Alex started systematically combing the jungle, making mental notes about everything he came across. While Alex knew that he should aim low and just try to find something basic like a squirrel to bait the trap, his desire to adventure overpowered his need for a quick lunch.
He spent roughly two hours combing through the forest, having failed to spot any potential game. He was surprised, as he was on the lookout for things like bitten leaves, or droppings. However it seemed that the area around the clearing was relatively barren, and he decided to begin heading deeper into the forest, in the direction of one of the distant mountains.
As he progressed, he noted his surroundings gradually changing, and he had to significantly reduce his pace, as the underbrush thickened and the prevalence of roots and obstructions decreased substantially. While more sparse, the trees were larger, and some were so thick at the base that Alex estimated he'd need three of himself linking hands to wrap around its trunk.
As he noted a few instances of animal droppings, as well as what looked like well worn paths, Alex significantly reduced his pace. Being quiet and alert was the only way he was going to prevent being ambushed. He was quickly finding that walking quietly through a forest was an artform, you had to identify things like particularly dry leaves, twigs, and the like.
His spear kept getting caught on branches and underbrush, so he ended up holding it in his hand and using it as a walking stick. Even his gate changed slightly, and he found himself coming down more towards the front of his foot, instead of the heel first striking he'd previously adopted.
Eventually, roughly 5km east of the village, Alex stumbled on a small pond, no more than 150m in diameter. It was fed by a small gurgling stream that appeared to bubble up from an underground cavern, giving the pond a particularly lovely ambience.
Taking care to approach the pond from downwind, he came to the pond, and quietly began scouting out the area.
'I've seen almost no sources of water in the area, only a few stagnant puddles, so this area should be well frequented by both predators and prey alike.'
'This is an excellent opportunity to learn more about the surrounding wildlife, as well as who my potential enemies are.'
'What am I going to do about my smell though? I have to be relatively close to stay in eyesight.'
Taking advantage of the fact that the pond was currently unoccupied, he walked about 200m away and took off his clothes, leaving them on a tree.
'These are getting seriously gross, my shirt and pants are torn from my fight with that dinosaur chicken, and they're covered in dried blood.'
'A problem for another time.'
Alex then returned to the lake, and reaching down to the riverbed, he began to coat himself in mud, hoping that it would go a ways towards masking his scent, as well as camouflaging him somewhat. Anything was better than his now bloodstained white t-shirt and jeans.
Circling the pond carefully, he noted an area where the moss and lichen on the ground were well worn, and the ferns and undergrowth looked heavily disturbed.
'I'll bet that this is THE spot.'
Glancing around, Alex managed to locate the ideal tree nearby. Holding his muddy arm up to the tree, he smiled, pleased with his disguise. Spear still looped over his back he began his climb up the tree, hopping from branch to branch, and occasionally using his dagger to help get a grip. He chose a spot 3 meters off the ground to help better conceal his presence.
'Hopefully nothing can smell me.'
Now began the waiting game. Alex closed his eyes and began contemplating, dwelling on his current predicament.
'I could be on some obscure corner of Earth, where someone is running some mad science experiment and resurrecting dinosaurs.
However, seeing as it seems like I basically got teleported here, I don't think there's any reason this has to be Earth at all, I could easily be on a different planet.
Unfortunately I'm illiterate in astronomy, so it's not like I can look at the night sky and figure it out. Karmic punishment for taking filler courses in my electives I guess.
Though the gravity, sun, moon, oxygen levels, temperature and number of hours in every day are all in line with Earth from what I can tell, so who knows. Moon seems a little off, but I'm not exactly in the right state of mind.'
While waiting Alex started focusing on the small amounts of water in his environment. Leaning back against the trunk of the tree, Alex tried to sense the water within the tree. As he bored his imaginary senses through the wood, he began feeling like he could sense something similar to water. Where the water was heavy and viscous, the tree sap was rather different.
'It's almost sticky, and it has this strange energy and vibration to it.'
Alex crept out along the tree branch and picked one of the leaves off the tree, and traced his thumb along one of the veins in the leaf. Alex noted the same sensation as he could feel from the tree, though far less muted, as he could basically touch the sap in the veins.
'Developing a sixth sense is difficult.'
Alex continued practicing for another hour, focusing on the tree sap within the trunk behind him, and seeing if he could map out the sap in the branch below him.
The sun was reaching his peak, and he figured that now was the prime time for any animals to come out to the watering hole for a drink. The heat was getting quite aggressive, and Alex estimated that it was getting up to around 33 degrees, though the cooling mud made it quite hard to tell.
'I sure hope mud is good for your skin.'
About 15 minutes after the sun peaked, Alex noted some rustling in the woods, and he opened his eyes. Meandering lazily out of the bushes was a small bear like creature, it didn't seem to care at all about hiding its presence.
While looking quite a bit like a bear from its face, jaw and paws, it was somewhat smaller, and was more lithe and sleek, more akin to a member of the mink family. It looked to come in at about a meter and a half long, and probably stood about two feet high. Alex noted its large claws and bulky body.
Curious Alex watched on. Completely blowing past his expectations, instead of stopping by the pond for a drink, the bear lowered its body into the water and started swimming around, letting out happy sounding chirps.
'Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks a swim is a great way to cool down.'
The bear continued swimming around in the pond, occasionally giving its body a cute twirl in the water, making it look like a fat little torpedo. After watching the creature for 10 minutes, Alex once again closed his eyes, continuing to focus on his training.
After practicing his eyes for 5 minutes, Alex heard another sound get added along with the burbling of the stream, it was a weird hissing spray, like a water jet. Alex peeked an eye open, only to see the creature lying on its back in the lake, limbs splayed to the sides like a starfish. From its mouth shot a jet of water as it created its own jet of water, creating a fine mist.
With the sun beaming down through the gaps in the trees, creating several vibrant golden rays, and the mist, a rainbow formed over the pond, creating an incredibly picturesque scene.
Alex's jaw opened with shock, his eyes bulging.
'Are you a fucking disney princess?'
'I'm fighting for my fucking life over here, covering myself in mud, just to avoid anyone smelling me, and you're creating rainbows.'
'Is this a joke?'
Alex's grip tightened on his spear, bloodlust rising.
'All cute things must be destroyed.'
'I'm going to puke.'
As if deciding it had taunted Alex enough, the bear creature then began slowly making its way out of the pond. Right on cue, as the creature left the water, out of the bushes, on the other side of the lake appeared three murder chickens.
'Seems I'm not the only one that hates your guts.'
'Or maybe you've charmed them, O Princess.'
Watching the creatures circle the lake behind the creature, Alex awaited the incoming conflict with maniacal glee. He expected that the bear creature would put up a decent fight and win, given its size advantage. As he was watching the creatures close in on the bear, he had another thought.
'These things sometimes hunt in packs?'
'That's creepy as hell.'
Finally, the creatures got within striking distance, and one of the murder chickens began leaning back on its haunches preparing to pounce. The bear made no indication of noticing them, as it continued its lazy walk away from the pond.
'Guess me and the chickens agree on some. The bears got to g-'
Before Alex could finish his thought, a shocking scene greeted his eyes. The first chicken to pounce behind the bear, had immediately been met with an incredibly fast swipe of the bear's tail. So fast that Alex couldn't even track it with his eyes, one second its tail was in one position, the next it was coiled around the bear.
The chicken accelerated as if shot from a rifle, flying across the lake and colliding with a tree, whereby the chicken exploded, vanishing into what could only be described as pink mist.
Alex's ears were immediately met with two loud bangs that almost overlapped, the first coming from the impact of the creature's tail with the chicken, and the second from the chicken against the tree.
Following almost immediately after the chicken hit the tree, was a weak shockwave which stuck Alex, shaking him slightly.
The murder chicken had not exploded by magic or any special ability, simply by unfathomable amounts of kinetic energy.
'Holy fuck.'
'That's not a disney princess, that's a demon.'
'First it looks all cute, and lures them in, and then it obliterates them. Almost like it's too lazy to bother hunting them itself.'
'I can't believe I even considered fighting that.'
Shivering, Alex returned his eyes to the fight - if it was even worthy of being called that. The bear creature, seeming to have had enough of the antics of the remaining two chickens, flicked its tail at one of the other chickens, vaporizing it just like its predecessor. The bear then pounced on the remaining chicken, biting the chicken in half.
The bear then promptly swallowed the remaining bits of the chosen chicken, and proceeded to continue slowly meandering away into the forest.
'I don't believe I've ever witnessed a massacre of similar proportions.'
'At least when I go after fly's with a flyswatter they have a decent chance of getting out of it alive.'
'I guess it's earlier nonchalance makes sense. Only the ignorant would dare to hunt that thing.'
'I dub thee demon bear.'