Sick

I believed drinking the water was necessary but after this, I wish I hadn't. When I woke up I was sick, very sick, luckily I hadn't eaten much these past few days so I wasn't losing much by my stomach releasing its contents. I couldn't move very well either, my stomach hurt too much to move far distances, so I guess I was stuck to my nearby area for a little. That's okay I needed to fix my terrible spear and I wanted to really sit down and organize everything that had happened to me.

First I wanted to fix the spear, whether I liked it or not it's my only way to defend myself short of punching the things which I grew to like less and less the more I saw these animals control water and start fires. I started looking for the cliff again and slowly made progress to where I thought it was. After a while, I made it to the cliff with little energy but got to work sharpening and repairing my spear. It wasn't a lot but I wanted it.

While I worked I organized my thoughts, I drew on the ground while I used the sharp jagged cliff face to make a new point. I made a few categories, one for my current condition, which wasn't looking good, one for the things I had seen, one for the animals, and one for things I didn't understand.

First, my current condition was terrible, I was hungry and thirsty and more than likely to die if I didn't come up with a solution for either. This was my top priority, I should look into eating plants and bugs, something I knew was possible but was unable to know if any of them were poisonous, but I didn't have a choice anymore, hunting was both too dangerous and too exhausting energy wise until I could actually guarantee a kill. But I just had to take the risk now. Water was both much simpler and a lot more difficult to fix, I had to find a way to purify or cure the water or I'd probably die from any disease that might be there. One was probably in my body right now actually.

"My options to cure the water were either boiling or sun distilling. That was all I knew how to do, I didn't know how to purify water with the material I had. The problem was boiling required me to have both a fire and something strong enough to withstand the fire to heat the water in. But short of a miracle little seems possible right now. But sun distilling needs a way to catch the steam and condense it."

I thought about it some more but kept returning to the same problems I just talked about, I was lost in the woods I didn't have anything to work with, and everything I thought I knew about wilderness survival wouldn't work if I didn't have materials. If I had clothes I could tear them and make a very basic filter, or if I had a phone I might be able to start a fire with the battery, but I had nothing, I know you can start a fire with rocks but I don't know how to start with that maybe you can only do it in movies. I felt really stuck, I just decided I needed to move on and finish organizing the rest, this problem was hurting my head.

The next thing on the list was to sort through the many things I'd seen, I realize that I couldn't make a lot of sense of these them right now but I do know some things, This world was not earth, or at least earth as I knew it, there are a lot of animals I know but they are different. So far I've only seen birds, rabbits, and deer, I also found some evidence of what I think are squires but I wasn't sure. And at least some of them can use abilities that can be described as magic.

Unknowingly I stepped into the next category I wanted to organize, I'd seen a lot of animals here and every one of them was an animal I was familiar with but changed in some way, Honestly it helped a little, I at least knew sort of what might be aggressive and what I might be able to hunt. Well, try to hunt.

Speaking of hunting, I finished fixing my spear it was shorter than before, but I was always a little bit longer than I would have liked. I started heading back to the pond, I still needed it and I didn't want to be far. As I walked I continued to focus attention on my thoughts, I only had one thing left to organize.

Magic, I want to try to use that today I'm not sure if I can but I would be a fool if I didn't try, both times I saw it used the only common thread was that they made a symbol in the air, but I knew nothing besides that, I thought about the first symbol, the one the dear used. It's a little hard to describe but it looks like an S with a line going down the middle, but it's not an S, more like two sides of a river that bend and twist but when they hit the line in the center they bounce back, the two sides also never connected and the left side touched the center line twice while the right side touched it once. The other symbol looked like two upside-down T's crossing over each other like an X, the point where they met was removed making a small box in the symbol.

After I described how they looked to me I tried my best to write them down so I wouldn't forget them. But while I was moving I had a hard time so I stopped and just waited until I reached the pond again. When I got there I sat down next to the spot where my "cup" failed and with my finger started wrighting out the symbol the deer used into the dirt below me I had to remove some grass but it wasn't hard to do that. Drawing it was, each time nothing happened but I always had a little mistake so I couldn't be sure if I couldn't use magic or it was the mistake, so unless I can make a perfect one I won't know. After a dozen attempts, I started once again to make the symbol the entire time thinking about how I really needed to drink more water and I was not looking forward to it. I wanted it to be clean water, not pond water, and with that I finished, it was perfect.... well at least according to my memory. But alas thing happened no magic water snake for me.

Sighing I looked at the pond I knew I had to do I might as well get it over with. I took a drink and once again gagged, got up, and looked around, I wanted to find the leaves that caterpillars were eating I guess they were the least likely to kill me. I found them and realized that they ate a lot of the wheel-shaped leaves so I had my answer. I looked at the plant a little closer, It was a weird little bush, all growing from a single spot on the ground it grew along the ground before shooting straight up once it was about a centimeter away from the other shoots. It then grew about half a meter and grew a single wheel-shaped leaf, they often overlapped with other leaves but the top of the bush was mostly flat. 

I pulled one of the leaves off and tried tasting it. surprising me it was sweet, a little like a sweet pea, but softer and thicker than any sweet pea should ever be. I kind of liked it, so I pulled a few more off and started eating them.

I later learned that the leaves were actually part of the local diet. but for now, they were my diet. it was about midday right now and my headache had both gotten better and worse, it had lightened its load so I could think more but when I tipped my head I felt dizzy. it would be enough to try and hunt again. I couldn't stop trying because my life depended on getting better at it. and I had a little bit of a plan.

So I set off on another excursion, tracing back my path to where the rabbit that used fire magic was. on the way, I saw three blue deer it looked like two males and one female. the two males were fighting over the right to mate it seemed. honestly, I didn't know I just wanted to sound smart. But for whatever reason they were fighting it showed me something amazing. All three deers had water wrapped around their bodies covering spots that were usually vulnerable. things like tendons, organs, and head. the fighting consisted of the two deer clashing antlers and kicking each other. pretty standard but with one exception, the water, when one deer was about to be dealt a blow that would have hurt it the water on their body flowed to protect that spot, softening the blow by a lot. The water would splash off of the impact area and fly away only to stop in the air and fly back to continue protecting. so the first deer would strike the second with his hoves and the water would gather to protect it, the hove would strike with enough force to make the majority of the water fly off as the hove would proceed to slide off the skin of the deer relatively harmlessly.

That gave the second deer a chance to slam its head into the neck of the first deer as its own water pooled to protect, the antler hit the first deer's neck knocking it away but barely scratching it as the deer's water managed to stay on the deer. and all while this was happening crystal clear water was in a state of floating, returning, and flying away. making the whole thing look like a mini rainstorm that stopped and kept having time stopped on it. it was so pretty. but that all changed when the first deer got a chance to hit the second in the head with his antlers the second didn't have enough water to block the blow properly, so it started bleeding. the blood mixed with the water, changing it from clear to pinkish. the next attack was also from the first deer. as it kicked at the second. the water flowed to block the attack, the water splashed into the air before stopping making it look like rubies floating in the sky, at all levels and each a perfect tear drop. before one by one very quickly flying back to their owner to protect them.

Magic was beautiful. that was pretty much the only thing in my head as I watched. I couldn't understand much about this world but I knew I wanted to live and see more of it. I wish you guys could see it. the grass swaying in the wind changing from the sea to the ground as the deer stepped on it changing what color showed. the constraint sight of water flying around the battle. making it seem like a dance rather than a battle for dominance. but before I knew it the first deer had knocked over the second and was able to deal actual damage it the deer. not a not but enough for it to be defeated and leave. which meant that the first deer was the victor. and soon left too with the female deer behind it. 

I had been watching for a while but I wasn't sure how long, when I looked at the sun I realized I had enough time to look around and get back. so I did that. I looked around for an hour or so before I headed back. I couldn't find what I wanted but I just had to try again tomorrow.

I got back to the pond, and with the hour of daylight left I put together a small enclosure in my little circle of trees, nothing grand, just a leantoo made of sticks and grass tied together but the little structure with bits of blue, green and brown made me feel like I was safe for once. I was grateful I remembered it existed. and I wondered how I didn't think of it before. I was making a lot of mistakes here but I was grateful that slowly I was coming together. I laid down under it and realized I couldn't see the stars so I moved around so my head was poking out and watched the stars twinkling in the sky, and the asteroids belt slowly rotating in the sky. it wasn't very visible during the day but I never actually looked, I always had something on my mind.

"I should take some time to admire the beauty of this place" I softly whispered wishing someone heard me. As I stared I saw another shooting star and remembered that my mom makes wishes when she sees them. smiling I said. " I wish I had someone to talk to... I miss you Mom." and then closed my eyes and slept.