“AAAHHH” Siton squealed in a high pitch voice, surprising both himself and his opponent. He quickly reached for his mouth with his hands to prevent further threats to his manliness. The stone rat, on the other hand, glared at Siton, now a little bit more wary of his prey. Siton returned it or at least liked to think he did. More realistically, he turned around made a run for it. For what exactly? For the pod hatch, if he could just grab it then he’d be able to get back to the pod, or at least have a better chance at defending himself. Assuming the rat wasn’t able to walk in the grass with those stony plates it had.

Unfortunately for Siton, the rat just happened to be blocking the most direct route to the hatch. Forcing him to take the long way around. Thus, vaulting over the stream, he ran for his life. He had never seen a rat that big before, in fact he had only ever seen one before and that was scary enough. This was just a huge bag of stinking ‘nope’ for him and he wasn’t going to risk fighting it if he could. That thing looked like it could chew through his bones in one bite. Which it probably could considering this species of rats actually survived on eating stone, occasionally supplementing their diet with meat.

Siton was only a few steps from the stream when he heard a loud splash coming from directly behind him. Too afraid of turning around, he picked up the pace. Causing him to stumble due to his injured foot and twist that ankle, maybe even spraining it. He didn’t have time to think about that though. Every second lost was one that the rat gained. He continued running despite the throbbing pain in his foot, running like his life depended on it… which it kinda did.

Soon enough he passed the second exit of the cave, he was almost there. ‘Just a little bit more!’ he thought. Three steps left, two, one. ‘There!’ He grabbed the shield and immediately turned around, expecting the see the rat right on his tail. What he did not expect to see was the rat in mid-air less than a meter away from his face. Feeling strangely lucid in that situation, his brain working like a perfectly oiled Formula 1, he swung his improvised shield at the rat. He used the momentum of his spin to amplify the strength of his swing. Anchored himself with his feet to the ground like a tree would with its roots. Twisted his core and hips to create a monstrous amount of kinetic power in his upper body. He threw his all into that one swing, increasing its might to tremendous levels. And oh so slowly he saw it connect with the rat’s face. He could see its skull being bashed aside before its flesh moved. He felt the impact reverberate through the shield and back into his arms. The rat went flying… and crashed into the wall next to Siton with enough force to make the cave walls shake.

The rat was dead. Killed, in but a fraction of a second. A life extinguished, yet, another one lived. So was the law of nature. The survival of the fittest.

Siton fell to his knees as the world returned to its normal speed. Exhausted, he sat there panting. He really needed to exercise more.

Suddenly he was startled by a huge wave of energy. Not the kind of explosive, or heat, or even light energy. No. It was that energy he had felt when he first opened the pod. The one that slowly seeped within his body, giving him a tremendous feeling of power. The wave of energy gently washed over him, slowly worming itself into his body. He kinda forgot about it due to the injury he sustained right afterward. Thinking back on it though, the energy had always been there since he had landed, it just fell into background noise.

‘Wasn’t it just something to lure creatures to the trap?’ he questioned. ‘Then why is it suddenly so strong?’

After some thinking, he narrowed down the possibility to one thing: the rat. Somehow upon death, it had released a huge amount of that energy. That energy then flowed into him. But not all of it, he could clearly feel that there was so much more in the air, slowly dissipating and returning to normal levels. It seemed like only a certain fraction of the ambient energy was absorbed at any given time. Higher ambient energy would mean more energy absorbed due to a scaling absorption rate. This was all so new to him, it had really piqued his interest.

Lost in thoughts Siton failed to notice the swarm of stone rats sneaking upon him. They had felt the energy emanating from their dead comrade and had decided to investigate. What they saw surprised them. Not only was their sibling dead but its killer was there as well. Even better! Two bodies to eat for the price of one! On top of it the one that had died widely disliked for trying to steal other’s food. Therefore, as any rock rat worth it's salt would, they decided to get the jump on that weird bipedal creature. It’d been a while since they’d had meat on the menu!

Silently they crept up on their unsuspecting prey until a couple of the rats at the back decided to bicker on who would get to eat first. Which quickly evolved into a full-on fight, instantly blowing their cover.

Siton turned around, alerted by the squeaking noises originating from behind himself. To find a good dozen of rock rats, each the same size as the previous one. With the closest one being within arm reach.

‘Nope.’

Terrified, he grabbed the hatch and ran. That was not something he could deal with. Fortunately, this time for him, he was really close to the pod and had no rats in his way. He swiftly got there and threw the hatch onto the grass.

‘Here’s hoping it’ll work!’ he thought as he jumped on it. Luckily for him it held as he ran across and jumped back on the pod. He promptly turned around and grabbed the hatch by one of its inner handles to immediately move it away from the rats. Heart pounding in his chest, he sat down and looked for them.

Surprisingly, unlike the previous one, these rats did not give him chase; they weren’t really that hungry. They had plenty enough rats to trap and bite him to death. However, they hadn’t planned for the dumb creature to jump into the bleed plants and actually make it onto a weird grey island intact.

Siton watched the confused rats circle the razor grass clearing in hopes of finding a way through. It looked like they were still scared of the grass and would not risk jumping to his pod just to eat him.

“Guess those stone patches are only for show then.” After observing them for a small amount of time he established that they weren’t going to give up anytime soon, but they weren’t going to make any progress either. These were some dumb creatures. So, he decided to sit there and spend some time trying to figure that strange and interesting energy out.

The first thing he did was trying to become more aware of it, being able to sense it within the air. Sure, he had done so before, but that was only when exposed to changes in its concentration. He wanted to be able to sense it as it was at ambient levels. To do so he took time clam down and relax, closing his eyes and slowly shifting into a meditational state. Slowly turning his attention outwards, he began to search for that energy, for the same feeling it created within him. That essence of strength, vitality, and possibilities. He slowly began to sink deeper and deeper into this state.

Slowly but surely, he began sensing something. At first it was nothing but a faint trace, impossible to grasp, elusive, disappearing as soon as he focussed on it. But with time as he went deeper and deeper within the trance, he began to become strangely aware of all that was being registered by his external senses. The humidity in the air, the coolness of the air on his skin, the texture of his loose clothes, the rats pacing around the field of grass, the damp smell of the cave and… there it was! That energy! A slight buzzing sensation registered by all of his senses, filled with untapped power. Coursing through the air, raw power. Present in an infinitely small quantity but there nonetheless.

Sinking even further in this trance he began to feel the flow of that energy around his skin. Swirling gently in the air, forming intricate and mesmerizing patterns, much like those of the mushrooms. Although less mesmerizing these were in a different league when it came to their sheer complexity and beauty. They were perpetually folding onto themselves, moving in impossible and unpredictable directions. It was simply magnificent, and powerful. Siton was sure by this point that this did not originate from the plants. It was far more; it had probably been there since far before them and would be there eons afterward. He could see its sheer potential. This. This was something worth living for. He wanted to learn more about it, to study it and unravel all its secrets.

He in fact, got so excited that he woke himself out of his hyperfocused state.

“Wow,” he whispered, “that was insane.” Although he had been studying science prior, biology to be more accurate. He had always felt a bit bored thinking of how slowly it developed. Sure, some really cool things were only possible because of it. But things like physics-defying magic and such was probably lifetimes away. This though, he could feel its potential, what it could do. Completely unexplored and most importantly, within his reach!

Thinking back on it, it seemed that most of the living things he’d met in this new world were surreal in many aspects. Incredibly sharp grass that retained its plant-like property, mushrooms able to ensnare the mind of creatures with but a glance, huge rats with shells made of stone plates. That strange energy probably had a fundamental part to play into making all of this possible. It was incredible, but also a double edge sword. It created impossible things, incredible beings and fabulous sights, on the other hand, it was mostly used in countless lethal ways. But Siton still felt strangely drawn to it, like a moth to a flame. Perhaps that was part of the beauty of it. It had made his blood stir like never before. And he was determined not to let it go.

With that, the exhaustion from this day caught back up with him. He had seen two pigs get violently butchered, vaulted over a literal spike trap, gotten caught in a hypnotic trap, gotten chased by a huge rat, killed said rats, ran from more rats and then got into a hyper-focussed state for science. But all considered he came through relatively unharmed, although he was still rather terrified of what had happened to him, he couldn’t stop but look at it with curiosity. This whole world was new, unexplored with mysteries around every corner, and most importantly magical.

Quickly checking that the rats hadn’t made any progress, he peacefully drifted to sleep. Eager and anxious for another day in this world.