Lights flashing, wind rustling leaves. I slowly turn, shivering. Wind howls as night sets in. Noises, new noises. Something wakes me up, either the calls of nocturnal creatures, or the cold washing over bare skin. But I sit up, wincing. Everything hurts. I groan, hugging myself. It takes a few seconds for me to completely wake up, but the drowsy facade wears off. I straighten up, scanning the forest. Clawed creature. I squint, unconsciously looking for a stone. My eyes land on the body, the clawed creature lays motionless in the darkness. I shiver again, the cold going from uncomfortable to freezing. My mind begins racing, looking for solutions. I begin itching my implant, pacing. "Okay, so you're cold." "What's the first step." Bedding. A shelter. Something comes to mind, a sleeping bag. I've never heard of one, but I don't think I can make one. Then what else, heat. Another idea, an assortment of sticks and a circle of stones. "That'll work." And another idea, a club. I puzzle over the thought, glancing back at the clawed creature. That would have been helpful before. I scavenge around, trying to piece together the vague image in my mind. "Stones for the circle, thin pieces of thatch for kindling, wood for the bigger flames. And flint." I trip on the word. "Uh."

Sparks fly, I quickly bend down, blowing softly on the kindling. Warm orange flames slowly rise, eating up its fuel quickly. It catches the tepee of wood I made aflame, it grows quickly after that. I sit back, tossing a rather crappy piece of flint aside. My wounds are still a major problem, those claws dig deep. My idea is one that didn't come to mind, but I'll try it. I take a few seconds, watching the clump of black berries reflect firelight in my hand. I take a few, closing my eyes. They taste amazing, but my arms and legs start to go numb. "Heh." I try heating up my nervousness. "Working so far." I take a few more, before going to work with the gases on my legs and back. There is a bump on my head, ginger to the touch. But it's not causing any major problems, so I cast the thought aside. A mess of leaves and tree sap, wrapped with strings that literally came from a plant. I hand to chew on a stick while putting it on, even with the numb feeling, the pain shot through. With that aside, I finally sit back, watching the firelight, the pillar of smoke rising steadily into the black sky.

I prop my head on a tree trunk, happy that the pain isn't lingering. Something opens its eyes nearby, watching me fall into sleep. Its sharp teeth stained with blood, hissing cackle emits weakly from its mouth. My eyes snap open, again. I'm up on my feet quickly, before I almost collapse. I can't feel my legs. But my eyes are alert, darting from shadow to shadow. The cackle comes again, but it falters. I slowly tilt my head, looking past my fireplace. The clawed creature watches me, it's head lolled to one side. Its breaths are ragged, it's eyes bloodshot. Head covered in bruises, the neck barely works. I grit my teeth. "So, you're still alive." I regain my balance, the clawed creature watches with a limp jaw. I stumble around, looking for a large stone. I find one to my liking, trying to heave it up. Purely instinct driving me, keeping the humanity back. I move back into the firelight, the clawed creature lets out a threatening hiss, it's all it can do. I get as close as I can, heaving the heavy stone above me. My eyes stuck in anger, reasoning being held back at sword point. "I hope you know why I'm doing this." It looks at me one last time, it's eye getting droopy. "You will die in your state, I'm doing a favor for you really." My heart hurts, this feels wrong. But I'm not giving myself a choice. Its eye closes, accepting its fate. Its neck goes limp, it's breathing slowing to an almost halt. My muscles prep, but something stops me. At first I talk myself into blaming the black berries, but something about its surrender rubs me wrong. Ever since I saw this creature, it's been killing, hunting, trying to kill me. I have no reason to feel guilt. I drop the stone.

It lands with a thump, almost hitting my ankles. Cold sweat beads down my head, I feel like my burden has lifted. The clawed creature slowly opens its eye, looking back up at me. I trip over the stone behind me, sitting in an awkward position. The clawed creature shuts its eyes again, but not of surrender, one could call it relief. I punch the ground in frustration. "Well, because I'm a wimp, you'll have to suffer in your final hours." The clawed creatures lets out a half cackle, the humanity pushes past the sword held to its throat. "Well, I was born like that so deal with it." Another half cackle. "Just shut it."

I hold it back, looking at my handiwork. Another one of those ideas, but at least it's a useful one. A rather thick stick, a hole in its end, with a self sharpened stone stuck through. The hole thing is wrapped tightly in fiber, heeling the pointed edge stuck in its makeshift handle. I toss it into the air, catching it after a little flip. "Alright I'll be back." The clawed creature isn't listening, it still looks half dead. I retract my steps, heading back toward that valley nearby the green obelisk. I can partly follow the clawed creature's steps and mine, but it looked like it rained last night, the ground is wet. The jungle clears away, giving to open grasslands. A familiar obelisk hangs in the sky, almost no beasts in sight. Bones covered in remains lay everywhere, entire skeletons left behind. The river has changed back to a normal color, but I dare not drink it. But I spot a small group of the large chickens, I hunker down. They waddle around, trying to navigate the new boneyard. None of the other clawed creature's in sight, they must have braved themselves to venture out. I feel my stomach growl, berries just don't cut it anymore. I try my best at sneaking closer, but sadly my skills at staying out of sight could use some work.

Never less I stay close to the ground, trying to stay below the grass level. The smell around me is terribly pungent, and large insects with long bodies and four transparent wings buzz around the corpses. But I keep my course. One of the large chickens spot me, it's squeak of alarm gives me the cue. I let out of the grass, pick in hand.

I drop the two corpses down, the nostrils on the clawed creature flex. It tries to pick its head up, only getting halfway. "Guess what, I found food. I try my best at plucking the feathers off, the clawed creature watches me hungrily. With some lackluster skinning jobs, and some gutting, a completely ready bird to cook. I stoke the flames in my campfire, adding logs. Shoving a stick through the bird, before placing it diagonally on two rocks. I toss the other unplucked bird at the clawed creature, it flops on the floor. It sniffs the bird, watching me suspiciously. I cross my arms, keeping my bird slightly away from the flames. "I'll take that away from you if you don't behave, and to get this out of the way, when you feel better, walk away." I toss my new pick from hand to hand. "Attack me, and you won't survive the next time." I call myself lucky to survive the clawed creature's attack, but I won't let it show. The clawed creature only snorts, before weakly grappling the bird on the head.

The day goes by, and real meat is delicious. I pick pieces off, tasting the juices. The birds skin spread out, drying by the fire. My mind is telling me I'll need it for my sleeping bag, and many other things. The clawed creature finished off its meal far before mine was done cooking, it lays there chewing on the bones. Whenever I turn my back, the clawed creature hisses, struggling to get up. I'm starting to second guess my decision to keep it alive, but as long as I'm facing it, with a sharp weapon in hand, it stays back.

"Want more?" I pinch a piece of meat off my bird, tossing it to the clawed creature. It sniffs the cooked meat, snarling. But it eventually licks up the piece, it looks at me for more. "This is mine." I know it doesn't understand me, but body language is a universal language, and it's easy to tell the clawed creature isn't liking what it's picking up. I stand up, taking rest of the bird with me. "I'll go get the rest of them, don't try anything."

Something is off almost as immediately as I pass back into the grass fields. Its uncomfortably silent, even the bugs are gone. My eyes scan the tree lines, but there's nothing. The other birds are gone, they probably ran off after I ambushed their group. I travel back to my hiding spot, noticing new tracks on the ground. Three points, around the same size of my foot. Lots of them, in lines leading away from my ambush spot. There are splashes of blood where I attacked the birds, but the stains are disturbed. Like they've been licked. More signs, something new happened. Nervousness slowly grows in me, my eyes follow the tracks. They head back toward where my camp is, but I didn't see anything on the way here. I feel uneasy, feeling my skin crawl. There is a loud hiss, coming from my camp. Oh no.

I'm running, passing back into the jungle I've passed through so many times. The hissing is joking by other noises, new ones. A cackling noise, it sounds like laughing. I break through, finding my campfire in its place. But the clawed creature is hissing angrily, it's head whipping back and forth. It's surrounded, by hideous monsters. I shout, waving my arms. "Get out of here!" The newcomers are smaller than the clawed creature, with gross spines sticking out of its back and tail. Frills cover their throats, ridges sitting on the of their heads. Four of them, their frills open up. They cackle in laughing, their nostrils smelling the clawed creature's wounds. One of them look over at me, their claws twitching. Frills open, it hacks at me. Black fluid spits out of its maw, my mind screams at me to dodge. I jump aside, the goo splashes on the ground. Any plants that was hit starts sizzling, turning brown. My eyes widen, I lunge at the spitting creature. With a swift stroke, the pick's sharp edge buried into the spitting creatures side.

It cackles in pain, snapping at me. The other three turn their heads, cackling. They all rush me, each of them have a mouth full of venom for me. I try striking at any that get close, but they slowly push me back. One falls, a wound to its throat does it in. But one gets a helpful handing of acid at my face. I'm able to close my eyes in time, but the the burn is agonizing. My scream of pain sets the spitting creatures off, they jump on me. I swing wildly, my vision is muffled and green. The clawed creature's hisses angrily, trying to get up. It falters, falling over. One of the spitting creatures catches my swinging arm, before whipping its head around violently. I lose grip of my pick, the spitting creature's teeth cut into my forearm. One bites my side, the other goes straight for my throat. I throw my good arm out, gripping on the spitting creature's crest, straining to keep its mouth away from me. Its jaw snaps, before attacking my arm. I scream, trying to get them off me. But they pin me down, trying to incapacitate me completely. The clawed creature tries again, flopping forward.

I let out one last scream, before the spitting creature attacking my side goes for my jugular. "Help!"

With a rush of adrenaline, the clawed creature is up. It rips forward, desperation fueling its movements. It leaps, smacking the spitting the creatures from behind. It takes two of them. I reach for my pick, the last spitting creature lets its grip go, aiming for my face. I strike it in the eye, it lets out a wail. The pick gets lodged in its skull, It staggers away, before falling. I roll, my body going cold from blood loss. The clawed creature smacks away one of the spitting creatures with its head, letting it flail away. The other pinned under its talons, whimpering. The clawed creature does not show remorse, it's hooked claw buried into the spitting creature's chest. It wails, the clawed creatures growls. Its jaw snaps over the spitting creature's head, and with a disheartening yank, the skull and half of the neck is removed from the body.

The last spitting creature cackles, running forward. The clawed creature lets out a cackling hiss, with a gurgling roar behind the teeth. The spitting creature slows, it's head craning to its fallen comrades. Its resolve drops to zero, turning tail and running.

My muscles give out, my face falls into the muddy floor. By some unknown power, my suspicions point toward the implant in my wrist, the bleeding stops. My neck was untouched, but my arms have some nasty gashes, and my face burns. The acid is mostly gone, but my cheeks and forehead are hot to the touch. The clawed creature falters, laying down. It smells it's new kill, taking in deep breaths. It looks over at me, I smile despite the pain. "That's all yours." Without warning, something glows off the clawed creature's neck, I squint. The shape of a triangle. The clawed creature's attitude changes, it looks at me with protecting eyes. Something new in my mind, thoughts of someone else. They feel alien in my mind, but the dots line up. "A raptor, huh?" But I get puzzled on the next part. What does Lvl 295 mean?