Survival

The small group slept for some hours before light shuns upon the hole they left for air to go through. Ethan who was already awake since he had the last shift woke them up after.

" So, I think the first thing we should do is let Ethan go up the tree and survey the surroundings, He should be able to memorize the surroundings and then we can carve them as a map on the walls of this room," Bastian suggested since Ethan was still the most efficient with chains.

" Yeah, but how many times do I have to go up" He grumbled.

" Don't forget we have a photographic memory on our side since she studied architecture she should be able to do this much at least." Bastian added.

" True!" Tyrion nodded as he looked at Elora.

" I can do it" She said somewhat trembling when imagining the height but she wants to prove of use so they won't give up on her.

" That settles it, what next ?" Asked Ethan.

" I will go with Bastian and scout the area, see if there are any beast nests around here or anything that might pose danger to us." Tyrion said

" I agree, but don't forget one problem!" Ethan reminded.

" What is it?" Bastian asked

" Food! This heart might be enough for today, but we have to cook it, we can't eat it raw. But what about later? what should we do about it? and then there's water as well, to drink and get rid of this filth." He said as he pointed to all of them.

" We'll see if we can set a fire using the sticks and bark from the tree, as for water, that will depend on luck mostly. When you get up there, if you happen to see any lake or river then we might make bottles or pots to get the water." Tyrion replied.

" I remember seeing a flash of blue when I climbed but I'm not sure if we're closer or farther since we had to run." Bastian remarked.

"That's good then, even If it's far, we'll just have to make sure that one run lasts long!" Tyrion added.

" Okay then let's get to it!"

Bastian and Tyrion got down and split in two opposite directions but they didn't dare venture too far. Ethan and Elora on the other hand were looking up the tree. The girl was still trembling while Ethan was still pondering about something. She was very surprised at how many things blew her mind away concerning these guys. Bastian who was 14 had some weird powerful guns, Ethan used chains as weapons while Tyrion had a gauntlet that can make craters in the earth with just a simple smash. Their physical abilities were outrageous and their battle prowess was something she had never seen before but for some reason, she knew she still barely grazed the surface of what they could do. Who were they? How did they become so powerful? These questions filled her mind but she didn't ask.

" Hey, Elora right? Climb on my back" Ethan got back to himself turned and told her what to do.

" Okay!" She nodded and did as told.

" Waaah" She screamed 2 seconds later, They were literally jumping and flying upwards! And at an incredible speed. she hugged tighter and closed her eyes. She couldn't watch how the reckless Ethan who was now very excited jumped from one branch to the other like Tarzan.

" I can't believe I got this strong after just eating one! It seems that once one exceeds his limit his body gets modified this much."

Ethan, before eating the fruit had been able to this despite the gravity but with some resistance, now however he felt free and unfettered, even more so than back at Earth which showed how much progress has been made.

" Before I supposed this might be the limit, but in this new world who knows what the limit is? and there is still that crystal that emits so much power. What is it? a nucleus of some kind? I don't have any equipment to know! this is so frustrating!"

" I wonder about the changes that happened to Bastian and Tyrian, Imagine their strength and speed now! Imagine if Bastian can break the sound barrier and Tyrion the fabric of space, Maybe with those crystals and these new resources the human race can evolve into something else! " His eyes grew mad thinking further and further.

" We need more fruits and I wonder if that heart can change something as well. Those crystals can also be used to empower our weapons But Bastian would have to change the conductor ." He thought about the conductor Bastian made to transfer the power from the energy core to the weapon.

" Ah! Elora, we're here take a good look and remember" He said once he reached the top, he noticed that most of the trees here had no fruits if not all, that one must have been special.

Elora opened her eyes, still shuddering, and when she looked down she closed them once again and held on even tighter. They were so high up that the ground seemed so far away and she didn't even notice that they got here this fast or else she would have grown numb to these freaks.

" Pay attention, or we have to repeat this a couple of times!" This sentence woke her up and she struggled and looked down to the tree they were on as the centre and started looking around. It took around 10 minutes before she said:

"I'm done!" She sounded surprised herself, her memory has gotten better than what she remembered, usually, these many details would take her at least an hour to remember but they were processed a lot faster.

" Good! hold on tighter we're going down!" Said Ethan with a frown. Then he jumped. His face downwards and feet upwards.

" aaaaaah!"

" Shut up! we don't want to attract beasts, I saw something getting closer in the sky." He roared a bit.

Elora held it in even though she was scared as the survival instinct won over the fear. Going down was, of course, a lot faster, but he used the chains around some branches slowing down their momentum.

In less than one minute they made it to the ground before he shoved Elora into the room and climbed a bit to see a very fast figure running like a blur, so fast that if he was not high up he would have trouble catching up with his eyes.

This, of course, was the upgraded Bastian, Who for some reason had no time to enjoy his new founded speed. On the opposite direction was Tyrion who was coming close as well. Ethan got down and entered the room followed by Bastian who scared Elora and Tyrion after which they hurried to close the "door".

" What's going o…" She didn't finish before Bastian covered her mouth with his hands.

ROAR!

A thundering sound raged making their heart beat faster. The sound kept on roaming for 15 minutes, Their hearts never slowed down but got even faster because of the heavy thuds and footsteps outside.

Slowly the sound went away and the roars were heard farther and farther away. The group who have been holding their breath and trying to stay hidden finally let out a sigh.

"It seems we underestimated this world very much." Said Bastian.

" I think a good description of our situation is ants" Tyrion shook his head.

" What do you mean?" Elora asked trying to confirm her idea, she really did not want to give up hope.

" How easily can you kill an ant back at Earth?" He asked her.

" No effort!" She replied

" That's our situation and we're the ants!" He said with his head down.

Her face went white and she looked at the other two who seemed to be thinking about something as well.

" Then, we will all die?" She was about to cry and this time they didn't blame her because they themselves have just understood their current position.

" No!" Ethan said.

" How?" Bastian asked

" Maybe we can also get stronger, at least enough to defend ourselves or run when need to. After we have eaten the fruit our bodies have changed so much, this is only after eating one fruit, now imagine eating more. Even though I 'm not sure it'll have the same effect but it will definitely be beneficial. We need to look for a way to change your conductor and use this crystal instead of the energy core! This might be for later but this proves that we can survive!" He said.

" Remember what Father has taught us! Never give up hope or what's there to live for." Tyrion said.

" Elora can you draw us a map, we'll remember it and then decide what to do!" Bastian said as he turned towards the frightened girl.

" I can, but I have no tools!" She said

" Here! wear this gauntlet and try to carve on this wood, since you ate the fruit as well there shouldn't be many difficulties." Tyrion handed her one of his gauntlets.

" This could work, I'll finish in an hour!" She answered after trying it out.

After one hour the map of the current surrounding was carved on wood for all of them to see.

" The lake is in this direction. The tree that has fruits is in this direction. Good! Very good Elora this has saved so much trouble." Tyrion nodded and thanked Elora making her surprised.

She always thought Tyrion despised her or just hated her but it seems that it was just her thinking so. She finally felt some joy for being able to help and show her worth, this way she could slowly integrate herself into their group and hopefully survive with them.

" What should we go for first?" Tyrion asked

" I think we should head for the lake first, after making basins to hold water," Bastian said.

" I think so as well but the fruits are really crucial for us and we can't afford to lose them!" Ethan said.

" …"

" What do you think" They looked at Elora.

" Me?" She pointed at herself doubting her ears.

" Of course who else?" Bastian rolled his eyes;

" Emm! I think that we should head for the water first because the corpse of that beast and people there might attract predators, there's also its mother who might stay guard there for revenge. So it's safer to get water first." She said and somehow she didn't feel sorry for those who were left there because now that she knew how dangerous this world is, they would be the cause of their downfall.

"Good! I agree! I'll start making basins for water. Then I'll go with Bastian to get it. Ethan can climb and try to see if there's any danger in going for the fruits afterwards. You can start planning on how to make a shelter in this tree."

" Okay! Let's get to work!"