Chapter 11: Awakening

Chapter 11: Awakening

Istared down at the bucket of fish, reeling from the sensation of having the System show me something actually useful. Why had it only let me do that with the juvenile shore fish? I’d looked at plenty of things since arriving in this world, but something about the fish I’d caught had drawn me in. It felt natural, not at all jarring or forced.

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I cast my line in the same spot again, and after another few breaths, reeled in another two fish. I felt the same sensation as before when I focused on the fish.

Juvenile Shore Fish

Common

Found along the ocean shores of the Kallis Realm, this fish is a staple source of both food and bait.

My eyes cleared, and I laughed in delight. I moved to the left, further toward the beach. When the stone of the headland ended and the sand of the shore was between my toes, I cast my line out again. I waited longer this time, but sure enough, the familiar tug came. I pulled in another juvenile shore fish, adding it to my bucket with a sense of joy.

I cast out again, and when I pulled in the line after another tug, I noticed movement in the water. Something large trailed the two fish on my hooks, and I leaned in with interest, trying to make out what it was. As it walked almost onto the shore, I saw a crab the size of my head. Seizing the opportunity, I pulled the fish in slowly, luring the crab closer to me.

With shaking hands and building anxiety, I pounced. I grabbed the crab by the back swimmers, making sure its no-doubt massive claws couldn’t get a hold of me. Its legs scrambled as I pulled it from the water, my rod discarded and forgotten behind me as I held the crustacean high.

Crab and lobster had always been some of my favorite foods, and my mouth watered at the thought of crab for dinner—but then I noticed something disconcerting. The crab had no claws, its sockets empty where they’d once been.

“Oh, you poor thing . . .”

It had clearly been in the wars, having lost both its claws to a predator or another crab. There was a large scar where one of its eyestalks should be, and the carapace had healed over long ago.

I immediately felt guilty for having ambushed the thing. No wonder it had walked so close to the shore—it would be next to impossible to hunt without its claws, and the fish I dragged past it must have been too tempting a meal to pass up.

I walked over to my discarded line, throwing one of the fish into my bucket, and putting the other on the ground. I removed a nail from the pouch at my hip, humanely dispatching the fish with a single movement.

I walked back to the water, the crab in one hand, the dead fish in the other. I lowered both into the softly lapping water, placing the fish right in front of the crab and taking slow steps backward from it.

The crab didn’t run. It froze on the spot, likely trying to play dead or pretend to be a rock. After only a moment, it shuffled up the fish I’d left there, using two forelegs to hold it in place as it started eating.

“Sorry, mate,” I whispered, not wanting to spook the thing. “No use kicking you while you’re down. You go have some babies and fill the waters with tasty crabs!”

The crab didn’t respond, but the System was as chatty as ever.

[Error: Insufficient power. Superfluous systems offline.]

I rolled my eyes, but then felt the crab drawing my attention.

Rock Crab

Uncommon

Found along the ocean shores of the Kallis Realm, this crab is prized for its sweet flesh and subtle taste.

Sweet flesh and subtle taste, you say? I felt my mouth water again. If I find a healthy one, I’m gonna find out firsthand. Maybe I need to craft some crab pots eventually . . .

I worked my way back along the shore, splashing some fresh oxygenated water in my bucket of fish. I caught three more of the juvenile shore fish before walking toward the banks of the river.

The river’s waters were deep at the mouth, and I looked for a suitable spot to cast my line. The tide was heading out, flooding fresh water out into the bay before me. I found a place protected from the fast-flowing water by two outcroppings of rock. I cast the line out, and I waited with bated breath. I’d already caught so many fish today, but the thought of catching a new species in the brackish water where the ocean and river met filled me with excitement.

“Thank god for that flint—I was getting seriously sick of starting fires by hand.”

My brows furrowed in thought. Wait . . . should I say thank the gods? This isn’t Earth, after all . . . I shook my head at myself. Who cares? I have fish!

My feast of gutted shore fish lay on a grill I’d retrieved from the kitchen, propped atop two large pots that held it far enough above the open flames to cook the fish without burning them.

After dispatching the eel, I’d wrapped it in a tea towel from the kitchen, then dipped it in the river. The water evaporating from the cloth would keep the eel inside cool, stopping it from spoiling prematurely.

The smell of the fish cooking was tantalizing, and I watched with growing impatience as the flesh curled above the heat of my campfire. I picked one up with my hands, juggling the piping-hot fish and blowing to cool it down. I pulled a section of meat off and the skin easily peeled away. Breathing around the hot mouthful, I chewed. The flavor exploded in my mouth, the small fibers of the fish making it seem to melt. The sense of accomplishment and the knowledge I’d caught the fish lent itself to the subtle flavor, making it possibly the most satisfying meal I’d ever experienced. All the expensive and exotic food I’d had in my previous life didn’t compare; I’d earned this.

I ate the rest of the fish. The small bones I had to pick around did not impede the experience, rather slowing the process down, making me appreciate each bite all the more.

With the sun setting, I put the pots and grill aside before stoking my fire with more driftwood. I set off back toward town to collect my new clothes.

The crab ate every last bit of the fish it had found, even the bones and scales meticulously pulled into its mandible and pulped by the teeth in its stomach. As it digested the nutrients, a small light flashed from its body. A pop sounded, and it changed, two somethings extending from its body. Its single eyestalk looked at the two somethings with very un-crab-like curiosity. It moved the regrown claws with intention, testing the powerful muscles inside with an unfamiliar emotion. Words came to its newly formed consciousness, and it tasted them, chewing them just as it had the baitfish earlier.

Baitfish? Yes. Small fish. Tasty Fish.

Its entire body cocked to the side in thought, and it blew contemplative bubbles.

Human caught. Lifted. Let go. He gave fish . . . ?

It blew more bubbles, entirely overwhelmed by experiencing emotions of . . . gratitude?

A blur and a flash of silver.

Danger.

A predatory mouth filled with teeth and a carapace-crushing jaw darted for it, drawn in by the flash and pop it had emitted, intent on partaking of the crab’s flesh. It held its claws out in a defensive stance it knew to be ineffectual; the fish was too large, its jaw too strong—the crab stood no chance before this predator.

Awareness. Fear. Danger. Run.

The crab had nowhere to hide; it sat in the unprotected waters of the shore.

Cannot hide—must fight.

The fish was on it within a second of the flash of silver, and the crab instinctively clacked its claws together, trying to fend off its doom. As the claws came together, they clamped on part of the fish, and sharp somethings shot out from each pincer. The eyestalk pondered the clouds of blood spreading from the dead attacker, one of the sharp somethings having split its head in two, the other severing the tail of its large assailant cleanly off.

Relief. Crab is safe.

No, not crab—I am safe. I am . . . strong?

It shrugged, a decidedly unfamiliar gesture, and grabbed the fish in both claws. The crab took a moment to blow bubbles of contentment as it looked at the giant source of food in its grasp. It recalled the time before awareness. Hunger. Fear. Pain. More hunger. It took a bite of the large fish, delighting in the crunch of its bones and the savory tang of its flesh as it continued to think.

I will not be hungry now. I eat.

The prey had become the predator.

No more fear—no more pain.

It took another bite, rather content with the situation.