Solo Survival of the Fittest (Part II)

[Asterope]

26th of winter, 520 AV
Day 2

(Continued from Survival of the Fittest Part I*)

Aster squinted open her eyes, mind foggy with sleep and confusion. She was curled in on herself, laying on the grass, naked. Light filtered in through the tree branches that surrounded her, and birds chirped and sang cheerily. It took a few moments for her to recall the situation she was in. She grunted slightly, rubbing sleep from her eyes. Dew lingered on the grass beneath her, chilling her skin, and she carefully crawled her way out of her shelter, stretching once she was standing.

It still felt bizarre and uncomfortable to be standing around naked, especially in the middle of the forest, but she had resigned herself to that fate for the foreseeable future; at least she was alone. Reaching down, she touched her toes, then stretched up on them and raised her fingers towards the sky, trying to shake off any lingering stiffness from sleeping curled up in such a small space. She hopped from foot to foot, rubbing her hands briskly over her arms and then up and down her legs to ward off the morning chill.

Feeling more awake and alert and slightly warmer, she fetched her bag and the spear from her shelter, swinging the burlap sack over her shoulder and gripping onto the spear. It was silly, but she felt nervous leaving the small area she had settled in; it had become familiar. Now she was truly venturing out into the unknown. But she had no choice; she couldn't just stay here forever. Inhaling deeply, she squared her shoulders and looked down at the crude arrow she'd sketched into the dirt that pointed northwards.

Fishing the map out briefly, she scanned over it with her eyes; there weren't any real landmarks noted on it aside from bodies of water and the animal sketches. There was a lake or pond or some sort of body of water drawn out north of her, not far from the destination 'x'. She supposed she would just have to try and keep an eye out for it. It occurred to Aster that she had no clue what scale the map was; how far was her destination? A few hours? A day? Five? Ten? A season? She had no way of knowing, but stressing over it wasn't going to help her any, so she tucked the map away carefully and stepped forward, following her arrow, and began to walk northward.

The small site with her makeshift shelter and firepit was quickly lost behind her as the trees seemed to swallow it up. The grass tickled the soles of her bare feet, the occasional twig or stone making her wince as she walked along. How would she know that she was going in the right direction and keeping on a straight path? It was difficult to tell with the trees rising up around her, making everything look the same. Stay calm. she reminded herself, tightening her grip on the wooden spear. She couldn't afford to panic. She would just have to check every night before she slept to make sure she was still heading north, and readjust if she was off track.

Word count: 522

[Asterope]

The day seemed to pass agonizingly slowly. Her feet began to ache first, not just from the walking but the prickling of stones and twigs in the dirt; it was dull and distant, staved off by her semi-divinity and soothed by the warm sunshine that dappled across her skin as it filtered through the canopy of leaves, but still there. Her legs followed, just a slight twinge every so often. Walking through a city was one thing, but the forest was completely different.

Something rustled a bush nearby, and Aster stopped, pointing her spear and staring warily. She almost screamed when a deer came bursting out of the bushes, scampering past her and making her stumble back, only saved from a graceless fall on her backside by her back thumping into a tree trunk. The brush where the deer had bounded off was still, already calmed from the disturbance. Aster let out a shaky breath. To say she was on edge was being generous, and despite being alone, she still felt foolish and embarrassed by her reaction. "Stupid," she mumbled under her breath, chiding herself. What if it had been a real threat?

Taking a brief moment to collect herself, she brushed herself off and began walking again, this time keeping more of an eye and ear on the foliage around her. But the rest of her second day passed surprisingly uneventfully, aside from the deer scare. As the sun began to set, Aster decided to stop for the day. Setting up shelter was slightly easier this time around, having done it once already; she knew what she needed and a basic set-up that worked, so she started gathering the sticks and branches she would need, propping the longest one up against a nearby tree and pushing one end into the dirt to stabilize it.

Peering upwards, she scanned her gaze across the sky, noting the position of the sun as it sank towards the horizon. It still seemed largely left of her, which meant she was still heading north as far as she could tell; perhaps she should angle slightly more to the right tomorrow? Using her spear, she drew another arrow in the dirt so that she would know which way to go when she woke up the next day, and worked on finishing setting up her shelter for the night. Next was building a fire, which she wasn't looking forward to struggling with.

She found a few large stones, and set them in a circle, repeating the process of the night before, plucking the grass and taking some tinder from the bundle in her bag. She was trying to be sparing with it; it made lighting a fire much easier, and she didn't want to run out too soon. She had no idea how many more fires she could get out of the bundle. Next was the flint and steel; she'd learned the night before that using a 'starter' of some sort seemed to help, so she plucked a leaf from the grass, setting it down on one of the stones in front of her.

It took a few strikes of the steel down against the flint for the sparks to catch, beginning to burn brightly on the leaf. As Aster carefully placed the leaf into the pile of tinder, a gentle breeze blew by, ruffling loose strands of hair around her face; as she watched, Aster saw the embers glow brighter in the breeze, flames beginning to catch. She tilted her head, watching the small fire slowly beginning to burn. When she'd tried blowing on the fire as she'd seen some of the Drykas do, though to be honest she didn't know how it was supposed to help, all she'd managed to do was blow out the sparks she'd caught. But the light breeze that blew by had seemed to urge the sparks on.

Curiously, Aster shifted onto her knees and leaned forward. Cupping her hands around the small flames, she hesitantly let out a gentle breath, and watched with fascination as the embers brightened and then dimmed slightly. Had she just been blowing too hard? A few more gentle puffs of breath didn't seem to do much, and the fire was beginning to spread, the grass and twigs cracking and burning, so she sat back and let it grow. But it was definitely something she made note of; perhaps she could try again tomorrow night.

She grabbed a small stick, poking at a clump of grass in the fire to spread it, and the small flames crackled slightly, growing ever so slightly as she tossed the stick in. It was still a small and rather pathetic fire, but it hadn't taken her nearly as long to get it started. She knew she had the tinder to thank for her success with the fires so far, and she dreaded running out of it. But for now, it wasn't a concern.

Word count: 824
Total: 1,346

[Asterope]

After the sun had set and the fire had dwindled down to nothing but embers, Aster sat by it for awhile longer, watching the spots of orange amidst the ash, wondering why she was here. Was it some sort of test? Her thoughts wandered back to the potential idea that this was the will of some god or goddess, and the thought sent a shiver down her spine. Turning away from the fire, she crawled into her shelter, curling up with her back to the rough bark of the tree trunk, and closed her eyes.

27th of winter, 520 AV
Day 3

She was awoken abruptly in a half-dazed panic as she felt several objects thump across her bare body, rolling over and swatting blindly. It took a few moments for her to get her bearings, and when she did, Aster groaned and let her head thump back down onto the grass. She either hadn't set her shelter up properly, or she'd rolled or kicked in her sleep, and she'd been woken by the branches and sticks collapsing down onto her.

Luckily none of them were too heavy; she might have a bruise or two and a few scratches, but her pride was injured more than anything else. She peered up at the sky from where she lay on the grass; it was morning, but only just. Dawn must not have been long ago, the sky awash with pale, watery grey early morning light. Aster lay there for a few more moments before blowing out a resigned sigh. She propped herself up onto her elbows, pushing the branches off her, then stood and fished her spear and burlap sack out of the debris of what was once her shelter.

"I guess an early start doesn't hurt," she mumbled to herself, hoisting the bag over her shoulder. Brushing herself off, she stepped over the branches and looked around for the arrow she'd drawn out the night before, and then began to walk in that direction.

She wasn't sure how long she walked for; the sun was higher in the sky, and the chill of morning had seeped from the air, but she was fairly sure it was still a bit away from noon. But as she walked, a sound suddenly caught her attention, faint but distinct. The bubbling of another river or stream. Digging into the bag for the map, Aster wrinkled her nose as she shifted the dead rabbit aside. It wasn't quite rotting yet, but it was beginning to smell. She was going to have to figure out something to do with it or get rid of it, probably by nightfall. Perhaps she could skin it and make something with the pelt? But despite having a passion and profession that involved blood, the thought of skinning the rabbit made her vaguely nauseous.

Shaking off the though, she pulled the map out of her bag. Aster carefully shook it open and squinted at it. She chewed her lower lip, crouching and flattening the map over her thighs, pointing her finger at the small 'x' that she had previously deduced as her starting location.

If she was right, and she'd been going north...she traced her finger slowly upwards from the 'x', watching for any landmarks on the map. Sure enough, a squiggly line indicated some sort of stream or river towards the right, so eastwards, after going north for some time. It was encouraging to know she was going in the right direction, but the distance from her starting point was less encouraging.

It had been two days, and according to the map, she hadn't gotten all that far. It was looking like it would be another few days at least before she reached her destination, if the scale was accurate. Well, regardless, perhaps she should make a slight detour to the stream. She could use with a bit of a clean-up. She noted that there was also one of the crude animal sketches near this particular river, a bear from what she could tell, and she wondered what the warning was supposed to mean. Was there guaranteed to be a bear there? Or just a possibility? Was it a part of the forest that bears frequented? That seemed most likely, unless whoever had dropped her into this forest could also place wild animals where they pleased.

She supposed the possibility wasn't entirely out of the question, but for the time being it was implausible enough that she decided to ignore it. Besides, if that was the case, that was far more frightening. Still, she wasn't entirely sure where alone the stream she was; she had just started to hear it, so perhaps she was closer to the tail end of it? And the bear sketch was further up...she hemmed and hawed for a moment before deciding to check the stream out. Besides, with the angle it was drawn at, if she followed it northwards, it would actually lead her closer to her destination; and it was more reliable than her sense of direction, that was for sure.

Word count: 840
Total: 2,186

[Asterope]

Decision made, Aster folded the map back up and tucked it away, and turned to the right, beginning to walk and following the sound of the rushing water. It didn't take long to find the source; it was a small river, bubbling along quickly but not dangerously so. It seemed shallow enough as well. Dropping her pack and spear on the bank of the river, she stepped in, squeaking at the cold water. It wasn't freezing, but certainly colder than she had expected. Aster waded in slowly up to her knees, shivering slightly, and scooped some water into her hands, splashing her face and rubbing to wipe away dirt and grime.

She quickly did the same to her breasts, under her arms, between her legs and then scrubbed her wet palms down her arms and legs. It was a quick refresh more than anything else; she had gone longer without a wash during her time in Sunberth, but something about being so far from civilization made her want to clean up a bit. It made her feel more at ease, more normal, despite being alone in the middle of an unknown forest. Still, she worked quickly, not wanting to stand in the cold water longer than necessary.

Once done, she waded out of the river, shaking her arms off, wringing out parts of her hair that had gotten damp and re-braiding it messily. She hopped up and down on her toes, rubbing her arms to try and warm up again, though the cold was worth it; she felt surprisingly refreshed and marginally less anxious. Bending over, she picked up her sack and her spear when a sound behind her made her pause.

The brush rustled, but this was decidedly a heavier rumbling than the deer that had scared her the day before. A loud snuffling noise, followed by a snort, came from behind her, and Aster straightened up. Swallowing hard, she carefully, painfully slowly, turned around. A bear was lumbering out of the bushes on the other side of the river. It stopped, seemingly just as surprised to see her as Aster was to see it. Instinctively, her hand reached for Navi's tooth around her neck, the charm she had come to realize calmed animals and made them almost unnaturally friendly; but it wasn't there. Her mouth went dry as she and the bear stared at each other across the river.

It had dark, black fur, tiny dark eyes, and round ears that stuck up from its massive head. In any other situation, Aster might have found the creature cute, but not now. She had no frame of reference; to her, the bear seemed massive, but she'd never encountered one before. It made another snuffling noise, followed by a grumble, swinging its head, nostrils flaring as it sniffed at her from across the river.

What should she do? Her heart was pounding; the creature seemed just as wary as she did, but she couldn't stand there forever and hope it went away. Could she just run? It was a heavy, lumbering beast, probably not nearly as fast as a predator like a wolf or a mountain lion, but somehow she got the feeling that the bear was still faster than she was. She glanced nervously at its massive paws, the tips of thick claws sticking out barely visible past thick black fur. She glanced down at the spear she held in her hand. Even if she could hit it from a distance, and even if she managed to throw the spear with enough force to stick, something told her that the measly wooden tip wouldn't do much damage to the layers of fur, fat, and muscle on the creature.

It took a lumbering step forward. Panicking, Aster did the only thing she could think of; she reached a trembling hand into her pack, groping around until she grabbed something fuzzy. Well, this was probably the most useful thing she could do with the dead rabbit. The bear huffed, nostrils flaring as she pulled the dead rabbit out of her bag. Putting all of her strength into the throw, Aster pulled her arm back and flung the dead rabbit at the far side of the river, towards the bear.

Word count: 708
Total: 2,894

[Asterope]

It turned its massive head, nose twitching as the rabbit was flung towards it, but Aster didn't stick around to see if she nailed the throw or if the bear was sufficiently distracted; she stumbled back a few steps until she was back into the cover of the trees, then turn and fled, sprinting as fast as she could.

She heard the grumbling of the bear behind her, the splash as it entered the river, but then nothing; no lumbering footsteps seemed to follow her retreat, no roaring echoed through the woods. But she didn't stop running, fear and adrenaline pumping through her veins, pushing her on. Branches and twigs tore at her face and arms, catching in her hair, scratching her legs as she sprinted through the brush without paying attention, but she could care less.

She didn't know for how long or how far she ran; she only stopped when she stumbled, her body demanding she rest. She doubled over, hands on her knees, gasping ragged breaths in and out. All she could hear was the thumping of her heart in her ears. Her lungs burned, her legs ached, and it felt like someone had jabbed a knife up under her ribs, a sharp cramp rippling through her side with every inhale.

Aster peered over her shoulder, but the forest around her was still. Trembling from a mixture of fear, exhaustion, and draining adrenaline, Aster slid to her knees in the grass, bending forward to press her forehead against the ground, screwing her eyes shut tightly as she battled the sudden and very intense urge to cry like a lost child. In a way, wasn't that exactly what she was, no matter how hard she tried to be otherwise?

Her ragged breathing caught on the lump in her throat, and despite her best efforts, a few hot tears slipped past her eyes. She stayed like that until her breathing evened out, the cramp from her side fading and her thundering pulse slowly calming, and then she pushed herself up to her knees, sniffling slightly and wiping roughly at her face.

The sudden realization that she was now completely and utterly lost hit her; she had no idea what direction she'd run in, or how far, or for how long. Tears began to well in her eyes again. Aster grit her teeth, blinking them away fiercely, forcing a deep breath in as she dug her fingers into her palms, ignoring the stinging of her nails cutting into her skin.

She was going to be okay. She was going to be okay. She was fine. She just had to re-evaluate. She still had her bag and her spear, she was still alive and breathing, and she hadn't been mauled by a bear. First thing first, she would deal with her cuts and scrapes just to make sure none of them got infected. Then she would set up camp. And when the sun set, she would make note of what direction was north, and tomorrow, she would start walking again, north and leaning towards the direction she had come from. She would keep an eye out for any landmarks. She was going to be okay.

And she would certainly take care to be more cautious of the areas that had animals sketched out on the map. It also occurred to her that since she had no idea where she was, she could very well have run straight into another area of the forest with another animal threat, but she didn't dwell on the thought. If she was going to survive, she needed to stay as calm and rational as possible, and she needed to try and be positive. Have hope. She didn't survive years of slavery in Sunberth just to die alone in a forest for some sick stranger's entertainment.

Swallowing hard, Aster picked up her spear again, twisting around to face the direction she'd come running from. She marked an arrow pointing that way first so that she wouldn't forget, and then forced herself to her feet, taking survey of the damage she'd done on her adrenaline-fueled sprint for her life. She had a few cuts and scrapes, nothing too serious; she passed a quick hand over them, her palm glowing as she focused, and felt the bleeding slow and thin scabs begin to form as they aged. She did the same to the bloody indents on her palms from her nails. "Syna, please give me the strength I need to get through this," Aster whispered, looking upwards.

Inhaling deeply, she began to get to work. What had become her daily ritual of collecting sticks and branches for her shelter and a fire was calming to her, now; it was mindless, but something to do, something to focus on. It made her feel slightly less helpless, no matter how small of a thing it was.

(Continued in Survival of the Fittest Part III*)

Word count: 815
Total: 3,709