"Urghh", Riz groaned.
His sight is hazy right now. His mind is in a state of confusion. It is not surprising at all after going through such a dreadful accident.
After a moment, his mind starts to calm down and his sight becomes clearer. He narrowed his eyes as the sunlight passed through the trees.
Riz starts to look around, trying to figure out his surroundings and the situation he is currently in. He then questions himself, although he knows that no one will answer him. "Where am I? I'm supposed to be dead right?"
Riz shook his head unconsciously as he thought about the accident he just experienced.
"There's no way someone would survive that kind of accident. This place doesn't seem like a hospital." Riz said when he realized he was currently sitting on the ground, in the middle of the forest.
He looks down and sees his shirt is bloody and torn as if it was done by a sharp object. He then sees that his hand is smaller than the hand he knows.
"Thi...This....", Riz was shocked after finding out that his body was smaller and shorter, only about 150 centimetres tall, far from his previous height of 178 centimetres.
Not to mention his body was so thin as if he hadn't eaten for days.
It didn't take a long time for Riz's mind to calm down and start to analyze the situation.
"Suddenly waking up in the middle of nowhere, my body slightly different from what I know, wakes up after I thought I was going to die..." Riz mutters by himself.
"Is this the famous transmigration like in the web novel!!?...no, should I call it rebirth? reincarnation? restart?...Well, whatever. Who cares about the small details".
Riz gave up on deciding which phenomena he had experienced. He is too tired to think about it.
"Growl..."
"I should find something to eat first", said Riz while placing his hand on his stomach.
Riz looks around, trying to find something edible. His eyes eventually catch sight of a fruit that looks familiar to him.
He chuckled, "Well, that's definitely an apple".
Without wasting his time, Riz tried to reach the fruits with all his remaining energy. He could barely stand albeit shakingly. He slowly walks to the tree and grabs the fruits. He starts eating them one followed by another one.
One hour later...
"Fuuuhh, I'm finally full. Now it's time to find some water to drink".
Riz stands up and starts deciding which direction he should go. He tries to search for memories of the original owner for any useful information, but there is nothing at all in his mind.
By now he is pretty sure he possesses someone's body or should he say replace. But for how he ends up in the situation he probably has several ideas about it. However, he didn't want to think about it now.
"I will know when the time comes anyway. Now, this biggest question is which direction should I choose?". Riz is looking left and right before deciding.
"Let's go this way". said Riz while heading towards the west confidently.
....
"Hah..hah..hah...Damn it, where the hell am I right now!! Maybe I should choose another direction". He curses himself for being so unlucky.
Riz is sweating profusely after walking for two hours. "Seriously this body's stamina is way too low". Riz grumbled but didn't stop his feet. He keeps moving towards the west.
"Whoosh...whoosh"
"Hmm!!??" Riz focused his hearing to find the source of the sound. "Sounds like water flowing from the west, I guess I chose the right direction".
Riz starts to run towards the west. He is really in need of water to quench his thirst right now.
"Finally!! some water".
"So this is what I look like". Riz muttered as he saw the reflection of his face in the water.
The immature face looks like that of a 13 or 14-year-old European descent. His hair is black and so does his eyes. His eyes are sharp as they could pierce through those who are looking at them. However, the calm expression on his face softens their intensity. There is also a hint of timidity in his gaze.
He turns his face left and right to have a good look at his face.
"I'm probably going to grow up into a handsome man". Riz said with some pride in his tone. However, that thought doesn't last long as he has something more important to do.
Riz starts drinking directly from the river. To his surprise, the water is clean without any pollution.
"I guess there is still no pollution here". It is not easy to find a clean river back on Earth.
After drinking the water, Riz sits on the riverbank while thinking about how he should proceed.
"Now I need to find where to spend the night". said Riz while looking at the orange-colour sky that proved the end of the day.
He didn't have any thoughts about waiting for somebody to rescue him. From his perspective, he is alone in this world.
As he is preparing for a safe place to spend the night, he hears something.
"Riz!!... Riz!!....where are you!!??" a voice seemed to be calling him.
"???" Riz turns to the direction the voice is coming. The voice calling him sounds like a woman's voice.
"Riz!!... Riz!!.... Where are you!!??" A woman's voice called him again from the other side of the river.
Although there seems to be no one else named 'Riz' in the forest and Riz is pretty sure that women are calling him, he still decides to hide first to get a better understanding of the situation.
Riz quickly hides behind the big tree near the riverbank. There he sees the brown-haired woman who is probably eighteen or nineteen years old.
She is accompanied by several maids and men in armour presumably they are her bodyguard. They look like a knight from the medieval era.
The woman's eyes wander until her eyes fall on Riz and excitedly shouts, "Riz!!! There you are!"
"Damn it. She's sharp. I'm pretty sure I hide well." Riz muttered while slowly getting out of his hiding spot.
The woman is waving at Riz from the other side of the river.
"Hurry up!! Come over here... it's already late. Do you know how worried I am??".
Riz slowly crosses the river toward the woman on the other side. The river is not so deep but the water still reaches his knees.
When he arrives in front of the woman, he is unsure but still asks the woman.
"Riz?? Me??" Riz asks while pointing his finger at himself.
The woman gives a strange look at Riz and then says, "Is your head alright? Who else but you named Riz here?....yes, your name is Riz...Rizieri Ryntum".