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Brion opened his eyes and found himself under an extensive tree canopy. Rays of light peeked through few large gaps in the canopy. Brion suddenly remembered his last words before losing consciousness.
'Wait. Klara, where is she?'
As Brion got up a sharp and intense pain permeated through his entire being causing him to quickly lie back down.
"That hurts like hell."
Taking into consideration his body's condition he gave up on moving his whole body but at least he could move his head without much pain. He slowly moved his head as he searched for any sign of Klara and took in his surroundings.
'No sign of her.'
He slowly started to analyse the predicament he was in.
'The trees dont look like anything that i have ever seen. They resemble birch but dont have the dark spots and their leaves are a kind of pale green. Also no bear is big enough to leave that scratch on that big tree. Wait, that scratch means that there are creatures in this forest. There is no way I'm agreeing to be a consumable this early, I'm still too young.'
Brion slowly started to stand up trying his best to ignore the pain he was feeling. After about half a minute he stood his back hunched over. The problem was he had no idea of his whereabouts.
'I should probably find a stream, river, or somewhere to get some fresh, clean water so that I don't die of thirst. Food can wait for a bit; maybe I'll catch a fish when I find a river.'
After about thirty minutes of painful trudging, Brion gave up searching for a water source, considering that he would end up losing energy faster.
'This pain is killing me! I can't focus well; my vision is blurry, and I probably won't be able to run away if something attacks me.'
"Run away! I probably wouldn't even know if something was standing two feet in front of me," he mumbled to himself.
Brion sat down and started considering ways of getting rid of the pain. Most of the time, the protagonist has a system or summoner or something to help them figure out what their power is, but Brion was pretty sure that he wasn't the protagonist.
'I'm probably not even part of the side cast—just a cannon fodder meant to progress the story. Real pessimistic, man. Where is all that isekai optimism at?'
Brion started trying to concentrate and figure out the source of his pain. He wasn't physically hurt, but he figured that the problem had to do with the energy flowing in the air. He had been sensing two distinct energies: one was violent and unstable, and the other smooth and stable.
'I hope this is like the other worlds in fiction, and I don't need a machine or potion when absorbing the energy.' He envisioned himself absorbing the energy, like sucking on a straw.
Slowly, every pore on his body opened up, and his body started sucking in the violent, unstable energy, which felt more familiar to his body. After collecting it, he then led it to an anchor—his soul. He had come to figure out, with the help of the horns on his head, that his soul was pretty damaged and was probably where the energy would be stored. Then he guided the energy—still violent, although mellowed—to his soul, hoping that it would be repaired. When the energy came into contact with his soul, it stabilized and collected within it.
After thirty minutes of absorbing and storing the essence, the pain had almost fully dissipated, and his senses were now clearer. His body was now automatically absorbing and storing the essence, as if a switch had been turned on. Brion now stood up and took a better look at his surroundings, as his senses were now back to normal—maybe even a bit more enhanced.
Suddenly, Brion felt an unnatural shadow looming over him. A yellowish drop fell from it, landing on his shoulder, quickly dissolving the thin clothing it fell on and burning his skin.
Hissing due to the pain, Brion looked up to see where the acid had come from. He saw a large maw with two long, sharp fangs which were dripping with the acid that had burned him. A long tongue ending in two sharp prongs. The huge mouth belonged to a humongous snake.
The titanoboa like snake, noticing that it had been discovered, redoubled its efforts to consume him.
Brion's instincts screamed at him, and his mind kicked into overdrive in order to get him out of the instant‑death scenario he was in.
He stepped back; the snake's mouth narrowly missed him. Brion, at this moment, had only one thought:
He had to get away. He had to run.