He had been walking for approximately three hours now.

Along the way, he had not seen a single trace of another living person or any settlement.

Although he had seen countless baffling creatures of weird shapes and sizes.

After climbing up on top of a rocky tower, he had seen hundreds if not thousands of the same species of giant caterpillar munching on the black vines in all directions. Mostly they were huddled in large herds, their heads plopped down, busy devouring the nasty black ooze.

The black vines flowed everywhere as naturally as if they were a part of the ground itself. However, they were in higher concentrations around some of the rocky towers. These columns had large pits underneath them.

It was impossible to tell the depth of these pits but his intuition told him they went very, very deep. The walls of these pits were completely overtaken with black growth, making it seem like the walls were painted black.

The dense cluster of black matter surrounding the holes told him these deep pits might have been the source of the black growth.

He had been extra careful in not stepping on the black mass, the dark living ooze had made him feel wary of them.

There were a lot of these pits, one every hundred meters. He could only imagine what monstrosities lay inside.

He had also seen another giant predator.

A large black bird-like creature the size of an elephant had swooped down and snatched one of the caterpillars away in its black talons.

Like the other creatures he had observed the giant bird was pitch black as well.

After observing it in action he had made a mental note to look up before climbing on top of a rocky column.

Getting tired from walking he takes a small rest in the shade of a curved rock column. There was something that was bothering him.

He could remember memories of a past life but he had no memories of his life as a boy in this world.

“Is the amnesia still not clear?”

There were also other questions about his current identity.

“Isn’t it odd that a child would be wearing a battle suit? Hmm but this environment does require one so maybe that’s the reason but that doesn’t explain the ring-sword weapon.”

He brings the ring to his face to look at it closely.

From touch, the ring’s band felt the same as the material his suit was made of, in the center was a dull red stone that seemed dark more than red.

The stone was engraved with an insignia, unlike anything he had ever seen before.

It was a ring within a ring, the outer ring had flames engraved around it as if it was on fire while the inner ring seemed dense and filled out in the middle.

“Things like insignias and emblems were used by high-end nobles in Earth's history…it might be the same over here as well. The suit and ring are obviously the work of an advanced civilization but that might not mean they were cheap or easy to make.”

Was he some type of royalty or a noble?

If he was then why was he isolated in such a dangerous wasteland alone?

Sure, his suit had excellent defensive capabilities but it wasn’t enough to take on the large beasts inhabiting this environment.

It was odd that a child of nobility or royalty was out here trying to survive encounters that were clearly life-threatening for even adults.

The magic suit and sword had barely saved his life from the dark crab last night.

“Speaking of the sword.”

During his scuffle with the crab-like creature, this ring had turned into a sword.

He hesitantly taps on the ring’s stone, expecting it to give off a flash and morph into a blade but nothing happens.

The stone only gives a brief flicker of red light.

He gives it a few more taps, each one a little harder than the last but the ring remains a ring.

“Great, is this thing out of battery?”

He knows he will need the sword if he is going to survive in this place.

Especially when it gets dark.

Worried, he looks up at the sky to gauge the remaining time until nightfall.

With the passage of time, the sun had shifted its position so it was moving similarly to the sun from his previous life.

Though this sun was moving precisely along the two arcs in the sky as if they were tracks for its trajectory.

Judging from how much the sun had moved in the time he had been walking he only had four or five hours before total darkness.

“Fuck where do I go? I’ll be a sitting duck at night.”

Since he hadn’t seen any other giant meat-eating crabs while exploring, it wasn’t a stretch to imagine they came out after dark.

“They’ll probably come out of those pits I’ve passed along the way.”

The pits were countless and their close proximity suggested that they were all connected.

“This entire landscape might be their territory…..*sigh* I have to find shelter soon.”

Noting the remaining time and his direction, he continues moving.

Along the way, he encounters more of the same sights he had seen before.

Caterpillars casually munching, being circled overhead by giant dark birds.

large crevasses covered by black mass that seemed like deep chasms of void, opening straight down into an abyss.

Countless pillars of rock extended in all directions, black vines lazily hanging from their slopes.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Many of them were completely black from being overtaken by black vines with large pits agape invitingly beneath them.

Empty carcasses of devoured caterpillars are haphazardly left out to rot around the opening of these pits.

More hours passed and it seemed like he was moving in circles because of the unchanging scenery.

The sun was now following the downward arc of the encircling lines in the sky.

He was exhausted, parched, and hungry. His legs were hurting from the constant walking.

In his past life, he was trained to fight under extreme conditions. Often times while engaging in guerilla warfare he had fought without food for days, surviving on a couple of tiny sips of water per day.

He was afraid that his new childish body would not be able to take the strain and quickly collapse but on the contrary, he did not feel himself weakening.

Despite his age, this body was surprisingly sturdier and more durable than he could’ve imagined. It was the same when he was climbing up the cliff in total darkness, that climb should’ve been beyond the capabilities of a child this young.

It definitely was beyond the abilities of children back on earth.

“Maybe the children in this world are not as weak compared to earth?”

All of a sudden, he hears a snapping and tearing sound coming from a bit further away.

He grows quiet in his movement, approaching a nearby rock pillar stealthily.

Peering from the column’s side he sees that it’s another caterpillar carcass but this one is shaking and jerking.

He can hear faint tearing and high-pitched chittering sounds coming from inside the caterpillar.

Suddenly the upper side of the carcass bursts and a weird critter pops out.

It jerks its head in twitchy bird-like movements, scanning the area around it.

The distance made it hard to make out the details but this creature appeared to have eyes.

Using its claws to tear at the opening it was peering out of, the creature slowly crawls out of the opening.

This allows the boy to get a good look at the thing.

Unlike the other creatures he had observed this particular species was not black but light grayish in color.

It was sitting upright on its hind limbs with something clutched in its forepaws that looked like deformed slender hands.

It did not seem to have any fur, just skin that was taut against its bony body. Two pointy ears on the sides of its head and a mouth that looked like a rodent's.

“It kinda looks like a shaved rat, minus the tail.”

However, it was bigger than a normal rat by a wide margin. Judging from the distance it seemed to be equal to him in size.

It might actually be a little bigger.

“Now how does this small rabid-looking rat survive in this place; It can actually show me a thing or two.”

With the number of large predators roaming around this landscape, it must be inhabiting a relatively safe shelter.

Shelter that he could use himself.

The rat seemed to be crouching over something clutched in its forepaws.

The boy shifted forward to get a better look.

The rat’s head shoots up immediately in an abrupt motion, its ear twitching back and forth to capture sound.

The boy grows still just as suddenly and holds his breath.

The rat moves its head in the same bird-like fashion, its beady eyes examining everything around it.

A few seconds pass.

Thinking it must’ve been the wind or something, it diverts its attention back to the object clutched in its claws.

The boy sighs in relief silently.

Refocusing on the weird critter, he finds that it is holding a huge chunk of caterpillar flesh. Taking small and fast bites, it was greedily devouring the meat.

“Yeah, that caterpillar meat is not safe for consumption….No, not just the caterpillars, the meat of any black species is not going to be safe to eat for me.”

The reason was the black ooze he had observed earlier, it was obviously an integral part of the ecosystem in this area.

He couldn’t be 100% certain but by his estimations, the black goo was cycled through all species in this ecosystem.

Caterpillars ate the black ooze through the dark vines and they in turn were hunted by other vicious predators who absorbed the black goo through them.

This explained why all the different species had the same pitch-black skin or exteriors, they were the exact same shade as the growth of black mass he had seen everywhere.

His instincts were telling him that couldn’t be a simple coincidence.

It was entirely a guess but if it proved to be true then that meant the black goo was actively manipulating the biodiversity around it to infect and spread.

Not only was it consciously spreading itself like a live organism, but it was also changing its host from the inside out.

He remembered the tiny strands of darkness desperately trying to crawl toward him and shuddered.

A terrifying phenomenon.

This rat-like thing seemed different though. Its color was clearly a much lighter shade compared to others.

“Does that mean it's safe to eat?” he thought to himself as he felt a pang of hunger.

As if sensing his hostile intentions, the rat creature stops eating and perks up.

Looking straight up, it sniffs the air a few times.

Alarmed, the boy wondered if it had picked up his scent but the squirrel didn’t glance in his direction.

Just as suddenly as it had started sniffing the air the gray rat pushed the giant chunk of meat into its mouth. Its furless rodent face swelled grotesquely to make space for the lump of flesh.

Then it dropped down to four legs and did something he had seen before but still managed to surprise him.

Its legs and its body began to glow in a golden flame in that familiar pattern he had witnessed the demon crab exhibit except the glow was much dimmer in comparison.

The golden flaming aura envelops the rat and it stands still for a few seconds before turning into a quick-moving mass of golden blur.

It swiftly moves in a zig-zag pattern, sprinting away from him and the dead carcass.

If it hadn’t been for the golden glow covering its body, he would have lost sight of it instantly,

Not wanting to lose this possible lifeline the boy chases after it, sprinting in the same direction.

“Fuck you…you definitely didn’t detect me… so why are you running!” He screams internally.

He can make out the flash of gold zipping from column to column. It had already created quite a distance between them.

He tries to keep his focus on the flicker of gold as he runs but the widening gap between them makes it difficult.

To keep the rat in his sight, he jumps onto the nearest rock tower and scales it with astounding agility and speed.

Reaching the top, he inspects the direction it had darted towards but sees nothing.

“The sun is almost down. I have to find it or I’m dead out in the open.”

Straining his eyes, he focused on the general direction the rat had run off towards.

He detects a very faint flicker of gold a little over three hundred meters away.

Not wasting any time, he steps over the edge of the rock pillar in that direction.

“I sure am glad these things light up like Christmas trees every time they do something.”

He skids down the rock pillar and runs all the way to the observed site but finds no other trace of the rat.

“*pants*God damn that thing is fast.”

He was running at full speed but it was like trying to catch a speeding car.

“*pant*that golden glow has something to do with speed.*pants*”

The dark crab had also glowed golden before rushing.

Not to mention there were glows with different colors.

His suit had glowed blue when he got hit by the dark crab and it had saved his life. The crab itself had been glowing red when it was attacking him.

He remembered his arms and the sword glowing red when he had slashed at the demon crab's tail.

“So, the different colored glows are not some properties caused by infection from the black goo but are something else entirely.”

He himself and his suit had exhibited red and blue glows.

“It's possible that I might be able to do the same with the golden aura as well…but first I have to find out where that rat fuck ran off to.”

He crouches and begins to scan the ground for any tracks. In his past life, he was used to this when he had to fight and survive in jungles.

Often times he had to live in hostile places for a year or two. Eating and drinking depended entirely on being able to track and hunt.

He peers intently to find a single trace or anything that might give away the rat’s location but is unable to find anything. The rocky surface wasn’t malleable enough for any tracks to develop.

The sun was sinking lower with each passing moment. Its light was now softer with a more diffused quality, creating long shadows and adding depth to the landscape.

He had very little time remaining before dark, maybe an hour and a half perhaps.

A little frustrated, he searched furiously to find something, anything to give him an idea about the rat’s path but, again, found absolutely nothing.

Figuring that he could use a rock tower for a better vantage point, he walks over to the nearest column but notices something odd.

A single particular black vine on that column stood out to him.

It was not really a vine but a cylindrical black pipe that was sticking out of a mesh of black vines as if it were a part of them.

He picks up a rock and uses it to touch the pipe, making sure there isn’t any of the infernal black fluid sticking to it.

After ensuring it is safe, the boy touches the pipe with his bare hand and feels it vibrating as if something is pumping through it.

The pipe separated from the rest of the vines at the base of the column and went straight west from his position.

Its shade and texture were exactly similar to the vines which made it hard to discern from a distance.

The boy sighs in relief from the discovery.

“Finally, a sign of civilization. I have to reach it before dark.”

Feeling newfound resolve, the boy moves swiftly toward the source of the artificial vine.