Lets Be Friends

Sunlight warmed her shoulder and back.

Birdsong and cicada filled the air.

Grass tickled her nose.

Slowly, Freya opened her eyes. Her body hurt, but not in the way she would have expected if that truck had actually hit her. Mostly, it was the aches of a thirty-year-old body lying on the ground in an awkward position.

Fingers digging into the thick moss, she looked down at herself. Long, dark hair fell forward over her shoulder. It was dry. As were her clothes, but in a crusty way that indicated they'd dried in place.

Around her, the forest clearing was quiet and tranquil. Lifting her gaze, Freya inspected her surroundings. Trees crowded the edges of her twelve-foot circle of moss. She'd never seen so many trees in one place before. Even the park, which she'd only been in a handful of times, had a meager three of them. The leaves on these trees were eerily green in a way she thought might not be natural. But then, perhaps that was just because she knew she'd been hit by a truck.

It wasn't that she was unfamiliar with the trope of Truck-kun, but Freya didn't believe she could be that lucky.

Sitting back, she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. Her makeup was a wreck, mascara crusty and breaking in dried crumbles that threatened to get in her eyes. Rob hadn't liked how she looked without makeup. So she'd tried to learn. She'd not been very good at it, frequently going to work with blots and globs in places it shouldn't be, or colors that didn't match. She hated how she looked when wearing it, but going without wasn't allowed. Not in Rob's house.

"Well... that's his problem now," she said to herself, trying to ignore the slight pang in her heart. She wouldn't be making any more payments on the apartment from whatever fantasy world she was now in.

Movement to her right caught her eye. Turning to look, she saw something that looked like a tiny person flutter behind a leaf to hide.

Slowly getting to her feet, Freya twisted to pop her back and stretched.

Though her situation really wasn't improved by her transmigration, it wasn't worse as far as she could tell. What she did know was that she had no wilderness survival skills, so sticking around in this clearing wasn't going to help her. Feeling numb inside, she picked a direction and started walking. The thing was... she didn't know what to do.

Should she try to get back to reality?

Should she accept this new world?

Again, she had nothing in either place.

"Nothing except myself," she said softly, acknowledging silently that herself wasn't worth anything. She had no education, no viable skills, no in-depth knowledge of something that could be useful in a fantasy world. Walking through a forest was tougher than she expected. There was no easy path to stick to. Brush blocked view of the ground, and every step was a guess as to how far down it would be and whether it would be solid. She'd stepped into rotting logs twice now, and she was fairly sure she could still see the clearing she'd appeared in only a few hundred feet back.

Lost in thought, she didn't realize the forest had gone quiet until she stumbled over another log hidden beneath the thick brush. Landing against the nearest tree, Freya wiped her sweaty brow with her long sleeve. She'd come from mid-December rain. This weather felt like mid-summer.

A shadow shook branches ahead. A strangled cry rang out and was silenced.

For a second, a foul stench hit her nose, but the smell cleared quickly.

Unnerved, Freya stayed where she was, clutching the tree.

The sound of the forest didn't return, even though she waited for nearly a full minute.

Forcing herself to get moving again, Freya turned away from where she'd seen the shadow in the trees and started walking again. Her stumbling steps were even louder now that the forest was quiet.

"Hello!"

Shrieking, Freya leapt practically out of her skin and spun around, landing in another bush on her back.

Hanging in the air just behind where she'd been moments ago... was a yellow koala-looking creature with dragonfly wings and red eyes. "Sorry," Freya said automatically, clutching the leaves beneath her as she tried to place why she recognized this odd-looking creature.

Tipping its head to the side, the familiar-looking creature seemed to be considering her, though its eyes somehow seemed unfocused. "Oso," it said, finally, as if remembering its line.

It clicked.

Freya's brows lifted.

Berrykin.

This thing was a Berrykin. One of the unique sentient creatures found in all of the Danger Around Mount Pallin franchise. Realizing she was staring, she looked away. "Sorry..."

"Is Sorry the only word you know?" After a beat, it added, "Oso."

"No... sorry..." Freya bit her lip, hating herself for apologizing again. Carefully getting to her feet, she picked leaves off her clothes and tried to make herself presentable. "I'm... lost. Could you direct me to a town?"

"Lost?" the berrykin asked. "Oso."

The creature, per Freya's recollection of how they were shaped, was rotund in a way that shouldn't have been able to hover so easily in the air. But then, it seemed the wings were decoration, since they didn't move to enable flight. Its chest was bulky with what looked like a rolls of fur-covered fat that made a kind of vest. Freya didn't remember that part from the game, but the slight stench that wafted off it was something she tried to politely ignore. Clearing her throat, Freya repeated, "Yes... Lost."

The berrykin nodded thoughtfully, folding its arms. "You're dressed strange," it noted. "Oso."

"Uhm..." Freya wasn't sure how to respond.

"You don't seem to have any supplies either."

"Sorry..."

"Is that your name?" The berrykin floated closer, tipping its head, bobble antenna swaying as it did so. "Oso."

"Sorry--no. I'm... I'm Freya."

"I'm Phonian!" the berrykin slapped its chest proudly. "How did you come to be lost? ...Oso."

"I just... am," Freya said awkwardly. How was she supposed to explain this? As far as she knew, the worlds in Danger Around Mount Pallin didn't have the concept of transmigrators. The question was... which game was she in? Each one was a different world, a different plot, with the only consistency being Mount Pallin at its center somehow. Knowing what world she was in would tell her what dangers she might be facing. The sixth installment had been Freya's first exposure to the series. It wasn't considered the best, but Freya had been obsessed when she was fifteen. She swallowed, feeling her cheeks grow warm at the recollection of just how obsessed she'd been. "Town," she reminded softly. "Please?"

Phonian's head-bobbles drooped as the berrykin bowed its head. "This way, I guess... You're pretty far out here, though. How'd you get so far without any supplies?"

"I just did," Freya said, turning to follow the berrykin as it floated past her. Stumbling through the underbrush, she staggered onto a path unexpectedly. Thankfully, Phonian turned to follow it after a second of consideration.

"I see."

With this clearer path to follow, Freya made better time, but Phonian didn't seem to be in a hurry to lead her. It kept pausing and tilting its head every now and then.

"Perhaps you're training to be an adventurer?" Phonian asked, looking back at her. Its head turned a little further than Freya expected.

Trying not to react, Freya cleared her throat. "No... I don't have any talent for that."

"Oso. You made it all the way out here by yourself, though!" Phonian insisted. "Perhaps you should show me how you made it this far?"

"I'm sorry... I really can't. I'm not a fighter," Freya insisted.

"Oso. I think you should... Because that's an Oshu." The berrykin pointed at something Freya had just thought was underbrush.