Chapter 12

**Huff *huff *huff**

“Damn it how much longer?”

Stride by stride, Lwanda walked to his destination, he had no obvious map but he knew if he kept walking uphill, he would surely get to it. A higher ground, a vantage point. He wasn’t sure going there was the right move but he felt that was what he had to do, needed to do, call it a gut feeling but something deep within him told him so.

“I’ve been walking for some time now”

Lwanda had been stuck on this treacherous adventure for a while now, covering mile after mile with the help of his trusty makeshift tools. In that time, he’d come to realize a couple of things.

The first being whatever those flashy crystals were they could resonate with each other. Whenever a creature came close, the crystals in his possession would flash, the golden one flashing the brightest. It would generate an aura around it kind of like it was getting ready for battle. Lwanda could sense a violent intent from it, like it was sentient and it was trying to pass a message.

What astonished Lwanda the most was the golden crystal seemed to suppress the other crystals, whenever the other crystals would resonate and flash the golden on would let out an electric aura and soon after the other crystals would stop flashing, like they were submitting to its will.

This fascinated Lwanda, he racked his brain hard trying to come up with a logical explanation for this and the only thing that made sense to him was that the creatures here had some sort of hierarchy in place and that even upon death the system would persist.

The mysterious crystals seemed to carry its owners will and presence long after it was gone and would act as it was accustomed to even after its extraction. With this Lwanda drew the conclusion that the beast like eagle that attacked him seemed to hold a significant position in this place, it was still unclear whether that attack was a good or a bad thing, but as Lwanda felt on his wounds it certainly didn’t feel like any blessing he’d known.

The second conclusion was although the crystal reacted to intent, the outcome greatly differed based on the clarity of the intent. The more detailed the command was the faster and more accurately it was carried out by the crystal. Lwanda struggled with this, he knew in the face of danger he wouldn’t have the luxury of vividly describing his intention to the crystal, he knew all he would care about in that moment would be to save his ass and not create a Picasso like masterpiece from the electricity.

It took him a while but Lwanda finally figured out that the crystal worked with intents from memories as well. Just what is a memory? Lwanda recalled that was one of the mysteries still yet to be solved back on earth, the workings of the brain, even with all the technology humanity had managed to come up with, they still couldn’t fully understand how the brain worked. The complexities of the human body the truth behind the brain and memories, somehow the crystal was able to access and react to this.

The deeper his understanding of the crystal the more Lwanda felt terrified of it, this small piece of glass in his hands seemed to hold unfathomable potential. It seemed to be so advanced that Lwanda’s mind couldn’t even begin to fathom just how far ahead it was technologically. He was torn between awe and terror, the two demons always at a stalemate, just which one would ultimately emerge victorious was anyone's guess.

This indeed held dire consequences were things to backfire, but for Lwanda that was a problem to be solved later. Even if the crystal were to devour him, he really didn’t care so long as it could help prolong his life in this place for even a second longer. His desire to live rose above everything else. One month, a week, day, hour, min, it didn’t make that much of a difference in Lwanda’s eyes, it was all just more time to him, and he was ready to do anything to get more of it, consequences be damned.

During his walk Lwanda would often think about different intents to use on the crystal and store them to memory. Some efficient and elegant and some downright sadistic. He could picture the ghastly screams, attacks like those would cause and deep down he’d feel pleased by it. Survival of the fittest, a dog eat dog kind of world and he sure wasn’t going to be anything’s food, not if he could help it.

The third realization was closely related to the first, the crystals held a sort of mysterious presence to them. One that had a detection ability. They would flash whenever a creature broke into its range and the closer it got the brighter and fiercer the crystal got. Of the crystals in his possession the golden crystal had the greatest range.

Lwanda's last observation and the one he deemed the most important was that to the creatures here each crystal, each presence was akin to another living creature, they couldn’t tell the difference between an extracted crystal and one still within a living beast. This saved him quite a bit of trouble as he moved through the forest. He would often see the crystals flash, develop a fierce aura before calmly settling down again. Whenever this happened, he knew some creature had gotten within range of him and was driven away by the aura of the crystals.

“These things are proving to be God sent”

Lwanda smiled as he looked at the crystals. Because of them he was having a surprisingly chill trip through the forest. This peace, this tranquility wasn’t something he had expected, he had steeled his resolve before embarking on this journey, he was ready for it all, the dreadful fight to survive, the near-death encounters with the vicious beasts in this place, he was ready for it, he expected it. This calm, this peace it felt good but it also felt wrong. Lwanda didn’t know what to make of it.

“I've been so focused on staying alive that I had actually forgotten to live”

Lwanda felt silly, all that work he was putting into surviving, all that determination what exactly was it for if he couldn’t take the time to enjoy the bliss in such peaceful moments. His fate seemed to be set in this place, he didn’t know if he could go back home and he didn’t know how long he could stay alive here either. There was no point in living a dull and useless life. He needed to live but he also needed to have a meaningful life.

Lwanda looked around him, he saw things he’d looked at a couple times before but hadn't really seen, not really, not in the way it mattered. It was like all he did was look and not really see. The vast vegetation, the grass, the tress, the green. He took all of it in

“Come to think of it, this is the first time I've seen so many trees”

Lwanda thought back to the situation back on earth. Almost all the land had been reclaimed to make settlements, trees were an extremely rare sight akin to finding precious metals. As far as he knew all the last remaining trees were in the heart museum, and their number wasn’t much above a hundred.

He remembered going to the museum with his father when he was younger, it was a birthday present from his father to him, he remembered loving it. Being in this place, surrounded by all these trees. He couldn’t help but feel a bit nostalgic.

“He would have loved to see all these”

Lwanda relished the nostalgia a bit more, in that moment everything seemed to fade away, he indulged in the bliss, he welcomed it, letting go of all the worry even if for just a second and just lived. The peace of mind, the tranquility after so much turmoil it was akin to nothing else and Lwanda enjoyed every bit of it. He felt a deep longing deep within him, a longing to have this moment freeze forever in time, for things to always be like this, he desperately needed it.

**Bzzzt**

Lwanda felt the electric aura of the golden crystal act up. This wasn’t anything new, creatures would move in and out of its range all the time, it wasn’t anything to worry about, especially not now, definitely not now, he needed to live in this moment for a bit longer.

**Bzzzzzt**

The aura persisted; it was getting fiercer. The tranquil state Lwanda was in quickly faded away, this needed his attention. Lwanda looked at the crystals in his possession, they were all flashing, getting brighter by the second. Just what exactly was coming towards him? What kind of creature was it to not be scared off by the auras of the crystals?

“This is going to be troublesome”

“Hmm...”

“Was that the calm before the storm?”

Lwanda chuckled at the irony, it was so cliché yet he’d fallen for it and deep down he was glad he did. He had to live while he stayed alive, it was the only way he would last in this place.

**Bzzzt*bzzzzzt **

Lwanda looked at the glowing crystals, they were getting fiercer, he wondered what kind of beast it was this time, it was obviously formidable since it had chosen to ignore the crystals’ auras. Lwanda felt a doom approaching, a fierce battle. He felt himself tense up.

“This is going to be annoying”

Lwanda clenched his staff, ready for battle. He could feel the drastic change in his surrounding, everything was so quiet, too quiet. Whatever it was, it was powerful enough to command such a presence. He felt a shiver run down his spine, he knew this was going to be a desperate battle, one that only one of them could walk out of.

Lwanda clenched to his staff tightly, the ace up his sleeve. He felt a weird sense of reassurance. It wasn’t much but it would have to do.

The creature was coming he could feel it, there wasn’t anything he could do to stop its approach, he could only prepare for it.

With a renewed resolve Lwanda took a deep breath. With all the energy he could master he let out a thunderous war cry.

“Come at me !!”

**.......**

**…**

**ROOAAARRR**