Quinten's dreams were of bowls of chili and stews floating across a lake spread out in front of him. Tacos flapped their shells in the sky and clumps of pasta undulated through the crystal clear herbal broth filling the lake. The words invaded his dreams during the deepest sleep he'd ever had. "Shit!" He woke up in a confused panic as the tapping of glass broke his slumber. A large bird stood on the hood in front of him, pecking at the windshield in a vain attempt to get to him. Flies were hovering around the body and viscera of the dead Mooger and there were a couple more of the strange large birds digging into the stomach. "Oh God! I'm gonna barf!" The rotting smell permeated through the canvas of the Jeep. "What a terrible way to wake up." He covered his nose and slammed on the horn. The birds cawed and freaked out and flew off at the unexpected, blaring noise. After waiting for a few moments to see whether the birds would come back, he stretched out, turned on the Jeep and drove far away from the rotting carcass. He rolled down the windows after a good distance to let the smell dissipate then stopped once he made it to the stand of trees on the hill. As soon as he parked, a rumbling interrupted his thoughts and realized it was time he went to relieve himself. Before he did so, he remembered to grab the roll of paper towels. "Probably gonna need this." Then walked downwind and did the deed. When all was done, he made his way back. He looked over and saw the strange looking birds were back. They had orange feathers around the wings and startling blue, Razer sharp beaks. The beaks bent down kind of like a toucan. Their talons were flat and serrated and looked so much like knives. They even used them to saw away some of the meat. He didn't want to get anywhere near them. After a moment of staring at them, he smacked his head. He'd forgotten to harvest the horns and antlers! "The gamers back home would cursing me out for that." He muttered and let out an embarrassed chuckle. When he was done beating himself up for the blunder, he decided to set up everything to make sure he was ready for his adventure. He decided to use the athletic bag as a backpack since it was light and could carry what he needed. Before he did anything, he set up the camera for a quick vlog like update. He explained how the night went and bragged about the delicious meat of the two monsters ha cooked and let them know about the skills he thought he got. "You're looking at the next Iron Chef Isekai Edition!" He emulated applause and cheering after the announcement. "Alright, time to get myself set up for the adventure! Once I get everything set up, I'll show you what I'm bringing and lay out my plan." He turned off the camera and set about his work. He took out what he thought he might want or need, then put back anything he felt would be too much if he had to walk around. He ended up readjusting all the bags and items he had. He made his bugout bag into his survival bag and put all of the extra stuff related to that into it. The tackle box and the fishing pole, the lighters and food, the burnable trash for kindling, basically anything he categorized as survival needs. Then he set up his gym bag for non-survival living needs. He left his clothes and toiletries in there and stored his coat and long-sleeved shirt in it. He put the soda and chips in there as well, along with his wallet, change, flash drives, knife set, and laptop. He put the protein bars into the bugout bag and took out his earbuds and water bottle. He left the ammo box out next to the bags and put the gun case in it. Not before loading the ammo into the mags and the Glock 17 and putting it in its holster. He set everything he planned on keeping with him on top of the athletic bag. Once he felt he had everything collected and squared away, he went back to grab the camera and turn it back on to go over the plan. "So far I've collected what I plan to take with me. I'm gonna keep my phone with, it's got its uses as a camera and note pad. I'm sure the calculator and calendar will be useful. Speaking of..." He quickly opened the notes app and wrote one with the date of his travel. He didn't know the exact time, it was just dark. Plus it might not even have the same hours here. "There, now I won't forget the date I came here!" He felt a little pleased he remembered to write the note. He was bad about forgetting little things like that. "Other than the phone, I'm gonna keep these mags in my pocket. I don't really have anywhere else in easy reach to keep them. The gun will be for defense so I'm gonna equip it, along with the hunting knife I kept in my bugout bag. I'll keep the Swiss Army Knife and compass in my pocket as well. Everything else will go in the bag. I've got a lighter, a solar charger, battery pack, charging cables, and a flashlight for emergencies, and I'll keep a little bag of beef jerky and a protein bar for adventuring food. I also have my gym water bottle. Can't tell you how glad I am to have it. The filter will be dope when I need water from these wild lands." He thought a bit about what to do next then decided to change his shirt. It was too hot for a long-sleeved shirt so he brought out his spare black v-neck from his gym bag and put the long-sleeved one back in. "What else, what else... Oh! My plan. I wrote down what I wanted to do last night on my phone. I guess my first goal is to find a town or something. If, you know, this isn't just some uninhabited ball of mud floating in space. That would probably be boring. Most of my plans kind of require the first one to succeed. I want to get some gear, learn the language of the floating panels, learn magic, because c'mon, there's definitely Magic here, become an all-around badass and most importantly, find a way to get home to my wife." He pulled out his ring and kissed it. "I miss you, babe. I hope you're doing okay." He sat there for a second wondering if he'll ever get back home to her. She's probably freaking out right now... "Nothing I can do right now." He whispered sadly before he shook himself and smiled at the camera. "Right, I guess that's it for the plan. Nothing really keeping me here now. Time to get going. Update you guys later!" He ended the video. "Now, which way to go?" he mused to himself trying to decide, then an idea struck him. He grabbed the camera's tripod and attached it but folded the legs. Next, he folded up the top of the Django and, with a bit of effort, climbed up onto the stabilizing bar. He started a new recording and thrust the camera up into the air by the tripod legs. Using the compass for reference, he slowly rotated it around clockwise starting from the north. He recorded a 360-degree view of the surroundings, pausing longer at East, South and West directions. When he brought it back down to view the results, He couldn't help but whoop in excitement. Right between the Southern and Western pause, he noticed a faint glimmer of what he thought could be a river. It seemed to be right on the edge of the horizon, invisible from ground level but with the camera's extended height it was just visible. He oriented the compass in that direction and committed it to memory. Other than the small glint of the river, it was just rolling hills of golden grass as far as the eye could see. It was impossible to see too far off to the North as the hills seemed to get higher, but everywhere else extended horizon to horizon and there was nothing of note in the video. "Looks like we found our direction Django!" he said, patting the bar next to him. He got back down into the seat and started up the engine. Django roared to life as if shouting out his excitement for the upcoming adventure. Out of habit, Quinten switched on the radio. Static. There was nothing. He pressed a few of the preset channels. Nothing. "I guess that makes sense. At least I know this is pre radio. Either that or I'm just not near anything yet." He shrugged and plugged his phone in with the aux and charger. A few seconds later, he had his library of music blasting out of the speakers. The passenger side was a little buzzy but it didn't hurt the sound too much. Once he had the song he wanted, he started off towards the direction of the river. Django was a kitted-out beast for off-road. He used to take it out to the dunes with some friends to ride around and enjoy the day. He'd outfitted him with whatever he thought he'd need. A long snorkel, a winch, floodlights, a lift kit with shock absorbers, and an extra battery with solar panel. Django was ready for anything. It was a bit slow without a road or trail but it could definitely be worse. He turned down the music a bit and set the camera up on the dashboard to record himself. "So I found out which way to go, There looked to be a river southwest of me so Django and I are headed in that direction. Every survival show says to follow the river downstream so I'm going to do just that. If nothing else, at least I'll have fresh water along the way. Let's see what awaits us!" He flipped the camera around, plugged it in to not waste battery, and let it record the coming adventure as he made his way towards the river. --------- Demi stretched and leaned back. She flicked her wrist and a comfy couch appeared. She sat down and curled up against the arm with a blanket around her legs. The screen appeared in front of her and she settled in to watch Quinten's first full day.