The stream water was cold and clean on his throat. Victor sat on a moss-covered rock, reviewing his Status. 185 Points. A reservoir of potential power humming just beneath his skin. The constant, low-grade hunger that had been gnawing at him since the crash was gone, replaced by a sated, thrumming energy.
Minor Regeneration would be the safe choice, he mused, watching a curious insect with too many legs skitter across the surface of the water. A guaranteed way to survive mistakes. But is 'safe' what I need right now?
His thoughts were interrupted by a sound. It wasn't the screech of a bird or the rustle of a rodent. This was different. A low, guttural chittering, layered with what sounded like grinding stone. It came from deeper upstream, in a part of the jungle that seemed unnaturally dark, even to his enhanced eyes.
Curiosity, a emotion he thought the System had burned out of him, flickered to life. This was a new source of points. A new challenge.
"Time to see what else this island has to offer," he muttered to himself, the sound of his own voice a strange comfort in the oppressive silence. He stood, his movements silent, and began to stalk upstream.
The vegetation changed as he moved. The trees grew thicker, their bark a strange, purplish hue. The air grew cooler, carrying a faint, metallic tang. The familiar sounds of the jungle faded, replaced by that same, unsettling chittering. It was louder now, more complex. It sounded almost like... conversation.
What the hell is that? he thought, a sliver of cold caution piercing his arrogant confidence. No animal I've ever heard of sounds like that.
He crept closer, using the bizarre purple trees as cover. He peered around a thick, twisted trunk, and his breath caught in his chest.
The creature was in a small clearing, drinking from the stream. It was the size of a large wolf, but that was where any comparison to Earthly fauna ended. Its body was segmented, covered in what looked like interlocking plates of chitinous, obsidian-black armor.
Six multi-jointed legs supported its bulk, each ending in a vicious, scythe-like claw. But the most horrifying part was its head—or rather, heads. It had two.
Each head was a nightmare of compound eyes and twitching, blade-like mandibles, from which the chittering and grinding sounds emanated.
This was no dinosaur, no mutated reptile. This was something else entirely.
Victor's mind, sharpened by the System, raced, trying to categorize it, to fit it into his understanding of the world. He couldn't. The creature was utterly alien.
A cold dread, one he hadn't felt since the snake bit him, began to trickle down his spine. This wasn't right.
His eyes darted from the monster to the sky, now visible through a break in the strange purple canopy. The sun was setting, painting the horizon in hues of orange and violet. And there, nestled among the emerging stars, were two small, misshapen moons. One a sickly green, the other a bruised purple.
He had been so consumed with survival, with his new power, with his revenge, that he hadn't once looked up.
"Two moons," he whispered, the words tasting like ash. The reality of his situation crashed down upon him with more force than the plane wreck ever could. "This... this isn't Earth."
The thought was so ludicrous, so terrifying, that he almost laughed. A portal? A different dimension? Had they flown through some kind of... rift? It didn't matter.
The evidence was right in front of him, in the form of a two-headed, armored nightmare and a sky that was not his own.
The creature suddenly stopped drinking. Both heads snapped up, their compound eyes seeming to fix directly on his position. It had heard him.
Shit.
The creature let out a synchronized screech from both mouths, a sound that grated against his very bones, and charged. It was fast. Unnaturally fast.
Victor's training and new instincts took over. He didn't have time to be terrified. He threw himself to the side as the monster plowed through the space he'd just occupied, its scythe-claws digging deep furrows in the earth.
He scrambled to his feet, heart hammering against his ribs. This wasn't a terror bird. This was a real fight.
"Alright, you ugly bastard," he snarled, grabbing a heavy, pointed branch from the ground. "Let's see what you're worth."
He activated [Predator's Glare], focusing all his will, all his newfound predatory essence, on the creature.
The monster faltered for a split second, its charge breaking rhythm. Its heads twitched, mandibles clashing in confusion. It worked!
But not for long. The creature seemed to shake off the effect, its alien mind perhaps too different to be fully cowed by a primate's threat display. It was even angrier now.
It lunged again. Victor met it, jamming the sharpened branch like a spear into the gap between two armor plates on its foremost head. There was a wet crunch, and black, viscous fluid spurted out. The head thrashed wildly, screeching in pain.
But the other head was untouched. It darted forward, mandibles snapping shut just inches from Victor's face.
He abandoned the branch and leaped back, his agility saving him. He was fighting a two-front war against a single enemy. He needed a new weapon, a new plan. He needed more power. Now.
As he dodged another furious lunge, his mind screamed at the System. What can I buy? What will kill this thing?
The creature was relentless, driving him back towards the stream. He was losing ground. One of its scythe-claws lashed out, catching his arm. He cried out as fire spread through his bicep, the cut deep and bleeding freely.
This is it, a panicked thought screamed in his head. I'm going to die here, on a planet that isn't my own, food for a bug!
No. He refused.
With a roar of pure defiance, he channeled every ounce of his strength and 85 of his remaining Points into a single, desperate upgrade.
[Host has purchased: Minor Regeneration.]
[Point Total: 100]
A wave of warmth immediately flooded his wounded arm. He could feel the flesh knitting together, the bleeding slowing to a trickle. It wasn't instant, but it was enough. It gave him a second wind.
The creature, sensing a shift, hesitated. In that moment, Victor's enhanced perception caught a glimpse of a softer, pulsating membrane under the thorax, where the two body segments met. A weak point.
He didn't have a weapon. So he would become one.
He charged, not away, but directly at the monster. As it reared up to bring its scythes down on him, he dropped onto his back, sliding through the mud underneath its bulk. He looked up, into its exposed underbelly, and drove the fingers of his good hand, reinforced by his increased strength, straight into the pulsating membrane.
He tore. Ripped. Clawed.
The creature's screech was a symphony of agony. It collapsed, its legs buckling, black ichor pouring onto him. He rolled away, covered in filth and alien blood, breathing in ragged, painful gasps.
The monster twitched once, twice, and then lay still.
[Host has successfully consumed a life form: Twin-Maw Skitterer.]
[+300 Points awarded.]
Victor lay on the ground, staring at the alien sky, the two moons now fully visible. The number 300 meant nothing. The points meant nothing in that moment. All he could process was the terrifying, exhilarating truth.
He wasn't on a deserted island.
He was stranded on an alien world.
And he was the most dangerous thing on it.