Epic Dreams
Chapter 4
Title: Impotence (2)
"..."
Endo stared at the crystal-clear waters, his mind flooded with complex thoughts.
How absurd was this situation? Could such a substance exist in the world?
It wasn't logical. He hadn't thrown organic matter into the water; it was a rock. A rock.
"Ahhhhhh..." Endo turned away and left the area.
He was exhausted.
He was so angry that, combined with everything else, he started feeling dizzy.
Then, he noticed something reddish beneath his foot.
Lifting it, he saw a small red berry.
He scanned his surroundings. It was all overgrown, making it impossible to have a wide field of vision. Without realizing it, he had wandered into a questionable area.
Around him were hundreds of bushes. These bushes bore berries—practically wild fruits.
Endo felt a surge of relief. Finally, he could eat something.
Not only would he satisfy his hunger, but he could also ease his thirst.
However, something caught his attention: the entire area was filled with berries. It looked more like a human-cultivated plantation than something that had grown naturally.
It didn't make sense for such an abundance of fruit to exist in a place teeming with animals.
At the very least, he should have seen one or two creatures feeding on them, but there were none.
The sheer amount of fruit and the absence of animals nearby were logically questionable.
But Endo was at his limit.
He plucked the berries and began eating. He devoured them frantically.
As he put them in his mouth, he expected them to taste bitter and awful, but the reality was quite different.
The taste was somewhat unpleasant but tolerable.
The fruits seemed to have no seeds. Within less than five minutes, Endo was satisfied.
He gathered more, stuffed them into his pockets, and continued his journey.
Now, with a full stomach, he focused on finding a fixed direction to better understand just how lost he was.
Then, something pierced his head.
Endo froze and collapsed. He felt like he would die within seconds.
His hand shot to his head, expecting to find a wound—but there was nothing. Contrary to what he had felt, he was perfectly fine. No scratches, no injuries.
As he pushed himself up, a branch scraped his hand. This time, the pain was real—intense and searing.
A wave of nausea hit him.
The sickness he felt was inexplicable.
Impossible to describe.
So many sensations overwhelmed him at once.
Among them, the most terrifying was the feeling that something was drilling directly into his brain.
Endo fell, groaning in pain. He vomited, and blood dripped from his nose.
Each limb of his body felt like a completely separate, autonomous organ.
Despite his agony, Endo had just enough awareness to look at the wound on his hand.
The blood oozing from his body seemed strange—though maybe that was just his disoriented state of mind.
He raised his injured arm and touched his head. Then, he got up and started walking.
The further he went, the weaker and more exhausted he became.
His symptoms worsened drastically.
Night was falling. He needed shelter.
He quickly found a hole in a tree and crawled inside.
Sitting down, he leaned against the interior, letting his arms drop to his sides.
Then, the cold hit him.
"Cold..."
It was so severe it felt as if he were submerged in a frozen lake.
His body wouldn't stop sweating.
He was so lonely.
So cold.
So sad.
So desperate.
Endo closed his eyes.
****************
Endo opened his eyes.
He didn't move—just looked around.
"Am I alive?"
"Ahhhhhh... What a shame."
He felt fine. His body no longer hurt. His arm seemed to be in place, his neck was fine. He looked at his hand.
The wound was healing.
He stood up and stepped out of the tree. As he rose, he noticed his body felt a bit stiff.
Exiting the hollow, he saw dried blood at the tree's entrance.
The blood was completely dry.
The moment he stepped outside, he caught a whiff of something rotting—coming from himself.
Reaching into his pockets, he pulled out the berries he had stored earlier.
They were completely rotten, decayed as if they had been there for days.
There was no way for Endo to know what had caused the rapid decomposition of the fruit.
Either they naturally decayed quickly, or much more time had passed than he realized.
But that didn't matter now. What mattered was that he was fine. He needed to find a way back to his family.
Strangely, he was in great spirits. The ever-present fear had drastically diminished.
This place no longer felt as terrifying as before.
Endo didn't know if he was walking in circles or heading in the right direction, but the only certainty he had was that he felt incredibly healthy.
Both mentally and physically.
The ground trembled. Several trees collapsed. Something dangerous was approaching, so Endo quickly hid.
A mammoth—twice the size of a normal one, with additional horns and discharging terrifying bolts of lightning—was being frantically pursued by a pack of wolves.
There were about a hundred of them. While some attacked from the front, others flanked the sides, and the rest pursued from behind. Those that got too close were instantly charred by the lightning.
Endo held his breath and concealed himself as stealthily as possible.
Once the beasts moved away, he emerged from hiding and continued walking.
It didn't take long for him to find a small stream. Rushing over, he drank the water and felt satisfied.
Shshshs...
Shumm...
A strange sound came from behind him. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have looked back—or he would have already fled—but he noticed the tracks left by the wolves and the mammoth.
Maybe they had injured some wild animal—one he could easily kill and eat.
He carefully parted the bushes.
Surprisingly, his assumption was correct. There lay an animal, utterly wounded and helpless.
It was a blessing to find something edible in this place.
All he had to do now was strangle it.
"Hummmmmm...?!"
"Seriously?"
Endo froze. Or rather, he lost his resolve.
The animal was a monkey.
Given his situation, he was willing to eat a monkey, but this one didn't look… consumable.
It bore an uncanny resemblance to a human. Despite clearly being a monkey, its features vaguely resembled a human face and hands.
It was a small creature, brown with reddish hues. Its eyes were green.
Its left leg and left hand were completely crushed.
When the monkey saw Endo, it shrank back in fear. Endo studied the creature intently.
Then, he picked it up and carried it to the stream. He washed its wounds, and, incredibly, the animal seemed to understand what he was doing—it remained still, without struggle.
Endo improvised a splint for the monkey, allowing it to regain some mobility.
Seeing the creature happy, Endo felt a deep sense of fulfillment within himself.