Chapter 10: 13. Awakening Part 2

Ajax does not want to consider all the ramifications of disappearing off the face of the Earth, so he obliges Shaula’s request. He focuses on his sight first. He tries to focus on things that he cannot see clearly now. As if the focal vision of his eye shifted into a new gear, he found that he could see the details of leaves way too clearly; even those leaves that were hundreds of meters above him. He unfocuses and his eyesight returns to its normal zoom, as if he were given amazing camera lenses as his irises and pupils.

Soon, he tests his hearing. He listens for sounds in the distance. He can hear animals walking through the branches of the trees above him. He could not hear any of them since he woke up but as soon as he tried to focus, he was made aware of how truly teeming with life this forest is. He describes to Shaula what he is hearing.

“Above us, high in the trees, I think there are a lot of animals, small ones mostly. I see… a deer like thing with bright horns.”

Far in the distance, he can see a deer hopping through the canopy half a kilometer above him, through the sparse groupings of blue leaves and bone-white branches. If he listens to it a bit more carefully, cutting out all of the unnecessary sounds, he can hear…

“I-I can hear the heartbeat. I can hear the fucking hearbeat of that fucking deer! Holy fuck, holy fuck! Shaula, are you sure this isn’t a dream or something? This is way too crazy, isn’t it?”

Shaula pinches him, hard.

“AAAHHH, fuck, what the hell!?”

“You feel that shit, right? Ajax, I’m on the verge of fucking losing my head, alright? Do not fucking tell me that this is a dream. Do not.”

Ajax looks at Shaula. Her voice is trembling. He had almost forgotten what she must be feeling. He looks at her eyes. They are slightly red and a bit puffy. It is obvious to him now that she has been crying. Unconsciously, he peers into her body and hears her rapidly beating heart. She is seriously scared now.

“Shaula, what’s going on? Calm down, calm down! Your heart is beating really fast right now.”

“Thanks, I can hear it just fine myself… *sigh* This crazy looking forest is filled with a lot of animals. You smell that too don’t you?”

Smell? Ajax lifts his nose up and tries to perceive the smell that Shaula is referring to. There is only one smell, a smell that pervades every cubic meter of this forest. It is sweet. He didn’t notice it earlier because it is everywhere. A really sweet scent, too sweet, too thick. He gets up off the ground, standing on his bare feet and moves closer to a shimmering blue leaf on the ground. He gets just close enough without touching it. The smell is coming from the leaves. Shaula continues to speak with careful words.

“This forest has a lot of animals we don’t know about and that smell really isn’t helping with my worry here. Who knows what poisons are just wafting around while we’re in the middle of it all. Even if we aren’t affected now, how long will it take for us to drop dead? We have to get out of here and we have to make sure to step on as few leaves as possible while not touching anything else. Don’t touch anything. Don’t eat anything, don’t drink any dew, don’t chew any leaves, nothing, alright?”

“Y-Yeah, you’re right. This place is completely alien. Anything and everything could kill us, like shit could be made of arsenic or cyanide, who fucking knows…”

“We need to figure out how to survive before we start moving. Less surprises that way, don’t you agree?”

“Good idea, even if the both of us are here and not back on Earth, I’m still not gonna let you die.”

Shaula makes a slightly tired expression. Of course. Of course, he would behave this way even in another world. He is one to think about his friends before considering himself. She’s not going to let him die either, he will never die. The last person important to her in this entire universe is fated to die long after she does, that is her unspoken vow.

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First off, in order to properly formulate a survival plan, the two of them consider their higher level senses. They can see, hear, smell and feel things with much more detail and clarity. They can certainly watch out for the sight, sound and scent of the larger unknown lifeforms. A place like this with trees as tall as skyscrapers is probably packed with large monsters. They have not explored their sense of touch yet but on their naked bodies they can feel much more of the micromovements of the air. They do not know how to use that enhanced sense just yet but they tell each other to be aware.

However, their sense of touch brings up a curiosity in Ajax.

“Shaula… do you feel hot or anything?”

“No, I don’t, it’s probably spring or fall or something here.”

“But, you don’t feel cold either, right?”

“...Wait. How did I not notice that yet?”

Ajax brings up an important point. Neither of them feel hot, nor cold. At all. Even as the wind brushes across their still exposed bodies, there is no feeling of chill or breeze. Even on hot days, a working fan can cool the human body significantly.

“We can’t feel the temperature?” Ajax asks this question in slight worry. So far they have gained new power, but it seems it came with some drawbacks.

“No, I guess not. Why is that? I mean, our sense of touch should be fully overclocked right now, we should be feeling even more hot and cold than normal, right?” Shaula considers this issue carefully. Without the ability to feel temperature, it would be much harder to learn whether their bodies are in temperatures too hot or too cold for them to continue to live. Even now, they could be in a forest with forty degree Celsius heat for all they know. They aren’t sweating, but even that could be because their bodies cannot sense temperature anymore and do not respond to their surroundings through perspiration. Ajax raises his voice and interrupts Shaula’s considerations.

“About that too… I’m feeling something else in the air. It doesn’t feel… exactly like temperature or even air specifically… Here, let me see what it is.”

Ajax raises his hand into the air. He feels around for that certain something that is permeating his surroundings. It is everywhere. The air is concentrated with it and if he tries a little, maybe he can…

“Holy shit. This isn’t a dream, but it’s too good to be fucking reality! What the fuck did you do?”

“I-I don’t know. It… it looks like…”

In the center of his palm, Ajax can see a small, partially transparent sphere of what can only be ice. Gaseous water vapor, the kind that he would only see on winter days or flowing out of his freezer, is wafting off of it. But, his hand isn’t cold. He can feel no cold coming from the vapor. But, it has to be cold, he can see the water vapor, so it has to be really cold indeed. He holds the marble of ice in his hand as if it were a small, fragile embryo and carefully passes it to Shaula. She grabs it out of his hand and holds it with her index finger and thumb.

“I… I can’t feel the cold coming off this thing. How did you do this?”

Shaula looks back at him in pure joy and curiosity. Of course, he has no idea.

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