Chapter 7 - "Why Don't You Take A Bath?"

'Ahh...what the hell are you?'

[Stop resisting and submit.]

'In your dreams, bastard.'

[Rascal, I'll make sure I devour you pesky little consciousness.]

Amongst the trees and vegetation, one could see Adam's body moving bizarrely and abruptly. While almost all of his injuries were recovering, he was on all four trying to shake off the ghost that had possessed his body, in vain.

[Gah...why don't you drop dead?!]

Like a malfunctioning robot, Adam's body was no less than a battlefield. While his consciousness vehemently protested and attempted to gain control over his body, the possessing spirit was putting everything on the line to gain sovereignty.

The spectre initially attempted to take over the body. But the unanticipated existence of another resident produced the necessity of a tug-of-war.

Spectre, as an incorporeal being formed from magic, unintentionally triggered Adam's body to heal. While competing against the mind, the ghost failed to detect the vitality oozing out of its being. Yet, the immense reserve of magic was not affected by this side-effect.

But this feat was a blessing in disguise to Adam as the bond between his mind and body was accidentally fortified. The turn of events caused the ghost to stagger in fear but it was too late to back down.

[You...what are you doing?]

Rolling down and tottering in accordance to the change of events, the spectre that tried to possess Adam was involuntarily sealed inside the body. Sensing the favorability of the situation, the psyche successfully choked the soul out of existence.

At once, Adam blacked out. Under the veil of darkness, fiends and spectres failed to detect the presence of this stone-cold body.

***

"Ngh...ahh!"

The silent disorientation as soon as Adam opened his eyes was followed by an agonising sting. The throbbing was so intense that his entire body twitched in response.

"Huh?"

The tremors subsided quickly and Adam sluggishly opened his eyes.

'How long have I been out?'

Upon realising that the sun had already ascended into the sky, Adam suppressed his urge to cry when his whole body creaked in pain. But the momentary discomfort flew away and he sat up.

"Where... am I?"

To Adam's wonder, he couldn't discover a clue about where he is. But as moments passed by, his curious eyes compiled the perceived information coupled with his experience and memories. As a result, a mouthful of turbid air was exhaled.

"This world is exceedingly bizarre." Muttering to himself, Adam stood up and dusted his clothes. As he saw many trees uprooted and reduced to stumps, his heart reminded the occurrences of yesterday.

But astonishment enveloped his eyes as his sight scanned around him.

"What happened here?"

The jungle which resembled a sea of greenery was no longer in his view. Instead, all he could see is a vast landscape with innumerable tree stumps. He can now perceive hills and mountains that were once obstructed by the humungous trees.

A charred smell assaulted his nose and Adam instinctively turned around. At a distance was a gigantic pit. It was so big that he assumed it was the remains of a meteor impact.

His eyes immediately narrowed as he saw several relatively smaller pits surrounding the larger one. These unnatural formations triggered a brainstorm in Adam's mind but the lack of information and fact proved to be disheartening.

Thump...thump...thump...

The barefoot sensed a rhythmic sensation approaching him from afar. When he raised his eyes, his eyes went wide as he caught the sight of a giant humanoid being walking towards his location.

Adam could tell that that thing was at least a few miles away from him, yet he could see its outlines almost clearly. As he was wondering what those megalithic beasts were, he caught the glimpse of a couple more giants behind that one.

"Run."

His heartbeat quickened and his psyche realised that his possibility of survival will touch zero if he spares a second to stand still. Thus, Adam with all his might dashed in the opposite direction of those giants. That was also the only direction he managed to catch the glance of trees.

***

"Huff...huff...huff..."

About a couple of hours have gone by when Adam finally took a halt. His entire body was convulsing in pain and he collapsed down in exhaustion.

"I hope there is no danger nearby." Adam consoled himself between his breaths and heaved a sigh. The tiredness coupled with a stinky bath in sweat made him realise the necessity of a shower.

And as he genuinely wished for a pail of water to extinguish his thirst, his ears picked up the sound of a waterfall.

'Waterfall? Really? I must be going crazy.'

Although Adam scoffed at his mind's silly games, he soon realised that the noise was real. With his dry throat propelling forward with the sustenance of life hanging by a thread, Adam dashed to where he heard the melody of happiness.

'Oh my! It is real!!'

Drifting through the myriad of trees, Adam navigated himself carefully not to trip over anything. Within a minute, he was already standing in front of a tiny lake manifested from a perpetual gentle cascade. A stream of water silently and elegantly originated from this lake.

Like a veteran returning home to fall into the embrace of his dear love, Adam launched himself into the air. His lustrous eyes were fixated on the serene blue water.

Splash!

A small quantity of water was thrown out of the lake as he wholeheartedly hugged the liquid form of happiness. Soaked in the tranquillity of nature, Adam unbuttoned his shirt and took off his pants and left it to sodden in the lake.

"Haah~"

Adam couldn't help but let out a delightful moan when the pores of his body were tickled by the coldness of the water. To his surprise, he didn't have to wash his body as the flowing water stripped away the dirt logged on his body and clothes.

"Strange but serene."

Commenting on his blissful experience, Adam let his body buoyant. As his eyelids almost completely closed while lying in the lap of nature, his ears savoured the noise of the torrent.

Crack.

The sound of a twig cracking under pressure alerted Adam's senses to its peak. Turning his head, his sight fell on a lonely wolf tiptoeing toward the lake.

'Oops.'

Before Adam could climb out of the lake, the wolf had already charged towards him. Finding himself in a pickle, Adam halted his action for a split second before jumping back into the lake. Though the timing was crude, it was effective and the wolf came splashing into the water.

Before the wolf could emerge and climb out of the lake, Adam pulled the beast down into the water. The wolf was momentarily stunned as a fabric came down on its head.

"Why don't you take a bath?"