A wave spread throughout the universe, passing many planets without anything happening, one would almost suspect it was harmless.
At least until you noticed that once every few billion or so planets there would be a planet that would just disappear in the passing of the wave, as the wave would slowly pass over the planets in the span of a couple of days, the planet would start undergoing changes while reality around the planet slowly weakened. Until after a few days said planets would just vanish from their realities.
The wave and the weakening of reality going unnoticed by almost every planet until it was already too late.
The chosen planets themselves not actually dying or getting destroyed, but something more akin to a transportation happening to them.
After reality weakened to a certain extent, space would collapse inwards and a wormhole would be created. All planets hit by the phenomenon would then vanish from their original reality into the local wormhole, only to reappear in a new one. A reality where many species gathered and where the galaxy was filled with life.
A reality with many new resources and different and amazing energies. A reality where life was both dangerous and filled with opportunity. A reality which many species called a better reality than their original. And for the lack of a better word of a higher caliber.
And now the wave was quickly getting closer to a small blue planet in the Milky Way. The small blue planet filled with life and covered in tiny lights. The planet which the natives called, Earth.
—
Jake Miller was whistling to himself as he walked through the forest. A few weeks back he had won an all-expenses paid hiking trip throughout the wilderness. Initially hesitant about leaving the comforts of society and needing to walk for days on end, eventually he had relented to the idea of experiencing new things.
Jake was a young man in his early twenties with brown hair, sitting at about 189 centimeters (74 inches) tall. He was wearing a green hoodie and black pants, with a backpack hanging from his back filled with all kinds of tools for camping and hiking through the wild.
He had already been walking for a little more than a week now, and if he were to be honest he was enjoying it both more and less than he had expected. More because the experience was quite relaxing, something he hadn’t really taken the time for in years. And less because he missed working his job as a freelance engineer.
Nevertheless, he was happy about just spending some time away from the busy city he lived in, happy about getting to appreciate the wild nature all around him. He had already left any semblance of civilization behind about 4 or 5 days ago.
Slowly as time ticked away and his steps kept piling up, he eventually walked unto a big clearing, the trees surrounding him tall with beautiful dark brown bark, the light shining through their vibrant canopies, spreading a web of light all over the ground.
Jake took in a deep breath as he looked over the clearing, a satisfied smile plastered on his face. In the distance a very tall rock could be seen, about 30 meters wide and 50 meters tall if he had to make a guess. The walls of the rock going almost straight up all the way to the top.
For today his goal was to reach that rock and set up camp for the night. As he looked back over the nice clearing though, he couldn’t help but want to take a small rest, he had been walking non-stop for a few hours after all. And a little break in a nice clearing never hurt anyone now did it?
He nodded at the thought satisfied with his reasoning, it wasn’t at all because his feet had started to hurt from all the walking he''d done today. He walked a bit further until he reached a nice spot in the middle of the clearing. the birds around him chirping every now and then. As he sat down to rest and listen to their melodies for a bit, the warm sun shining on his clothes he just stared up at the beautiful bright blue sky.
He sat there for a few minutes just enjoying the view and the sounds of the forest. Until the birds stopped chirping at least, he heard ruffling feathers coming from the branches and he saw a flock of birds leaving for the skies. The sun hid behind a cloud and the clearing surrounding him got eerily quiet. The wind giving him a bit of a cold feeling now that there was no sun to warm him up anymore.
Jake stood back up and dusted some dirt from his pants, deciding that now the sun was gone and he had rested a little he should get going again, he grabbed his backpack and was about to set back off until he heard a noise.
He heard a little rustle behind him, he turned around focusing on whatever he might have heard. Silence still filled the clearing, slowly Jake started feeling a bit nervous about the situation. He didn’t know why but he just felt something was.. off..
Maybe it was because the situation was a typical moment in a movie where something bad happened. His imagination had always been vibrant. Much to the dismay of his parents when he was young and scared of the dark.
He kept his eyes locked on the part of the edge of the clearing where he had heard the rustle. Then another noise came his way, the noise of a small branch cracking and a leaf being stepped on.
A tiny bit of anxiety filled his heart, even though he knew this was probably nothing, he couldn’t help but feel anxious at the noises that came from the forest while he was standing there, all alone and far away from any civilization.
If anything bad were to happen right now he wouldn’t have anyone else around to help him. As this realisation hit him he only made himself feel more nervous. As he kept staring in the direction of the sound he slowly prepared himself to start running.
Then out of nowhere a small white bunny leaped from the bushes out into the clearing.
Jake stared at the tiny white bunny for a bit and then let out a laugh. “I cant believe I got myself so worked up over a tiny bunny” he chuckled to himself.
Jake was about to turn around when out the shadows of a nearby tree a big creature lept onto the rabbit. Jake stiffened up and felt the feeling of anxiety shoot back up into his throat and heart.
In front of Jake a large feline creature could be seen, chewing on the tiny rabbit that was now dripping blood onto the grass. The feline creature looked like a big cat or a panther, except there were a few big differences, the creature had green fur with black dots covering its body, it had two tails and bright green pupils.
But the biggest difference between the cat-like creature and normal panthers was that it had 3 eyes, two smaller eyes and one slightly bigger eye in the middle of its forehead.
Jake stared in shock at the creature as it snacked on the tiny rabbit. He didn’t know what to think right now, all he knew was that he felt scared and that he shouldn’t just be standing around gawking at the panther-esque creature. he felt his hands trembling and his feet felt heavy.
The panther didn’t even glance at Jake, it just kept eating, enjoying its meal.
Jake knew he had to do something, but what should he do? Thoughts raced through his head and he was in a state of frozen panic, not willing to move and unable to really think. He just stood there as the sounds of bones snapping made him feel a bit of nausea.
This went on for a few more seconds until he had enough. He gave himself a hard slap to the face, immediately calming down his mind a little, enough for him to start thinking about what his next steps would be.
The first thing he should do was lose any unnecessary weight. He slowly took of his backpack and put it on the ground, making sure to not make much noise as to attract the attention of the green panther.
The next thing he should do was get some sort of weapon for self-defense. He quickly grabbed the cooking knife he had brought with him on his hiking trip.
With the knife in his hand and any unnecessary items not on his body, he turned back towards the panther.
The panther had apparently finished eating and was now staring at him with all three of its eyes.
Jake felt the knife in his trembling hands as he gripped it tighter in his hand, both to stop them from trembling and in preparation of any sudden movements he might need to make.
Out of nowhere green lightning started to arc all over the panther''s body, its pupils lit up and even started glowing a little.
Then the panther started running at Jake, way faster than he had expected too, in what felt like the blink of an eye the panther was already in front of him, jumping right at him. The only thing he managed to do in his surprise was throw up his arms to protect his head and torso. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.
As the panther slammed into him he was sent flying backwards with a good 1 or 2 meters of airtime, and then a whole bunch of meters spent rolling over the ground.
When he finally came to a stop he felt very disoriented, his chest hurt like hell and he had trouble breathing through the intense pain he got every time he breathed in or out.
His left arm wasn’t feeling great either, it had taken the brunt of the hit and Jake was pretty sure it had a few broken bones. After trying to move it around a little bit he was relieved to find out it wasn’t going limp on him yet though. He wasn’t able to move his hand anymore but his upper and lower arm still worked well enough to take another hit, maybe two.
And to make matters worse in his forced acrobatic stunt he had let go of the knife. when he finally regained a little sight of his surroundings as the world around him stopped spinning he immediately started searching for the knife.
Adrenaline rushed throughout his body and he felt strangely calm, yet also energized. As if his body was finally switching into survival mode. With the adrenaline helping him focus he quickly looked around the clearing for his knife.
Without a weapon this would be a lost battle anyway, better to put up a fight he thought.
He couldn’t even run away anyways since clearly the panther-esque creature was faster than him, not to mention running away was the worst thing you could do when being attacked since it let your hunter know you were prey.
When he saw the knife next to some rocks about 20 - 30 meters away from him he immediately switched his eyes back to his right where the panther was.
The panther in question, not having moved from its spot after having sent him rolling over the ground.
Either the thing was playing with him, or it was being wary of him. Both situations were good for him since it gave him time to get the knife.
Slowly though the panther started moving in his direction again.
He knew he had to get to that knife before the panther got to him, still though his entire body ached after the pain dulled thanks to the adrenaline. And he hadn’t ever dealt with an animal attack like this. Not to mention a crazy new panther that had green lightning for some reason.
He took a deep breath and focused back on the tiger which had slowly continued moving towards him. Now was not the time to panic he reminded himself. He could wonder about why he got attacked by some crazy lightning tiger later.
But if he waited much longer maybe his shot of reaching the knife would pass by.
“Shit, now or never I guess..”
He stood up and ran, a little slow at first but quickly he went into a full on sprint. The panther changing pace from its leisurely walk to a bit of a sprint too.
As he looked back over his shoulder at the panther quickly closing in on him from behind he knew right away the panther would get to him before he got to the knife.
He knew he had to do something, but what could he do?
And then it hit him, he remembered a documentary he had watched when he was younger, the documentary had talked about what you would need to do in the case you were ever attacked by a larger animal.
You would need to scare off the animal by intimidating it. Meaning you needed to make yourself as big as possible and start yelling at the creature.
Make the animal clear you are not easy prey and have the strength and the will to fight back.
Jake decided that even if it wouldn’t work it was worth a shot, so he spread his arms wide and started yelling out of the top of his lungs as loud as he could.
If this were any other situation he would have felt like an idiot, running with wide open arms while screaming as hard as he could.
But nonetheless, his idea did have an effect as the panther slowed down a little, it was still gaining distance but it was just a little slower. And whatever time this got him was time he needed.
He was now about 10 meters away from the knife with the panther being only 6 meters away from him.
He could slowly hear its steps getting closer, he listened closely to the footsteps of the panther. Because if he heard it try to make a jump he would immediately try to dodge by launching himself sideways.
Hopefully he could dodge this way or at least avoid enough injury so he could get to the knife and fight back against the panther.
He was now just 4 meters away from the knife, while the panther was just about 1 meter away from him.
Anxiety gushed through his heart yet he forced himself to stay focused and keep running. Just waiting for any changes in the sounds he heard coming from the panther.
And then he heard it, instead of the next few rhythmic footsteps he heard and felt the creature jump at him, the instinctive feeling of knowing it jumped and in what was almost reflex he launched himself to the side.
Sadly he hadn’t been fast enough as the panther,s claw scraped against his already hurt left arm, this time tearing a deep gash into his flesh as his left hand went limp and blood started leaking out.
He didn’t have any time to cry or take care of it though, he had to survive right now, this mentality so deeply ingrained into him thanks to his distant ancestors forced him to stand back up and keep running. His mind tuning out much of the pain as he just focused on reaching that knife, telling himself he would be safe if he reached the knife.
He just had to reach the knife, that was all he had to do, if he reached the knife he could fight back and come out of this situation alive, he could call for help or rescue and be back home in a few hours.
The panther quickly gave chase again but luckily for him this time it was too slow, he reached the stones and basically launched himself at the knife.
Grabbing it in his mostly intact right hand, he stoop up and took a defensive stand against the panther.
The panther immediately stopped running at him and took a bit of distance between them. warily eyeing his right hand where he held the knife.
Jake grinned as he yelled at the panther “Yeah that''s right! Now I''ve got a weapon! You’re dead meat now you stupid cat!”
He quickly regretted yelling though, as he was sure he had quite a few injuries in his chest, and his yelling had clearly upset those injuries as a wave of pain hit him.
He groaned as he kept an eye on the panther that was still just staring at his right hand.
What do i do? what do i do? His brain was trying to think of ideas but the pain was making it very difficult to focus right now. He might have talked big against the panther but the reality was he was afraid he wouldn’t even be able to injure the damn thing.
As he looked at his left arm one of the biggest sources of pain he grimaced. The injury didn’t look good, yet it did give him an idea. A horrible idea but one that would give him a big chance of surviving this encounter with the panther.
His grimace grew ever wider “This is gonna hurt really bad” he swung hurt left arm open as much as he could, giving the panther a large opening to attack his left arm again.
His plan was to use his left arm as bait, give the animal an opening for it to attack and it would surely take it. Then when it would bite into his arm he would attack it as much as he could.
And to both his relief and to his distress about the pain he would soon experience, the panther took the bait and quickly closed in on his left arm.
He prepared as much as he could for the inevitable increase in pain, and when the panther actually bit in he couldn’t help but groan and curse at the creature.
“I hope this hurts you two tailed furball”
As he said those words he raised his right hand with the knife and brought it down into the panther''s neck. He would have gone for the eye, but it was currently hidden behind his arm.
The panther let out a roar and immediately let go of his arm as it stumbled back, blood gushing out its neck onto the ground. Its three eyes focusing on him as green lightning started arcing around its body again.
Jake felt his heart sink at the sight of the creature using that green lightning again because whatever it was, it wasn’t a good sign.
He took a protective stance as he readied his torso and head for what would certainly be a heavy hit, potentially lethal hit. No use dodging when it,s so close better to avoid the heavy damage.
The panther launched towards him again, this time a bit more unstable since its last attack. Probably because it was losing a huge amount of blood, and with the loss of that blood a-lot of its strength and other bodily functions. Yet it was still extremely fast.
As the panther was about to hit and dig into him with its claws, one of its paws took a wrong step and the whole panther tumbled over. A small mistake like a misstep at the speed the panther was going at was a crucial mistake. The panther was sent tumbling sideways, its claws missing him by what must have been a hair''s width.
As he immediately turned around to look at the panther that had flew by him, all he could see was a big green cat unable to stand back up with a knife stuck in its bleeding throat.
For what was about a minute but what felt like an hour Jake just stared at the panther until it fully stopped moving.
And as soon as he was sure it was dead he fell down onto the ground, his everything hurting, he was sure the stress of this incident alone would take 10 years off his life.
He just looked back up at the blue sky, as the cloud went away and the sun returned and shone its comforting rays upon him. The smell of blood filling the clearing as he just laid there, totally exhausted unable and unwilling to move right now.
The incredible pain numbing him from doing anything besides lay there for a bit while just staring at the sky.
He tried to stop himself from thinking about what had just happened to him since he felt like he would start puking if he did. So instead he just laid there for a while, ignoring his pain and just appreciating the sky, and appreciating him being alive to see it.
And then something happened, the sky above him started warping. At first he thought this might be a hallucination due to blood loss or something else, but as he kept staring, the sky kept twisting upon itself, and then the trees started twisting. And then he started twisting, it felt like his body was being rearranged from the inside out.
To say the least, it was an incredibly uncomfortable feeling, especially when his everything was already hurting.
And then for just a second everything went black, and when he regained his sight the sky and everything else had stopped twisting.
He was left lying there for about 5 seconds thinking about what the hell had just happened, but he wasn’t given any time to rest because after 5 seconds he heard it.
And then he heard something that scared the crap out of him, out of nowhere a pinging sound could be heard. He felt it resounding in his mind, clearer than any sound or voice he had ever heard in his mind.
Along with the sound a text appeared in front of him.
System initializing, please hold….
“I think I might actually be going insane” Jake mumbled to himself as he stared at the text in front of him.