Empowered awakening

Chance Rebirth

Chapter 2

Awareness comes back to me slowly. The first thing I become aware of is how hard the ground I'm lying on is followed by how the grass is tickling my nose, the next thing I'm aware of is how nice the cool breeze feels on my arms. This is followed quickly by a jolt of surprise to the fact i'm aware of anything at all. I thought I died or that if I did survived i would be in a hospital bed, not laying on the ground outside. I open my eyes and sit up with a jolt looking around feeling confused. I definitely don't recognize where i am. 

I'm surrounded by grass and trees on all sides with nothing else to be seen around however none of the trees are ones i recognize. the trees have an almost golden colour to their bark and where the bark has fallen away the wood has a coppery sheen, the leaves are at least green but they are such a rich, vibrant green it is almost hard to look at them and they make a dense canopy above so that the only sunlight that reaches the ground is green too. even the grass is strange having an almost silvery colour that shimmers in the pale green light.

I can hear what sounds like fast flowing water coming from somewhere to my left and there is a gentle breeze rustling the branches of the trees but otherwise there is no sound at all except my breathing. No sign or sound of birds or insects at all.

I go to stand up but as i do i realize i don't feel any pain any more and my breath is strong and steady, I look down at myself and discover i'm dressed in my favorite purple t-shirt, black cargo pants and even my favorite ankle high hiking boots. There is no sign of my injury at all, I lift my shirt and reveal smooth, pale skin. No blood, no scar, even my other scratches and bruises have disappeared without a trace. Quickly i thoroughly inspect myself and find that there are no scars at all on me anywhere they seem to have all vanished even the freckles on my shoulders have gone.

"I guess I really must be dead after all, or maybe this is a dream?' I mutter to myself. I've always had a habit of talking to myself when i am alone. I manage to restrain myself when i am around other people but sometime you just need to have an intelligent conversation, you know. I quickly pinch myself under the arm to see if i am dreaming but it hurts so quickly let myself go. "Well definitely not a dream then but being dead is certainly still a possibility. i wonder if this is heaven or hell, knowing my luck i'm probably stuck in boring old limbo" 

I take another look around me and notice something glinting in at my feet. I reach down and pick it up to get a better look and find it is my 20 sided dice but it looks brand new. The scratches are gone and the gold paint has been restored to the numbers but it is definitely the same one. Sparkly silver glitter suspended in a clear dark blue plastic that makes it look like stars in a evening sky. There is one even more noticeable change though because it is now enclosed inside a silver wire cage with tiny hinges on one side and a clasp in the shape of a sideways figure 8, the infinity symbol holding the cage closed. The whole thing is hung from a fine silver chain it actually makes quite a pretty necklace.

I fasten the chain around my neck and find that it is just the right length for the dice to rest just above the slight V neckline of my t-shirt, a perfect comfortable fit. I feel a little better now that i have my lucky dice with me and after one last look at my immediate surroundings to make sure I haven't missed anything I decide that the best thing for me to do would be to head in the direction of where i can hear that water flowing since there is nothing else in the immediate area to indicate where i might be. 

I start walking through the unusually silent woods towards the only sound I can hear and soon i come upon a wide, fast flowing river. The Woods continue just as thick on the opposite side and the banks are steep and rocky on both sides, the water also looks deep so I immediately decide it would be a bad idea to attempt to swim across. I start walking again following the water down stream with the river to the right of me. I reason to myself that if there is any wild life around they will need to drink so if I follow the water I should eventually find some signs of life if there are any. Also most rivers generally flow towards the ocean and it is a common human habit to prefer to build settlements on the coast close to an abundant fresh water source like this river so if there are any people around i'm most likely to find them this way. 

After about an hour of walking I'm starting to feel rather thirsty. "Do you feel thirst or hunger when you are dead? Maybe I'm not dead after all, but then how did i get here? Wherever here is? Maybe this is my personal hell and i'm supposed to suffer from hunger and thirst as part of my punishment?" I find myself asking out loud.

After another half hour of walking I am beginning to to wonder if i should risk climbing down the steep bank for a drink when I follow a bend in the river and come to an area where the river has slowed down, the bank isn't as steep here and more grassy so i can actually reach the waters edge without endangering myself now. The water is clear close to the shore and is can see long strands of orange water grasses waving in the current as the water gets deeper but I have't seen any fish swimming or frogs in the clumps of reeds, and still no sign of animal tracks either. 

The silence is starting to unnerve me and i'm starting to get worried about the seeming complete lack of animal life anywhere but my thirst is starting to become hard to ignore so I make my way down to where i can easily access the waters edge. I crouch down to dip my fingers in the water and find it is surprisingly cold.

"I hope the reason there are no animals around isn't because the water is toxic" I say to myself, giving myself a jolt as to how loud my voice sounds in the unnatural silence. 

I bring my wet fingers to my lips, steeling myself to spit it out if I taste any sourness or bitterness that would indicate poison. However once the few drops of clear cool liquid clinging to my fingers tips touch my tongue it surprises me with how sweet it is and I can't stop myself from cupping my hands together and bringing a full mouthful to my lips. It's definitely sweet and cold enough to feel like i could have just freshly melted from ice.

After a few more mouthfuls I feel refreshed and ready to continue following the river but having had something to drink I'm now noticing i am beginning to feel hungry. With the lack of animals around however I'm loosing hope of finding people but maybe i will get lucky and find some sign of where i can dig up a yam or other type of root vegetable. I go to stand back up and as I do something further down the river on the opposite bank catches my attention. 

There is a large bush with what look like large yellow berries on it. I find this strange since most fruit bearing plants require flying insects or other animal pollinators in order for the flower blossoms to become fruit and I haven't even seen so much as a fly let alone a bee, but I'm not in the mood to question my good fortune too deeply at this point after all i should be dead not wandering around. 

Even from here they look plump and juicy but they are on the other side of the river and though this part isn't as fast or deep as the section of the river I was following before and I haven't seen any signs of life aside from plants I'm not too keen on the idea of swimming across an unknown stretch of deep water. Besides I already know how cold that water is and I'm reluctant to take a dip in it unless there is no other choice.

I decide to continue down the river a little more and see if i can find a more narrow section of river or a more shallow area. Maybe I'll even find a berry bush on this side of the river, so force myself to I turn away from the temptation that is so close and yet just out of my reach. At least now I know that there is food of some sort in this strange place. 

After what feels like another hour or so of walking I notice another bush up ahead this time with purple fruit that look a little like a cherry. They look smaller than the yellow ones I saw across the river and this bush has nasty looking one centimeter long, straight thorns in clusters of three sticking out from the base of there the long, pale, flimsy looking leaves attach to the stems. I'm going to have to be super careful of trying to get any of these if i don't want to get scratched up badly.

I delicately pluck one of the easier ones to reach managing to narrowly avoid the thorns and hold it up to the light to try and get a good look at it. The light shines off of it's glossy dark purple skin. on closer inspection it looks more like a very small plum. I use my finger nail to rip a small amount of the skin away and give it a sniff, and the scent is heavenly. It reminds me of a subtle mix of apricots and raspberry. I lick the spot where I broke the skin and find it to taste strongly of apricot with the raspberry being a light after taste on the back of my tongue. I feel no burning sensation and though the flavor is tart there is no hint of bitter or sour so i decide to take the risk. 

I pop the fruit into my mouth and bite down lightly and my mouth is hit with an explosion of flavor.

"Okay this can't be hell then, no way something this good would be available if It was." I mumble around my mouthful.

 I'm glad I only bit down lightly though because I quickly discover there is a fairly large seed inside that feels sharp. I spit the seed into the palm of my hand and find it is heart shaped with a very sharp point on one end. I notice a smooth flattish stone about the size of a bread plate about a meter back the way I came. I go pick it up  and bring it back over to the bush, I then place the seed on the stone thinking that I'll collect the seeds as I eat and plant more of these bushes as I walk. The fruit on this bush as so good that I think it should be commonly available. Never know if i'm here for the long hall I may need to start my own fruit farm. 

I carefully pick the little delights one at a time and before I know it I have finished off half the bush by the time i'm full enough to stop. Despite my best efforts my hands and lower arms are covered in scrapes and scratches so I pick up my rock and head back to the waters edge to wash the sticky juice off my hands and to make sure I that I clean the scratches to prevent infection. After I finish washing my hands I give the seeds a quick clean as well before fitting as many as i can into one of my pockets. 

Once i have finished with the last seed i cup my hands and have another drink of the delicious cold water, as I'm pulling my hands back from my face I'm shocked to notice that all the scratches are gone, vanished once again without a trace. I jump up and rush back over to the bush, grabbing a stick which has fallen off that still has a few thorns on it. I miscalculate in my rush and and grab it in a way that one of the clusters of thorns stabs deep into the side of my hand causing me to cry out and drop it more from the shock than pain. 

I then watch in facilitation as the blood pools in the punctures before dripping freely for a couple of seconds then the flow slows quickly and the small wounds start to knit together right before my eyes until within maybe a minute there is nothing to indicate i was injured at all aside from a trail of blood on the side of my hand and a couple of drops on the ground at my feet.