Novel Full 23 Set aflame II
It was finally the 7th day and the last day of this hell.
While usually I am awoken to the piercing lights of the rising sun shooting through the cracks of the cave and trying to burn holes through my eyelids, today was a little different.
I had no dreams so when I woke up, I was not startled at all… Or at least that was the case until I smelt something weird in the air.
I had always heard that the normal human being cannot be awoken to a smell of any kind and therefore that was the reason why smoke detectors were so needed across all first world countries and even any good houses in third world countries.
However, what I had been woken up to was the smell of burnt barbecue, making me even more confused than I had already been.
‘Why would anyone have a grill this early in the morning.’ I thought to myself, slightly wishing that the last 6 days in this hell hole had been just a nightmare that I had finally woken out of and would eventually forget after a few years, possibly already having married to Crystal and with two kids to look after.
I was kept in my daze by this scene. The scene of the two of us in a home, far away from the cities where we could simply look outside and find the waters of the shore washing up the sand and retreating back into the ocean.
I imagined… watched as two kids ran in the distance while I shouted at them to not move too far away from us…
Me and crystal both watched them on our beach bed as we clung tightly to each other like the happily married couple we were.
The feeling… The cold breeze of the oceans passed in between us and made us cling even tighter to each other.
The blazing sun shooting down its rays and scorching our skins, yet at that moment, it was as if nothing mattered.
That was what one would usually call a beautiful and happy life…-.
A life where I had accomplished everything, and the only thing left for me to do was to make money and raise my children before eventually watching them get married just like parents would have.
But then, I didn’t know why… I didn’t even really want to… I knew that it was going to happen so I didn’t want to. Yet I still blinked, and with that single blink, everything disappeared. It was then that my nose was finally assaulted by the horrible stench that came with the barbecue smell.
A faint glimpse of a burning beach torched and set aflame by some kind of black flames flickered with my eyes before disappearing once again.
The last thing I found myself doing at that moment was looking to my right and having one of the most horrifying scenes engraved and etched deep into my mind.
There lay my ‘wife’, skinless and charred beyond recognition. Nothing but the bone was left, not a single piece of meat still stick to her bones.
With one more blink, I finally found myself being thrown back into the real world where I could look around and fully identify the source of the burning scent that was assaulting my now-covered nose.
I almost felt like puking, yet with gritted teeth and a tightly clenched fist, I got up and shook my head of the ‘memories’ I had seen, allowing me to finally focus on the things around me.
[You have killed a Dragonfly]
[You gained +10 EXP]
[You have killed a Wasp]
[You gained +10 EXP]
[You have killed a Black-scaled centipede]
[You gained +10 EXP]
[You have killed a Dragonfly]
[You gained…]
The notifications went on and on, surprising me to my core before making me nod in understanding.
I quickly shot up from the ground and ran out of my cave before looking back and behind the cave to see what was happening even though it was more than obvious after seeing the various animals running in a particular direction without taking a single glance at me.
“Looks like the fire I made had spread uncontrollably… But what would have I expected from an era where oxygen is almost as common as water.” I chuckled while looking as if it was one of my most prized possessions.
If someone were to look at me, they would have thought that I was almost proud of what I was seeing.
A grin stretched across my face while I had almost forgotten of the scene that I had seen prior to ‘waking up’.
I watched as the flames finally engulfed the trees in front of me and let out a deep sigh of satisfaction with the same smile on my face.
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
[Congratulations, you have reached Level 7]
[You have gained 8 stat points]
[Level 7]
[Progress: 530/6400]
[You have unlocked the shop feature]
My eyes glimmered for a moment, but I quickly shook my head after realizing what I should be doing.
With that, I immediately turned around and walked back into the cave while taking everything I could hold with me. I had to leave all the remaining food behind but that was a given since they were going to rot any time soon anyway.
“I should be fine if I walk at a good pace.” I thought to myself before glancing at some of the running animals and beasts with the shake of the head.
“What are they doing? It’s not like the fire can get any further without having trees to-” It was only then that I had taken a glance back, a glance that caused the blood on my face to drain while the expression I had frozen at an awkward smile.
“Damn. Who would have known.” I chuckled, but unlike my relaxed upbeat tone, I was now running for my life.
While I might have understood that the oxygen levels were one of the main reasons why the fire spread so quickly, I completely disregarded the idea that the flame could spread quickly on the floor since it was littered with random rocks, patches with no grass, and even a tiny river that ran through the place.
Yet what I saw instead was that not only did the fire not lose out on speed, it had gained it to the extent where it began looking as if it was alive, its embers skipping patches of no grass and burning blades of grass that was almost 9 meters away as if it was nothing.
‘Crap…’ I ran with all the speed I could muster.
I could still hear the constant ringing in my ear as I ran with all the speed and power I could muster.
My sweating had increased to the point where the minimal amount of clothes that I had on was now being drenched with it, making it cling tightly onto me.
This made it a little easier to run since the clothes weren’t really dangling anymore, but at the same time, I felt as if my mobility was being restricted even though my clothes were quite flexible and even kind of big for me.
‘Why does this shirt feel so tight?’ I thought to myself, but after glancing back I did not ponder for longer than I needed to, immediately beginning to run again with a renewed vigor mainly fueled by the fear I felt when I saw that the flames were beginning to close in.
Looking at the direction I was going, it seemed like the only way I could go was a forest that happened to be in front of me, but at the same time, I could vaguely feel a sense of familiarity when I looked at the forest.
“Isn’t this the forest I came from?” I gasped, now remembering that I had landed in this forest the first time I had come to this era.
“Oh well.” With my head down and my center of gravity lowered, I dashed into the forest alongside many of the smaller animals that happened to have a problem running away due to their small physiques.
I could barely care about them, running past them without an ounce of remorse. This was a life or death situation after all. Why would I care about something that isn’t me?
I could only listen to their shrill screams that resounded after they had been devoured by the orange flames that coated the entire land with an orangy-red hue.
Even the sky was semi-orange, something I could only assume was due to the sun rising in the distance.
“As long as I stay in this forest, I am a dead man… I need to find a way out of this” I muttered under my breath, yet even that had become difficult due to the heat that entered my lungs and scorched me from the inside every time I breathed.
The flames were getting closer and closer.
I could feel their heat on the back of my neck as if a scorching hot iron rod was being held up extremely close to my neck to see how long I could go before exclaiming out in pain, yet even doing that would have burned my lungs so I persisted.
‘WHY IS IT SO FAST!’ I inwardly screamed.
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