It's been a little less than a whole week since my journey through the forest began, and so far, there are no signs of life; I've run out of food and water and am now desperate to find life within my reach. The food situation is not so bad, however, compared to the forest's incredibly low temperatures.

I got signs of frostbite on my left cheek last night, and this morning, when I woke up, I could feel my skin freezing even more. My hair is permanently frozen at this point as well; my morale couldn't be any lower as it seems like I will die of starvation and freezing to death in the middle of nowhere.

You might say, 'Why didn't you stay home?' The reason is quite simple: I doubt those pricks didn't have any friends or family; since I killed some and others managed to escape, someone was bound to look for me to kill me. If I stayed, I would eventually be killed by their friends and family, and now it seems like I will die again.

{Bear roar nearby}

There are also deadly creatures in this forest; I barely managed to evade a pack of little fox creatures by climbing up a tree, but who knows if that will work with other animals like a bear and stuff. I've heard multiple noises and roars out here, most of which don't sound friendly in the slightest, and I'm afraid they will maul me to death if they find me.

The situation on the ground is grim and also scary; I've encountered literal ghosts that suddenly appear right before your very eyes, screaming at the top of their lungs just to leave you laughing like little maniacs after you pee your pants; such things never happened on earth.

I feel like those encounters and the constant threat to my life are slowly driving me mad, as well as the lack of people to talk to. You would be surprised at how quickly you begin to lose your mind when there's nobody you can talk to or tell your problems to.

My eyes feel heavy, and my body feels extremely cold; I shiver in fear and paranoia while my mind tells me, 'It's okay,' but I know it's not. How long can I keep going? I ask this every day, almost all day, whenever the cold breeze hits. Why is this happening to me? I ask.

I know I lied when I refused to tell the goddess of their mistake when reinstating my soul, but is it really that hard to ask for a fair retrial? Or did she notice, and this is actual hell? My hell!? Is this my punishment for being such a low-life piece of shit? I can only speculate.

Hours go by, and again, I fail to start a fire and end up going to sleep next to a tree again while shivering from the cold air of the night. The forest gets even scarier at night, thanks to the ghosts that have chosen to mess with me. I keep waking up every now and then when I feel cold hands on my feet, pulling me away just to wake up and see a ghost laughing at my fear.

To my dismay, this night feels even colder than any other. I suddenly wake up, and a flake of snow hits my face, followed by many more. There's a loud thunder and a flashy sky covered in dark clouds that begin to drop tons of snow, followed by an icy breeze that keeps me awake all night.

The day soon arrived hours later, and I finally closed my eyes in defeat after staying awake all night, finally letting myself hit the ground tired and defeated. With my eyes shut and my mind almost gone, I hear footsteps nearby that could be from an animal or a person, but I'm so tired and cold I can't even open my eyes anymore.

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As I lay on the floor waiting for whatever was near me to end my life, I felt a small poke at the sides of my body followed by more pokes now to my face and someone suddenly trying to talk to me. "Hey! Hey, you alive? Hey! Wake up, are you dead?" A male voice talks as it continues poking me until I make a very soft moan that seems to startle him.

"Woah! The fuck!? How are you even alive? Hold up! I got you! Hold up!" I can feel another weight on me as soon as the man finishes his sentence, but somehow, this new weight is not so bad; it almost feels like he dropped another coat or something on me, like a rug.

The footsteps then vanished for a couple of minutes, which finally allowed my eyes to thaw just enough to be able to open them, finally allowing me to see the thing that the man had dropped on me, which looked like some sort of deerskin or something furry like that.

I lay on the floor next to a tree, still trying to figure things out, when the man who gave me his coat or whatever the skin was on me returned holding a bunch of sticks and other things in his bag. "Stay there. I'll heat you when I get a fire going, or we will both freeze." The man says, and I simply try to nod back as my vocal cords fail to move.

"I got to tell you, I thought you were dead for a second. Amazingly, you're still alive." The man stacks the sticks in a campfire pattern, and then he easily lights up the whole thing with a straightforward fire spell, followed by him getting rid of his clothes just to approach me.

"Alright, you're probably freezing cold, so heating you up with a flame is a bad idea, so I'll have to transfer you some heat with my body. I hope you don't mind." I didn't even care at this point as long as I didn't die, but he, for some reason, didn't seem so embarrassed as he took my clothes off until he saw my female anatomy.

"Shit, well, forgive me for this, miss, but you will die otherwise; I'm sorry." The man apologizes once more just to lay next to me, almost naked next to my nearly naked body as well; after that, he grabs his coat again and covers himself and me with it as he hugs me, which feels fantastic all of a sudden.

My skin immediately felt much better, but I could feel the guy calming himself as my body probably felt horrible for him since I was so cold. It probably felt like hugging a block of ice. While it was the best feeling for me, I would have to repay him for putting up with it afterward.

The fire behind the guy also feels like it heats some of the air near us, which finally allows me to fall asleep like a baby after staying many nights awake like a crazy person thanks to the cold and the ghosts pranking me every damn hour of the nighttime.

Hours probably went by, and when I finally woke up, I was dressed up again and right before the burning fire. The man who I slept with was now cooking some fish over the fire as well when he greeted me again, this time a little more formally.

"Hey there, mate! I'm Buster! Sorry about earlier; doing all that to a girl like you made me feel like an asshole, but I could've sworn I thought you was a boy!" The man expresses his feelings after handing me a cup of what looks like some sort of hot tea that I immediately begin to sip.

"So, uhm, how did you end up in these woods all alone? These parts are supposed to be hostile and uninhabitable for anyone, nonetheless, a little girl like ya." The man asks me while he turns the fish over the fire on a little wooden stick that doesn't catch fire for some reason.

"I flee danger," I respond to the man with my now unfrozen vocal cords that still feel a little shaken from freezing to the point where I can talk much, not even after thawing. "Danger, uh? Those damn werewolves find you?" Asks the man, who I just noticed had horns on the side of his head at the top of his forehead.

"Yes, they killed my mom, and I fled," I tell him without telling him about killing some of them or that I'm a vampire, but the man quickly believes my story without even questioning me for a second. "Yeah! Those sons of bitches are some annoying pricks that prey on the weak; luckily for you, they would never mess with me, so you're safe now."