4 - Knowledge!

“Hoo?”

Hooty glanced to me in confusion, pointing a wing at the screen.

“It’s Nuutube, my feathered friend-creation-companion! Information at your fingertips… well, mostly. Sometimes they provide the wrong information. Sometimes.”

I was amazed at what I could accomplish in this room- my mind palace. What should I try searching for? I didn’t have any plans before coming in here…

“For now, a simple ‘how to start a fire’ should suffice,” I said as the words magically appeared in the searchbar. “Oh boy, that’s a lot of results. Maybe a bit too much…”

But having multiple sources of information and differing methods might be a good thing; if one method fails, I can always come back and learn another.

“For now, let’s try and find one that best suits my needs… oh, I know this channel!”

I selected one from a channel named ‘Villager-sent’ and watched in anticipation as the familiar loading circle rotated in the black background.

“Perfectly grilled at our top-class kitchens! Get your pipping hot deals at-”

“Skip.”

“Have you ever thought to yourself-”

“Skip.”

...Why am I getting ads? I’m in another world…

“Hoot!”

Hooty’s bewilderment only further fueled my smug grin as the edges curled up into a smirk. He was so preoccupied with the brightly flashing screen he didn’t even react to me rubbing his fluffy cheeks.

“We’re here today, we’re out in the woods and we’re talking about how to stay warm-”

“Ooh, it’s really playing!”

I watched as the host of the video channel introduced their topic of interest. It’s as if I was back on Earth, holed up in my room binge watching anything I could on the internet.

“-very important that you know the triangle of fire-”

“This is great! Whenever I need to figure something out, I can just ‘think’ about it and find all my answers-”

“-so let’s look at a flint and steel set here-”

“Uh-oh.”

What’s a ‘flint’…? And where am I supposed to get a piece of metal out here in the middle of nowhere?

“Umm, let’s try another video!”

As Hooty and I scoured the internet for answers, I realized searching the entire pool of humanity’s knowledge was a powerful tool, but also exceedingly tedious with the plethora of information out there.

Every problem had ten different solutions, each made for specific situations and circumstances. And my circumstances were unique enough that I doubt I’d be able to easily find a direct answer to most of my problems.

“Looks like I’ll have to improvise… should I just add ‘medieval’ at the end of all my searches?” I wondered aloud, watching someone start a fire with wooden tools.

*

“Alright, I should go for now. You gonna be okay on your own, Hooty?”

“Hoot.” Hooty replied shortly, his face glued to the screen.

“… Maybe teaching you how to use the internet was a bad idea.”

Thinking Hooty might be bored all on his own inside my mind palace, I taught him how to navigate the internet. The internet I browsed in here was a snapshot of the original at the time of my death; no future content would ever be available to me from that point on.

Even then, I hoped Hooty’s personality wouldn’t be affected too much browsing what the internet had to offer.

“Actually… how do I leave?”

“Hoo…” Hooty sighed, his gaze a mix of pity and exasperation.

“Just you wait, once I get used to all this I’ll- oh, conjure up a door and exit from there, you say? Thanks, Hooty!”

As I reached out for the door handle in front of me, I turned back one more time to wave, giving my first friend in this world the biggest smile I had.

“See ya later!”

*

I opened my eyes in the real world, stretching my body that’d been sitting in the same position for what felt like hours.

“Mmm! How long was I out forrRRR?!”

It’s sunset. The orange glow of the sun was already decreasing in magnitude by the second as the giant ball disappeared behind the countless mountains dotting the horizon.

“I lost track of time!”

I made a dash towards the creepy forest, determined to gather what I needed before it turned dark. Now even more menacing than before without the comforting rays of sunshine, I quickly got to work.

“Uh… umm!”

I gathered as many fallen branches as I could, as well as dry leaves that might make for good firestarter material. Every second counted, as every second I spent out here unnerved me even more.

“Seriously, what’s with this atmosphere?” I whispered to myself as my body began to shiver.

Not from any cold, mind you. The forest was simply so terrifying to me that my body reacted on its own. Is it because I have the mentality of a child again?

I didn’t want to wait to find out what monstrosity under the bed may be lurking in there, so I ran for it as soon as I got what I needed.

*

“Let’s see, according to that video, I need tools like… this-!”

I smashed a small rock I found into the larger one I used as a backrest. My small body had way more power than I initially thought it had, with every smash of the rock emitting loud cracks into the silent night.

I was a little wary of the fact that wolves might be attracted to noise like the shouting I did earlier today, so I swung with everything I had.

“Hrgh!”

With one last swing, I managed to chip away a chunk of the rock, sending pieces flying everywhere. Searching through the debris, I found what I was looking for—a piece with a sharp edge.

“Now I can use this as a makeshift knife-”

Skkrrk! Skkrk!

“After removing the skin off this straight branch-”

Thwack!

“Split this thicker one like so-”

Crack!

As I worked on preparations for a fire, the sun had already set, leaving me with little illumination as the stars slowly appeared from their veil of darkness. My only source of light was the moon in the sky; or rather two moons, one larger than Earth’s along with a smaller satellite orbiting it.

“Final prep is done, now for the real deal… Use this shaved branch as my firestarter, this softer wood as the fuel and… GUTS!”

With the firestarter between both hands, I rapidly spun the stick, so quick my fingers were a blur.

“Uuooohh!!”

I put my all into it, gritting my teeth from the effort.

“Come on-!”

My arms were starting to sore, but at long last, a thin trail of smoke began to waft from the friction, then a small kindling.

“There it is! Foo-! Foo-!”

I controlled the flame until it was able to spread on its own, slowly feeding it more branches and dried leaves. It took a while, but I finally had a fire going.

“Bleh…”

I lay on the ground in exhaustion.

“All that… just for one fire? Am I gonna have to do this everyday?”

I sighed. It wasn’t that I was complaining about the work, but if something so trivial as starting a fire took so long, other everyday chores would likely take up most of my time.

“If only I had magic… At least this fire will keep wild animals at bay. Should I try looking for civilization? I can’t just stay here…”

That was when I set my sights on the skies above. I didn’t blink for a long time, my eyes wide open taking in the view before me.

A sea of stars. Countless stars, twinkling in the night sky unobstructed by the lights of civilization, their full glory out for all to see. With the abnormal moons alongside them, it was the first time I truly felt like I was in another world.

“I could never see something like this on Earth.”

With my ailing body, the view from my window had been all I could see of the outside world on Earth. I’d grown accustomed to the same sight of traffic and construction day after day, without change.

This however-

“It’s beautiful.”

What other sights awaited me? I have no idea if the inhabitants of this world looked like people I was used to seeing. What does the architecture of this world look like? What would magic be like in this world, if it exists? I’ve always wanted to see a snow-filled winter. Are the season here the same as back on Earth? Would summer feel as hot as it’s getting right now? It’s getting pretty toasty here-

“Hot…!”

I jumped to my feet, moving away from the heat of the campfire I made just minutes ago.

“Why is it so hot…?”

It was nighttime, with a constant wind blowing in from the east side of the lake. I relied on the large rock to block off the wind and help protect my fire from being put out, but now I embraced the cooling breeze instead, throwing down my shawl and putting distance between me and the fire.

“What, is it summer right now? Did I make the fire for nothing?”

Now that I could feel the night breeze against my skin, something felt off. I definitely felt the cold, cold enough to likely be autumnal winds, approaching winter.

It’s just that the cold didn’t bother me too much. In fact, I preferred not having the fire at all.

“Is it because this body of mine’s already accustomed to living in high altitudes? Ah, god! Why-”

I couldn’t let the opportunity to complain to god go, rambling to myself. After a while though, I was beginning to feel parched; I haven’t had a sip of water since awakening in this world.

“Should I try drinking from this lake?”

They say you shouldn’t drink stagnant water, as it’s likely to contain harmful bacteria. This lake however, has a stream connecting it to who knows where.

“My body’s real healthy… I’ll just take the risk-!”

I gulped down mouthfuls of lake water. Cold and refreshing, the more I drank the less wary I got.

How is this lake water so good?

With my thirst satiated, all that’s left was to wait and find out if I’ll be fine or sick the next day. But before I got some much needed rest, I have to decide whether to keep the fire going.

“It’s a shame to just put it out after all that work though, and it keeps wild animals at bay. Mmm, I’ll just sleep a distance away…?”

It could get colder as the night progressed. Should I test the limits of my new body?

I took off my clothes and slowly stepped into the lake.

“Oooh… it’s definitely colder in here, much colder, but…”

Despite feeling the sharp tingling upon placing my feet under the water surface, by the time it went up to my waist I’d already become accustomed to it. It would seem my body is very resistant to cold.

“I can just take a bath here right now… How long has it been since I’ve been able to? Hah… this is great… I’ll think about the rest tomorrow…”

I spent the rest of the night relaxing amongst the stars before turning in for the day.