Lying Henry down gently, Ella felt for his pulse and breathed a sigh of relief when she found it. "He's alive," she muttered.
"What was that?" I asked, still trying to grasp how a bite from that thing could make someone lose control like that.
But no one answered as all eyes were on Benjamin, expecting him to explain, but he didn't speak. Instead, he was entirely transfixed on Henry, a look of utter bewilderment etched across his face.
Following his gaze, I felt my stomach twist, but as my mind processed what I was seeing, that sense of foreboding turned into utter astonishment… they were gone. His injuries. Every. Single. One. Every scratch and bruise was erased as if they had never existed. His skin looked untouched, like nothing had ever harmed him. Even his arm showed no signs of injury.
I was still trying to wrap my head around it when Henry suddenly blinked, causing all of us to flinch back. But though he was awake, he remained still, and within his eyes lay a strange glimmer as his gaze darted back and forth as if reading something only he could see.
"Henry… are you alright?" Benjamin asked carefully.
He didn't answer at first, but eventually he slowly turned his head toward Ella, an aching apology written all over his face.
"I… I didn't mean to do that," he mumbled. "I'm sorry…"
Unconcerned about what he had done, Ella didn't hesitate to throw her arms around him in a crushing hug.
"Don't scare us like that," she cried. When she finally pulled back, she looked him over, relieved to see him acting like himself. Then, just to be sure, she asked, "You are back, right?"
Henry gave a soft chuckle and nodded. "Yeah. I'm back."
A beat passed. "Although… I think I should tell you. I might be seeing things."
Ella narrowed her eyes. "What kind of things?"
"Some kind of video-game screen," he said.
"A video Game screen?" Benjamin Muttered stepped in to check his pupils. "You might be hallucinating as a side effect."
"No, I'm fine. Seriously." Henry shook his head. "It's just… it says I have skills. And I've got this strange feeling…" he shook his head "I don't know how to explain it."
He turned toward us as if demonstrating. "Look."
He stretched out his hand in what I assumed was meant to be some kind of spell-casting gesture, but honestly, he looked more like a guy trying really hard not to crap himself.
"I think he's gone crazy," Emily muttered, clearly concerned.
He furrowed his brow, trying again. The effort showed on his face, but the result was the same.
Ella spoke up, her voice gentle but curious. "What are you trying to do?"
Henry opened his eyes, visibly frustrated. "That plant, over there. I was trying to use one of my skills on it."
She sighed, clearly weighing whether he'd finally lost it. But just to appease him, she asked, in a gentle tone, like what you would say to a child. "It might help us to understand what you are trying to do?"
Frustrated Henry huffed," I know I sound crazy, and you are all looking at me like I am, but I'm telling you, whatever happened gave me something like a power."
"Ok, let's say I believe you. What is it you're trying to do?" Ella said in an attempt to calm him.
Looking at Benjamin, we shared a concerned look.
"I got this Skill called common Poison, and I was trying to use it on that plant over there," he huffed. Clearly, seeing that no one believed him.
Playing along some more, she tilted her head. "At this distance?"
Realization dawned on his face. "Right… yeah, maybe."
He stepped forward, crouching beside a vibrant green plant and hovered his hand over it for a moment, hesitation flickering in his eyes, before he pressed his palm against the stem.
We watched in silence as seconds passed.
Sighing. I wasent sure how to deal with this. Depending on how severe his hallucinations were, this was going…
Then it began.
The leaves curled inward like they were recoiling from his touch. Color drained from them, turning that lively green into a brittle, ashen gray. The plant sagged, lifeless and crumbling at the edges.
With it so did my mind, visions of a past I had tried so hard to forget slammed into me.
Beneath me, Cold mud clung to my boots, trying to pull me down as rain fell in sharp, icy needles. Trees loomed like charred skeletons, and the sky was nothing but a smothering void.
Somewhere close, a wet gurgling rose through the storm like the last desperate attempts at life.
"Help… me…"
But I couldn't. I was stuck in a body of inaction, one that couldent move or speak as I was left frozen there to bear the sounds of it until it dissolved into static as the dark swallowed it all.
Then, just as fast, I was back.
The jungle folded in around us again, dense and humming with the constant drone of insects. Henry lifted his hand from the ruined plant, revealing what little was left of it.
I blinked hard, and the visions slammed through me again until I forced myself to breathe. Shallow at first. Then deeper. In… out… pushing the memories back where they belonged. Reminding myself that I wasn't there anymore. That I was fine and in control.
Somewhere through that fog, Henry spoke. His voice drifted in like a sound underwater.
"It's kind of creepy. I mean…"
I didn't catch the rest. My hand had already found the grip of my knife, fingers curling tight before I even realized what I was doing. Just then, a spike of shame cut through me.
What the hell am I doing?
It's Henry, not some monster, not anymore at least…
Then he moved to pick up a stone, utterly oblivious to me, as he pressed his hand to it.
But nothing happened.
"Looks like it only works on living things," he muttered, setting it down again.
Ella, on the other hand, was utterly awestruck by what he could do, furiously scribbling notes, muttering to herself as she cataloged every detail.
I let out a slow breath and forced my hands to still, finally able to put these reactions to the side to make room for the more pressing matters.
Like his apparent second skill, I had entirely missed thanks to my panic attack.
Ella looked up from her journal, pen tapping against her chin. "What about that second skill. The multilingual one? Maybe we just haven't triggered it properly."
"I mean," Henry said, glancing around, "we all speak the same language, so maybe that's why nothing's happened?"
Emily shifted where she sat, then tilted her head thoughtfully. "What if I try something?"
She cleared her throat, and suddenly her voice shifted into quick syllables that rolled off her tongue with an unfamiliar cadence. I blinked, completely lost. Whatever she was speaking, it wasn't English.
Frowning, Owen tilted his head. "Was that... French?"
"Not even close," Benjamin muttered.
Only Henry didn't look bewildered. His brow furrowed, and his eyes narrowed at Emily. "...you're the one who took my desert rations?"
Emily smirked, unbothered. "Maybe."
I glanced at Henry. "You sure that's what she said?"
"Positive," he said flatly, glaring at her. "I know I didn't forget them."
"What language was that?" I asked.
"It's not an official language," Emily replied, completely unfazed by Henry's glare. "It's something my friends and I made for a class project."
Ella's eyes widened. "That's... amazing."
Benjamin let out a low whistle. "That's some project."
"Well, considering she graduated from Dawn University, I'm not surprised," Amelia said. Then she straightened slightly and refocused. "But we still need to be careful. Understanding a language is one thing. We don't know what this core did to you."
Nodding, Benjamin pushed himself to his feet and began circling Henry. "So how do you feel?"
Henry took a moment to think. "Good. Actually, better than I have in my life."
"Okay... what about your emotions? Do you feel anything strange?"
"Besides feeling like a lab rat?" Henry asked dryly.
"Besides that," Benjamin huffed.
Henry shrugged. "Nothing much. I feel like myself. Maybe a bit tired."
Rubbing his chin, Benjamin nodded. "From what I can tell, he's fine." A second later, he shook his head. "Actually, more than fine. His body's in excellent condition, and his sense of humor hasn't changed, so I'm not sure what else to say."
Taking it all in, Ella nodded. "What about your stat points? Do you know how to affect them? And what does it look like?"
Henry glanced down at himself as if checking for the answer there. "For starters, I have no clue how to affect my skill points, and as for the floating screen, it's just a generic gray with nothing much to it."
As the conversation went on, I found myself fading by the second as the horrors of the night finally caught up to me. It seemed I wasn't alone in that. One by one, the others started losing whatever adrenaline had kept them awake.
Everyone except Henry.
He seemed utterly fine, like the past couple of days hadn't burdened him in the slightest.
"That being said, we need rest," Benjamin said after one partially snarky remark from Henry about his missing fruitcake.
No one argued.
With everyone in agreement, Owen took first watch in my place while the rest of us settled near the fire, huddling just a little closer together in case something else came out of the dark.
Even then, I couldn't stop myself from watching Henry.
He'd gone quiet again, crouched near a small plant with his hand resting lightly against it. When it wilted beneath his touch, he didn't look surprised. If anything, he just looked thoughtful. His eyes lingered on his fingers with a detached sort of curiosity, like he still hadn't decided how he felt about having this ability.
By morning, the forest had shifted again. The eerie silence of the night had given way to birdsong and the rustle of unseen creatures moving through the trees above. We woke with a shared sense of purpose.
The core had changed Henry.
That much was certain.
But it also raised another question. If there was one core, there might be more.
Yet when we dissected the rest of the Whisperbacks, as Ella had so helpfully named them, we found nothing, leaving us with only one other option.
Testing whether other creatures carried them too.
That was how our attention landed on one particularly unfortunate creature: the QuadraSimian. Also named by Ella, since it looked vaguely monkey-like, if monkeys had four arms and freakishly long legs.
A brief debate broke out over tactics. Some suggested using firearms, but the risk of drawing attention from larger predators, or worse, far outweighed any benefit. The jungle was full of dangers we still hadn't seen.
Stealth would be safer.
That's when Ella spoke up, fingers still stained from the morning dissections. "We build a trap," she said, already sketching ideas in the dirt. "A cage, baited with fruit. When it enters, we drop the gate."
It was a long shot, but in a place like this, it was the best idea we had.
We spent hours gathering materials: thick vines that could hold our weight, branches strong enough to form a frame. Every movement was cautious, our eyes scanning the treetops for signs of the QuadraSimians as we worked.
Eventually, the trap began to take shape as Henry stood back with his arms crossed, surveying the final result with a crooked grin. "Well, I gotta say…it doesn't look half bad."
"True," I said, letting a trace of optimism into my voice. "Let's just hope it's sturdy enough to actually trap one."
Amelia stepped beside us, eyeing the structure critically. "Well, there's only one way to find out."
We baited the trap with the fruit we'd collected earlier, placing it carefully inside the cage. Then we backed away, taking cover in a nearby thicket, our eyes fixed on the trap from the shadows. The waiting game began, and with it came the slow crawl of time.
"Are there even Simians around here?" Henry muttered, barely keeping his voice down.
"Quiet. You'll scare one off," I warned.
"Like there's anything out there to scare," he huffed, but he settled into the brush anyway.
The doubt started creeping in after what felt like hours. I was just about to say something when the bushes stirred. And out from it, a QuadraSimian emerged, hesitantly approaching the cage, its eyes glinting with greed.
It circled the cage, inspecting the setup with surprising caution. Then, finding the opening, it slipped inside.
"Pull!" I hissed.
Owen and I yanked the rope simultaneously, and the cage snapped shut with a satisfying clack. The QuadraSimian screeched, slamming its fists against the bars in a frenzied attempt to escape.
"Ha! It worked!" Owen grinned. "Told you those knots would hold."
Henry gave a small nod. "Yeah, alright. I'll admit it."
We all stepped forward, watching the creature's desperate thrashing as it tried to force its way free.
Ella adjusted her grip on her journal, watching with curiosity. "So... what now?"
I looked at the cage, unsure. The rush of success faded just enough to make room for uncertainty.
Emily broke the silence. "Why not let Henry kill it? He has a core. Maybe it'll do something?"
Owen glanced at the cage warily. "And how exactly is he going to kill it? That thing's strong. What if the cage doesn't hold once it realizes what's happening?"
He had a point. Our weapons weren't exactly reliable. We had spears, but the wood tip was too dull to pierce anything tough. That's when I got an idea.
"Give me the spear," I said, and pulled out my knife. With a bit of careful work, I lashed the blade to the end of the shaft using a sturdy cord from my pack. It wasn't perfect, but it was sharp, and right now that's what we needed.
"Here. This should work better."
Henry hesitated, gripping the spear tightly. We all took a step back, giving him space as he slowly approached the cage. The QuadraSimian snarled inside, arms slapping against the wooden bars, but Henry didn't flinch. His expression was tense, but focused.
He stopped just short of the cage, met the creature's eyes, and then drove the spear through the bars, striking it cleanly in the head.
The creature jerked once, then collapsed as the forest fell silent.
We waited, watching for any sign that it might still be alive, but for a few long seconds, there was nothing but the sound of our breathing and the distant hum of the forest.
I spoke up, trying to inject some encouragement into the quiet tension. "Keep an eye on your stats, or whatever system you're seeing. Maybe the changes don't show up right away."
Henry nodded, brows furrowed in concentration. "I can feel something… like there's pressure building, but I can't quite reach it."
We exchanged curious glances, but before long our attention drifted back to the creature's body and what we hoped might be hidden inside its chest cavity.
Not wasting a second, Ella dropped beside it and immediately began the dissection, carefully peeling back layers of flesh until she reached the rib cage.
And what we found was...
Nothing.
Ella stared down at it for a second, then let out an irritated pout. "You've got to be kidding me. All that work for nothing?"
"Well, I wouldn't say nothing," Benjamin said, motioning toward the corpse. "There's our meal."
Grimacing, Emily visibly recoiled at the suggestion. To be fair, I couldn't blame her. Trying to stomach the meat from those hounds had already been bad enough.