It was 19:00 pm, yet the sky looks sunny, combined with the two moons orbiting around the planet. There was no evening here, and pretty much the time here was shorter than Minos T or ruined Earth. Alena was investigating the forest she was in. The trees breathed as if it was alive. As they group together, the forest seemed to be one. Leaves rustling, wind whistling. It was different and unfamiliar territory for me. Most of the planets I'd been into were full of waste, evil, and war machines. But here, it was so beautiful and dreamy. Yet, alarming.
I tightened the grip on the bookbag.
I continued exploring until I found a river, purple that is. Before I can drink from it, I took a small portion by scooping it with my right hand and let the H-Wav ProD assessed it.
[Properties of Water:]
[Harmful Contaminants: 0%]
[Essential Minerals: Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium, Fluoride, Potassium, Iron, and Zinc]
[Alkaline pH Level: 8.5]
[Drinkable Water]
"Even though it looks like I'm drinking poison, a drinkable water is better than nothing."
I had scooped through my bottle a liter of water. Drinking it to quench my thirst and to stay alive.
I looked around and nothing seemed out of ordinary except the trees. It's too big.
Again, HERMES summarized and cross-analyzed basing from the Universal Archive until the data was shown as hologram.
The tree was 83 meters tall, with a base circumference of 31 meters (101.5 feet), and weighed around 6,167 tons in total. Grew in a pyramidal shape when young, changing to a more columnar shape as it aged. It had reddish brown fibrous bark that was unusually fire resistant. These trees were known as Sequoia Trees.
"Interesting. I wish master can see this magnificent view."
Without anyone around me, I recalled the events occurred from the earlier hours. It felt gruesome and shocking. It still hadn't sunk in on my mind how master died saving me. Not only that but also, what were the Krekins talking about. This bookbag was stolen from them and it was Neon Tech Corporations who hired us to deliver it to the Minos Research and Development Facility. But how did they steal it from the Krekins? Someone must had done an inside job. A traitor had infiltrated the premises of Krekins. That's a possibility.
I sighed and finished the remaining water from the bottle.
I walked toward the nearby sequoia tree to rest. As I sat, bookbag dangled on my body and hugged it firmly. The coat covered my body made me warm as the weather became cold. It meant that the day was getting close to an end and another day was born.
The overwhelmingly stress and shock tired me out as sleepiness caught up. I slowly dozed off until I fell into slumber.
««-------- ≪ °◇◆◇° ≫ --------»»
While, the other was peacefully sleeping, someone or something was lurking in the background. This unknown thing stayed in the shadows, observing who this newly arrived person was.
The silhouette in the background growled angrily.
Someone had just entered its territory.
The marked territory was a reminder that a king ruled that place and when a species who was not part of that territory passed the domain, the only thing to do was kill. Unless, that species had a deal with the king and killing was avoided.
Animals or any creatures had their own way to communicate with each other.
But to live in the wilderness, they have to fight, kill, eat and breed. It's a survival of the fittest.
Its form had emerged from the shadows. It was a Nebuline Howler. This species was part of Canidae Family. Similar to a Dire Wolf that lived in America and Eastern Asia during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene epochs back from Earth. Although they came from the same family, the Howler is 30% bigger than Dire Wolf. It had much larger skull, therefore, more biting power. Its canine teeth was round and long, enabling to crush anything especially meat. It had sharp claws that can protect them or immobilize the prey.
Nebuline Howlers hunted as pack. But only one had been stealthing, waiting for the opportunity to attack its prey. The Howler moved somewhere in the bushes that's near the defenseless sleeping human.
Its snout jerked.
The jaws had four hinges that can open outward, giving anticipation to gather energy inside their mouth. When energy was filled up, the Howler's body was enhanced as a support during the process of blast off.
The Howler released a powerful ultrasonic ball.
««-------- ≪ °◇◆◇° ≫ --------»»
I felt the vibration of the ground and right on my peripherals, a fast moving ball of energy was aiming at her.
"Argh!" I hopped on the other side and activated the H-Wav Prod.
The energized ball almost had me! Heck, I wouldn't even survive the impact if I hadn't dodged it quickly and with the aid of my hologram-like shield.
I was almost dissolved from that attack, you damn creature!
I stood wearily while adjusting my body posture after hopping and accidentally hitting my damn knee. That attack was certainly dangerous, I noticed several strands of my long hair had been dissolved. If I didn't move right away, any part of myself will not be able to heal back, let alone being alive.
I need to get out of here, shit!
Before the Howler recharged another energy and attack her, Alena knew she would lose, therefore, she ran as fast as she can like this was her last day.
She didn't knew where she was going, as long as she had distanced herself and never been found out or captured by that creature.
It's been, an hour or so, yet she was still exhaustingly walking around the forest.
"Ugh, are my eyes playing tricks on me? I feel like I've been here before."
Alena took a break from going around the places. She had used her H-Wav Prod many times for assessing the areas she'd been, yet there was no progress at all. It showed no signs of new possible help for her survival. This time, she's lost in the middle of the forest.
"Hopefully, I don't run into that thing again. Or else I might actually die." As she slumped herself at the foot of the tree she found, she chugged one last drop from her bottle.
Just as she was taking a breather, the Howler came into view. Staying still and observing her. Clearly, there was no opening for an attack that Alena could do.
It's here again.
You'll never stop until you kill your prey, huh.
I knew there was no way out , the data I gathered from this Nebuline Howler was still lacking. If only this creature was discovered in the past, then I had no difficulty in defeating it by using the information stored in Universal Archive.
If there was no other option, then!
I looked at the thing I was carrying. It is a bit risky, but there's nothing wrong in trying out a powerful artifact to survive, right?
Right?
It would be better to distance myself from the creature for a bit, to concentrate on learning how this book work. I forgot to realize that if I wanted to live, use all resources existed here. Master will really smack my head if I couldn't adapt in any environment right away.
Again, the Howler had drew out another powerful blast aimed at me.
"Another one?!"
I jumped sideways, bumping one of my limbs on the ground.
"Urgh!"
I winced from the pain, but I tried standing and run as fast as I could.
I'm too nervous and afraid about what I'm planning to do. Because this certain book was too extraordinary that I might not be able to understand what it contained. Hopefully, while I'm learning this, I don't die in the process.
I took out the book from its bag.
It was big and heavy for my hand to carry but adjusting my hands placement to the book, I was able to lift it.
The book was a thick purple hardbound, enough to knock out someone. It included some ornamentals around the cover, a biometric system lock on the side in which can be opened by the owner, then an unfamiliar symbol at the center of the book.
It consisted of geometric symbols especially triangle and circle that overlapped together. Inside it, has a structural advanced symbols with thick and thin lines, connecting small circular filled nodes with ancient writings.
"This is..."
I traced the surface of the symbol. It felt nostalgic and warm.
As I was running and checking out the book, I heard a loud explosion behind. When I look back, the Nebuline Howler was keeping up with my pace.
"So persistent!"
Nevermind that Howler, how can I open this book?
What if...?
I touched the central symbol of the book and my body felt hot. What is this surging energy that I'm receiving? I continued to focus on the energy, but now my fingertips felt a tingly sensation.
When my body absorbed that energy, I can feel everything around me. It felt like all the living and non-living things in the universe, I can sense them all. From the smallest unit, atoms, to matter that took up the space, which had volume and mass, were intertwined together as if forming like strings of different colors.
It's not only I can sense them but at the same time I can see them. From where I stood, I can hear different kinds of sounds. Like plants and insects had distinct sounds, the stream of water nearby also emitted a melodic sound but as the Howler approached, I heard a very loud ominous and horrible static screaming sound.
Nevertheless, I know now what to do.
The central symbol from the book lightened up.