Intelligence

"Exotic energy man, it's a term used like 'Dark energy' it's a bullshit theory that can't be tested" Raj said as he slicked back his long hair with the only hand without cheese stains.

His greasy visage was garnished by a black t-shirt with drops of food.

He ate like a pig for someone skinnier than a broomstick.

We are at the campus bar, the smell of oak and shame filled the air as students who had finals littered the place when they should have been studying.

Leeland was whispering something into Sarahs ear and she laughed loudly snorting at times.

She was a short round Caucasian with purple dyed hair and tattoos all over her arms.

Leeland was tall dark and in had the physique of a basketball player making them an odd pair.

She came over to see him while he was at school and he wanted her to meet his room mate and Raj just happened to be around working on a physics project.

The three of us pounded pints in a booth next to a wide window.

"It ain't bull, look baby boy just imagine regular matter like we are that bends space inward".

Leeland opened and closed his hand a couple times, "Now imagine that matter bending space the opposite way".

"Then you would just be creating space, or a void or something" I put the pint down and decided to not partake further, my stomach is sensitive.

"That shit sounds stupid" I leaned back and closed my eyes.

'What sounds stupid'? Ava asked.

I opened my eyes to see the large mountain, it looked like the sky was falling if I stared to hard at it.

'Nothing' I craned my neck further letting the old memory fade and the rain drip down my face.

Rain became a natural occurrence now a days.

The closer I got to the mountain the larger everything became from larger scaled creatures to humongous fruit that was my size.

It reminded me of the Gallipoli Island on earth but the dinosaurs where never extinct.

I moved in between the tree branches swinging like a chimp and running on the thick branches like a panther.

At times it would seem like I stepped on the air as I ran.

The circle of blood allowed me to create a mana platform much easier then it would be to just focus my energy.

Manipulating the drops of blood became much easier the more I practiced, eventually reaching the point where I could finally shape a perfect circle.

It's been a month of traveling in the jungle.

The deeper I went the thicker the mana, at times I would feel it in the rain coming down.

When the sun was out and the water evaporated a thin mist hovered making the tree branches look like ground level for days on end.

My main source of food was fruits and herbs, I didn't dare spill blood.

The difference between a forest and jungle was like the difference between a small town and a city.

Space separated the organisms in the forest.

But in the Jungle there was so much more life, even plants could end your life it you are not careful.

The scent of blood would just lure more predators and so would my mana.

What looked like a giant Venus flytrap engulfed me whole but I sliced through it with an energy blade.

I stumbled upon there turf and as soon as my energy brushed against the others they reacted immediately, craning their heads in my direction.

The juices from it's mouth where disgusting but it helped to further erase my stench.

By sending the energy from the outside to the inside of the blood circle I was able to create a mana platform.

But if I went from the inside to the outside it helped to limit the amount of mana I sent out at one time.

When I used this with my dual core method to mask my energy the effects where amazing.

The range was increased and the mana consumption was cut by twenty percent at least.

I could be seen running with a thin halo of shiny red blood on top of my head at any given time.

'Why do you keep breaking the connection' Ava asked.

I involuntarily did that when I was focused on a thought too deeply or when I was searching my surroundings.

'I was thinking about music'.

'What made you think about that boring stuff'? she asked.

Never having heard a note in her life she didn't really care for it, she didn't even care much for food unless it was a sweet.

Even then she would have to be connected to me and feel what I was feeling.

'A really good song will change your mind' I smiled thinking about the sounds in the jungle.

It reminded me of a song by Bill Withers and Grover Washington Jr. 'Just the two of us'.

The birds had a high note and insects created a twanging noise while the high pitched voices of the chimps in the trees created another beat that matched all the other noises perfectly.

'I guess the memory isn't fresh, if we ever make it out of here I will play some music for you'.

'Never mind that let's focus on the important thing... make some chocolate in the name of all things soft and succulent you MUST find chocolate'.

I was going to tell her that was impossible but then all the voices of the jungle went quite at the same time.

I stopped on a branch and my ears perked up so fast my hairline twitched.

What began as a slow rumble turned into a thunderous applause, I flew to the highest branch and looked down finding a perch to look down from.

I found hundreds of wild beasts running all in one direction, or more specifically away from a certain direction in the north.

Using mana vision I could see gusts of mana flaring up from a distance away.

Making no move I sway in the wind along the tree top, I focus on that area making sure to note how the mana was dispersing and how much.

Above me flocks of different birds and scaled predator's alike flew away some in formation and others in a frantic flap.

I caught a bird at the end of the aerial wave which would have been close enough to see what was going on.

It looked like an owl but it was four times as large and had a longer neck.

Delving into it's mind it continued it squawking only to be met with my fist tightening around it's neck.

I made the connection from the chest to the brain with minimal mana, and as the bird slowly died of mana abuse I learned all of it's memories.

From being abandoned as a young owlet to everything it ever hunted.

Unlike humans thought it's memories where a bit fuzzy as if I was looking and feeling them from a second person perspective.

A slight difference one wouldn't notice unless they tortured someone to death with mana.

It took me minutes to learn what was happening.

When I opened my eyes the bird was hanging on my hand it's tongue drooping from the side of it's beak.

No pupils could be seen only the whites of it's eyes as they rolled to the back of it's head.

Ahead of me two large beasts are fighting it out.

One of them a large python with small legs and arms that augmented it's frame allowing it to leap further and move erratically.

It's opponent was a Tyrannosaurus rex, there was no other way to describe the creature.

The only difference would be it's longer arms but it only served to make it more intimidating.

I continued to watch the battle the went on into the night from a distance.

The lack of a moon made the two easier to track as a bright light would be emitted from where they fought.

As the beasts ran away I matched the speed of the battle, they slowly travelled north as they bit and clawed at each other.

Of course I assumed they did that.

I was watching them from a very far distance, I could only see trees being moved and gusts of energy.

Once I started seeing the energy tendrils slowly fade I began to make my way closer to the beasts.

When I closed in from a distance I could see the serpent wrapped around the dinosaur while hugging it's large mouth closed.

The latter was pushing at its midsection trying to release itself from it's grasp.

As the morning light grew brighter the dinosaur was getting weaker and weaker, slowly the air was squeezed out of it's lungs.

Instead of trying to remove the body wrapped around its own, it pried open the snakes stubby arms and bit down at its exposed midsection.

It's large teeth sinking in directly.

The snaked howled and gusts of mana blew passed me giving me a nauseous feeling.

The large serpent plunged it's claw directly into the dinosaurs eye, it forced it's way in all the way to the forearm but it's opponents jaws are already locked into it's midsection.

The blood filled the mouth of the behemoth and it lapped at it's opponents gushing wound as it's claws plunged into it's brain.

The Tyrannosaurus was brain dead after a few minutes of constant clawing by the serpent but it's jaws remained tightly locked around it's opponents body, instincts taking over in the final moments.

Tumbling around in the jungle they left a trail of blood and large foot prints, the trees undamaged but leaning heavily to one side.

The proof of their solid roots in the jungle.

I landed gently a few yards away looking at the dinosaurs tail hungrily.

Most if not all the wildlife had run away making this place the safest.

As if the serpent heard my thoughts it began to twitch in the mouth of the dinosaur, the beast fell on his side pinning it down.

It's movements are futile.

A flick of it's tongue and it turned to look at me, it's large yellow eyes had a black slit in the center with a neck that resembled a cobras.

The thing that got me was the glimmer of intelligence I see when it stared at me.