Chapter 10:
Reborn alone in a Pristine World
Once again, I knew what I had to do: Find food.
Before I could, I had to survive the night. I was glad that I finished my shelter yesterday. The clouds that gathered over the day finally unloaded their rain in the night. Never mind the danger it posed to extinguishing my fire, it was also cold. Very much so. Since I didn’t quite fit beneath the roof some part of my body was always outside and wet. The side of my body facing the fire mercifully was warm and mostly dry and some shuffling around allowed me to change up the side getting hit by rain.
But yet again it was a sleepless night. Between the constant stream of water hitting me and turning around and around trying not to have any parts of my body freezing off, I constantly had to have my wits about me. Thankfully my shelter mostly held. Towards the end of the night there were some drips here and there, but no leaks were big enough to threaten my fire.
I had some pieces of wood over from constructing my refuge, which I would use the next day to get the fire going again. With that I could dry out the branches I’d collect tomorrow, no doubt them being sodden due to the heavy rain.
I almost didn’t notice the dawn. The rain clouds still darkened the sky. In addition to the rain, there was distant thunder. Nothing that worried me yet, but I had to be mindful of it when I went out to do my daily tasks.
The downpour didn’t let up and so I had no option but to go out in the deluge. My primary goal for today was to gather something to eat. The two best options I had found so far were the berries on the rope vine and a dry fruit somewhat resembling pinecones near the gassing spruce.
So out I went into the wetness. Luckily I was able to find my way even in the reduced visibility. I gathered up the bright red berries from the vines I used yesterday. The story with the pinecones was different. Due to the increased humidity, they changed their shape. Unlike regular pinecones, these things looked way more alien. Usually they have a similar egg-like shape with a dry, woody outside. However, now that they’re wet, this egg has opened up. Six appendages have almost bloomed out, looking a bit like a starfish, the seeds attached to the inside of those appendages.
Sadly most of the fruits I found already lost their seeds, being swept away by the water before I could get to them. I took some of the more plentiful with me, hoping that they would make a nice snack once roasted.
After returning to my fire, which was holding up quite nicely beneath its dirt roof, I began testing the food. I once read a survival guide on how to figure out if something was edible, even if you can’t identify which plant it was from. Now I was in that exact situation. You can never know when a random interest of you might become useful.
In the guide it said that you are supposed to keep the thing you plan on eating for eight hours on your body, to see if it irritates your skin or produces any allergic reactions. Then you’re supposed to touch a piece of it or some juice on your lips, then taste a bit, then eat more, if it passed all the previous tests. The only problem with this was the time keeping, especially today, when I was not able to see the sun.
I sat down at the fire, drying myself and preparing what I planned to eat. Using some surplus rope I had left over, I tried tying the berries and seeds to my body, without much success. The ropes were too stiff to properly hold anything tight against my body. The seeds were too small and the berries too easily squished. But seeing as the rain kept me from doing many productive things today anyways, I just sat around the fire with food lying atop me.
I am pretty sure that my boredom somehow materialized. Before I had plenty of things to do to keep me busy, but now my task was literally sitting around and waiting. And without a smartphone or a good book to keep me company the hours I spent felt more like days. Eventually it was enough for me. I don’t know how long I kept them both on my body, it seemed like long enough and to boot I didn’t have any adverse reactions.
Unlike in the guide I decided I was going to cook both of the plants first. One the one hand it might break down some poisons, one the other it was also a good way of disinfecting them. I placed a rock atop the fire, being aware of the danger it posed by being a river rock, but not having any better options. It served as both my stove, heating up nicely from the coals beneath it, and my pan, holding a small amount of both.
Almost immediately upon placing the gassing spruce seed atop the “pan”, a wonderfully fragrant smell surrounded me. As with the bark, there was a high concentration of essential oils contained in the seeds. The nice odor quickly turned into something less pleasant. A stinging sensation filled my nostrils, my nose running. The effect could be most easily compared to something like menthol medication you get for a stuffy nose.
While it meant the seeds were probably inedible, not that I was chuffed to try them after that, but at least they had a medicinal use. Moreover a medicinal use for a cold relief, something I would surely be getting after my wet day.
The berries on the other hand were sizzling nicely along. Some of them had already turned black as I took the stone off the fire, it thankfully staying in one piece. I let the berries cool down for a bit and brought them to my lips. As my tongue ran over my juice covered lips an incredible sweet flavor filled my mouth. It was hard to keep from digging in immediately. But I persevered.
There were again no effects after some minutes, so finally I could eat the berries. Their taste was amazing. Somewhere between a blackberry and a strawberry. I don’t know if it was the hunger which made their flavour pop this much, yet the slight filling sensation in my belly was divine.
BANG! A loud, booming noise ripped me from my temporary bliss. Thunder had struck really close to me. Fear set in. I hoped that my shelter was close enough to the forest and not high enough itself to draw in any lightning.
Usually I enjoyed the sounds of thunder. Then again, usually the thunder is distant and I live in an actual building, not a hovel made up of dirt and sticks. Instead I cowered, my knees to my chest, my arms tightly wrapped around my legs. Not that it would make any difference, it gave me a bit of comfort, something I dearly needed. There were a couple more lightning strikes, however none of them as close as the first one.
That one struck like a grand finale of the thunderstorm, as the weather cleared soon after, the front moving down the valley. The rain also subsided and so I peeked out from my little dirt tent. I still had to keep the fire going, so I went and collected some more firewood.
It had burned. The gassing spruce from which I had collected the bark and seeds had burned. No other trees in the vicinity were hit. Just the tree which I had defiled.
It had to be a sign.
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