"Say that again, I didn't catch that."

"I counted the hours you've slept and th-" I cut her off.

"No, not that. How could you possibly know the days aren't 24 hours?"

"If the suit timers are correct, the sun moves much too slow to match a typical 24-hour day. I have-" she immediately paused with her head snapping to something behind me. I followed her head but saw nothing besides shrubbery.

Why was she trying to trick me, was she lying to look better in front of me?

"What are yo-"

"Please shut up, there's something nearby."

"You need a better excuse, my suit would have picked it up by now." A warning flashed on my screen slowing my speech.

"Stop looking at me and look at the threat!" she snapped.

I turned back spotting a red outline in the distance, its form was constantly changing. The size was much broader and thick than I felt comfortable facing.

I surveyed the area for an escape path. Flat dirt ground with no mature plants for a short jog from the center. Cave to our rear, flanked by rocky sharp, uneven walls.

I glanced back at the outline, it was inching closer not deviating to the left or right. Running parallel into the dense woods could work if this forest wasn't much scarier at night with traps and dangerous nocturnal wildlife like the one in front of me.

"How good of a runner are you?" I asked while edging closer to the walls, maintaining eye contact with the outline slowly emerging into the open space. As the outline faded and the profile of the beast revealed itself. My willpower reserves nearly emptied itself along with my bladder. I struggled to maintain my pace.

The creature, foreign to the forest's typical designs, was nearly my height and made no sound as it strode forward from the shrubbery, about 100 paces away. Jet dark scales lined his body from the tip of his nose to the back of its tail, glistening from the moon's gaze. With a predatory gait, it slowly closed the distance. At ninety paces, I noticed its round pupils and white iris contrasting each other sending a chill down my spine as it focused on me.

"Hey, now is not the time to freeze up! We can survive this." I whispered under my breath trying to convince us both. Refusing to break eye contact with the beast, I waved my arms backward to feel around for Aslai. 80 paces. Failing that I changed course, walking nearly perpendicular to the beast to get a better view of the area without the need to break eyesight. 65 paces she still wasn't in my sight and the beast is uncomfortably close. Either she's directly behind me, mirroring my movements but too petrified to talk, or she ran away. I changed my course towards the rocky uneven walls, as the beast sped its gait closing in 50 paces away.

My eyes caught something weird, it's front left leg was diminutive and lifeless. A detail well hidden by the naturally appearing gait and abyssal darkness of its body. The more I searched the more damage I could find, some small scales seem to be ripped apart and uneven, a red gash layering its side. Its frontal leg was doing much more work than usual, stepping twice each time a rear leg moved. 40 paces. A loose plan finally clicked in my head, the pieces falling together until it leaped.

Time froze as he reached his apex, in a heartbeat yet it was already within reach, his singular forward claws reaching out. My brain went into overdrive too late. I kicked at the dirt in defiance of fate, a cloud of gravel and dirt exploded underneath as I jetted in the opposite direction, carving out a curve in the ground as I slid across it bringing up a smaller cloud around me.

I tried to clutch at the rushing beat of my heart, my labored breaths echoing in my ears. Something flashed in the corner of my vision but I ignored it and snapped my head in different directions trying to find the location of the beast.

One breath later, thin rays of moonlight cut through the dust and glistened off my armor like a beacon.

After two breaths, the dust started to clear away as my vision flashed and turned dark. I panic as I whip my head around noticing the beast colored in a very faint whiteness nearly blending into the dark, as he slowly paces around me. After 3 breaths, he pauses and inches closer as I step back.

On my 5th breath, the beast stepped back as his posture shifted. On my 6th he rocketed towards me, white sparks appeared as his claws racked across my chest. My body crashed against a tree in the distance. Color returned to the world as several symbols swarmed my peripherals.

"Kit! Move, Kit!" a panicked monotone voice entered my ears and I opened my eyes to see the saliva dripping from his canines. I was nearly inside his mouth, his good paw weighing my chest down. A snap rang in my ears as a large branch hits both of us on the head. Knocking sense back into me I struggled to move, he resumes his movements ready to crush my neck under his jaws. My arm wiggled out and my palm slapped his mouth away.

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Its head remained tilted in the other direction with its mouth still open, saliva dripping from its jaw. The single pupil I could see slowly panned toward me before dilating.

"I'm -" was all I could get out before he sat on his hind legs and sparks filled my vision. I found myself back in the opening, sliding against the dirt. I got onto my feet but he was already leaping towards me, forcing me to dive towards the ground, narrowly missing the claws as he slid against the gravel nearly toppling over.

We stared each other down, his torso was raising and lowering in steady movements. Lights swirled in the sides of my vision and I shook my head trying to focus on him. A thick branch fell to his right side, nearly hitting him and causing both of us to jump and stare at it for a few moments.

I tilted my head up into the canopy, keeping my eyes on the beast. It watched me as it tensed up, preparing for a jump. As soon as he sprang forward, I dived to the side, running as quickly as possible. As soon as I heard his paws scraping along the ground I turned back towards him.

A low growl escaped its mouth as I slowly inched away, he mirrored me keeping a static distance.

I quickly glanced at the distance to the wall, 50 paces. With the wall at my back, I'll be cornered but he can't jump. I keep moving, but he abruptly speeds up, circling to my left. Reflexively, I mirrored him before realizing he was trying to force me back into the open space. My mind rushed, reevaluating my options: forest, facing him, tiring him out. "Kit, I can drop stuff on the red marks on the ground." Her voice was monotone but words were rushed and filled with panic. I nod slightly to the trees above me and decide to face him.

I scoop up as many rocks and dirt as I can and walk toward it. The beast hesitates for a bit before sitting on its hind legs and raising itself to its full height, towering over me and making me reevaluate my life choices. I immediately turn and sprint towards the wall again. "Aslai, get ready to throw a branch near the wall!" I stop to glance at the beast seeing him preparing for a jump, he follows through and leaps into the air towards me. I take a gamble and rush towards him, right before we meet I slide under the reach of his claws and toss the leftover dirt and stones into his face.

The scraping of his claws rings out in my ears, I jet around him towards the wall as he scrambles around in the dirt. I somehow keep my balance as I focus on him while jogging in a different direction. His entire language puffed with frustration and tiredness as he closed the distance again.

I wouldn't make it to the wall before he reaches me, so I faced my entire body towards him expecting him to slow down. He catapults himself towards me, giving me a brief instant to brace myself I fly a few inches backward. This time the claws don't harmlessly scrap along my suit, metallic internals scooped out with a single swipe before my eyes. We both slide just outside of the red circle. I struggle to twist my body further under the circle, but the beast shoves his hind legs on my own, pinning me down as his claws scrape the ground next to me.

I counted two breaths before facing him, expecting hesitation. Instead, he catapults himself toward me, making me fly a few inches backward with his armored back. I roll along the ground as a swipe kicks up dust at my last location. He pins himself on top of me, the red circle just out of reach, his hindlegs forcing my body down as his claws scrape the ground close to my face, slowly and methodically. His pupils focus on me as he readjusts himself ensuring I can't move my arms as my legs kick aimlessly. A swift claw rakes against my armor once, twice, the third time scooping out metallic internals as my screen flashes warnings.

He sniffs the metallic substances left on his claws before giving me a weird look. Then a tree falls and flattens us both. It goes limp and collapses on my chest. I try to wiggle out but with the combined weight I couldn't move anything besides my legs.

"Aslai, it's knocked out, help me out before it wakes up!" My head searched for her in the treeline, I desperately searched for the ally marker or any green outlines to no success.

"Aslai?!"

"Oh, I'm coming! Are you okay?!"

I quickly evaluated myself, "Only slight aches, a heartbeat in my ears, and out of breath. You?"

"These scratches will heal over time."

Faint footsteps walked towards me as the log was slowly cut in half. I pulled myself to my feet and we stared down at the animal for a few seconds. "What should we do?" Aslai asked laser focused on the rising and lowering chest.

"Leave it, we can't eat it or kill it cleanly."

"I can saw through its armor, additionally there are several wounds I can aim for to cripple him and make it easier."

"How can you- No, we aren't we are leaving before it wakes up."

I turn the other way walking towards the objective marker in the distance. Slowly the aches throughout my body upgraded into a dull pain that I did my best to brush aside. My eyes finally wandered to the sides of my vision where an overlay of my body automatically extends. Several areas flashed in orange with my chest in bright red. I examined my chest, the insides were alien to me as silver sparks kept twisting around inside of me. The silver sparks turned into flies that scattered about inside my body.

Stopping myself from swatting them, I paused in my steps watching as they went to work. Melding the edges of my chest together, slowly covering the suit's wound. I watch for a few moments as the process finishes and the overlay flashes from red to orange.

"Good news, the suit is self-repairing."

I glance around the interfaces, slowly getting used to using my eyes to interface while also focusing on walking. I struggled to understand how to use the interface, it reacted to eye movement but it was completely unintuitive and annoying to look at something to access it.

"Aslai, do you know how to use this suit?" I said right before the last vestiges of my adrenaline faded and the energy left my body, causing me to collapse.

-

Headache, eyes sting, sleepiness, pain.

I failed to find food and energy was wasted on a shiny weakling.

A shiny weakling isn't a weakling but a strong weakling.

But, I am still alive. Weakling spared potential food, weakling strange.

I witnessed the weakling turn back to a defeated me, am I weak?

No, need to hunt food to heal. Then find the weakling and dominate the weakling.