Ch. 2

Zack on his mile or two back to the tribes camp looked through the small storage space the system provides. He discovered a bottle of Percocets and a half full pack of cigarettes. Taking out a few pills purely through habit, he popped them but felt nothing unlike usual. Taking a look at the superhuman regeneration that showed up under the Bacchus Factor he sighed.

"I guess that's the end of my drug induced enjoyment... Unless I can find more effective drugs in the space. But honestly, the feeling of gaining real power is quite a high of its own."

He pulls out a cigarette and lighter, "At least these won't kill me anymore."

A smile on his face and cigarette in hand he walks along the wilderness heading back the way he came. Or so he thought. However after a few hours of walking he realizes he is completely lost. Unable to find his way back and under the starlight he decides to find a place to sleep until morning.

He eventually perches himself in a tree and falls asleep. Night passes uneventfully and as the bright sun looms over the horizon Zack wakes up. He says to himself,

"I almost thought it was all a vivid dream. Still here, simply incredible."

Zack looks around and just picks a direction to walk in. Hopefully he can find people living during these times and learn something useful. However days pass in this forest without a single sign of humans. Eventually after eating the cooked rabbit he easily caught with his enhanced physique, he catches sight of a painted humanoid wearing a wooden mask standing on a tree branch in front of him. He waves and calls out,

"Thank the gods, I haven't been able to find anybody in this forest. I'm lost I don't suppose you could provide me company?"

"You, who obviously knows nothing about anything regarding forests and pathfinding expect me to believe you just want company." The man speaks out.

"What do you mean I know nothing? I caught this rabbit didn't I?" Zack retorts.

"You're also eating it with extremely poisonous berries. Yet you still live. What manner of spirit are you?" The masked man questions Zack.

Zack catches on, this is the past. Vandar Adg was worshipped as a god, it isn't weird to be mistaken as a spirit. "I'm newly formed as you can see, I know not except my name."

After saying this the masked man looks at him for a moment then says, "Try not to disturb the order of the forest. I will end your short existence if you do." The man then turns and jumps from one tree to the next preparing to leave.

"Wait! Can you at least teach me how to navigate a forest? How am I supposed to know how to maintain order if I can't even find where I slept last night?" Zack is somewhat desperate for human interaction after multiple days of being by himself. Plus he's running out of cigarettes, maybe this man has tobacco. Although he knows we're not in the Americas right now.

The man pauses then says, "Follow then."

Thus Zack begins his shaky apprenticeship with this forest Druid who never takes off his horned mask, reeks of ungodly body odor, and knows a little too much about this forest. After two months, with the enhanced intellect and physique granted by the Bacchus Factor Zack has learned quite a bit.

He now knows how to tell the signs of the forest, whether someone or thing has passed by, what animal has left what tracks and territory marks. The Druid includes knowing ones direction and location through the stars by Zack's request. He even learns how to tell the general number of predators in a forest based on the number of baby rabbits in a litter.

After the two months Zack requests to learn hand to hand combat with this Druid. However he is refused by some pacifist mumbo jumbo. Being taught the superficial knowledge on how to keep the 'order' of the forest the Druid sends him off with half a month left in his newcomer mission. Standing in a clearing Zack wonders what to do,

"Maybe I should fight some predators? I certainly have the ability to."

With that in mind Zack sets off in the direction of a known saber tooth tiger den. The unnamed Druid gave him permission to kill one predator. Of course he chose one of the top killers of this time. He eventually arrives at the den. In the air hangs a bloody smell warding off creatures of all kinds. Bones strewn in front of and around this cave give the image that a horrible beast lies beneath this mountain.

Coming out of the trees with his spear gained from the Neanderthals Zack calls out, "Hey, smelly kitty! Come out, your reign of terror ends!"

Inside the cave a pair of yellow eyes flit open glowing in the darkness. Silently out walked a giant cat. It's height was slightly above Zack's head, but that was frightening in itself. Keep in mind large cats in modern times are only up to the height of a mans chest. The muscles of this cat are thick yet lean, ready to burst out with speed and strength at any moment.

The big cat does just this, speeding out after getting in what it thinks is a feasible range to kill this stupid human. Yet to it's surprise instead of the claws tearing flesh it only catches air. It's next surprise was the sharp pain in its left eye and then the darkness.

The tiger looked with its remaining right eye at Zack in fury. Particularly at its eye embedded on the humans spear. However surprise also flashes through its brain. No human has ever managed to dodge its grasp, let alone greatly wound it. The beasts instinct overruns rational thought and it further engages in battle with Zack.

Throughout the next fifteen minutes Zack whittles the big cat down inflicting many wounds of varying degrees all over its body. The cats flight response kicks in and it turns speeding into the forest. As it does Zack smiles and gets into a javelin throwing position. His spear flies out and hits the cats leg causing it to limp, but it doesn't stop and continues into the forest.

"Thinking you can get away with such wounds is simply wishful thinking."

Zack looks at the only wound the saber tooth left on him. A deep gash in his arm due to his overwhelming confidence. It hurts incredibly and is healing at a visible rate, the pain is annoying but after the experience of the Bacchus Factor fusing with his body its irrelevant. After a few minutes the wound closes completely leaving not even a scar.

"I guess I'll get going."

Following the easily visible trail of blood Zack eventually arrives at a clearing that the Saber tooth has chosen as it's final resting spot. It's lying on the ground with little vigor and it's one eye is staring down Zack with hatred. Zack saunters up to the tiger saying,

"Hate me if you want, it won't change anyth—"

Mid sentence the tiger springs up at its highest speed yet. This time Zack is too close and his throat is instantly ripped out by the tigers long teeth. His regeneration tries to kick in but the cat refuses to give up and absolutely mauls Zack. He achieves his second death. Three days pass and Zack wakes up.

"Fuuuuck! Dying hurts like a bitch!"

In anger he storms around breaking tree branches and kicking bushes during a round of prolific expletives. Checking how long he took to revive he sees the time left in the newbie mission is three days shorter leaving about a week until he is sent back.

Determined to get revenge Zack rushes back to the previous cave of the tiger. However the beast seems smarter than that as it's relocated. As he arrives in the clearing he was killed in looking for the direction the tiger head in. Zack is further stunned by its intelligence as it waited until it stopped bleeding to leave the clearing.

He spends a few minutes and finally finds the track of the tiger. Following the trail he travels for a while and finds what seems to be a short term home of the tiger. He pitches camp not far off as it's night. Determined to get revenge the next day he falls asleep.

But as he arrives the tiger isn't there. He follows the subsequent trail yet he still doesn't come across it. For the next week he travels following the signs of this saber tooth. However as it comes upon the final day of his time in this world it's not looking like he'll get his revenge. Yet it seems that luck shines upon him as he comes across yet another cave that seems to be the tiger's new permanent home.

Muttering under his breath, "This time there's no running away." He lifts up a makeshift spear he made and jumps into the cave relying on his enhanced physique to make his way in the dark.

The tiger in the caves ears twitch at Zack's intrusion and yet again the eyelids shoot open. However this time only one shining eye stares into the darkness. Yet before it can stand up a face that it has had nightmares of lately shows up in its vision. That was the last thing it saw. A few minutes later the Main God Space's mechanical voice rings out in Zack's ears and the space around him freezes.

[Newcomer mission complete returning to the space.]