Defiance of the Fall Chapter 2: A New World

Zac regained consciousness slowly, his mind clouded and disoriented as he realized he was lying face-down on the earth. After coughing out some grass and wiping away the dirt, he pushed himself up to survey his surroundings, his frame still throbbing from his previous ordeal. The clearing appeared unchanged, featuring the same scattered boulders and flora, all enclosed by thick, leafy trees and tangled brush.

His initial thought was a hopeful one; perhaps he had simply fainted from the intense heat or overexertion. However, several details quickly fueled a growing sense of dread, suggesting this was no mere sunstroke-induced hallucination. The most glaring anomaly was the sky above, where two suns hung—only one of them being the familiar yellow orb he knew.

For a moment, he suspected his vision was doubling, but blinking and shaking his head failed to alter the image. The sun had gained a smaller companion. Even the original star felt different, radiating an intensity and size that felt wrong. Its partner was a much smaller, piercing aquamarine star that hovered nearby, seemingly locked in a satellite-like orbit around the primary sun.

The second disturbing sight was the pillar. Far off in the distance, a massive swirling vortex of energy and light pierced the heavens, resembling a jagged red claw erupting from the earth. It throbbed with a sinister crimson radiance that felt nothing short of demonic. While it seemed a great distance away, judging the scale was difficult. This pillar had been the final image burned into Zac’s mind before he collapsed, and it was the first thing to greet his return to the waking world.

A sudden, primitive roar broke his concentration, forcing him to focus on the immediate danger.

"Hannah," he whispered, his gaze hardening with resolve as he pushed the inexplicable celestial events to the back of his mind. If this nightmare was reality, he had to reach the campsite at once. Looking around, the weight of his situation settled in. The cold, disembodied voice he had heard in the void had mentioned increasing the lethality of the local wildlife to heighten the challenge. That roar could belong to a bear or a tiger for all he knew, and that meant the others were in grave peril.

A spike of fear hit him—what if the others had panicked, jumped in the truck, and abandoned him here with whatever was prowling the woods? Though he was lost in a sea of confusion, a burning sense of urgency drove him to act. Refusing to waste another second, he broke into a sprint toward the camp, ignoring the strange noises echoing through the trees and the thorny undergrowth that clawed at his skin.

The forest became a blur as he charged through the terrain like an out-of-control locomotive. It felt as though ten doses of adrenaline were surging through his veins, his legs propelling him at a terrifying speed. Something was fundamentally different; he was moving faster than any world-class sprinter, despite the uneven and cluttered forest floor.

The axe in his hand, which had previously felt somewhat heavy, now seemed nearly weightless, slicing through obstructing branches with effortless precision. Zac had never experienced this level of power or speed. The voice had claimed it was upgrading the wildlife—did his newfound physical prowess mean he was categorized as an animal too? He wasn't sure whether to celebrate his enhanced Cultivation-like physical state or be insulted that the mysterious entity viewed him as a beast.

After several minutes of his frantic dash, he spotted a landmark: a massive boulder split in half by a growing tree. The camp was only a few hundred meters ahead.

Tightening his grip on the hatchet, he adjusted his path and sprinted toward the clearing. Another otherworldly howl ripped through the air, much closer than the previous ones he had ignored during his run. Fueling his panic into a final burst of speed, he burst into the campsite, his expression a mask of desperation. The scene was familiar at first glance: the gray Range Rover, the trailer, and several camping chairs scattered about.

However, his attention was immediately seized by a creature rummaging through a cooler. It was roughly the size of a Great Dane, but the resemblance ended there; it was a grotesque fusion of bone and raw tissue. The monster looked as if it had been flayed alive and left to rot, a sickening patchwork of crimson muscle and white bone. It possessed a thick, powerful torso supported by six stout legs, each ending in a clawed paw that looked more like a raptor’s talon than anything belonging to a mammal.

Two pairs of legs were positioned at the front of its body, with the final pair at the rear. Each paw boasted four wicked claws—three in front and one behind—with the forward set appearing notably larger. Its head was disproportionately large, featuring a wide base that tapered into a long snout, hiding a cavernous maw. The mouth was reminiscent of a crocodile’s, but filled with three rows of serrated teeth. Its small, beady eyes glowed with the same ominous light as the distant vortex.

The sheer power of its jaws was evident as it crunched through a tin of beans with ease, swallowing the metal and the food together. The sight paralyzed Zac, his mind struggling to process the horror. He suddenly found himself wishing the roar had belonged to a simple tiger; a predator of Earth was far more welcome than the abomination before him.

The creature noticed him before he could move, spotting him standing frozen across the clearing. With a furious howl, it charged, its speed far exceeding what its heavy build suggested. Caught off guard, Zac barely had time to react before the beast closed the gap. Stumbling backward, he swung his hatchet in a desperate horizontal arc. Despite his poor footing and lack of leverage, the blade bit deep into the creature's neck, carving a jagged wound and knocking the demon off its trajectory.

Once again, Zac was struck by his own superhuman strength; even a clumsy, panicked strike had enough force to repel such a massive predator. However, the monster’s front claws had latched onto him. The combined momentum of his swing and its charge caused the talons to rake across his stomach and left leg. Deep gashes were torn open, and blood began to flow immediately.

An agonizing pain, unlike anything he had ever felt, flared in his mind, blurring his vision and threatening to make him faint. Any confidence in his new strength vanished, replaced by a primal urge to flee. He shook his head violently, trying to clear the mental fog, but the pain was overwhelming.

What do I do? Do I run? His eyes darted around the camp, looking for an escape as survival instincts he never knew he had took over. The beast had been knocked down by the force of his blow, but it was already scrambling back to its feet.

"Is anyone there? Help!" he screamed toward the camper, desperate for assistance. Only a heavy silence answered him. Had the others already escaped into the woods to hide from this thing? Left with no other options, Zac began to limp toward the treeline, his left leg burning and refusing to cooperate.

Before he could make a plan, the beast was already charging again, its jaws snapped open in a snarl, seemingly unbothered by the blood dripping down its chest. This time, Zac was ready. He braced himself on his good leg and dove to the side. He felt the rush of wind and heard a guttural growl as the monster whistled past him, and he landed hard several meters away. Scrambling up, he saw the beast had overshot his position by twenty meters.

Zac realized the creature possessed incredible straight-line speed but lacked the ability to turn quickly. He began to frantically brainstorm how to exploit this weakness. With a sudden surge of grit, he abandoned the idea of running away and instead turned back toward the path he had taken through the forest.

"This better work," he grunted, limping as fast as his mangled body would allow.