My pain seemed to have dulled overnight. It wasn't gone, more distant, like my nerves had grown tired of complaining, so they just gave up.
Feeling the heat of the sun shining down on me, even from my makeshift shelter under the tree roots, I opened my eyes. For a second, I didn't move. Not because I couldn't, but because I was assessing.
First, I needed to figure out if there were any threats around. Not hearing anything besides the gentle wind blowing through the trees, I turned my attention to my body.
My chest was sore, but the excruciating pain that had been plaguing me since I arrived in this body was nowhere to be seen. Instead, it felt like I had just had a really bad workout.
Humming to myself, I shifted my hips slightly. There was the sharp, shooting pain that I was expecting. Either my pelvis was still fractured, or I had severely hurt my lower back, and I was feeling it in my hips. But either way, the pain was there, but I could still move my legs.
Speaking about my legs, I ever so slowly straightened them from where I had curled in on myself last night. Flexing my calves, I was happy to see that there didn't appear to be any significant breaks or pain. Even my fingers that had been bent into different angles, like someone had taken extreme pleasure in snapping each one of the ten digits, were pointing in the right direction.
They hurt… like my chest and back hurt… but I could still use them.
I wasn't fully healed, but I was healing.
I smiled to myself as I crawled out of the hole I was in and stood up straight. Looking around, I saw the forest stretching out in front of me. The cold, crisp air letting me know that I was probably higher up than ground level, but until I managed to get height, I wouldn't know exactly what the world looked like.
Taking a step forward, I couldn't help the smile on my face. The girl whose body I now occupied should've been dead. Not only was she beaten within an inch of her life, but she had also been left to rot on a mountain like discarded meat.
She wasn't supposed to last the night.
But I had.
Now, there was work to be done.
Cracking my neck from side to side, I started to loosen my shoulders and back as I picked a direction and started down the rough path. It was only wide enough for a cart, with towering trees on both sides of it.
And there wasn't a person in sight.
My steps lightened as I continued forward. Papa had a long list of things to do when you were left out in the wilderness. And yes, with a Papa like mine, that has happened a lot.
Shelter needed to come first. I needed to find a temporary shelter that could protect me from the elements and predators until I could build my own house. There was a slight incline behind me; I could feel it stretching out my calves even more.
However, higher ground meant drainage, and drainage meant caved…
And caves meant shelter and survival.
It wasn't easy, by all means. I walked until my breath became mist again, and the sun hid behind the other side of the trees.
That was when I saw it.
Half-buried behind a tangle of pine needles and overgrown moss sat a break in the stone. Narrow and jagged, just wide enough for my small body to slip through, and very much hidden.
Closing my eyes, I tried to call upon my fire power, knowing that I probably wouldn't be able to. But it was worth a try, even if I failed.
I failed, so saying a short prayer to the Devil, I slipped through the crack and stepped into a massive cave. The sun wasn't able to penetrate past the first few inches, but I wasn't deterred. Crouching down, I picked up a rock and threw it into the darkness.
I heard it echoing for a while, but there was no growl, no answering shuffle of something large and toothy. Still, that didn't mean much. Ever so cautiously, I moved deeper into the dark cave. It was dry and cool, the scent of stone and earth soothed my aching bones.
Apparently, it didn't matter what world you were in, earth always smelled the same. And it smelled just like Papa.
Eventually, the ceiling became lower and lower until I could reach it with my fingertips. However, the cave continued one.
Papa's survival rule #22: Never assume you are alone. It goes great with rule #23: always assume that there is at least one more hidden in the darkness. Papa calls it the plus one.
"I won't hurt you if you won't hurt me," I called out, my eyes narrowing as if that could help me see better in the pitch blackness. For the record, it didn't.
But the darkness did shift, an immediate response to my voice.
Unfortunately, it wasn't the darkness in the distance… it was the darkness right beside me.
I stilled, ever so slowly turning my head. There, in the corner, lay a massive beast. Its black fur melted into the darkness, but I didn't need to see its outline when I could easily see its bright red eyes and sparkling white teeth.
The creature blinked, cutting off the red light of its eyes before opening them again to stare at me.
And that was when I smelled the blood.
Closing my eyes, I took in a deep breath, calling on my power once again, desperate for a single flame. Flattening my left hand, I stared at my palm, visualizing my blue flame.
This time, my powers answered my demand, bathing the cave in light.
That was when I saw the creature… a wolf.
I had gotten the fur color right, but what I missed was the large tear down its side, so big that I could see its ribs.
It struggled to breathe, its breath rattled like loose leaves in a storm. Foam crusted the edge of its jaws, and its bright red eyes flickered toward me.
It didn't growl, it simply stared.
"If this is how I die," I sighed, crouching down until I was less than a foot away from its bloody mouth. "Know that the last words I spoke was 'who's a good boy?' and the answer is 'not you.'"
Reaching forward, I attempted to touch its head with my right hand, my left still holding the ball of fire in it. However, before I could make contact, it growled at me, low and deep, the threat clear.
"You're bleeding all over my floor," I said, my eyes narrowing on the creature. "So, unless you are going to clean it up, I am going to try and stop it… Okay?"
The wolf blinked as if it understood my words.
Sighing, I shifted even closer. "You bite me, and I'm leaving you to rot," I said, staring deep into its eyes. Tank taught me how to get along with a pack of domesticated hellhounds, so I was putting all that expertise to the test.
Despite my fear, the wolf didn't bite, it didn't lunge for my neck, in fact, it didn't move at all.
Humming approval, I touched its forehead. I could feel its pain… his pain through our connection. His wounds were deep and very clearly infected. I didn't even need to see the puss in order to know that. I could smell it.
"You're lucky I have abandonment issues," I muttered, once again, closing my eyes. "And the fact that you remind me of home."
Calling on my healing, I silently begged to the Devil that I still had it. When the white mist flowed out from my palm and onto the wolf, I couldn't help the smile on my face. Life would be that much easier if I had my powers.
The wolf, to his credit, didn't resist. It shivered once. Licked its lips and watched me with that quiet, resigned gaze.
That was the last thing I remembered before passing out.