A man covered in a net of torn animal skin, which did nothing to protect him, was standing in front of Flieday. His thigh was bleeding heavily; with the blood covering his leg and upper body.
The man was standing in a small crack which was connected to the crack Flieday was in.
"What happened?"
"Well… I was collecting bedrock leaves, and this happened"
Flieday quickly used the bedrock leaves which were keeping her warm to make a makeshift blood blockage. Hadrien nodded softly and let her tend to his injury.
"The cracks in the tree are warm," Flieday said as she finished treating his injuries. The air was indeed humid and had a soft warmness in it.
"They are interconnected too, the cracks."
Flieday nodded; they were hiding in the bedrock tree from a mysterious Grade 3 gravity creature thing, so what could be their biggest problem…
"We really, really need a healing beast, water, food and more water," Flieday mumbled to herself.
She stood up in the small crack; the place was so small she couldn't stand up properly, and layers of animal skin and leaves would make it hard for her to walk.
The place was warm anyway. thus she took out the unneeded leaves and animal skin, leaving only a single layer of leaves with two vines holding them.
"Where did the animal hide come from?" Flieday was not looking at Hadrien though; she was inspecting the walls of bark near her.
"Some animals were stuck in the tree; I simply killed them and brought them here…"
"How many days would their meat last us?"
Their survival was going to be hard; she could already feel it. The future arguments, distrust, and fights were bound to come.
"Well… about three days if we ration."
"We can't have a fire here, right?" Without cooking the meat, they wouldn't survive; the bedrock tree doesn't have any fruits either. Flieday had a grim expression as she was walking towards other cracks.
"..." Hadrien did not respond, which was an answer in a way.
"Let us explore first… no water, let us get some snow first."
…
Winds blew wildly as bone-chilling cold assaulted a girl who was dyed blue. She was not wearing enough layers of animal skins to survive in such weather. A young man covered with leaves bound by vines was following her as they both climbed the bedrock tree.
The climb did not strain them because they had to keep themselves from falling to their demise. Rather, they had to work hard not to fly off to the sky!
"Aghh!"
Flieday cried out as she stuffed her hand into a crack, her muscles were working overtime for her to not fly out and die by the creature's gravity.
The snow they were finding was stuck on the bases of bedrock leaves. presumably having floated from near the base of the tree into the leaves; thus even water was limited.
…
A young boy was floating on a river, his purple hair sprawled in the water as he floated downstream. The boy was unconscious, his covering barely doing anything to protect him against sharp rocks. The tan young man was floating towards a huge rock; it was as sharp as a sword, sharpened by the flow of the river it cut.
The man was a few metres from the sharp rock, completely unconscious. Inch by inch his body was dashing towards the rock. His left thigh was instantly pierced, forming a dire wound.
The wound formed a huge cut, running from his knees to waist with his red bone visible; the immense pain made Elias Kiefer regain his consciousness.
"Where… am I?"
I was running… running away from the river? No, no, I was running towards the river.
Elias immediately started sinking like a rock, unable to keep floating or swimming in agony.
"The fuck! How the hell did I get injured!" he shouted underwater as bubbles left his mouth; unable to breathe, he tried to swim.
His leg was in harrowing pain, as if it were being constantly stabbed by needles or something was cutting it multiple times with a knife; his body was exhausted.
Even moving felt like a chore, but he had to keep swimming; he had to survive after all.
He moved his body forcefully, slowly getting used to the pain. After a few minutes, he could barely think normally; albeit extremely hard to do so.
I am in a river which I do not recognise…
The river seemed endless, like an ocean, not daring to show its riverbed. A thick curtain of mist hid the sky and surroundings.
Elias was swimming without knowing where he was going, desperately trying not to sink. He could not simply float because of two reasons: one was that he had to find a place to rest and recuperate.
Second were the unusually sharp rocks sticking out of the river like sharp blades made to chop anyone who dared to rest. The mist further made it hard to dodge by surprising him with protruding rocks, forcing Elias to be vigilant.
He kept swimming; it had been an hour now. At least that's what it felt like. There was no ground in sight; the rocks were sharp enough to cut him but too small to sit on.
As he kept swimming; doubt crept up into his mind… Will I be able to even find a place to rest? Even if I find one, how will I survive and escape?
My body will give up soon… will my journey to strength end like this?
But his doubt did not weaken his resolve; He had to keep swimming till he found a place to recuperate. That is the only thing important right now.
Elias felt his hands becoming numb from the cold water; his legs weakening from lack of energy. Muscle cramps were molesting his senses, making it hard to keep swimming.
His mind was becoming sloppy, earning him more cuts and wounds.
Is this the end…? No! I refuse to let it end like this.
But the world was cruel; he kept swimming and cutting himself with enough rocks to die already. He kept swimming no matter what.
Each second felt endlessly long; each breath was a struggle against losing consciousness. His eyelids were threatening to relax at any second.
And they did... but he forcefully pulled them up and saw something which brought relief to his very existence, before serving him with confusion as a dessert.
There was a big black platform in front of Elias Kiefer; as Elias got close to it, realizing that it was hovering just above the water, being a perfect cube in size.
The perfect cube seemed to have sides equivalent to roughly a metre as it floated just above the flow of the river.
Elias, as confused as he may be, did not think twice before climbing it and sitting on the black cube.
Instantly he closed his eyes and slept. He did not choose to sleep, but his strengthened body forced him. When he woke up, he felt even more baffled.
"Why am I not bleeding?"
He laughed loudly as he inspected his wound; it was indeed not leaking a drop of blood. it just showed his injured muscles and tendons.