11 Surprise before the Poseidon (1/2)

A small blue campfire burnt on the branches and dead foliage before Ivan and Mazur. After several experiments, Mazur had successfully worked the process of submerging the wood in the energy river long enough to saturate the dead wood with energy. They could then be rubbed together to cause excitation on the surface of and cause a combustion reaction. With enough small foliage, this blue fire quickly picked up and became sustainable as long as more fuel was supplied.

Putting it out was equally simple. The energy water was so pure in energy that it merely had to be splashed onto the flame and the extreme purity of the energy would blow it out like the wind blowing out a match. It could also be left alone and would naturally run out of fuel and vanish like a normal fire.

Ivan and Mazur each held a large chunk of eel meat on a stick and held them over the fire, allowing it to slowly cook through.

”As we don't feel conventional temperature anymore, nor are affected by gravity, does that mean we could ideally enter a star?” Ivan asked absentmindedly as he slowly turned his piece of meat over.

Mazur snorted in disdain at this question before replying, ”You should know that's a stupid question. The inside of the star is a massive fusion reaction of cosmic scale. The amount of energy they release is a figure so large that when the energy corporation harvest them, a single one can supply the energy demands for a dozen worlds. If we went even near one without protection, that massive amount of energy will excite the atoms of our body so fast we will instantly combust. The best case scenario would be melting like butter, the worst being direct evaporation.”

”Hmm, just like Icarus then,” Ivan mindlessly thought without minding Mazur's ridicule.

”Icarus?”

”Yes, a mythological figure from before my time on Earth. It is said that to escape from the island he was trapped on, his father crafted him a pair of wings out of feathers and wax. 'Do not fly too low, for the seas dampness will clog your wings. Do not fly too high, for the sun's heat shall melt them.' Or so his father told him.”

”Icarus didn't listen to his words and flew too high. Naturally, the sun melted his wings, following which he fell and drowned in the sea. It became a saying in my time relating to a person overreaching oneself and having a miserable ending; to fly too close to the sun and having your wings melted.”

Mazur nodded his head in understanding, silently appreciating the idiom.

Fatty oils dripped off the meat and caused the fire to momentarily flare. It didn't take too long before the meat was completely cooked through.

Ivan found it interesting as the cooked meat released an extremely enticing smell that seemed full of energy. The meat was so tender it simply fell apart in his mouth as eagerly took a large bite out of it. It didn't have the concept of temperature, but gave him a euphoric tingling sensation through his body as he swallowed it. It made him feel full of energy, as if the cells of his body were celebrating.

The wounds on both Ivan's and Mazur's chest began to heal rapidly as the excess energy in the meat caused the cells to rapidly divide and repair the body. Once the scabs fell off, Ivan looked down at his body still covered in dirt from the fight with the eel and decided to wash off in the river. Mazur also saw this as the only method to clean their bodies and chose to join him.

Soaking in the energy river while avoiding floating away, Ivan felt like he was being zapped by tens of thousand of tiny electric shocks, bringing a pleasant sensation to his skin. He used his hands to scrub his body with the water until all the dirt was removed.

After eating and cleaning themselves, Mazur went to work cutting apart the Eel's skin to form a kind rudimentary clothing they could wrap around themselves while Ivan scouted for any tree hollows or anything they could sleep in. Their bodies, made out of four-dimensional matter, obviously didn't need any rest, but their minds did. This was especially true for Mazur who had been overtaxing his mind during the battle against the eel.

Mazur cut through the eel skin with a spear fashioned out of its own tooth, but the cut was jagged, and he cut his hand several times on the barbed outer skin defenses. He still managed to fashion a basic overall for both Ivan and himself though that covered most of their bodies. It also doubled as a defensive armor, as anything that touched them would be cut just like they had been.

Ivan couldn't find any groves in the tree trunks to hide in to sleep, but he managed to cut three groves out with the eel tooth spear. The groves could be covered by some foliage to firstly give them relative safety as they slept, and secondly, to store the eel carcase somewhere where wild beasts won't discover and help themselves to a free meal. The eel tooth spear was incredibly sharp and had no difficulties tearing apart the wood.

With clothing and a place to sleep, they extinguished the small blue campfire and moved into their tree hollows. Once the foliage was covered over the entrance, the natural light in subspace emitted by the light blue star was blocked. Ivan couldn't describe it as darkness, as the lack of light only left a world of pure white, so he instead termed it as ”blankness”.

Ivan lay there in the blankness, able to feel the hollow he was lying in and himself, but unable to see either. Normally a person would be greatly disturbed by such a thing, yet he instead had a feeling of comfort that helped him sleep.

*****

Subspace didn't have the concept of day and night, there was merely the areas within solar systems and around black holes that were bright, where both landmass and creatures could be seen, and the unknown areas in between, covered in blankness.

Ivan woke up after an unknown amount of time. He reached out and pushed aside the foliage canopy before stepping outside. Mazur was apparently already awake but had waited for Ivan to wake before leaving his tree hollow. He was naturally disadvantaged against fighting against even the smaller creatures of the fourth dimension, so he completely avoided a confrontation with them as much as possible.

”We need to build a base, but everything seems to operate differently. We don't have any equipment, or even the means to produce them,” Ivan complained in anguish.