I woke up feeling like burnt shit.

  Everything hurt in too many ways. Parts of me were sore. Other parts were enflamed. My chest ached like literal fire was in it. I had a fever and cold sweat was breaking out of me as my body shivered. I felt sick. Thirst and hunger grasped at me, their urging unfamiliar.

  I’d been coddled.

  That was the first thought through my hazy brain. I wasn’t ready for this, I wasn’t prepared for this. Master had devoted everything to helping me break through and increasing my power. The rest… he’d left me on my own. To live or die.

  But at that moment I hated how much he did for me. I hadn’t gone hungry or been sick or even been thirsty in over a month. He’d always stabbed me with nutrients or hooked me up to an IV or shoved me into the healing tank. It was like I’d had another paradise ripped from me.

  I snorted in amusement.

  Yeah, it sure didn’t feel like a paradise when I was living it.

  Then again, death from disease and infection and feeling like your stomach will fall out of you in three different ways changed your perspective. I breathed deep, focusing. I wasn’t safe. I didn’t know where I was. I didn’t remember finding any place I could pass out in. But apparently, I had.

  I was… for the life of me, it looked like I was in a crevice.

  There was a single small hole leading out near my feet and all around me, just rock. My body was practically squashed inside here. The hole was so small that I didn’t know if I was going to be able to even get out. I was shocked I’d managed to get in.

  But I had to leave. Something had made this, no doubt about it. And whatever or whoever’s home I was invading, could chew through stone brick and rock given enough time. Hilariously, I hoped it was a rat. If it was anything else, my chances would go from low to zero.

  I didn’t want to move. My body was exhausted, my throat was dry, my body was covered in brutal wounds and scratches that had only barely closed, if at all. I was hungry, felt like I was poisoned, and could feel an infection setting in on every single place I’d been hurt. My gi and underwear were soaked with my blood, rat blood, and more. It stuck to my skin in a way that made me feel disgusted.

  Even dying in agony hadn’t felt so totally miserable. It’s as if someone had dumped every single awful way a human could feel at once on top of me. It was rapidly taking the third spot on the worst way I’d ever woken up. Right behind waking up from Vega and when I thought the Smile Company was trying to drown me in a healing tank.

  I breathed a shaky breath.

  I still needed to get out of here. Death was close by and would only get closer, not farther. I needed healing, I needed help, and I needed power.

  I wasn’t going to get that by sleeping and dying in a hole in the wall.

  It took me longer than I’d wanted to get out. I didn’t know what was on the other side, which was terrifying, and I didn’t want to make too much noise. Not to mention that the hole was barely wide enough for my hips, I felt like I was truly dying, and everything felt sluggish and sore… it probably took me the better part of an hour.

  I’d begun to think I was stuck and would never be getting out. Mutai, died in a hole. That would be my end. It wasn’t a comforting thought, which just made me struggle all the more.

  Once I finally got out, I scrambled to my feet, eyes staring out. I had nearly died twice within an hour of being here and I saw no reason that would change. Except there was no way I’d be able to run or fight in my current condition. I was on a walkway, where I’d somehow managed to find and crawl into a random hole. The only indication of the way I came was the trail of dried blood leading to here.

  I needed to find somewhere safe to eat, drink, and heal.

  It dawned on me then, painfully. I wasn’t getting out of here in a day or two. I needed my wounds to heal and they were only going to do that slowly. I needed this fever and disease to break if they did at all. I needed food and water that hopefully wouldn’t poison me.

  I grimaced, hard.

  I was going to be in this sewer for weeks, maybe months.

  And I didn’t have any idea how to survive in this environment. In so many ways, this was worse than being lost in a forest. There were a lot more things trying to kill me, the water I could have was poisoned, I was hopelessly lost, and all the ‘food’ would fight back.

  “God damn it old man… was this really the only way?”

  This was a death sentence disguised as training. I was incredibly grateful to Master… but I hadn’t been wrong about my impressions. His eyes were like steel dipped into ice. Dead and hard. His nonchalance was just the ultimate expression of not caring about anything. I was grateful, so incredibly grateful for what he’d done, but this…

  We would have to talk if I survived this.

  The first thing I had to do was get lucky. If I ran into a swarm or a large rat I was dead. I couldn’t make too much noise either but that would only go so far.

  Quietly, cautiously, I walked through the dark tunnels. Only to stop. I looked back, ideas dawning on me. This area… was pretty safe. The rats made too much noise, they’d get eaten by the alligator. If I was very careful and very quiet, I could survive. As for the rats… I eyed the water.

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  A good throw would solve my problems if it was a large one. I’d just have to hope the alligator didn’t murder me too.

  I resolved in my heart, this was going to be my base. I’d have to be deadly quiet but there was value in living next to an apex predator.

  I felt, smarter. I had never been stupid but this… I didn’t remember ever having these kinds of survival instincts. But maybe I had. The same feeling that made someone look away when someone strong came at them was now screaming at me.

  Food. Water. Shelter. Power. Protection.

  Evolution itself was guiding me through this primal world.

  I coughed out blood and nearly fell head first into the water.

  I could worry about my sudden clarity later. I needed to start finding food and water now.

  *****

  There was really only one thing to do. I continued on, following the path I’d been heading. I didn’t dare drink the water flowing nearby. That wouldn’t be a good way to go out, drinking sewer water. I was feeling sick enough as is. That would probably send me to the afterlife within a day… or maybe an hour, depending.

  I need fresh water. My throat ached and burned. My body shivered and a constant feeling of lightheadedness wouldn’t leave me. I stumbled and even fell, each time more terrifying than the last as I froze, worried a hungry gator monstrously strong would be my end before I even had time to realize it.

  It wasn’t but I never let my guard down, keeping my ears sharp. That had been my only warning for the rats before.

  And before long, I heard it.

  Skittering.

  I panicked. It was coming from the walkway on the other side but everything connected. Would they hunt me down if they saw me? Would the gators eat them before that? Heart hammering, my mind raced, trying to come up with something, anything! I needed to hide. I needed to somehow hide on a flat walkway right now.

  The skittering grew louder, I could hear it echoing. Down in the distance I could see small brown dots. I was running out of time. They’d see me, they’d screech, they’d hunt me down.

  They’d kill me.

  Now. I needed to do something now!

  Survival grabbed me by the wheel and took control. I swung a fist, shattering a light. Darkness descended in the area and I hunched, unmoving within it.

  Moments later, moving quickly but more quietly now, was a family of rats. Three of them, all bigger than my head but smaller than the first one.

  [5]

  [5]

  [5]

  My heart beat erratically in my chest, the tension nearly made me retch, and I did my best not to move a muscle. The rats walked by… and kept going. They didn’t look at me, they didn’t see me, and when I couldn’t even hear them, I finally let out the breath I’d been holding.

  I collapsed with my back towards the wall, sliding down it. That had been too close. I looked at my hand, adding broken glass to the list of injuries. It was so small compared to everything else. Barely a minor inconvenience.

  I hadn’t been thinking, I hadn’t known what to do. I’d just, I’d panicked and smashed the light out of some primal instinct to hide.

  But I couldn’t linger. Nothing had changed. I was still dying of thirst and soon, I’d be dying of everything else if I didn’t get food before I grew too weak.

  I continued on, following the walkway. Slowly, it began to do something I hadn’t seen before. It had already gone longer than my vision could see but now it… began to bend. Instead of a sharp turn, the path was bending.

  My nerves spiked up. I already had no idea when I’d meet another terrifying creature or even just another rat but not being able to see what was in front of me was horrifying. I could walk around the bend and run right into a monster.

  Forward I went, heart hammering, nerves on fire. My body shook like a leaf, my knees felt weak, and I suddenly missed my mother’s cooking so, so much for some reason. Blood loss was terrible. I felt dizzy and my body felt both so hot and so cold.

  Finally, I was around the bend and-

  …

  I realized two things in that moment.

  One, the person who had made this place was crazy.

  And two, whether male or female, I was going to kiss them when I got out of here.

  In front of me was something I was fairly certain no sewer in existence should have actually had. There was a wide walkway, a massive area, where the water ended, hitting a grate. From the sides, small flows of water pooled down, causing the massive room to have what looked like a thin coat of water evenly spread out across the ground.

  I didn’t know how it was possible. I didn’t know why. Some of the water spilled towards the river going into the grate but most seemed to just stay still like a pond after the rain.

  And it looked fresh.

  I was never going to get another or better chance. Caution was observed but it was a wide and mostly well lit area for once. Massive lights hung from the ceiling, only causing further confusion. Why was this area so well lit but the rest had significant areas of darkness all around? Why have proper lighting here but nowhere else I’d seen in this labyrinth?

  I pushed away my confusion, it could wait. I hobbled my way towards one of the streams flowing down. If I was unlucky… this was going to be terrible.

  I leaned forward and let some fall in my mouth.

  I waited for a moment. Waited for a terrible, awful, disgusting flavor to take hold of my senses. Instead the water tasted… clean.

  I cried.

  Pure tears of joy streamed down my face. I’d somehow found clean water in a sewer. Was this part of the process of cleaning it? Did they not just dump it all out into the ocean?

  Whatever the answer was, I had clean water.

  I’d never take it for granted again. I’d never realized how precious water was till I needed it. Another day and… I wouldn’t have lasted another day I realized. My body was weak enough as is, how much longer could I have searched? Before I grew too tired? Before something found me? If I hadn’t found any today… I sure as hell wouldn’t have tomorrow.

  I stared at the water in awe.

  It almost made me miss the croaking.

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