A WEEK LATER

A sound sleep brought Ikaris flashes of memories.

A woman caressing his face.

A little girl following him around, projecting fantastic stories in empty air.

Dancing and ancient songs that called out to him.

Mechanic images floating around a large, black man.

There were more but Ikaris could not remember them as he shot up from the ground. Had he jumped a bit higher, the shelter would have been ruined, but thankfully, the nightmare, this time, wasn’t so severe.

As for why Ikaris called it a nightmare – being unable to remember who he was is a very terrifying prospect, especially since he expected the condition to continue indefinitely. But on the flip side, Ikaris also saw it as an experiment to re-learn what was forgotten.

Still, Ikaris awakened just as irritated as he went to sleep.

Thankfully, the shelter had done its job of keeping the rain at bay, but the fire was unable to persist through the erratic weather. Ikaris grabbed a fish off the makeshift grill and started to much with gusto despite the fish being soaked by the rain.

If anything, he considered it a healthy meal and liquid at the same time.

Over the past week, Ikaris had made steady progress establishing his camp, but everything was turning monotonous as the days passed by – he was sinking into a predictable pattern that felt awfully uncomfortable.

Starting fires, going fishing, taking baths at the river, boiling water, maintaining the area around the tent, setting traps for small game, and exploring to see what was ahead. The exploration was the best part, and by now, Ikaris was somewhat confident in a specific direction.

All that kept him at the current site was… fear?

Maybe, it was more accurate to say that he was concerned about making it out in the world without a single ability to speak of. Sure, the last week had brought leaps in his combat ability, but Ikaris was sure he was capable of much more.

Sometimes, he could feel the Cosmic Energy bubbling beneath the surface, but try as he may – and Ikaris definitely tried very hard – he was not able to master even a little of the energy.

Yet, Ikaris’ physique was gradually increasing in effectiveness.

-----------------------

Ikaris’ eyes traced over the river below as he mentally calculated the trajectory his harpoon would have to conquer.

‘A shot would be impossible from this location. I have to be closer.’

Dozens of fish had been safely swimming near the rocky ridge, confident the covering would shield them from the harder land predators… and it worked. This was hardly Ikaris’ first time hunting this specific group of fishes, but he never could corner them long enough to get a good haul.

Sometimes, his impeccable aim would fail him.

Other times, the currents would shift, allowing the fishes to complete the journey upriver a day sooner.

Most of the time, it was just one bad-lucked scenario after another.

Hence the name Ikaris chose for the area – The Unluckiness River. But today had to be the day given that Ikaris had decided to store as much food as possible to make his way back up the river to civilization.

Of course, the Eternal needed enough food stocked.

Ikaris was almost entirely sure the bridge was not so far away, but he was never one to gamble, especially not in this extremely weakened state that had befallen him. The game of cat and mouse came to a standstill as Eternal waited for the perfect moment to strike.

But as it turned out, he had waited a bit too long.

It was a situation of the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole coming from behind.

CRACK

Ikaris heard the loud crack of a stick he had strategically placed as a warning system, and without even bothering to glance back, he dove forward, into the river he had been examining for over an hour.

Such an action startled the fishes away, but Ikaris could care less at the moment. His arms ached as they scraped between two rocks too thin for him to pass through without perfect precision.

This was an escape plan worked out a few days ago so the practical experience for the experience was still pending. Actually, Ikaris considered the operation a success anyway. He wormed between the two rocks and secured himself a bit under the water.

SPLASH

SPLASH

From the corner of his eye, Ikaris could see what was unmistakably the brown paw of a bear slowly cutting through the water. And of course – unlike Ikaris and his hours of waiting – the fishes were all far too excited to wait for their turns at leaping into the bear’s mouth.

Seconds turned to minutes, and Ikaris could feel his lungs demanding air – five minutes was the maximum duration he could manage before being forced to go to war with a bear.

Something told the Eternal his chances of winning were nearly nill.

The bear patrolled the river once or twice, stepping infinitely close to Ikaris a couple of times – nearly stepping on the Eternal’s head more than once, but with minute movements to not disturb the water above, Ikaris somehow survived.

A couple more seconds and the bear departed.

SPLASH

Ikaris shot out of the river, and - in a blur of speed, he didn’t know he could yet manage – the Eternal speared the five nearest fishes, and darted out of the river and into the forest before the bear could make its glorious 770 lb. return.

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“That was a close one, wasn’t it, Goose2?” Ikaris looked to the trees and sure enough, a newly born - but incredibly agile - cat leaped onto his right shoulder.

That was, of course, Goose2 – Ikaris’ friend of exactly three days; though, their friendship was not very cemented as yet, given Goose2 tended to run for the trees instead of warning Ikaris about the incoming danger.

“You could have warned me.”

MEOW

“What do you mean you knew I had it?”

MEOW – MEOW -

“I dinna ken? You dinna ken?” Ikaris rolled his eyes, swatting the cat onto the ground. “That’s not how you use dinna ken. You can’t use it when you know the answer to something.”

MEOW – MEOW - MEOW – MEOW

Ikaris covered his ears as goose2 cursed endlessly.

The cat had a pension for the dramatic, and Ikaris would be lying if he said he didn’t appreciate the entertainment these days.

Still, sentient friends would be best – at least, the talking kind.

Ikaris cut through the dense vegetation section of the forest, searching for fruits that didn’t tend to grow in places with such sparse trees, but moss was also an edible food source, and there should have been an abundance of mushrooms, ripe for the picking.

“I think we’re here.”

He glanced at the markings made on the nearby tree trunk the day before. Something instantly seemed off about the place, but it wasn’t anything Ikaris could determine at first glance.

“The feel… no!” Ikaris frowned and brushed his fingers on the trunk and brought it to his nose. “The smell is definitely thicker as if –”

He froze and turned around slowly, leaving unsaid that it was as if a predator had now marked this area as its main territory. In hindsight, Ikaris should have noticed long before he made it to the location, but Goose2 was an entertaining and distracting cat.

And obviously not very loyal since Ikaris could see the cat’s behind skittering up a tree, disappearing between leaves.

“No loyalty in the world anymore, huh?”

The Eternal made careful steps away from the tree, eyes darting from one shrub to the other, wondering which would make for the better escape, but escape was no longer an option by the time he decided to think about it.

GRRRRR

GRRRRR

GRRRRR

GRRRRR

GRRRRR

Had there been maybe one or two growls, maybe even tree, Ikaris would have liked his chance with an Eternal’s physique, but when he heard more than a dozen simultaneous growls, he knew it was time to run.

But he wasn’t as fast as he once was, and Ikaris knew that.

“Good doggies?”

A thick Scottish accent and a weak smile on the Eternal’s face made the pack of wolves decide exactly what he was – walking nutrition.

Ikaris burst into a sprint, but he barely made it a few steps before teeth sunk into his ankle, but an Eternal – even as severely weakened as he was – could not be mistaken for a defenseless human.

A quick role and pivot and Ikaris had the first wolf’s head in a vice-like grip, and all it took was a slight jerk in his hips to break the creature’s neck. Sadly, using that opportunity, two more wolves latched onto Ikaris’ shoulder, pinning him to the ground as more pounced.

“ARGH!”

Ikaris thrashed and squirmed but the teeth didn’t let his flesh go free so the Eternal mustered all the strength in his body to rise, hugging the wolves who hung so feverishly to his flesh and dashed forward into a tree.

BANG

URF – URF – URF – URF

CRACK

The tree splintered, Ikaris was free, albeit injured to an unknown degree, and some of the wolves were nursing their wounds, backing away from the stumbling Eternals, but others chose that exact opportunity to attack.

BANG

BANG

BANG

Ikaris clashed with three uninjured wolves, limping away the entire time. He could feel the fracture in his leg healing already, but it definitely wasn’t healing as fast as he would have liked it.

BANG

Ikaris slammed his first into a wolf’s jaw, shattering it.

BANG

A chunk of The Eternal’s back was mauled.

BANG

Ikaris ripped the tongue from a wolf, but it came at the cost of his pinky finger.

BANG

The battle continued until there was nowhere else to go but down, and Ikaris didn’t like his chances of making a twenty-foot jump to the other side of the gap. Not that he even had the chance to when a wolf leaped onto his back, followed by five others.

All the unexpectedly added weight forced Ikaris and his attackers over the edge.

WHOOOOOOSH

There was a split second of falling until Ikaris realized it was the end and reacted accordingly. Time slowed in his perception and he could barely glimpse a protruding surface from the corner of his eyes.

It was a bit of hope… but a bit was all he needed.

Gravitons surged, Ikaris pulled with golden Cosmic Energy, and the next instant, the falling stilled for just a second or two, even the wolves floated in the air next to Ikaris. Then came the surge towards the ledge in the mountain.

BOOOOOOOOM

Ikaris shot onto the ledge, rolling and rolling until he smashed into the mountain’s wall. Clearly, he had no control beyond rousing the Gravitons into an active state. Several of the wolves, who weren’t lucky enough to control their trajectories, went splat into the mountain’s wall.

But two wolves were lucky enough.

The two largest wolves rolled onto the ledge next to Ikaris, and unlike the crawling Eternal, they didn’t seem as injured and were eager to fight to capture a meal capable of making up for the energy they had lost thus far.

GRRRRRRR

GRRRRRRR

Ikaris propped himself up, back against the mountain’s wall as he eyes his two opponents. At this point, there was nothing left to do but submit… at least, that was his train of thought until an image flashed in the depths of his mind.

In actuality, it was three images: heat, light, and force.

He didn’t know how, he didn’t know why, but the moment Ikaris saw the images, he understood… at least to a small degree, some part of him innately understood what information was being conveyed.

GRRRRRRR

GRRRRRRR

The wolves attacked and Ikaris spread his fingers and rammed his arms down the creatures’ throats. Instead of losing a finger this time around, something else happened. At a glance, it was clear the wolves were uncomfortable, but it wasn’t until orange sparks exploded out of their eyeballs did it become apparent what was happening.

Ikaris channeled what little Cosmic Energy he could into the tips of his fingers and converted the energy to heat – something he wasn’t aware he could do. The heat was intense enough to burn a hole through the stomach of the wolves.

His hands blistered under the strain of the Cosmic Energy conversion, but Ikaris had a small smile on his badly beaten face. After all, now he knew that his Cosmic Energy could be converted into three types of energy – the heat of a max of ten thousand degrees, the light of varying luminosity, and force rivaling a head-on collision with a train.

QQQRRRRRRTTTTTTT

QQQRRRRRRTTTTTTT

The heat on Ikaris’ fingers whizzed out with a final burst of heat, and he recovered his burned and bloodied hands from the throats of his would-be killers. The corpses of the creatures plopped to the ground, a distinguishingly thick scent of burnt flesh permeating the small ledge.

As for the first thing that came to Ikaris’ mind after kicking away the corpses of the wolves…

“Hot dog…” The Eternal joked. “I cooked wolves so it can be considered making Hot Dogs.” And then, Ikaris passed into unconsciousness as the injuries he received during the battle required more mental resources to address.

-----------------------

A WEEK LATER

It took a week for Ikaris’ injuries to heal, and by then, the ledge where his body slept had already begun to chip away with the constant bullet-like rain. Ikaris was somewhat aware of what was happening around him during the entire week, but it was a sort of half-conscious state.

It felt like a dream where you didn’t get to sleep too deeply.

And as the days passed, Ikaris was releasing that he was becoming more and more aware of the small things – things that should be permanent. Most humans tended to follow the motions of objects, but The Eternal found himself more appreciative of things that didn’t move too much.

“Woah!”

Ikaris pushed a layer of dirt aside, re-tied the bit of clothing left on his person, and launched himself to his feet, feeling a healthier and more capable physique than he had before sinking into a week-long slumber.

Wounds were healed, his mentality was back in order, and there were no stalking predators around… at least, none Ikaris could detect. Everything was looking up for the Young Eternal.

“This looks like a win to me.”

MEOW

No sooner did those words leave The Eternal’s mouth, than Goose2 also landed on the ledge and tipped the foundations into a state of crumbling. The ground beneath Ikaris’ feet gave way to the hundred-foot fall into the streaming currents below.

Ikaris tried and failed to rouse the Gravitons to his defense, but it seemed – this time around – that training was required to master his abilities.

WHOOOSH

Just as he hit the water, about to be swallowed by the currents, Ikaris shot a dirty look at Goose2, who was also falling to her doom, but something unexpected happen – something that terrified the Eternal to his core.

Goose2 opened her mouth and some tentacled monstrosity blossomed from inside her, and before Ikaris could even pay to drown peacefully, he was already being wrapped by the tentacles and pulled into the depths of the darkness of his friend’s stomach.

This was a clear betrayal.