“Once again, his body suffered. His fingers turned black. His remaining toes fell off. His lips turned blue. His face turned white. His breath turned solid. And yet, he never moved. His core turned to ice. The blood stopped flowing. His heart stopped beating. His mind turned still. He was dead.”

==========================================================================

Edward didn’t know how long he’d been fleeing. All he knew was his throat burned, his vision was narrow, his legs and arms felt heavy. He hadn’t felt physically tired the entire time he’d been here. He couldn’t reason with his body; it took control the moment it felt the gaze. His gaze. The threat of death had long since disappeared. Hours ago. He was just fleeing because he didn’t know what else to do.

He ran more like an animal than a human at that point. He used his arms almost as much as he did his legs, like a canine.

Being stuck as a passenger in your own body wasn’t a pleasant experience, Edward wouldn’t recommend it. He tried and failed to wrestle back control. His body’s instincts had flared so strongly that you couldn’t reason with it.

An opportunity finally presented itself when he leapt from a cliff without seeing what was below. It was a lake. Small by this world’s standards, but a lake, nonetheless.

The cold, refreshing water shocked his system. Finally, allowing him back to being the pilot. He slowly swam out of the water.

Determined to stay in controlled, he did whatever he could to calm himself down. The adrenaline still flowed freely in his veins; his hands were shivering.

Taking as much conscious control of himself as he could, he sat down to meditate. He’d never actually tried it, only heard of the basics. Not thinking, focusing on the breath. That sort of thing.

And it worked. Somewhat.

The act of sitting still probably did more than the mediation did. Whatever the cause, the result was his heartbeat slowed to normal, and his body settled itself. Although ready to take back control at a moment’s notice, should any danger present itself.

Edward opened his eyes to survey his surroundings. It was a beautiful place, one that fit right into the fantasy.

A soft waterfall beside the cliff, the one he jumped off. The lake itself was a crescent shape, backed against the cliff. The waterfall in the middle.

In the middle of the crescent was a tree, one he didn’t recognise. Not unusual given his short time in the mountains and forests.

He purposefully walked over to it to lean against.

And closed his eyes, trying to make sense of what happened.

He saw them! From at least a dozen kilometres away!

That’s the second thing. He’d finally been able to witness magic. Actually witness it. He’d heard from David, who confirmed its existence, but nothing more. It was… Mystical, mysterious, and all other kinds of adjectives used when you didn’t know what the fuck happened.

First, the green light. It solidified and made the Rasts in the cages disappear, after which the light shined brighter than before.

Then came the gravity. Heavily pressing down, threatening to crush him. Even at such a distance. He was certain it did not target them. And assuming it got weaker at a distance, would’ve squashed them had they been much closer.

Then the light disappeared.

No, that’s not right.

The sunlight disappeared, and then the bright green light appeared. Or did it?

Why could he not remember? That made little sense. It had just happened hours ago.

No matter how hard he tried, the memories were like fugitives just outside his grasp when he tried to articulate the order of events. Like a hand gently stopped him from seeing certain memories.

He shivered; it was like he’d repressed his memories.

Like his mind didn’t want to think of it. But it couldn’t forget. The gaze had been burnt into his mind, so it hid the surrounding memories.

He couldn’t remember the details of what happened. His gaze and his smile overwhelmed everything else.

He shook his head, trying to rid himself of those thoughts. He tensed when just thinking of them.

Accepting that it had happened and hoping his memories would return later should he need them.

Who was that? He didn’t know. Perhaps David would.

Speaking of which, where was David?

Then it dawned on him.

“We got fucking separated, of course, that would happen.” He groaned.

“Bitch ass body, why couldn’t you keep pace with him? Why run away?” He complained unfairly. He knew he’d have reacted just as instinctually. Foremost, thinking of himself when experiencing so much fear.

His body had a mind of its own. That thought hit him like a truck. He’d been a passenger in his own body!

“How the fuck do you deal with that?!? Oi can you hear me?” Another groan escaped him when he didn’t get an answer.

“So, I have a body I’m only partly in control of? Is that it?”

“I thought they were instincts, but they’re not, are they? I thought my body had some combat instincts that knew what to do, but no. It has a full-blown mind of its own. That can take control whenever it wants. Fantastic. An Animal mind. A-mind? Amind. Yes, I’ll call you Amind.”

“What the fuck, Amind? Why are you in my body? What are you even?”

“John’s name had the Latin word for monkey in it, so do I have a monkey placed in me? Does that mean John has one too? Is that what you are, Amind? A monkey? Maybe my Latin word meant stro-.“ He trailed off. His brother.

He’d forgotten about him. He was searching for his brother when the gaze landed on him. That’s why he was there.

Did that mean he had to go back? Go back and experience that again?

He paled and started shuddering uncontrollably, ‘Amind’ threatening to take over again.

Resolutely shaking his head to rid himself of thoughts, he stood up and began walking.

He didn’t have a destination in mind, but standing still made him uncertain. Moving forward, even in the wrong direction, beat doing nothing and letting his brother suffer as a slave.

Edward didn’t make it very far before inadvertently stepping into a Rasts’ territory.

His body took over before he even realised what happened. Instantly falling to the ground.

The Rasts leapt straight over his head, barely catching its silhouette in the corner of his vision.

It landed gracefully, not pausing for a moment, instantly turning into a blur, and hiding in the underbrush, disappearing as quickly as it came.

Edward was instantly alert; he hadn’t come across such a Rasts during his time traveling with David in search of their siblings.

Usually stunned for a split second when they missed their ambush.

It was a minor thing; he supposed. A Rasts not pausing after a failed ambush. But it made him very vary. His instincts told him that something dangerous was nearby, and his instincts hadn’t failed him yet.

He knew it was a Rasts. Rasts always had some distinguishable trait about them, most had tribal tattoos on their body. Besides that, unnatural speed, stealth, or a physical distinction like extra limbs were all variations he’d seen during his short time in his new world. He’d met several non-Rasts creatures during his almost 3 weeks in the wild. More often than not, they were simply normal animals. They looked much like normal creatures from Earth.

He was told they evolved from normal animals. And that they couldn't procreate. Every Rasts had a story behind it, only the strongest, the smartest, or the oldest turned into Rasts.

He thought it was perhaps because the environment shaped the animal. Animal traits similar, or perhaps even identical to those from Earth, could deal with the similar environments here. Animals had no reason to evolve to be radically different from those he knew.

Of course, there a few exceptions here and there, like ferrets. He’d met an animal that look like a ferret, only it was larger. Much larger. It was the size of a wolf, with equally sharp teeth and claws.

He’d curiously approached it to study it closer, as it seemed quite cute.

It looked cute, but it was anything but harmless.

A pack of them instantly surrounded him.

Needless to say, he made David swear to never mention it to anyone.

When David eventually stopped laughing, he grinningly promised that he’d never tell another soul.

The Rasts that had just attacked him, was preparing for another attack, not giving up after the first one failed.

It was hiding in the heavy underbrush. Leaves rustled unnaturally as it was no doubt circling around him to find the best angle to attack.

He couldn’t sense where it was. He crouched, aware of the danger the Rasts in front of him posed.

Edward frantically leapt to the side as it attacked again, this time from the front.

He turned to look at it properly. All he’d seen was dark green fur. But it had disappeared again.

He was stuck in the small clearing surrounded by underbrush.

Not being able to dash away as it would simply attack him. Nor being able to counterattack because of its speed and stealth.

The situation had quickly become in the unfavourable for Edward. Hastily dodging its attacks from his blind spots.

‘Okay, what do I do? My body can’t think its way out of this.’ Edward thought, having the extra brain capacity that his body lacked.

‘I can’t keep dodging forever. I’ll make a mistake before it does. I’m burning stamina at a faster rate. I haven’t recovered yet.’

‘Okay, this is nothing, I’ve faced worse danger.’

‘Okay, okay, I know what to do. I’m going to have to block an attack from it. I’m strong, I’ve got this.’

Edward patiently waited for another frontal attack. Dodging whenever it attacked from behind or the sides, hoping that blocking one of its attacks would give him an opening to counterstrike.

He’d quietly unsheathed his knife, keeping it close to his chest.

The opportunity came. It dashed at him head-on.

‘Now!’ He stood up straight to get a better angle to attack, powerfully stabbing his knife into its side.

Because he stood up, and it had adjusted its attack angles during their fight, its attack hit him in the stomach.

And it burned.

He’d never felt such pain in his life.

The pain instantly paralyzed him. It travelled from his stomach to the rest of his body. The pain muddling his thoughts and he couldn’t think straight.

The Rasts roared in pain from his stab. It didn’t matter to him. He was sure he could handle whatever pain he’d experience. He’d sorely overestimated himself.

He couldn’t form any thoughts. Weakly stumbling backwards and collapsed on his back. The Rasts disappeared, taking his knife with it.

The pain was so strong he couldn’t breathe. He was entirely defenceless.

Suddenly, he felt himself move, though not under his own power.

His body at taken over completely, covering the wound with his hand and slowly crawling away from the clearing, trusting that his attack had scared it away.

That’s all Edward remembered before he blacked out from the pain.

Unbeknownst to him, his body didn’t fall unconscious when he did, but kept walking. Crawling, really.

Amind, as he’d aptly named him, had taken over.

When Amind had taken control as they fled from the gaze, he hadn’t been running without a destination in mind.

A wounded and scared animal would always want to go back to its den.

And that’s where Edward’s body had been heading.

Amind stumbled through the underbrush, fuelled only by seemingly never-ending stamina, but even that was running dry as the lifeblood was leaking out of him.

Nevertheless, He persisted, resolutely going in the same direction.

The forest was full of wildlife, and he didn’t have a moment of peace. The moment Amind, who was inside Edward, left the Rasts’ territory, normal animals immediately assaulted him. Those normal animals that only saw a weakened prey.

Edward’s body was weakened, yes. Far from weak. For normal animals, anyway.

He couldn’t stop the bleeding, so the blood attracted many predatory animals.

Wolves, bears, giant ferrets.

They were dealt with.

Normally Edward, and by extension, Amind, could hunt normal animals without a problem.

But his heavily wounded body wasn’t exactly what you’d call in top condition, and Amind couldn’t fight the animals off without a bite or scratch here and there.

The bloody way animals fought unfortunately attracted more predators to the scene. Unarmed, Amind had to defeat them with only his wits and strength. Quite difficult when you didn’t have any claws or fangs.

He was slowly getting more injured with each fight, though none were as serious as the wound on his stomach from the Rasts. Amind desperately clinging onto life as he made his way through the forest.

Then disaster struck.

A huge Rasts came into view.

A Direbear, larger than the one he’d killed on his first day.

It walked slowly, with the pace of an apex predator, towards him.

In no hurry to devour him, it approached head-on, as if to make him despair at the encroaching death.

Unfortunately, or rather fortunately, Amind didn’t know what despair was. He calmly searched his environment, looking for any opportunity to exploit. He was quite smart compared to other animals.

There was one. To the right of the approaching Direbear was an almost dead tree. It looked nearly eaten through from one side.

It was one of the larger trees that stretched more than a hundred meters into the sky.

Amind waited patiently for the Direbear to step closer.

Then, leapt resolutely at the tree and punched it at its weakest point.

The fist smashed powerfully into the tree, punching a large part of the remaining log away.

He jumped to dodge the falling tree, hoping that it would land on the Direbear.

Ever so slowly, the tree fell.

The remaining wood creaked loudly before violently snapping under its own weight. Shooting splinters everywhere.

The tree fell slowly, breaking and destroying every branch and smaller tree it encountered on its way down to the forest floor.

Booom!

It sounded like a bomb went off when it finally hit the ground. Every branch on the tree itself was crushed or shattered when it touched the ground. Furthering the destruction by firing splinters in all directions.

But… It missed. Not entirely, though.

The Direbear got the shock of its life. Shocked that it had barely dodged such a sudden death.

It was quite close to where the tree fell, so thousands of splinters easily pierced its hide. Covering its entire side in both large and small wounds, like a reverse hedgehog.

Enraged from the pain, it dropped its slow walked and charged at Amind, having almost lost its rationality.

As if it was an unstoppable force, it easily destroyed every small tree in its path towards Amind.

Amind scrambled to get away from the angry Direbear. He could’ve easily outrun the Direbear normally, but was so weakened that his only option was to hide rather than run.

He jumped into the underbrush, silently creeping through it to get away.

The blood would inevitably give him away, but he was almost there!

The Direbear roared in anger at the prey that had disappeared and used its great sense of smell to track it.

It charged through the underbrush whenever it smelled blood, always missing the prey. The smell was getting stronger each time, so the Direbear knew it was on the right path.

Amind stealthily crawled away, tensing whenever he heard the bear charge into a tree or bush, before continuing when he realised it had missed.

It was getting closer with each charge, though. It wouldn’t be long before it found him.

He kept crawling, determinedly searching around for any opportunities to escape or counterattack.

Suddenly, he rolled to the side, barely dodging its ferocious charge. The Direbear had charged at the bush he was in.

He’d rolled straight out of the underbrush and into a clearing.

Unfortunately, the bear saw him.

It almost seemed as if it smiled. An eery and evil smile. And it yet again started a slow walk towards him, assured of its victory.

He’d lost too much blood, so he weakly pushed himself away from it with his legs, too weak to run or leap away.

He felt a hard surface behind him, stone.

He couldn’t back away and could only stare at it as it approached.

Seeing the blood dripping from its right side where the splinters had exploded into it.

Its large canines and open mouth that was dripping with saliva spelt all but certain death.

It was less than a meter away when it opened its mouth to tear him to pieces, when his vision was covered in red.

The bears entire head had disappeared. Blown to smithereens by an arrow. Its heavy body collapsed with a large thud.

He weakly looked to the side. All Amind saw before he blacked out from the blood loss was a human silhouette.