“You made it through day one,” he told himself. “Day two will take care of itself.”
He wrapped his arms around himself in lieu of a blanket, wishing he was back in his maturia bed. He was alone and afraid, but part of him was loving this. He guessed it was the freedom of it, and focused on that sensation rather than the fear. If he had his parent’s habits and tendencies in him, he might as well use them right now. Otherwise he was just going to be a ball of fear.
And that wasn’t going to help him.
Darren ate one more ration bar, then with the tent fully heated, he let himself rest for a bit and fell asleep far faster than he expected…
5
December 15, 158399
Toyland System (Vinshen Kingdom)
Terapye
Darren had been walking through the valley floors, up and over ridgelines, and having to backtrack a half dozen times when he came to impassible terrain over the past three days, all the while following the direction finder that gave him no idea of the distance he needed to travel. His supplies were three quarters gone and he was beginning to worry about running out, though his other worries had since faded away.
He was able to move through the snow and rocky terrain with predictability now, and after his first night he no longer feared being alone. That first emotional day had been rough, but now it was like his genetic legacy was kicking in and he felt a confidence he didn’t think he truly deserved.
That was normal, though. Feeling and thinking things that he didn’t ever remember learning. Maybe he did and he just forgot, but the challenge of what was before him was satisfying as he covered ground towards his unknown objective…but the dwindling food was not something he could brave his way through.
There wasn’t anything visible up here to eat, and even if he did find some local wildlife he wasn’t going to eat them. Those that did were referred to as ‘feral,’ and it was the polar opposite of civilization…rather a failure of civilization, but something that all races seemed to have the potential to devolve into if all else failed. No Furyan had ever gone feral, but they’d been warned that there were instincts in them that could be awakened that would put them in that state if they embraced them, and Darren was not going to start down that path. Nor could he kill someone else, no matter how primitive, on purpose. But what if he found a dead one just lying there?
No. He’d push through with no food if he had to. This was all planned, so they weren’t going to have to starve to death…unless there was a way to find food out here and they had to discover it? That would be like the trainers, so as Darren walked he considered what could be eaten out here.
With all the snow, roots were the best option if this area had a summer season. If it didn’t, then there probably wasn’t going to be anything to eat unless you could digest cellulose, and that was one psionic that he didn’t have unlocked. Why he didn’t know, for it would have been useful to eat the spiky green leaves, but without that particular digestive enzyme the calories in them wouldn’t be accessible, only minerals, vitamins, and other stuff that were useful but couldn’t be used as energy.
People who lived in these environments either could digest cellulose, which most plants’ structures were built on, or they killed and ate those who did. But with civilization you had another option, and in his pack was a piece of a larger machine that was useless to him now, and he suspected it would combine with those of the others to give them the ability to manufacture food out here.
At least he hoped. He couldn’t identify what it was, but if they were to live out here without getting resupply, they’d have to make their own food…or he’d have to learn something about this environment he didn’t know. All he did know at the moment was the direction he needed to move towards, but the dwindling supplies in his pack was not something he could completely ignore.
The tracker was pointed in a straight line, but the terrain was not so straight and veered to the right again. That meant he had to go up and over or hope the valley turned left later. He didn’t have time to go out of his way again on that hope, so he started climbing with heavy steps as he sensed another storm coming.
Darren decided not to wait it out, wanting to get up to the top before he got another foot of snow to deal with. Sliding down the snow was far easier than trudging up through it, so he pressed on and got blanketed in white just before he got to the bare rock up top and actually climbed above the clouds that were dumping the precipitation.
And up here it was actually sunny. Cold, but sunny. He traveled a bit further to the peak and posed there, looking back at the storm in the valley he had come from that obscured it like a fog, and then at the other side which had no storm…at least not yet. He was on an extra high spot, and further down the way he had come he could see it start to spill over a lower section.
It was going to work its way back to him, he guessed, so he didn’t waste time and started to descend carefully, trying to avoid a cliff that would
