He woke up with back and neck pain. The rock floor was decidedly less comfortable than his bed. There was no avoiding it now, so he began to contemplate his actions. The Niven would have killed him if Kleymon hadn’t taken over. There was nothing he could have done. The raskers’ deaths were more difficult to justify. Even though they were vile, disgusting creatures, he had gone into their territory and killed them. It was like when humans blamed sharks for shark attacks, when in reality, the fault lies with them.

 

However, his flame manipulation had improved massively by hunting them. Now, he might actually be able to survive in this world.

 

He made a decision. After he killed a creature to give to a healer, he would do everything possible to not hurt anyone else. With his abilities and modern knowledge, surely he could find something to do in the town Kleymon had mentioned. He gathered his things.

 

“I’m ready, Kleymon.”

 

“VERY WELL.”

 

“Imagine a small clear stream, winding tightly around mounds of dirt and fallen branches. Scattered on the ground are green leaves with blue speckles dotted on their surface. Around you are large trees with the same leaves, packed together sparsely enough that you can see gray-black mountains in the distance.”

 

David stepped through the vortex of rotating colors, and found himself in the same scene Kleymon had described. Going from the torchlight in the cave to the light of the sun was quite a difference. Even with the shade of the trees, he was temporarily blinded.

He took a moment to let his eyes adjust. In the meantime, he listened to the birds chirping and drank in the heat of the day. A cool breeze strolled in the air, bringing with it the myriad smells of the forest. For the first time since he had arrived in this world, he felt at peace. Not whole, not who he wanted to be, but for these few seconds, at peace.

 

He began to walk through the forest, inspecting strangely shaped spiky plants by the stream and the small aquatic insects that jetted across the water’s surface. He walked aimlessly, absorbing his foreign surroundings, looking for signs of animal life besides birds.

 

Kleymon said nothing. No tips or clues on how he could hunt a creature here. David didn't particularly feel like asking either. The less he heard his voice, the better.

 

After an hour or so of walking, he took a break against a fallen tree to eat some raisins and granola bars. About 50 feet ahead of him, bees buzzed around a bush with white flowers. Just as he was about to get up, a furry head popped out from inside the bush. The head was small, with black fur and black eyes, like a skunk without the white stripe. It stared at him, un-moving. Though it looked cute enough, it gave him a bad feeling. Very slowly, he started to stand up. Two more furry black heads popped out from the bush. In disturbing unity, they opened their mouths, revealing sharp white teeth that spiked outward from the center of their mouths.

 

David snatched his backpack and sprinted to his right, weaving through the trees and forming a flame spear as he ran. He glanced behind him and saw the creatures following him. They stopped in their tracks, mouths still open. A quiet whistling sound. Then, they launched their attack. Hundreds of tiny white teeth shot from their mouths toward him.

 

“FUCK!”

 

Most struck the trees around him and his backpack, but a few embedded into his shoulders, causing a sharp influx of pain and anger.

 

“Kleymon, will the healer accept the meat of these fucking things?!”

 

“YES, IF YOU CAN BRING THEM ALL THREE, THEY WILL HEAL YOUR INJURIES.”

 

He was sure he could hit one with a flame spear, but that would probably leave nothing left to bring to the healer.

 

I need another weapon then. A bow? No, I don’t even know how to shoot a bow, much less build one. Hmm. An arrow though…

 

The whistling sound rose to his ears again.

 

He threw himself to the ground behind a tree. A wave of glinting teeth narrowly flew over him. He let the flame spear he held extinguish and instead formed two much smaller flame arrows. Peeking around the tree, he saw the creatures about 20 feet away, sauntering forwards.

 

How does one throw an arrow? He pretended they were darts and threw them as such. They flew straight but his aim was way off and the arrows completely missed all three.

 

The creatures seemed accustomed to hunting in packs; two began walking to the right side of the tree and the other to the left. Very soon he would be surrounded and bombarded by razor sharp teeth.

Running wasn’t an option. The forest thinned out ahead of him, no trees to cover him from their attacks. Seconds. He had seconds left, but could think of no way to kill them all while preserving their bodies. By the time he threw a spear at the one on the left, the other two would fire at him. Death by tooth-firing skunk, ridiculous.

 

Something, I HAVE TO THINK OF SOMETHING. His mind was blank, utterly blank.

 

Soft whistling.

Thwick thwick thwick thwick thwick thwick thwick thwick thwick thwick thwick

 

David looked to both sides and saw the black furred creatures lying silently on the ground. It looked like large yellow splinters protruded from their heads.

 

“Whew, those tunks almost had ya.”

 

He jerked his head in the direction of the gravelly voice.

 

10 feet ahead of him, a figure jumped from the branch of a leafy tree to the ground. Besides speaking English, three things immediately jumped out at David when he looked at the first human he had ever seen in this world.

 

1. The man was incredibly tan. The kind of tan you get by being outside from sunup to sundown. His skin was cracked like cement and made him look older than he probably was. David estimated 35 or so.
2. He was wearing a loose green tunic that came down to his knees; it was tattered with tiny blue dots. The sleeves were cut off and he wore no pants. The outfit was clearly meant to camouflage with the trees in this forest. No wonder David had never noticed him.
3. Finally, his nails. They were yellow and more like the claws of sloth, thick and each one was about as long as his finger.

 

David shuddered internally. There were certain things that always grossed him out on Earth; letting pets lick your plates, feet, and long fingernails. He would not be surprised if this man had a dog that he let lick his feet.

 

“Ever seen a tunk before? Don’t look like you be the type out here huntin’ tunks.”

 

“KILL HIM, DAVID.”

 

David stood up, ignoring Kleymon.

 

“No, I have not. I’m not from this area.” He figured it was best to keep things simple.

 

“From past the Ash mountains, eh?”

 

“Err, yea.”

 

The man looked David up and down.

 

“Well those clothes are real strange, s’ppose there are plenty strange people over there.”

 

“Uh, right. Lots of strange people.”

 

A small silence ensued.

 

“KILL HIM AND TAKE HIS CLOTHES. YOU DO NOT LOOK LIKE THE HUMANS OF THIS WORLD.”

 

The man narrowed his eyes, then moved slightly to David’s left.

 

“Whew, they got ya good I see. Best get those out quick, ‘fore they start breakin into ya. That can cause lots of problems.”

 

“Right, thanks for the advice. I was actually trying to get to the town nearby to fix my…” David suddenly remembered that the white flame was still around his wounded arm. How was he going to explain that?

 

Before he could even react, the man was next to him, inspecting his wounded arm enshrined by the flame.

 

“Hmm. That looks real bad. Not sure ‘bout this fire ya got goin round it, some kinda thing you do out past the Ash I s’ppose, but you best see a white robe soon.”

 

The man sighed. “Well, bit late to find any more tunks I s’ppose. Grab one of ‘em and follow me. I’ll bring ya to town.”

David was surprised, excited, and skeptical all at the same time. Kindness was not an attribute he had expected from anyone in this world. But, the man could also be planning to rob and kill him. Only time could tell. He grabbed one of the dead tunks and followed the man’s brisk pace through the forest.