Daire groaned into the ground as he felt the pain of falling face-first into it. Pushing himself up and dusted himself off, he made sure no one was around to notice his entrance. Examining his surroundings

A small pond to his left and a large willow tree flowing in the breeze to his right. Behind him seemed to be a large boulder about two stories tall. Regular oaks, pines surrounded the clearing, and a few sequoias believe it or not. It was strange, but he wasn't on earth anymore, so it was a nominal deviation. The whole scene was picturesque except that no animals frolicked. No birds chirping or insects buzzing. Not that he was complaining...

Taking his backpack off his shoulder, he sifted through. He was most worried about his laptop being damaged, but it appeared fine.

Taking inventory... He had a few pairs of clothes, a small gardening shovel, a solar charger, some salted peanuts, a heavy-duty flashlight and a small tactical flashlight he thought looked cool, several small tools and various knives, a metal water bottle, a flask, several nicknacks, a photograph of his parents, and several other objects that should come into play later.

He packed light for many reasons. Daire also assumed he could grab anything else on his travels. Not to mention the more advanced technology he brought, the more likely he was to change the balance of this world drastically. He was planning to do that to some degree, but he couldn't have his objects stolen and reverse engineered. He needed bargaining chips.

That was why he dug a hole and buried almost everything he had.

He kept his bokuto strapped to his waist, his phone and a pocket knife in his left pocket, and his wallet in his right. He didn't need it immediately, but he felt naked without it there. Thankfully, jeans carried many pockets.

He sat down in the grass with his back against the boulder and took out his phone. Unlocking it with a password; it would only cause trouble if it weren't locked, and he checked his apps. He knew there would be no internet here, but he had downloaded several apps onto his phone that would help him survive. He opened a survival app and started sifting through it to figure out how to build a fire and a small shelter, but he was immediately intercepted.

"Busty Asian Singles in your Area looking to Mingle (24)"

"Wha-" Daire furiously clicked the exit button, but an ad started playing.

"Hey sexy, do you want to have some fun tonight-"

"NO, thank you," he yelled, tapping the exit button. It wouldn't close.

"I'm only a few miles away, so we can have fun aalll niiight loooong," the virtual woman droned.

Daire hit the power button to turn it off. It finally shut off. Daire buried his face in his hands and started mumbling to himself.

"Of all the places... this is another dimension entirely... how can they be in my area..." he continued mumbling, scorning himself for not just purchasing a better app without ads.

He reluctantly turned the phone back on. This time he turned the volume off. Sourly, he sat through the numerous provocative ads to get to the information he needed.

"My computer better not be the same..." he prayed.

=

Eventually, he read up on what he needed. Spending a couple of hours on what was likely twenty minutes of information.

It was around noon when he sat up and decided to work out his emotions by exercising. It was starting to dawn on him.

I'm actually here!

He had wrapped a cloth belt around his waist and fitted his bokuto into it before coming. His normal belt didn't work the same. Daire slipped the sword out and started practice swings.

*Whoosh*

It still cut the air despite being a blunt instrument. Sure, it was a curved wooden sword. In reality, it is a glorified stick.

The poorly carved initials at the bottom of the hilt set his sword apart from his former peers. His master might have frowned if he ever noticed, but Master Wu's eyesight was poor in his old age.

*Whoosh* *Whoosh*

Daire had spent a couple of years practicing Iaido, the drawing of the sword, when he was in high school. Daire never liked conventional sports, but he fell in love with martial arts. He reached 1st-degree black belt in Tae-Kwon-Do by the age of 10. Unfortunately, he ended up falling out of it soon after. Iaido became a way to revive that passion.

He was competitive by nature but never athletic. Football, hockey, basketball, baseball, soccer, badminton... he had tried them all. He didn't like getting injured in football or hockey. Basketball and soccer were too high paced for his low stamina. He was tired of playing right field. And people mocked male badminton players, so he quickly fled.

Iaido was a routine. Like martial arts, there were often a group of stretches or practice swings that you would repeat. It was a routine that was easy to repeat, and if you did it enough, you could feel yourself grow stronger.

In the beginning, his sword was heavy and he could barely swing it ten times in succession. Now he could swing around thirty times in quick succession. It may not sound like a lot, but it is quite an improvement. Considering sets of thirty swings from six different chops and thrusts, three forms, and nearly a dozen stretches… it was quite the workload. He didn't have great stamina and often got winded easily, but he could go for an hour if he went at his own pace.

By the end of it, he was sweating profusely. Drenched, Daire was regretting wearing jeans instead of switching to a type of sweatpants.

I need those for later…

Daire wiped his face and neck with his polyester shirt. With a warm sun beaming down, these types of shirts are miracles that kept the body cool. They're not invincible, but with this level of workout, there wouldn't be any problems.

Sometime during his fugue, bugs started to show up. It made his face sour.

Daire always believed himself to be a sweet-blood carrier. Mosquitoes loved him, and they were currently fluttering all around. He severely regretted not packing bug spray.

Eventually, he had to start to get to work. He went off to the edge of the clearing and gathered sticks and rocks lying on the ground. After several trips, he started building a campfire. It became a ring of rocks about three rocks high and as twice as wide as a basketball. It might be a little much for a start, but he liked doing things this way.

He dragged over a decent sized log to use as a bench. Then started whittling sticks according to his app.

Daire couldn't rely solely on his sword. It was professionally crafted, but it was sure to break eventually. He couldn't throw his sword at his enemies like a spear either. Not that he currently had any enemies...

He screwed up several times, breaking the long branches or whittling them down so far they were more like arrows. Shrugging his shoulders, he made arrows as well. He (poorly) made three spears. Plus twelve and a half arrows. No bow.

Satisfied, he nodded.

"Next, a shelter."

He set about gathering yet more sticks and branches. He used the relatively straight ones as posts for the four corners of his canopy. He used some vines growing around the boulder as a rope to tie branches together. Making his own twine from grass would have taken days. Several branches laid together to create a roof. Large leaves making it semi-waterproof.

By the end, he had a small four-foot-tall hovel.

Built against the boulder, he would be able to rest his back comfortably. He couldn't walk in, but he could sit upright. Extra leaves coated the bottom for comfort and to hide his buried treasure.

*growl*

Daire's stomach rumbled.

Today was difficult. He worked manual labor jobs before, but the day's events were catching up with him.

He knew why he came here. He knew how this would all end, but he couldn't worry about it now. He looked around and saw that in addition to the bugs, there were now rabbits running about. He could even hear birds chirping too.

Daire had never camped in the wild before. He camped a few times while young, in a trailer. Never in danger and always warm. He was never a boy scout, never fished, and never hunted. This was all new.

Daire observed a nearby rabbit nibbling on grass.

Standing, he grabbed a spear and walked a little closer to the rabbit, but it didn't seem afraid.

Maybe it had never seen a human before, so it wasn't afraid? Or maybe it had seen so many it didn't care. Like the animals on a university campus that would walk right by you. Or the pigeons from Chicago or monkeys in Thailand. Any which way, it was only a few feet away now and wasn't scurrying off.

"Can I really kill you?" he asked.

The rabbit stared at him as if it didn't understand. Daire's fist was closed tight around his spear. The shaft was bumpy and irregular. Painful to hold. His knuckles were turning white as Daire attempted to steel his resolve.

"If I am not able to kill a single rabbit..."

He knew. He knew all his plans would fail. He wouldn't be able to feed himself. He wouldn't be able to defend himself. He wouldn't be able to make hard decisions when they mattered. He knew.

Daire was sheltered. He grew up in comfort. His family not rich or poor. He went to public school and got an education, spending most of his young life inside reading, watching tv, or playing games. Daire never suffered harsh conditions. He had air conditioning, heat, electricity, running water, technology! He never had to shit outside and never had to scrounge for berries to feed himself. He didn't know what it was like to live truly on his own. To survive like this.

"But that's why I am doing this," he muttered as he pulled the spear overhead.

He looked into the rabbit's eyes that still hadn't moved. It was just staring at him. Twitching its nose like it wasn't afraid at all. The sun was setting, making his shadow envelop the rabbit.

He wanted to be independent. His parents supported him his entire life. They fed him, clothed him, took care of him for years. He wouldn't have been able to go to college if it weren't for them. His first job, his first bank account, his first apartment, everything was thanks to them. What had he been able to do himself? How could he ever repay them?

He held his spear aloft, gazing into the round black eyes. The boulder's shadow now enveloped both of them. He felt silent tears running down his face.

"I'm sorry."

*Thwack*

A meaty thwack resounded.

He looked silently at the ground, trying to stop the tears from flowing. He had never killed anything before. He had significant trouble harming anyone. It had taken extreme bullying and blind fury to lash out at someone verbally.

Daire had always been soft. A sponge that took blows. He would just suffer and bear it.

Men can't show their emotions.

Yet he was crying.

Men don't cry.

Yet he was.

A brisk breeze blew through the dark clearing.

"-Weak." Daire squeaked.

Trembling.

The entire clearing was dark, cast in shadow by cloudy night.

Daire stood there, weeping while watching the rabbit hop away. It seemed to know all along Daire could never harm it. He stood there for some time before picking up his spear and walking back to his camp.

Laying his weapon against the boulder, he didn't bother to light the fire. Simply laying down on the hard earth in his shitty hovel, he buried his face in the dirt. And for the first time in a long time, he cried himself to sleep.