Alex did not know a single thing about finding water when stranded in the wild. He didn’t understand how to scavenge for resources. Sure, he had read plenty of stories about people who did, but that kind of knowledge didn’t stick with him. He could remember remembering things, but not what was actually included in them. Ideas, not concrete facts that can seriously help him. He never received any special gifts upon entering this world, like the entirety of Google Search downloaded into his brain, or 100% affinity in water magic so he could just conjure it. He was just a 32 year old janitor for a high school in a strange new world. He picked a direction, and began walking.

Alex began to speak out loud to himself, just to hear something other than the random sounds of the forest. He was already mentally not in a very safe place, having been desperate enough to walk through a strange portal to begin with, plus all the drama a human would naturally experience being in a strange place with no help. “This is probably a very bad, no good idea,” the man mused to himself as he followed the random direction he was decided on. He didn’t even know what direction he was going in, as the only way he could tell where North was, was by looking at the GPS in his car. “I don’t even know if there is water in this direction,” he remarked to one of the many trees he passed, feeling silly as he did, but understanding the basic psychology behind hearing a human voice to calm his nerves. He grew quiet at that thought. He wasn’t sure it was working.

The furthest he had ever walked was a few miles to make it to work after his car broke down one time. It was a terrible ordeal, but much better than the alternative, which was getting fired. He needed his job. Well, maybe not anymore. He doubted he would ever see Earth ever again. His Earth. If this new world was even an Earth. If. If. If. Everything was an if here. Alex decided he needed to be more positive, then promptly forgot he had that thought. He tried to focus on the world around him, but it was kind of hard when it all looked so similar. Trees with brown bark, reaching high into the sky. They were close enough together that the top of the trees green leaves cast dark shadows on the forest floor. Green grass and piles of brown dirt littered the landscape. These were normal foresty things to a city man like himself. Even if the dirt piles reached several feet in the air sometimes. Nothing to worry about, right?

“I must have been walking for at least a mile by now,” Alex mused over the sounds of random birds and crickets chirping. If he was honest with himself, he probably hadn’t walked very far. It had been about five minutes. His thoughts didn’t take that long to think. He chuckled to himself, and then remained quiet, just doing his best to keep moving. He would have to come across water eventually. He could survive ages without food, but he’d go crazy after a day or two without any water. He would know. He tried. Alex cleared his mind of thoughts like that. It was easy to remain empty headed. No thoughts required. Just keep walking. He realized he could have walked past several rivers and never had known. With how noisy the birds were around here, he would never hear water. He could have easily heard a police siren miles away in a busy city, but water in a forest? No way.

Which meant he was extremely lucky when he came across a river regardless of how he felt about the state of things. It was a beautiful river. It caused a break in the endless trees as a small slope gently breached down into the water on either side, the grassy field of trees turning into dark dirty sand. From the ending shade of the trees, down the slope to the foaming rushing water was a distance of maybe 8 meters. Though American, Alex liked to calculate in a real measurement. Every offense intended. The water was a clear, crystal blue. Light sparkled off the pure water from the sunlight above, the sunlight from the two suns he could see. A smaller yellow sun in front of a bigger white sun. That was the biggest proof he could get that he wasn’t in Texas anymore. The other bit of proof, and of a much more immediate concern, came from the three beetles drinking water from the river. The three, malamute sized beetles of a dazzling sapphire color. He honestly doubted they were friendly.

From the treeline, Alex did his best to observe the beetles. If he was lucky, maybe he would get a skill from looking at them like anyone else would. Their beautiful shells looked thick. They had six legs that came from under the shells, segmented into three portions each. The shell looked like it could split apart, which meant they could probably fly. They were sticking their entire heads into the water to drink, and when they came up for air, Alex noticed they had large horns in front of their head, which split into three prongs on the end. A sharp one that curved in the middle, and to angled out in a V shape that looked good for scooping. One of them turned around and before Alex could duck behind a tree, it spotted him.

He stared at the beetle. The beetle stared at him. “AHDHEU?” a strange sound escaped it’s mouth, which opened wide when speaking. It had a sack under it’s throat, that expanded when it spoke whatever language that was. The sack glowed a pale blue light as it expanded and contracted with the syllables. The other two beetles turned around and all three watched Alex carefully. “HEUAD QELCAV!” The one that spoke, spoke again. This time it was more forceful. “AHDHEU!?”

“Erm, h-hello?” Alex croaked out. The three beetles stepped back in shock. They turned their bodies slightly to regard each other, before turning back to him. They had to move their entire bodies by angling their legs to do so. As a group, they charged. Alex screamed and ran.