Close to a few hours must've passed before Luke awoke from his coma. The torch that he had brought with him had long since died out.
However, even without a source of light, he could make out the inside of the cave. It was a strange feeling; his eyes hadn't just adapted to the lack of light; they were practically made for it.
Looking around at his surroundings, he saw that the human-like skeleton was nowhere to be seen.
He wasn't sure of it, but he had a feeling that his current superior eyesight had something to do with the mysterious skeleton.
Either way, he started to exit the small cavern. He had gotten what he was looking for; there wasn't any reason to stay longer than he needed to.
As he finally exited back into the outside world, he caught sight of his still-lit campfire in the distance.
By now the early afternoon sky had turned to night. The usual curtain of darkness which had veiled his nightly surroundings now revealed itself to Luke.
Making his way to the fire, he noticed the slight movement of a branch above him. It wasn't small, but there wasn't any accompanying noise.
Had his vision not been so clear, he never would've noticed someone's presence above him.
How long would a campfire last? Hours, maybe even days, given someone was there to maintain it.
Luke wasn't an expert on campfires, but he knew for certain that there hadn't been enough wood to keep a fire of that size alive for hours.
It was a wasteful thought; even if it lasted a single second, it had lost him the edge.
His predator had noticed the slight delay in his step, the hitch in his breath.
It didn't know how its prey had noticed, but its moment had arrived.
With a powerful push from its legs, the large creature pounced onto Luke, bringing him straight to the ground.
The monkey-like creature pinned itself on top of him, staring at him with a smile on its face.
Luke could tell from its eyes that it was intelligent; he wasn't dealing with a mindless creature.
In fact, just from the feel of the hands which held his body down, he knew who it was.
3 days ago, when he first woke up on this planet, he had been violated, probed and examined.
"I got in a lot of trouble because of you, you know." The monkey-like creature laughed.
"They said I was crazy; they said it had to have been a thief; there simply had to be."
"Every single human was sent dead, and no creatures roam these borders. Do you know what they decided to do, little human?"
"They accused me. ME of all people. I told them that you were alive. That there was a human who had been sent alive and fled. But they didn't believe me now did they."
"Tell me, little one, did you think I didn't know you were alive when I probed you?"
"Did you think you got lucky? NO. I knew. I knew you were alive. But I sympathized with your pathetic kind."
"I let one of you go. ONE. JUST A SINGLE ONE. I did a good deed. But you. You cost me everything." The creature began to tear up.
"They called me a thief, a liar. But I knew better. I knew you were alive."
He began to increase the pressure on Luke.
"You're gonna come back with me. You're gonna give me back my life." He shouted angrily.
Luke struggled as much as he could. He bit, punched, and wiggled under the creature's grasp.
And yet, it did little to the creature. He understood that while his strength had increased; and was in fact leagues beyond his previous self , it still wasn't enough.
Dared as he might try, he was well within the creatures grasp. It was over.
The scenery whizzed by as the creature began carrying him to wherever his base of operations were.
Thoughts of what-if scenarios flew through his mind. What if he'd been more suspicious of the fire. What if he had simply ignored the opportunity and continued to run? What if he hadn't been so cautious and went into the cave the first day?
What if's in the end were just what ifs. Imaginary futures that were created out of regret. Luke wasn't the type of person to linger on it for too long.
He needed to think about what was going to happen next. What he could do to extend what little life he had left.
He began to gather inside his mind what little information he had on where he was going.
Humans were treated as high-quality material; for what reason he had no idea. But at the same time, they were seen as lower beings.
They must've been seen as Cattle, animals to be raised, slaughtered and used. It certainly wasn't a great place for him to go as a human.
He didn't have much of a choice in the matter, though; he wasn't strong enough to fight back against the stupid monkey.
But he could still feel a silent power residing in his body. That inheritance of cultivation dwelled inside; he just hadn't been given enough time to understand it.
Skimming through all the information he possessed, he was absolutely fucked. He knew close to nothing about where he was headed.
He wasn't nearly strong enough to fight off a single creature, so he'd be damned if he tried forcefully escaping.
No matter how knowledgeable or resourceful you were, it didn't matter in the face of absolute power. It was a lesson he cursed to have learned twice in his life.
[Know your place.]
There it was. His deus ex machina. Still cryptic as ever, but man, was he glad to hear that familiar voice.
Know your place. Know your place. Just what exactly did that mean?
What was his so called place? He was seen as a slave, a cattle. If he wanted to survive, he'd have to act like the perfect slave.
Submissive, passive, and weak. It left a sour taste in his mouth, but he was willing to suffer in order to survive.
All he needed was a little more time; once he learned more about his powers, he'd raze whatever place he was going to into the fucking ground.
Looking into the distance, he saw a small medieval town come into view. Time was running out.
Luke took a deep breath, preparing for the hardest act of his life.