We then heard a loud roar, and Terrick turned to see the monster looming over him, only five feet away.

"No, no....get back..get away from me." Terrick backed away with terror in his eyes as the beast got closer.

In a flash, I leaped from my perch with my banged-up machete. I felt energy coursing througy my body as I landed on top of the beast with a slight boom.

My landing sent Terrick flying and kicked up a cloud of dust and pebbles. As the dust settled, I saw that my machete had lodged into the monster's neck, with blood spilling as the monster choked on its own blood.

I felt powerful, I looked up as everyone rushed off the tree towards me. My vision got blurry and I couldn't hear well.

A sharp pain pinched my shoulders, one of its spikes from the dog had pierced my shoulders. As the adrenaline wore off, the pain got more intense.

The impact had also affected the other beasts, who now scampered away in fear.

"Wow, that was awesome!" shouted Sarah, but I was in no state to celebrate. I struggled to my feet, still reeling from the impact, while my friends gathered around to assess my injuries. I eventually fainted.

Based on what Sarah told me, I woke up an hour later back at camp with everyone else. John and the others were going around telling everyone what had happened and their abilities.

I realized the pain in my shoulder was still there, but it wasn't as bad as when the spike had gone through it initially.

I was in a make shift tent constructed out of wooden remains. My shoulder tied up with cloth from a shirt

My mom then came in. Very excited to see me, she asked if I was okay, and I replied that I was fine. I asked her what had happened, and she explained that Terrick and the others had carried us back to camp along with the dead animal.

"I'm so glad you're ok son. This world has changed. We have to be more careful now.

"Let's go outside to hear all this. Let me help you up." She held my hand and helped me outside.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

A meeting was being called to discuss our next steps now that we were faced with these monsters. As I walked out, I could see everyone waiting, and as I passed some people, they were calling me the "monster slayer." It sounded cool, but I didn't really want the attention.

The others were already discussing the monsters and their size.

I looked across the group and saw the monster way over on the right-hand side. Terrick hand lodged his machete all over in it to make sure it was really dead.

They had even brought back some of the fruits. Apparently, the fruits could restore lost energy and even had healing capabilities, which they had used to heal me along with the help of my mother.

While we were away, my mom had even displayed her own healing powers and had healed her broken foot. Luckily, we had a herbalist among us who was able to juice the fruits and give them to us to drink. The fruits looked a lot like giant blue mangoes, but the inside was slightly green.

The meeting started and Ted was going on about how we all had some kind of special powers and that we needed to figure out what they were and get weapons, among other things. He was sounding like the leader he is, after all.

"We will have more monsters to fight. Mother Nature has given animals a powerful twist, but we have also been blessed. We must develop our abilities so we can properly protect ourselves. May God also rest Julios's soul." Ted continued.

Julios was the guy who had been brutally killed by the spiked dogs. I never want to witness anyone dying like that again. The pain and terror in his voice as he was eaten was nothing anyone should hear.

After the meeting, we discovered some old books that had survived the explosion, but were blank inside. To record the animals we encountered, we asked Ariel and Sarah to draw and describe them.

Luckily, Sarah was an artist before everything changed, and her detailed sketches captured the spiked dogs and pigeon-sized butterflies we had seen so far.

As we continued to expand our living area, we knew we needed to fortify our defenses. We decided to build a perimeter using anything we could find. I suggested using wood from the giant tree, as well as other large trees nearby.

We gathered enough wood to build a perimeter around us because we knew more monsters were out there. We know this won't fully keep them away, but it would give us a little protection.

To better understand the spiked dogs, we opened one up and examined its anatomy. The spikes were tough, but we discovered weak spots near the neck and under the belly. So we could kill them easily with some training.

It took us two months, but we finally had a 5-foot-tall wooden wall surrounding our 2-acre plot. It wasn't fancy, but it was a start. The wall could protect us against some creatures, at least.

During that time, we also started farming. I showed everyone how to do vertical farming, which allowed us to use the limited space more efficiently. On our morning expeditions, we would find any plant we knew of and bring back to camp.

We continued to practice our magic, train, and hunt for food and supplies. We even managed to take down giant rats the size of cats, sticky frogs, and terror doves. We used their parts for development.

Ted suggested that we begin experimenting more with our powers to better understand them and determine how we could use them to our advantage. As he took on more of a leadership role within our group, we all looked to him for guidance and direction. While he looked towards me for solutions and how to improve our surroundings.

Back in the past, people always looked towards me for motivation. My family thought I was some guru. It was easier then, now it's very hard trying to remember everything I studied and watched on YouTube and trying to implement it now.

The good thing about all this is that we had abilities that could assist us with everything. Whether lighting a fire or taking a shower.

While our magic wasn't particularly strong, we found that by working together, we could hunt and gather resources more effectively and safely. The feathers of the terror doves were especially useful for making water-resistant clothing, while their claws could be repurposed for various tasks.

The meat of the giant rats and frogs was also a valuable resource, and we even found a way to use the frogs' skin as glue by combining it with charcoal and sap.

But perhaps the most significant discovery we made was the mangue bleue tree, with its blue fruit and stretchy, highly flammable vines. We used it for cooking, heating, and crafting, taking advantage of its versatile properties whenever possible.