Sunlight graced Sol’s eyes bringing her out of a deep sleep. Her eyes opened with a hazy look. Unfocused pupils struggled to regain their clarity as she also took stock of her current state. Oddly, Sol felt great. Her body was in peak condition and she could feel her soul collecting magic at an unprecedented rate.
Though she understood her state was in excellent condition, her hazy eyes remained confused. There were gaps in her memory she couldn’t account for. Who was she? Sol could remember her name at the very least, Sol Reviarra. Such a thing did nothing to fill her in on who Sol Reviarra was though.
Despite her faulty memory, Sol remained herself. Rather than dwell on her memory loss, she focused instead on her current situation. Though lacking memory, she could tell the magic surrounding here was in abundance, something she had never experienced before.
Sol’s spiritual awareness exploded from her body to cover the surrounding 800 meters with ease. In doing so, magic rushed into her system as if it were iron attracted to a magnet. She couldn’t help but take deep breaths and allow the magic to fill her system. Her body reacted as if it were tasting magic for the first time and was indulging to its heart's content.
Within her spiritual awareness, Sol found nothing but forest and magical beasts. The trees were massive and emitted a faint glow at the tip of their leaves. Each trunk required nearly 4 arm lengths of Sol to wrap around. She was deserted in a thick forest?
Sol was baffled at her situation. If she was running from an enemy, then why was her body in pristine condition? If she wasn’t running, then why would she be left alone in a forest? At a glance, Sol’s hand’s were callused and there was a dagger at her side. It was enough for a clever person to figure out Sol was comfortable with handling the weapon.
Was she a guard? It was hard to say. The sun was directly overhead and the temperature hovered around 32 centigrade (~89 Fahrenheit). The sky was clear and the occasional cool breeze brushed across Sol’s cheek. Soaking in the pleasant environment, Sol put away her concerns.
Her memory was low priority. Finding out where she was came first. Luckily, she could tell her cultivation reached the liquid stage for Apprentice Assembler. The knowledge gave her both a degree of confidence in her safety, and a potential reason her memory was so jacked up. ‘Had something gone wrong during my refinement?’ Her thoughts neared the truth, however she was unable to prove anything.
Sol leaped from the ground and bounced from limb to limb until she stood on the peak of a giant tree. Her eyes gazed into the horizon but only saw dense jungle in all directions. Her brows furrowed at the sight. How the hell did she arrive so far out? There was a tinge of worry in the back of her mind as well.
Though she was unable to remember who told her, someone once told her that deep forests typically contained strong animals, some even capable of using magic. Just eyeballing the distances, Sol estimated she was at least 450 kilometers from the edge of the forest, a number she, realistically, shouldn’t be able to calculate. Sadly, that was only as far as she could see. The forest could go on even further, and likely did.
Perspiration collected on her forehead as her situation started settling in. How was it possible to know that distance? Considering the tree she was on was nearly 150 meters high, Sol estimated she should only be able to see about 50 kilometers away before the horizon interfered with her vision.
Despite that, Sol was flabbergasted by the distance she was presented with. She suddenly doubted if she was still on Earth. Regardless of her location, survival was still her priority. Survival, and then civilization. Sol ingested the view to her best ability for any signs of civilization.
Sadly, nature dominated this land. She eventually settled on old survival tricks such as following water down stream. While acting on her knowledge, Sol started validating her knowledge with her current position. The trees alone appeared as if they shouldn’t be able to support their weight. Was gravity different here? Would following a stream flow downhill and to an eventual inlet?
She had no way of knowing. Despite that, Sol chose to abide by that rudimentary knowledge until it was proven otherwise. After she spotted a trail carved out in the forest by a river, Sol hopped from tree to tree until she reached the path. The clear liquid rapids, which were sweeping across pebbles and colliding with rocks, resembled water close enough. Sol fell to the ground and dipped her fingers into the water. The consistency felt right and it dried as if it were water. She sipped a slight amount of the liquid as a test and then started following the trail carved by the river.
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As she moved, she was surprised to discover the liquid contained immense amounts of magic dissolved within. Was this the norm? Sol could only exhale in confusion. Even the air around her was saturated with magic. It looks like she should adjust what she considers normal.
Sol continued downstream for nearly 6 hours and only stopped when night was nearing. Along her trip, she found creatures she couldn’t recognize, but were familiar enough that Sol was comfortable hunting them. To her dismay, she struggled to even capture what looked like a long eared rabbit.
As soon as Sol threw her dagger at the creature, it sensed her strike and left afterimages in its wake. The first time Sol saw that, she was speechless. A sense of crisis also crept up on her. Sure enough, the magic density in the environment was enough to alter the creatures living in it. Having failed in all her attempts, Sol spent the night in a tree consuming nuts and berries she found and tested along the way.
Upon her first bite, Sol was ecstatic at the magic she gained from the food. Even simple foods contained so much magic, this must be heaven for Assemblers. Her thoughts teetered off on miscellaneous things and she soon fell asleep.
The next morning, Sol snapped branches from the tree she slept on and continued her journey along the river. While traversing, she practiced her Devine Refiner Arts and found it difficult to control. Previously, she had to force magic into the material and ended up compromising most of its structure in the process.
While it worked, it also meant there was a limit to the amount of magic any particular item could hold. Not only that, the magic she injected flowed without resistance. Whenever it encountered a blockage, it would just destroy it and continue on its way. Sol found the tree’s limbs were completely different.
Perhaps it was because the environment was saturated in magic? The limb was already filled with magic and Sol was forced into trial and error for refining a weapon. Though she eventually had a small degree of success, Sol felt rather dispirited. Her Divine Refiner Arts was something she wholeheartedly practiced and yet she could barely use it here.
By itself, she didn’t mind. The problem was when Sol extrapolated that difficulty to other skills. Her own body was fine. She could reinforce it as needed and it cooperated with her. Temperamental Bettys though? “Impossible,” she said. She threw the destroyed material aside and snapped off a new limb along the way.
Nearly 40 limbs later, Sol finally managed something partially useful. Evenso, her eyes glazed over with disappointment. She finally discovered where the difficulty was spiking. There was too much magic here! Isolating her magic from the environment was excruciating. Keeping her magic under her influence and directing it through the interference was an abysmally tiresome task.
Nearly two weeks later, Sol finally managed to hunt her first animal. The long eared rabbits were too difficult for her. Their speed was too absurd. Instead, she managed to capture what appeared to be a squirrel. The small beast approached her while Sol was concealing her presence. A bit of luck in her sneak attack allowed Sol to skewer the animal on her first try.
After enjoying her first meat in weeks, Sol continued her journey with a smile. When night fell, Sol used magic to excavate a pit and draw water from the river into it. Weeks of travel and survival through trial and error helped Sol develop a survival strategy. At the top of that list? Stay away from the river when possible.
More than once Sol witnessed beasts nearly twice her size dragged into the river by some aquatic beast. Oddly, she was unable to see the beast in its entirety. Only during its ambush could she capture it with her eyes. The degree of camouflage terrified her. From that moment on, Sol never went near the river.
Instead, she would create a small culvert and fill a connected pit with the water. From there, she boiled the resting water and only then felt it was safe enough to bath in or consume. Her shame of undressing in the forest disappeared as soon as the caked filth fell off her skin. Morals only mean something to humans. Why torture herself when she’s isolated in the middle of nature? Even if you exclude morals, her scent was pungent and could attract predators. A bath was required.
Sol convinced herself with reason to flex her sense of shame and never looked back after the first bath. Her latest pit had a clear view of the sky and Sol’s gaze drifted to the stars while deep in thought. Was this her future? Despite weeks passing by, her memory remained clouded.
Bits and pieces of random knowledge and people would flash by oh so often, however nothing concrete was ever elucidated. While it suggested her memory was recovering, the pace of recovery left much to be desired. Sol exhaled audibly to the night air and thought about her future actions.
“What’s this Lady to do?” As of today, Sol traveled nearly 600 kilometers along the river. If she excluded the bends, she covered at least 500 kilometers. Despite that, the horizon appeared just as desolate. Her black eyes closed and she forced away the negative thoughts and loneliness that was encroaching.
The next time her eyes opened, clear obsidian pupils looked into the future pulling her thoughts along with it.