Day 49

I woke up to a snowy cave in, a dream filled with nonmeat meal whisked away from me, only to have a cold reality come crashing in. I panicked, because, as I'm sure you can assume, I was not expecting a face full of snow, and assumed I was drowning. Lupe was shielded from the worst of it but still freaked out a bit. I cleared the snow from my face, and pulled us up, breaching the hard crust like a mole and held Lupe above my head like some sort of cat. I was blinded for a good minute from the sheer whiteness and sunshine reflecting off it, causing me to immediately drop Lupe, who plopped into the fresh layer of snow and whined for a bit. I eventually came to my senses and after a “refreshing” wake up checked my path back home, seeing that it had been buried about a foot, I wasn't too worried, as I had gone in about a straight line.

Looking forward again, I pulled a handful of stew paste out of my bag and offered it to Lupe, who immediately proceeded to eat it all out my hand in record time. I grabbed a handful for myself and quickly choked it down, the flavor delightful and all, but I was not in the mood for anything but bread right now. I started walking forward, breaking through the ice crust, the mountain wall and the cave entrance with the rattipede leg sticking out coming into view, less than a mile away. “seriously, I could have slept in the cave instead of freezing out here?” Lupe looked at me and the emoticon just shrugged, and why was this one the constant one? I thought about the health bar, and it immediately appeared, showing that I was in fact, healthy, but cold. Oh, because it's useless right now, got it.

I made it soon enough to the cave entrance, and quickly clambered up, and found my hole in was covered in a layer of snow and ice. I wasn't too bothered and pushed through with the Manaphage rather quickly, and crawled in, Lupe following me in, the familiar cave greeting me with a fond silence, my pack of food next to me weighing heavy, reminding me I wasn't going to starve in this fucking cave again, with nothing but water. Which reminded me, where was that cave spring source, and could I follow it up? It had been a convenient room, and if I could I would love to turn it into another house kind of place, if I ever needed to have one of those down here. I stretched my arms and started jogging forward, Lupe following after me, when I had been down here before, I had been constantly hungry, tired, thirsty, and uncomfortable, now that I was back, I had fixed all that, and I knew what was ahead of and behind me, I knew I could leave this place and its endless tunnels scared me no longer.

I picked up speed, the slight slope helping me fall into a run, and soon a sprint. I felt that call again, that need for speed, that drive to feel the pull of air resistance as I became a bullet of human flesh, Lupe still keeping up for a bit, until about an hour later, when we both started slowing down, him from exhaustion, me from not wanting to leave him behind. We took a break, both of us panting, and ate another handful of stew paste, the taste not as bad as before, maybe I was in a better mood now, having been able to run in an essentially straight line, and was able to reach an astounding speed. I looked at Lupe who was much more tired and was panting hard. I rubbed his head and belly, eliciting happy noises from him, his little emoticon lighting up with what can only be described as a contented smile.

We sat there for a while as we recuperated and I thought about my journey on, checking my notes, I had only been down here for 12 days or so, wow, when I had been here, it felt like much longer, and if I only walked for 10 or so hours a day, at about 2-3 miles an hour, what I think was the average speed of an unmotivated and tired man, I could clear more than half the distance before dinner, and definitely be at the car either by the end of the day tomorrow or early the morning after. Since I knew I was going to be able to make such record time I knew I could relax just a little longer, as I checked the size of the cave around me, it was tall and all, and not to narrow, but I hated driving backward, and I couldn't remember if it ever got narrower than my car. I got up after a while longer of contemplating, and picked the still tired Lupe up, and started to jog again.

I jogged for a while longer before coming across the crossroads. The magma tubes untouched, the marks I had left still there unmarred, and I took a break in the alcove I had made about a month ago. Lupe was less tired now, and I set him down, letting him stretch his legs, and eat some more food. I was happy I had grabbed some more snow before coming down here, and shoved a handful down my throat, washing down the paste stew and giving me a much more refreshing feeling. It was always nice to absorb water with the Manaphage, but now that part of it was in my mouth, It changed a lot of things, like the fact I needed a lot more water it seemed, my mouth was always a little dry.

I got up and continued on, the run through my past was interesting, to say the least, only now did I realize that I had been struggling much more than I thought, and writing than had been the only way to help myself. I was happy I had started these journals, now that I wasn't in any distress, or well, much less distress, it had formed a habit, one I intended to keep. I jogged on, Lupe running at my side, and fell into a trance, only stopping for Lupe, and for when I passed am alcove I had made.