"Real friends fail you in one thing and one thing only; when you demand that they leave you alone. Now, I dearly wish I had a single one who refused my venomous words."

- Quotes from Explorers, Unknown [Spellsword]

The sunset was the first thing he saw. He couldn't remember the last time he had a real view of one. The noise of the wildlife calmed him in a way that whirring machines could only imitate.

"I'm outside." He blurted, suddenly alarmed.

His hands checked his sides, feeling for a weapon that didn't exist. That was when he realized he was sitting. He was on a small ledge, just high enough for a view, but no more perilous than a balcony. He already eyed a safe way down.

If he was outside, "They might be anywhere." His eyes and wariness spoke for itself. There weren't many times he had ever left the compound during the apocalypse, but he had done it.

He checked behind him, but it was nothing but cliff and mountain. Jayke paused, there were no mountains near the compound. Not that he was too familiar with nature, but he didn't think there was a forest near it either. In fact, the facility was located in a desert.

Then his mind backtracked, reflected, and understood.

"I died." He had entered the capsule, killed himself to escape that heat-based monstrosity. "And then the lights." He looked around, realizing none of the trees or plants or rocks looked like something he might recognize. But, that was easily explained, he might not have encountered any of them before.

Though that didn't explain how he ended up here. Last he knew, he was underground in the damn capsule.

Or, "I'm somewhere else completely."

He stood up, picking his path down from the ledge. A final look at the sunset and he began walking.

Could it have worked? Was he digitized in a game? No, he remembered something about the research regarding the capsule. That last broadcast, right before all media went silent. Somehow the creators of the capsule had gotten hold of a good majority of media in the chaos of the apocalypse. Something about dimensional algorithms and contacting other life.

"Aliens, right Jayke. That explains this shit." He scoffed. A moment passed and he frowned. "I guess I can't completely disregard it, considering the nature of the apocalypse. And the fact that somehow... I'm here."

Something told him, some itch, hunch or feeling, that he was alive. Somehow, he just knew it. None of this was fake, no part of his was made up. He existed. He escaped.

"But how? If I'd only have paid attention to that last broadcast." He clenched his fist.

Originally the capsule was meant for a game. That, at least, he remembered. However, at some point, the apocalypse changed the goal. Fun and entertainment became escape. He remembered talk of dimensional contact, whether we initiated or they did, no one believed it. It was lost in the apocalypse, right up until they promised escaped and urged everyone to their capsules. But, that was impossible. This was some kind of teleportation? He knew people who took the pod - the capsule. Were they here too? His old friends, coworkers? Months he had been surviving, they'd been here, okay?

The thought was both relief and frustrating.

His own company hadn't ever achieved a full mental dive. He'd been using the training facilities over the year he'd spent alone, so much so that it felt like a decade instead. The facilities changed his perception of time in order to impart skills easier, he'd focused on applying himself to combat.

"But maybe bushcraft would've been better. Hadn't expected to ever be outside."

Night fell upon him. He had been walking as if there was nothing to fear, but that wasn't even close to true. The realization caught up with him as night did, and he immediately fixed his approach. The forest was lush and vital in a way that hinted to its undisturbed nature, untouched by humanity.

Wild.

When the forest light became forest shadows he began to tread cautiously. In fact, he was weaponless and vulnerable, a fact he was currently acutely aware of.

Jayke paused.

A sudden shadow, darker than the rest loomed over him. The moon had since swapped places with the sun, but if not for that light he'd never have noticed his stalker.

If ever there was a man more in tune with his instincts, it was the version of him hardened through constant survival.

He dived forward, only to catch a deep gouge to his shoulder. Blood splattered the dark green grass. Soft thumps ahead of him marked the landing of a four-legged beast. It was lithe and large, eyes that glowed with green-yellow slits. And it stared at him.

Instinctively, he reached for his hip again. Nothing. He grimaced but stared down the cat. It was less monstrous than he was used to but no less dangerous. Refreshingly, it looked like nothing more than an altered large cat, only humongous for its kind.

Perhaps Jayke wasn't the most physically fit nor was he the bravest or dumbest or any other likely superlative. But he did pride himself on an objective mind, one usually driven by logic.

And that, consequently, was why the beast was surprised when its prey did not run. It did not retreat. Instead, it braced itself. To do so would only tire him and lead to his inevitable demise, once again. But Jayke was done dying.

His shoulder bled and the smell of iron only riled the creature, though it held back smartly. Heart pumping and adrenaline coursing through him, the blood ran from his shoulder freely.

It pounced forward, backward, then up the tree canopy and disappeared. He realized it was a stalker and naturally avoided head-on conflict despite its painfully obvious advantage. That was, of course, when he had the sense to turn around.

A flash of fangs pearly white from the shadows, claws extended. No less than a few seconds had passed and somehow it was here. The perfect picture of lethality. A creature three times his size.

Did it end, just like that?

"Ah!" He screamed, falling backward.

His arms came up to shield him.

And they... worked? He opened his eyes finding the creature swiping at the air in front of him, snarling and gnawing. A shield of blue and grey appeared before him. Strong and sturdy. He felt a tug at his self every time the beast's heavy paws fell upon the barrier.

It looked even more fearsome up close. Its head was large and positioned low on its neck, with the type of posture one might imagine the cat perching high and spotting prey below. Its muscles were like whipcords, taut and deadly. Even claw and fang aside, its eyes looked sharp.

But there it was, harmless.

"Holy hell." He breathed, scrambling backward. The blue forcefield shimmered with impact.

Safety. The word rang out in his mind. Sanctuary. Yellow and white, the impression of safety and sanctuary. He focused on the feeling and something pulled him backward. He eased into the feeling, walking where the tug led him.

Then he was looking at a door. It was both iron and glass, automatic. Set right into a thick tree trunk.

He glanced backward, feeling the hunter's every impact on his shield. Draining him, in some way that was insubstantial. The barrier dropped as he turned and walked through the door.

In an instant, he was gone.

And he felt safe. Amazingly he was somewhere else. The place seemed to nearly match the size of the underground bunker. He wondered at the implications of such a feat. He had just appeared somewhere else.

He blinked at his surroundings. "That makes the second time, I guess." He breathed heavily, riding the rush of survival down.

Then pain. "Fuck, that smarts." He tore his shirt off, holding it against the wound when it was clear there was nothing nearby to stem the flow.

He stared around, no stranger to pain. "Warm hardwood flooring, personal study. Empty bookshelves and a bed. Bathroom too." He reached over and flicked a switch. "Electricity and lights." He said turning. It matched the size of the first floor of a suburban home if all of that space was compacted into a circular room. There was a door to a separate bathroom.

Nothing else.

There was the budding sense that upon exiting, he'd return to the exact same spot or if he pushed it a little ways further. He was safe here though, safe to nurse his injuries and heal. Currently, there weren't any facilities conducive to that particular venture, but it was only a matter of supplies.

It had been a while but Jayke began to meditate. For the first time, he could really fall deep into trance. He hadn't felt this secure since pre-apocalypse. His internal reflections helped organized his thoughts and emotions. He was confused and scared, but that was nothing new. Alone as he had always been, only in a scenario completely different than the one prior. He was somewhere new.

Fear, but one of lesser severity than he had been accustomed to. The predator he had clashed with was actually less dangerous than some of the creatures he observed back in the compound. He imagined there were new dangers to be cautious of, but that was fine.

He had done magic. Amazement, awe, wonder. They slipped from him as he felt them. Energies he had stolen from the very source of creation, of being. He had swum through a rainbow sea and taken gulps from it. He had not drowned, as he sensed he very well could've, yet he had taken more than a lungful.

He held his hand up, calloused, and marked by burns in places. Only not. It should've been, working with electrical equipment, repairing, fixing, and jury-rigging. It would've been calloused either way from the amount of use they saw, even in mundane tasks around the base. Only, his hands almost seemed perfect.

He made a fist and relaxed them, flexing fingers, wrists, and joints. Memories flashed of jumping into the training harness and fighting invisible foes as his mind worked overtime to process the learning. He unclenched his fist and stared at it curiously.

Then he made a strong fist. A blue-grey field formed, nearly transparent around each of his hands.

Then, for one clear picturesque moment, his senses zoned in on it. A sensation, one of which he could now trace back to the very first time it was felt.

Magic.

[Protective Magic] (Epic)

The power to protect and defend. The creation of shields, barriers, or wards. A particular study of magic that focuses primarily upon the safety of the caster or others. The ability to deflect physical dangers, to safeguard against mental assaults, fortify oneself in the case of spiritual damage, or guard against magical onslaught.

Jayke blinked once and read the prompt. Urgent questions erupted into his meditation space but he shot them all down one by one. His mind was serenity, every wave broke upon calm waters. He waved a blue-grey clad hand through the odd instantiation, causing ripples to undulate through its form.

"A product of the energies I robbed then." He regarded the prompt curiously, both at the information it delivered and at the nature of the delivery.

He stared at his hand and released the magic, unable to resist a small grin as the blue barrier shattered quietly into small shards of glittering dust. The feeling was hard to describe. It was akin to the smooth, cool, and hard nature of a turtle's shell. In what way, was... less straightforward.

The screen had disappeared.

His eyes naturally darted to his immediate surroundings, the very sanctuary he rested in.

[Safehaven] (Mythic)

A place that exists outside of the physical realm, one accessible only to its owner. Guaranteed safety and refuge when danger is near. A sanctuary that none can enter, a place of shelter. A private sanctum. To all but its owner, the [Safehaven] may as well be an impenetrable fortress.

He allowed himself to unwind more, the constant pain he felt kept him tense, but with a mental adjustment he relaxed. He stared around, noting the area. It was a large circular room. Parts along the perimeter were set into the wall, as if things were meant to be placed there. A bed adorned the northern edge of the room. A table occupied the east, complete with the chair he was currently sitting in. In all, a simple room, but one yet to be customized.

Aside from the [Protective Magic] and [Safehaven] he had held something else tighter than both combined.

He was sailing in his mind. Calm waters with a constant breeze. Storms were on the horizon, but here in his [Safehaven] they would never get close. Should the storm ever arrive, his [Protective Magic] - his ship - would allow him to ride the dangers.

But more, there was something else to his ship, to himself. Along the wooden planks of his vessel, he realized there was whirring. The churning of water behind the ship that indicated a motor, not a vessel completely at the whims of the wind.

And there, he found it.

[Code Magic] (Legendary)

A lost school of magic birthed by a race of legendary minds lost to time. Requiring both a honed mind and natural intuition, [Code Magic] is a form and practice of magic focused on efficiency, optimization, and automation. The ability to understand magic on a qualitative level to such a degree as to interact with it directly. Few ever understand the true advantages of such magic, either lacking the mental capacity or imagination required to reach its height.

Jayke's heart skipped a beat. This was something he knew, like the back of his hand. Or every defense mechanism the old compound had at its disposal. Writing code and understanding algorithms was second nature to him, he had spent most of his life doing just that.

His fingers itched for a keyboard, but this was magic, not technology. He paused. "And how am I supposed to use this?" He figured it was a relatively common question given the description of the thing.

Instead, he focused his mind on the singular sensation he now knew as magic. He was sorely tempted to stretch his newly found magical muscle but set aside the blue-grey magic for another time. That one, at least, he could focus on.

When it came to [Code Magic] he was lost.

He frowned deeply considering the nature of his powers and the odd screens that accompanied them. His thoughts were a small whirlwind, a mix of many concerns and curiosities.

But for now, he had peace. For the first time in nearly a year, Jayke Cipher had peace.

At some point, his mental self slipped on a thought and ended up asleep.

His peaceful awakening was marred by the acute awareness of the pain in his shoulder. There were no mirrors so his diagnosis was up to his eyes, and twisting the correct way for a good angle only brought more pain. He had fallen asleep in the chair.

He stretched his senses in a way both new and familiar. A door appeared and, bracing himself, he exited his [Safehaven].

Jayke was full alert, the pain only honing his already sharp awareness. The forest was bright now, sunshine fell through the canopy like rain. Birds chirped above unbothered by the woes of those struggling below. Singsong tunes came from them and their carefree noise clued Jayke into some semblance of relative safety.

He relaxed a notch.

Water and food, in that order, came first. He'd take a page out of Maslow's book. With some adjustments. Shelter and sleep were already taken care of, past that he'd be able to get a real handle on things.

Just as the soft crunch of underbrush began to meld into background noise, he heard a thumping noise.

A rabbit.

A rabbit save for its larger size and a conspicuous gleaming horn. And it was mottled with the color scheme of the forest. He had barely registered it if not for the thumping. In fact, the rabbit was doing that just now, one rear leg thumping the ground for no apparent reason.

"Odd, they aren't like the monsters before. These may actually be plausible mutations." Jayke hummed, cautiously regarding the rabbit.

A thump came down hard and it shot like a missile. Jayke dodged like a coiled spring. It exploded on the opposite side of the small clearing in a blast of leaves and twigs. A bush rustled, and he realized it had repositioned once he heard the thumping.

Jayke's mouth watered. The prospect of meat wasn't something he'd entertained for nearly a year. But, he was patient. The hard thump came and Jayke jerked away, only to find that the rabbit had feinted. It came off-beat and he was forced to swing his right leg violently out of the way. It managed to catch part of his pants but it did nothing but send the rabbit off at an odd angle.

"Weird way to attack prey." Jayke checked his surroundings, expecting a pack of them.

Then there was thumping again. This time it was behind him. When the rabbit came at him, it collided with a near-transparent field. It's horn pierced the field and shattered it. Jayke's hand snapped backward, unexpecting of the sensation of his magic breaking forcefully. It was like his entire hand went asleep and someone punched it, except less unpleasant.

He began to experiment and could inconsistently form barriers of different strengths. Though he could only do so reliably when he felt actually threatened, by instinct. And he could only ever create them by way of his hands, pushing them outward from himself. Quickly he realized the backlash was roughly accordant with the strength of his fields.

Another barrier broke before he implemented a basic principle of defense, angling his surface. This resulted in his field shattering once again only sending the rabbit at a different angle. It was something he should've expected given the pointed impact. Though this method was hard to implement considering how he brought his fields into existence - from his hands. He had to sidestep and push away.

He was so engrossed in his testing he was startled when his stomach rumbled.

He looked at his little helper as food now. He wasn't averse to killing the creature for meat, he definitely deserved it after a year of abstinence. While tiring the thing out would likely make hunting it degrees easier, the thing didn't even seem tired.

Thumping began once again. Jayke realized he didn't recognize his surroundings anymore. He got his bearings quickly, however, and made his way back to the original clearing. He had been heading a singular direction and didn't want to get turned around.

At this, the rabbit frenzied, charging and stabbing at Jayke and pushing him away. He heard thumping again, only this time it was lighter, smaller. Something clicked. Had this rabbit been leading him away throughout this entire encounter? Nearly 10 minutes of him testing and he had been unwittingly led away? Much further and he likely wouldn't be able to find his way back to the exact spot.

Sure enough, the rabbit slid off a barrier more for redirection than withstanding its force, and Jayke parted a few bushes and low-hanging branches.

Bunnies. 10 of them. All thumping their feet, small gleaming horns. Barely nubs.

Jayke paused, deflecting the rabbit - the mother - once again.

His stomach rumbled.

And he couldn't help but admire her. That unyielding drive to protect, in any way that entailed. It was a drive, an unyielding drive, much like his to survive. And he respected it.

"Sorry, Mrs. Rabbit." He nodded to his helper. "Didn't realize I was scaring the kids."

When he left, the rabbit followed him partly, perhaps to understand his sudden departure. But sure enough, the mother turned around, likely needing to protect her kids once more. And he was left alone.

Jayke sighed. Family. He missed his. He felt guilty, he never knew what a normal timeframe for grief was, but his situation was unique. He didn't know if they lived or died, only the most likely. He had grieved for months, not because he knew, but because it was easier than letting himself hope they lived.

He turned around half-expecting the rabbit to be there again, but true to his expectations, the rabbit was long gone.

And maybe it was karma, or the luck bestowed by a lucky omen he had done well by that he ran into berries. Non-poisonous, presumably, from the sudden rustling retreat among the bushes at his presence.

Not too far from that, a river.

He smiled-

And his eyes sharpened as a sense of unease tickled his neck and back.