Limits

That night, the sky was clear. I've waited until midnight expecting to experience the boulder/rays of moonlight phenomenon again. The nature did not fail to meet my expectation. The same thing happened that night as well. I saw the boulder being illuminated by the rays of moonlight and animals converging into the area again.

I stood up from my shelter and joined the animals in the boulder area. I sat down about 10 metres away from the boulder and then stared at it. This phenomenon look incredibly beautiful and the rays of moonlight seemed very mysterious. My thoughts started to drift away to some distance place. I was calm for some reason and focused only on that boulder and the rays of moonlight.

Suddenly, I felt like my consciousness was also drifting away. I tried to resist the feeling but after a while I gave up. I felt safe and carefree when I just stared at the rays of moonlight. Then it happened, before me I saw a misty figure, it was small and had wings? I was bewildered and could think on of one thing 'a fairy?'. It was dancing happily on the boulder without a care in the world, as if performing for all those animals gathered. I was shocked, shocked so much that I snapped out of this dream like state. When I looked around, the animals were still there staring at the boulder. 'Maybe I'm just tired?' I thought.

I decided to stare at the boulder one more time. After a while, the same sensation enveloped my body. My consciousness started to drift away, while a dreamy and hazy figure with wings began to emerge. It was that fairy again, dancing on the boulder. I wasn't as much shocked as before and I didn't snap out of that dream this time. I continued to watch the fairy while forgetting everything else.

I knew nothing about dancing or fairies but when I saw this fairy dancing happily under the moonlight, I was in a state I couldn't describe. I felt carefree, happy and at peace. When I finally woke up, I noticed all the animals going back into the forest and the rays of moonlight that shined onto the boulder? were no more there. I wanted to get up but my body was very heavy. I felt like, I was working hard non stop for couple of days.

When I finally managed to crawl back to my shelter, I feel asleep instantly. I woke up the following day and noticed it was already afternoon. I also felt immense hunger. I had no meat, I had to eat the berries until I was full.

With my stomach full of berries, I thought about last night events. The fairy dancing on a boulder, my thoughts and consciousness drifting away and the whole situation with hunger when I woke up. Even when I was dead tired, I would still wake up in the morning hours, it was weird for me to stay asleep for so long. I went to the boulder to examine it again but still found nothing unusual.

Then, I got an idea. 'What if I stand on the boulder before the rays of moonlight shined on it? There would be no animals to stare swords at me at that time. I could just wait for the rays of moonlight to descend and find out what is so special about it' I thought.

With my new plan formed, I decided to try and hunt something. I was still a human being, I needed meat not just berries. I went deeper into the forest in search for my prey. With my throwing skills improving everyday, it didn't take long to hunt another rabbit. After my dinner, I practiced my throwing skills again, awaiting the night time to test out my plan.

My accuracy increased day by day. 'Today, during my practice, I was able to hit a tree two out of three times!' I thought. I noticed that the better accuracy I wanted to achieve, the harder and longer it took to get there. 'I guess no one becomes a master after a day or two' I thought.

When the night came, I executed my plan and climbed on top of the boulder. I sat down and awaited the moonlight. As expected, it appeared at pretty much the same time it did the day before. Although I was happy that it worked, when the rays of moonlight shined onto my body, I felt as if I was dying. The feeling I had was no longer pleasant, carefree or happy, no. It felt as if I was awaiting slaughter, taking my last breaths of life.

I tried to move, to get away from the boulder but my body was incredibly heavy. I was barely keeping myself conscious. The pain intensified, few seconds felt like eternity when finally, I fainted.

I woke up the next day or rather, I assumed it was the next day. This time it was morning. When I woke up, I was happy at the thought that I'm still alive! I was alive but very weak at the same time. When I tried to prop myself up, I noticed my hand was really shrivelled. I got startled by that discovery and check my arm, then another arm, then both legs and finally I touched my face.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS!"

I screamed at the top of my lungs. I was shrivelled and dry like a skeleton. I looked like a dried corpse waking up from its long slumber. I was terrified at myself. 'What type of thing happened to me? Did this ray of moonlight suck away my life? Will I stay like this forever?' I asked myself. There were more questions popping into my mind every second. I was scared, confused and maybe a bit angry.

It took a while for me to finally calm down. I first tried to get off from the boulder. When I moved everything hurt, as if I was worked to the bones and then put into a long slumber. My desire to eat something became starvation, not hunger. 'I can even eat grass at that point, anything edible!' I thought.

When I finally managed to get myself off the boulder, I furiously looked for berries. I knew grass was not ideal type of food for me, it could do more harm than good. Berries were the easiest food to find in the forest, it didn't take me long to find some.

I started eating. I ate, then ate more, then more and more until I ate about two buckets worth of berries. I was surprised myself, how was it possible to eat two buckets of food, of berries nontheless? Somehow, I managed that and the starvation became a hunger. This was much more bearable then the feeling of starvation. I could still feel pain all over my body but it was nothing compared to before.

When I laid down on the grass, I tried to organise my thoughts. 'The idea of standing on that boulder while waiting for the moonlight was stupid. I need to leave this place. This place is cursed!' I thought. I no longer had any interest with that boulder or those rays of moonlight.

I've rested for an hour or two and felt the hunger becoming more intense again. I ate more berries then rested again. After another round of eating and resting, I managed to recover enough strength to move normally. I was still too tired to run but it was improvement nevertheless. I noticed that the shrivelled skin started to come back to normal, I was happy about that. If I were to enter a village with that kind of look, people would either attack me or scream "Kyaaa! It's a walking corpse!".

I prepared to stay one more night at that place to rest properly. This time though, I would just go to sleep and never go near the boulder and that moonlight again.