Shiv woke to the sound of his stomach growling. And pain. Lots of pain all throughout his body. 'I kinda want to die.'
He blinked. He'd never thought something like that before. What had happened to him? Did that fight with Esmeralda and … Not Jaqueline… really phase him that much?
He shook his head. It didn't matter. He didn't actually want to die. He just wanted to be alone. Away from any overarching goals and people. He just wanted to do something simple and not think about things for awhile.
Ignoring the pain as best he could, he pulled a sandwich out of his inventory and devoured it. And then another… and another. When he was satiated, he took stock of his resources and grimaced. He had enough for two days. If he ate only enough to keep him alive. If he didn't have this celestial body, he'd have enough for a week, easy. But with great power came great hunger.
He had two options. He could use his powers to bring him to the surface and continue his journey by land, probably fighting flyenas and other creatures and people along the way, or he could create a long tunnel and hopefully avoid everyone long enough to reach more favorable ground. One not populated by flyenas.
"Easy choice." He muttered and placed his hands on the earth in front of him. He then felt rather than saw the tunnel grow before him. Without further ado, he began crawling.
He didn't know how much time was passing, but he knew his knees and hands were now hurting a lot, despite his godly body. All he could really do while he traveled was think. Think about who he was. What he had done. Why he had done it.
He was Shiv. He had killed, murdered and destroyed. He had done it so he could go home.
But now he didn't care to go home. His family had probably forgotten about him. His girlfriend had almost certainly moved on. His farm… Shiv knew his dad was taking care of his farm, but everything else… it was all gone. He knew that now. So what did that make him?
The answer wasn't readily forthcoming.
Two days later, soon after he finished eating the last of his supplies, Shiv encountered something he couldn't manipulate with his earth powers: roots. Massive roots of trees that had to be touching the skies.
Shiv smiled. He had finally made it to more favorable territory. He pushed the dirt aside above him and had the dirt below him lift him up till he was standing on the surface again. He looked around and found himself to be in the outskirts of a massive forest. One he hadn't seen before.
His rumbling stomach told him what his next course of action should be, so he set off deeper into the woods in search of something edible. He stopped when a familiar sound reached his ears and looked over his shoulder to see a pack of giggling, pink creatures traveling in the desert he had just left behind. They were hunting down a bipedal creature at least two stories high that had too many eyes to count. Suddenly, a cloud of dust rose around it and the pack of flyenas converged into it. There was a splash of blood followed by the dust immediately clearing away to reveal the bipedal creature had been stabbed from a dozen different directions by earthen spikes and was now being devoured by the pack of giggling monsters.
Shiv grimaced. He'd fought a pack of those and learned most of their dirty tricks the hard way. He'd managed to kill all but one… the very one that had pursued him across the desert with a heart aimed for vengeance. He'd never met creatures that had a magic affinity before… unless you were counting a certain mangy wolf… but nobody counted him for anything.
With one last disgusted look at the monsters, Shiv began walking into the woods, ignoring the aching in his bloody hands and knees.
***
"Die, you hellish spawn of an evil monster duck!" Shiv rolled under a root and lurched to his feet on the other side, only to have to dive to the side again to avoid the humongous duck bill that crashed into the dirt in the spot he'd just vacated. He didn't have time to relax or even counter attack, as he had to dodge yet another bill that was scything through the air toward him.
As if to make matters worse, a plume of fire erupted from this bill, which abruptly changed trajectory so as to keep Shiv in its line of sight.
"Gaaaahhhh!" Shiv didn't have time to dodge, so he summoned a wall out of the earth in front of him, then turned himself incredibly light and launched himself to a huge branch in the tree above him. Finally given a moment to think, Shiv activated his most recently gained ability: Tiny Twister, simultaneously along with Freeze (Ranged) and Lightning Summoner.
The monkey body with four snake-like necks bearing the heads of ducks stumbled around in awkward, slow movements as it was simultaneously shocked, frozen, and shoved around.
Shiv studied the massive creature, searching for a way to kill it with one strike. He was tempted to cut the heads off, if only to see if more heads would appear, but ultimately decided against the foolish decision. 'A quick strike through the heart it is.'
His opportunity came soon after his decision, when the mismatched ugly monster fell to the ground, cradling its heads with its arms in an attempt to keep the stinging lightning from striking them.
Shiv threw himself to the ground and summoned an earthen spike that penetrated the monster and actually lifted it a few feet.
It jerked and struggled, but no creature can last long without a heart, and so it died.
[Congrats, you killed a donk]
[You have leveled up to Level 87]
Shiv checked himself for injuries, and upon only finding a few minor bruises and scrapes, turned his attention toward the next most important question: was this thing edible?
His answer turned out to be a 'yeah, with a lot of chewing.' Though the meat was the toughest and least tasty he'd ever had the displeasure of devouring.
Nevertheless he gathered as much as he could and set off again. This time a bit more cautiously. He didn't want to be surprised by another one of those things. Or one of those winged lobsters. Or, he shuddered, another pack of the wasp-like chipmunks.
Another day's travel brought him to find something he didn't think existed on this planet. When he felt it, he was almost certain it was an illusion of some sort, but… no. It was real.
He had found a cool breeze.
It only lasted a few seconds, and the wonder of it was dampened by the buzzing bugs all around, but he had felt it. He quickly surmised the direction it had originated from and set off that way.
Several minutes of speed walking brought him to the entrance of a cave. A deep, dark cave that he sensed was inhabited by a group of some foul creatures. He instinctively knew that the creatures must be the source of the cool air, and determined not to kill them. Instead, he planned to take advantage of their blessed abilities.
"I've found a home away from home. I wish I could show Blaze this place." He chuckled, only to fall into a reflective mood and stand there staring at the cave entrance.
With a shiver, he woke himself up and got to work.
***
Hours had passed without rest, but he was happy with the result. He now had a sometimes cool little home.
He'd traveled a couple minutes walk away from the cave and used his earth manipulation to hollow out a tunnel to the base of the entrance of the cave, then cleared out the dirt there and replaced it with sturdy rocks that acted as a vent, letting the cool air fall into his new home. He'd also placed vents at various other parts of the underground house, always in the ceiling, so as to let the hot air in the construct rise and hopefully leave his new home for good.
With the building having successfully been hollowed out and ventilated, he laid down in the makeshift bed of leaves and soft grass he'd made, and stared up at the vent that was sitting at the entrance of the cave, and was currently gently dropping cool air on him.
He closed his eyes with a smile but then frowned when a shadow fell upon him. He opened his eyes just in to let spattering liquid fall in them.
After a few whispered choice words, and then a few more when he realized what kind of liquid it was, he headed out in search of a stream to wash himself in. 'Of course their restroom is the front entrance of their home. Of course it is.