Reality

Being alive means everything is on the line.

"Ahhhhhhhg!"

Tristan's voice erupted in a raw cry of terror as he saw it looming in the shadows, a grotesque figure shrouded in darkness.

"Why me? Why me!" he pleaded, panic clawing at his throat.

The thing drew closer, a silhouette against the dim light, and as it emerged from the gloom, Tristan's heart sank. It was him—yet not him. The smile that stretched across its face was a twisted mockery, and its eyes, black as the abyss, glinted with malevolence.

"Accept me!" it screamed, a voice that reverberated through his very bones, yet Tristan remained paralyzed, tears streaming down his cheeks.

Its grin widened, revealing teeth sharp and jagged like shards of glass. "Aren't you going to fight me?"

"I can't and I won't, I need . . ."

"Strength?" the doppelgänger hissed, its tone dripping with sinister amusement.

Tristan looked up, locking eyes with the thing. Those abyssal orbs seemed to swirl with dark thoughts, contemplating the depths of his despair.

"You know you won't be the same again," it whispered, each word a dagger. "A part of you will be gone, replaced by me."

With a trembling hand, Tristan reached out toward this haunting reflection of himself, a desperate yearning for wholeness. From that moment, they became one—his essence entwined with the shadow of his fears.

Memories flooded his mind like a torrent, each one a reminder of his traumatic past.

"Experimental subject (PV) shall now be initialized into the testing phase."

The fear that those words stirred within him jolted Tristan awake, his heart racing.

He blinked against the dim light, fatigue weighing heavily on his limbs, pain radiating through his body. Ahead loomed a massive hole, a jagged opening leading to the outside world.

His gaze fell upon the ground, where a book lay half-buried in debris, alongside the black sphere he had salvaged from the escape pod.

Crawling over, he grasped the sphere, and in an instant, it transformed into the sword he had wielded before, its blade gleaming ominously in the sparse light.

Turning his attention to the book, a strange expression crossed his face. The strangeness of the book's appearance was eclipsed by an urgent need to find safety, to recollect his thoughts in this alien and perilous realm.

He clutched the book tightly and began to move toward the opening, each step echoing with the roar of the relentless rain outside.

As he approached the threshold, he noticed a source of illumination—a towering plant, nearly eight meters high, its stem a deep, unsettling shade of green.

The flower, hunched over like an ancient, dying sage, emitted a soft, pulsating glow that beckoned him closer.

Fascinated yet wary, Tristan kept his distance; it was wise to avoid troubling the unknown in this strange and treacherous world.

Suddenly, the book in his grasp levitated, its pages flipping wildly as if caught in an unseen wind.

A surge of fear gripped him at this unexpected display. The pages halted, and a line of ominous text materialized before him:

**Glowbos Flower**

*A carnivorous plant that attracts insects and animals with its soothing radiance. Once in proximity, you will be enveloped in a sleeping gas, followed by the plant's roots that will rise and inject you with lethal doses of venom, killing you instantly. It will then proceed to bury your body to fully absorb the nutrients.*

Panic surged through Tristan as he absorbed the description. He instinctively backed away another three feet from the sinister bloom, dread curling in his stomach.

His focus shifted from the plant to the outside world, where darkness reigned. The rain intensified, reducing visibility to a near-zero veil.

Suddenly, dim lights began to flicker into existence, one after another, each glimmer igniting anxiety in his heart. It felt as though death itself was beckoning him forward, but he couldn't remain here; he could feel that thing stalking him from behind.

Glancing back, he saw nothing but shadows, yet every instinct screamed that he was not alone.

With death looming behind and uncertainty ahead, Tristan took a deep breath and began to move forward, each step a battle against the rising dread.

The moment he stepped outside, the cold rain enveloped him, soaking through his clothes in an instant.

Steam began to rise around him as the fabric clung to his skin, the heat contrasting sharply with the chilling downpour, creating an eerie mist that swirled around him like a shroud.

P

As he trudged through the relentless downpour, the cold rain drummed against his skin, each drop a tiny reminder of his isolation.

The air was thick with a chilling dampness, and soon he began to hear the faint, ghostly sound of chattering echoing through the darkness around him.

The eerie onslaught of noise sent shivers down his spine, urging him to seek the nearest flicker of light—a beacon in the oppressive gloom.

Yet, deep down, he understood that those glimmers often masked danger, luring the unsuspecting into their deadly embrace. With a weary heart, he pressed on, navigating the enveloping shadows.

After what felt like an eternity, he finally paused to catch his breath. It was then that the silence shattered, pierced by a haunting scream that echoed through the trees.

"Chyyyaaaaa!"

Startled, Tristan felt his grip tighten around the book in his hands. To his astonishment, it began to levitate, its pages fluttering wildly as if caught in an invisible wind.

The frantic flipping halted abruptly, and a line of ominous text materialized before him.

**Whaling Child**

*Do not be lured in by its familiar screams/cries; it's not what it seems. Go as far away as possible.*

The warning lingered in his mind, and as he absorbed the chilling message, the sensation of being pursued dissipated, offering him a fleeting sense of relief. This was his chance.

With renewed determination, he set off through the unfamiliar terrain, his thoughts drifting back to the days on Earth—days filled with warmth and familiarity.

But he was jolted back to reality by the sight before him: a hill, but not just any hill. It was blanketed in the luminescent glow of *glowbos* plants, their soft light pulsating like a heartbeat in the night.

He halted, weighing his options. His survival indicator flashed ominously, revealing a mere 30% chance of survival on the hill, while the surrounding forest offered a dismal 2%.

With a resolve born from desperation, he chose the hill.

Another hour slipped by, marked by an unsettling silence that hung heavily in the air. Despite the unease that accompanied him, he finally reached the base of the hill.

The glowbos plants shimmered brilliantly, casting an otherworldly glow that danced across the ground. He approached with caution, each step calculated.

As he neared the summit, he noticed an unsettling absence of light; the glowbos were sparse here, replaced by a flat expanse of normal shrubbery.

Towering trees loomed above him, their ancient trunks stretching 15 meters into the sky.

"Looking up, he felt a profound sense of insignificance; the towering trees around him paled in comparison to the ancient giants rising nearly ten thousand meters into the sky.

It was as if he had been shrunk to the size of an ant and cast into a vast, uncharted Amazon rainforest, surrounded by an overwhelming expanse of green and shadow."

A deep sigh escaped his lips, a mixture of awe and weariness. The world around him was a tapestry of the ordinary and the bizarre, a realm where the abnormal thrived.

He took a moment to absorb the sheer vastness, the canopy above resembling a starry night sky rather than a mere collection of leaves.

Feeling the weight of the past year pressing upon him, he settled against the cool earth, the memories of his former life slowly fading into the background.

Time slipped away like the water that dripped from the trees, and just like that, a year had passed.

Tristan sat there on the hillside, his thoughts weaving through the remnants of those days, the echoes of his past blending with the whispers of this strange new world.

A year has gone by which meant a year of hard work, during this time Tristan had theorized many ways to gauge his strength.

And created his own system of strength, it has 16 stages but for now these are the realms he's reached.

#### **Stage 1: Body Refinement**

- **Focus:** Strengthen muscles, tendons, and bones.

- **Practices:** Daily physical training (strength training, cardio, flexibility routines) and martial arts.

- **Goal:** Achieve peak physical condition and durability.

#### **Stage 2: Embracing Change**

- **Focus:** Adapt to physical and mental transformations.

- **Practices:** Meditation and self-reflection to prepare for personal growth.

- **Goal:** Develop a positive mindset towards transformation and resilience.

#### **Stage 3: Energy Awareness and Absorption**

- **Focus:** Recognize and harness personal energy from surroundings.

- **Practices:** Breathing exercises, nature immersion, and mindfulness practices.

- **Goal:** Improve self-awareness and become capable of self-healing.

Tristan felt that he had achieved a decent threshold of strength and wanted to venture out into the wilderness.