Chapter 2: Chapter 2

 Silver pushed the branches of a particularly large bush out of his way as he trudged forward. It was his fourth day inside this forest, and he was bone weary. So far on his new fantasy journey he had not seen a single sign of civilization. Just more beasts and odd flora. In the beginning he had been intrigued by all the new sights, even when his life was in danger. Yesterday when he was drinking in the river, he saw a literal harpy. She had the most beautiful face, the body of a young woman, with 3-meter-long wings for arms and very supple human-like thighs that ended in bird-like taloned calves. Apparently she was also dangerous, as he had learned when he put her in stasis after she dove at him and he almost lost an arm.

He’d learned over his now numerous brushes with death that the more he used his abilities, the less ‘full’ he felt. The abilities started to feel less foreign. He felt surer, more confident. More…compact. And his eyes ached less, which was great.

He had slept where he could and when he could.

  The first night he hadn’t slept at all. Terrified, huddling in a hollow beneath the roots of a large banyan tree overnight. It was damp and cold and smelled of piss, but he had been safe for a night. The next night he climbed a small tree that had thick, low hanging branches; he climbed as high as he comfortably could then slept in the interweaving branches that made up the crown.

He stayed to the river during the day, moving upstream. He didn’t have any survival training, but he felt like it was smart; and he’d probably seen it on television at some point. He was near water, and civilization was bound to be near it somewhere whether he went upstream or down. It helped that there were plenty of odd fruits near the water. His new monster memories and instincts combined helped him avoid whatever was poisonous.

  He kept his new eyes and old ears open as he walked. The monsters seemed to be getting less dangerous, or less likely to outright attack, as he moved in this direction, which seemed like a good sign.

His mind was constantly thinking back on the monster he had fled from. It hadn’t come after him even after all this time and he thought that was great news. He had its fragmented memories in his head, though, and knew it was a cunning, vindictive monster. But he honestly believed it was not following him.

He started thinking about home as he walked, letting his mind drift to relieve the monotony. How did he end up here? Did he die? Some type of mirror world experiment gone wrong nearby his apartment? Aliens? Particle Collider? There was actually some food for thought there that he would dwell on later when he was safer.

He wasn’t on particularly great terms with his family so he wasn’t worried about how they felt. That had been a broken home for years. His mother and father divorced in the early years of his adulthood. Like a story out of a bad tv drama, his fiancé had cheated on him with his own father. He wasn’t the one who caught them, though. No! It was his poor mother, who then blamed him for bringing a tramp near their family and letting her seduce her husband. Needless to say, the arguments were very vicious, let alone the legal allegations that cropped up later. Everything ended somewhat abruptly after about a year, but the family was already beyond saving by that point, and everyone had grown estranged. He moved two states away and never got back in contact with any of his family.

He suddenly became very aware of how distracted he had let himself become when he heard rustling leaves coming from above him. He looked up to see his old friend, the scaled lemur monster.

  This one seemed different. Bulkier, meaner, as it just leered down on him. Somewhat like some in-between version of the lemur and the big ape that attacked him a few days back. He was beginning to hate these insufferable reptilian lemurs.

The lemur lowered into a crouch on the branch before launching itself at him all in one fluid movement. He panicked for a moment as the creature flew towards him, winded a punch aimed at his face. He could almost see in slow motion as it pulled its fist back and the muscles in its biceps began to bulge unnaturally.

He crouched to avoid the punch, feeling the wind as the lemur flew above his head. He glanced over his shoulder just in time to see the monster unleash a kick into his back. The force from the blow sent him sprawling. He scrambled in the dirt for a moment before standing and swiveling around to face his opponent. Unlike his embarrassing display, the scaled lemur used the momentum from his kick to flip and land gracefully, casually turning to face him. Confidence in its bestial gaze.

It was standing at its full height now, coming up to his chest in stature, but significantly more well-muscled.

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He tried to calm himself. He decided to slow the monster again like he’d done with the others and then run away. That was his plan, but the lemur was already lunging again, a punch landing in his midsection then an uppercut to his chin, dazing him. The monster sent a swift kick to his side, launching him away into a tree. He hit the tree hard, bouncing off the steel-like wood to hit the ground hard and lay there panting.

All he needed was a glance, and then he could run away again. He looked at the monster, but he could feel himself getting angry. He didn’t want to keep running away. He hated this feeling. Helplessness. Fear. Confusion. It wasn’t just how he felt since coming here, to this new world of monsters and power. It was how he felt on Earth too. Powerless. Tired. Cheated. He was always on the bottom. Humiliated by his father, belittled and mocked by his mother, pitied and made a joke of by friends.

The lemur seemed to sneer at him, barking out a very humanlike laugh in an octive too deep and hoarse to come from a man’s throat. It found his situation funny. It was mocking him. Just like her. It looked down on him. Just as his father had.

He glared at it, a guttural growl echoing from his throat, a primal part of his mind whispering feral thoughts into his anger clouded mind.

Freeze, he thought. Watching as the creature’s movements stopped and its laugh cut off abruptly. It didn’t even have time to realize anything was wrong.

He pushed himself up painfully and casually mimicked the lemur style as he approached it. He even tried to imitate its sneer and confidence.

“Doesn’t feel great, does it?” He said, “Being helpless. Your body won’t move like you want it to. I don’t really get it, but I know that you can’t touch me until this wears off. You’re just a stupid ass sitting duck.” He circled the frozen simian and he talked, looking down on it. “You know, it feels kinda good to be in this position.”

He locked eyes with the beast, activating a different power with his glare.

“I think maybe, if I find more things my size, I might try fighting more. Build my confidence.” The monster seemed to be struggling in slow motion, trying to move away. Silver just held its eyes with his gaze, the monster unable to avert eye contact. Even as its feet turned to stone. As its legs hardened and continued up into its chest, and then its head. It remained alive, it’s eyes unable to widen in its stasis to show the creeping terror it felt until its final moment, it’s eyes and brain the last things to harden. Kept alive by Silver’s malevolent gaze.

When the process was done Silver dropped to his knees panting, his body covered in sweat. That had taken a lot of energy and concentration. He didn’t know how his new powers worked exactly, but they physically exhausted him somehow. The slow wasn’t that bad, but he was also sure it didn’t last very long unless he willed it to, which would probably be more tiring as well.

His head down, Silver knew that the horrible death he’d just inflicted on that creature should have bothered him. But he felt good inside. Like some ball of tightly knotted stress inside of him had finally begun being massaged free.

“That felt good.” He looked around. The forest was oddly silent now. He sat there, staring, not thinking about anything. Just momentarily at peace.

“That wasn’t a bad fight,” A voice suddenly sounded behind him.

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