Chapter 7

Survival of the fittest. An uncouth lifestyle that has only one meaning. The strong get to survive while the weak die.

The weak don’t have the right to live nor do they have the right to choose how they die, its only with true strength that one can shape his destiny. Lwanda realized this.

It was obvious this place wasn’t governed in the same way as a decent society, if he needed to stay alive, if he needed to thrive, he had to earn it.

He was just human with no extraordinary feats but he had a burning desire to survive, the idea of death scared him , he didn’t have any lavish goals nor any grand mission he needed to see through, he simply needed to stay alive, stay breathing, that’s all he wanted, a simple task but also close to impossible in this cruel world.

“Assuming all the wildlife here are mutated in some form, then I'm truly at a disadvantage. I need to increase my odds of survival”

Lwanda was aware of the fact that although he had only met mutated variations of the wildlife back on earth, there was no guarantee that there wouldn’t be other wildlife native to this place and that realization brought him the most worry.

“There's danger in the unknown”

“I need to boost my arsenal, anything that can help me survive will do”

Lwanda stared at the crystal, it was obviously his tramp card, his light in the darkness, all the battle strategies he’d come up with all revolved around it.

They weren’t anything mind boggling, they mostly involved him running as fast as he could from the threat and hoping the lighting strike works.

It wasn’t the grandest of ideas but if he could live just another day, Lwanda would gladly take it.

Lwanda was troubled though, his strategy depended so much on the crystal but he knew almost nothing about it. This array of unknown could turn out to be liability when his life is in danger and he couldn’t stand for that.

“It’s time to be his son”

Lwanda smirked, he’d decided to test for himself just how capable the crystal was, it was the logical thing to do.

“It’s what he would do”

Saying those words made Lwanda feel warm inside, it was as if he was working on a project with his dad.

He used to live for those bonding moments with his dad. He tried so hard to act like him, think like him, observe like him, he did all this just so he could be useful to him, just so he could spend more time with him.

It's those lessons, everything he’d learned from his father that he planned on using to survive. In this desolate place the only thing he could rely of was his own two hands.

Lwanda placed the feather down, with a stick he marked points one meter apart on opposite sides of the crystal.

Standing on the closest line Lwanda sent his intent to the crystal.

**Bzzzzt *crackle*BZZZZT**

**BOOOM**

An electric current surged from the crystal and hit the first line on the opposite side.

“Hmmm”

“Well then, let’s continue”

**Bzzzt**

**Booom**

Thunderous crackling and impact sounds rang through the forest. Lwanda caried out his experiments for hours. Each hour that passed was like courting death but he had no other choice.

The ruckus he was making could very well invite more trouble but he was banking on the fact that if the creatures here were indeed intelligent, they would know to stay away from such obvious trouble.

It was a ridiculous plan but that’s all he had at that moment.

After what seemed like an eternity. Adrenaline rush, fidgeting on any slight change in the forest around him Lwanda finally had the answers he needed.

He wore a broad smile on his face, this was better than anything he’d ever imagined. The godly crystal in his possession was like a miracle sent from the universe.

The crystal didn’t only react to intent, it was far more complex than that. Based on your desire it could adjust its power, range and even the number of electric surges shot out. Its use was only limited to the creativity of the user.

Lwanda looked at the crystal in awe, it defied almost all the scientific principles he’d been accustomed to. If this was indeed a scientific advancement of some species other than human then they would be a formidable enemy. He didn’t even want to think about what else they would be capable of nor what would happen were they to meet, all that was a big if, a big maybe and he planned to see it as such.

“Sometimes ignorance is bliss”

Lwanda resolved to completely ignore all that, it wouldn’t do any good to obsess about it, his goal hadn't changed one bit, he still desired to live. If a day came when he had to go against forces he couldn’t even fathom then he’ll deal with it then, for now he had to focus on what was before him.

“Wait ?!”

Lwanda suddenly had an epiphany, it was a long shot but it wouldn’t hurt checking. He grabbed his trusted shard and headed for the rat corpses.

Aiming for the neck, Lwanda swiftly lodged the shard deep into the flesh of the first mouse. He cut a deep crevasse down the mouse’s neck. He shoved his hand into the crevasse and felt around.

“Aha !!”

Lwanda yelled, his epiphany was right. Although he wasn’t sure he was glad it worked out.

“If the eagle had it, it made sense they would too”

Lwanda pulled out the crystal from the mouse’s neck.

He felt a jolt of excitement overwhelm him as he looked at it. It wasn’t much different from the previous one, same shape same crystal, the only difference was this crystal was emitting a white light instead of a gold one.

“Hmmm”

Lwanda looked at the crystal, this was another unknown, he could feel himself get more excited the longer he stared at it. He wondered what it could do, he wondered what laws of science he was about to shutter next.

Lwanda walked over to the feather, barely able to contain his excitement. This was going to be fun, he could feel it.

“Well then, shall we begin?”