Zef touched his head, avoiding the two new neighbors. He tried not to freak out as his heart raced against his chest. Shutting his eyes tight, he decided to calm himself as different emotions circulated inside of him. Mostly it was a spiral of fear, panic and confusion. He knew he needed to calm down and bottle his feelings, so he did the only thing that could work.

He changed his seating to a cross-legged position and put his hands on his knees, and started chanting in his native language; Tuareg, “Never panic, a young lion you are, fear is a part of our nature. Panic, and you die quicker, control your breath, and you will control your world”.

The more he chanted, the easier it was to drown those negative thoughts. Zef then started a session of deep breaths, his eyes shut,followed by deep breaths and slow exhales. Meditation was an old art taught to him by his uncle to control his PTSD issues. Weirdly enough, it took him only half the time to calm down than ever done before. Once he got his heartbeat in control, he studied his new titan-like body, then sighed and started planning his next move.

Zef's combat training took over and prioritized shelter, scouting and sustenance.The order of those needs would depend on his environment. The heavy lifting would come later once he secured all necessities which were to seek answers to his many questions.

He knew that he needed to adjust the idea that he was no longer himself. It wasn't just his body, even his mind, he could feel it. Something was not him entirely. His thoughts felt quicker, sharper, and just somewhat alien.

He looked at his surroundings again and wondered if this was an alien spaceship. He was in a cave that had a circular structure with many crevices. The small pond lay almost at the center of his dwelling.

He then dragged himself to a wall closest to him and put his back against it, slowly he started to massage his legs allowing the blood to circulate efficiently and invigorate his leg muscles.

While doing so, his hearing was picking up distinct sounds both close and far but it felt a bit tuned out. So he closed his eyes and just listened. He caught crickets chirping and focused. His hearing was so sharp that even with his eyes closed he had a clear where they were inside the cave. More surprising was his antennas which moved and he could smell those crickets, they had a distinct metallic smell, like copper.

His eyes looked around and he found all the hidden crickets within the grass, the cave walls even the ones hiding in the crevices of those walls.

Zef was blown away, he felt like a superhero and focused his ears outside of the cave. Seconds flew by and he caught the rustling of many trees which he found weird. There weren't many trees in his region and desert trees don't rustle like that. Then he heard the howl of a wolf....then more howls as if calling to each other. He also picked up the gliding and fluttering of bats and last but least was the hoot of an owl.

Forest!!! I'm in a freaking forest. Blessed be the Heavens!

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Suddenly the moonlight entering his cave disappeared. In the darkness, he lay; The red grass no longer glazed due to the cloud that hovered above his dwelling, stopping moonlight from entering. It didn't matter as Zef blinked; his eyes shone brilliantly like two glowing suns. Those were the eyes of a beast, no longer human it looked like it belonged to a massive predator.

Zef did not perceive how he intimidating his eyes looked. His attention was at two tiny beerkes huddled together hidden between the stalks of grass. So focused was he that his eyes suddenly zoomed in and saw them fighting over a crushed leaf that he must have stepped over earlier. Zed was bewildered by his vision's clarity, and the fact that he could zoom in and zoom out like a sniper's scope, made his heart skip a beat.

Unlike night-vision goggles, his night vision had different shades of grey, blue, and violet. He looked here and there, zooming in and out until a headache intensified in his brain. He stopped before it turned into a throbbing pain.

The cloud covering the moon soon hovered away, and his eyes stopped shining and turned back to their natural golden hue as the moonlight entered the cave and lighted up his small abode.

Zef sat there and took all the changes in, and when he felt ready, he checked his legs which now had some strength and used the opportunity to stand up and check his motor movement. He did some stretches, then finally pulled himself up using the fissures on the wall for him to stabilize on. Once he got his body upright, he was shocked at his newfound height.

Brushing his hands, he looked down on his feet and tried to estimate his height, which was about seven feet, he thought to himself.

Astounded, he wondered if he’ll ever get used to this. The new anomalies to his body made Zef want to take a better look at his face again. So he walked in a toddler-like manner towards the pond with his newfound legs, falling several times before finding his balance. Patience rewarded him as he knelt and looked at his reflection at the pond’s surface. He took a quick look at his perfectly symmetrical face and sized himself up again before opening his mouth. His teeth were almost pristine except for the four canines, which looked a bit too sharp if not slightly bigger than average. He closed his mouth and turned his face sideways and touched his ears hiding between his hair and noticed they were a bit longer and extended upwards to a pointy end.

Frowning, he grabbed his hair, which ran down to his heels. It was wavy yet silky smooth, and there were hints of maroon here and there. As he tried to wrap his hair around the waist, a loud rumble echoed from his stomach, which swayed him from his hairdressing plan. Zef looked around for any food but could only find insects. He frowned and then sighed before grabbing several beetles and crickets. The act of eating insects wasn’t new to him. Still, he hoped he’d never repeat that experience, sadly it did, and Zef knew that he needed calories to strengthen himself if he wanted to climb out of the cave since he didn't see a way out earlier while he was experimenting with his eyes. It seemed the only way of getting out was through that gaping hole on the roof.

So he just kept eating, enduring the horrible taste in his mouth, gagging several times but swallowing. Once he ran out of insects, he went to the tiny pool and drank, hoping that the bitter taste in his mouth would disappear.

He burped, then looked at the moonlight reflecting off the lake and prayed to the heavens to keep away any parasites or stomach cramps he might contract from his reckless dinner. Eventually, he slept on his back and used his hair to cover his lower body; although he wasn’t cold, he felt naked without clothes covering him.

He then smirked at that thought as he was literally naked. Zef turned to his side and extended his arm, his hand towards the clump of grass closest to him, probing its leaves, until sleep caught him for the second time, unaware.