CHAPTER 8: REVIVAL

Elias stumbled, his knees nearly buckling.

The heat was relentless. The weight of his own body felt unbearable. Every step was a conscious effort, every breath an argument against collapse. His vision blurred, his head light, his limbs sluggish.

He wasn’t going to make it.

The thought had been whispering at him for miles, but now it was screaming. He was done. His legs locked mid-step, his body swayed—

And then, beneath the dry wind, he heard it.

Water.

He forced his head up. TERI had already stopped ahead, hovering motionless.

“Would you look at that,” the droid muttered.

The ground sloped downward, and at the bottom, a stream wound its way through the dusty landscape—thin, but unmistakably real. Rippling, shimmering, impossible.

Elias didn’t think. He moved.

He practically fell down the slope, skidding on loose rock, his battered boots hitting the water’s edge. His hands hit the surface, and he drank.

The first swallow was like fire down his throat. The second, colder. By the third, he could breathe again.

He exhaled, slumping forward onto his elbows, the coolness of the stream soaking into his sleeves.

TERI hovered just above him, skeptical. “You don’t even want to, I don’t know, test that first?”

Elias wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Too late.”

TERI made a grumbling noise but didn’t argue.

For the first time in hours, Elias felt… something close to human again.

And then he saw the berries.

Clusters of small, deep violet fruits grew low along the stream’s edge, tucked between curling alien grasses. The moment he saw them, his stomach tightened with hunger.

He reached for them without thinking.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” TERI said, zipping closer. “You cannot be serious.”

Elias plucked a few, rolling them in his palm. They were firm, their skin thin and smooth. He brought them closer. They smelled… good.

TERI sounded on the verge of a meltdown. “Okay, listen, I get it. You’re starving. But do you know how many things in the universe look totally edible and then liquefy your insides?”

Elias met the droid’s glowing eye. Then, deliberately, he popped a berry into his mouth.

TERI twitched midair. “Unbelievable.”

The berry burst on his tongue. A rush of flavor—sweet, tart, slightly earthy, with a kick of something almost citrus-like.

He swallowed.

Nothing bad happened.

Elias grinned, reaching for another handful.

TERI practically sputtered. “Are you—? You didn’t even—! You didn’t die so now you’re just doubling down?”

Elias ate another, and another.

Then, something shifted.

The exhaustion, the sluggishness, the haze in his brain—it all melted away.

His heartbeat steadied. His muscles relaxed. His thoughts cleared.

He felt… good.

Better than good. Stronger. Sharper. Like his body was tuning itself, recalibrating.

TERI, still floating at a cautious distance, tilted its head. “…Huh.”

Elias stretched his fingers, blinking at the rush of alertness washing over him. “I think,” he said, “I just found our next meal.”

TERI muttered something unintelligible. Then, after a long pause:

“…I’m logging this under bad decisions that somehow worked out.”

Elias smirked, grabbing another handful of berries.

They weren’t out of danger. Not even close.

But for the first time since crashing, he had energy.

And that meant he had a chance.