#063 – It reminds me of getting sick as a kid, except for the whole wilderness survival thing

#063 – It reminds me of getting sick as a kid, except for the whole wilderness survival thing

Someone was groaning.

That was me.

I was groaning.

I was also lying face down.

Everything was pain.

What was I doing again?

Where was I?

Had I fallen asleep on my desk again?

I hoped I’d remembered to end the stream, or chat was gonna laugh at me.

The lights were pretty dim, though.

I should go back to sleep.

Good idea.

...

Ugh, bright.

Who’d turned on the lights in the middle of the night?

Oh, that was the sun.

Hadn’t I pulled down the blinds?

Ugh, I didn’t feel like moving. My entire body hurt.

Why did everything hurt? Had I done another 3D stream yesterday?

No... What?

Why did my mind feel scrambled?

I hadn’t been drinking on stream again, had I?

God, I didn’t wanna get up yet, though.

Let’s just go back to sleep.

But the light was annoying... No problem, just turn my head to the other side.

Problem solved.

Good night.

...

Ooow... My head...

What time was it? What day was it? God, I really didn’t feel like getting up, but I needed to pee.

I forced my eyelids to part and saw grass right in front of me. I was lying face first in it.

Confused, I pushed myself up into a sitting position with my wobbly arms and blinked the sleepiness away.

There were trees around.

What the hell? Where–

The memories of the past few days suddenly came back to me and I froze. I looked down at my small hands, then I looked back at the trees in front of me, and then finally, I craned my head around to look at the city dungeon and its gate I had been lying in front of.

I stared for a good few seconds as I tried to remember exactly what had happened through the pounding headache.

I’d fought the archer zombie woman, got poisoned, then... tried to flush the poison out of my bloodstream by shoving life ooze into it.

That had been so dumb, but it had kind of worked? I couldn’t remember very well.

And then what? I remembered stumbling toward the door and vomiting at some point, but not much else besides that. But considering I was out here, I must have made it back outside before I’d collapsed.

I continued staring at the gate as the horror of what I’d experienced slowly sank in.

Then I took a shuddering breath and let it out. I hugged myself, hung my head, and then took another breath. Then another and another. Before long, I was hyperventilating and tears were streaming down my face.

Haha... And I’d thought I’d gotten used to this world’s bullshit.

I could get lost in a dungeon for days and it was fine. I could collapse from lack of Ether in a dark locker full of sentient clothes and have a mild freakout, but otherwise be alright. I could face a flying laser shark in an arena with completely screwed-up spatial physics and it didn’t even bother me that much.

uptonMIKE: good then you should go to the forest again

JamieWasTaken3: step two find two yshaped trees near each other

I sighed, but forced myself to get up again and headed toward the trees.

“Y-shaped trees?” I mumbled. “Why those?”

JamieWasTaken3: step three put a log on top of them

JamieWasTaken3: so like they hold it in their ys

I blinked as I took in Jamie’s crappy wording.

“Oh, I get it... Alright.”

JamieWasTaken3: step four lean more logs on the suspended one

JamieWasTaken3: make like a tent shape with them

JamieWasTaken3: step five cover it all in branches and leaves

JamieWasTaken3: and theres ur shelter

I nodded while looking for any trees that might work for what Jamie had described.

“I had no idea you were a survival expert, Jamie...” I murmured as I noticed two trees in the exact shape and distance from each other that I was looking for.

JamieWasTaken3: I read it from a guide lol

“...Oh. That makes more sense.” I hummed in understanding as I looked around for a tree I could cut down to serve as my roof.

JamieWasTaken3: hey!

JamieWasTaken3: Im smart

“Smart enough to look up a guide, mhmm...” Just because my head was killing me and I wanted nothing but to drop dead into a bed didn’t mean I couldn’t tease my viewers. It was my duty as a streamer.

JamieWasTaken3: smart to know when to ask the internet for advice!

I huffed a laugh and narrowed my eyes at a tree that I thought could work decently well. I would just have to cut out some of its branches as well.

Now the only question was whether I was strong enough to cut the tree down and then lift it up. All while sick and completely exhausted.

Ugh...

The key sword was actually perfect for cutting down trees since it was sort of shaped like a saw with its teeth. It took a lot of effort and a few breaks, but I did manage to slowly saw through the tree and topple it down as the orange smoke poured out of it. Once I was done, I cut off all its branches one by one as well.

One look at the dark cloud of doom on the horizon confirmed that I didn’t have much time left and I probably wouldn’t be able to finish it in time.

Well, shit.

I was still going to try.

I grabbed the log and began dragging it in the direction of my chosen trees. It was both easier and harder than I thought it would be. The log kept getting snagged on random rocks and branches on the ground, which was annoying, but otherwise, my arm strength seemed to be just enough to pull it off.

To be honest, I was quite a bit stronger than I had any right to be considering my tiny child body, but then again, there was magical logic at play.

Actually, maybe it had something to do with my Ether? Since Ether was supposed to be the physical energy or whatever, getting more Ether also made me stronger? But I hadn’t increased my Ether by that much, had I?

I grunted and fell on my butt as I finally got the log all the way to the two trees. I felt a little nauseous again. Maybe exerting myself like this was a bad idea when I already felt so terrible.

Go figure.

I didn’t want to just give up now, though. Not after going through all the trouble to get that log. Not when the cloud was so close.

But how the hell was I supposed to lift the log up to snag it between the tree’s branches, though? I was way too short to even reach the Y intersection of the trees. I would need some kind of pulley or at least a rope, which I didn’t have.

Dammit. This wasn’t going to work.

uptonMIKE: it might be better to find a cave or a hollow tree for now

It probably was, to be honest.

Ugh, why the hell had I gone through the trouble of cutting down a tree? Stupid sick brain. And stupid Jamie for suggesting it.

“Yeah... Cave might be good,” I mumbled under my nose and set out to find something, leaving the log in the grass.

God, I was so tired though. Stupid cloud. Stupid poison. Stupid log.

By the time water began to trickle down from the sky, I hadn’t yet found a good enough shelter and was forced to either keep looking or wait it out below some branches.

I chose the latter.

Sure, my clothes might have some anti-cold properties, but I really didn’t want to risk getting even sicker. The fact that I was exhausted in more ways than one might have played a role in the decision as well.

From the sound of things, it began to really pour over the course of the next few minutes, but the spot I’d found protected me from the worst of it. I didn’t even have to find a shelter. The trees were so numerous and dense that their leaves served as decent protection anyway.

“Don’t even need a special shelter,” I mumbled as I sat next to the tree and patted its bark. “Thanks, buddy...”

Then I saw a flash of light and startled moments before I heard the thunder in the distance.

“Oh... It’s a thunderstorm. Great...”

Now, usually, I loved thunderstorms. But that was assuming that I was at home, looking out of my window at one.

“It’s fine, chat... It’s gonna blow over soon...”