Chapter 6

“Did this thing just...”

Lwanda couldn’t believe it, he stared at it intensely as if that would change what he just witnessed.

How can this be, just how can this be real?

Humanity had achieved some incredible advances but never something like this.

To Lwanda this was basically fantasy, just how could it be real.

The tiny glowing crystal before him, the beautifully bland crystal before him was capable of harnessing such electric power? Just how could that be? And what exactly was it?

“Is it some kind of advanced technology?”

The notion seemed to make sense to Lwanda, it was the only thing that had a slight possibility of truth to it.

“There’s a reason behind everything”

As a person who’d been exposed to various unfathomable inventions, he knew that just because you don’t understand something doesn’t mean its fiction, everything has a logical explanation.

This was the first lesson he’d learned from his father.

“Father...”

A deep gloom overtook Lwanda, he remembered his father. He remembered meeting him was one of the reasons he’d been so anxious the previous night. He was looking forward to it. It'd been 10 years since he and a quarter of the population was put into cryogenic sleep.

With limited resources and a severe case of overpopulation there just wasn’t enough resources to cater for everyone, as a result the bleak protocol was established.

It was a project that aimed to conserve the limited resources by sealing away a quarter of the population for 10 years. This was done in 4 shifts forming a round. Most families got to see each other once of maybe twice in their lifetime, a bleak existence indeed.

Lwanda felt his heart break, he was supposed to meet his father the next day. That was probably going to be his last time meeting him, his last chance to thank him for his sacrifice but instead he woke up here, the idea of not ever making it back was possible and Lwanda was aware of it.

His heart broke, he grit his teeth, tears trickled down his face.

“Damn it, you sissy”

He was by no means a weak person, he’d rarely if ever show his emotions, but in the short time he’d been here, he’d found himself showing a vast array of emotions, mostly crying and praying to stay alive. He was disappointed in himself but he was only human, there’s a limit to what he can do.

“Focus !!”

The word rang in Lwanda’s mind, his father's favorite caption. Yes, this wasn’t the time to be moping over his shitty luck, he was his father’s son and if he was here, he would be looking at everything objectively, just like the genius inventor he was.

“Yes, lets figure this out”

Lwanda slowly reached out for the crystal lying by his feet.

**Bzzzzzzzt**

**Argh**

“Son of a …”

He cursed, the electric aura around the crystal had sent shocks through his body.

“That fucking hurt”

Lwanda held his hand as he glared at the crystal. The pain throbbed nonstop.

The sudden pain pissed him off but mostly he was mad at himself for lowering his guard.

“It's still electricity and electricity will shock you”

He still didn’t fully understand the crystal but he’d come to the conclusion that it still followed some laws of science. Lwanda looked around, he needed something to act as an insulator. Luckily, he was in a forest there was no shortage of those but somehow, he felt not just anything could do, he needed something special.

“Aha!”

His face brightened; he’d thought of something brilliant. He walked over to the eagle’s corpse.

Lwanda held onto the tinniest feather he could see and pulled, he pulled hard.

“Fuck... it's really lodged in there”

Although it was the tinniest he could see, it was by no means small in the conventional sense.

This was going to be harder than he thought. He held on once again.

“Aaaaaaaah”

**Swooosh**

**Boom**

Lwanda landed with a thud, the feather had been freed and was laying on top of him, the assumed tiny feather was big enough to cover his whole body.

“Hmmm...”

Another idea shot into Lwanda’s mind, he smirked.

“I really am his son”

He basked in his sense of self accomplishment, he felt good about himself. It took him awhile but he finally smiled.

“But first...”

He looked at the crystal. It was time to begin. He scooped it up with the feather.

“It should have a higher affinity to this and at the same time it should protect me”

The logic made sense to Lwanda, since the two were originally from the same body they should resonate better and additionally since the feather was an insulator it would protect him from the electric shocks.

“Now let's see...”

Lwanda had a few ideas, he’d had them in mind ever since the crystal started acting up.

It was just a guess but it was worth a shot. He looked at the dead rats before him, glared at them intensely.

…..

**Bzzzt*crackle*Bzzzzzt**

**Booom**

Electricity surged out of the crystal, a massive wave, if he didn’t know any better he’d probably think it was a lightning bolt.

“I knew it !!!”

“Intent, intent, it reacts to intent!!”

Lwanda looked at the smoking rat corpses, the massive bolt had hit them dead on, accurately, not even a margin of error.

The bolt struck exactly where he intended it to strike. Lwanda face lit up again, he’d made a ground breaking discovery. His hypothesis was dead on, the crystal and its mysterious power operated on intent, if a strong intent was directed at it, it would react to it. Lwanda was amused by this.

“Wait, so that means...the eagle”

Lwanda thought back to the eagle, it was indeed conscious just as he had suspected, it was an intelligent being, more so than the eagles he’d heard about back on earth.

The idea was scary and shocking. He knew he couldn’t fully trust his knowledge, he had to adapt to everything, that was the only way he’d survive.

“Wait, hold up !!”

An idea suddenly hit Lwanda, it was something so simple yet so deadly, he was mad at himself for not thinking about it sooner. The smile he had on, the zeal he’d been basking in just a few seconds ago suddenly faded. This was dangers.

“If it reacts to intent, does that mean, it could target me too?”

The notion was scary, but it was true, Lwanda had planned to use the crystal. He still didn’t fully understand its capabilities but he knew at the very least he could use it to attack.

But if the crystal reacted to intent, who's to say he wouldn’t meet an intelligent being that was aware of this and it would instead use the crystal against him? The idea was certainly possible.

This was a strange world, everything he’d witnessed so far would have been supernatural, fiction to him just a day ago, but yet here he was fighting giant eagles and demon rats anything was possible even the idea of something more intelligent creeping around.

Sweat dripped down Lwanda’s face, he was suddenly feeling uneasy, the thought that he’d meet something like that or maybe that he was already being watched freaked him out.

He felt his skin crawl, he felt like a tiny ant in vast coastal beach, almost helpless.

**…...**

“Fuck it”

Lwanda steeled his resolve, he’d been through too much to give up now, he didn’t know what was lurking in the shadows, he didn’t know what would come for him next and he didn’t know when it would all end.

But as he clenched his fists, he vowed to do everything and anything he could to have a tomorrow for as long as he could.

With a passionate desire to survive burning hot in his heart, Lwanda looked at the crystal.

“Hmmm...”

“But first …”