Endless: An Autobiography of an Immortal

Chapter 4 - New Beginnings

The trip was long with the waves being pretty high, but it was otherwise uneventful. When I arrived at shore, I was sort of expecting to immediately see others, I don't know why exactly. There was no one there. However, the storm had not come this way and there was plenty of vegetation for the rabbits, so I brought them out one at a time. They seemed to enjoy having a new place to explore and off they went. I left their food I had gathered nearby just in case. Myself, I did the same, leaving the boat along the shore, I headed off to see what this place had in store for me. I thought I'd keep near the shore and loop around like I did on my island. I found some more trees to eat from and started off on a new adventure. When evening fell and I still hadn't made it back around to my starting point, I came to realize that this was a much larger place. I could see terrain everywhere inland which stretched beyond eyesight. I made camp and thought of what I should do. If the land was big enough, I'm going to need to sleep at a new place every evening and if it's raining, that won't be fun at all. I needed to prepare myself for some unfortunate weather.

The next morning I went to work on creating a portable house. It was crude, but effective. A tent of sticks, fur and rope that rolled up so that I could carry it on my back. I used the fur from my coat, so I hoped it wouldn't get cold any time soon or else I would need a new source of fur. Something that was soon presented to me. In the meantime I trekked on. I walked for days and days. I saw many new plants, trees, and animals, which I studied in some detail. I didn't spend too long on each like I did on my island as I was focused on finding others like me and possibly loop around back to the canoe. The terrain started changing too. I had never seen such hills and mountains. The more I walked along the coast the more things I saw that made me want to explore inland. There was also land I saw across the water, big and small, that I wanted to get to too. I decided that for the time being, I'd still stick to the coast in order to get back to my starting point, then I'd check out all the things I wanted to see inland. Oh how naïve I was.

I was in the area that would become Sicily when I heard a roar. I stopped dead in my tracks. My eyes darted left and right, looking for what made the sound because it seemed to have come from every direction. I saw several animals run past me, seemingly trying to get away from whatever made the sound. There in front of me was an European Ass barreling down at me. I thought it was weird that such an animal would make a sound like that until I saw the fear in its eyes. Out of nowhere a Cave Lion leaped at its prey when it was only a few yards away from me. The Ass struggled and yelled which only lasted a short while until it was killed. The Lion then started to consume its food. I stood there in shock but also amazement. It was the first time I saw such a large animal hunting and eating another animal. Granted I saw birds consume the dead fish, but not other land animals. I quickly realized I really shouldn't stay any longer, lest I become the Lion's next meal. I slowly backed away and took another route along the shore. You won't find these animals in the area today as, like many animals I'll mention, they became extinct long ago. But at the time they were something to be careful around and I needed a way to protect myself.

While I had kept my knife rolled up in the tent till then, only taking it out at camp, I realized I needed to have better access to it in case I ran into the Lion again. I also compared the knife to the lion's arm length which paled in comparison. I knew I needed something longer in order to keep the beast at a distance so that his paw wouldn't be able to get to me. I came up with a spear, which basically was my knife on the end of a stick. Innovative, I know. Finding a good piece of wood is actually the hardest part as they can be easily broken. Any wood small enough to hold easily was flimsy, so I had to start with a larger piece of wood and chisel it down, keeping the strength of the center of the wood. I also still needed to use a knife for things, so I had to make another one. I wanted to keep both on me at all times, but didn't like the idea of having to hold onto two things at the same time. So I made a rope that would hold the knife on my chest, ready to grab. I walked with my spear, but it also became my walking stick as it's much easier to travel rough terrain with one. I was as prepared as I was going to be, so I set off again in search of some people.