After contemplating a bit my unusual appearance I started to revise my current plan. I didn’t want to waste any precious time so while I was making my improved backpack I thought of what my next step should be. I needed first get my bearings so I needed to make sure that the cardinal points that I use don’t change from one day to another or I might start walking in circles and as such lower my chances of finding civilization. So, right before I started working on my creation I took a rod and pinned it in the ground and drew a line on its shadow.

After I roughly counted ten minutes in my head I drew a line on the new shadow. As I finished and rose up with my left foot I stood on the previous line edge and with the right on the current one and such I decided the north. I also knew about how much time has passed since I started working because I further kept the time at 10 minutes interval with this rudimentary shadow clock.

Back to the present, the next step I decided upon was to venture for a day in the forest keeping to what I called north with the goal in mind to maybe find some fruits or mushrooms to eat and while I am there get some bark to make my backpack a bit sturdier and if I am lucky to stumble upon a river then that would only be a plus.

Naturally I would come back outside before nightfall and camp near the outskirts of the forest, I wasn’t that brave to try my luck at night right from the first day. If I found a river then I would risk and brave the forest by following its course the next day but if I found no trace of one then I wouldn’t waste my time and head east, or more precisely, towards where the sun was rising. It was harder to find food on a plain but at least I wouldn’t have to worry about any predator’s ambush. I could also spot travelers or settlements further away so it could give me a greater chance of survival in the long run.

“Finally, the start of my journey.” I said with my feet planted firmly on the two dirt lines and facing the north.

(One question remains, should I cover more ground by running at a steady pace or play it safe and walk?)

Pondering this decision I turned my head to see the sun fully risen on the horizon and a smile creeped on my face.

“It seems I’ve got my answer.” So I started running towards my destination.

What I saw now that I didn’t see before, or better said, that I couldn’t see before was a second blue sun slowly creeping from behind the first one. So I had my answer, this world wasn’t Earth and there is a possibility that maybe there might be magic. At least, who wouldn’t dream of this possibility?

Two hours later, or so I thought, I was deep in the forest trying to find anything that would look edible. The only luck I had was a few green looking fruits that I picked up from a bush and a couple of mushrooms that surprisingly grew a few meters off the ground on a bark from a tree.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

The tree had a rough and thick bark that had deep cuts. Somehow either the tree or some insects filled out those cuts with earth and I could even see soil even higher on the tree then were I climbed up to pick the mushrooms from. My curiosity was picked but it was a pity that I didn’t have the time to investigate.

I didn’t have luck in finding a tree with the bark thin enough that it could be flexible and twined easily but at least my backpack was holding up great even at the pace I was running so at least I had that while I was making my way deeper inside the forest.

“What kind of a tree could that be.”

Beautiful, was the only word that could describe it. The trunk was not one but two trees that intertwine one and the other. Both appeared to sprout from the same root but both were different, one red and one blue and as you looked further up you could see that from each tree branches of the same color would sprout from time to time forming a corona splendidly colored with blue and red as well as yellow that came from the leaves.

The season wasn’t autumn, or at least that I could tell from the other trees that were a vivid green but then again the tree’s leaves didn’t appear to fall or dying which would only imply that it was its natural color. As I said, splendid indeed, a beauty of nature and nothing else.

“Wonder if it bears any fruit?”

(Considering that it’s the only tree of its kind that I have seen for the past hours then maybe it’s rare and its fruits could have value. Or maybe I am just mistaken, but it’s worth the time to look if I could trade it later on.)

After a few passes and a bit of climbing I concluded that it was meaningless to search further. From what I could tell either it had no fruits, it wasn’t its season or someone already picked the fruit up. It having no flowers or buds didn’t help either but at least the view from where I am standing was worth the effort.

It was hard to tell how much I could see if I climbed the tree but now that I already climbed this far I went as high as I could to take a peak and I wasn’t disappointed. On the horizon I could see something that looked like a small mountain. It was hard to spot even from the top of the tree but that wasn’t the thing that got me the most excited.

(Wonder if some of those clearings have settlements or maybe rivers passing through them. It’s worth the trouble to check but I won’t be able to get to all of them before nightfall so I should first check the ones that are closer while keeping to the north. If I do that I can sprint back in a straight line without worrying of getting lost or waste time climbing other trees in order to find the exit and come back tomorrow.)

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