6. The first real threat

After hard training and all the effort of making a shelter, Andrey had fallen asleep in wait of the next day, expecting to continue his adventurous harsh-dangerous training in Mage-Mountain.

Tired of walking, training, the stress of the whole situation, and the melody of the unknown to Earth birds accompanied with the backing symphony of the waterfall, led Andrey to feel so calm he had completely blacked out. 

But this "black screen" he had been seeing in his sleep was suddenly over by the sparkling image of a glowing tattooed female arm, suddenly waking him up. He opened his eyes frightened but calmed down quickly when he saw everything around him was the same. 

He could see the waterfall sparkling under Philius' blue dimmed light, the melody of the birds. After a long deep sigh, he closed his eyes again.

Laying on his back in silence and breathing calmly, he tried to use his concentrated hearing. Earsight - he called it this time. He thought this is a reasonable name as he could as if see objects by hearing their vibrations.

“What is it?” He asked himself, for nobody was around him. 

Eyes still closed, breathing controlled, he mumbled again, “Something's not right.”

He went out of the branch-house and looked around. Behind his back was a little light on the top of the stone he used as a back-wall. While looking around his sides, the light behind him flew into the trees, leaving a small blue trail behind it. 

Andrey finally turned around to notice the trail which disappeared in just a few seconds. 

He swiftly tried to chase it, but a few steps forward and he stopped. I might not find my way back if I do this.

He wished he had a clock right now. It was really sad that he didn't really have any adequate way of saying the time. Nyadzel could somehow tell the time without a clock, but the master didn't teach his pupil this essential skill.

Adrenaline full, he couldn't sleep anymore. “The perfect time to start training is early morning, right?” he sighed, starting his first series of training right in front of his branch-made-igloo-house. Crunches, push-ups, lunges, squats. 

Then he started jogging. He ran to the lake near the waterfall and then quickly back to the igloo. He repeated this for a long time. As the ‘laps’ increased in number, Philius started to emit stronger light. Day was coming.

I'll do this till I'm tired enough to sit down and get some sleep before I continue the day. 

Then I'll read some of the books Nyadzel gave me.

And so he did as he planned. 

Incredibly disappointed in his training, he laid on the grass and started reading the book he just took out of his sack. He didn't pick a particular from the few books in there, he just pulled one out. "Wikiplantia" was the title. Underneath was a cherry tree near a river representing the book's cover.

“I really just can't get tired, but I've been doing these exercises for the third time now.” Andrey said, revealing the reason for his bad mood. 

While reading through the different plants, Andrey was looking around him to see if he could recognize any of them. As there wasn't such a thing as printing pages or anything, the book was filled with very accurate drawings of the plants. 

"Stain-branch" He spoke, and read in his mind, this particular plant grows almost everywhere. It is often used as ink, because of the liquid that it's filled with. It's characterized by long, thin branches. Grows to about a meter or so. Although it grows almost everywhere, there are farms that are specific which enhances the plant's growth as it is used for its ink-like nature.

Andrey read out loud and then saw that very plant in front of him near one of the trees. 

“Okay, that gives an idea.” He said, standing up and going for the plant. 

After snatching as much as he could carry in his hands, he started walking around and broke a branch and painted the trees so he could find his way back to his branch-house. 

A few hours later, he had been going in a single direction and he wasn't anywhere near running out of ink. There were lots of stain-branches along the way. 

“Today I'll go in this direction, tomorrow the other, and I'll always mark my path so I don't get lost. With this, I could even follow that light if it appears again.” Andrey said as he noticed a growth in his confidence.

An odd sound was heard from somewhere in the bushes a few meters ahead of his location. A strong roar cracked the harmonic sound of nature as a big black beast dashed towards Andrey. 

Eyes unable to even focus the beast, adrenaline and fear filled his veins, and he quickly dropped the stain-branches and started running back. He followed the marks he had been making for the last hours, but once he went to his igloo, what was he supposed to do? Confront the animal with the wooden sword? As he was thinking this through in those few seconds, he could hear the animal getting closer. Heavy steps. So it wasn't only big in size, but it's muscular. It's a serious predator... He thought. 

Andrey thought of the only chance left for him might be climbing a tree. But all the trees seemed very frail and uncomfortable for climbing. 

“Darn it, I'll try. Live or die!” He screamed out with all his lungs’ capacity as he ran full-speed and jumped in the direction of the tree in front of him. To his surprise, he jumped so high he ran up the tree. “What the heck!?” He yelled, as he couldn't believe what he had just done.. 

As gravity pulled him down, he realized he was about to back-flip from somewhat 5 meters height. Yes, he had already run up 5 meters along the tree length. He jumped back from the tree and grabbed one of the wider branches, hoping it had the strength to carry him. 

Hanging from that tree, he looked down at the predator and could now clearly focus it. About 3 meters long, with black fur and blue stripes underneath its yellow cat-like eyes. It looked like a panther but was as big as a tiger. 

Gazing upon this wild beauty, he pulled himself up and started climbing as the animal easily demonstrated its strength, therefore Andrey thought it might be able to jump high. So he climbed higher and waited for the beast to go away.

The forest was really dense, and Andrey couldn't possibly see any sights from there. All he saw were other trees, but at least he felt safe. At least for now. He preferred this tenfold than experiencing the weight and breadth of the predator that just threatened his life. 

Its roar was massive! Andrey thought as he was thinking through the whole situation. It's like the world was crumbling when that beast opened its mouth. It would probably strike fear in every tiger back on Earth.

Andrey stood there waiting for Philius to get dimmer. He wouldn't want to go back to his house in the dark as he won't see his markings. Getting lost was the worst that could happen to him. Though what was worrying him now more was that this Mage-Mountain was NOT safe. Definitely not safe. Not just wild, but deadly!

Still in his line of thoughts, he was mind-blown by the fact he just ran up a tree. He couldn't really comprehend this. It's true that people outdo themselves in a life-or-death situation, but this was outstanding.

The light started to fade, so Andrey jumped down and followed up on his plan. Once he got back to the branch-igloo-house, he quickly took his sack and ran towards the waterfall. He had to erase his scent, for that beast might come back to finish its job.

He took the books and left them on the ground near the lake. Then he broke a few longer branches from the trees around and stuck them to the ground to mark the location of his books. Then he undressed and threw everything in the lake, leaping in for a swim. 

He washed all the clothes and the sack in order to clear everything of scent. Then he came out and realized the hunger which had bestowed upon him, but couldn't really pay attention to it due to the recent events.

Ah, darn it! He raged as he realized he needed to find food. Training went to a whole other level. To the survival level. On this day, Andrey didn't do his night workout. Before it went completely dark, Andrey looked through "Wikiplantia" to look for plants he could eat. In the end, he just took cherry blossoms from the lake and ate them. 

“God, this tastes... well, awful.” He complained while stuffing himself. 

After eating enough to not have his stomach roaring like that beast, he laid down on a big rock that was near the lake. The rock was about 2 meters tall from the grass and looked like the best place to lay down for a nap. Or at least Andrey saw it as such.

He went up there and closed his eyes in an attempt to have a quick rest. He had to sleep as he hadn't slept well last night, and a second night like this could affect his physical capabilities.

He tried meditating as fear and anxiety just didn't let him fall asleep. It was better to meditate than stay awake and think negative lines. 

In the end, he fell asleep laying on his back against the hot rock and with the waterfall sound crushing his ears, but this was the place where he wouldn't leave his scent all over. 

The sudden nightmare of that roaring beast woke him up as he sat on that rock. Heavy breathing for a few seconds until he finally saw a small bird before him. It was like an owl. It looked at him, pinching its head left and right. And then it suddenly lit up into blue light and flew straight into the waterfall. 

The trail it left behind was so beautiful. Mesmerized by it, Andrey immediately jumped from the rock.