Siton stared in awe at the sight. The ten-kilometer-long ship had left a humongous trail of devastation behind itself that was easily ten times as long as it was. The tall metal ship in itself was partially destroyed. Its bottom half had been completely shredded while its top half remained mostly intact. On the other hand, its back thrusters were completely busted, they had completely fallen apart during re-entry. This ship could only handle delicate maneuvers due to its sheer size. This had been anything but delicate. Trails of debris that had gotten ripped off could be seen amongst its path of destruction.

The sight heavily impacted Siton. On one side the ship was an absolute wreck, there was no way it could get back into space and allow humanity to leave. Although the reason for doing so was quite debatable as they had technically already landed on a habitable planet, which was their primary purpose. However, he couldn’t help but feel his heart tighten a bit at the fact that all he owned, except for what he was wearing, probably got destroyed. And that too was up for debate considering how quickly he had damaged his slippers.

On the other side, the ship was very likely to attract other people. If he could just make his way there, he’d probably be reunited with his fellow survivors. That, however, was the toughest part, the ship laid roughly fifty kilometers away from himself. All of which looked to be dense forests separated by a couple of rivers. This would be a very long trip, 50k generally wouldn’t take too long to cross but this wasn’t a normal situation.

There would be no paths for him to take, which would significantly slow down his speed. On top of that it would significantly increase his chances of getting lost. He also had to find of food, water and shelter which would slow him even further. And finally, there was the dangers arising from the local fauna and flora. From what he’d seen so far, they weren’t too friendly.

“All right. The first thing I need to do if I want to get there is to get down from this cliff. Preferably without dying.” Looking below himself, he quickly dismissed the idea of climbing down. As it was a completely vertical cliff. It, however, seemed to have numerous handholds, which looked to be made of the most brittle rocks to ever exist. If one were to break off, he would get a first-class ticket to the ground one hundred meters below.

Going up seemed way more manageable. Although he couldn’t get a really good view of it, the cliff seemed to continue vertically but only for ten or so meters. This meant less climbing but just as much risks. But if he managed to get up then he’d be able to look for a gentler way down.

Left and right didn’t offer better options either, just more stone to climb for a while. And so Siton was faced with a decision, go up or go back and try to find another exit by exploring other paths he’d missed at previous intersections.

He decided to turn around. There was no way he’d risk his life when there was a potentially much safer path available.

Level-headed this time, Siton turned around and re-entered the tunnels. Going through the worms was much simpler this time around as most of them had already fallen. He only had to avoid stepping on them. Soon enough he had backtracked to an intersection. One he had failed to notice in his mad rush. Holding his shield over his head, he proceeded down this new worm filled tunnel.

Growing bored of the incessant *thunks* of the worms falling on his shield, the only thing Siton could do was turn his thoughts inwards. Trying to better understand the mechanisms behind EX.

The first thing that came to mind was that he needed a strong desire to survive in order to use it. Although that sounded correct, he felt like he could improve on that statement. That desire to survive seemed to excite the energy, causing it to push on that invisible gate within himself. That however wasn’t enough. He felt like no matter how much he wanted to survive; the gate wouldn’t open. He needed to do something else to unlock it.

Thinking back on the chain of events he suspected that he needed to provide a form to his desire to survive. A purpose. His first time around, that purpose was to make himself stronger, faster and such in order to survive. The second time around he used it to rid his body to the worm’s toxin, to survive. Another thing he had noticed at that time was that he had far less EX to work with. Which in turn had reduced the pressure it had applied on the gate, forcing him to open them himself once unlocked.

But this created more questions. What were the gates that blocked EX? Why did EX respond to his need to survive? Why did it need a form? What was on the other side of the gate? How much EX could he store? What was that pulling thing he did? Questions, questions, questions.

Before he could dive any deeper in this train of thoughts, Siton noticed some light at the end of the tunnel. Eager to finally get out of this annoying cave system, he picked up the pace.

When he finally arrived, he let out a small sigh of relief. The last twenty meter of the cave had slopped upwards allowing it to breach the surface and not a cliffside. Taking a small peek outside Siton found himself in a forest, as expected. The trees there looked like any other, but he couldn’t bring himself to trust them, especially the luscious green grass that covered the ground. Quickly verifying that there were no creatures nearby, he quickly pulled out another rolled-up bag from his FAK. And promptly poked the grass with it. Letting another small sigh of relief when it bent instead of cutting right through it.

‘Looks like above ground is less lethal than below.’

Quickly stepping out of the cursed cave, Siton took a deep breath of fresh air in. He hadn’t realized it but after all of these months in a space can or underground, he had really missed being outside. He felt a smile grow wide on his face. Finally, free!

After having enjoyed the moment for a while longer, Siton went on to explore his surroundings and get his bearings. He moved as quietly as he could to avoid getting spotted by any potentially hostile creatures that might be lurking around. He quickly spotted multiple berry bushes and decided to take some samples, which he placed in one of his bags, for later. He wasn’t desperate enough to try them without making sure they weren’t poisonous.

Having explored a bit more Siton found a small stream. Its water was clear and quite appealing. After having carefully made his way there he quickly filled up two other bags, grabbed a drink and was on his way again.

It only took him an extra few minutes of wandering about to find the cliff he was at previously. While admiring the dystopian sight, he tried to spot a pathway down. Although the mountain he was on seemed to be mostly steep cliffs on this side, he still managed to find a couple of promising-looking paths. All of which looked to be large slopes composed of various sized gravel and the occasional bush. Although he could try to find an easier way down on another side of the mountain he was on, it would significantly increase his travel time. This could also very well be a mountain chain, meaning he’d have to climb back up again.

He’d just go straight down. It’d be faster and he’d get to keep the ship in his line of sight, reducing his chances of getting lost. Therefore, he made his way towards the nearest path he had spotted. This one required him to drop down roughly three meters before accessing the slope. The slope itself was mostly made of loosely piled rocks and looked rather steep. It would only take one slip for him to be sent tumbling to the bottom. He decided not to use it for the time being and come back to it later if he needed it.

The next one was more manageable with only a one-meter drop and a gentle slope. Deciding he wasn’t going to find anything better he decided to get down the mountain through there. He gently lowered himself on the rubble and proceeded to carefully make his way downwards.

It took him a whole hour to get to the bottom rewarding him with extremely sore legs. He had really underestimated how tough it was to use his legs muscles nonstop for extended periods of time. He had made it mostly unharmed, although there had been a few close calls where he almost lost his balance. Scaring him enough to get him to attempt sliding down while sitting in a controlled manner. A decision he had swiftly regretted after tearing part of his pants.

Absolutely exhausted, Siton decided to take a break. He slowly walked towards the treeline, hobbling most of the way due to his sore legs. He found a nice rock to sit on and took out a ration bar and some water. He hurriedly devoured the food. Within a minute nothing was left of it.

“Phew, that was good.” He exclaimed, satisfied.

After some quick deliberation, he decided to rest for a few more minutes before looking for some shelter to pass the night in.

Once he felt fully refreshed, he stood up and was on his way again. Heading in general direction of the ship in order to gain some time. After another hour of walking he came upon a large stream that he’d have to cross in order to continue. Deciding to take this moment to get his bearing, Siton found a tree with plenty of large and low branches and began to climb it. He had after all been walking in the forest for all this time, without any visual with the ship. It was very possible he had gotten off track.

Groaning as he made his way up, Siton swore to himself he was going to get back in shape when things settled down again. When he finally made it to the top, he was quite surprised to find that he had made good progress and was heading approximatively in the right direction.

After having gotten down from the tree, Siton resumed his trek to the ship. Crossing the stream was awkward as he had to stand on slippery stones, but he managed to get to the other side while only getting his feet wet. That wasn’t too bad, he even got the opportunity to refill one of his bags. However, the water in his slippers was, he was already getting blisters due to his poor footwear, but soggy ones were even worse. However, he sucked it up and kept going, ‘crying wasn’t going to do anything about it’, the rational side of his mind said as he resumed his shelter hunt. Yet, after a couple more hours of walking, he had yet to find anything. Which was incredibly frustrating to him and was slowly beginning to stress him out.

When he was finally about to give up and just sleep under the sky, Siton stumbled upon a clearing. In it was a small pond, nothing remarkable. However, what came as a surprise to him were the glowing lotus flowers on it. Each on a perfectly shaped circular Lilypad. The flowers themselves were in pristine condition, with a gentle glowing aura emanating from them. Yet, what surprised Siton the most was the extremely low EX concentration within the clearing. He could feel it being sucked in by the plants as it rushed past him.

Quite shocked by this peculiar organism in front of him, he quickly made his way to the pond. While of course making sure there weren’t any traps by poking the ground in front of him with a long stick he had found.

He took his time inspecting the plants when he reached them. Until he suddenly heard a deep powerful growl originating from a few meters behind himself.

‘This isn’t good.’ He thought. In front of him was the pond and behind was whatever creature wanted to kill and eat him this time. Deciding to make a run for it once more he quickly snatched a small lotus and made a run for it by following the edge of the pond. He quickly turned around to see a huge wolf, with immense ears, that was easily as tall as himself. The wolf looked at him with a powerful stare before deciding to pursue him. However, it wasn’t running after him, it was just trotting along. Playing with its prey before other pack members would join it to brutally eviscerate Siton.

Running at full speed for what seemed to be the tenth time this week, Siton managed to make it to the treeline. Just before the wolf howled with incredible volume, probably alerting all of its companions within kilometers.

‘WHY ME!’ Siton exclaimed in his mind more out of frustration than anything else. ‘Why am I the one at the bottom of the food chain, always forced to run!’

Just as he was about to continue further with his rant in the hopes of triggering EX once more, a hand shot out of the darkness, grabbing his arm, along with a hurried female voice.

“Quick! Follow me if you want to live!”