4 New World

I woke up all alone in an unfamiliar environment. Trees towered around me plunging the area into darkness and destroying my only hope of direction. After standing up I just stood there stunned for a moment. How did I get here? Did someone send me here somehow with their power? Maybe someone saw me burning to death and saved me! No, that couldn't be. How would I be uninjured with intact clothes if that was the case?

Pushing myself out of my trance I struggled to ignore the pertinent questions, and affirmed my current goals. The first to survive, and the second to find my way back to human civilization. People lived everywhere so I probably wouldn't have to persist for long. Now what exactly had I learned about wilderness survival? Well, I knew some basics. Since I had been so interested in the military I had done an ample amount of research. I only knew the basics though, so I still maintained a reasonable panic. Knowing no one would come searching for me here I started walking. I planned to first find water, and then worry about the other challenges I would be facing.

At first the walk was interesting, there were gigantic trees, weird insects, and the occasional animal. After about an hour I started to feel a little less enthusiastic. Everything looked the same! I was getting kind of thirsty too. By the time four hours had passed I was in the verge of tears. I was extremely thirsty, but had no water! After another what felt like a million years, I found a stream. Thanking whatever god had been watching over me, I darted over to it, and stuck my face in, ready to just start gulping it down like this. The cold shocked me back to my senses and made me remember that it wasn't safe to just drink random water in the wilderness. After a moment's thought, I decided to see if I could absorb anything in it that would kill me. I slurped some of the water out of the stream, and focused on absorbing any parasites, bacteria, or viruses in the water.

After a little while I started to feel a little bit stupid. Reassuring myself of the fact that no one saw me doing this, I persisted. Then, I started to feel something. Hoping this meant my plan was successful, I continued my focus with an even greater conviction. Soon I felt a cool and soothing feeling flow out from my mouth and I suddenly knew that I could breathe water like I had gills or something!

Eager to test my new abilities I stripped and dove into the water. I opened my mouth to take a big breath of water, and my instinct stopped me. They screamed, "Humans don't breathe water you idiot!" Ignoring the voice in my head, I tried again hoping this time I could do it. Sadly, I failed again. At this point I was starting to get a little desperate. In a final gasp for water, I got a nice big gulp of it. It felt thick, and somehow rough. The simple act of pulling it into my lungs taking an effort. The revolting feeling quickly drove me back to land where I coughed out all the water I had breathed. I was never going to do that again, not if I had a say in the matter. I couldn't even see down there! I hadn't become a fish and I was sure this was god's way of telling me that. I guess all I gained from that was the inability to drown, a useful ability that I hoped to never use. Now that I had used my power I was impressed. Who ever said absorption was a useless ability?

Seeing the miraculous results of my first attempt at absorption I was eager to try again, sticking my face into the stream to try again, I quickly repeated the process. Sadly, this time there was no such gain. I still felt the cool flow of power, but I gained no new knowledge or ability. Maybe It strengthened my water breathing ability or something with the extra power. I didn't really know yet, but it was too soon to lose hope for such a thing.

Finishing up at the pond, I decided to scavenge for food. There must be tons of insects in this forest, and I'd be a fool to not even search for one. As soon as I started walking away from the stream though, I came to a sudden realization. You can't just catch insects without any way to store them! I took a minute to search for a suitable stick, and began the hunt.

Sticking close to the river, I flipped over rocks and log like branches skewering whatever bug I could. As for the worms, I just held them in my hand. They weren't like the others that could escape. Knowing I would need to start on building a shelter, I finished hunting my first wilderness meal. Setting up the fire went smoothly until I got to the part where I actually had to start the fire. Seeing that it was impossible task for me to do one handed, I stuck the worms in my pocket, and gave it my full effort. Fifteen minutes later I had a fire. I roasted the strange critters over it, and decided that I should try to eat the worms. After all, It had to be done. I didn't have anything to dry them on so I just imagined they were gummy worms and popped them into my mouth. It was disgusting, no amount of pretending could cover that. A few minutes later and I had only eaten one worm, and the miscellaneous insects were ready to be pulled off the fire. I pulled them off and began to eat them as I searched for a good place to build my makeshift shelter. As I searched I thoroughly enjoyed the insect kebabs. They were much better than I had expected, crunchy and delicious.

Eventually, I found some roots that met my needs. The actual tree branches were far to high and I was forced to settle for this. Sighing, I started the construction. Two hours later, I had a passable debris shelter. Both hungry and thirsty after the building, I got myself a drink from the stream before going to sleep. The hut was dirty and uncomfortable, but my exhaustion put me to sleep in minutes.