As I walked deeper into the forest, it grew denser. The trees' leaves were glowing in an eerie, otherworldly light. The air was cooler here. It felt quite relaxing after surviving in the heat for so long…
The ground beneath my feet was soft and was covered in a thick carpet of moss that was a startling shade of neon orange. Small, glowing fungi dotted the forest floor. Their soft light pulsed gently. It was quite beautiful to look at…
I muttered while stepping carefully over a cluster of glowing mushrooms, "All right, Shin…This is either the coolest place I've ever been... or I'm about to get eaten by a tree. Fifty-fifty chance..."
A strange sound caught my attention... It was a soft chittering sound, like the whisper of a thousand tiny creatures. I froze, my eyes darting around the forest…
"Okay, who's there?" I said, my voice shaky. "If you're friendly, please just... stay that way…"
I turned slowly and looked around for the source of the noise. That's when I saw them… Tiny, glowing creatures flying in the air like fireflies. They had translucent wings that shimmered like rainbows and bodies no bigger than my thumb…
I said while watching the little firefly-like creatures as they darted around me in playful spirals, "Well, aren't you guys adorable…"
One of them landed on my hand. Its tiny legs tickled my skin. It tilted its head and stared at me with.... what I could only describe as a curiosity.
I said while trying to stay still, "Uh... hey there…Please tell me you're not poisonous or carrying some alien disease..."
The little creature chirped softly. It fluttered its little wings and took off again to join its companions...
"Well…" I said, exhaling a shaky breath. "At least you're not trying to kill me. Yet…."
As I walked deeper into the forest, a strange fruit caught my attention. Its shape resembled a papaya, but it was glowing faintly. It was hanging low from a tree. It pulsed faintly…
I reached out cautiously and brushed my fingertips against it. Its surface was smooth and kind of rubbery. "All right, buddy…" I said while observing the fruit warily. "Are you edible, or are you going to explode in my face?!..."
With a tug, I pulled the fruit from the tree. Despite its small size, it was surprisingly heavy, almost 4-5 kilos, and it was kind of warm...
"Well…" I said, raising it to my face and giving it a cautious sniff. "Smells... weird, but not terrible…"
At first, I hesitated, then took a small bite. The flavour exploded in my mouth. It was a mix of sweet, tangy, and something I couldn't quite place…
"Holy crap…" I muttered around a mouthful. "This shit is actually... really good…"
I sat down on a patch of moss, leaned back against one of the massive trees and ate the whole fruit. For the first time after arriving on this hellish planet, I felt a flicker of hope…
"Alright, Shin…" I said while tossing the fruit's core aside. "Maybe this place isn't so bad after all. I mean, sure... the giant worms were a nightmare, but these weird but beautiful-looking trees and tasty fruit? I'll take it..."
The forest was quiet now. I could only hear the distant chattering of the tiny creatures. Suddenly a breeze of cold air hit me. I closed my eyes, widened my arms and let the cool air wash over me…
"Okay…" I said softly with a small smile. "Let's see what else this crazy planet has to offer!!!…."
The forest grew darker as I walked deeper... the glowing light of the trees dimmed to a faint pulse. The air was heavy, and the only sounds were the soft rustling of the strange leaves and the occasional chittering of unseen creatures…
"Alright…" I muttered to myself while brushing a glowing leaf out of my path. "This place is giving me goosebumps right now. It's quiet.... too quiet. That is never a good sign. Quiet means something's lurking…"
A low, guttural growl reverberated through the air, and I froze in my tracks after hearing it. My heart pounded as I looked around the forest, my eyes darting from shadow to shadow…
"Of course…" I whispered as I clenched my fists. "Like hell, this place is letting me live in peace…."
The growl grew louder, closer, and then I saw it... Emerging from the shadows like a nightmare made flesh…
The creature that stood in front of me was massive... It was easily the size of a large truck. It had six legs that ended in razor-sharp claws. Its body was covered in dark, chitinous armour, and its body was segmented like a giant insect. Two long, serrated fangs protruded from its head. It was dripping thick, green fluid from its mouth that sizzled as it hit the ground. Its glowing yellow eyes were locked onto me, and its mandibles clicked menacingly…
"What the hell is that?!" I yelled as I stumbled back.
The creature let out a shrill screech, its legs digging into the mossy ground as it prepared to attack...
Even if I tried to run, the creature would sure catch up with me in no time. So, there is no point in running away from it. The only thing I could do is now pray that I can defeat it…
With terrifying speed, it lunged at me, and its fangs aimed straight towards my chest. I barely managed to dodge, throwing myself to the side as its massive body slammed into the ground where I was standing…
"Too close!!!" I gasped, scrambling to my feet.
The creature screeched again, whipping around to face me. Its fangs glistened, the acidic fluid dripping faster now, eating through the moss beneath it.
"You're not friendly, huh?" I said while backing away slowly. "All right, big guy. Let's dance..."
It lunged again, faster than the last time. I dodged the strike, but as I moved to the counter, one of its legs lashed out and slammed into my side. The strike sent me flying into a nearby tree…
Pain exploded in my ribs, but I had no time to recover. The creature was on me in an instant. It came straight at me and raised its fangs to attack…
This time, I had no time to react. So, I raised my left arm instinctively to block the attack, but the serrated fang tore through my arm like paper...
"AAAAARGH!!!!!!!!" I screamed, the pain ripping through me.
I stumbled back, clutching the remains of my arm. Blood gushed from the shredded stump where my elbow had been, the exposed bone glinting faintly in the dim light of the forest…
"Damn it!" I cried, and tears streamed down my face as the pain overwhelmed me. "Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!"
The creature's mandibles clicked again, and its glowing eyes fixated on me once more, and the monster raised its fang and was about to launch another strike at me…
Fueled by desperation, I lunged forward with my remaining arm and threw a straight punch with my remaining arm the creature's armoured face…
The impact reverberated through my hand, but the creature didn't even flinch. Its chitinous armour was harder than titanium, and my punch left nothing but a dull ache in my knuckles…
"Are you kidding me?!!!" I yelled while staggering back.
The creature screeched, its mandibles opening wide. Before I could react, it lunged again and slammed me to the ground.
Its fangs tore into my chest, ripping through flesh and muscle as if I were nothing more than a piece of meat. I screamed in agony; the sound of my agonizing scream echoed through the forest…
"AAAAARGHHHH!" I cried, thrashing beneath the creature as it tore into me.
The pain was indescribable... A burning, searing agony that consumed every nerve in my body. I could feel its fangs shredding through muscle, snapping bone, and pulling chunks of me away…
"STOP! PLEASE!" I screamed, my voice breaking as tears streamed down my face.
It didn't stop. It feasted, its mandibles tearing away at me, and its acidic saliva burnt my exposed flesh. My left leg was the next to go. The creature ripped clean off with a sickening crunch…
The creature's movements were methodical, almost casual, as it devoured me piece by piece. My right arm. My other leg. My torso…
"Please..." I whimpered my voice barely a whisper. "Just... let me die..."
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the creature let out a satisfied screech and retreated into the shadows, leaving me broken and bleeding on the forest floor…
My limbs were gone, stripped of muscle and flesh until only bone remained. My chest was torn open, my heart exposed to the open air and was still beating faintly…
But I was still alive... Somehow...
"How...?" I rasped, my voice barely audible. "How am I... still alive?"
The pain was overwhelming. Every breath was a struggle; every heartbeat reminded me of the torment I just went through…
I lay there while staring up at the glowing leaves of the alien trees and tears streaming down my face as I begged for my own death…
"Why?" I whispered, my voice trembling. "Why won't it just... end?!"
The forest was silent again. And yet, I continued to breathe, continued to feel the pain, continued to suffer…
I tried to distract myself, counting the days by the shifting of the position of the harsh sun above. But even that small act of routine lost its meaning as time dragged on…
"I should've died..." I muttered to myself one day while staring at the half-regrown stump of my left arm. "No one should survive this. So why me?!"
As the weeks passed, my body began to take shape again. First, the bones reformed. Then came the muscles, thick strands weaving themselves over my skeleton like a grotesque tapestry. Finally, my skin grew back, layer by layer and covered the raw tissue and exposed nerves…
The pain never stopped. It was a constant companion. But with each new limb, with each patch of regenerated skin, the old pain was replaced by a new one...
I barely noticed the days blending together. Every moment felt the same—an endless stretch of suffering and waiting….
After two months, my entire body was back to normal. The two months had been a blur of torment and regeneration. During these two agonizing months, each day, I laid there, staring at the alien sky as my body knitted itself back together piece by piece. The sensation was excruciating—the slow regrowth of muscle, the reformation of bones, the reattachment of nerves. Every second was a hellish nightmare…
By the end of the second month, I could move again. My fingers twitched as the nerves in my hand reconnected, and my legs trembled as I pushed myself to sit upright…
"Finally…" I said hoarsely, my voice rough from disuse. "Two months of hell... and I'm still here…"
I clenched my fists while marvelling at the strength returning to my body. Once shredded and stripped to the bone, my arms were now whole again…
But the worst part wasn't the physical pain... It was the toll on my mind. The endless solitude, the constant suffering... it left me hollow. Now, I was only a shell of the person I used to be…
"Two months…." I muttered, staring down at my hands. "Two months of being ripped apart and put back together. Who even am I anymore?"
I turned my hands over, examining them. Suddenly the memory of the creature's fangs tore into me. It was vivid, yet my body bore no scars. Not a single mark to remind me of the horror…
"It's like nothing ever happened…" I murmured, my voice devoid of emotion. "But it did. I remember it all... Every second of it…"
I looked around the forest, its alien beauty unchanged despite the hell I had endured within it. The glowing leaves shimmered faintly, casting eerie patterns on the ground. The air was thick and humid and smelled faintly of sulfur…
"No food… Expect some strange fruit…" I said flatly, my eyes scanning the barren ground. "No water. Nothing. Just an endless, hostile wasteland…."
I sat down on a nearby rock and stared blankly at the neon-orange moss beneath my feet. The hunger and thirst that tormented me for so long were still there, but they no longer mattered…
"What's the point?!" I asked myself, my voice hollow. "Food, water... I don't need them, do I? I can live without them. I've proven that…"
I reached out to touch one of the glowing mushrooms nearby, watching it pulse faintly beneath my fingers.
"Human needs…" I said, letting out a bitter laugh. "They're becoming irrelevant, aren't they? Just like everything else about me..."
I clenched my fist around the mushroom and crushed it in my grip. The faint glow extinguished, leaving behind a smear of luminescent residue on my palm.
At that moment, I felt something was missing within me... Something important… I felt hollow from the inside. Like something important within me was slowly fading away.
I muttered, "Maybe that's for the best, maybe losing…. what made me human is the only way to survive this place...."
I stood up and began wandering around the forest. My footsteps were silent against the mossy ground…
"This planet doesn't care about me…" I said aloud. "Why should I care about it? About anything?"
I stopped and looked up at the towering trees. Their metallic bark glinted faintly in the dim light...
"Survival…" I said, the word hanging in the air. "That's all there is. That's all that matters…"
I started walking again, my gaze fixed on the horizon…
"The old me would've been scared…" I said with a faint smirk tugging at the corner of my lips. "Would've cried, begged for help... But that version of me is gone now. Dead..."
I paused, letting out a long sigh...
"Maybe that's a good thing…" I said finally, my voice colder. "Maybe the only way to survive here is to stop pretending I'm still human…"
I stood on the edge of the forest. My gaze swept across the desolate landscape, and a single, unshakable thought took place in my mind...
"I can't survive like this. Not as I am…"
Though I can regenerate myself back from the dead, I can still feel every bit of pain. My body is weak...If I wanted to live, I had to change. I had to become stronger…. stronger than them….
"I can't run from them forever," I muttered, clenching my fists. "If I can't beat them, I might seriously die... No more waiting for the inevitable. It's time to fight back… It is now eat or get eaten…"
TO BE CONTINUED