Sol's tired, gloomy eyes moved slowly, taking in the area around him and what had happened there. The explosion must have been powerful—the yellow water was completely gone, leaving a big hole in the ground, and the trees were scorched. The ground... well, it was already dark, so the damage didn't show much.
"with everything burnt now... how am I supposed to find my way?"
His voice was flat and lifeless. He completely ignored the fact that he'd just been blown up by some weird substance. He looked around for any sign of where that big shadow in the sky had gone, but found nothing. Everything was burnt, leaving him with no direction.
"Should I just... pick a direction and hope for the best?"
He paused for a few seconds, then added in an even more miserable, self-mocking tone:
"Ah... yeah... then I will definitely be more lost than I am now."
Sol stood up and walked out of the burned area, circling it while carefully studying the ground. In the end, his effort paid off—he found tracks from the day before.
"I came from here..." He turned his head the other way. "So that's the way I need to go."
He grabbed some leaves from the trees, rubbed them together, tore them, and tied them into a sort of rope. He threaded more leaves onto it and made himself a makeshift skirt, long enough to cover him, with a tie to keep it up. He made a smaller cord and tied his long hair back.
"This'll do... Now I need water."
Same flat tone, same tired expression. He kept walking.
***
After about an hour or more of walking through the strange trees—half-naked, covered only by a few leaves tied with a small rope—he moved through the weird forest without really looking at anything. Like someone who'd lived here forever and was bored of it all, just searching for something new.
Everything he came across was either rocks—black with a slight bluish tint—or more plants. Unlike the rocks, the plants had blue parts that were more noticeable, though still dark. He passed many different kinds of trees, but found nothing he could eat, no fruit of any kind.
While walking, he suddenly felt a burning sting digging into his right forearm. He looked down and saw a strange creature on his arm.
It was an insect about the size of his forearm, gray, with two pairs of wings and a long tail wrapped around his arm. Two long pincers were buried deep in his flesh. But the burning pain wasn't from the pincers—it came from a long stinger that had extended from its abdomen and pierced his arm.
He raised his hand to hit it, but froze mid-motion, staring at the weird bug. Then he hit it lightly—just enough to hurt and scare it, making it let go without killing it. It worked exactly as he wanted. The bug pulled out its stinger, unwrapped its tail, released both pincers, spread its wings, and flew away silently. Not a sound. That's probably why he hadn't noticed it landing on him.
After the strange insect flew off, Sol noticed it left a weird mark on his arm. The skin was forming a spiral around the wound, which was bleeding crimson blood mixed with some sticky, foul-smelling black stuff.
He stared at it with dull eyes, like it didn't matter, then ignored it in silence.
He was pretty sure it was poison—the dark color alone was a bad sign. But he was even more sure that he wouldn't die, no matter what happened... no matter how much he wished he would.
Soon enough, the bite area started feeling tighter. The spiral pattern spread, covering his whole arm, and black lines crawled up his skin. His arm swelled up gradually.
Sol felt intense heat coming from the bite—like continuous burning fire. The heat spread through his whole body, making him sweat heavily. His eyes watered, blurring his vision, and moving became harder. He staggered, struggling to breathe, but his expression barely changed... Well, maybe a little.
He leaned against a nearby tree, gasping. His breathing was loud—a rattling sound like something scraping his windpipe—but even that wasn't as loud as his heart pounding in his chest.
"Damn you... you fucking body."
His arm swelled up fast, soon becoming the size of a basketball—maybe bigger—and even shaped kind of like one. The skin was twisted into a tight spiral, and at the very top, the bite oozed black sticky stuff that smelled awful. The black lines reached his face.
Sol gritted his teeth hard. His face showed clear pain and exhaustion, turning bluish. Moving got even harder. But not for long.
The black lines slowly faded. His arm gradually shrank back to normal, skin healing, the wound closing up. All of this happened very slowly—like his body was deliberately taking its time, making sure he felt every bit of the pain.
He tried walking toward a tree, leaning on himself, forcing himself to keep going—but he couldn't. His legs felt too light, which was a bad thing. Moving them was like walking through a nightmare, and regeneration didn't help with that.
Regeneration fixed torn tissue, healed cells damaged by poison or disease, rebuilt broken bones—but it didn't stop tiredness or pain. Actually, regeneration itself hurt the most. He could feel his flesh knitting together, nerves sending every awful sensation through him, and each time it just made him more exhausted without any break. And regeneration was getting slower. He really needed rest.
He looked at the sky above and said, tired:
"it's getting dark... enough walking for today."
Sol gathered wood from around him, which took a while. He piled the wood but didn't light anything until he'd checked himself thoroughly—made sure he wasn't wet with anything flammable or explosive. He'd learned his lesson. Then he lit a fire, which didn't take long.
Night crept across the sky, slowly covering everything in darkness. No problem though—the fire was going now. Nothing should disturb his rest tonight.
Sol stared with dull, tired eyes at the warm campfire, saying nothing. Alone, like always, surrounded by darkness. But then, suddenly, something unexpected happened.
The tree trunks and the tops of leaves and plants started glowing with a beautiful blue light. Tiny things flew through the air, glowing the same color like little fairies. The light reflected off the rocks and spread everywhere.
Sol looked at the beautiful glowing trees around him. His eyes opened a little wider. The corners of his mouth slowly lifted into a tiny smile—barely even a smile—then dropped back down, and his gloomy, hopeless, tired expression returned.
He turned away from the beautiful scene surrounding him and stared at the fire instead. He knew the firelight would chase away the blue glow, so he kept his eyes fixed on it.
***
After about four hours or maybe more, Sol sat watching the fire without moving. He stayed completely still—anyone seeing him from a distance would've thought he was dead, his spirit already gone. But no. Death was a privilege, something granted only to those who deserved mercy... and he didn't. At least, that's what Sol believed.
"I can't sleep... This is good..."
Sol spoke again in that same flat tone, his eyes clearly showing the pain he kept inside—the exhaustion, the tiredness, those dark circles underneath—while he stared silently at the fire, surrounded by the beautiful glowing trees.