Home Sweet Home

Jack didn't remember if he had ever been as full in his life. He had been eating tentacles raw for 2 hours now and the assistant was correct, they were delicious. Back on earth, for every birthday, he would demand that he and his parents go to a sushi restaurant since he loved the taste of raw fish in soy sauce. He had always been a connoisseur when it came to sushi and sashimi, but these tentacles brought the flavor to a next level. Because Jack was grossed out by the tentacles that had other body parts attached to them, he only ate from the few tentacles that were as God had intended them to be. Tentacles with some suction cups. That's all he could handle for now.

He still had not figured out what his ability was but if he focused the Sym energy into his arms and legs then they would become ridiculously strong. He could crush the metal-like tentacles with his bare hands and stomp them into smithereens with his feet.

"Maybe I am superman-like strong?" he thought to himself. He remembered what the assistant had said about the tens of thousands of different abilities that had been recorded by the Rasp. "There has to be more to it than strength," Jack concluded, "How can some teleport or create explosions?" he wondered. But he postponed this puzzle since he now needed to find secure shelter. Whatever injured the creature might come back for it.

While Jack was not prude by any stretch of the imagination, he was quite annoyed that he was still naked. He needed to find something to wear even if it was just covering his butt and his crotch to feel comfortable when he sat down. He inspected the creature again and checked if there was anything textile-like he could use. With his strength he rolled the creature on its side. It was indeed about 2 meters tall and must have weighed a lot but Jack had lost all sense for dimensions with his increased strength. For him, it felt like it would weigh 50 kg tops once he used all his Sym energy. The bottom of the creature indeed had some skin parts that were softer and seemed more leather-like. This was likewise the spot where it had been injured originally. There was a round hole in its bottom side that the blood had come out of.

"I guess scary creatures have weak spots too," he mumbled. He grabbed parts of the leather-like material from the hole and tried to rip out a piece that was as big as possible. Holding it with his hands confirmed his assumption that it was softer and more malleable but it was a secondary layer on top of the hard surface he had seen before. "So it's not really a weak spot, just a second skin like cornea," he thought.

He ripped out the leather and ended up with a large piece that was about the size of a medium-sized towel. "That'll do," he thought and wrapped his lower body in it like a diaper so that he at least had some type of clothing. He shook his head looking at his ridiculous outfit but everything was better than being naked. And the leather was quite sturdy. He then took as many big pieces of leather as he could and turned one into a bag while another was used to store some extra sashimi for the road. "I can't believe how good it tastes," he mumbled with a full mouth. He placed the extra leather and food supplies into his bag and walked towards the edge of the crater. As he was walking he saw a shiny stone sticking out of the creature's head which he had accidentally split open during his ability experiments. It looked like a single crystal which he had seen in his chemistry class a long time ago. Such crystals will grow and have perfect rectangular shapes since their growth reflects their molecular geometry. "Fascinating," he said while grabbing the stone out of the creature's skull. He subconsciously licked his fingers afterwards and then paused. "I did not just do that," he mumbled in embarrassment, "this place has an effect on me".

He started making his way into one random direction since each direction looked the same for him. In order to find his way back he punched a hole into the ground with one finger every few meters to leave a discreet trail. He had become versed in strengthening his body with Sym energy so punching a hole into a rock was easy for him now. He even tried to jump really high by strengthening his legs but he abandoned the experiment since being seen by everybody was the last thing he needed right now.

His visibility in this dark purple fog was about 200 meters but when he circulated Sym energy into his eyes, he could see approximately 1000 meters in every direction. This helped a lot in avoiding threats but he still did not know where he was going. He had enough food for a few days but he was lacking water. The creature's tentacle meat was surprisingly salty which was great for conservation but horrible for his hydration status. He was quite thirsty now but the entire area was made of rocks. "What should I do?" he thought to himself, "if I can't find water within 48h then I am as good as dead."

Jack had been walking for about two hours now but he had found nothing but rocks and craters. Every once in a while he saw some movements, presumably giant creatures in the distance and changed directions to avoid them. Some of them looked completely crazy and he even saw two flying creatures and one that was at least 8 meters tall. Their movements looked bizarre with some moving in slow motion and others moving like they were being sped up.

He still punched holes into the ground just in case but he had lost orientation entirely after changing directions about 15 times. He usually saw the creatures from far away but they did not seem to notice him. After he had circulated Sym energy into his eyes for such a long time, his visual field had expanded to approximately 2000 meters through all the fog and far into the distance. "Maybe I am becoming superman," he concluded.

He was really thirsty now. He had been walking and snacking salty sashimi the entire time and it had become insufferable. He wanted to stop eating but it was just too delicious. The boredom got the better of him and he would walk around with his leather diapers on snacking sashimi from the bag like potato chips, occasionally punching a hole into the ground with his index finger. "If only my parents could see me now," he chuckled and then his expression became sad. "I wonder how they are doing… I hope the message reached them."

Jack had thought about the message for a long time and also considered mentioning the mars stone but he expected that it would only get his father into trouble. If the police and the government saw the message and started questioning his father, it would not end well for him. And there would be nothing in it for him so Jack left it out. "They will probably think that I ran away or that someone helped me. Or maybe they just don't think at all and trust in God." he pondered. "I will trust that they will handle it well."

Then Jack suddenly stopped. "Fuck this," he said out loud. "I am thirsty!" He dropped his bag and went on his knees. He placed his ear on the ground like an American Indian trying to find a buffalo herd. He had been thinking about ways to find water for a long time and this was one of his ideas. Flow as much Sym energy into his ears as possible and try to find groundwater. He had been listening to the ground almost every time he punched a hole to see if he could find something but to no avail. But he had a good feeling about this one since he could hear some white noise for a few minutes now as he was walking and he was sure that it came from the ground. He had seen no creatures for 2000 meters in any direction so he could execute his plan: Digging for gold.

He listened carefully and could clearly hear the flow of water. His mind went crazy with thirst. "Imagine eating 20 bags of potato chips without any water," he mumbled to himself, "that's how I feel."

He knew that destroying the rocks below him would be easy but he was not sure how far he would have to dig. It was difficult for him to estimate the distance since his hearing had improved dramatically. But as he was walking, he could only very faintly hear creatures in the distance while the water flow was noticeably louder. Since it should be harder to hear due to the ground and rocks in between, he concluded that it must be just a few meters below the surface. So he began digging by stomping into the ground and crushing rocks like they were made of sugar.

After digging for 20 minutes, he felt a cold splash on his legs. He had finally reached groundwater. Like an addict anticipating his next fix, he squeezed his arms into the hole and formed a cup with his hands to let water flow in. It looked clear. That was good enough for him and he crouched down to drink the water from his hands, his leather diaper sticking into the air. He kept drinking as much as he could hold. Then he sat down to circulate his energy for twenty minutes, took a piss in another crater and then drank some more fresh groundwater.

He felt great. He had eaten great food, had clean water and he was not naked anymore. In Jack's book, this was a good day. He was not dying in the hospital anymore. He looked down in sadness and thought of his parents once again. "Well, one step at a time," he said while he got up to fill the leather drinking bag he had made from his leather leftovers. He had found that, if he squeezed two parts of leather with some strength, he could almost glue them together. It must have been some of the leather's properties but it was very convenient for him. He had turned his diaper into something more akin to shorts and the bag was now a real bag hanging on his back. The water bag for drinking was the last of his creations in the limited leather travel apparel line.

After he had filled his water bag, he started to look around for a good cave to rest. Since his vision had expanded to a large distance, he could see a mountain range that might be perfect. No creatures in sight, for now.

It took him a while to reach the mountain range but he was surprised how big it was. He was not able to see its peak which made Jack curious. "I wonder what lies behind these mountains," he wondered, "maybe it's the exit from this high-density Sym area."

He looked around and saw some caves that seemed deep enough to rest in. To be safe, he was strengthening his entire body and sharpening his ears to the maximum but he did not see any creatures nearby. He could hear some creatures far away, even up in the sky, but none in close proximity.

He picked a cave that seemed narrow, too narrow for a creature to squeeze in, and put his spare leather flat on the ground. "This'll do," he said as he prepared his makeshift bed. The entry was so slim that he was confident that he could kill whatever would fit through that. But he also knew that it is not the strongest who wins in a fight but the winner who wins. If he was attacked in his sleep then this was it for him even if it were a small coyote that bit his neck. No strength in the world could save him from a sneak attack when he had his guard down.

If he had learned one thing from his time as a mixed martial arts competitor then it was that no one has a perfect game. There are no ultimate rankings. The number one can be defeated by the number three and the number three can be defeated by number ten. There are good and bad matchups. There are weak spots, freak accidents and bad days. Even Superman can be killed. He swore to himself to never underestimate a threat. He had not gambled to save his life just to die because of his own exuberance.

Jack used Sym energy in his hands to slap the ground straight and he almost felt like a masseur creating a nice, comfy and even sleeping spot. He then took a large boulder and moved it in front of the cave's opening to make sure that the cave itself was invisible to the outside. He also wanted to make sure that he would hear if any predator wanted to enter the cave.

Then he placed the leather bed on the ground again and lay down. He had not been cold the entire time he was on this planet. He wondered if this was also an effect of the Sym energy. As he pondered with his hands behind his head, he circulated the Sym energy diligently as the assistant had instructed him to. He thought about everything that had happened and all the things he had experienced on this crazy day. He was not bedridden anymore. He was not fading away.

Jack felt both scared and empowered. His life had taken a horrible turn and had thrown him into a place that looked closer to hell than anything that he could imagine but it had also gifted him the greatest thing life has to offer: Hope.

He had hope that he would see his parents again. He had hope that he would be able to see his old home again. He had hope that life would be good to him once again.

And with these thoughts, he closed his eyes and his consciousness slowly merged into a dream world.

Jack went into a deep sleep.

"..."

"Jack, can you hear me?" the assistant said.