I'm sad.
Don't lie, silly me, I am smiling and my brain sends out endorphins like never before.
But… I'm not lying; I really am sad.
I sighed.
Okay; why am I sad?
Just look at me, I am covered in dirt! The jacket is now brown and stiff from the dried out mud that it is covered in.
That's my own fault, because I rolled around on the ground for way longer than I would admit.
Why did I even do that?
That's obvious; it was there.
That is no acceptable reason though…
It IS more than enough of a reason you dumb, rational me!
Earth means nature, which equals with life and freedom and most importantly;
if I can see the earthy ground then there can't be snow any more. So I HAD to enjoy myself.
That's actually a good argument.
See!
Oh no the silly me is able to convince the rational me now?
That can't end well for me, can it?
Hmmm…
If the dirt bothers me so much I could get back and gather some snow to clean myself…
As if I would ever do that.
I laughed over my own dumb joke.
To be honest, the dirt didn't bother me that much.
I don't really care about my appearance and the only real negative point about the dirt was, that it was a bit harder to move in the jacked now. But as far as I know, I got nothing to hurry for and the weather got pretty okay-ish too so I enjoyed aimlessly walking around in the forest.
Actually the mud-hardened cloth could turn the ripped of sleeves of my jacket into nice shoes and hinder some small stones and sticks from pricking my feet… but I don't wear them at the moment and stuffed them halfway into a pocket.
I enjoyed feeling the earth and grass under my bare feet way too much and to give up that feeling just to stop this most insignificant pain was not an option.
It heals within seconds anyway.
As long as there is no backlash to this feature of my body I should use it to the fullest I guess.
Maybe my body is created like this so that I can get mistreated and tortured as much as someone likes and it won't take long to start anew?
…
Nonononono – I won't follow this thought any further!
I am just a recently reborn person and have no memories of what happened before!
Yep; no clue at all.
So, what does a recently newborn person do usually?
Actually I'm not really a person…
What was I called again?
Uhhhh…
It was some small, evil fantasy creature…
Am I by chance a goblin?
Nah, that wasn't it.
Guess I'll have to raise the big guns huh?
I don't wanna…
Haaa~
But I have too…
So; what was I called again, rational me?
"I have no memory of anyone calling me anything but by mere instinct I know, that I am what is known as an Imp." I said as an answer to my thoughts.
?!
Huh?
Did the rational me just show some empathy and tried to not hurt me with logic?
Aww~ I am such a nice person… eh imp.
But then; what does a newly born imp do?
This is even harder…
Imps are some mischievous, minor devils, right? And in a certain book, that I don't remember they were the lackeys of the antagonist…
Does that mean I should search for some kind of demon king and become their servant?
That doesn't sound really pleasant. If anything it would be exhausting.
I don't want that.
I puffed my cheeks just for thinking this.
Was I always like this?
I… don't think so…
Welp; don't know and don't care!
I am me so I should just do what I want and even if I don't know what I want, I already know what I don't want;
I don't want to be some lowly lackey, servant or anything else that would be annoying.
Yeah that sounds about right.
But this brings me back to the start; what do I want to do now?
I started to kick a pebble while aimlessly walking and followed wherever it rolled.
Hmmm I have no idea what an imp does and my insufficient knowledge about humans isn't helpful in this situations too…
I can't be that messed up, right?
Okay I have to get myself together to prove that I am a functional being.
There has to be a basic for existing.
Wait…
I waited counting for a few seconds.
Then I noticed that I did it again and clapped my cheeks to focus once more.
There are three basic needs for humans and even if I am not one of them I could still use those, right? I mean, they can't just claim to be the only ones with basic needs.
So what were the three needs again?
First of all; food.
Ah shit, starting bad already…
As I am convinced by now that I don't need food or water to survive I can't use this need…
But the second one will be usable, right?
What was it again?
Oh yes… For fifteens sake!
The second basic need is clothing if I am not mistaken.
And I already have my jacket…
It's covered in dirt and I ripped of its sleeves but it still qualifies as clothing…
Maybe I am just that good, so that I already covered all the basic needs without even noticing?
That must be it.
He… he… he…
Nah, its not very convincing.
But hold up a moment, me!
I had to resist waiting and struggled with my own thoughts so that I wasted some time. I won't admit it but in some way this counts as holding up.
But I got great news so I can forgive myself for being stupid once again.
The third basic need. I haven't even closely obtained anything that would fulfil it.
The last need is;
shelter!
I can still obtain this and it will take some.
I had to applaud myself for realising this.
But I could use the jacket as a miniature tent like I did before…
Oh would you just shut up, rational me?
I have not obtained shelter yet and it will be an adventure to do so.
Hmpf!
I looked to my left.
I looked to my right.
I even spread out my [sense] of perception as far as I could.
Didn't really help.
All that was out there was nature.
Earth and grass, stones and boulders, flowers and bushes. And of course: trees.
Big ones, small ones, tall ones, tiny ones, seemingly old and of course young ones. Some with trunks thin as my arms and some with trunks of at least five meter diameter. Trees that are nearly falling apart and other ones that are just a bud yet.
Well, it is a forest after all.
But I don't think I could use them this much.
Of course it would be possible to built a house out of woods but I don't have the tools to do that.
Otherwise I could definitely do that.
Yep, would be as easy as that – I snipped – but without the tools it won't work.
Sad.
As if I have the slightest idea how to do that.
Eh? Don't embarrass me, I really would have been able to do it.
Ah… who am I kidding…
I stopped walking and sat down.
I played around with the pebble a bit that I kicked around until now and started to ponder.
...
I have nothing else to do, so I could really try building my own home…
It doesn't have to be perfect but it would keep me busy until I have an idea what I want to do.
So it's decided.
I stood up while still playing around with the pebble.
Hmm…
Wherever this lands I will build a house for me… or at least a functional shelter. I don't think a real house is possible.
Here goes nothing.
I concentrated on the nearly non existing muscles in my left arm and then threw the pebble.
…
Eh-
WHAT THE F-
...ifteen?!
It's gone.
Sure if you throw a pebble in a forest it's unlikely that you will ever find it again.
But that shouldn't count for me.
I can [feel] the insects around me and even some worms that got hunted by a mole underground.
There was an ant road about 20 meters away that I could clearly [see].
But the pebble left my field of perception in just a second.
That's not possible, right?
…
But now that I think about it; in the city I could run as fast as the scooter-things.
Maybe as an imp I have some superhuman strength?
No way!
That can't be…
A picture of a wooden bar that was covered in corpses and blood flashed my mind but I completely ignored it.
I have to try…
Picking up another small stone I aimed at an average sized tree a few meters in front of me.
Even if I don't need to I breathed in concentrating… and then threw the stone.
Nope, not possible.
I can't accept that!
What?
Uhmmm… nothing.
…
…
...Ah well.
The stone just flew straight trough the tree trunk and got stuck in another tree behind it.
Ha… haha… ha… this is fucked up.
Let's not think about it for now.
Agreed.
So if someone – not me -could throw a stone like that, then, considering the winds over the treetops, it should land… there.
I started running towards my calculated point.
Yep, I am way too fast…
But this feels so awesome!
Like flying on the ground. I could get used to it.
I started to laugh while running but then stopped out of reflex as I got perplexed.
I couldn't slow down and started to stumble until I fell down and crashed into a small boulder because of my speed.
Ouch!
Now I'm even dirtier than before.
I have to practice this…
But I seem to be okay. I quickly checked my body. Nothing more than a few bruises and scratches. Those should heal up in about five minutes.
So back to the thing!
I concentrated my [sense] on something that was still hidden by the forest.
OHHHHHH!
I wasn't mistaken!
Lucky me!
Joyfully I started running again, even faster than before but I didn't notice it with all of my mind concentrated on the place in front of me.
I broke through some bushes and then found myself in a natural clearing in the forest. The ground was a mixture of mud, stones and gravel, so that I could slip again any second but I didn't slow down the tiniest bit.
Taking the last three meters in a split second I jumped.
More up then wide as to not overshoot on my target.
With the unfamiliar strength it was a bit too high so I was in the air for a few seconds until I began to sink.
"Hurry up!" I demanded of my own body but it didn't change the speed I fell with.
Two more seconds.
Then I splashed into the small forest pond that I had discovered.
It was shaped like an oval with a width of about three meters on the widest point and a bit more than two meters deep.
With the force of my – I assume – perfect cannonball I just about reached the stony ground of the pond and repelled myself from it to jump out of the water again.
"Hothothothothothothot!"
I jumped around to cool down a bit.
This wasn't a pond; it is a hot spring!
My eyes must be glittering right now as some tears of joy started to stream down my face.
This is even better!
Sure, the heat was a bit unexpected but if I know about it, I should be alright.
Or I have to force myself to get used to it!
Huh? It's a bit extreme to hurt myself on purpose just because of a bit hot water?
Peh!
I was never allowed to use hot water when I had the chance to take a quick shower, but sometimes I did it anyways.
You ever had a hot shower? It's awesome, right?
Your body gets so relaxed and its just calming in a miraculous new way… Well I did get punished afterwards of course but it was worth it.
And now I have a hotspring;
this would be like a hot shower all around me – a bath!
Expecting the heat I just jumped back in.
Haa~~~~
So wonderful...
~~~
It was a bit hot but not in a way that I got hurt from the heat.
I want to stay in here forever.
…
…
Thinking nothing and just enjoying the relaxing heat of the water I let some hours pass.
Because of the heavy jacket that I still wore, I could lie on the bottom of the hotspring. This is so nice~
When I opened my eyes for the first time after quite a while I noticed, that the sky had gone dark.
Well my [feeling] of perception couldn't possible tell the time and I was so relaxed that I even forgot to count… this was the first time I ever did that…
Now that I am aware I of course started to calculate again.
Gently pushing against the ground I started to rise until I reached the surface near the edge of the hotspring. I don't know how to swim so this was my only way of moving around in here.
For some reason my [sense] to observe my surroundings didn't stop no matter how relaxed I was in the water and looking back I was really relived that it behaved like this.
Thirty meters aren't that much but they would give me enough time for a head start if I had to flee quickly.
So of course I knew, that there was no one around and even most of the animals in my field of perception seemed to be asleep. Naturally there are nocturnal animals too but they seemed to avoid coming near.
Works for me.
Even if I know, that there can't be anyone nearby I still looked around. As I am not nocturnal – I kind of am, because I don't sleep – I couldn't see much but it still made me ease up a bit.
After confirming that I was alone I undressed from the jacked and threw it over a nearby boulder that I could reach without leaving the water completely. I took the sleeves out of the pocket and spread them out too, so that everything could dry up.
Wearing the clothes in the hot water for hours should have cleaned them up at least a bit.
I let myself sink into the hotspring again but now I wasn't heavy enough to really sink any more so I just floated around near the surface.
This is nice too.
The pebble I had thrown should still be a few hundred meters away but I don't care.
This will be the place I will build my shelter in!
I closed my eyes and concentrated on the [feeling] of perception a bit more to choose a good point.
There are some trees nearby which had a somewhat bizarre form as they seemed to have grown in a flat angle so that the massive tree behind them wouldn't steal all the sunlight from them.
Those trees could be a nice base for a shelter but as I was still pondering I noticed something even better.
On the other side of the clearing was the trunk of a big, broken down tree. It should be at least 4 meter in diameter and the best part; it felt hollow.
If I could cover up the open top were it once broke it would be perfect.
Haa~ this will be awesome.
But I have to check it out later, because I still don't want to get out of my awesome bath for a few hours… or days.
I chuckled.