Desolate Encounter

From my point of view, the arm was the only visible thing. 

The knocking stopped. I watched as the arm retreated from my vision. I was left in a very wierd state. It was a mixture of fear, confusion and curiosity. 

What the fuck was that? Why did all of my cameras and alarms stop working?

Well, the issue of security just went up, I seemingly wasn't safe in the place I considered a safe haven. This creature could just breach the security I had set up and relied on without a single sound. The only reason I even realised the existence of the creature was because it knocked.

It fucking knocked.

It just waltzed into my area and left after leaving me stressed out and with a bruised ego, one that had just started budding.

It had to be a beast from deep inside the jungle. The one that scared the avian beasts away. It probably also was the creature that had "helped" me in my previous fight. It was completely possible for it to have thrown a rock at high speeds.

This put things into perspective, it wasn't here to fight me... I think. The intervention from earlier and the knocking was not something an enemy would do. A single moment was al it needed to kill me and it had thrown away that moment for a chance to communicate.

I decided to wait and see. If it was going to come forward again, then I would try to see if I could reason with it, or else I could fight it to the death.

Long arms, with clearly defined fingers were characteristic of ape species and the like. I could rule out any from the Macaca families, those creatures had evolved from being a little rabid to completely rabid and agressive. So, it had to be from the Hominoidea family. They were easily identified by the missing tail. This creature wasn't aggresive in the imediate exchange so it probably was at type of ape.

I couldn't be sure though.

BEEEPPP

BEEEP

The alarms were back.

I collected myself and did a quick search of the territory and found nothing.

Wait.

Not nothing. There was a pile of fruits outside.

A peace offering? It WAS an intellegent creature. I picked the fruits up and went back inside.

For the next hour, my eyes were glued to the camera feed. No movement. I closed my eyes for a moment.

And I fell asleep.

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I got up from my bed and walked into the bathroom. After freshening up, I went downstairs. It was lunchtime and no one had woken me up yet.

As I walked downstairs, no one was to be seen. I made my way into the dining room. And there everyone was. Laughing. Eating.

Mama smiled at me and beckoned me to take a seat and start eating. And I did just that.

The food was the same as always. I liked it that way. It was constant and I liked that. I wasn't fond of big changes. It was comforting this way.

I felt something pull at my elbow. 

Spiel.

I lifted him up and put him on my lap, my left arm around him, hugging him so that he didn't fall. I gave him a few bites of my food. 

"Stryke."

I looked up. Mama called me. "Survive okay? Protect them."

I didn't understand what she meant by that.

I squeezed Spiel with the arm I had around him. My hand just passed through him. I looked down and nothing was present except a set of clothes left crumpled on my lap.

I looked up in confusion and I saw everyone else disappearing as well. Mama remained however. I got up and ran toward her.

As I got to her, I could see her whole body, A chunk of it was missing.

Her head turned to me, blood dripping from her mouth.

"Survive and protect them Styrke."

I felt my heart drop.

BZZZT

I looked down at my arms, they were covered with buzzing energy. The energy grew larger. I shook my hands to free it but it didn't work. Eventually the energy encompassed me as I screamed.

And I woke up.

The sun was shining through the Jager.

It was a dream?

I sat up. My body covered in sweat. I took deep breaths to calm myself.

You know what? Fuck dreams.

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What I had overlooked in my stay in the jungle was training. I had neglected physical training and had just focused on my Waking alone. That proved to be a mistake. My body lagged behind by mind considerably in high pressure situations. Simply because my mind was performing at extreme speeds as I used my Waking and my body couldn't feasibly catch up with my mind.

So, that is exactly what I focused on. Improving body control and reaction speed. For body control, I started flexibility and movement training. My body was not small, I wasn't petite either. I was getting to the stocky range of body types. I had gotten taller as well around 178cm. The bigger issue was me being as muscular as I was. Muscles often worked against flexibility. Stretches and pushing the body to bend in angles less moved would help that. And I did just that. I won't be able to achieve moderate flexibility instantly, I knew that but I still felt like I was against the clock.

My body hurt, the kind of pain I hadn't felt since the heavy training from when I believed I was a Physical. I welcomed this pain however. It felt like a semblance of the old me and a remainder of the past.

The next was mobility and movement training, I had been forced to roll, jump, dodge and sidestep a multitude of attacks recently, this training would help me familiarize myself with the movements I would need to make constantly. I jumped and rolled. I stood back up and stepped back and moved side to side. I felt stupid doing these movements, but they would come into play later and I wouldn't regret this training at all.

Next was reflex training, I didn't know how to train it at all. So, I did somwthing unconventional. My body was not able to catch up with my mind only when I used my ability. 

What if my body was enhanced by the ability alongside my mind. The human body moves through contraction of muscles and through message sent through the nerves using bioelectricity. If I'm able to use shocks to make my body move in certain situations or use the electricity to replicate comands to my body, I can overcome the discrepancy between the mind and the body.

Awakening my inner masochism, I tried to send stable currents through my body while willing it to move my hands in the way I wanted it to.

It didn't work.

I kept at it however.

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Night had fallen again.

I didn't explore outside today, training was the only thing on my mind. I could focus on anything for any amount of time if I put my mind to it, a state of hyper focus was something I could easily reach.

I had tired myself out from the day's training. There were no immediate results but I wasn't discouraged. I hadn't seen progress in my self shock training either. I had managed to shock my muscles into tensing and relaxing on command but that was it. Nothing could be acheived for full body control on the other hand. For now that is. Eventually, I would be able to control my own movements and even others purely through will and not how I normally moved my body.

My legs stretched out on the bed as I laid upon it.

BEEEEPP BBEEEEEP

 The alarms rang again. I looked outside from the windows instead of the side mirrors. I hoped to catch a glimpse of the creature in its entirety. But nothing was ther but darkness. 

Grabbing my spear, I made my way back out. And more offerings. Fruits and veggies. Well, I wasn't complaining. I had meat and vegetables. This creature was probably trying to make friends. If met with hostility, it might react badly. If it had other hidden agenda, then I just needed to floor it and escape.

Or kill it.

I just needed to end its life if it wanted to stand against me. It might seem bloodthirsty but creatures had to be put down if they proved to be enemies or just actively worked against my safety.

Heartlessness was a necessary quality I had to develop and rely on, not only in my temporary stay here, but also during my mission for revenge. I had to be willing to fight, kill, rip and tear anything that came in my way. My mentality had to be hard. Anything and anyone could be sacrificed for my revenge.

I'll get some sleep for now, tomorrow I'll wait outside for this creature to show up and make contact with it. I was a pretty good judge of character, I could easily differentitate between ally and enemy. Lets hope that skill works against animals too.

Laying back down on the bed, I started slowly channeling tiny bursts of electricity through my body and try to move my hands. 

I did this until I was mentally tired. At which point I fell asleep.

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I sat back up in cold sweat. I needed to find a way to sleep without dreaming. Dreams affected me more negatively than I thought. I forgot the details of the dream throughout the course of the day but the overall outline remained.

I started my training again.

Today however, I wanted to take a bath. So, I trekked through the forest back to the stream. This time I kept my focus and observed every single area as I walked by. I checked for prints or any signs of life around the environment. A constant vigilance had to be ever present. The only traps I would be falling into were the ones I choose to walk into. 

I had gained an understanding of the area around my territory. I would soon have a full scope of everything here. Nothing would escape my view. I decided to keep mental notes of everything, the position of every tree, every branch, every leaf. The movements of the caits would not go unnoticed as I memorized every claw mark on every tree on my way. 

Nothing came in my way and nothing unnatural came into view.

I stripped down and washed myself using the stream water. It felt cool and calming. The wind further elevating that feeling. I scrubbed every inch of my body, avoiding contact with the claw wounds. It still hurt to touch, despite a scab forming over the wound. Faster regeneration was a skill I welcomed.

Due to the wash, I felt lighter. Much lighter.

After wiping myself down, I filled up all the containers with water and made my way back.

I scanned everything on my way back as well. And there it was. A claw mark I hadn't seen on my way to the stream. I knelt down and picked up a rock. The idea of throwing the rock and exploding heads had firmly implanted itself into my mind after the previous ambush. I wanted to replicate it.

My eyes glowed blue as I looked upwards to the trees, picking out anything out of the ordinary. Every tiny miniscule movement clearly accounted for. And viola, there it was, completely still on one of the trees ahead of me. It was almost prefectly hidden, but that was the issue. It was too still. It not moving made it an outlier as the leaves and branches swayed in the wind. 

I pulled my hand back, twisted my torso grunting in pain, pushed my left leg back and let it fly.

WHHIIIZZZZZZZ

THUD

A carcass fell from the trees. I walked up and checked it. My throw had pierced the head of the cait and just went through cleanly.

Not as mind opening as the creature's throw but it was enough.

I dragged the body back with me.

Caits had pelts too and I wasn't letting this go to waste.

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Wassup, Manager here, not everything is solved yet. But I have a few days off to chill so you get another chapter after this one. I feel bad as people keep collecting the story and I'm not able to follow a normal schedule. So, please wait a week for normal updates.

Also leave a comment.

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