A new dawn

Any dreams of conquering this land faded as Ed woke still curled up in a ball on the hard floor, he looked around himself and stared at the blue sky far above him as the sun began its relentless task of scorching all before it as he wondered why he was still here in this land.

He knew his priorities for the day and moved his bedroll into his hut along with collecting more resources of wood, stone and plant fibre then soon completed a thatch roof to protect him from the elements. With fresh water nearby he now just had to worry about collecting enough food to survive as mashed up insects was not something that appealed to him short or long term.

He took time to wrap some fibre around branches to create torches and then with axe in hand he set out to explore his immediate surroundings. Soon he discovered further along the shoreline a large crocodile, possibly the cause of the noises outside his door the night before. Ed gave it a wide berth as he passed and was relieved that it didn't automatically attack him, he knew that in the game that he could easily outrun a crocodile but in real life there was no way that over a short distance he could get away. Even though he would probably respawn getting eaten by a crocodile wasn't something he wanted to experience... again.

Wanting to explore further during the day Ed headed slightly inland towards the desert careful to keep the river in view and found a cluster of trees surrounding a small oasis. Large shapes resembling a hybrid of a gorilla and turtle moved slowly amongst the trees but made no movement towards Ed. He stepped forward ready to turn and flee in an instant but the Shalebacks just ignored him as he seemed to be no possible threat to the large herbivores.

Ed noticed one Shaleback lying beside a nest with three large eggs in the middle, he licked his lips in anticipation of a possible meal more satisfying than a collection of insects. Deciding that the risk of being squashed by the lumbering monsters would be preferable than slowly starving to **** Ed dashed forward and collected the eggs. The Shaleback that had been guarding them slowly lumbered to its feet but Ed sprinted away before it had realised what had happened.

Ed kept running as it roared its frustration at his escape but the creature didn't chase him very far, seemingly accepting that having its eggs stolen was an everyday occurrence for it. Following a path away from the oasis Ed took a moment to devour the three raw eggs, wishing that he had a way to cook them but his stomach ached and there seemed little chance that salmonella was programmed into the game since he'd last played it.

Movement from the corner of his eye caught his attention and Ed noticed some rabbits hopping about. Ed smiled to himself, murdering a pet bunny wabbit wasn't something he would ever consider doing in his old life but, here, well, a guys got to eat.

Ed stealthily approached the bunny wunny as it happily hopped in the sun, Ed raised his axe and... it sat up twitching its little button nose at him as it sniffed the air curiously wondering who its new friend was. Ed paused as it sniffed him and then lowered his axe crushing the animals skull with one heavy blow, the rabbit collapsed in a pile of fur and bones as Flopsy lay twitching while its life drained away, its last thought being of its soulmate, Buttercup.

Ed paused wondering what to do next, he'd never taken a life before and he took a moment to reflect on what he'd done. He'd never killed so much as a spider before, he caught them and took them outside but here he was murdering a trusting animal so he could eat... he was a hunter gatherer now he reminded himself and the alternative was starvation. Taking hold of his axe he held down his vomit as stripped the fur from its body and cut its meat into strips.

Again Ed found himself surprised by what he could do in the game.