Chapter 7 – Exploration or Expiration?

The scraping of a paint brush echoed continuously throughout the night, as a pale hand drew on a rough piece of paper. Every now and then the sound of tapping can be heard. Neo glided his hand across the surface of the paper lightly as he wrote down notes and drew symbols on a large piece of paper. He was laying down the plans for the exploration, reminders so that he didn't forget certain details.

"We're going to need a lot of supplies, but we can only carry so much. Two bags each would be too heavy, and less than that would not last the entire way" Neo bit the end of his brush as he stared at the paper. There was no way for them to carry more than their strength would allow…unless Neo used his ability. It was riskless and costless, but he felt hesitant to do so despite it being the logical move.

Its pain, that's it, why's it so hard to deal with? I just have to endure right…right?

He asked, but no answer came. He would have to decide himself whether or not he was up to the challenge. Neo gently placed the pen down on the table and stretched his back. He then stood up and paced around the room for a bit deciding whether or not he would go to sleep already or do one last thing before bed.

Suddenly a strong wind blew, sweeping through the forest. The windows of his room slammed against the frame of the window repeatedly. Neo turned his head and looked at the windows, before walking up to them and closing one panel. He then looked out the other, hoping to see the moon. The moon was not out, the sky was a very deep black color, as if the stars did not exist in this world. It felt…bleak and empty. Neo looked at the sky for a second before his heart suddenly began to beat heavily, the room began to spin and so did his vision. His mouth went dry, and his hands started shaking. The strength seemed to leave his body, and the bones in his legs seemed to liquefy as he suddenly stumbled. The realization hit him out of nowhere. This was not his world.

It was a panic attack. He knew that himself, but still he had difficulty calming himself down. Of course he would, he was only human. He sat down, took deep breaths, and tried his best to avoid looking out the open window. The sky was not friendly in this world, nor was it beautiful and calming like back in his own world. He once again reaffirmed that they had to leave this place.

"…I'll use my ability" Neo said to himself.

"I'll use it to leave this god forsaken place…" He said as he decide to lay down and go to sleep.

Outside the room, Aki watched him quietly before going back to her own room.

The next day, Aki woke up early and began their preparations for the exploration. Food, water, clothing which they had very little of with Neo only having one set of clothes that he's currently wearing, as well as medicinal ingredients in case of an emergency.

"Why did I have to get sent to another world without an extra pair of underwear?" Neo sighed while shoving wrapped meat jerky into his pack. The bag was made out of some leathery materials which was odd. Where would they get leather in this place? He assumed it must've been with Aki way before they even arrived in this place, and continued shoving items into his bag haphazardly. Aki watched, with her mouth twitching visibly, she wanted to scold the guy for wasting space in his bag by randomly putting stuff in but decided against it. She was too tired to bother chewing him out for something like that.

Aki just resumed packing her items neatly, while Neo unceremoniously shoved items into his bag. After they finished, Neo took the map they had, and rolled it up.

"This map will be crucial to our exploration, it's time we go…" Neo spoke resolutely as Aki closed the door to the small house behind her. Neither of them understood what strange mixture of emotions they were feeling at the moment. Many things were uncertain, except for one thing. That being this journey, being their last chance at leaving this world for good.

"Eyes wide and open…Look alive, and try to stay alive" Neo whispered to himself.

"That's an odd way of cheering yourself on" Aki said in a low curious voice. What she was lowering her volume for, Neo didn't know. So he asked.

"Why are you lowering your voice?"

Aki gave a shrug, and said "I don't know, I got used to doing so after the monster wave…mother told me to lower my voice whenever leaving this haven. It just became a habit I guess"

Neo gave her a long silent look, not judging, but genuinely contemplating. He nodded before turning back to the path that lead out of the forest and out into the wide open plains in the midst of the valley. She was right, he realized. One can never be safer, and so he kept in mind to minimize the noise he would make on this travel, something he would soon find to be very difficult.

"Off we go" Neo said, taking his first purposeful step, followed by the other, and then the other, and soon they were a quite a ways from their haven home.

The ambient sounds of the forest echoed every now and then as they travelled through it. Crickets, Birds, and whatever critters, chirped and clicked in the vast collection of standing lumber. Trees of many different shapes, sizes, and colors stood around them. Occasionally the wind would blow and the branches overhead would be blown back and forth, causing loud cracking, and creaking sounds. Sometimes the loud sound of snapping branches echoed.

Neo was a bit jumpy, each sound making his eyes dart around, back and forth. Aki on the other hand seemed used to the creepy sounds of the forest, and ignored them as if they never existed. The odd duo had been travelling for quite some time now, and the sun had already risen almost to the midst of the sky. Neo forced himself to continue on, despite the aching in his feet and the slowly building fatigue.

"Not much longer until we reach the edge of the forest" Aki said quietly, and reassuringly in order to reserve her strength. Breath spent on speaking seemed preciously rationed by his companion, as she seemed to become quieter the farther they got from the haven she had been staying in for a long time.

"That's good, I'm getting quite tired. I didn't think I was this out of shape" Neo said while trying to regulate his labored breathing. He could see his companion shaking her head. She had overtaken him at some point and was now leading the way. Not like he had any complaints, the girl had lived longer in this place after-all.

Neo tried to comfort himself by thinking of how close they were to their destination already. The thought of taking a break never felt more encouraging he almost felt like his body was becoming lighter.

That's when Aki stopped dead in her tracks, and Neo followed suit. Suddenly the forest wasn't as loud as it used to be. Neo looked around, sensing that the atmosphere had changed drastically. The sudden change had Neo feeling so tense, he could physically feel the knot in his stomach tightening.

"Wha-", He began to say, but Aki quickly cut her off by raising her hand and crossing her fingers, signaling him to be quiet. He was about to ask what was wrong. The sudden tenseness of the situation was easy to sense for him, but the cause of it all lay obscured. He did his best to analyze the situation, but he simply couldn't think of a reason Aki had stopped.

Slowly, Aki turned around. Her face pale and sweat beading her forehead. Something was terribly wrong, Neo realized. He looked her dead in the eyes, and widened his eyes as if to gesture his inquiry.

What the fuck is going on? Asked Neo in his head.

Aki's eyes widen for a moment, as if taken aback by something, before her eyes dart to something behind Neo. His heart drops. It was too easy to decode what the gesture meant. Neo swallowed, his mouth went dry all of a sudden, and his heart felt like it wanted to break free out of his chest. Something was behind him, it wasn't right behind him, but based on where Aki was looking. It wasn't that far off.

The gears in his head started turning, and Aki could almost see it happening as she stared at him. Urging him to think of something, anything that would get them out of this predicament. Only Aki was looking at the thing behind him, there was barely enough information to work out a possible solution. If he could see what it was, he would have more to work with.

Wait, there's a way…I just need her to do that…but how do I tell her?

This time it was Neo's turn to feel shocked, as Aki did exactly what he was thinking of. She opened her eyes slightly wider, and tilted her head forward so that her eyes were overshadowed slightly. This made her pupils more reflective, and Neo was able to squint his eyes hard enough to make something out in the reflections of her eyes.

A few meters behind them, there was a creature slowly inching closer. It was as tall as an adult male, skin pale as ash, and its arms and legs were disproportionately long. It had hauntingly large eyes with no pupils, but the sclera were black instead of white. Its mouth stretched wide open to reveal a line of symmetrical teeth. Its appearance sent a slow crawling chill up his spine.

What the fuck is that…

That was the last thing that Neo thought of before the creature lunged at him. For a moment, everything seemed to slow down, as the jaws of likely death came flying towards his head. Then…

The sound of flesh being slashed, akin to the sound of tearing paper was heard. Neo's mouth threatened to expel the most inhuman scream he could, just to relieve some of the pain coursing through his arm. Said arm was mangled and halfway turned into mush. Blood continued to spill from the gaping open veins hidden beneath the flesh of his arm. The metallic smell of the scarlet red liquid permeated the air. It was so nauseating, that Neo's stomach churned and twisted with the urge to vomit his breakfast.

Eyes wide, Neo struggled with all his might to fight the drowsiness that was assaulting him. The instantaneous loss of blood was beyond what his feeble body could handle. It was miraculous enough that he was still standing and not crumpled on the floor like a lifeless sack of flesh and bones. Still, his arm was beginning to be pushed back by inhuman strength of the tall terrifying monster in front of him. Inch by inch, his march begins to buckle and bend towards himself as the monsters maw pushes forward, attempting to push him back. As his arm continues to bend, the bones audibly cracking as they gave in to the pressure, Neo felt his something in his stomach, twists, but not in an uncomfortable way.

A new, but familiar strength begins to pour into his body, slowly. Neo begins to push back against the monster, ignoring the ever present pain that seemed to become more and more intense as the fight continued. His arm, previously mangled beyond all hope of restoration, now back to its healthiest condition, although still pale, and even paler still due to the loss of blood.

[You have collected excess 'Pain', you are now 'Submerged in Suffering']

The disembodied voice of the interface says, as power grows in Neo's boy. In this buffed state, his strength is akin to that of a slightly more athletic individual. If it would be of any help in the current confrontation remained to be seen. The creature sensing the change in Neo, raise one of its long lanky arms and lifted it up, and swung it in a telegraphed manner. Seeing this, Neo tries his best to move out of the way, even when his arm remains stuck inside the creature's maw.

MOTHERFUCKER-

He screams in his head, as pain jolts through the entirety of his arm. The monsters arm missed. But the next swing came right after the next one, once again forcing Neo to dodge. Doing the best his sluggish body allowed him to do. After successfully dodging that last strike, Neo decided to risk the dice this time. This time, instead of pushing back the monster, he decided to let it push its head forward, while also pushing Neo's locked arm closer to his chest. With his free arm, Neo delivers a solid punch to its left eye. Then another, and another, and another and then some more. Neo continued to deliver blow after blow. The creature continued to swing its arms, and continued to miss Neo as he dodged, crouched and ducked.

All while his arm remain locked in the creatures jaws.

The monster, in a moment of mindless rage spurred by its continuous failure to deal any significant harm to its prey, decided to just try and rip Neo's arm off entirely. This had been a mistake however, as Neo's buffed state made him immune to physical harm. No matter how hard the creature tried to bite down on its prey's arm, it would not draw blood. Instead the monstrosity felt as if its teeth were pushing against solid rock.

While this happened, Neo continued to deliver his punches, unrelenting. It had taken him more than a few swings, but he was finally starting to see some damage on the monsters pale hide. In response to the pain of being hurt, the monster swung its head to the side so suddenly, and then let go of Neo's arm. Neo was thrown into the air, disoriented and shocked. He flew a few meters away and slammed into the thick trunk of a towering tree. He then fell onto the ground and struggled to keep his eyes open. Watching all of this happen was Aki, who immediately dove and hid behind another tree.

Argh…my b a c k

Neo groaned since the pain prevented his speech. The monster who had been roaring and thrashing, turned around and fled. The creature sensing that its target this time was hard to kill, wisely decided to flee. Aki waited for a few more minutes before she ran towards Neo.

"Neo!! Are you alright?!" She asked, breathless while reaching into her pack and taking out clean cloth that she substituted for gauze. Seeing the lack of open wounds on his arm however, she put away the cloth and grabbed a bottle of the revitalizing concoction she had been preparing for this trip. Uncorking the bottle, she held it close to Neo's mouth and carefully tilted the bottle back.

"Try not to drown, it works better when it goes down the right way" Aki said as she calmly fed the concoction to him.

Neo gulped the liquid, in too much pain to appreciate its exquisite taste. His throat worked double time to take in the liquid. After a while, Aki took back the bottle. Neo's took deep unsteady breaths, and as the adrenaline began to wear off, the pain slowly started tormenting him. His arm which had been restored felt simultaneously numb and painful. It was very disorienting. The fight had taken too much out of Neo, he needed to rest, but they also need to leave as soon as they could. There was no guarantee that the monster would not return sooner rather than later.

"We need to move…that thing could come back." Aki whispered while looking in the direction the monster had fled to.

Neo looked in the same direction and sighed as he struggled to stand up. His arm had been healed, and so had every other injury he sustained before the buff restored him, but he was still tired. They would have to move slowly. Neo walked over to his bag which he had discarded sometime during the fight. Leaning down to pick it up, he noticed a drop of blood on the ground. It was a darker shade of red, belonging to the pale creature that had attacked them earlier. The blood was moving eerily, as if it were alive. It was crawling, or flowing- in the direction of which the monster ran.

Neo looked at the blood for sometime, before he looked at the empty bottle in Aki's hand. Aki looked back at him, and trailed his gaze to the bottle in her hand. Without a skipping a beat, she deftly tossed it to him. Catching the bottle a little clumsily, Neo opened it up, and with great difficulty he tried to somehow put the dark blood into the bottle. It took a few tries before he succeeded, since the blood was moving around as if it was aware of what was happening.

Staring at the dark liquid, Neo shook around the bottle and watched the blood swish around like normal liquid would, but the moment he stopped shaking the bottle, the blood began to moving in the direction of the monsters once again.

"Monster compass…" Aki said quietly, her face was slightly pale, clearly still shaken by the attack, but she seemed fine.

"More like monster tracker, but either way we'll be informed when it's close and prepare for the fight better, or flee" Neo spoked as he fashioned the bottle to his bag. It was strapped to the left side of his bag right next to where the map was placed. Looking at the bottle, Aki's eyebrows furrowed visibly.

She was deep in her thoughts for a bit, before Neo caught on to the silence. He stared at her wondering what she was thinking about as they both walked. His curiosity got the better of him, and so did his tiredness from the recent fight and so he asked.

"What are you thinking about?" Neo said while looking at her over his shoulder.

"That monster, I've seen it before..." Aki said in a grim tone.

Neo froze, he then turned to face her with a dark expression on his face. His brain was going a mile under a minute as he thought of the implications of what Aki just said. There was only one instance where Aki would have possibly seen such a monster.

"During the monster wave, you saw it during the monster wave…oh shit"

Neo cursed under his breath, running his hand through his hair in exasperation.

Another monster wave, seemed to have occurred. The presence of the monster would otherwise be inexplicable and would make a majority of the information they possessed null. They would be inaccurate and could mean the death of the two of them.

"It's possible, but it's not the only possibility. Maybe it could be a remnant of the previous monster wave. We didn't exactly determine how the monsters had disappeared, which means that some of them might have not disappeared and instead still roam the valley and the forest" Aki spoke while looking around the forest with apprehension.

"This is such a mess…" Neo said as his pale face slowly became paler. He almost looked ghastly. Gritting his teeth, he fought back the urge to lash out. Rage would not do him any good in this situation. Anxiety began to weigh down on him. It seemed as though their exploration was beginning to take a dark turn.