Chapter 5: HBA – Chapter 4 – Arc 1 – Hmm, can’t do that buddy?

“So what does the Dreaming Nerds Club do?”

 

“Interested, are we? Well, the name makes it obvious. We study the Path of Dreams, and everybody that joins us will do as well.”

 

“You too? I just passed by a club saying the same thing. What is so special about you guys?” 

 

“If you join the club, you will learn the secret of manifesting anything in your Dreams. And by that, I mean anything.”

 

“I don't know. Sounds sketchy.”

 

“That is because you are blind to the possibilities. Look behind you and tell me what you see.”

 

“Nothing out of the ordinary.”

 

“That is because you are blind to the possibilities. Look again and say the first thing that comes to your mind.”

 

“Stands, buildings, people… people? Chicks? Hot Chicks? Chicks out of my league?”

 

“Oh, the eyes finally see the truth. I think we have a new member. What do you think, Newby?”

 

“You better not be lying to me. I am in.” 

 

Annals of a Horny Badg’er. Year-131 of the 3ed Badg’er Republic.

 

*

 

Mane Savannah

 

A place stuck between a long hot and dry season, where one's fight for existence was estimated by one's endurance to survive till the short and cold and wet rainy season arrives to usher in new prosperity for life.

 

Currently, it is the height of the dry season. 

 

The sun was spewing out its rays over the horizon. They baked the air, the ground, the vegetation, and the life that has adapted to such conditions. 

 

A few tiny white clouds sparingly dotted the sky, but they did not help with creating any shade for the creatures under it. 

 

No. All Life either relied on its adaptations to keep them cool, or they hid in the shadows produced by the sparing trees and bushes dotting the ground. If that too was too much, they gathered at the few remaining water oases in order to replace the water the Sun had expunged from their bodies due to heat.

 

But oases were not a haven. No, not at all. Actually, it was a place of danger for prey gathered en masse, and where prey gathered, predators followed.

 

Lions stood at the top with their golden color and massive stature packed with muscle no matter the gender, but it's the big males with their majestic golden-brown manes who rule the Mane Savannah. 

 

Inside one Pride of Lions, a male opened his eyes and observed his territory. 

 

His eyes were sleepy, as it was the middle of the day when the sun was at its harshest, and he just could not bring himself to do anything. 

 

His belly full from last night only discouraged it more. However, there was one thing that he had to do no matter what. He stood up on all four legs for a moment and breathed hard a few times before bellowing a ROAR that every single animal heard for kilometers. 

 

All of them heard the roar. 

 

All stood still as their heads whipped in the direction of the roar. 

 

All of them remembered to whom this plot of land belonged, and none disputed the declaration. 

 

Roaring a few more times, the Lion did his daily job and prompted himself back on the ground for another nap.

 

With no more roars echoing out, Life returned to normal as usual as it could be, in a hot and dry savannah desiring to end you.

 

However, there was one place that behaved differently. 

 

It was a burrow in the ground not too far from the origin of the roar. 

 

Inside the burrow, two beady eyes opened to Reality. 

 

The roar had awakened the Honey Badger. 

 

The eyes drank the sparse light coming from the entrance before a grunt echoed from his snout. 

 

A few more grunts echoed from the snout before the muscles in his body began twitching with the desire to move.

 

Twitch, twitch, twitch, and the Honey Badger began to crawl out of the burrow. 

 

His actions were magnified as if the body had yet to truly wake up. Almost as if he had slept for too long, and his growling stomach only proved said fact. 

 

The light grew brighter and brighter when a small head with white fur on it popped out of the burrow. 

 

He rested his head on the ground just outside the burrow. His eyes closed reflexively for a moment before they adapted to the glare of the hard rays. 

 

Once they opened, the Honey Badger’s mouth opened too as he yawned away the sleep from its body. Doing it a few more times, the Honey Badger was reminded of the gnawing pit in his stomach, as if it had not been satisfied in days, so it kept growling for food. 

 

“Yaaawwwnnn.” Yawning one final time, the Honey Badger pushed his whole body out of the burrow and glared left and right to decide where to find some food. But despite the instinct telling him to satisfy the hunger that he was feeling, the urge to eat wasn't overpowering as it generally was.

 

His beady eyes looked around. He noticed a strange feeling that something was different, but the more he glared around, the less the sensation made sense. 

 

There simply was nothing of interest around him.

 

“Hnng” He grunted once more before deciding on a random direction, yet he barely passed a few meters before another strange feeling came to his attention.

 

The Honey Badger stopped his gait. His beady eyes stared at the ground. Specifically, he stared at his claws. 

 

He looked at them for a moment before bringing its nose to them. 

 

He sniffed, licked, and gnawed lightly on them before grunting, dismissing the feeling, and continuing his search.

 

Like that, ground passed below his paws before he stopped again to stare at the bush before him. 

 

He stared at the sparse brown vegetation for a second before his mouth closed around a small leaf. He chewed on it for a second before spitting it out and staring at it again.

Then he tried another, only to repeat it again and again. 

 

Still not getting rid of the strange feeling that he was feeling, he grunted once more in dismissal and continued on its food journey.

 

Despite the hunger telling him it should be the number one priority right now, the Honey Badger kept getting distracted by everything he saw, smelled, tasted, and touched. 

 

At least it stayed that way before his nose smelled food. His head pointed in the direction, and his hunt began. 

 

The Honey Badger sniffed and sniffed, as his hunger had finally won over his actions, and soon the prey was before him. 

 

It was a scorpion, hiding between rocks, but that was not enough to hide it from his nose. 

 

He had eaten more than enough of them to know that this one would not escape him either. 

 

“Hngg”

 

Digging around the stone, the Honey Badger grunted to display its displeasure at the effort it was using to get the snack when the golden scorpion was free. 

 

With skill learned and practiced since childhood, his mouth and teeth went for the stinger pointing at him. 

 

The Honey Badger cared not for the sting. He had overcome countless like it, and He would overpower this one too. 

 

After a dance of who was quicker, The Honey Badger received a sting to the face, but its jaw snapped around the stinger with one clawed paw on the scorpion's body to prevent it from moving. 

 

Chewing the stinger off, he spat it out before slowly enjoying the meal. The tough exoskeleton of the scorpion was no match for his bite strength, and the Honey Badger ate his first meal of the day, or a few days if his hunger was any indication. 

 

Then, mid chewing, he stopped all of a sudden. He spat out the scorpion and looked at it as his head tilted left and right. 

 

Not understanding why the meal tasted differently, he ate it again. He chewed and chewed, but the strange feeling never vanished. 

 

Once more, the Honey Badger grunted and ate the meal. Only once it was down in his stomach did it stand up and continue its search. 

 

One measly little scorpion may have been enough when he was little, but now he needed much more.

 

Another hunt ensured, and then another, and another, as everything that entered his stomach was small prey. Yet, strangely no matter how much it ate, its stomach never seemed to be satisfied. 

 

Then another smell came to its attention. This one promised much more as he sniffed its way forward.

 

Smelling and searching for it, the Honey Badger cared not for his surroundings or the animals that observed his passing. 

 

Not the Hyenas, or the Jackals, or the Leopards. 

 

Even the Lions Pride did not scare him, but he did give them a wider berth than anything else that moved in this area.

 

Following the smell, he found a small burrow. Its size prevented him from entering it immediately, but it did not prevent him from digging for prey.

 

With his nose stuck near the burrow entrance, his claws began to grab for the earth. Like that, he began to shovel the dirt barring it from more snacks. 

 

Claw after claw he dug inside when suddenly, he stopped all actions. His head popped out of the narrow burrow as he stared at his surroundings. 

 

An instinct inside him told him that something was moving close by. 

 

The Honey Badger observed left and right, forward and behind himself, when his eyes saw movement. 

 

Inside a short yellowed-out bush behind him, something moved. It was pressed upon the ground, and it was long. Its scales slightly shined to its eyes when the sun's rays hit them. 

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Instantly, the Honey Badger abandoned his digging exercise and stalked one of his favorite snacks.

 

Within moments he was beside the bush and saw the snack, but it was far more guarded than he liked. 

 

The bush would hinder his movements, and he required more space to maneuver around the prey. Otherwise, he will be bitten, and while it would not harm him, he would lose the snack as he slept.

 

The Honey Badger looked at the bush that stood in his way. It circled the bush before noticing that the tail of the snack was much easier to reach from this side. Instantly the Honey Badger dived inside the bush, and his teeth grabbed for its tail end.

 

His jaw snapped shut as he felt a sting on his shoulder, but that would not be enough to stop him. With prey in his mouth, he backpedaled the snack out of the bush. 

 

With expertise, he went for the head of the snack while his claws grabbed the body, preventing it from moving as it liked.

 

A minor scuffle of another bite, the head of the prey was in his jaw, as he began to gnaw and chew urgently. It did not take long before he noticed that he was losing his strength and that sleep was reaching for him.

 

Not long after, his jaw loosened. A bloody snakehead was released from his mouth and plopped onto the ground. 

 

The Honey Badger swayed to the side of the prey he had killed. 

 

There he stopped moving, and his body went still. 

 

His heart rate slowed down significantly, as its venom immunity, long used to this type of neurotoxin, went to work. It took time, but it had done its job. 

 

The Honey Badger opened his beady eyes. The bright glare of the sun reminded him it was time to wake up. Slowly he stood on his legs to shake off the sleepiness, but the smell of blood near him only worked to fuel his desire to shake it off and eat that much faster.

 

Once he was fine to stand up and not wobble too much, the Honey Badger moved a tiny bit and plopped his small body near the head of the snack. 

 

From that point on, he began to bite, rip, gnaw and swallow with pleasure.

 

With this meal, he would not need to search for food for quite a while. So he ate and ate until his belly was full, and more than half of the snake remained for the future.

 

Content with a full belly and the hunger vanquished, the Honey Badger decided that another nap was very appropriate. He moved the rest of the snack into the bush to hide it better and just took a nap beside it. 

 

Only to wake up a few hours later. 

 

Unlike what he was used to, it was still bright after the snack found its way to his belly, and strangely the stomach was requesting more.

 

“Hngg” Grunting once in acknowledgment, he went back to eating. 

 

More of the snake vanished, and another nap came to the forefront of his desire. Once more, he closed his beady eyes, yet when they opened again, he realized that it still was not night and that its belly was still hungry.

 

The Honey Badger ate, and the Honey Badger slept. 

 

The only reason the cycle stopped was that there was no more snack on which to snack.

 

“ Hngg” It grunted its displeasure and left the bush hiding him. 

 

Another journey for precious snacks began only this time at night. For him, it was much easier to find food at night, as the harsh glares of the sun would no longer blind it as much. 

 

While the smells remained the same, it was much quieter during the night so its ears could recognize more snacks.

 

Like that, days passed as the Honey Badger ate, slept, pooped, ate, and slept again in cycles.

 

There was no satisfying his stomach. No matter how much he ate, it would take but a nap to need more. 

 

No matter what he ate, it did not change that fact.

 

Not once had it eaten in such quantity, yet not being satisfied as he did it.

 

Aside from that fact, his little mind kept giving him strange feelings from time to time. 

 

Once, it happened in the night as he stared up into the sky and the enormous shining origin of the white light. Never before had he stared at the white light for so long for no reason at all, after all, it did not help with his hunger. 

 

Sometimes he stood still in the middle of the day when his belly was full, and he did not want to nap. When it happened, he just stared around himself. He observed the bushes, the trees, the various animals that grazed upon the sparse greenery or the ones that sought out the oases for water.

 

Nothing he saw was new, but there was a strange feeling as he observed everything. 

 

He did not know what it was, but it was there, like a constant reminder that something was different.

 

More days passed as the hunger kept it constantly busy when it happened. 

 

The glare of the light was bright, and he was eating a small furry snack when the strange feeling intensified.

 

The feeling forced him to stop chewing and stand up as he glanced around. 

 

He wondered why he was feeling what he was feeling, but no matter where his eyes looked, everything was the same as it was before.

 

Then the feeling intensified once more, and a sound reached his little mind. 

 

“Xxxxxx”

 

“Khrya-ya-ya-ya” The Honey Badger growled to scare off whatever was making it feel and hear that sound. 

 

The growl displayed his displeasure. The growl also sent along a message that whatever it was, it would feel his fury if it bothered him again.

 

“Xxxxxx” 

 

“Eeep” The Honey Badger pronounced as the foreign sound he heard felt somehow closer. He desperately growled as his body turned and turned, only to see nothing attacking him.

 

“Exxxxx” 

 

“Eeep” Again, the Honey Badger was surprised. The sound became stronger and clearer somehow. 

 

His instinct to defend himself reached its peak. 

 

He growled and growled for all to hear alongside that strange feeling inside him that grew stronger. 

 

As if the message was delivered the sound stopped. It did not manifest again for quite some time, and just as its anger and fury began to subside, the strange feeling peaked again and became even stronger.

 

“Exannnnd” It was different from before, yet the same feeling. 

 

The Honey Badger, not liking it one bit, growled and growled, but then it came again, and this time it was enough for him. 

 

He ditched the snack that he snacked on and ran away.

 

Instinct told it to run and run. During the running, the sound came a few more times. 

 

Each time it was a bit different, but the Honey Badger cared not. He ran and ran when instinct told it to search for a burrow and hide inside. 

 

Through memory, it remembered one. Not long ago, he had used it. So when he reached it, he immediately snuck inside. 

 

He cared not if something else found it in the meantime and made it its home. He would rip it apart, but fortunately, nothing had taken residence in the short timeframe.

 

Once he was inside, he hid as deep as possible. The few first minutes he hid there, nothing was heard, but as if its luck told otherwise, it came again.

 

Only this time it was so clear that the Honey Badger instantly recognized that the sound came not from the outside but from the weird feeling he had these few days.

 

“Alexander” 

 

He did not know if there was a meaning to it or not. He did not know if it was a warning of some kind, nor did he care. 

 

“ Khrya-ya-ya-ya” The Honey Badger growled his intent at that strange feeling inside and somehow delivered his desire.

 

A second later, a reply came to him. Different sounds rattled his little mind, but somehow he understood parts of it.

 

“Look, buddy. There is no need to panic. I won't hurt you. I just want us to be friends. ” 

 

The sounds carried a calming sensation to his mind, all while telling him it was not an enemy.

 

“Khrya-ya-ya-ya” Still growling, the Honey Badger somehow focused on that feeling inside to deliver the message. 

 

The message was simple. 

 

Stay away, it said.

 

How much of the message was delivered, he did not know, but a second later, more sounds came his way.

 

“Weird how I can understand your growling, sort of, but sure. I will leave. We can just repeat this process until we are comfortable with each other.”

 

“ Cya soon, Alexander.”

 

Again, The Honey Badger understood some things, and it did not like it one bit. 

 

“ Khyra-ya.ya.ya.[Don't come back]” He growled again at the strange feeling. 

 

“ Hmm, can't do that buddy. I am sorry, but we are bonded for life. Once you're used to me, I am sure we will be the best of buddies. Hence, I will take my leave now, but I will pay you a visit soon.”

 

Parts, he understood, parts, he did not, but the most important part, he did understand. 

 

The strange feeling inside him subsided slowly, but he knew that the sound and the strange feeling would return. 

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