Ouzin had run as fast as his feet could carry him, but with the roots, large bushes, and branches, he couldn’t get as far as he felt was safe. Even with his enhanced vision, the darkness of the forest floor was imposing, so he created little lights and used them to guide him through the rough terrain. He ran for what felt like a day but couldn’t keep up the same pace anymore. He stumbled in exhaustion, gripping his stomach that kept cramping up from the intense run and hunger. 

“Ahhh!” He yelled, then dropped to the ground. “I’ll set up camp here for tonight,” he said as if he was making an intentional decision, but even if he wanted to keep going, it would have been impossible. His powers could only compensate for his years of inactivity for so long. 

His eyes scanned his surroundings as he spread his light spheres around the area. He could sense creatures all around him, but none came close, so he ignored them for now. He ended up in a small pocket between the protruding and entangled roots of a world-tree. There were blue bushes with small yellow berries, and giant blue leaves and grass covered the ground. The air smelled earthy, of course, but there was a dampness that made it feel thick, and it carried the scent of wood and decay.

This had to be the stupidest thing he’d ever done in his life, Ouzin thought, and for the millionth time, cursed whatever had possessed him to wander into the forest. He was sure his mother would have a search party looking for him by now, and at this point, he didn’t know whether or not he wanted to be found. They’d probably start with the desert, which would give him some time. Time to do what? He didn’t know. 

He sighed and brushed some leaves away. He’d already considered returning, but now it was a matter of pride. He was a fool for running away from home, but the thought of giving up on the attempt and returning with his tail tucked, truly felt wretched. How pitiful would it be if he couldn’t even rebel properly? No, he was going to stick this out and get something out of it that he could show to his family. Grrrrrrrr. His stomach rumbled again, and he regretted not bringing the rest of his packed meals with him. He sighed and stood up. 

He inspected the yellow berries in the bushes, but try as he might, he couldn’t recall ever seeing them before, and had no clue if they were safe to eat. One probably wouldn’t kill him, plus he’d had yular berries before, and those were yellow as well, although about three times the size of these. He contemplated for a moment, then reached out to pluck one. He sniffed it. There wasn’t much of a scent. 

“Hmm.” Just as he was about to lick it, something flew out of the bush. He instinctively dodged it, and it fell on one of his light spheres, which exploded in a small blaze. 

Ouzin dropped the berry in shock and took a look at the small creature that now lay unmoving. The animal was covered in dark purple fur, which was now mostly charred. It was slightly longer than his palm, with a small snout and patagium between its hind and forelegs. If the charring was ignored, it was actually quite cute, and Ouzin knew what it was. A piculin, small, mostly harmless, and very much edible. 

He didn’t know the specifics about field dressing an animal, but he figured if he could get the fur and blood out, it would be fine to cook. He didn’t have any tools, but after a few tries, he created a laser of sorts with his powers by compressing the mana of his light spheres into a line. Using this, he brunt off the rest of the fur on the piculin and cut it open. It took some time, but soon, he had some charred strips of meat ready to cook. He telekinetically held one of the pieces of meat in front of him, then created a sphere of light around it. He tried to control the heat of it, but the piece burnt black almost immediately. 

“Shivak,” he cursed. He let the burnt flesh fall to the floor, then picked a few berries and floated them in front of him. One by one, he practiced controlling the heat his spheres created. By the eighth berry, he was able to stop them from burning instantly. “Nice,” whispered. He practiced a few more times before moving back to the piculin meat. 

“It’s not bad right, Umil?” he said as he chewed on the tough meat. “Not bad at all.” He’d never eaten anything so tasteless before. He finished the meal quickly, then started preparing for the night. 

Ouzin pulled a few leaves together and layered them on the floor to create a makeshift bed. The leaves the word trees shed were so large that he only needed one per layer for his bed, and while they weren’t soft, the fallen leaves were not as tough as the leaves in the canopies. Ouzin laid on his bed, raised a shield around himself, then created a palm-sized light sphere that generated enough heat to keep him warm. He still had no idea what he was doing, but it wasn’t a bad first day as a runaway. As he passed out from exhaustion, he wondered what his family was doing. Would they keep searching for him, or would they give up? Maybe they were even glad that he was gone.

# # #

Ouzin woke up the next morning (what he assumed was morning) to more uncertainty. What exactly was he doing here? What would this rebellion, or whatever it was, prove? He rubbed his eyes and kept scratching his fur. His usual silky fur was rough and even patchy in some places from the journey through the Kroshta and now the underbelly of the world-trees. What in Sigark’s good name was he even doing here? He winced as his head began to pound. He closed his eyes, his hearing sharpened, and the sounds that had become background noise since he entered the forest came into focus. Insects chirping, bird calls, bushes rustling. Anything could be out there, rodents, predators, snakes. Ouzin shivered as he felt the energy signatures of thousands of insignificant creatures swarming all around him. His eyes shot open, and the sharp focus broke. His ears flopped down, plastered to his head, and his tail swung sporadically.

He wasn’t supposed to be here, and it didn’t help that day and night were indiscernible because the thick covering of the canopy and density of the undergrowth blocked out most light. Only the light from his spheres helped him ward off the fear of the forest and all the things within. They couldn’t do much for the other thoughts weighing down his mind because the gravity of what he’d done so impulsively was starting to sink in. The worst part was even if he wanted to go back, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to find the way out, and worse still was that a part of him was still bent on sticking it out. He curled into a ball and closed his eyes. 

# # #

He didn’t know how long he’d slept, but when he woke up, it was to darkness and a chill in his bones. He gasped but didn’t move. He felt the creature’s presence on his psyche, although he couldn’t see it clearly. It was big and growling. Fortunately, even though his light sphere had failed during his sleep, the shield remained, and the creature patrolled around its perimeter. Ouzin slowly sat up. His eyes were properly adjusted now. The darkness under the forest was so complete that he could only just make out the creature. Its fur was dark, and so it blended into the darkness. Ouzin could see a glint in its glowing blue eyes. It was hunched over and walked on two legs. Its arms, tipped with three long four-inch claws, scraped the ground as it walked. It was definitely a gugalan, one of the predators found on the forest floor. From what he knew, they were omnivores and hunted in packs. While not prone to unprovoked violence, they hunted their prey with a single-minded determination.

The creature kept its eyes on Ouzin as it tested the edge of the shield. It didn’t act overly aggressively, but Ouzin took no comfort in that. He knew that its attitude could switch at any moment. His eye caught more movement, and two more gugalan dropped down from the trees. Ouzin kept as still as possible, and put more energy into the shield, hoping they would view him as prey not worth the effort of hunting. A loud thud resonated through the forest as one of the creatures reared up and smashed its arms into the shield. Ouzin closed his eyes and didn’t move. He took deep breaths and tried to calm his heart. He started counting to steady himself. If he could make them lose interest in him, everything would be fine.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, …..

He heard more crashes against the shield but kept his eyes closed and made his body as still as possible. He contemplated making himself invisible, but knowing that he had no finesse with his powers yet, he couldn’t take the risk. For one, he didn’t want to lose focus on the shield and have it break down while trying to make himself invisible, and he also wasn’t sure how the gugalan would react. Not many animals could sense mana fluctuations, but gugalans could, and he didn’t want to antagonize them by causing mana disturbances. Plus, they probably already had his scent. He just had to wait it out.

80, 81, 82, 83…

He could hear scuffling, loud sniffing, and breathing.

105, 106, 107….

He heard them grunting to each other, and then, at last, he heard them scuttling away. He sharpened the focus of his ears and waited until he could no longer hear them moving. Then he waited more.

190, 191…

He inhaled deeply. His sense of smell wasn’t as keen as his other senses, but it was enough to tell him that the gugalans were not nearby anymore. Then he extended his psychic presence very slowly and carefully for fear that it would alert some other creatures to his presence. Once he’d tested with all his senses and was satisfied that they were gone, he opened his eyes and slumped as the tension evaporated from his body.

He rolled into a fetal position, and his body began to tremble. Not once in his life had he ever felt such fear before. He felt gratitude well up in his heat for Umil’owan, who had chosen to form a pact with him, and for the fact that he, forced or not, had gone on his Trigalan.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” He whispered as tears rolled down his face. After some time, he was finally able to calm down. 

His mind felt numb, his body was completely exhausted, and of course, his stomach was complaining for sustenance. He was drained and miserable. He rolled onto his back and stared into the darkness. He did not even have the energy to think, which was a blessing. As he stared into the darkness, his eyes widened. He started noticing all the things he’d missed due to the illumination from his light spheres and his focus on the gugalans. Before his eyes, a universe began to reveal itself. A bioluminescent world aglow in ethereal blues, greens, and purples. Plants had sheens of light across their leaves. Small worms, glowing green, crawled on the floor and trees. Moss glowed blue on the gray trunks of the world trees. From the leaf-covered ground, a variety of incests rose up in flight and, moving in swarms, became small stars and galaxies right in front of him. His breath caught at the sight of such beauty.

He felt suspended in the moment, as there proved to be much more life in shadows than he’d initially thought. He felt peace settle in his heart as he watched the life on the forest floor exist in its natural state. His hearing also sharpened to take in the moment, but this time, he wasn’t afraid of the sounds he heard. It was a collective hum of living things and life energy and the waves and patterns of mana moving in the natural world. Nothing was okay. In fact, he’d never been in a worse situation, but he was going to make the most of it. He was going to become someone who could see things through and live with the consequences of his actions.