Pitch black sun was reflecting in the watery surface of my unblinking eyes, constantly in motion, as if millions of dark tendrils moved in unison - mesmerizing and grand. My mind wasn't questioning how the black star was really possible, why I could even see it, as darkness is nothing but the lack of light... but then.. why did the gray sky shine dimly? Nothing of that mattered, only the feeling of dread and helplessness I've felt for the last few hours did. Standing alone in an empty space, all around for miles and miles - were only the infinite, charred flat plains. They looked as if someone had set the land ablaze, leaving the slightly smoking barren lands behind - no life, not even a sign of any remains. No bodies, no structures - everything was covered in black charred velvet.. There was no heat, there was no wind - tiny specks of black dust floated close to the surface of the ground, seems like even my existence already disturbed this place.

It wasn't, however, the sight that caused me to feel dread and helplessness, but the feeling - the sounds. Everything was resonating right within my brain - the sun, roaring like a thousand beasts, was echoing inside my skull, tearing it apart. It didn't stop even for one second, it didn't get any less loud... I heard a similar sound before, but it was miniscule in comparison, the whispers - that was the same sound... Instead of the constant whispering, it was an ominously deafening roar.. it was constant, unchanging - I've grown used to it this time... Yes, this time as in not the first time I've been here. As I remembered this fact, the darkness shifted, blinding me.

"This dream again" - I slowly opened my eyes, looking at the ceiling of my hut. The thatch roof seemed murky as my eyes were getting awake as slow as the rest of me.. My whole body was covered in cold sweat, and a slight headache persisted, which wasn't anything new.. For the last three days, I've been visited by the same dream over and over again, by the same black scenery. Despite any explanation I've been trying to come up with, or persuade myself to believe, right now it was just a bad dream - even if the aftertaste was the slight feeling of fear. Part of the blame attributed to the cracked skull from the fight - which bothered me only the first day.. and maybe will bother me again, as the scarred spot would leave a bald line in my great mane of hair..or maybe not now that I think about it..

The other culprit which I've blamed for the headaches, was the fact that I've been cutting down the amount of pur-map I've been taking, as I've noticed that the inside of my lower lip being covered in tiny wounds.

I didn't panic when I felt the tiny cracks in the smooth surface, same things happen when you go a bit too hard on chewing tobacco, or when you use snus too often. It's just the rather harmless chemicals slowly dissolving the thin membrane protecting your body - sounds worse than it is in reality.

I stretched - trying not to knock anything in the tiny space of my living quarters, my spine cracked a bit, sending the tiny speck of pleasure in a echoing wave across my back. My eyes were already half open, and my mind half awake - which was good enough to be honest. The green surface of a paper-leaf bedding rustled under the movements and my shifting weight, as my feet found their way to the ground and sat the rest of my body up. Even despite the rather shitty dreams I've been having for the last three or so days, I've been well rested. The three hours of sleep - blessing for a tired body.

Speaking of body.. The attack of the cl.. the attack of the toads was almost four days ago. It was quiet enough, no signs of any approaching creatures, so I've decided to stop being paranoid and start sleeping in my bed once more. Which was important to do, as sleeping outside in some bushes - well.. I doubt it would help my wounds fully heal. After I washed my body thoroughly and looked at all the wounds I've suffered - I felt a bit happy. No, don't get me wrong - I wasn't happy that I've been torn to shreds once again, not into M stuff.. much.. but happy for surviving it and being able to walk. The wounds were starting to heal - even without the aid of paper-leaf they would heal eventually - though would surely add to my collection of scars. Even now - the dark crust, which painted me into a two legged zebra, was being surrounded by dozens of long white lines, some dragging over the skin, as if someone drew them with a thick layer of paint.

The wound on my side, which I've covered with paper-leaf - was the same, on the exception of the light jellylike webbing covering it, stitching the skin together. Yesterday, I've had an unpleasant experience of pulling the tiny shards of bone out of it. They came out with a bit of pus, which was unexpected - as before I went to sleep that night, I haven't felt any pieces in there, not even any sign of infection.

So overall, I've had enough time for the wounds to heal. That doesn't mean that I've been resting for the last few days, I've just limited my activities to the nearby area to my hut, as well as slightly shorter practice with the spear and a bit of stretching. Even with the whole being hurt business, I couldn't allow my body to stiffen from the lack of movement...and it had nothing to do with being bored out of my mind from lying in bed..starting at the ceiling.

"Good morning Eduardo. Good job guarding my sleeping ass.. " - I shifted my gaze, while forcing my mouth shut from a mighty yawn. The dummy was propped against the wall, wearing something bizarre looking.

Three days ago, I've been busy skinning the toads, and Eduardo was wearing one of the attempts at making clothes... A failed attempt though, as the two skins that I've stitched together over the dummy have dried to a crisp.. literally, I couldn't remove the shirt without breaking a piece of it off.. Good thing that I decided to drop the rest into the pond, hoping that the same thing that happened to the paper-leaves... of course I've surrounded the area I was using with a "fence" of sorts.

Recalling the events of the past few days. A whole lot of skinning of the toads was going on. Their hides really came off rather easily, I could say the feeling was the same as taking a glove off a hand covered in honey - left in a warm place to dry for three or so hours.. and the glove was covered in a bit of oil. Nasty stuff, but I really didn't want to waste the materials, even if the creatures seemed to be intelligent.

Now there was a whole lot of moral outrage flaring up inside my head as I was about to do the skinning. For one - the creatures were rather smart, which already posed a dilemma.. should they be considered the same as human? I mean, I've let the children go... but now there I was, cutting into the skin of their supposed parents, uncles or whatever and dragging the hide off of their flesh. The other part of me, the one which was struggling with lack of resources and hunger, was thinking something akin to: "..fuck you and your morals! Waste the fucking materials and I will end your white ass!"

With me being threatened by myself, I went on with the plan to use everything to the fullest. This way I could say that it wasn't my greed talking, but the thought that the death of the creatures wasn't for nothing. Besides the fact that I killed them to live - so what I'd do with their bodies was up to me.

Oh and speaking of not wasting anything..

I've stood up, bumping my head on the drying piece of meat, it left a purple spot on my forehead. Yes, I've decided to butcher the toads and use them up for food. That's the second outrage - eating a sentient being, but people do that either way, so the outrage was just a tiny "ew".

However, over a dozen carcasses was too large of a source of food to simply let it go to waste. Ok, I've eaten frog legs, and the meat was soft and a bit fatty, so - that was the temptation already.

Toader meat cooked over an open fire was great... I tried a little bit of it to make sure it wasn't poisonous, and ended up cooking half the body... I'd wish to say that it tasted like chicken, or pork, but it didn't - being completely different in both texture and taste. I'll just say it was good, so good that I didn't want it to go to waste whatever the cost.

The cost was- turning the whole hut into one big smoker, leaving enough fresh air not to suffocate when I'm sleeping.. so everything above the bed was covered in a shifting cloud of thin smoke. I felt the layer of damp purple paste on the surface of the pieces of ham I had drying... "ham" - being the upper portion of the toad leg, which was thick as all hell and dark.

"I shouldn't let the top layer dry up too fast I guess.." - A little dampness was good, though I wasn't that knowledgeable on the art of smoking meat, but as far as I knew, when curing meat - if the top layer becomes too dry too fast, the moisture won't be able to escape the meat and it would spoil... Then again, I was curing around six "hams" with no salt or anything... more of an experiment, unlike the rather thin slices of meat that were hanging all over the top of the hut like Christmas decorations..

Jerky is rather easy compared to ham, or whatever the hell I was making.. Some cultures were known to simply let the thinly sliced meat dry in the shade during a hot day - not using any salt, or protecting the meat from insects.. So I was sure of success in regards to the tonnes of jerky I've had smoking. And no, I wasn't using pur-map as a source of smoke, I used some wood from random bushes.

Even despite all my efforts to keep all of the meat, there was a tad bit too much of it. I've made broth from the bones and meat, which I've left in the clay pots with lids right in the middle of the stream. It was cold enough to let the broth turn into jelly, so for at least three to four days - I could leave it as is, without the slightest fear of it spoiling. Oh, did I mention toad bacon? No, because the fat on them was lacking, and there was nothing like bacon on them.. despite the round figure, the toads weren't fat..

My whole hut started to look like a stockpile on top of a stockpile.. a warehouse full of food. Paper-leaf stems tied into bundles and hanging from the walls or standing in baskets, getting soft enough to eat - everywhere you looked was food. The only thing left would be finding an edible breed of mushrooms... It's hard to let things go in these circumstances.

I ducked and left the warm embrace of my smokehouse, getting a nice breath of fresh air. I looked around, the frames with the skins stretched over them were positioned in one place, making sort of a wall in front of my hut. The skins were drying - after being soaked in the plant-juice pond for a few days. As I thought - it really had the similar effect on the rubbery hides as on the leaves of paper-leaf. The toads skin didn't dissolve in the stomach juices of the plant after nearly three days of soaking.

I touched the surface of the stretched skins - they actually felt a bit rubbery to the touch - flexible, but hard enough at the same time. Thirteen frames littered the outside of my hut, letting out a bit of a fishy smell. The deer skin which I could have easily forgotten, shared the same fate as the ones of the toads.. it seemed to be a bit rougher to the touch though, and considering the fact that it had a whole bunch of holes in it from me failing to skin it properly, was looking chewed up.

Yes, training to skin something tends to have a toll on the resources - so the deer skin could only be used for making some belts, or laces..

Usually tanning would take a few months to do, or something like that, but I wasn't in the normal world... One look at the drying skins that looked properly tanned proved that.. so with the new materials and a whole pond of quick-tanning carnivorous plant stomach-juice... holy shit I am bad at naming stuff.. I've been able to speed things quite a bit. Three days accounted to a few months of waiting time and hard work.. all because of the simple man-eating pond. Still- the toad skins would hang to dry until tomorrow, and I will get ready to set out in the mean time - I had to be ready for anything.

I was going to set out to find where the human came from, and as I decided.. I wouldn't be coming back until I find out. As I was washing my face in the cool water from the spring, taking a few sips, I looked over the mark on my hand.

"I really want some answers.." - A cold splash of water made me lose my breath for a slight second, then I threw another one at myself.

....

"DICKFUCK!" - I looked at my left index finger that had a large bead of blood forming on the inside of it. I sucked on the finger, feeling the coppery taste of my own blood. Sewing toad skin was harder than you can imagine. For one - it was actually hard to pierce with a wooden spike, even a bone needle was having trouble penetrating it.. and I had to stitch it for a while now.. So my left hand looked like it was sick with chicken-pox... red spots all over the fingers.

"The worst part ... I'll probably have to do all of this all over again.." - I looked at the half-made pants in my hands, as well as at the large piece of stitched together toad skin.

"OH sure! I'll be super smart and use sinew from the fucking toads as string!" - I verified that the finger had no more blood pouring out and continued the painful task of sewing the smelly hides together, occasionally piercing my fingers.

"The sinew will shrink when dry and hold the leather together! SO SMART!" - I was whining, but continued to sew.

"Really.. finishing the shirt, then half the pants.. and then getting that the sinew will get loose if I wet it.. and the clothes will fall apart.." - I took the stone knife and started popping holes close to the stitches I've just made. - "So instead of doing everything once.. I'll fucking have to make holes and stitch everything in place with leather laces.. amazing efficiency."

That was the day I've decided to make clothes.. and for that task I've decided to allocate my full attention, skipping lunch, training and any other activity I've had scheduled. I was going to make these clothes even if it would be the last thing I do.

....

I stood looming over the result of my agony and suffering. The real set of clothes I've had made..

"Well.. they don't look that ba.." - I couldn't stop myself from laughing out loud, striking my face with my palm, making a loud slapping noise. - "..phahah.. they're fucking horrible.."

I really can't tell what was worse between the "pants" and the "shirt". They were rough and a bit crooked, but that was just on the first glance.. The pants were too wide in the waist area, so when I wore them, I'd firstly have to use a belt, but that was just the beginning.. The pants looked like a diaper, hanging in the crotch and the ass.. while getting exponentially narrower.. to the point that I had to cut the leather a bit, just to get my foot through... If that was not enough.. the pants were basically just longer version of shorts, covering only a half of my shin.

"Well my junk will be having a whole lot of space," - I laughed just imagining how this atrocity of dark leather would look to someone else...

As for the shirt... Well - I had some troubles making the sleeves out of leather, rather I've fucked it up and made the opening for the sleeves too narrow.. to the point that the sleeves had to go. Sleeveless shirt which got so crooked, that on the left side it was going halfway to my knee, but the right side of my stomach and ribs were completely exposed.. DON'T even ask how I was able to fuck up that bad..just no. And that's all besides the giant stitches that make the clothes look like they were made in the same way as the monster of Frankenstein.. Did I mention that they were dark gray after being washed and boiled in pur-map? I was already grateful for them not coming out purple.

To somehow cover the exposed area, I've stitched a huge patch of dark green paper-leaf to the side, evening the shirt out. At this point I was one step from sewing the pants to the shirt to make a onesie, just for the laughs. On the bright side, and to my astonishment - the paper-leaf leaves turned black after being boiled in pur-map along with the leather... the more you know...

"My god.." - I've finally had clothes. - "I was so preoccupied with whether I could.. that I didn't stop to think if I should.."

"Well, whatever" - The whole clothes situation was a slight relief for me, letting out a few laughs and making fun of my own failures - when else than then. It was the first fuck-up that didn't end up almost killing me.

I didn't care what I looked like, the clothes were functional, and I was able to say goodbye to the sack-shorts. Leaving them by Eduardo as a reminder. Reminder of what? Like fuck I know, it just seemed appropriate.

Still, with the sturdy clothes covering at least some parts of my body, I was actually ready to set out. I tightly wrapped my arms and hands up to my shoulders in black paper-leaf bandages, making sure I could still move rather freely. I tied the leather belt around the new pants and secured it with a piece of bone and a little string, putting the bone through the noose in the leather and tying both ends of it with leather string. The belt was thick and wide, with a few loops tied through it, to which I attached the stone celt ax, a few knives and two sacks I've made from the sleeves that I've cut off, these were filled with some of the jerky and paper-leaf stems. The last thing I've had with me, was a cylinder made from fired clay, with a wooden cork in it.. that was more of a test run for the crude flask.. It didn't hold much water to be honest, and could easily break.. I had to think of a way to make a good one - but for now, that was what I've had..

After smearing my face, neck and exposed skin with the black pur-map paste, I went into the hut to get the paper-leaf poncho, which I've repaired, and a set of stone-tipped spears - totaling to eight pieces. On my wrist, as usual, an atatl was dangling - I really was inseparable from a weapon at any given moment. Since the journey could go for a while, I had a short dinner - finishing the jelly like broth from toad meat and having a few pieces of jerky, which was dry enough to keep on hanging for a few weeks if I was going to be gone for that long..

Leaving my base of operations, I've made my way to the only place where I could go in order to find the answers regarding the human.. damn.. that was the least favorite part..

....

Silently creeping through the dark green covers of the bushes, even despite the gear I was carrying, I've made my way through the forest. I already remembered the route and could have navigated through the forest to the spot even during the night. Despite that, I decided to set off early in the morning - to have as much sunlight as possible. I didn't go directly to the spot, but circled it from the side. Just a small precaution to be honest.

If it weren't for me almost striking the empty wooden spike with my hand, I would've missed the spot. I couldn't believe my eyes, as what was before me, wasn't the same gruesome scenery I've left behind almost a week ago.

"Why so much paper-leaf?"- The plants were literally everywhere the eye could see, a whole fifteen square meter patch of white paper-leaf spreading through the dark green covers of moss. It was bizarre - and after blankly staring for a few moments, I've made my way through. I really had to be sure that it was the same spot.

"Maybe someone else set more spikes elsewhere?" - That couldn't have been the case, but I was still hesitant to believe that the place got fully overgrown with paper-leaf all of a sudden, as it was an empty opening covered in moss.. What I've seen made me recognize the place, and send a chill down my spine, as realization slowly crept from my toes up to my brain.

"..." - I was speechless as I stood before a tree and eyed the one-legged corpse before me.. If that thing could be considered a corpse. The gray, warty skin - that showed signs of decomposition was stretched over something that looked like a bundle of wires. It was like a frame that resembled some creepy statue made by Giger, rather than what it was originally.. but the body itself, despite looking horrendous, wasn't what made me shiver. It was the thick paper-leaf stems - protruding from the eyes and the mouth of the creature, as well as the nostrils and the ears. Wherever the skin looked like it ripped - I could see black, dried spirals - stitching it together.

"..." - My mind was blank as I walked closer, stretching my arm to brush against the leaves and the stem of the plant with my fingers. It left a spot of whitish dust on my fingers.. It didn't take me long to figure out that, as there was no flower, this wasn't pollen.. Paperleaf wasn't a plant - but a mushroom.. or a fungus of some sort.

Pictures of insects with mushrooms growing out of their carcasses loomed in my mind, striking pure horror into my mind. That was me who applied the paper-leaf to the injured toad, I did this.. but... My spine felt ice-cold.

"I've been using it.. b.." - even in my mind I was stuttering as I looked, first at the fungus infested corpse, then the whole area overgrown by the paper-leaf. My hands were shaking as I was about to throw up, but somehow I was still holding it in, while my mind kept racing. I was moments from falling into complete panic, but the loud croak in the distance made me abandon that and jump in alert - turining around. Behind the trees I could see a toad with a spear, watching me from behind the trees. Someone was running into the distance, my mind however - was still preoccupied with what I've just witnessed.