Daniel ripped the crocodile's other arm, legs & tail, effectively turning it into a punching bag.
Daniel had flashbacks from the previous night's massacre, his eyes glazing over as the memories moved to the forefront of his mind's eye.
The children getting eaten and ripped apart, and the adults using every last bit of their strength to fight back as they desperately attempted to save their families.
It was all a fruitless endeavor, the beasts were stronger than them many times over. Survival was nil the moment they were sieged by thousands of beasts, as they were easily overwhelmed by their sheer numbers.
The massacre was bloody, even the coldest of people would feel a semblance of emotion in those moments. These memories... These haunting memories drove Daniel into a rageful vengeance, his heart completely engulfed in the flames of rage, which could never be put out.
He pummeled the meat bag till it was turned into mush, its horrid death not even close enough to satiate the rage in his heart.
'I... Will... AVENGE YOU ALL!!!' His mind screamed.
"ROARR" A gut-wrenching roar came from Daniel's throat, erupting forth with overwhelming emotion, its ferocity stronger than before!
He jumped to the left, where a lone dark-brown gorilla was watching the events unfold.
His mind quickly returning to when the village was attacked, many of these gorillas lead the charge. The only obvious connection to that event is Daniel's escape from their encirclement.
Or were those the Apes? Well it doesn't matter, he only sees red right now.
When Daniel landed, the gorilla was shocked, it immediately tried to turn around in order to run, but Daniel grabbed it by its skin firmly.
Daniel turned the gorilla around and stared into its eyes. Silently. Deadly.
The various emotions in Daniel's eyes were bare, whether the gorilla understood or not it was a different matter altogether, for all it felt was fear.
'Danger..' It gripped the hand that held it up in the air in an attempt to shake it off while that single thought ran through its mind.
Daniel grabbed its neck with his other arm. Squeezing shut its ability to breathe, causing the gorilla to panic.
With his other hand, Daniel smashed its chest, puncturing the skin, muscles, and ribs, firmly grasping its heart.
Daniel's mind no longer acknowledged these insane actions. His emotions drove his every thought.
He squeezed, rupturing the pulsating heart. The ape froze in shock, the pain & feeling of suffocation seizing its every thought.
Daniel threw the corpse to the side, his breath filled with hatred.
There were various other beasts around and thus Daniel massacred them for hours. Leaving behind hundreds of corpses, with none left intact.
Somehow he still managed to move west slowly but surely.
When night fell, his body could no longer sustain its rage, with it soon dissipating into nothingness, leaving Daniel dazed for a moment.
'So... Tired..' Having vented all of his previous emotions, he continued to weakly walk west.
The ordinary beasts scattered as soon as Daniel walked by, the stench of death that stained his armor being the main culprit for their fear.
Daniel walked all night, barely conscious due to the rageful fit. It now seemed like, despite its inherent ability to strengthen him by ten times, its drawback was just as severe. Robbing him of all his strength & leaving his mind incredibly taxed.
Like how runners feel after a marathon, or chess players after a cutthroat match.
He collapsed as dawn approached, his body too sapped of strength to continue.
...
Sometime later, footsteps resounded near his body, along with the chatter of humans.
"-know if it still stands?" A young male voice spoke, and their language was completely different from that of modern English.
"I didn't even know there was one so far out. It's dangerously close to the territories of those beasts." A soft but monotone voice spoke up in heavy judgment towards those mentioned.
"This time the beast raids were many times more ferocious, and several of the outward villages fell. But this one had a retired Mystic as its chief so surely it must've stood strong." An older male voice replied, the others keeping quiet as he spoke, his voice holding some hope.
"Even then, he was just an initiate. As far as I know, low-ranking Mystics could only bless others, right?" The young male spoke up again, his voice holding curiosity, seeking affirmation.
Their footsteps were nearing Daniel's unconscious body.
"They can, but when you become a village chief that blessing turns into something more profound. I'm not very high up in rank to gain access to that sort of information, but at least I know this much." The older male spoke once more, replying to the other's comment.
"Hold it." The older male commanded in a steady & authoritative voice.
The others brought their shields & long spears out, flanking the male and squatting into a defensive position.
"I smell blood. Large amounts of it. Everyone, keep alert. Move forward cautiously, we'll be using the Yellow Zone Protocol." The older male took command.
The others kept quiet as they followed the orders.
As they vigilantly walked east, they stumbled upon Daniel's body, his blood-stained black armor and the silver inscriptions a stark contrast to the green & light brown of the jungle, even with the minimal light from the rising twins above.
"Set a perimeter and return in fifteen if you don't find anything." The older male spoke with authority.
The other two slowly patrolled the immediate area around them while the older male checked Daniel's vitals. Daniel's body twitched as it sensed something near it.
After fifteen minutes they returned.
"Ordinary animals surround us, although the smell of blood thickens heading east. Signs of conflict also emerge after fifteen meters in the same direction, do you think it's his doing?." The younger male spoke.
"And the smell of variants is very faint." The other voice added.
The Older Male took a moment to think about their statements, including the other's suspicion.
"Well done. He's exhausted and has minor bruising, and a few healed lacerations, but he reeks of blood. It seems he was invol-" The older male was interrupted by a whoosh.
Daniel abruptly opened his eyes, sensing something near him. While laying flat on his back he pulled his legs towards his head, & with the force of a bent iron rod, he threw an uppercut, his feet supporting the action.
The leader was stunned by the ingenious movement & was barely able to move his head back enough to avoid the hit.
*Whoosh*
The other two heard the air splitting faintly. They reacted a second later, pulling their shields up & pointing their spears at the human.
"Carl. Saya. Hold it!" The leader spoke harshly after retreating a few steps, his hands extended out as a sign of cautiousness.
Daniel's heart was beating quickly when he finally recognized the three figures as humans.
'Oh shit, there goes a friendly encounter. I thought they were apes.' Daniel realized his swords, bow & quiver were still on him so he put his hands on the hilts.
He felt weak and tired but couldn't afford to give in to his body's complaints.
'The humans could be a threat.' He assumed the worst-case scenario.
The leader stood up slowly, not wanting to startle Daniel into action.
"Put your weapons down you two." The leader spoke to his other squadmates.
"Rich. He attacked you!" Carl spoke in a shaky voice, hinting at the nervousness & fear instilled into him by that demonstration.
"He's confused, Carl. Stand down. That's an order!" Rich spoke with increasing severity.
Sara pulled back her spear, its tip pointing upwards, Carl following soon after.
Daniel saw the brief squabble between them & realized they might be friendlies, or have internal issues. 'They don't speak English... Damn it, this is going to be difficult.' Making them enemies would do him no good, so he promptly removed his hands from the twin sword's hilts.
The tension gave way to awkwardness.
*Cough * Cough* " What's your name?" Rich asked politely.
Of course, Daniel couldn't understand anything he said, but based on the little details figuring out it was a question wasn't difficult.
'Must be asking for my name.' Daniel smiled lethargically in greeting & spoke.
"Daniel" while patting his chest, to provide some context.
"Daniel. That's a weird name isn't it?" Rich replied.
"Maybe it's in a local dialect?" Carl added.
"Do you guys know where the nearest village is? Or city? Do you have those?" Daniel asked.
They all froze while looking at him.
"He doesn't speak Illuminean, & it doesn't sound like Noxean or Suumish," Carl spoke first.
"How are we gonna communicate then?" Saya added softly.
Daniel noticed them talking in gibberish with puzzled faces & realized they understood the language barrier.
'What's the best way to communicate without words?' Daniel thought about the problem when suddenly. 'A picture holds a thousand words' Daniel's eyes lit up.
'Of course, pictures! I'll draw!' As he looked around for a twig or stick, he had no luck.
'I'll just use one of my swords.' Daniel reached over to his sword slowly.
The three soldiers watched him cautiously, Carl's hand twitching against the urge to ready his spear.
"He's not a threat right now. He's making his action slow, indicating he's not hostile." Rich spoke.
"Are you sure?" Saya asked for good measure.
"Yes," Rich replied with seriousness.
As Daniel finally unsheathed his sword he stabbed it into the ground gently, soon drawing on the ground.
Rich, Carl & Saya waited patiently.
"Oh, He's drawing in order to communicate! Genius!" Carl mumbled to himself.
As the drawing was finished, they were able to put all of it together.
With an arrow pointing east Daniel drew a village burning, with beasts attacking. Another arrow was pointing to the west, and several of the village pictures were scattered with question marks.
The three soldiers wore puzzled expressions; "Is he asking if there are more villages?" Carl was the first to speak out with a puzzled tone of voice.
"Well, he doesn't speak any known language & also came from the village we were headed towards. Meaning he's lost & probably encountered the village getting seized by the beast wave?" Saya spoke slowly, as she tried to piece context & circumstance together to interpret the drawing.
"Saya, I don't think you're wrong. I just don't understand how he got this high-quality armor if he's lost. I don't recognize those markings either." Carl added.
"First off, knucklehead. If you can't recognize his armor it means he is definitely lost. Anyways, we have an eyewitness report, we no longer need to visit the village." Rich spoke as he slapped the back of Carls' head.
"Let's take him back to base, there's a Mystic there with the communication blessing, he should be able to help our friend here," Carl suggested.
"Good thinking, how can we draw our intent?" Rich asked, curious to see what his squadmates could come up with.
"A bunch of soldiers escorting him to those villages he drew?" Carl suggested with excitement.
"But what if he interprets that as taking him hostage or against his will?" Saya mercilessly shot down the idea.
Carl drooped at the realization.
As they discussed, Daniel started drawing, totally not feeling like a decoration.
Rich did a double-take as he saw what was drawn.
A lone human with an arrow pointing towards three humans with an arrow pointing to four humans with an arrow pointing towards the villages.
"How about we ju-"
"Hey, no need to discuss it anymore. He wants to come with us." Rich interrupted one of Carl's inconclusive suggestions.
Carl pouted.
All three of them looked at the drawing, easily understanding the intention.
"Wow, he beat us to it. A smart one, isn't he?" Carl gestured with hurt feelings.
"Yes, yes. Let's head out, fortunately, we aren't too far from the village we're stationed at. He really did save us a couple of days of travel." Rich spoke with a bit of glee.
"He doesn't look like a soldier, so the fact that he came all the way from that village is amazing," Saya added in slight admiration.
'Is she choosing to ignore the blacked-out armor he's wearing? Or the blood that it's soaked in?' Carl thought to himself.
The three of them smiled at Daniel as they began to walk west.
'What a lucky encounter...' Daniel barely recalled the carnage caused by the immense rage and hatred he tried to bottle up.
'Can't believe my emotions got the best of me again..' Daniel mentally grumbled, remembering how far he probably was from his previous location.