The fire

I finally drifted off to soft slumber…

I only awoke once the first rays of sunlight hit the valley. My sleep had been deep and restful, without much dreaming or moving. I still had my arms wrapped around my knees, the same way I fell asleep. There also hadn’t been any rain, as I was dry. Only some drops of dew had formed around me in the meadow.

I stretched, watching upon the beautiful scenery being lit in an amber light, before it hit me: The Fire!

Quickly turning around to the little ashen circle, there was no indication heat was still in the coals. Softly blowing upon the ash revealed little black clumps beneath the white shell. More importantly - these little clumps had a soft, yet unmistakable red glow in them. Embers! There was still fire in there.

Jumping into the air, delighted by the fact that maybe this world wasn’t hard-coded to be against fire, my duties quickly returned to my mind. There were still a few branches left over from yesterday, not having been used since I fell asleep. I placed these upon my glowing coals, gently blowing to try and get them to ignite. They were still a bit wet from the morning dew. The coals crackled and popped, a minute, yet still tangible heat emanating from them while I blew.

I was on the verge of passing out when I tried to get a look at the underside of the placed branches. Once again there was the characteristic red glow of combustion. This was it. This was the best shot I had at surviving here. The constant cycles of hope and despair I had gone through until now left their mark, but it was finally beginning to look up. The water wasn’t as dangerous as I had feared and fire was indeed possible. With the fire in hand I could probably also at least scare off the creature of the woods. No matter what I thought of, I had ten times the options, now that I had acquired a source of flame.

The weather was worse than the days before, the sky being overcast. However, at least for now it didn’t look like rain. Even though I now had plenty of options which would propel me forward in surviving here, not everything was equally as important. The first two things on my todo list were more fuel and shelter, although this time not for me, but for the fire, in case it did actually start to rain. Thankfully both of these tasks could be completed by going to the woods and gathering more wood. Now that I had daylight again, I could venture further in and try and collect better quality wood than I did yesterday evening.

To once again ease stockpiling I first picked up some smaller pieces of the soft-flint out of the river. Fashioning another set of rope would allow me to carry more bulk, as I would not be limited by the size of whatever fit beneath my arms. The only problem was finding that vine again. Sadly I had not seen any yesterday, so for the time being, I did it the same way as last evening. Fetch small quantities of firewood so my flame doesn’t go out.

I wasn’t quite as vigilant as last time, as the heat that was still inside the ember would take some time to dissipate. Now that the fire was going only a large rain storm would be likely to put it out. Not that it would surprise me, given how things went thus far. But if I gave up now, I might as well never try again.

So off to the forest I went, tentatively, as the creature may have been around. The daylight gave me some more confidence, however it didn’t stop the creature last time I heard it. I took care to not make too much noise, limiting the branches I could harvest. Still with the larger radius I now searched in, I quickly found a satisfactory amount of material that I could use to either fuel my flame or construct something to protect it from the elements.

Eventually returning to my respite I found two lizards sitting upon the rocks near my fire, trying to use the little sun that made it through the clouds and the heat my fire gave off to warm up. It might have been a different world from mine, but most of the living things here seemed similar enough to trick you into thinking you weren’t gone at all.

Maybe that was on purpose, maybe it was just a connection I made in my mind. The lizards scurried away once I approached. Putting the wood atop the fire quickly ignited it as well, the quality being decidedly better, now that I could see and choose the correct ones. It was a beautiful sight, finally having this source of heat. Even though I should really be focussing on surviving, I couldn’t help but to sit down and appreciate my bonfire.

The routine I followed yesterday was mostly what I did today as well. In the afternoon the bed of coals had grown significantly. So much so that now my trip into the forest was mostly to collect materials for another shelter instead of burning them. Unlike last time, it was out in the open and couldn’t use any trees as support, so I had to get longer sticks to actually drive them into the ground. Ideally the shelter would be large enough to house me as well, but the fire took priority.

My streak of luck didn’t dry up yet, as I finally found some more of the rope vines. The soft-flint I had collected came in as useful as last time, however they were a bit limited due to the smaller size. Still, in time, I gather and de-spine enough to create another rope. I wanted to use some of the resin I had found earlier, but that was already dried out once I returned to that spot.

Having gathered enough things to start building my refuge, I started quickly, as the sun started to set again. Before beginning work, I took another generous gulp of river water. Feeling emboldened by surviving the last time and not having found a suitable water bowl yet.

Shortly before the sun set completely, I finished my shelter. The rocks around the river I used as makeshift hammers to drive the scaffold into the ground and once again the dirt and leaf litter from the woods made a cover. It was a bit small for my liking, not leaving enough space for me to fit entirely, but it will keep my fireplace dry. Of course there is a bit of a fire hazard with it being made out of flammable material, but it’s a risk I was willing to take.

As night fell once again, my stomach made itself known. Before I was riding the high of motivation or adrenaline. But now three, coming up on four days without food were starting to leave their marks. Sadly this being a different world I didn’t know what was edible. Both the hunger and the slight upset from drinking raw water combined was getting a bit distressing.

Once again, I knew what I had to do: Find food.