Chapter 17

Lwanda quickly looked behind him.

**…..**

“What is this, I could have sworn the voice came from behind”

Lwanda looked at the empty space, there was no human nor mysterious creature waiting, there was just emptiness. Nothing but a breeze gently drifting passed his face as it moved.

Lwanda felt frustrated, sure the world he was currently in wasn’t anything conventional, actually to frame it more accurately it was downright tragic, but he knew for a fact that his mind was still intact. He wasn’t crazy, well not just yet.

“So, I definitely heard a voice I didn’t imagine it and I'm not crazy”

He was certain there was someone else there, something else but why be so secretive? Why hide themselves. Was that for their sake or was it for Lwanda’s?

Different ideas and hypothesis filled Lwanda’s mind as he looked around more carefully. With each glance he felt his heart beat faster, his breathing getting heavier.

“What is this feeling? Why do I feel this sudden sense of terror?”

As if in unison all of Lwanda’s senses slowly joined the fray, slowly sending out a cautionary message. It was a bad idea to continue seeking, not now, not just yet.

It was as if his body felt and remembered something his mind didn’t. The feeling was so strong, too strong. Lwanda’s whole body trembled, he didn’t understand why but he felt terrified, fear he’d never felt before, fear that made the horrific eagle and panther look cute, insignificant.

“Just what is that voice?”

Lwanda asked himself. He knew he wanted answers but it was probably a good idea to listen to his body this time, it hadn't let him down yet.

As Lwanda turned around, he felt the sudden chocking dreadful feeling lift. He was back to his old self.

“Guess it really didn’t want me looking into it after all. Well fuck it, till next time then”

Lwanda walked back to the panther corpse, there was still so much to do. He had to explore the crystal some more, find any salvageable parts from the panther and most importantly fix his arm.

The adrenaline of battle had numbed down the pain from the broken arm, but now all that anguish was rushing back. Lwanda knew he would soon experience brutal pain.

“Damn it if only the nanobots in my body still worked”

Ever since he stepped foot into this world all the basic augments from earth became useless, the nanobots that could have bailed him out of countless dangerous scenarios thus far were completely offline. It was safe to say he was all on his own.

“Guess I'll just continue to rely on myself then”

Lwanda said as he looked around, from the little he remembered from his classes he knew he had to set the broken arm then make a sling for it.

“Damn it, pain is becoming a new norm in my life”

Lwanda said, he didn’t know how to feel about that. Was it something to be grateful for, like a conquest trophy? Something that proved he’d beaten the odds and survived yet again? Or was it simpler than that? Pain being just pain, he was going through hell and that was just about it, no deeper meaning, no grand symbol. He was simply enduring hell.

Lwanda chose not to pick any, it was enough that he was alive to debate that, so long as he could stay breathing and have to continue debating his circumstances that was enough.

Lwanda finally spotted a couple of vines nearby. He smiled at the site of them, his trusty vines, who would have thought a bunch of plants would turn out to be so useful to him.

“Trees are so convenient, I wonder why humanity didn’t take care of ours”

Lwanda said as he thought back to the barren lands that was planet earth. The mechanical heaven with no greenery in sight.

Lwanda sliced off a part of the vine. With his one good arm he struggled to make an arm sling.

“Phew, this is so much harder with one arm, I can only imagine how hard the journey will be from now on”

Lwanda was aware of his current predicament, this place was hard enough as it was, sustaining injuries wasn’t doing him any favors.

“Well it's not like I can help it”

Lwanda said with a bit of gloom, in the face of all the monstrosities here he was nothing but an insignificant beast, getting hurt was inevitable, that was a fact Lwanda was forced to accept.

“I'm literally at the bottom of the food chain”

Lwanda said with a stern look on his face, he knew where he belonged. The art of knowing thyself. He understood that only by knowing oneself would one act accordingly. He couldn’t risk overestimating himself and getting killed, dying a dog’s death was something Lwanda wasn’t going to do. Bottom of the food chain or not, the mission was the same, stay alive, stay breathing that was all.

“Guess it's time”

Lwanda looked at his arm one more time, it was a ghastly sight. With no bone support it would flap back and forth each move being more agonizing than the last. The deformity was obvious compared to the other arm, a part of the broken bone had punctured through the skin and was protruding. A sharp bloody bone that made his skin crawl with each look. His left arm was at least thrice as big as the right one, with a multicolored squishy feeling.

Lwanda fought back his gag reflex as best as he could. The last thing he needed was to lose his composure at this crucial moment.

Lwanda sat on the panther’s leg, he knew he had to be seated for the next part.

“Can't have myself passing out on the ground like last time”

Fortune doesn’t come knocking twice, Lwanda understood he’d managed to survive last time’s ordeal through sheer luck. There was no guarantee he’d have such luck again this time, so no matter what he’d resolved not to pass out.

He grabbed hold of his arm, he knew exactly what he had to do but still he hesitated. The pain that would follow wasn’t something he could take lightly, he was still human and humans hate pain.

“Well fuck it, it’ll come either way, might as well get it over with”

“Alright then, one...two...”

**Crack!!**

**Argh!!**

Lwanda let out a disturbing moan.

“This...this is way worse than I thought”

Lwanda said fighting to stay conscious, his eyes were bloodshot, massive veins protruding through every inch of his head, his breathing was heavy and heart beat way out of control.

He couldn’t describe the kind of pain he was feeling, he hated it, he hated everything about it. Why did it have to be him going through all this, why did it have to be him suffering like this.

He had to know, he needed to know and for that he wasn’t going to die, he wasn’t going to show weakness, not until everything became crystal clear.

Lwanda fought through the pain and put on his makeshift cast. He’d made it by tying a bunch of twigs together with vines like a rope ladder. It wasn't the flashiest thing out there but it would get the job done.

After his arm was secure, he slowly and carefully slid it into his arm sling.

“Phew! That should do it for now”

“Damn if only I had something for the pain, this shit hurts like hell”

Lwanda slowly rose from the panther’s leg. With no painkillers to help with the pain, he figured the best he could do was to distract himself from his current anguish.

He walked towards his makeshift bag and pulled out his crystal collection. His eyes seemed to glow just a little as he stared at them, the bliss of discovering something new, that was exactly what he needed.

With a big smile on his face Lwanda clasped the crystals.

“Well then shall we begin...”