Act: 20
He wobbled around resting both hands on his knees before standing up. Around him was pitch black and his vision had seemed somewhat blurry until a white light flared on the edges of his eyes and lit up his surroundings. The exact same flow of energy as before.
"!!!"
Once fully awoken from his sleep inertia, a shocking feeling sprung down his entire spine after seeing the pool of blood and the bodies of two dead bears.
*Grumble...*
Although the same feeling of hunger came back to Shizu when his stomach reminded him of its loud grumble. Not eating for quite some time and unaware of how long he's been out.
"My tummy hurts... And this would be the closest source of food I have. Without my materials, I don't even think I will be able to start a fire..."
Walking closer to the bodies, the aroma coming from them became much stronger. Little wet taps were heard underneath his shoes from walking onto the blood.
"Raw... This one right here seems to be missing an arm... From what though...? And over next to it, this one has a! Wow, that's a nasty hole in its chest. I wonder where its heart went...?"
Crouching next to the bear with the missing arm, Shizu lets out a dreadful inhale and exhale staring. With his pointer finger, he began spinning it around in the puddle of blood, putting that finger in his mouth. After a couple of seconds of pondering he let out an abrupt cough, almost choking on what he tasted.
"Pff! That tasted terrible! The sight and taste are way off the appealing charts...! The only sad thing is that these two bears are what's going to keep me functioning for who knows how long...? The blood will just have to do..."
Shizu, stuck with distraught started to eat at the bear viciously one body part at a time while leaving out some of the non-appealing parts to his assumption. The taste of the bear was bitter, salty, tough and like a sour mold, strong enough for him almost wanting to throw up for it being the first time he ate a raw animal which was a monster too. This all caused him to gag for quite a bit. His liquid substance, he had no choice but to drink the muddy blood on the ground which helped him get down pieces of meat that did not digest all the way.
Sometime after finishing eating the first bear down to the bone from his savage-like appetite, he had been looting it in the process and saved some valuables for later with his new makeshift bag. That was made of the bear's fur and other materials to temporarily help him, such as a knife he built from the strange crystals embedded in the wall. Dealing with the second bear who had the hole in its chest, Shizu took it apart piece by piece putting the spare meat in his bag for later if he ever got hungry again. An interesting thought had appeared in his head, curious about if he could repeat what he ended up doing with Mars but this time for the bear.
"Hmm, I think I should be able to do the same thing... Before I take the rest of its meat, I guess it could be worth a shot? Why not?"
Shizu placed his hand on its skull.
"Resurrection!"
A white light appears in the palm of his hand and then disappears.
"..."
"Huh...? That usually doesn't happen. I wonder why now? Let's try again."
"Resurrect-"
*Vzt*
An intense jolt of pain vibrated throughout his entire body, so bad that it made him tense up and drop to the ground squealing in pain.
"You've got to be kidding me... The time I would need my ability the most, I don't have enough energy for…? So, this must be what it's like when you overuse your star... And it's different for everybody- damn this one hurts."
Slowly standing back up Shizu looks at the bear and takes the remaining meat again, saving it for later.
"Well knowing that I'm out of energy, Mars won't be able to help me... Great!"
*Sigh*
Wandering about, he ends up getting further into the cave without realizing and the sounds of different creatures can be heard getting louder but so far away. The more he wandered the more lost he seemed to be. The cave was like some sort of maze that was meant to confuse people who were new to the area if that were the case? Off-track the cave was surprisingly deep and Shizu did his best to avoid any creatures that could try and attack him, not helping with his lack of strength recently.
Seeing the same thing for a while he noticed that the crystals in the wall changed and became a dark but bright reddish color that was spiraling around inside it. The air felt somewhat heavy like something resided somewhere with an intense presence. Not paying too much for it, he did his best to avoid whatever he felt and continued walking, not sure which route was right.
*Hop Hop*
Shizu turned around quickly after hearing that faint noise echo, only to see nothing behind him.
"Huh? Am I just hearing things or was that a sound of something hopping around...? Oh, whatever... I think...?"
Turning his head back in the original direction he was facing, he saw a tiny bunny standing in front of him looking up at him with its big, adorable eyes and fluffy black fur.
"Aww... you're so cute. Did you know I ate one of you? It is odd though you look way different from the kind of bunny I ate?"
Bending down on his knees he got closer to the bunny and reached his hand out attempting to pet it.
"Who knew normal animals could still be wandering around. Why are you in this scary cave, did you get lost, little guy?"
"..."
"Wait... How could I forget, I'm in this damn cave nothing about this place screams cute and fluffy animals… I may have messed up?!"
Shizu's nerves shot up with bits of sweat dripping from his face and palms. Restraining his hand from touching it after realizing, it had already been too late. The bunny's body began to change and grow, growing to at least 4' and its face started to change as if it came straight out of a horror movie. The teeth in its mouth became all sharp, fangs with its two front buck teeth and eyes changing from blue to blood red.
The bunny leaped forward while his arm had been reaching out, taking a chomp at his forearm with its two front teeth, once its teeth dug deep in his skin the sharp pain kicked Shizu back to his senses. Shaking rapidly, springing his arm back but because the teeth were already locked in his arm once he pulled at the bunny, it tore a chunk of skin and muscle out and in the process left a mini ball-sized hole in his arm with blood pouring out of it.
*Argh!*
Shizu grabbed his arm, dropping to the ground screaming in pain. Trying to stop the blood he quickly ripped off part of his shirt attempting to make a makeshift bandage while crawling backward-looking at the bunny with the piece of his arm in its jaw proceeding to chew it down.
"You Son of- Ugh! My arm burns like hell! I hope you choke on it. You piece of shit!"
Tightly wrapping the cloth around his arm, gathering a small amount of spit he fires it straight at the bunny, showing how upset he was from what it did. For some odd reason, though Shizu noticed something that caught his attention, it was the fact that while the bunny was chewing it appeared as if it wasn't editable. A few seconds later the bunny began to choke on the meat, spitting it out. Seeing it slightly chewed on the ground covered in saliva while also coughing at the same time.
"Ha! Looks like I don't taste too good. Huh! I wonder how you would taste instead!"
Using his left hand to sit himself back up halfway, he dashed at the bunny while it was wide open for attack. When he got up close to the bunny it looked back at him getting ready to jump but couldn't move for some reason after eating his flesh. Shizu opened his mouth wide, biting in its neck as hard as he could and jerking his head back pulling out a string of meat, chewing it, and then swallowing it. The blood began to pour out of the bunny causing it to fall and slowly bleed out.
Shizu's voice escalated as he got louder.
"Huh! How did that feel you stupid fucking bunny! Not so lively now hmm? Did you know that I'm sick and tired of getting pushed around right now and I would like to go back to my camp and rest, but no I'm stuck dealing with issues like you!"
Scavenging the dead bunny, he came across another shard engraved into its chest.
"Whatever. Resurrection!"
*Vzt, Nrmm*
Shizu's grunted as his body jolted once more like before, his body tensed up for a few seconds and returned to normal.
"Ugh! At this point, the pain is not bothering me right now. I'm far too irritated to worry about you and your shocks star! Plus, I should've known that would happen."
The crystal broke and he continued scavenging its dead body and collecting its meat for later. Moving forward again and holding his arm tightly. Heading further down or at this point, he could be going anywhere, he didn't know anymore the only thing on his mind was getting out of here.
'That presence... Ugh... It's getting stronger. Why I swore I was getting away from it!'
Shizu noticed something that was different: the area up ahead had a narrow pathway that was lit by an unknown blue light that seemed to get brighter the deeper it led. The presence he felt became 10 times stronger, interfering with all his senses.
"Do I seriously have to go ahead..."
*Rggrrr*
"The hell was that! Yeah, I had enough fighting for one day, and not to mention I don't have flesh to spare for everyone...! It's strange how that bunny acted...?"
Shizu squinted his eyes looking ahead and turned around running away after seeing multiple huge disfigured-looking shadows heading in his direction. He continued running in the darkness of the cave, hearing all sorts of noises, and hoping to get to a new area where he could hideout for a bit.
*...*
*Splash*
'Dim light? Wait... This isn't my night vision... Did I reach the surface!'
Running out of the hole he managed to exit the cave and get back to fresh air and the beauty of the moonlight. His face filled with reassurance.
"I'm free at last! And it's a great night!"
''..."
"I wonder if that area has been the source of this whole forest... Did I reach the end...? Maybe that's how I was able to get out?"
Going away from the cave he began to think to himself about everything that had just happened.
'This is just a theory, but I wonder if I was able to leave because I reached the end and turning around was a way of salvation but in exchange for entering again, I would have to hope I find my way, maybe I won't be so lucky to encounter little amounts of creatures...?'
Shizu shook his head in disbelief.
"Nah that can't be true, seems way too unordinary. I could just be overthinking it- but what I do know is that I got a huge number of resources and food to last me a long time. Back to camp, I go and never here again. I hope..."
Finding the trail back to his camp, he was shocked to see what awaited him.