"I am alive," he muttered and then chuckled before coughing terribly. His mouth and throat felt immensely dry and his fatigue still lingered. Setbacks, regardless, he was still alive.
He tried to get up, and even that was a struggle. He however managed to get away from beneath the sun to the trees for some shade when his belly sounded, and he moved his right hand over it. He was hungry.
His face contorted with a countenance of confusion. He had eaten so much beyond his fill last night, and yet, it was like he had not eaten for at least three days.
"Ahhh!" He cried over the pain, and let himself slid down to the foot of the tree he leaned against, hoping for a little more rest.
His lids fell over multiple times, and just when he might fall into another deep sleep, he shook his head strongly, and got up with an awkward gait.
'I would die if I were to sleep some more.'
Luckily, he was in a forest, a food source could not be that far away, and so he began walking, slowly but steadily. He did this enduring task in his condition for about fifteen minutes before sighting a fruiting tree, and to nobody's surprise, it was occupied, the inhabitants of the forest too had to eat it seems.
The fruits however were far up, about four meters above, and he had no way of getting up there, not in this condition.
He let out a soft groan as he bent to pick up a piece of rock. He eyed the colorful squirrel-like creatures joyfully feeding on the fruit's pulp, and he prayed that they get out of the way for him to make the shot.
They did not, they were not even vaguely aware of his presence, and this frustrated Mike. He gathered the last bits of his strength and threw the rock. It struck just inches away from the fruit, but it did as he had wanted. The radiant rodents scrammed upon the impact and they left the large red pulpy fruits they had been burrowing.
He took another rock and threw it to the bundle of fruits. It struck, and so many came down falling.
Mike gazed above with so much joy as they fell, it was like he had struck an oasis in a desert, and once the fruits struck the ground, he hurriedly ran to them, chopping on the one closest to him, and switching to another for a chomp. He bit and bit with frenzy, that the juice splattered across his shirt and face. He ate so much—about a dozen until a feeling of fullness and satisfaction surfaced, yet, it was not enough. He was still hungry, and he could tell that the bright fruits weren't going to curb his dissatisfaction, not anymore. But, at the very least, he still had enough energy to walk as he normally did, however the fatigue, dry mouth and throat still lingered.
"I need to get water, proper water this time."
As he walked, he began recalling his previous night—the chase that had almost cost him his life. It had been a close call, and honestly, when he gave the command, he had not expected that he would live, all he wanted was to inflict as much damage as he could before he died, obstinate about taking as many as he could to hell with him.
He thought of his new partner the chains, and how they deserted him towards the end of his consciousness. Partly. After all, they were responsible for conjuring up the radiant beast. However, speaking of the chains….
"They have been awfully silent."
He stopped, approaching a wall of vines between trees.
"Hmmm…" He looked to his hands, and then back to the vines. He spun building momentum and then swiped his right arm. He had expected a blast of wind to erupt from his hand and sweep away the vines, but nothing came.
There was nothing, no feeling of radiance, and no presence of the crimson chains. It was like he was a common man again, and that made him afraid. He hurriedly turned, and scurried with slight panic.
This world so far has shown itself to be lawless and barbaric, and though the chains were terrible, especially with how they controlled him and overrode his will, they made him feel protected and powerful.
However now, he felt that he had nothing—like a naked prey waltzing into a predator's arms.
He gulped thinking of how helpless he truly was.
"No, no, no. I have just merely used up all my energy in that fight, I sent all that I had to the beast to protect me. Yes, that must have been it. I used so much energy that I feel tired, and perhaps the chains are resting or are dormant for the time being. That should be it."
His thoughts shifted to the dwarves' corpse he woke up to. He had moved away over the sun's flare, but thinking back at it, he recalled that the bodies were not complete. They were terribly mutilated due to whatever the beast had done, but clearly, some survived.
It delighted Mike to have seen Xenar's corpse. Of all the dwarves, he and the chief were the most distinguishable, that even though he laid dead on his face, he could still tell that it was him, that thick wall of hair that ran only through the center partitioning the bald sides left such an impression on Mike.
The dwarf had mistaken him for another, and though his physique and shape was very similar to the diagram, Mike lacked the obvious pointy long ears that the creature had, though they could not see it.
"It seems that dwarves do not have the best eyesight." After all, they had such large folds as eyelids over their small eyes.
He had walked for almost an hour now, and the drowning fatigue from earlier had really begun to surface. Then, he sighted a lush bush of berries.
His mouth watered at the sight to indulge himself.