The second day

The warmth of the fire gradually died down during the night, the crackling of wood slowly disappearing and going quiet.

A woman with stark white hair and grey eyes, though they are closed now, could be seen sleeping near the fire. As it disappeared, the woman muttered to herself before lightly opening her eyes, the second she did, she shot awake, scanning the area around her.

-x-x-x-

Hey, Alexandria here. I thought I would wake up at home, but I guess that was too optimistic.

As I looked above into the sky, I realized it was still early morning, with the moon setting and the sun barely peeking over the horizon.

Well, the early bird gets the worm I guess, and it's a good thing I woke up early, wouldn't want a predator killing me in my sleep.

I got up quickly, too quickly it seemed as my body immediately sent waves of pain through my body.

Seems like sleeping on the ground wasn't a good idea...

I can feel the stings from bugs all over my skin, my back hurts too, and that's not even mentioning the two scars on my stomach, which still seem desperate for attention.

Fuck my life, I need to start moving now or I will never recover from this stiffness.

I carefully got as straight as I could as I grabbed my "spear" from the ground.

At least my arms and legs worked properly, without them, I would be completely inept.

As I got up, I froze when I saw my hair was white, for a second I thought I was hallucinating.

The body I possessed looked very similar to my original one, why did the hair color suddenly change? Was it the magic?

And most disturbingly of all, what other things changed?

I shook my head to dispel the oncoming existential crisis which was rapidly approaching and looked at the campfire.

The wood I gathered yesterday is all gone, not a branch remaining. Good, the fire must have burnt for most of the night in that case.

I didn't have much time to pat myself on the back, though I made sure to do that as well, morale is important you know!

... Anyway, I quickly said goodbye to my temporary home in search of water and hopefully, some fish to hunt in that water, maybe I could find some fruits on the way, though I won't eat them unless absolutely necessary.

An emergency food of sorts, heh, reminds me of Genshit Impact. Which, if you weren't aware, is everyone after eating at any Mexican restaurant, and not a game. Definitely not.

Anyway, I walked through the forest, still checking the leaves in front of me for any ambush predators waiting to jump me, the fact that I was still hunched over made me nervous too, since I didn't have as good of a vantage point.

Luckily enough, no snakes or the like were found, so the only noise in the surrounding woods was the crackling of dry leaves, and not me screaming for Mommy.

The hunger and thirst situation had gotten a lot worse, as a human, I could only go without water for three days, and food for a week, so if I didn't find water soon, my body would begin to shut down, and there would be nothing I can do about it.

Hunger wasn't an issue, in fact, during those last three days, the human body would be extremely active and energetic, like a last hail mary for a successful hunt, giving you that last boost.

Sometimes, humans can go without food for 2 months, but at that point, survival is basically impossible since I would be a walking skeleton and the stomach would effectively stop functioning.

You could just call me knock off Ainz at that point, so I pray that I won't die such a slow and painful death.

The hours passed as the sun rose higher and higher into the sky, with no water in sight, I was starting to get worried.

I picked up the pace, rushing my clearing of leaves ahead, hoping that speeding up would allow me to find a source of water in time.

Fate seemed to despise me, however, as I found nothing for the next two hours.

But! I, with my eagle eyes, after four more hours of intense searching, discovered a nest on a tree branch with four eggs in it.

The nest was surprisingly low, just 2 meters above the ground, if I jumped I could reach it... But I would have to stand straight and use my stomach muscles for that, which might damage them further.

But 2 electric boogalů, eggs have a huge amount of protein, which my body sorely needs, and if I could cook them over a fire, it would help my body recover, also, if these birds imprint, then I could raise a living emergency supply, which I could kill whenever I was nearing starvation.

Since magic is here, I might even be able to use it to tame the bird, having it search for water for me from the sky.

But all of that is really risky, and I don't even know if these eggs are eggs at all, on earth protein was in them, but do these ones contain protein? I have no way to know.

I don't know when I might find water either, and if these eggs are the same, then the inside should be liquid, so it would help with that too...

After a few more seconds of thinking, I decided to take the risk.

My survival is at stake and I need to do something decisive now, I might never get this lucky again.

I positioned myself behind the thin branch, straightened my back while holding back tears, and jumped up with all my might, hanging my the tree branch as I carefully lowered the nest down.

After I had the nest secured in my left hand, I let my right hand drop me down, the small fall causing me to yelp in pain.

I collapsed to the floor, unable to stand due to the pain near my injuries.

When I hanged, I could feel the muscles stretch and when I fell, they squeezed into one another, causing so much pain that it was ungodly for me.

I knew that I had to run before the parents came back to their nest, but I couldn't, my brain was blank from the pain with no adrenaline to dull it, so I sat there, sobbing quietly for about 10 minutes before I started barely walking away, looking for another spot to settle down.

Needless to say, I was incredibly slow, I even gave up using the "spear" as an ambush-checking device and just used it as a crutch to help me walk, since I don't think I would have made it anywhere without it.

I didn't forget to carry the small nest with the eggs, which were about the size of my palm with the outer shell being completely white.

Luckily it wasn't too heavy, and I was able to carry them around without issue.

However, since I wasn't checking for anything in front of me, I didn't notice the sudden drop which went down about 1 meter, most likely caused by a cave-in below this area.

I fell, falling on my front, with all my eggs tumbling out of my nest and cracking as they hit the hard floor, their content spilled.

I cried, not only for the eggs but also because of the pain.

What kind of luck was this? The ONE TIME I don't check for hidden dangers is when I GET CAUGHT BY ONE?!

Anger clouded my mind as I realized I only had one choice now, I had to slurp up the contents of the egg before the ground steals it from me.

I crawled over like a fucking insect and slurped the eggs up like an animal, completely humiliated beyond redemption.

This would stay in my mind forever as the official moment when I felt the most pathetic in my entire existence, the lowest I've ever been.

After I had eaten all of the eggs's insides, including the stuff contaminated and mixed with dirt, I moved onto the shells, since they also have a lot of useful protein and vitamins.

My first meal since coming to this world, what a fucking experience I couldn't help but think.

The good news was that I was no longer thirsty as the eggs washed that away, and my stomach should be satisfied for now.

I put my hands on my injured stomach wounds and healed them, this time not asking but cursing until the magic complied, whether out of fear or simple instinct, I couldn't care less.

After this, I fell asleep, the pain and mental strain too much for my brain to take anymore.

-x-x-x-

As the poor young lady took her well-deserved rest, dark clouds gathered over the forest during the next few hours, lightning rumbling inside them, casting a shadow over Alexandria and the entire forest.

The birds have long since fled, and the other animals, hunter and prey alike, all sought refuge in caves or the surrounding fields.

It seems fate has more in store for Alexandria, who is resting, peacefully sleeping in the hole.