After going through the exposure to the Sanctuaries resources and riding the high of the potentially life changing results we spent the rest of the day testing out the effects. Daniel was able to think much more clearly and was less distracted being able to focus more than normal. Sarah was able to see much further and clearer than before, standing out the front of the club rooms and having the ability to see the tree line and the cats stalking back and forth. She did mention that it seemed like there weren’t that many compared to the previous day, thinking that maybe some got bored and wandered off looking for other prey.
I had some of the most fun I had had in ages testing out my physical limits, being able to not only jump further but also run, lift and throw much more than I was able to normally. After being put through my paces by Daniel I could confidently say I had improved my physical ability by about four to five times my original level. It made me think though, ‘if my fitness has improved this much due to the berry then what about Dan’s? could he get more use out of the berry than I can? Also, would the base level of fitness someone had change the amount of the berry they could consume?”.
Putting those questions to the back of my mind I made my way back to the group and we all discussed the benefits we got from what we had eaten, though Sarah had mentioned she was starting the notice her eye sight gradually changing after about an hour and a half. Maybe there is only a temporary benefit from the products in the Sanctuary and they require constant use if you want to effects to remain. We all finally tapped out for the night and headed to bed, determined to get something done tomorrow to possibly get some more answers to this place and what has happened around us. Saying good night to the other guys I headed to bed with my mind racing full of questions of how the food could affect us.
Waking up I slowly noticed a faint sense of weakness compared to when I went to bed, getting up and moving around had me noticing an improvement on my normal level but not to the same point as initially after eating the berry. Thinking of getting a morning work out in after the rush from yesterday and not wanting to lose the feeling, I could tell that I had definitely improved but it was a much smaller improvement. Thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that due to the sudden influx of energy it boosted my physical ability far beyond normal, as the energy was gradually consumed and absorbed the physical enhancement lessened.
Though this could explain the small improvement as the energy absorbed by my body could still have affected me making it a lesser and permanent effect, instead of a larger temporary one. ‘Could I potentially use the berry to further myself again? Or is it a one-time thing? This needs to be tested’, moving back to the hall after finishing my workout I met up with the others and we talked about the results this morning, Sarah told us that her vision was back to normal, maybe a slight improvement but nothing like last night. Dan did feel that his head was still pretty clear and he didn’t feel as fuzzy in the morning as he would normally be, and I told them about my improved physical ability.
“It looks like the enhancing effects of the food have a permanent result, though not as extreme as the initial effect upon consumption. This would probably be a good time to change the food and see if there is a stacking effect or if they cancel each other out.”
Moving into the canteen we pulled out some more of the food that had been portioned the day before and surprisingly it seemed that regardless of the time they spent in the fridge nothing had changed. They still looked just as fresh as when we first cut into them, closing the door so no bugs got into the food we opened up the containers and distributed them. Sarah got the berry, Dan got the flowers and I got the vegetable, looking at each other we all gave the others a nod and ate them at the same time.
Putting the tomato in my mouth I was hit with a cool breeze, my eyes opened wide as I could feel the exhaustion from my workout fade and thoughts that before seemed a bit fuzzy from last night became as clear as day. Like Dan said it felt like I had a bucket of ice dumped on me startling me awake, and the others went through the same reaction as before, with Dan having the delayed shock from his vision improving beyond human limits and Sarah’s entire body shaking and quivering as I could see her adjusting to the amount of energy being taken in.
Like I had done before I could see her look around needing to burn the energy, though it didn’t look as frantic as I remember myself feeling.
“Wow Dave you didn’t do this justice, holy crap I need to do something, anything I have to move” and with that she sprinted out the building. Moving so fast that dust stirred in her wake, we could hear her outside as she ran back and forth, jumping up and down and in general just being extremely physically active. Thinking about it I couldn’t remember needing to move this much, though it could play into my idea that depending on the starting level of fitness the berry would affect you differently.
Turning to Dan, I could see him looking around just taking everything in wide eyed and mouth open. Thinking about how my body was reacting to the tomato I could notice each part of my body and feel out how they all moved and what muscle group moved which part. Being able to activate the individual muscle groups and manipulate my body was a weird feeling, talking to Dan about it I asked if he had experienced the same thing as he only mentioned being clear headed and focused.
He didn’t mention anything like what I was going through, but at the same time he did say that he was already able to do that to a minor degree even before this. It really put into perspective just how gifted he is and I was really interested to see how the berries affected him, if Sarah and I had this kind of reaction then what would he be able to do? I was also wanting to get an answer to some of my questions, if the same amount of berry was able to improve his level or if he would have to consume more of it to get the same rush we did.
Giving us a bit of time to get used to the changes we were going through we reconvened a few hours later; like yesterday after the hour and a half Dan had noticed the effects of the flower gradually reducing until about two hours where he was back to normal. No residual effect or improvement on his vision, which was confusing as it had certainly happened for Sarah, ‘ah another thing to figure out, great’. Sarah and I had also noticed the energy level gradually reducing, when it would stop lowering neither of us knew as last time we were all asleep. It might be best to wait it out and see where it stopped before we eat anything else, though Dan could probably eat some of the berries as it didn’t seem he had anything running through his system to conflict with it.
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Upon agreement we moved to the canteen and got more of the berry out and Dan took it throwing it into his mouth, we all sat there expectantly waiting for something to happen…….and there was nothing. No rush, not shaking and no need to vigorously exercise. A grin on my face I proceeded to tell the other two about my theory that starting fitness level may affect the amount of fruit you can eat, and with Dan being at such a high level he may need to consume more in order to meet the required amount to start the enhancement.
Pulling out another berry I proceeded to cut it in half and quickly put the remaining amount back into the fridge. Nervously he picked it up, looking at us with an uncertain look I nodded to him encouraging Dan to eat the half.
“Mate if a third of it did absolutely nothing for you, then it would most likely need to be either a full one or close to that for the change to happen.”
Thinking about it we could see him come to agreement and ate it in two massive bites, we waited and waited and thinking we needed more I headed to the fridge to get some more when, “DAN!!”. Whirling around brought me the sight of Dan bent over hands on his knees, steam rising and heat radiating from his body, ‘HOLY SHIT!’.
“DAN! Are you ok?”,
“ARGH!! I…M……..F….I…N…E!”,
This continued on for another 15 minutes until we could see some of the original colour return to his body and his breathing return to normal. Without any warning he stood up right and was……absolutely fine. ‘Well that was weird’, “are you alright buddy?’,
“Never better, man I feel so good, that was a huge rush. I can see what you guys meant when you needed to run around and do physical stuff, this is crazy.”
Looking around for something he eventually looked up and sighting the same roof that I had he proceeded to squat down in position and exploding from the ground he shot up off his spot soaring three metres in the air, “woooooohoooooo”. Landing like an Olympic gymnast he looked up grinning and shaking his legs turning to us saying, “I reckon I could go higher”. Sarah and I looking at each other just numb by what we had just witnessed could only watch as he set himself to get a run up, when he took his first few steps……and fell flat onto his face.
“Ok so I might need to adjust to this first” sheepishly looking at us rubbing his head.
We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon helping his acclimatise with his new found enhanced body. Coming on to late afternoon Dan looked at us and said the last thing we were expecting, “I think we need to see what’s been happening in the forest.”
“Sorry wait what?” Sarah said with a gobsmacked look on her face.
“Where did that come from?” airing my disbelief as well, thinking about how stupid it was to do that with the cats out there.
“Ok ok hear me out, so with us having tested out the effects of the berries, vegetables and flowers and with me still on the rush from the berry, it would be the best time to take a chance getting out there and scouting the area.
See if there is anyone else around us and get the lay of the land, I can eat another of the flowers before I go and I’ll take a torch with me to chase the cats away. Though I reckon I can outrun them now, they weren’t too much faster than me before and I could vaguely see them. Now I’m pretty sure I’ve got the leg up on them and will be able to escape if needed.”
Going on to explain in further detail I had to admit that it was making a lot of sense, so with much reservation and before it got too late we agreed and followed Dan towards the edge of the clearing, with a bag of supplies no less than three torches, a sharpened broom handle to defend himself with and wished him luck reminding him to be careful and come back if it gets too dangerous.
With a blast Dan sprinted towards the tree line in a blur, making it to the first line of tree’s and seeing the cats waiting for him, we had chills running down our backs thinking he would get caught. In disbelief we watched him take a massive running jump and clearing three and a half nearing on four metres soared over the cats. Landing on his feet he proceeded to dash into the trees with the cats in hot pursuit leaving them far behind and we could hear them yowl in frustration, not giving up and utilising their ability to jump between shadows to speed up.
With hope in our hearts for some good news of the outside, Sarah and I headed back to the club house to wait out and try to distract ourselves from the thought of something bad happening to our friend. With a desire for improvement burning in my heart feeling like Dan was leaving me behind and I was holding him back I wanted…no needed to improve myself as quick as possible. Noticing that the effect from the berry and vegetable had lessened and stopped decreasing after around 6 hours we proceeded to move along with testing the last one for each of us and knowing what to expect didn’t take away from the initial rush and exposure to new senses.
It was a quiet dinner and both of us sat quite worried and disheartened due to Dan not being back yet, we ate quickly and bidding each other good night we headed to bed. Laying down I couldn’t get a wink of sleep due to the thoughts running through my head of what could have happened, night would be the worst time to be out there in the forest with those shadow cats. Counting the seconds and minutes it felt like the night was going on and on and my worry wasn’t abating, needing to talk to someone I turned over,
“Sarah, you awake?”
“Yeah, no way I can sleep right now”,
“What do you think could have happened? Did we do the right thing letting him go out without us?”
“Dave we wouldn’t have been able to help him, if we went out he would be constantly worried about us and distracted.”
“Yeah but….”, sigh “you’re right, we couldn’t’ have done anything, its just so frustrating.” Feeling my breath hitch, I cleared my throat and continued. “What if he is hurt and we weren’t there? anything could have happened.”
“Hey, hey listen to me, this is Daniel we are talking about, there’s no way some stupid cats could catch him. He is fine, probably just distracted with something, you know what he’s like.”
We settled into some silence deep in thoughts, that soon were broken by,
“DAVID!!!! SARAH!!!”
Shooting upright we, raced outside and saw Daniel racing towards up carrying a bundle in his arms with two people running trying to keep up with him.
“TURN THE LIGHTS ON!!”,
Running to the power switches I flicked them all on and racing back outside saw Daniel leaping into the lake quickly submerging his bundle in the water with a Middle-aged couple standing on the edge gripping each other looking on in worry.