Hours later, when Ezekiel came to, he was lying down on the ground, with his back covered in grass. He didn't know how much time had passed, he looked up for some guidance, but the sun was still shining brightly. As he took a deep breath, he began sweating profusely and was gasping for air. So much had happened in a such short period of time, that he wasn't able to process everything that happened, but now he was paying the price for it. He was panicking and shaking non stop, he could feel his chest getting tighter and the air getting thicker. Ezekiel used all of his strength to sit up and try and calm himself down. He hadn't ate anything for days, nor had he drank anything for hours. Despite Ezekiel being accustomed to going long periods of time without food or water, he wasn't used to going so long without it, while using that much energy. He looked around in search of something. Anything would of done, but there wasn't any food or water in sight and Ezekiel didn't have the energy to walk any longer.
"Grandad! Help me! I need your help! I'm hungry and thirsty and I can't move. So please help me!" Ezekiel shouted.
But the only reply Ezekiel received was from the insects and the birds in the distance. He was all alone.
"Boy stop your whining and get up. A human being can go three days without water and months without food. But you're a Fushigi now, so this should be a walk in the park, so get up and save yourself because if you don't you will die." "How can you be insensitive?" "It's the harsh reality of things. In life you need to understand no one is coming to save you. Yes you may get lucky sometimes, but its no ones responsibility to save you, but instead its your responsibility to be strong enough to look after yourself and if you're unable to do that… You will die. So boy you have a choice: you can either sit here; complain and die or take action and fight to survive." "But… But its not that easy." "You're not wrong to say that, but do it anyway. Its not easy, but its certainly possible, so if its possible its bearable and if its bearable persevere through the pain and save yourself. But first you have to get up and take the first step. And then everything after that will be easy."
Ezekiel clenched his fist and hit it against the ground in anger. He used that rage to get himself up off of the ground. Once he was up, he looked around and saw nothing but a heard of elephants in the distance. Instead of trying to avoid the animals like previously, he decided to approach them this time, so he began his long walk towards the elephants.
After a couple minutes of walking he hears something moving around in the grass. It sounds small and unthreatening, but Ezekiel was still cautious. He stood still and listened as closely as he could. He could hear soft growls, which suggested it was a baby and it was harmless, so Ezekiel ignored it and kept on walking towards the elephants in the distance.
After around an hour passed, the elephants were still where they were and were a lot more visible, in addition to that, Ezekiel could also vaguely see water, but the elephants in the way are blocking it, so he doesn't know for sure, but what was unusual to him was that is was silent. Eerily silent. There wasn't any sounds of birds nearby, nor were there any sounds of insects, it was dead silent. With the sun setting, everything was less visible and it was harder for Ezekiel to see what was in the grass, but despite that Ezekiel was able to identify something black in the grass to the left of him and it was approaching him very slowly. He didn't know what it was, so he didn't know if he should run or fight. He stood still, turned to his left and began watching it, as he did it stopped moving. For a moment Ezekiel thought his mind was playing tricks on him, now to his right and left he could see multiple black things approaching him. It was an ambush. He knew it wasn't lions, since they're not black, but he was still unsure what it was and what to do about it.
"Boy, whatever you do, do not run." "Why, what's going on?" "It's an ambush by hyena's, they've got you surrounded." "Should I just charge forward, since there's only one of them in front of me?" "No, they'd be able to catch you since you're tired." "Then what shall I do?" "They can't see that well in the daytime, so be quiet, stay low and slowly walk forward."
Ezekiel got low to the ground and slowly crept towards the direction of the elephants.
He made it a few paces forward, but there was a hyena walking right beside him. Ezekiel didn't move, nor did he breathe. He anxiously stayed as still as possible. His hands were sweaty and the hyena stopped walking and looked at Ezekiel's direction. Ezekiel didn't stare back, but put his head down instead. He wasn't even looking at the ground below him, because all his concentration went to his hearing, he was listening to everything. The wind, the birds in the distance, the sound of the insects and most importantly the hyena beside him. He could hear it all. Then finally he heard movement from the hyena and the sound of the hyena got quitter, which signified it was getting further away from him, so he continued making his way to where the elephants were.