The fear of Unknown

AN: Keep an eye out of this format from now on - abcdxyz.[Image 1]

In this format, "abcdxyz" is a sentence or a paragraph. [Image 1] is an image relevant to this sentence/paragraph. I will upload the image following this paragraph on DISCORD with the same name ("Image 1" in this case). There will be many images that only make sense when used just after that paragraph or sentence. In this way, you would know which image refers to which sentence. This will help me and readers both.

Thank you.

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1st day, 01:00 am

T009

1 hour had gone by since the Systems' shitty move of exploding the pods to garner the attention of foreign elements on the Candidates.

Kai had distanced himself as far as he could from the landing site, but no matter how far he went, he couldn't shake off the feeling that someone or something was watching him.

He had thought of using Selene's Skill, Earth Vibration Sense, to find any hidden animal that could have been stalking him, but then he remembered it would mean losing the element of surprise. Not to mention, she could only sense vibrations in an approximate radius of 110-120 meters. It was well and good anywhere else, not in the jungle, where the trees and plants were jam-packed, reaching a height where Skill could never hope to reach right now.

Among the primal fears, the fear of the unknown was the most ancient and horrific, Kai knew. And the only way to get past this fear was to either face it head-on or get to know more about it.

Both things he couldn't do without knowing where this thing was. Up? Down? Or maybe hidden within the layer of spatial fissures?

'How come none of the 100 Candidates knew about the Xenomorph and Yautja?' Kai asked himself, sitting inside a bush as if he was part of it. 'I can bet my ass that the Systems has something to do with it.'

It was the only guess he could make sense of, for if they had known about both species' capabilities, then it wouldn't be a survival test, but a chaotic hunt, with Candidates trying to grab as many points as they could.

Suddenly, Kai felt a rustling to his right.

This hadn't come from the hidden watcher, Kai immediately guessed. He controlled his breathing and became as still as a corpse, his heartbeat calming down along with his breaths.

It wasn't enough.

"Who's there?" a woman shouted. "I know you are there. Come out or I will attack."

'Now, who can be this stupid, shouting like this in the thick of the jungle?' Kai wondered. 'Or maybe it's just a ruse to get any response by feigning stupidity? Hmm…'

His mind went through many scenarios, keeping the hidden element that was chasing him for a long time, and came to a decision.

Kai smiled, his hand shooting up. "Easy, friend," he said calmly. "I was too scared to show myself."

As he stood up, Kai saw a young woman with dark eyes and a slim figure perched upon a thick branch of a tree and looking down at him. The moment she saw him, Kai noticed her tensed shoulders relax. "Come out in the open," she said, her tone demanding, "and show me your Items."

"Now, that's an absurd request, my friend," Kai said, smiling. "Are you sure you want to make a commotion here?"

An eerie silence lingered between them, as both parties seemed to be wary about the dark jungle. The woman then climbed down and approached him. Kai followed the gesture and stepped out of the bush.

"How did you find me?" Kai asked as the woman eyed the swords on his waist.

She said nothing but looked over his head. Kai lifted his head and raised his eyebrows. High above in the darkness, he saw two eyes. And then, little by little, the thing to whom these eyes belonged came down. It was a green spider-like creature, with red mandibles and a horn on its head. [Image 1]

Kai recognized it. 'Spinarak,' he recalled the name. 'An arachnid Pokemon.'

The Pokemon was hanging with an almost invisible thread of web attached to some branch lost in the darkness. It landed on the tree trunk near them and rattled its mandibles.

Suddenly, both Candidates sensed a vibration. Their Tablets were shaking, but neither tried to look away from the other.

"Well, I have always been a curious one," Kai whispered, and took out the Tablet from his backpack, ignoring the shocked expression on the woman's face. 'Isn't he afraid that I would attack him?' She must have thought.

Kai put his thumb on its back and the Tablet came alive. His eyes landed on the Messages icon, and the little red 1 written on its top. "We got a message," he told her. "I think you too got the same."

"What are you?" she wondered aloud.

"Haha!" Kai laughed. "I have more trust in humanity. We have just landed on the island. What's the point of killing each other? I am Bloody, by the way."

The woman gaped at him and then shook her head. "Spinarak," she commanded the Pokemon, "follow the plan. Call me Spider."

The Pokemon grunted a reply through its mandibles and crawled up, vanishing up into the canopying trees.

Kai waited for her to take out the Tablet and then opened the message. It was from Tablet 47. After confirming that she too had gotten the message from the same Candidate, Kai opened it.

-[

If you want to know about the species and what we are facing, then come to the location marked on the map.

Time Limit: 11:00 am

]-

The word Map was highlighted. Kai tapped on it, and the Map application opened by itself. Aside from the blue dot, marking his presence, now he could see a yellow dot as well. A green line was running from the blue to yellow, showing the distance.

'170 km,' Kai thought. 'It's getting interesting.'

"What an obvious way to lure Candidates?" Spider scoffed. "Like someone would fall for it. Humph!"

"Well, I am going," Kai commented, once again shocking the woman. "I do trust in humanity, of course. Would you like to come with me? I am quite a skilled in-fighter."

Kai pointed at the swords, and Spider narrowed her eyes. With one move, he had struck the disadvantage of having a Pokemon like Spinarak.

She sighed and nodded. "I will take the lead," she declared.

Kai nodded.

*

*

04:00 am

They had covered a considerable distance in the last three hours.

Kai kept walking under the orders of the woman as if he had nothing to worry about. But the hair on his neck was standing up now and then. The hidden foreign element was nearing them with every next hour, it seemed to him.

'Any moment now,' Kai thought, repeating to himself. 'Come on. What are you waiting for?'

The woman suddenly raised her hand, and Kai stopped. She stepped back towards him, keeping herself out of Kai's reach. "Spinarak found something," she whispered. "Follow me."

They came to a clearing nearby a puddle. On the other side of the puddle was Spinarak, and the Pokemon's eyes were planted on the thing in the middle of the puddle.

It was a brown, filthy capsule, and from top to bottom it was covered in wrinkles. [Image 2]

"What the hell is it?" the woman murmured, walking along the puddle's perimeter.

Kai chuckled, the tips of his finger throbbing, as his instinct warned him not to approach the thing. "It looks like my balls in winter," he japed. "Try to scratch it."

Suddenly, the capsule squirmed, and its top opened up like a flower.

Both Kai and the woman jumped backward.

What happened next made Kai widen his eyes.

Invisible blades pierced the woman's chest, lifted her, and flung her away. The Pokemon fired purple-colored needles at the invisible thing, but they just went past, sizzling the thin air. And then, another spider-like thing broke out of the capsule and lunged at the Pokemon.

Spinarak's mandibles rattled as it backed away, but the thing was faster than it. It wrapped itself to its mouth, and Kai saw a snake-like tail coiling around the 1 ft tall Pokemon like a grip of death.

Kai observed everything with dead eyes and impressive calmness.

His hands went to the swords at his waist, and the steel screeched against the leather as he took them out.

The hunt had begun.

But who was the hunter, and who was the prey? Only time would tell.

One thing was sure, Kai reflected.

The Attribute, Perception, was almost useless against these things.