Chapter 3 - Water

After climbing down from the tree, Joe wipes the blood from his face and grimaces as he wipes across the cut on his forehead. “It’s sore, but it seems to have already stopped bleeding. That’s good. Will have to be more careful in the future.” He then eats the rest of the bread using the cloth it was wrapped in to wipe off some of the soot and blood from his face and hands. “Going to need to find something else to eat soon.” he notes. He then washes down the last of the bread with some of his remaining precious water, leaving only a few swallows behind.

He searches around the trees and bushes he spent the night with in hopes of seeing some recognizable fruits or berries. Sadly he did not even see any unrecognizable ones. Looking out from his surroundings he sees what looks to be a forest off in the distance, though. “If I’m going to find more food and water the forest is probably a good bet. Let’s just hope it is peaceful. Maybe those camping trips from my childhood will come in handy here.” Joe mumbles to himself. “More walking in Joe’s whacky walking simulator 2.0. Yay…”

After several hours of walking Joe finally nears the forest. Trees like he had never seen in his life before this world, fill his vision. Towering trees with massive trunks make up the forest. Their roots weave in and out of the ground and wrap around rocks like they are squeezing them for water. Branches above intertwine with other tree’s branches to block out the sun from the forest floor completely deeper in. Sounds that were void in the plains echo out of the forest. Along the edge of the forest though, there are signs of travel and compacted dirt and rock.

“Is this a road? I could possibly travel this to civilization. I can hear things moving in the forest, it may not be a safe journey.” Joe had been on a few camping trips in his life, but he was no hunter. Nor was he a boy scout or anything of the like. He did enjoy the occasional fishing trip, but that was more a social event and more drinking was involved than actual fishing. “I am woefully ill prepared for this.” he thinks aloud. Then he looks at the dagger strapped to his waist, his only real form of self defence if something comes after him. Touching the handle of the dagger a window pops up.

[Iron Dagger - Type: Weapon; Weight: 1.0; Value: 2.0; Rarity: Common; Quality: Good]

“Oh, good quality. Nice. The weight is one. Does that mean one pound? And what is the reference for value? I doubt it’s dollars. Isn’t there supposed to be damage values or something?” Joe asks himself a series of questions, knowing no answer will come. He pulls the blade out and takes a couple clumsy swings mimicking actions he had seen on TV. With a sigh, he then returns it to his waist. After gazing at the trail in front of him for a moment, he begins heading along the dirt road mumbling about being off to see a wizard.

His jovial attitude and jokes didn’t take long to fade again and the rigorous journey with a lack of food caused him to tire quickly. Not feeling safe enough to chance resting Joe pushes himself past that though and travels through the night, marching on. His throat parched and his stomach angrily grumbling at him, he worries that he will not make it to civilization before death comes to take him. “Push on, push on.” He continues to tell himself.

After some time, As Joe nears his limit, he hears the sounds of flowing water. His drooping eyelids raise and he rushes forward along the road with renewed vigor. He can make out what looks to be a stream flowing under a wooden bridge and then into the forest. As he approaches the bridge he pulls his dagger. “What if in this world trolls really do live under bridges? I have no money for a toll.” he thinks to himself, joking at first but then thinking again. He approaches the bridge slowly, trying to be quiet. It seems to be well constructed, and is about 10 feet wide by 20 feet long. “Seems sturdy, if someone built such a nice bridge and upkeeps it, there has to be civilization nearby. Right? No troll asking for a toll yet.” He crosses the bridge and cautiously leaves the road to walk down to the edge of the water. Reaching out he cups a hand full and sips. “That's really good. Refreshing and cool.” He scoops another handful and examines it closer.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

[Water - Type: Beverage; Rarity: Abundant; Quality: Good]

“Probably should have done that before drinking it.” Joe mumbles to himself and then begins to fill his waterskin. He then splashes some water to clean himself off a bit, not comfortable enough to let down his guard enough to bathe while it's dark. After finally getting the feel of grit off his face, he returns to the bridge. He did take a peek under it first, hoping to not see anything peeking back. Not completely assured, but not seeing anything, he decides to rest on the bridge until sun up. With skipping sleep already one night, rest turned quickly to sleep and Joe finds himself once again in a dream.

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Joe opens his eyes to see himself and his best friend, Jeremy, from college. The view is from slightly overhead, as if he was sitting in a stadium. “It's like watching a movie set as the scene in front of me plays out in a cutaway of our old dorm room.” Joe thinks.

“Joe, you suck in the morning.” the deep voice of Jeremy proclaims. “We need to talk about our project. We still...”

“Yeah, Yeah, let me get my coffee and a smoke and we can talk.” college Joe grumbles interrupting Jeremy.

“Ok, grumpy Joe, I’ll catch you out by the cancer stick graveyard after I grab some breakfast. We need to go over that speech project before class and get the visual aids together.” Jeremy says as he walks out the door, just hearing a grunt for a reply from college Joe.

College Joe stumbles around the dorm room, somehow managing to put on coffee without opening his eyes yet. After some aimless stumbling around, he splashes some water in his face and finally starts getting ready, occasionally glancing at what feels to be the slowest single cup coffee maker in the world. Finally grabbing his coffee, college Joe steps out of the dorm room to enter a new set, one of the smoking areas on the edge of the dorm’s courtyard.

Jeremy is already sitting there with a clear plastic cup filled with orange juice in one hand and a book in the other. Joe notices the book is something about reincarnating as a slime, with some anime style character on the front. “We going to finish up this project or you going to read children's books all day?” college Joe challenges the large Jeremy.

Joe watches from above and laughs at the banter between the two and then wishes he had paid more attention to Jeremy’s interest. “How did we stay friends for so long. I guess we had some shared interest, but man I could be an ass.”

While Joe reminisced, the scene continued to play out in front of him. “Hey man, this thing is pretty good, and it’s a light novel not a children’s book. This guy dies saving his friend and ends…” Jeremy starts telling an inattentive college Joe about the book, while Joe tries focusing on the words Jeremy says. Sadly, it seems he had really tuned him out good back then.

College Joe lights up his cigarette and plops down on the bench with a sigh and is obviously completely zoned out. This caused him not to notice Jeremy standing up and walking over to him. Jeremy lifts his book and pops college Joe in the head and says “Hey you vagabond! Wake up, you can’t sleep here.”

Joes feels a pain in his side as college Joe gets popped on the back of his head. Then, Joe realizes that the last part was not Jeremy’s voice.

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