In respect for Edward, this chapter is released a few hours earlier! I hope this answers some unsatisfactory feelings and possible side-tracks
(I have no idea what I just wrote but yes!)
I originally plan to release one chapter roughly at the end of each day, but it might take up to 2, and possibly result with up to 3 chapters in ONE day
(but I doubt this).
I hope you'll enjoy to continue reading this fiction, and as Always, any feedback and critique is welcome.
(This goes out to you other lovely reader too!!)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 1:
To survive
*When do people die? Is it when they get shot through the heart? No.
Is it when they get an incurable disease? No.
Then, is it when they drink the soup of a poisonous mushroom?! Hell no!
It is when they are forgotten!!*
*-*-*-*-*
The smell of forest leaves bore itself into John's nostrils. It was morning.
As another school day came, birds were tweeting a harmonious melody from somewhere in the far distance. Wind blew softly, rustling the leaves and once again, brought the scent of grass, wood and dirt to John's vicinity. It was a good morning.
And for some... It was a lesser good morning.
'Shit...'
"It really wasn't a dream..."
Tired of fighting the inevitable truth, John woke up in a daze.
The stone room looked the same as yesterday, apart from a few scattered tomes on the ground whose torn pages fluttered mid-air by the window, then slowly declined back to the ground.
He still fought it in his... Her mind, but she just didn't care to make a fuss out of it anymore. Not that anyone could hear her anyway.
Subconsciously beating the poor wooden desk after waking up -it had become a habit after a day of denial- with her small clenched hands, John mumbled convenient answers as to why she really didn't care.
"To survive out here, I can not get embarrassed or scared of my own naked body!"
'Uooooh!' An imaginatively large crowd of people caused a loud cheer which roared in the back of her mind as she reassured herself. 'Yeaahh!!' A slightly behind voice came.
"To survive out here, I must be able to adapt to any situation!"
'A-oh! A-oh! A-oh!' Three consecutive roars along with the sound of hands banging against numerous shields came from within John's mind.
She could get into this.
"To survive out here!" She was now standing straight, banging her left hand on her chest and raising the other towards the roof, shouting. Then, after an inspiring pause, she continued.
"TO SURVIVE OUT HERE! I MUST BE ABLE TO ACCEPT MYSELF!"
The crowd went wild! Stomping their feet on the ground and raising their weapons and shields, the hysterious cheers had turned into a deafening noise! Breaking any spirit the enemy might've had.
Perhaps a little bit too into it.
~Groooooowl~
John snapped out of her world and silence filled the room
"To survive out here... Perhaps I need to find something to eat first..."
"And another name..." The embarrassed one added. "Can't go around calling myself John while looking like this... No! To survive! I will need a new name in case I meet someone capable of speech!"
John thought on the current problem. Reluctant to completely dismiss her old name, she tried various combinations. Later reminding herself that she indeed had a last name, she combined the both.
"Erissé... John... Eriss..Eris.. Eri- AH!"
Clenching her fists and raising them to her eye level, she flexed her arms and announced confidently to herself.
"Eriss Joéhn!"
The loud crowd within her mind cheered at their prominent leader, repeating the name over and over.
Now determined to leave the stone tower, Eriss looked out of the only possible escape-route. She hadn't noticed it during her panicked approach, but vines were clinging along the outer side of the tower all the way up to where the window was.
'...Right. Here goes nothing!'
Having a hard time getting up to the same height as the window, the confident girl gripped the poor desk and started dragging it, which wasn't easy. She didn't have the strength to lift it and her hands were not large enough to get a grip around its edges -though she blamed that on the size of this 'darn desk'- so instead, the self-proclaimed leader decided, that dragging was the only option.
Once placed against the wall underneath the window, Eriss ascended the desk and from there she once more climbed up and then through the white window connected with the outside.
It was a different feeling to look down now than when she was still standing on safe ground.
'So high up!'
With unwavering courage, taking a foothold between two bricks further down and grabbing the sturdiest looking vine within her grasp, she began her adventure of descending from a 20metre tall tower.
*-*-*-*-*
It took time.
After what Eriss assumed to be roughly an hour of climbing down with closed eyes
-don't close your eyes- she glanced up and noticed she was quite far away from the cause of her future hellish nightmares. Glancing the other way, however, was not an option for the frightened man.
She was not scared of heights.
Encouraging herself with speeches of power and glory, the brave one continued to take small and tensed steps downwards.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Then, when she assumed she would finally reach ground in a moment, her heel touched something other than stone. Happily withdrawing her hands from the tower wall John jumped outwards to the green grass underneath her.
A big mistake, but it was too late when she noticed.
"WEEeeeeeeeooOh- fuck!"
In front of her a bushy tree branch was closing in, full of red and brown leaves -Autumn was closing in- and hidden branches capable of harm. Bellowing a high-pitched war cry
-which sounded more like a timid scream- Eriss stopped her momentum by unintentionally flailing her legs towards the massive bush of doom, which caused her short pain on her right leg and to fall straight down on to a lower branch.
Embracing the tree's limb stiffly, Eriss opened her eyes and looked down for once. It was still high up for a human, but from where she had landed it would be possible to climb down the last three metres with ease. The branches were thick, numerous and reached down very close to the ground.
With determination Eriss continued her descend. This time, with the help of trees.
Reaching safety, she assessed her condition. She wasn't unhurt, but with only scratches all over her body, and the only bleeding being a minor one, on her right calf, Eriss considered herself lucky.
Looking back towards the tower with a smug grin upon her countenance, the lucky one saw something she had completely overlooked and the second-long smile turned into a dropped jaw on the floor.
Right in front of her, attached to the tower along with a wooden door, was an entrance.
The tower had stairs.
Really lucky.
Taking a moment to register the overflowing feeling of ineptitude, Eriss' eyes became foggy, and soon a line of tears covered both her lightly scratched cheeks.
"What do you mean?!" The girl cried out as her knees slumped to the dry dirt. "What was the point in all this, idiot!? Now I'm hurt and-" Her stomach growled. "-And still hungry..."
'No! Don't stop now! You were doing so well earlier... And you still need food!' She thought to herself as her mood swing caused by hunger went for the up-beat turn while her imaginary army continued to shout encouraging words one after another.
A stinging pain came from the right leg were she had earlier hurt herself, but she didn't care. She didn't have the luxury to care, as all that was on the girls mind right now was finding something edible.
"I need food." Eriss confirmed to herself, as she stood up and walked into the thick forest.
*-*-*-*-*
The breathing grew heavier.
Eriss didn't mind it before, but the wound on her leg only stopped bleeding for what she believed to be roughly five minutes ago, which meant it had trickled away slowly but surely for who knows how many hours. Now, a dirty red crust occupied her right calf and muddy leaves had found their way up on her fair skin otherwise covered in dirt and bruises.
Even though it was occupying her mind, she could probably go without food for at least another day, but the fatigue had hit her, and if she passed out now without something to eat -be it now or for later- she knew that she wouldn't be able to gather it afterwards.
With these thoughts, she continued forward.
Panting heavily, Eriss was too tired to utter a single word. Running forward with a blank mind, she stumbled many times over both large and small roots emerging from the ground, and just as many times, she raised her unrecognizable body with shaky hands, and stood up to once again run forward in search for something edible.
It only took a moment of carelessness for Eriss to stumble upon another root, this time sending her rolling down a sudden hill that had hidden itself, or she was just that tired. Either way, doing her utmost to avoid sharp and harmful objects, she kept rolling down the slope. Unable to avoid every single thing in her tired state -not that she would manage better while awake- some of the scratches caused by falling through and climbing down trees earlier had started to open up.
'This... All your fault... f'king idiot... Take... It like a man... Just bear with it... Soon over... Don't die.'
Relieved of running because of the current situation, she relaxed her body ever so slightly and a bundle of thoughts came crashing in. Hoping the nauseating feeling of rolling down a small mountain wouldn't last for much longer, Eriss embraced herself.
Luckily, it wouldn't.
Feeling the rolling stagnate, Eriss opened her eyes after she was sure that the feeling in her head was not another roll down a hill. Staring straight up, she noticed something.
No trees.
Instead, a large grey moon was visible in the distance, and the sun was burning with an orange color as it was closing in on the horizon, dying the small amount of clouds that occupied the sky purple with a tinge of pink.
Sitting up, her eyes locked on to what was in front of her. A small lake with crystal clear water, shimmering with orange from what little light that came through the dense forest that proudly occupied the other side.
Muddy, covered in leaves and dirt, with a bit of blood running down her back, the idiot was awestruck.
Something good happened!
'Heaven? Did I die?!'
Not taking any second chances, she ran towards the lake. Once there, putting down her dirty hands in the cold water, she felt a cold sensation that she had prepared herself to never feel again for a long time.
A smile crept up on her face as another set of tears formed in her eyes.
Pulling her arms out of the water, the girl looked at her hands while clenching and unclenching them over and over. They were still not clean, but it was definitely possible with an amount of effort to make them so.
"The food can wait!"
Enthusiasticly shouting to herself, she ran into the water to wash the dirt, leaves and blood off her new body.
She was still hungry, but mentally she was in paradise.
It couldn't possibly get any better.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ps. I think I got something against desks. Not sure why, though.