Eldars entire body ached in pain as a rush of stings crawled through his entire being. The few seconds of peace he had received after waking up were swiftly interrupted. Eldar stretched what remained of his body and brushed the dirt off of his black robes before he picked up his stick and glanced at the black gap in the bamboo forest.

Unfortunately, no sun rose and it didn't look like one would for a while in this land. Eldar sighed as he remained the times of day and night in his village. But Eldar quickly broke free of his reminiscence as he aimed his bamboo spear through the gap in the forest. Eldars mind shook before after a few long tense seconds Eldar had confirmed the beast to be dead. Looking closely, the beast looked like a sheep however its mouth was filled with several layers of sharp teeth.

Eldar sighed as he began awkwardly separating the parts of the beast. Being capable of only using 1 arm Eldar had to use his leg and right arm together to tear the beast in half. Eldar then tried to light a fear however it was just not feasible with 1 arm especially since to realistically make a fire from two twigs it could take several minutes of consistent twig-collision and a lot of luck. And given Eldars recent encounters, his luck was not exactly peaking.

Eldars whole body rejected the rubbery, cold and slimy meat however he used his right hand to shove it down his throat. Eldars eyes watered and he coughed hazardly before he kneeled over and shut his eyes trying to stop his body from regurgitation.

With a soft sigh, Eldar sat with his back on a branch. The night sky still remained and the rest of the corpse would go bad if he didn't finish it.

Eldar repeated the desteble process before his stomach gave in. Eldar sighed as he looked at the half eaten corpse and the regurgitated mess on the floor. Eldar looked at his position and headed north. In the last moments of his consciousness a bright light emerged from the dark. Eldar was fairly certain that it was the key to escaping this place since when Eldar didn't go in a northward direction the curse on his neck summoned itself.

After an uneventful and painful time of walking Eldar finally saw a different landscape in a far-away land. Several cliffs could be seen as well as a huge ravine of spikes in the middle. Eldar cursed as he imagined his one armed self trying to trek through such a place.

Eldar attempted to turn back one last time or go any other direction however.

"Gaah." Eldar clawed at his surroundings and panted heavily. If he wasn't careful he was going to experience far worse pain in the following journey.

Eldar finally reached the edge of the bamboo forest and it looked like another biome had taken home before the stone land. A black-green swamp stretched for around 3 miles before Eldar. Eldar breathed slowly as he took in the sight.

Soon, a bird flew above Eldar and spread its wings before it glided towards the cliffs. It flew at a great speed and its majestic black-blue tinted wings flashed in the darkness. Its body was easily the size of half a hut and it was making great distance before a high pitched noise travelled for around 2 seconds.

In a instant another bird like creature had appeared from above. The two had ended up in a brawl however the fight was hard to see from Eldars angle. Several drops of blue blood could be seen dripping however and several chunks of flesh fell and made splashes in the dark swamp below. Eldar could only see the original bird flying down and the assaulter flying away with a large chunk of flesh. Soon, a large splash sounded.

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Eldars hope rose as he thought about a good meal. Despite eating half a sheep, the disgusting taste and the fact that he threw up most of it had given Eldars stomach more than enough reason to wail.

Eldar began slowly heading down before the swamp changed.

As soon as the bird fully sunk into the dark swamp a large deafening rumble could be heard. Eldar hid inside a bush and peeked through the branches in order to see what the cause was.

The cause was obviously, a monster however this monster was truly monstrous. The bird was suddenly taken from the water as if it were picked up. Soon the bird travelled somewhere and as if going down an invisible tube it travelled in an almost angled motion until it landed in the middle of the air. Its body slowly corroded until it became bones. And then dust.

The dust then disappeared and all that remained were several large ripples.

Eldars eyes stuck onto the beast the whole time.

'It's invisible.'

Eldar cursed as he now had to rethink his journey to the light.

'Relax Eldar.'

Eldar calmed himself. He had gotten through many things. He could get through this to. After Eldars anxiety rush had settled he immediately noted anything significant in his head.

'Alright, it didn't move until the bird had sunk fully, so I may be able to just make a boat and row across however the bird from earlier might dive down and take me out.' Eldar sat with his back on a branch as he ruffled his hair.

The sharp pains soon returned as Eldars thoughts stopped buzzing.

And the sleepless nights returned too.

The sound of grunts and gahs sounded as Eldar began making his raft. The plan was simple. First, send a fake raft across the swamp, if that raft makes it at least halfway then Eldar would take his real raft and travel across.

If his fake raft did get picked up and swallowed by the invisible monstrosity then Eldar would simply take the destructive pain and go left then towards the light.

Any amount of pain was worth living. To a certain extent of course. Even Eldar himself didn't know if he could take it and be the same man once he reached the light.

Eldars rafts were nothing fancy. Around 10 fallen bamboo sticks of somewhat similar lengths connected by some shaven bamboo tied together. The rafts had taken a couple of hours despite their simplicity due to Eldars lack of energy and arms.

'And with this.' Eldar finished an awkward fiddly knot. 'I'm done with the rafts.'

Eldar tightly pulled the knot and tested the rafts weight on land.

Eldar ignored his stomachs growls and began to rest on a tree.

The wails of his stomach that lasted throughout the day made him pant in agony throughout the day and the exhaustion from receiving no energy made every task seem like lifting a boulder.

'Speaking of boulders, I could eat one right now.' Eldar grumbled inside his head.

'Tonight. I'll do it tonight.' Eldar put his remaining hand on his chest before he glanced at the unmoving swamp. The swamp was quiet and calm, despite there not even being the smallest ripple Eldars apprehension only grew. If there was not even the smallest ripple, did that not mean that the invisible beast took down anything? Or atleast anything in the water.

Even if Eldar found the solution he still had a constant problem flying right over his head.

A soft sigh released as Eldar lugged his rafts towards the shore of the swamp in a grueling process.

Eldar sat by the shore of the swamp, the ground was muddy and his back was muddy too from resting on a muddy wall.

Eldar once again saw 3 seconds of light that kept him sane. It shimmered in the darkness and quickly dimmed into nothingness.

Eldar sat by the shore of the swamp, boredom struck and even his anxiety didn't stop him from lobbing a rock towards the swamp.

Plunk.

The rock sunk.

The water stood still.

The plan began.