"Damn, this dude is a lot more ripped than I initially thought. What kind of sh*t must he have gone through to have become dried up like that?" Jim muttered to himself as Wilson's body went through some highly needed transformation...(or is it restoration?)
Wilson's only winter coat was already ripped off by Jim and was replaced by another. It was the extra wolf-fur winter coat Jim had in his backpack. Jim looked at his bag and sighed with emotion as he thought of how much difficulty he went through before he could afford it. Space related items like bags, rings, bracelets, televisions, literally anything, were insanely expensive and for poor or financially average people like him, they were also rare and created big targets on the owner's backs.
Jim stopped to pick Wilson up and ran at a place that he believed would be best for long distances (you know, not too fast that one will be easily exhausted but not too slow, either). After all, the tiger might still decide to come for their asses.
**********
Wilson woke up with a groan.His head ached badly and so did his feet. Just not as much as before.
"Oh, you're awake. That's early, that's good. You know, from today henceforth, you owe me your life right?" Jim said to Wilson's hearing.
Wilson turned around and saw Jim crouching and warming his hands by the other side of the fire.
"What??"
"I risked my life to save your life, so you owe your life." Jim said with a 'matter of fact' look.
"Oh!" Wilson said. He could not come up with anything to refute that. After all, he knew he should have died by now, but he was feeling fine for the most part, had a new, fuzzier, much warmer coat on. And the cold, oh the cold...
"Jim is my name, what's yours?" Jim started the introduction.
"Wil..Wilson. Thanks for saving my life. I owe you." Wilson responded.
"Obviously! What were you doing in the middle of nowhere with no shoes, no properties and a badly torn up winter coat?" Jim had been willing to ask for a long time. The curiosity was killing him.
Wilson sighed and sadly shook his head.
"Baboons?" Jim asked. He was actually making a wild guess but he also sighed with emotion when Wilson nodded.
"You lost your shoes when you were being chased?" Jim asked but it sounded a little like a statement, so Wilson just shrugged and sighed like an old man. He sat up and moved closer to the fire to heat himself up. The cold winter was too unforgiving. At least, it was not snowing anymore.
"So, tell me, where are you going?"
"I don't know!" Wilson answered.
"Oh? How about we move together. I am going to Tiger City."
"Tiger City?"
"Yes. Tiger City."
"Where is that?" Wilson asked.
Jim laughed bitterly. "I have no idea! My watch is dead and I have no other way to know where I'm at."
Wilson looked at him for a while and then shook his head. Seems like they were in the same shoes. Two independent young men lost in the wild, during winter. Such a pity!
There was silence for a while, with only the crackling fire and the frequent cold wind that threatened to kill the fire every time it blew to keep them company. When Jim could not take it anymore, he put his hand to his stomach and asked.
"Do you know how to hunt?" Jim asked. "I am hungry but there does not seem to be a f*cking edible thing in sight." In truth, Jim could have just taken out of the food supplies in his bag but he did not want a stranger to know he owned a space-related item. Who knew what this fine young man beside him would do if he knew a storage bag was right beside him. Too risky.
"I can only hunt what I see. No beast, no meal." Wilson answered after some time of looking around. Jim cursed out a mouthful of expletives in frustration, while Wilson watched him without saying a word.
Then, there was silence again. The firewood crackled and the wind blew and both young men warmed themselves by the fire, shivering but still protecting the fire when the wind got too windy. Jim glanced at Wilson from time to time. The silence was not comfortable from his perspective and his hungry stomach was only making it worse. So, he tried to start a conversation with his quiet, seemingly distant companion who was looking into the fire thoughtfully.
"Your ability. It's wind, right?" Jim asked.
"What?" Wilson said unconsciously before looking up
"Ability. Your ability...it is wind ability, isn't it?" Jim asked again.
"Why do you say so?" Wilson asked as his eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion.
"Relax. I am also a wind ability user, okay?" Jim quickly explained himself.
Wilson nodded and looked back in the fire for a short while before raising his head again.
"Can you explain to me the power system in details?" He asked Jim expectantly. Jim immediately had this incredulous look on his face.
"Hold up, you don't know the power system? Who the f*CK does not know about the power system? Like, isn't that the most normal thing to know? Even babies know this from their mother's protuded bellies. What part of the world could you have possibly come from to not know about the power system?" Jim asked on and on, spewing words laced with occassional expletives with a baffled look.
When Jim was finally calm, he noticed the quiet Wilson's look and even though, he still did not understand why Wilson would ask such a question, he decided to do his best to explain. After all, it was better than the silence.
"The power system is divided into two, majorly. There are Abilities and Magic Users. The ability users are people born with ability cells in them. These ability cells are what determines what kind of abilities they get; wind, fire lightening, sound, earth, metal, wood, plants and weapon control, speed, strength, enhanced brains-something...I don't remember what that something is....ummm... transformation, transmutation, shapeshifting, virtually anything you can think of. I can't really explain the science behind it but, as a human or beast, if you are born with even the slightest sign of ability cells, you have the chance to become an ability user. I say chance because even though most humans are born with ability cells, a certain minimum amount of cells are required before they can be awakened. Those with higher number of cells at birth will naturally have an advantage over those with lesser. There have been many instances of children's ability cells increasing naturally till the age of five as five years is the most popular and natural age of awakening for humans. Some awaken later and some earlier than normal.
If you don't reach the minimum threshold before your awakening age, that's not the end of the world.
Herbs and plants and even some specific beasts exist that can help one to increase ability cells even after the age of awakening. They are very rare and very expensive though, mostly because they are monopolised by the f*cking nobles. But then, nothing is stopping you from going to hunt for them yourself. That's why there are so many hunters and foragers.
Then, there are magic users. These ones are the people who deal with incantations and spells and talismans and the likes. They supposedly originate from ancient families and sects and secret magic schools and cults. They are very common because magic can be taught to anyone who has not awakened an ability. Oh, by the way, there are some very rare people who awaken more than one ability.
Anyway, any non-awakened can be taught magic. The problem is that most people don't have the innate talent for magic and end up learning nothing. Then, about half a century ago, the top magic and ability users all had a meeting and decided to enforce a law to restrict the access of the general public to magical techniques. Tsk, such f*ckers! As if there were any useful magical techniques available to the public in the first place." Jim began to curse at the people in question, who were obviously all nobles. Wilson looked on speechlessly, not sure how to react to Jim's constant curses at any and every thing that upset him.
"How do you know if you have awakened an ability?" Wilson asked.
"I don't know, man. You just kinda know. F*CK, don't tell me you don't know if you awakened or not..." Jim said. That incredulous look appeared back on his face.
Wilson simply stared on, not knowing of it was a good idea to mention that some crazy revolutionaries bastards had tried to check for ability cells but found nothing.
"I think you might have. After all, that speed at which you were moving earlier was really something exceptional. But, like f*cking seriously, where the f*ck did you originate from, to not know common sense sh*t like this? Did you transmigrate here or sh*t? F*CK man, I am amazed as f*ck!"