Chương 5: Chapter 4- The First Night in a New World

Focusing on his senses Elias found nothing amiss, the insects were singing, the birds were chirping, and there was none of the eerie stillness from before; so after a few moments he relaxed and stood back up in confusion. Am I imagining that sound? Did I get tinnitus from the blast that sent me here? My ears were ringing when I woke up, but I don't seem to be otherwise injured.

A shiver ran down his spine, if he had a concussion or some other brain injury from before, that would be a death sentence in the wild if he passed out. The urgency of his situation rose a couple more notches in his mind and he resolved to find his way to some kind of civilization before things get worse, there's no way Elias was going to let himself die out here.

He took one more look over the cliff edge to better fix the position of the waterfall in his mind, maybe two to three hours out by his guess, glancing up at the sun high in the sky, Noon or early afternoon by my estimate. Perfect, should give me time to set up camp if I make good time. He shifted his weight, and a sharp pebble beneath his foot reminded him of his priorities as he glanced down at his bare feet with a grimace,"Well maybe I can at least make it before dark if I hustle."

Elias picked his way down the hill and re-entered the trees, making sure to keep close enough to the foothills to keep them in view and avoid the deep forest so he wouldn't lose his way to the water source he was pushing towards. Thankfully, there was a decent amount of leaf litter and soft earth so his bare feet don't take too much of a beating, although it did leave him wary of leaving tracks behind.

He stuck to any hard packed earth and rocks where he could to avoid tracks, Old habits die hard and one of the few that I did legitimately take away from those survival courses was a habit of minimizing tracks where I can. The habit began more as a way to occupy my mind on long boring patrols during training, but quickly became a game among my peers due to our competitive natures. This ultimately culminated in the ongoing unofficial pastime of our unit.

From time to time we would sneak into each other's barracks competing to see which squad could steal the most outrageous things while trying to go undetected from the others. We would never take anything mission critical of course, with the highest honors going to the most difficult and audacious attempts.

We had an unwritten rule that the missing item would show back up on the desk of the whoever was on guard duty in the headquarters building after no more than a couple days time, with a scribbled note on a post it of who the culprit was so the score could be added to the leaderboard in the rec room. My squad's crowning achievement was every toilet paper roll from the bathroom of every single room on the second floor of the barracks.

This wouldn't sound especially audacious unless you knew it was the night before an inspection, when everyone was in their rooms and busy cleaning during the heist. The resounding laughter of the unit commander to the tower of white paper rolls on the front desk a couple mornings later still brings a tear to my eye even years later; that little escapade shot us to the top of the leaderboards for almost a month… good times.

The notoriety this garnered our squad led to us becoming one of the top scouting teams during our following deployments, leading to the locals in our area giving our unit the nickname 'The Tree People'. The locals would go so far as to spread rumors that we must have had some kind of advanced cloaking technology that could make us invisible to the naked eye. This was bullshit of course, just a simple combination of good tactics, better camouflage, and the sheer fact that no one ever looks up.

Given his situation, nothing would make Elias happier than to be found by a hunter or tracker who could help him find his way home, but his experiences over the course of his short but eventful life had shown him that other people can be far more dangerous and cruel than any woodland critter, and with no way to defend myself this wasn't the time to take risks.

After all, the most depraved monsters are usually the ones walking around in human skin, and Eli would bet that holds true even in a place with subterranean murder machines. As Elias trekked through the forest he kept an eye out for wildlife, but there was little that could be glimpsed through the trees. He would see the occasional bird in the distance high above, or flitting through the canopy in a burst of colors flashing by too quickly to see.

Eli started to find himself a little unsettled by the quiet gloom of the deeper forest. As beautiful as he found the sun dappled leaves and the floral notes of the flowers blooming in the underbrush, the lack of larger game led to a growing thought in his mind that if the wildlife is staying this well hidden, this land must be far more dangerous than it first appears.

With this thought in mind Eli pocketed a few rocks and found himself a branch to use as a walking staff, and if necessary, an impromptu quarterstaff if need be. Wrist thick, as tall as the crown of his head, and as straight as he could find. Well if my ancestors can conquer the African plains with sticks and stones, I guess I can too. Eli smiled to himself while running his hands down the shaft knocking free any protruding twigs on a handy boulder.

After all, whether it's an arrow, cannonball, or a bullet in modern warfare, it always seems to come down to who can throw a rock the fastest. I'll have to see if I can find something to make some cord. Elias was a crack shot with a sling when he was a kid in the boy scouts, although he doubted anything he could find out here would match up to the stainless steel and surgical rubber slingshots they built as the part of the course for a wilderness survival patch, so he didn't hold out much hope.

Elias's mind wandered as the ground passed beneath his feet and his luck continued to hold, as he not only made it to the gap in the hills he was looking for without any unfortunate wildlife encounters, but on the edge of a clearing a little ways prior to his destination he found some reedy brush clustered around a small pond that was perfect for his upcoming project.

Elias cleared the tree line and pushed his way through a section of waist high grass as he came across an oval pond roughly fifty feet long by thirty feet wide, the clear crystal blue of glacier melt bordered by a river bank of fine gravel.

The pond was being fed by a waterfall over a nearby ridge approximately thirty feet high, crashing down onto a series of rocks before entering the pool, and on the other end of the pond there was another short ridge with a notch cut out creating a series of short falls eventually dropping down to join the riverbed he saw in the distance. With a smile Eli set down his walking stick and reed bundle.

This is perfect, I don't have any way to boil water, but that looks about as clean as you can get, and the waterfall should mask the sounds that I'll make breaking up the reeds. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Eli inspected the pond but didn't see any movement in the depths. I guess I'm out of luck for fish, but at least it should be clean. I shouldn't risk it just yet though, and should take it slow.

Elias drank a couple careful sips and stood back up with the plan to come back for more if he didn't feel any adverse effects, before rolling his shoulders and muttering out loud," Time to get started." Dropping the bundle of reeds in the water to begin soaking, Eli placed a few rocks in a makeshift dam so they wouldn't float downstream, and began looking for just the right rocks.

I have not tried flint knapping since the scouts, but the only tools I have are the ones I make myself at this point, so, a couple promising candidates later and a hand sized stone to knap with and Elias got to work.

Hours later, covered in sweat and getting the beginnings of a dehydration headache, Eli sat back with a grin. After many, many, MANY failed attempts he was able to get something resembling a spearhead and an axe head if you squinted just right and tilted your head a bit. The result was definitely more of a blunt instrument than a well crafted primitive cutting tool, but Eli felt pretty proud of the result given that it had been at least a decade since he tried the technique.

Since he didn't seem to have any stomach pain, Eli decided the water should be safe enough to drink for now. He headed to the water line to drink his fill before dunking his head to scrub some of the sweat and grime from his face and hair. Feeling refreshed after cleaning up a bit, Eli found himself wistfully wishing he could clean himself more thoroughly. I swear I'm never taking a hot shower for granted again.

I know that soaking myself with night approaching without a way to dry myself would be just asking for hypothermia. Eli grabbed the reeds out of the water and after shaking them dry a bit set to grinding them between stones to loosen the fibers. By the time he was done with his prep work he looked at the sky and realized he definitely won't have enough time to build a shelter before nightfall.

The thought of having to sleep in the open with more of those unknown cave critters running around sounded terrible, so he pocketed his worked stones, tossed the reed fibers over his shoulder and searched for a tree to spend the night in. Next to the waterfall Eli spotted one of the more colossal specimens that he saw poking through the canopy earlier, and decided that it will have to do.

After more grunting and scrapped skin than he was proud of, Eli found a fairly flat broad branch about fifty feet high in the air, a few feet wide near the trunk and heaved a sigh as he leaned back against the trunk. Elias took a moment to appreciate the view across the forest as the river wound along the foothills to his left and smiled as a flock of large birds of the most brilliant green and red plumage broke from the trees in the distance, heading towards the setting sun.

Muttering under his breath, "It's not much, but man that certainly is a million dollar view", with a smile he set to braiding the fibers into rough cord. Time passed as he worked on the cord, and it wasn't until he found himself unable to clearly see his work that Eli realized night had fallen. He didn't get quite as far as he wanted too, but he should have enough for his needs come the morning.

With a sigh, Eli coiled up the lengths of cord he finished and draped it over the branch to dry as best as it could in the cool night air. Rubbing the grit and exhaustion from his eyes Eli looked up and blinked while gaping in shock at the sight before him. Once he gathered his wits he bit back a retort, " Well that settles it, I'm definitely not on earth anymore."

Judging by the location of the setting sun from earlier, rising above the river that ran to the west was a giant pale blue arch crossing the sky in a broad swath like a streak of glittering chalk smeared across the horizon by a grand artist. The arch of a planetary ring stretched across the vault of the sky from east to west in a luminous display that took Eli's breath away.

The ring was predominantly a pale blue, but there were small faint spots from across from the entire color spectrum within its expanse, twinkling dots of pale green and violet, rippling streaks of crimson and more in an iridescent display. Elias realized that the predominant blue of the ring most likely matched the color of the sky fairly closely, or there was no way he would have missed it during the day time with the amount of light it was emitting.

As eye-catching as the ring was, Eli also noticed two moons, a larger pale green orb being chased by a smaller pale red one, both faintly luminescent as well. As Eli marveled at the sight in wonder, he realized nothing of the sky he knew was to be found above, there was no gentle streak of the milky way, no familiar constellations, and the truth of his situation finally penetrated through the layer of quiet denial he had wrapped himself in, he knew that returning home was a fool's hope.

In a dark forest, on a distant planet that's probably not even in the same galaxy anymore, Elias realized that he had never felt more alone than in that moment. The memories of the past day ran through his mind. Just a few scant hours ago he was out for a morning jog in a comfortable life, one that was becoming more boring by the day, but still one he had built on his own. While he had plenty of interactions and experiences to fill his life, it always felt a little hollow, like something was missing.

Eli appreciated his family and friends, but it rarely felt like he connected to them on a deeper level as if there was some faint aspect of himself holding his true self apart from them and creating distance between them.

He would often find himself seeking out new and dangerous experiences, and he never felt as alive as he did when rushing into the unknown; his heart pounding like a drum with the siren song of adrenaline coursing through his veins, life and death measured in the split decisions made in the span of a heartbeat.

This made it hard to form lasting relationships, as so few seemed to seek out the rush as keenly as he would, so while the distance between his home built in his mind, the ache did not settle as deep in his chest as he expected it too. I wish it had not already been so long since I spoke with my family, and while they'll miss me they always seem assured of my success in life and rarely worried, and the few friends I kept in contact with will probably move on quickly.

Elias spared a thought for his sister though, one of the few that seemed to if not share at least partly understand my drive. She was more than happy to join my adventures, although she drew the line at joining the military, and was instrumental in convincing me to stop risking my life quite as much in these past few years. After mom and dad passed away, we were all each other had, and she didn't want to lose me too, I guess she didn't get her wish in the end.

The profound isolation of his situation stirred those instincts deep within, and he could feel a soft echo of a hum pass through his chest. If I'm not on Earth anymore, how did I get here? He pondered, We've never come into contact with intelligent life. What are the chances that there is even civilization anywhere on this planet? There is no way those green monsters are all there is, that would be such a waste.

As Eli gazed up at the ethereal beauty of the alien sky he couldn't help but to feel a fluttering thrill of excitement in his heart as a dash of adrenaline crept into his veins at the prospect of being able to explore a brand new world. On Earth all the frontiers were explored, the distant horizons charted, every square inch mapped, imaged, bought and traded for, with the only free lands being deserts or arctic wastes. Here though in this new place Elias could forge his own path, see farther than anyone before.

Eli had always been looking for the new thrill, the next grand adventure, and in this new world maybe there was a chance for him to finally find something real, a new world where he could be the next Marco Polo, setting a course for strange and distant shores. The small mote of guilt in his heart vanished in a wave of anticipation, he couldn't wait to find out what tomorrow would bring.

A feeling of contentment spread through him in expectation of what excitement the new day would bring was followed by a wave of exhaustion from the eventful day. Eli settled back into the trunk. A faint blur of light in the bottom right corner of vision startled him to wakefulness, and he sat up with a start. A dim but slowly flashing mote of soft green light was in the very corner of his vision moving whenever he turned his head or moved his eyes, never moving from its position. What on Earth is that?!