6 Trying to survive

When Alix awoke of his deep slumber, nothing had changed. He was still in the embrace of the abyss creature, a claw deep in his body. "Oh, I woke up, glad that I'm not dead" he was strangely surprised by this good news "But the hard part begins now". Moving as little as possible he grabbed with strength one of the claw that he dropped when asleep.

"SLASH"

With a mind clear of thought and a confident movement, he cut the limb of the abyss creature. He didn't know for sure yet if it was a beast, an animal of some sort or maybe a mythical creature. The Elder spoke of them as abyss creature and not abyss beast.

"There must be a reason... But right now it won't help me knowing this sort of thing. The cut is clean, I can move with the claw in my body without suffering too much. It didn't seem to aggravate the wound. There is not so much blood around me for I can touch. Two possibilities, the first, it didn't touch an artery, so the wound isn't serious and I could remove the claw to let the wound heal. Second, it's bleeding inside me and I can do nothing and I will bleed to death if I remove it right now, and bleed a little while later if I do nothing... Well, I will let the claw in me for now, I'll see later"

Alix wasn't particularly worried, he passed next to death too often lately so his state of mind was clear-headed and carefree. Sitting comfortably he immediately began to cut the creature. An entire day without eating had passed and with all his wound slowly closing up, his body needed much more food than habitually.

Swallowing a big part of the rear limb, he was nearly choked to death. Starting to eat a little bit slower as to not lose his life that he saved several times in short notice, he started savoring this meat. He didn't notice previously, not truly paying attention to it, and you can't blame him, but despite it being raw, it was particularly good.

It had a small stony after taste, "Not sure if its the meat or the dust around " and was incredibly bloody. This strong flavor flooded his palate, energizing his cells when descending in his throat. He mused for a short instant, "The other creature didn't seem to have this taste, even if I was not caring other than eating, I should have been aware of a magical feeling like this".

The bloody liquid slides down his throat as if a golden panacea made of life force. He could sense his small wound slowly closing up, and the big one, notably the one on his body didn't seem this much worrisome anymore.

"AHAHAH"

Laughing louder and louder, he looked a little crazy in this pitch-black darkness, crying "I knew it, it's the chance of my life, I will surpass all the villager with a lucky encounter like this!!!

Just have to eat this entire thing and I will be out!" Well yes, a small moment of joy in critical time can result in a loss of logic, but let's forgive him for this little moment of madness that we all had sometimes.

Calming his mind a minute later, Alix resumes his eating contest, trying to finish the whole creature before the meat would spoil. "I can't presume it won't spoil but there is a good chance that it won't. Here this deep in the canyon, there mustn't be too much insect and things like this, albeit, if life exists here, all the food chains must be present.." a chill cover him for a second. "Better not think too deeply about it, that's my new policy now!"

And the day passed with Alix pulling the carcass slowly to not open his wounds next to a puddle. Sitting, he repeats the process of tirelessly eating, digesting, drinking, sleeping and so, over and over. The day passed, a second too and then a third. A week had passed when he finished eating the creature up to its bones.

He was feeling refreshed, like a new birth, even his ears had healed, making him at last able to hear his voice and nothing much more, the silence was wrapping him in its suffocating nothing. His eyes were now able to see little shadows and place a little bit more distinct in this vast darkness. If he could see himself in a mirror he would witness a little bit of green in the depth of his previously bronze eyes.

The life force that runs now deep in his veins incur an increasing optimism for Alix, he was hearing and almost seeing, he just had to find a way out and he would see his friends again. Their faces were floating in his mind, smiling at him, allowing him to keep up and not lost to despair. He was naturally an optimist in life but it was the first time he lost everything, passing this close to the death and it terrified him. He became aware that he was not like the heroes in the book, able to do anything whatever the situation, keeping to their beliefs even in the face of death.

He still looks up to this type of figure but now knew that he was far from it and that he had much progress to do, in the field of his force of mind and in strength too because as the saying say "With strength, everything is possible"

Alix was beginning to adapt to the cold atmosphere, probably with the help of the abyss creature and logic question were beginning to surface in his mind "Why did I not see another creature when I was attacked by one just the first day of my stay here. It even ate the carcass on my first night. Is it possible it had a territory and others don't approach? I can't continue to hide in my thought, other creatures must exist here, even perhaps other species and I must know this environment better if I want to survive and came out alive of this precipice."

"Well everything in its own time, I will first remove the claw from my abdomen, and after I must search for new food otherwise it's just a postponement until my death."

He already concludes that his wound was not internal bleeding much to his happiness. If it was, he would not be alive anymore trying to reopen it.

Taking a comfortable position on the hard floor he verified a final time if he had everything at arms reaching distance, the fur of the grey creature cut in small-batch, water in its bones, some tendon that he didn't succeed in eating and a small bone cut for the occasion if he needs to sew his wound "I really hope I don't have to do it, I'm not sure I could resist the pain of sewing myself...Time to go!"

His wound had closed up and he pulled out the claw of his body without much blood, just plain pain to endure when extracting this thing. His cells seem to hook up the claw, making this action especially difficult with the pain assailing his mind at the same time. He wanted to extract it quickly and endure this pain after but reality seemed to prove otherwise that removing an object that is in a body for a week or so is not doable in a second.

Pulling little by little, sensing his flesh breaking around the claw, tearing the wound as if million little knives were cutting little bits of pulp each time his trembling hands were retracting further. "I should have cut a little bit the wound before, I knew it!! Argh, son of a b*tch of a claw! Sh*t !"

The minutes appear to never finish, looking like an entire day of torture but in reality, he succeeds in tearing it apart after two minutes or so. He collapsed soon after, without enough strength to do anything more. Panting, his mind was void of any thoughts, just pure pain that irradiates from his wound, threatening to cut his blow. He was sweating profusely, trembling even, but slowly calming down.

An hour passed where if anything bad had to happen he could do nothing "At this moment, luck is my only chance, I can't do anything more for the time being, and I won't pray to the gods, even if it seems like a golden opportunity to be here, it's sh*tty enough to fall in a canyon, everyone sure that you're deader than dead" He wasn't so much of a believer "Multiple gods sure exist, but they don't really care about us, I don't even think they can hear prayers, and if they do, they do as if they don't."

Gods in this region of the world where often spoke about but nothing much more. They were responsible for certain creations, some catastrophic event, but they didn't interact with mortals like them, making religion particularly rare. It happens sometimes, a god linked to a group of mortals would induce world-shaking events "At least that's what books say, like for the Irin religion, but the god rarely appeared and when the mortals and their offspring passed away, he didn't come any more".

Angry at himself for being in this grave state of weakness he was grumbling aloud "I must do everything I can to retake control of my life and never be any more at the mercy of my lucky star."

Unable to move for the moment, his thoughts were wandering once again. He could sense the life force that he obtain eating the abyss creature coursing through his body, focusing on the wound, helping the healing, or more accurately, accelerating the process. It somehow eased the pain making Alix able to sit up two hours after the end of his operation.

Lucky, and conscious about it, he began his next plan of action. "First I have to explore more of the region, with my little vision, it should be a little easier to do. If I find another creature, let's hope I will kill it quickly and without being wounded. It should be possible, they seem not particularly smart and their weakness is really visible. With my new found strength and my body in better shape than before, if I can do nothing, I won't be able to say I'm a genius anymore."

Pondering on the next step, he began to organized what he had, taking the claws of the creature he killed in place of the others, they were sharper by a large margin, in this type of environment, each advantage must be used. There was an entire skeleton made of hard bones and the fur which for a part he already cut for nothing in case of an emergency for his operation. "Well, the patch is already done, better taking them with me if something happens, for the rest... I know! I could tie the bones with the fur to me to protect my vital parts!"

Beginning his stitching work, he was advancing slowly. "It's truly tricky to sew in the dark, I can't even see my fingers well, just shadows of it. Luckily I don't have to make beautiful work with thin strips of fur, I can make it roughly, I just want to be able to defend my self better".

A day passed after which, the hunger compels him to stop and search for a new creature. "I just have my upper body protected and my throat, but it should be sufficient for now."

His situation had drastically improved, he was again in a fight against time and death but his chance was now a little bit more realistic.

"I don't know for how long I would remain here but I must keep up and one day I will be out, in the open again, sensing the wind against my face, the grass under my feet... Well, I must keep going, too much rest makes my resolution sluggish!"