Chapter II: Lonely View

"Hmph. I remember getting up here being harder before."

Tymon was perched three stories above ground. He was on a branch of what was once an oak tree that stood at the border of an open field of 3 acres. He usually spends his afternoons there, but he'd gotten side-tracked at the gym today and didn't come until 4:30. Sitting there listening to music and observing the dark clouds that constantly covered the sky always put his mind at ease. It's one of two places he had where he could be away from people.

Examining his hands, Tymon thought about how strong he's been growing lately. Just yesterday, he'd managed to lift nearly 1,200 pounds during his late-night session at his in-home gym and clocked 70 miles per hour on the velocity track.

Then today, on his run to his lookout tree, it felt like he was running even faster. And scaling the tree's no problem now - it feels as though he weighs almost nothing. He was definitely getting stronger.

"Not sure what's been going on with me lately," Tymon thought to himself, "but it looks like my luck's finally turning around. It almost makes up for the curse..."

He gave a light chuckle of approval, then leaned his head on the bark behind him and gazed at the clouds, recalling the few fatal accidents from when his curse started three years ago. Then he grimly took in all the withered trees and dead grass around him.

"Almost."

It didn't start like this. Tymon remembered hitting puberty and suddenly developing a weird mark on his right shoulder; shortly afterward, people had begun to be intimidated by him. Over time, as he grew, it felt like the curse did too.

Tymon noticed bugs, and then birds and other animals started to die if he stayed close to them for too long. Then he turned 16, the "incident" happened, and he realized it was too dangerous to stay around people. Now he has to live alone. Well, aside from his one friend...

A glimpse of movement from beyond the field caught his attention.

Whatever it was was about two kilometers away, so it was too far for Tymon to see clearly, but he could tell two figures were heading toward him, fast.

Were they people?

At first, he doubted it was birds since most animals nowadays seem to instinctually avoid traveling in his general direction, almost as if a sixth sense told them to steer clear. But, then again, people can't fly, so it must be a bird or something.

Believing they were birds, he wasn't too worried about them getting close enough to be affected by the curse. It wasn't until he realized the two figures had landed in range of the curse that he started questioning their sanity.

"They must be trying to get themselves killed." He thought to himself. "Do they not have survival instincts?"

A little annoyed from having to move, Tymon maneuvered through the withered trees to find a spot deeper into the forest. He didn't want any more death to be on his conscience, so he figured moving away was the best option.

Once he saw he was far away, he sat, hoping his curse wouldn't affect the wandering birds.

After repositioning on his new branch and resuming his music, a thought occurred to him - "why would birds come to a dead forest?"