Wham!
As the complacent, thunderous idiot I refer to as my father dropped a huge stone block, I looked in sheer astonishment--although hard to admit--at how physically capable he was. To think that humans of this planet could be so physically strong! He'd have even put the strongest men of my original world to shame.
Surrounding me was the destroyed house, all furniture and compliances being mixed together into the sea of rubble that I'd procured as a result of my awakening.
Spanning miles was green, lush forest, instilling upon me that we really were in the middle of nowhere, having a huge plot of land for the house but nothing new to see or touch for as far as the human eye can see.
I was situated on my mother's large, broad shoulders, just now coming to the realization of just how built she'd been.
I'm not sure if it's just my environment, but everyone I'd seen so far had been the home-world equivalent of bodybuilders, having insane amounts of muscle that I wasn't sure, until arriving here, was possible without the usage of some form of testosterone enhancements.
Excited of the implications, I swiftly reminded myself of why exactly Tristan had to clean up the surroundings of what was originally home.
"Well, that should do it. I believe that's everything that used to be Nash's room!" he roared, arousing both me and my mother's attention.
"Great work musclehead, but what exactly are we going to do about repairs?" Mom asserted in rebuttal.
Tristan's face dropped, all signs of pride dissipating, being replaced with his now solemn expression.
"Well, I just wanted to make the job easier for the repair team. You think there aren't protocols for this? This is average day-to-day for the Azrael man!" Tristan exclaimed, obviously referring to not only me, but himself as well, giving the impression that what I'd done was something to be proud of.
"That doesn't solve our problem though, does it? Where exactly will we sleep?"
As mother made her worries clear, Tristan had only a blank laugh as response.
She was right. In this world, the dangers of sleeping out on the open were far too great, and this was something even I'd understood.
For example, the technology of this world is far too simple, so if we were to contract something akin to an infection, it would be bad news as there's no room for cleanliness in the wilderness and it would wither down the affected individual, applying a burden to everyone else.
So, for Tristan to be this reckless, even I'd gotten a little angry as well.
Looking over to my left, I saw my mother, fuming at the seams. From a glance, you could tell she'd been driven over the edge with that remark.
Buckling under, mother's knees bent in preparation for a launch, and as her weight shifted to accommodate the sudden shift in position, I'd been hit with the blunt of the quick acceleration, my head jerking up in response.
As her teeth grit, I could sense the tension arise in a single instant as she'd clenched every muscle in her body to build up as much potential energy as she could.
As she coiled back like a spring, I was left in a daze as it all happened so fast, leaving me no time to recollect myself.
As all this happened in an instant, I hadn't even gotten a chance to speak before her next action was made. As swiftly as she'd prepared, she launched herself, becoming just a zip in the air hardly visible to the naked eye.
BOOM!
What followed was a thunderous slam as mother rushed over to punch him down to the ground, the shockwave reverberating before gravity befell me, creating a huge dust cloud as the rubble was atomized, leaving an imprint of a human body--almost cartoonishly--going through the ground by an unquantifiable length, leaving a 50 meter crater behind.
Just as I began to fall from the air, mother rushed back to catch me, whispering her apologies in my left ear and setting me down.
She slowly walked over to the imprint she'd created, irritation bubbling up from under, showing how angry this situation made her.
What a mess I've made...
For a minute or so, we'd just been standing there in silence, as if waiting for something to happen.
Then Tristan crawled up, the impact from the punch still imprinted on his right cheek.
With 4 knuckles attached to his face, he said, "well, we could always rush over to Demeter's house. My old pal is cooped up there."
Rubbing the visible discomfort of the punch away, he smiled at mother, laughing with 3 missing teeth.
In response, mother's hair flared up, resembling flames, before she raised her right fist and threatened another hit to the face.
Father winced in response, raising both hands and looking over to me as if I was to be expected to help.
"Go to the Demeters... are you crazy? Regardless of how close you think you are with them, they're still a rival family! You promised that when we had Nash, we would settle down." Mother looked down as she said this, regret obvious in her expression.
"Well, tell me what other option we have? Go into the town and reside with the plebeians where they may do as they please when we fall asleep? I'm sorry, but there was just no way I could've known our son would be a multi-generation talent, but you know, that's a good thing, so stop trying to act like it isn't!" Tristan retorted, annoyance starting to show.
As the back and forth between then began to escalate, I took my attention elsewhere, instead searching the environment.
Never before had I gotten the chance to observe what life was like outside the house, so it was the first time I'd really gotten to enjoy being outside.
As the argument between my parents reverberated in my head, I felt a sharp chill run across my neck as I'd come to the realization that of all this land, there would have to be infrastructure, or material of some kind that would serve use in providing shelter.
Mesmerized by the lush green not present in busy areas of my home land, I walked off, curious of where I'd find myself.
There couldn't be only trees around, right?
Trekking onward, I'd escaped the grasp of my parent's watch, entering the fractal, ever-repeating span of trees that seemed to have no end.
To ensure I didn't get lost, I would state landmarks that I could use as reference to position, such as a big rocking sitting on a tree, or a huge patch of mud that's hard to miss.
Looking to my left was a winged Caterpillar the size of a fist, struggling to carry it's own weight.
Curiously, I brought my arm forward, intrigue hitting the deepest parts of my soul.
When reaching out to grab it, it disappeared...
or at least, it seemed to until I looked down and noticed it was slithering on my leg.
"Gyaahhhh!" I yelled out, fight or flight driving me to kick it off, sending it flying into a tree.
Trying to forget, I moved onward, the desire to turn back only increasing.
The further I got, the more I realized how alienated I was from this world.
First, it was a 5-legged pig.
Then, it was a huge worm the size of a tree.
Last was a falcon as big as a person, hovering over me as I made my way further into the lush greenness.
What was weirdest was that as the distance I made increased, so too did the occurrence of weird, otherworldly beasts.
All this only served to reassure my understanding that this world was not my own, and that I've truly been sent to another realm.
Soon, the skies began to darker to a more somber shade of yellow, and I remembered that I technically ran away, so it would be best to return before they start spending the night searching for me.
But... which way is back?
As I looked around to attempt to recognize some faint sense of direction I could use to go back, I realized this entire place was homogeneous in structure.
Panic rising, I decided to think about this rationally and calm down.
Perhaps, if I climb a tree, I could see where I'm currently positioned and make my way back.
Although I'd never done anything like climbing before, this body was so small and nimble that it should've been able to latch on to the tree's bark and generate enough friction to keep my body from falling.
With this thought in mind, I put my left leg nearest tree, resolved in doing the first real physical trial of this world.
Gulping down a gallon of sweat, I put my opposing leg up and held on with all my strength.
First, I would move my hand a couple inches higher and--while hugging the tree--move my adjacent leg at the same time, making sure that I did it in small movements.
But the further up I went, the more confident I got in my ability to climb, so I took further steps, like using my chin to propel my body a little bit.
Repeating these movements for half a minute, my body soon grew tired and I knew that I would have to reach the top soon.
Going for it, I moved as fast as I could, gaining the same ground in 10 seconds as I did in 30.
Finally, I reached a big branch that I could rest on, and pouring all my remaining power, I jumped off the trunk and latched on, resting my body on the top of the branch.
Looking down, I learned just how high these trees are, but caught in the glory of my own achievement, I didn't care enough to wonder how exactly I would get back down.
I did it, I climbed a tree as tall as 50 meters!
Looking over to the right, I saw the destroyed house, almost a speck but still distinguishable.
'I sure went far, didn't I?'
As I made a mental note of the position of the rubble, I went to grab on to the trunk again, and as I started to make my way down, a big crashing sound could be heard.
Ka~thud!
It was surreal, but looking around, I noticed that the trees were growing bigger. That was, until I looked down and saw I was getting closer to the ground.
"Woahhh!" I yelled out, as the trunk I was latched onto began to fall down, me going with it.
As I'd finally approached the end of the freefall, I braced for impact, knowing that I'd die if I took the energy in the wrong spot.
In a desperate attempt to not get hurt, I rolled off just as the tree fell to the ground, hoping that some of the energy would be transferred to the ground.
As I patted around for broken bones, I felt a sharp jolt as I'd touched my ribcage.
Yikes, good luck explaining that to mom.
But, what caused such a big tree to fall down?
Looking to the right where the tree'd originally been, I heard even sharper sounds that were steadily approaching.
Kathud, kathud, kathud, kathud!
Almost like an automatic gun, it keep firing, and it wasn't until the dust cloud cleared from the tree I was just situated upon that I saw it.
With bright orange fur encapsulating its face, nostrils the size of New York City, fiery red fur covering it's main body. It had eight legs, all huge in proportion, and devil horns sprouting out right above each ear, it was letting out amounts of saliva I hadn't known was even possible, drooling with such intensity that I was sure you could prepare a pool.
It was with that thought that it spat at me, projecting a spit ball the size of a fist.
Barely managing to maneuver out of the way, I narrowly dodge by inches, and it hit the tree behind me.
Looking around, I noticed that every tree in sight had a hole drilled in it.
Wait, what?
Rubbing my eyes, I had to reassure myself that what I was seeing was reality.
No way, are you serious?
There was a hole blasted through them, not decreasing in size until about 25 trees in.
With just a spit ball, he has this much force?
With all this in consideration, only one thought came to mind, leaving me with just two words to express the predicament.
"I'm screwed."