//------------------------------//
// Ch.3: Waking Up on a Planet 
// Story: Waking Up on the Moon 
// by Szulu 
//------------------------------//


Waking Up on the Moon


-Szulu-


My senses returned to me, all at once I was hit with sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell, the newly regained sensory input, staggered me momentarily, causing me to close my eyes and take deep breaths. I took this time to think, wondering how I got back to my body or even about where my body had been when I was not in it, but quickly brushed those thoughts off, deciding the question wasn’t really important as of now.
Not to mention I didn’t want to think to deeply about my latest experience, I was just barely holding myself together now, and dwelling on such a topic would compromise my sanity.
When I finally opened my eyes, this time not being overwhelmed by my surroundings I quickly realized I was no longer on the moon, rather I was on a planet, with plant and animal life. Probably the planet I had seen from them moon, it made about as much sense as anything else that had happened to me recently. Though I wouldn’t know for sure till I saw how close the moon was to this planet. Seeing as it was daytime I might have to wait for a few hours yet to confirm my theory.
When I finally turned my eyes to the ground I noticed the spear… from the moon, which only served as a reminder that I was still in talking equine land, and what had just happened wasn’t some crazy hallucination. 
Taking a better look at the area I was now in I found that I was actually at the end of a rather long gouge in the earth, which led me to believe I had been sent skidding across the ground with great, force. Though how I survived was another question, the trail I had left, was like something out of an over the top fighting manga. Wondering where I had been launched from, I cast my eyes down the scar. Immediately I noticed a large, stone structure, it had been overgrown with plant life, and was falling apart. Lined up perfectly with my trench, was a hole in the wall of the structure, which appeared to be new.
“No way…” I muttered under my breath, before checking myself over for injuries. How fast had I been going? To blast myself through a wall and create a thirty foot trail through the ground… there was no way I could have lived though that my bones should be crushing my organs, if they weren’t smashed into pieces on impact.
This was unnatural. As far as I could tell I was completely uninjured, and quite frankly that terrified me. 
Deep breaths… don’t panic, panic does nothing, its unproductive. You have a body, you are unhurt, for now this is your reality, for now you are fine, compartmentalize, you can think about this later. Set a goal: Survive.
That was a close one.
First shelter, then food.
I figured the stone structure would be the best shelter I could get at the moment, so picking up the spear, for the seemingly inevitable danger that would come my way, I stood. Waiting a moment for the mind shattering pain I expected, maybe even hoped for, and when that didn’t come, following the path my body had, presumably made.
I approached the hole in the wall, carefully stepping over it and into the structure. Looking around the interior, it was apparent that nothing had been here for a while, chances are my, Entrance, had been the most exciting thing to happen here in a while.
Despite the obvious, lack of use, and general decay, the castle, or what I assumed was a castle judging by the expensive looking ornamentation and decor, was turning out to be a pretty ideal shelter. Though I had no intention to stay here long term. After all, I had just blasted a hole in a, possibly, centuries old castle, and as such didn’t trust it not to collapse on me while I slept.
Hopefully I would be able to replace this shelter with a new one soon, preferably something like a tent, that wouldn’t kill me when it fell on top of me.
‘Now to find a place to sleep’
I searched the castle, the area I had smashed a hole in was probably the throne room or something similar, judging by the wide open space, raised platform and high ceiling. Just off the throne room was, what I assumed to be the remains of a kitchen, needless to say there was no food left. The furniture here was the same uncomfortable size as on the moon, not too strange really, assuming they were both made for the equine race.
There was a bedroom right next to the kitchens, probably for the head chef, not that he was using it now. It was in pretty good shape, the bed was partially collapsed, and while too small for me, it looked like it would support my weight at the least. The room was warm and stuffy, which was good as it meant it was well insulated, and would keep me warm at night, assuming I found nothing better and decided to sleep here.
The next few doors I checked led to collapsed parts of the building, which probably used to be servants quarters or hallways. I found one which looked like a library, or at least the remains of one. The few still in tact books I found were written in a language which I couldn’t understand. Despite being curious of its contents I was strangely happy at this new development. When I first heard one of the equines speak, it had made no sense for it to speak English. What were the chances that a completely different species of intelligent creature would develop the same language as humans… Not very high, and the implications of such a thing were… unnerving really. No, the fact that I was unable to read, what was presumably the equine’s written language, was comforting in a way. It meant that at least some level of rationality could be applied in this new place. 
Constructing a quick mental map, I realized that only the areas around the throne room were still intact. Needless to say I decided to use the room I had found earlier as my living area.
Now that shelter had been found, as well as a decent sleeping space, I found my way back outside.
‘now to do something about food.’  I had yet to feel any hunger pains but I was sure they would be along shortly, I hadn’t eaten since before arriving on the moon.
Of course as soon as I thought that my stomach let out a loud growl.
Right. Food, find a way to get some. What can I eat?
And there was a huge road block. What can I safely eat, here? I had no idea what plants were poisonous, nor did I know if I could eat the animals which I had seen in my short time here. What if my body couldn't digest the meat here? Or worse, what if they were sentient. The equines I had seen were, and they were, as far as I could remember, just thoughtless animals back home, what if all the animals here could think?
Sure I was in a desperate situation, and I was damn hungry. But if these animals were sentient… I became nauseous. Ok so no eating meat, until it’s intelligence is established. Plants then… Looking around it quickly became apparent that I had no idea what anything was. Somethings looked the same, the grass obviously, and there were some flowers that looked similar to what I had known back home. That didn’t change the fact that I still didn’t know what was safe to eat…
I sat down against the nearby wall, trying to think of a solution to my predicament. Alright what types of plants do humans eat. Fungi; Mushrooms, lichen, etc. Assuming those existed here, they were a viable option, though not the most filling or healthy, and my knowledge of safe mushrooms was limited. We also eat some leafy herb type things, though I couldn’t think any specifically off the type of my head, which basically crossed that option of the list. Humans also ate fruits and vegetables, which also grow in the wild. Assuming that nature worked the same way here as it did on earth, fruits and vegetables seemed the safest. After all the whole point of a fruit, was for it to be eaten, so that the plant seed could be spread via fececes. Though that still didn’t guarantee I would be able to digest anything on this planet, but it was either starve or die of food poisoning, one was assured the other was a chance.
I stood from the wall, using the spear as a support to raise my weary body. Hopefully I wouldn’t need to use it. I picked a direction to walk, making sure to mark the trees and pay attention to landmarks as I went, it would be disastrous to lose my way in this place. I carefully avoided any plants I didn’t recognize, especially the bright ones. Bright colors tended to be warning signs in nature, at leas they were on earth, and I intended to pay attention to those cautions.
I had been walking for a few hours, and the sun had moved for closer to the horizon line, leading me to believe I had awoken around midday. I was hungry and the fatigue for my busy day was only being compounded by that fact. Then the tree line broke, and in my line of sight was an apple tree. A wild apple tree on the edge of the forest. Well at least I assumed it was an apple, it certainly looked like one. Only one way to find out I suppose. I reached up, grabbing a branch to heave myself up, leaving my spear propped up against the tree. Now sitting on a sturdy looking branch, I took the nearest apple in hand, plucking it from the stem.
The moment of truth. I moved the apple to my lips, taking a large bite. Juice gushed into my mouth, in my hunger it was akin to ambrosia, and I quickly moved on to eat my second, then third, then fourth apple. My stomach was full, though wether or not I was poisoned now was anyones guess, the apples had certainly tasted edible, and just how I remembered apples to taste.
I leaned back in the tree, sighing in contentment. I closed my eyes briefly, assuming I wouldn’t be dead in the next few hours, I had found food, and by the size of the tree it should sustain me for a while, a couple weeks at best. I took off my jacket, bundling it into a makeshift basket, which I dumped more apples into to bring back to my shelter. Then I hopped out of the tree grabbing my spear once I was back on the ground. I was getting used to carrying it now, and it provided me with some level of comfort.
Then I began the walk back to my camp, following the trail I had left for myself carefully. Perhaps I had been lucky on my way to the tree, or perhaps I had just been to exhausted to notice or care, but now on the way back I realized that I was being watched. There were creatures in the wood, hiding in the bushes, stalking me. Assessing me. My casual jaunt became nervous. I could only just make out their presence, and had no idea what I was up against. Hopefully it would just decide to leave me alone, I had little to no combat experience and honestly didn’t want to test my natural ability against a woodland predator in, what seemed to be another dimension. I tied off the jacket in such a way that it could function as a over the shoulder basket so I would have both hands free for the spear.
I had been making my way back to camp cautiously, and now could just barely see it through the tree line. Then the snarling picked up. Of course, name a person after luck and they’ll have none at all. There was a rustling in the trees behind me and I spun on my heel to face it, spear at the ready.
What the hell?! The creatures before me were unlike anything I had ever seen. They were like wolves, standing on four legs with prominent canine features. Being in a pack of five helped the wolf analogy as well, however that was were the similarities ended. These creatures were made of wood, a strange glowing light in their eyes, and around their body. ‘How do they stay in one piece? How is it moving? Does it eat meat?’ These were all questions which swam through my mind but they were all quickly discarded. That didn’t matter, what did matter was that these wolves were obviously dangerous, and I, far less so. Not to mention they had the advantage of numbers.
While I was analyzing the situation the wolf creatures began to close in, destroying any hope I had of leaving this place unscathed. Suddenly two of the wolves broke from the group and darted into the brush, I quickly lost sight of them… that was not good. I didn’t have time to worry though as the other three closed in on me, one pounced and I hastily dodged to the side…right into the jaws of another wolf. I let out a sharp gasp of pain, and panic began to set in. Blood poured from the open wound on my fore arm, leaking into the creatures still clamped maw. As soon as the blood passed into the glowing light it evaporated in a stream of particles, and the wolf clamped harder.
‘I’m going to die. OH GOD IM GOING TO DIE. NO NONONONONONO. No. Stop panicking, fight back thats how you survive.’ I struggled free of my panic, intending to do the same to my currently attached aggressor. I stabbed straight through its head with my spear, slightly surprised as I had not expected to pierce the bark of its head quite so easily.
The wolf crumpled to the ground, losing shape, though the strange glowing light had not left its destroyed form. I spun around just in time to block the lethal bit of the next wolf, it crashed down on top of me, my spear’s shaft the held tightly in its jaws. Sharp, bramble claws dug into my legs and chest, but somehow I managed to knock it off me with a strong knee to its stomach. Now, with the wolf lying prone I took the chance to drive the heel of my shoe into its head. The wolf crumpled much the same as the last one. Three more. Just three more. I looked around cautiously, I couldn’t see the other wolves, but I knew they were still there, predators didn’t give up on prey that easily.
Pressing my back up a near by tree I steadied my spear, eyes moving rapidly in search of even the slightest movement. The adrenaline kept me from thinking overly much about my situation which was a good thing as I  would probably be panicking right now if that weren’t the case.
The leaves rustled and a wooden wolf flew at me from the nearby underbrush. My spear met it on the side of the muzzle knocking it off course and to the ground. The however left me open to the other wolf which was now clamped firmly onto my waist. I let out a sharp exclamation of pain. Then turned the spear in my hand so I was holding it close to the head, and drove it straight through my aggressors eye. The forest floor got more tinder.
The wolf I had smacked down was just making its way up now, before it could regain its bearings I impaled the spear into its neck. The thing crumpled as the others had.
Just one left. The tension was high. I had lost quite a bit of blood, and the wolf knew it. I couldn’t show weakness. One minute. Two minutes. Five minutes. Then finally the thing charged out of the bush to my left. I was dizzy from blood loss but somehow managed to dodge its first strike. It was open for a split second as it turned to face me and it was then I took my chance, staking the wolf against the nearby tree with my spear.
As the wolf fell apart, I removed my spear from the tree, looking nervously at my surroundings. I was breathing hard, still on edge from the fight and weary of further attack I stayed on guard.
Slowly, carefully. I began to make my way back to camp. Thats when I saw it, the pale light which had kept the wolves animated. It began to pulsate, and the twigs began to resemble into wolves. My blood froze. 
‘Shitshitshitshit. These things regenerate!?’ I felt the panic returning and immediately put weight on the injured part of my waist. The pain was intense and I could feel tears pricking at my eyes, but it kept me focused. Kept me logical, and that was what I needed the most right now. I needed to run, while these things regenerated. I could see the ruins I was staying in off in the distance. The room I had decided to sleep in was closed off from the outside, I would be safe there.
I could hear the snarling of the wolf creatures behind me. I began to run, long powerful strides taking me to safety. The pain from my wounds was immense, I ignored it, I would deal with those later.
When I finally got to my shelter I tore down the halls to the living area and slammed the door behind me, stacking furniture in front of the door as a barricade.
It wasn’t till hours later, after my wounds had been cleaned and bandaged as well as they could be. And the snarling behind the door had finally passed, that I finally allowed myself to sleep.
If I wanted to survive here I would have to be cautious. Nothing was as it seemed in this place, and nothing could be trusted.