Realization and the first day of survival

Chapter 2

Realization and the first day of survival

Sometime later

Once I properly freaked out for god knows how long and get back to my senses, the sun has risen quite up. I tried to remember what I was doing before I get her but all I came up with was watching T.V series 'See' season 2.

Suddenly a headache came and with it came, images. No, not images but memories! Soon a headache started to form. I could feel my head starting to split open. I bit back the scream that wanted to come out.

The world started to spin.

I soon fell on the ground in my dizziness.

I don't know how long I laid there whimpering in pain, probably an hour or two, maybe even more. Little by little the headache and the dizziness started to go away.

When I came back to my senses, my head felt like lead. The headache was not gone but it had muted. Still, my head felt like someone had played football with it.

I looked around to find the previous dark forest has turned into a bright one. The sun was at its highest. The cold was absent and in its place, I could feel the warmth.

It was good that I wasn't found by any animal. After all, I had not been in any position to defend myself.

Still, I at least knew where I was.

I don't know if this was some cosmic joke or a prank from some higher power.

The thing is, I ain't laughing.

I was in the world of 'See'.

If I had known that the price of watching that TV series would be this, I would have never watched it. I mean I have read about this type of situation. I have even written some and sure I thought the premise of the series had quite a good potential. It definitely didn't mean that I would actually want to live in this type of the fucked up world.

All the people are blind. And the world has gone back to the stone ages. The difference is that instead of stone weapons, people use steel weapons. And the most terrifying part. People with the gift of sight are hunted and killed. People just like me.

I calm my breath by just focusing on inhaling and exhaling. I did for about 10 minutes before I was able to calm down.

My thoughts soon turned to my previous body.

This body was once in a tribe of some 80-90 people. But the thing is it was not some normal tribe. It was the underground tribe that was shown in the 6th or 7th episode of the 1st season.

The boy was born as an orphan and with the gift of sight. It took some time for everyone in the tribe to know about it. Most of the place was perpetually in the dark so they didn't find out early.

The boy was about 9-10 years old when they found out. There was no concept of recording the date so the people didn't know his exact birth date. And the concept of the seasons was unfamiliar to them after living underground for so long.

The tribe members were cut off from the upper world so they didn't fear the witch-finders but there was this fear of the unknown, and the boy was definitely an unknown.

Maybe at one point in the past, they too would have feared the sighted people and known about them. But after so many years of isolation, they probably forgot about it, which was both good and bad for the boy.

The good thing was that they didn't kill the boy.

Oh! Some of the tribe members proposed to kill the boy as there are some of those people everywhere. But the village elders dissuaded them. There was the law here that they don't kill unless they have to and killing a tribe member was a big 'NO'. It was also the reason that they don't let leave the people from above the ground. They isolate them until they agree to become their tribe member.

Most people don't last half a decade before agreeing and they are bound to live with them for the rest of their lives.

I knew this because the boy was told the same thing many times over the years like a mantra. His mother was an outsider who stuck here one day when she took refugee in the cave from the cold. The boy got to know this from his uncle.

He also told him that his parents got killed when they tried to run away.

Anyway, at last, it was decided that he would be exiled from the tribe to the upper world. The boy cried the whole time. Though it appears the elders were not fully cold-hearted. At least they gave him a dagger and let him keep his clothes when he was getting exiled.

It was ironic that his parents got killed for getting out while he was forcibly told to do it on the punishment of death.

That was a month ago.

They had an underground waterfall so they never starved as the water body contained a large quantity of fish which was their main food. For a month, he was able to survive by fishing and cooking it but at last, he met his end due to the increasing cold. The underground is very warm compared to the upper world so the tribe members never encountered this type of cold. And thus, he never prepared for it.

I had to give it to him. He was able to survive for a month without any help. Still, why was I reincarnated in this boy's body? I mean I am sure I could somewhat change the canon for the better but that would require a lot of work. The work which I was not inclined to do.

I also remembered what the guy had been doing for the month.

After getting exiled, the boy continued to stand on the elevator, cry and beg them to be taken down. But no reply ever came. The boy went to sleep crying. The night came and gone. When the boy woke up the next day, he was very hungry considering he hadn't eaten in a day. So, he exited the cave.

The first time, he saw the upper world, he was surprised and more than a little curious. It was so much different than the underground. For him, it was the first time in his life that he was seeing so many colors. Only when his curiosity was sated, did he remembered about his exile. And on top of that, in his curiosity, he didn't remember the location of the cave. Soon he became hungry as he hadn't eaten in the last day.

So he went fishing as he could hear the sound of the river flowing nearby when he didn't find anything else to eat. He easily caught a fish by swimming in it though he did find the water too cold. Thankfully, he knew some ways to fish to cook it as he learned it when he was underground.

He was even lucky that he got enough heat to dry his clothes. Otherwise, he would have gotten hypothermia.

Once, his stomach was full, he remembered the cave.

Unfortunately, when he tried to find the cave, he couldn't find it. He again cried back to sleep. He tried to find the cave for some more days but didn't find it. In the end, the sadness became anger and he left and vowed to never return.

For 3 weeks, he had been remaining and doing some traveling by the side of the river but day by day the weather was getting colder. He didn't know how to be warm and in the end because of it, he died. The fire helped but even then he died in his sleep.

I also realized that the boy had lived most of the time in the darkness so he had been using his other senses while there. For all purposes, he had been trained like blind people and thus I too had a sharp hearing, an acute sense of touch, smell, and taste.

Suddenly, my stomach growled, taking me out of my thoughts.

Yeah, the guy hadn't eaten anything before passing out as he wasn't able to catch fish. The starvation with the fatigue and cold finally caught up to him at last. It's a miracle that I was able to stand with so little energy.

I would need to find food and find it fast. On some thinking, I knew, I could easily hunt for any rabbit or squirrel. The problem is the work that comes after it.

Thinking of just all the messy work, in the skinning and cooking, makes me nauseous. Still, I would have to do it. I didn't saw any fruits or berries in his memory and the guy had been living here for some days. Thankfully there was a river nearby. The speed of water is not very fast and there are some shallow parts too.

It was good that I saw enough 'Man Vs Wild' to know how to make a spear with three sharp protrusions with a thick branch. I used the leaves to bind and the dagger to sharpen the tips. I could have used some clothes or rope but I didn't have a large stock of them. Moreover, that spear wouldn't last much. It was better to not risk the ropes and clothes. I also knew so many other things that could help me in this life. Just the bows and arrows would be life changers in the current era.

Still, the knowledge does not equate to the experience. I had to kill the fish with the spear. Due to refraction, the aim is not good enough so that's why I added 2 spikes beside the spear. With it, I had more chances of nailing down a fish. It took me an hour to catch 3 fish.

A single fish would have been enough for my child-sized body but I would need the other 2 for dinner and tomorrow's breakfast. I was already planning for the future. I also laid a trap for the fish in the shallow waters. Hopefully, it will catch some when I come around the next day.

Walking back, I remembered that I had nothing in which I would be able to cook it. The boy had been eating the fish by roasting them on the fire. It was really a miracle the boy didn't die before. Just thinking about those memories makes me nauseous.

It took a moment to steady myself after the assault of the memories. The previous incident didn't actually give me a whole set of memories. I suspected that I would be getting memories randomly in the next few days whenever some words would trigger them.

Getting an idea, I went back to the river. There I searched for the correct type of rock. Once I found it, I tried to polish it and make it like a pot by hollowing it out in the middle but my stomach felt like it was eating itself. So I quickly started the fire and cooked the fish on it. It was good that the boy knew how to start a fire, otherwise, I might have had to eat the fish, raw.

Just thinking about it makes me nauseous.

It took a lot of time to get the fish done as the stone took quite a lot of time to get heat up. I had to be extra careful to not touch the stone.

Without any spices or salt, the thing was bland as fuck but it felt like the best food after the starvation. The guy left an impression on me so I felt like I had been starving for weeks and not eating properly.

It was getting dark. I would say I had only 2-3 hours before I am unable to see. Even with the training, I got from him in my other senses, I wouldn't risk out in the open forest filled with beasts. The boy was really lucky that some bear or a pack of wolves didn't snack upon him while he was out in the open for the last 4 weeks.

It was a great irony that in my last life, I would have been scared shitless upon being in a forest at night. Yet, here I am. I think the boy left some impression upon me when I received some of his memories. He lived all his life in darkness so it definitely didn't bother him one bit and thus it didn't bother me at all.

I shook my head and tried to concentrate on the present.

I tried to think about finding any cave or something from my memories but couldn't think of anything. I knew I had to get on some high ground to protect myself from any bear or pack of wolves. The guy didn't happen upon them but it doesn't mean they couldn't be there. So I started walking to see if I could find it.

Just when I was starting to lose hope, I found some space on a cliff some 6 feet high or so from my calculation. It would save me from the wolves but I know bears could stand on 2 feet. They could easily reach me. The humans could also reach me but considering that they can't see, I would be mostly safe. It's not like I have any other options.

Once I was sure, that it was a good place, I quickly collected some fallen leaves to soften my new bed and to provide warmth on a cold night. When it was done and I felt like I had enough, I made another fire and cooked myself, another fish. All the work made me hungry. It was good that I started the fire. It would have been a cold night otherwise.

Now that I was relatively safe, warm, and full, I felt my world crashing down. My situation was really not fucking great. Only with great effort did I control my volume off crying. It was a miracle that I didn't just start bawling my eyes out. I think even subconsciously I knew that making noise in a forest at night was a bad idea.

Once, I had cried out my frustration silently, I sat there just looking into the fire. With the full belly, I was also getting sleepy. I had half a mind to just sleep here. But I was quite paranoid about getting killed in my sleep.

With a heavy heart, I climbed up. Space up there, was enough, for a big person to sleep. But it was also hazardous as one could fall over in his sleep. Moreover, it was cold. But, I was tired and with no other option. So I kept my grumbling to myself and went to sleep.

I was quite tired from all the things that happened today otherwise I am sure I would have been unable to sleep.