Sydney stood at the riverbank, fishing. He caught two fish. Using the cube, he turned the fishing rod into a knife, cut the fish in half, removed the organs, washed the fish in the river, and left them to dry under the sun.
Sydney had been here for two days. So far, he hadn't seen any predators in the area. He walked to the wood-chopping spot to gather firewood for the night. After two hours of chopping, he returned to camp and tried to improve the rundown tent he had built.
After hours of struggling to make it better, he saw a black figure in the distance. The figure gave off an eerie presence.
Then it ran toward him—fast, like a cheetah.
Sydney reacted quickly. He sprinted toward the river, crossed it, and stopped on the other side. He began preparing a long spear using the cube.
But before he could finish shaping the weapon, the beast was already there.
It jumped.
In that moment, instinct took over. Instead of completing the spear, Sydney reshaped the cube into a wrap and captured the beast mid-air. The cube twisted and shrank until the creature inside was crushed. When it was over, what remained inside the cube was only a small, dark chunk—just one-quarter the size of the original cube.
Sydney stood there, breathing heavily. The adrenaline slowly faded, and silence returned.
He stared at the cube in his hand, processing what had just happened. "What the fuck...huff...was that thing?" he whispered to himself.
He took a moment to sit down on a nearby rock, still gripping the cube tightly. After a few minutes of silence, he finally stood and examined the smaller cube-shaped object left behind.
It looked exactly like his original cube—same texture, same material. Nothing about it seemed different.
Curious, he brought the two cubes close together.
To his surprise, they merged into one.
Startled, he stepped back. "Ok... that's..new?"
He concentrated again and tried to separate them—and to his relief, it worked. The cube split easily, back into two pieces.
"Useful," he muttered. "Weird… but useful."
Over the next week, nothing major happened. No more beasts appeared, and the forest stayed quiet. Sydney used the time to improve his shelter. His tent slowly transformed, bit by bit. With each improvement, it felt more like a real home.
A month passed.
Life was… good.
Sydney had added a furnace area for cooking, a bath tub by the river for relaxing, and expanded the tent into a small hub—almost like a cozy cabin. The place now had proper walls, a roof, and even a bed he had made from wood and dried grass. He kept a journal in the magical book, writing down what he learned each day.
Then, one quiet afternoon, something strange appeared in the sky.
A small black dot.
At first, Sydney thought it was a bird. But the dot didn't fly—it hovered, slowly getting closer to his home. The closer it came, the more it pulsed with magical energy.
When it was just above the forest, a glowing magic circle appeared beneath it. The dot vanished.
And then—just like that—it reappeared on the grass beside of the first tree Sydney had seen when he arrived.
He narrowed his eyes, stepping forward carefully. "What now…"
He moved closer.
As the leaves shifted, a figure became visible—laying down on the grass.
A woman.
Familiar face. Short hair.
Sydney's heart stopped.
He whispered in disbelief, "…Jane?"