The world was black.

Arthur was vaguely aware of the sensation of his body being torn apart, his flesh devoured by teeth sharper than steel. The pain was unbearable, but soon it faded, leaving only emptiness. For a moment or an eternity there was nothing. No thoughts, no feelings. Just void.

Then came a spark.

Arthur’s consciousness surged back into existence, accompanied by an unbearable burning sensation in his chest. It wasn’t the fiery agony of death but something raw, primal, and alive. His body, what he thought had been destroyed was reforming itself. He could feel his muscles knitting back together, his skin regenerating, and even his bones restructuring.

Air filled his lungs with a desperate gasp. His eyes shot open, revealing the vast forest around him. He lay on the ground where he had fallen, surrounded by the carnage of his previous death. His blood still stained the earth in dark, sticky pools, but somehow, he was whole again.

“What… the hell…?” Arthur whispered, his voice hoarse. He pushed himself upright, his limbs trembling. His hands, caked with dirt and drying blood, looked different, a bit muscular. His fingers flexed with a power he hadn’t possessed before.

He looked around wildly, his breath coming in short bursts. The towering alien trees, their twisted branches curling like claws against the sky, loomed above him. The monster that had killed him, a hulking creature with scaled body and glowing yellow eyes was gone. Only scattered footprints and the eerie silence of the forest remained.

“I… I died,” Arthur murmured, clutching his head. The memory of the attack was vivid, those sharp claws tearing into his flesh, the hot, sticky sensation of blood leaving his body. “How am I… alive?”

As he sat there, his body continued to feel strangely different. His muscles, which had always been lean but unremarkable from years of manual labor, felt denser. He looked down at his arms, which were now visibly thicker and more defined, as if sculpted by years of training.

“What’s happening to me?” Arthur muttered, running his hands over his torso.He was buck naked as his shirt, torn and bloodied, lay some distance from him, and his chest beneath was a solid wall of muscle.

Driven by a mix of fear and curiosity, Arthur scanned the area. A large tree had fallen nearby, its trunk thick and gnarled. He stumbled toward it, his legs shaky but steadily regaining strength.

“If this is real… if I’ve changed, I need to know how much.”

Bracing himself, Arthur crouched and wrapped his hands around the tree trunk. It felt impossibly heavy, the kind of weight that would have required a crane to move back in the scrapyard. He gritted his teeth and lifted.

At first, the trunk refused to budge. But then, with a deep growl of effort, Arthur felt the weight shift. Muscles he hadn’t realized he had roared to life, and the massive tree trunk slowly rose off the ground. He held it aloft for a moment, stunned, before letting it drop with a resounding crash.

Arthur staggered back, staring at his hands. “This… this can’t be real,” he said aloud, his voice trembling. His breathing was ragged, but not from exhaustion, more from disbelief.

He clenched his fists, watching the veins bulge against his skin. ‘What the hell happened to me? How did I come back from that… and how am I this strong?‘

Arthur’s mind raced through possibilities. He thought back to the strange thing that had happened to him from the strange object he’d touched a month ago in the scrapyard, its strange hum, and the visions that had flashed through his mind, to the black hole in the endless void . 

“That thing,” he murmured. “Did it… do this to me? Is this connected to what happened back home?”

A shiver ran down his spine as he pieced together the events. The strange object, his sudden death, his unexplained revival. “No way this is just a coincidence,” he muttered.

He looked around the forest, the alien landscape pressing in on him from all sides. The air was thick and heavy, buzzing faintly with unfamiliar sounds. The trees stretched impossibly high, their bark glistening as if coated with resin. In the distance, he could hear the faint rustling of creatures moving through the underbrush.

Arthur took a deep breath, steadying himself. “Okay,” he said, trying to inject some confidence into his voice. “I can’t stay here. If that monster comes back, I’m not dying again. I need to find people. Civilization. Something.”

He started walking, his steps more surefooted now that his strength had returned. Every movement felt easier than before, his body responding with a speed and precision that surprised him. His mind buzzed with questions, but there were no answers here, only the oppressive silence of the forest.

As he moved deeper into the woods, he couldn’t help but marvel at his surroundings. Strange plants with glowing leaves and spiraling vines grew in clusters, their bioluminescence casting an eerie light on the forest floor. In the distance, he saw a stream of water, its surface shimmering with a faint iridescent glow.

“This place…” Arthur murmured. “It’s beautiful. Terrifying, but beautiful.”

His newfound strength filled him with a cautious sense of hope. Whatever had happened to him, it was clear he wasn’t the same person he’d been before. And while the danger was real, so was the opportunity.

That hope was tested not long after. As he pushed through a dense thicket of vines, he froze at the sound of rustling ahead. Something was moving, a creature, smaller than the monster that had killed him but large enough to be a threat.

Arthur crouched, his heart pounding. He scanned the area, his eyes locking onto the source of the sound. From behind a cluster of bushes emerged a creature that looked like a rabbit, if rabbits were the size of wolves and had razor-sharp talons. Its fur was mottled green and brown, blending seamlessly with the foliage, and its eyes glowed a faint red.

“Oh, come on,” Arthur muttered, his voice barely above a whisper. The creature’s ears twitched, and its gaze snapped to him.

“Great. You heard that,” he said, understanding he made a mistake by talking out loud, then he started standing slowly. The rabbit-like monster bared its teeth, which were far sharper than any herbivore’s should be.

Arthur’s instincts screamed at him to run, but he held his ground. His body, still buzzing with the strange energy from his revival, felt ready to fight. He clenched his fists, the memory of his newfound strength giving him confidence. 

‘I can handle this. I have to.’

The creature lunged, its talons slashing through the air with terrifying speed. Arthur dodged to the side, his movements faster and more fluid than he’d ever thought possible. The creature’s claws raked against a tree trunk, leaving deep gouges.

Arthur retaliated, swinging a fist at the creature’s side. His punch connected with a solid thud, sending the monster skidding across the forest floor. He stared at his hand in shock. 

‘I did that?’

The creature recovered quickly, snarling as it charged again. This time, Arthur grabbed a fallen branch and swung it like a club. The impact sent the creature sprawling, but not before its talons caught his arm, leaving three shallow gashes.

“Ah, damn it!” Arthur hissed, clutching his bleeding arm. The pain was sharp but bearable. He stared at the creature, which was circling him now, wary but determined.

‘This thing isn’t going to stop until one of us is dead’, Arthur realized. He tightened his grip on the branch. 

‘Fine. Let’s end this.’

The fight was brutal. The creature was faster than Arthur expected, its talons slicing through the air with deadly precision. But Arthur’s strength and determination gave him the edge. After a fierce exchange of blows, he managed to pin the creature beneath the branch, using all his weight to keep it down. With a final surge of effort, he drove the sharpened end of the branch through its chest.

The creature let out a choked snarl before falling still.

Arthur collapsed to his knees, breathing heavily. Blood dripped from his arm, mixing with the dirt and the creature’s blood. He stared at the lifeless body, his mind racing.

“I killed it,” he said aloud, his voice shaking. “I actually killed it.”

A mixture of emotions surged through him, relief, pride, and a lingering sense of horror. He looked at his hands, still trembling from the fight. ‘I’m not the same. I can’t be. But… what am I now?’

Arthur sat there for several minutes, his chest heaving as he stared into the distance. He thought back to his old life, the monotony of the scrapyard, the quiet resignation he’d carried for years. That version of him was gone. This world didn’t care about his past or his dreams. It only cared about strength and survival.

‘I’m in a different league now’, he thought. ‘But why? Is this a test? A punishment?’

The scratches on his arm had already begun to scab over, the wounds sealing faster than humanly possible. He flexed his fingers, marveling at his body’s newfound resilience. The adrenaline was fading now. This world might be harsh, but it hadn’t killed him, not permanently, anyway.

Looking around the alien forest, Arthur’s expression hardened. “If I can survive this, I can survive whatever else is out there,” he muttered. “I need to find out why I’m here. And I need answers.”

With that, he got to his feet, wiping the blood from his hands. The forest seemed less intimidating now, though he knew it was still full of dangers. But for the first time, Arthur felt something he hadn’t felt in years, a sense of purpose.

He took a deep breath and saw his naked form.

‘Maybe I can use the hide of the rabbit as a temporary cover for me’ and started to skin the rabbit like monster with difficulty with the tree branch as there were no tools to do so.

After donning the makeshift pants with the fur side inwards he started towards the direction of the sun rising.

The path ahead was uncertain, but one thing was clear, Arthur Sully was no longer the man he used to be. And this world, strange and hostile as it was, would have to contend with the force he was becoming.

***

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