Endless: An Autobiography of an Immortal

Chapter 6 - Goodbyes

Have you ever walked across Asia? The place is huge. I didn't have a compass, nor any kind of map, so I would head out in the morning towards the sun and try to maintain that same general direction throughout the day even when the sun moved across the sky to become behind me. Didn't exactly walk in a straight line, but it was close enough. Also the mountains of central Asia kept pushing me further North since I would always take the way around by passing on the left. I found that the climate was better going that way. Needless to say, Cub and I had a lot of fun walking the whole way, finding food along the way and sometimes just setting up camp and chilling for a couple weeks or months when we found a good spot here and there. I'd stop and observe the many flora and fauna we'd come across along the way. All in all it took 6 years to finally reach the Pacific. But we did it. When we were getting near I could hear the roar of the ocean and the smell of salt filled my nostrils. I knew we had finally arrived, but to be sure, I went to the water and tasted it. Salt. That was the requirement for knowing I hit the end of this landmass. Something that didn't occur to me when I found that lake previously. We had walked so far that we reached the present day area of Japan. It was connected to the mainland at the time due to the low ocean level. We actually stayed there for two years, having been walking for so long I wanted to just stay in one place for awhile. I was just happy to be able to share some shellfish with Cub again. He seemed to enjoy it.

Having Cub around with me was truly helpful. Not only on the trip and defending me from various dangers, but the companionship was a great emotional support. Though I had yet to find someone like me, Cub was with me the whole journey and it made up for a lack of family. We would eat together, not always the same food though, he seemed to have his own tastes. I would sleep on his big growing belly too. Before there were pillows and beds, a big warm ball of fur was very comfortable. I'd scratch his ears too and he'd purr. Did you know that bears can purr? It's not unlike how felines do it. I wouldn't recommend trying it if you just came across one in the wild, though. We'd bathe together too, playing in the water and getting some dust off ourselves. I didn't exactly have the concept of hygiene back then, but being covered in dirt didn't allow a comfortable sleep at night. We had a great time together. I've had many animal companions over the years, but I will always have a place in my heart for Cub. He was the first. He saved my life more than once. One of the first times was the cave and another was on the way back West.

We would eventually continue on our journey South in the hopes of it going back West to reach where we started from. I liked traveling along the coast, not only because of the extra variety of food, but it helped give me a sense of direction. I didn't have to always figure out if I was still heading the right way, I just had to follow the shore. It wasn't always easy, though. The coastline sometimes had hard terrain to navigate or wide rivers reaching their end in the oceans that we had to cross over. There were also distractions in several places because I could see land off the coast and wonder if it connected to the mainland or if they were islands as well. If they had what I was looking for or just a waste of time to head over there; I did wake up on an island myself after all. Sometimes there also would be cliffs over the waters, sometimes mud or rocks, and then sometimes it would be sandy beaches. It was during the walk along the intertidal zone that we ran into trouble. Well, I did.

It was mid morning and the air was humid. I heard a faint noise across the water. I looked up to see a large thunderstorm stretching across the horizon. While I knew bolts of lightning were powerful and could make things catch on fire, I didn't realize just how dangerous they were when out in the open. I just thought it preferred trees. We were walking along the shore when it started raining, but both Cub and I were used to it by now, besides there were no caves in the vicinity, we'd just have to deal with it. The day wasn't cold so it wasn't too bad, just a lot of water raining down and blowing off the ocean. I thought about making camp, but the tent was not strong enough to stay up during the wind and rain. We trekked on, oblivious of the impending threat bearing down upon us. Suddenly, I felt a buzzing sensation near my neck, heard a deafening crack, felt immense pain running throughout my whole body, and then everything went black.