Day 1 Evening

[Dave Strider]

Grrrrrrumble

Ryner drooped his arms along his side as he dragged his feet along the forest, groaning along with his stomach.

"Gahhhh, I wish I would have gotten a decent meal instead of this stupid flare thing... soooo hungry..."

The Alpha Stigma lazily shook his fist in the air to demonstrate his disapproval.

"You hear me spirit? I don't care about the flood! Give us something to eat, I'm starv-"

Wait, are those fruit?

The Alpha Stigma paused and looked ahead at a rather large tree. Not that the trees before weren't large, but this was exceptionally large. The mother of all trees. The Keebler elves would even go as far to call it "possible prime real estate". However, Ryner was not concerned with anything like that. The reason why the unmotivated and lazy man was floating over to the tree was because of the bright green and red fruit that grew on its low hanging branches.

Now, there are saying about low hanging branches and not grabbing the fruit of of them, but Ryner had never heard of any of those sayings. Needless to say there wasn't an ounce of hesitation as he reached for a single ripe orb. In the distance, many fauna fed of the same blue rejuvenating fruit, from which the tree gave the gift of life.

Ryner was anxious to join the creatures of the forest as his fingers caressed the soft outer layer of skin of the fruit, until his mind gave off a sharp pain, the curse of the demon inside him screaming.

DESTROY IT. DESTROY THE FRUIT. DESTROY THE TREE. DESTROY THE FOREST. BURN IT ALL. I WILL ERASE IT. JUST LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE.

The Alpha Sitgma roared as he fell to the floor, the curse trying to force control over his body and destroy the life of the tree that gave it. As Ryner fell to the floor, he brought the fruit with him, both making a soft thud before the fruit rolled a few meters away. The Alpha Stigma fought for control over himself as he rolled on the muddy floor, suddenly finding his hand gripping his weapon and aiming at the tree.

Destroy. Erase.

"NO!" Ryner yelled before he forced the gun up, pulling the trigger and shooting a flare high into the sky, shining bright as the sun's last rays of light disappeared into the night.

The two consciousnesses struggled before Ryner saw the fruit within each. It was a long shot but if the demon wanted to destroy the thing, eating it might help him. A shaking hand reached for the red and green swirled orb, before smashing it into his face and mouth. The fleshy blue insides of the fruit splattered across his face as he felt himself calm, resuming control of his body. Whatever this fruit was, it was not only damn delicious, but it kept down the demon inside him.

Perhaps the curse was not as absent as he had hoped, but maybe if he saved a few of these fruits, he might be able to stop himself from hurting himself, or anyone else. After eating a few more fruit to satisfy his grumbling stomach the Alpha Sitgma stored a few more in his cloak and checked his weapon. It appeared to have reloaded its single cartridge. At least he hadn't wasted his shot. However, now anyone nearby will now know his location.

The Alpha Stigma looked out into the distance as he wondered what the consequences of his actions were.