Kai, sweating and panting like a lunatic, slowly opened her cramped eyelids.

What emerged in front of her field of vision was a peaceful jungle troposphere, bamboo stalks bending to the warm breeze that swept past them. Butterflies fluttering past, a serene picturesque landscape filled her sight and made her blink in astonishment. Kai was expecting the worst. She was hyped on her preconceived notion that there would be more destruction and mayhem waiting from beyond the wall, a war.

Instead, what waited for the travelers was a landscape parallel to the typical Chinese movie where a fight between martial artists bent the notion of gravity while brandishing flexible swords that sang in the air.

Kai’s mouth felt dry as she felt the fatigue from the weight of objects in her grasp and the feelings accompanied by warping worlds.

The sled touched ground and became the base for Kai’s bag and Mao to perch on top. Soon, she fished out the water thermos and took a large refreshing gulp to calm her nerves. She also made sure to use the lid to pour Mao some as well, which he lapped up feverously.

“So, this is it…” Kai mused as she breathed in her surroundings. The air was clean and crisp, and the sun was shining down on the small grassy clearing that they were standing in.

{Ah, Home sweet home}

“Mrawl, I feel like a hairball is coming” Mao warmed, gagging slightly, still affected by the traveling.

Kai just ignored him and asked their guide any relevant information for the direction or topography that they will face.

{I’m sure I came from opposite of the cave’s entrance…} Kapt’n said, offering another ghostly arrow to appear in the air for a brief second. Kai took that que and started to pull the sled in that direction. The sled seemed to glide almost effortlessly on the grass, lush and full of vigor, with a hint of dew on the tips.

Kai, knowing the state of her emergency supply of foods, started to forage almost immediately after passing the threshold of bamboos at the cusp after the meadow.

Her hawk-like gaze found an untapped supply of bamboo shoots. The camouflaged nubs of spiky brown were mixed amongst the dead leaves, causing her to stop to inspect almost every mound. This process seemed a bit labour intensive so after the second shoot she dug up with her trawl, she located a sturdy looking piece of bamboo and cut it down to size, becoming a stick to poke around like garbage men. In this case, Kai was actively looking for a source of a staple food in this unknown landscape. These bamboos were the perfect meal ticket to harvest and sustain her growing appetite.

She did not trust the mushrooms, as the rule of thumb to not touch fungi that were unfamiliar, especially in a different world.

Kai did not have a sense of direction, but simply spent her time heading straight, casually pulling the sled while using her new walking and poking stick for assistance during a few stumbles.

Sometime after walking through the forest, she heard a slight trickling sound. Heading in that direction, she heard and felt the presence of water, nearing a simple waterfall and open pond, leading into a stream. It was another breathtaking sight, clear crystal water misting in the air and crashing into a serene pond that flowed into a small jumpable stream.

Kai let out a breath of amazement and again, drank in these wonderful natural sights, beauty overflowing like a National Geographic cover photograph. The strong sunlight beat down on the water, causing it to sparkle as if it was made of crystals glistening with each wave from the waterfall. The picturesque waterfall’s stream of water left a mist in the air, leaving a slight rainbow hue floating in the midst of the downpour.

Kai immediately headed to the edge of the pond, cupping the water between her fingers. She did not taste the water, but inspected it, evaluating its clarity. There was no pollution like the city muddy water she was used to. This water instead had a vitality that she was unfamiliar with, crystal clear and cold to the touch.

{You can quench your thirst with this, human. I have drunk from this place years ago.} Kapt’n confirmed.

Kai hesitantly took a sip from her cupped hands. Its DELICIOUS! Her thoughts rang out hard and Kapt’n chuckled in her mind.

Kai held no reservation and immediately dunked her sweaty head into the refreshing cool pool of water, swishing her head violently from side by side. She majestically pulled her head abruptly out of the water, droplets chasing her loose hair as it nosily slapped on her back, arching in the air.

Mao was more reserved, slowly and elegantly lying down, lapping up the water with his cute little pink tongue, darting out to greedily take in the refreshing water.

The water seemed to wash away Kai’s negative feelings earlier and instead, left her feeling at peace, thirst quenched, and abnormally relaxed.

In this state, she was able to comprehend clearly the things she forgot when she warped to the world. She was able to close her eyes and recall her plans from earlier such as her goals, personal guidelines, her survivalist notes, and most importantly her desire to cook.

Kai knew that she could set up a temporary campsite and reorganize her items pertaining to this type of landscape. She was also hungry and needed to take the time to scope out the environment more to forage and sustain herself in this situation for the future.

She found a nice small grassy area a few feet away which had a nice clean flat rock sitting conveniently amidst the grass that seemed cropped perfectly as if some grazing animal mowed this area a few days prior. It was very convenient as the flat rock acted as a table while she scrounged around for medium sized rocks and firewood to create a fire pit. Her pack was left on site with Mao’s personal pack, marking the spot so they could see it from a small distance away. Mao helped out, grabbing small twigs or leaves and creating a cute miniature pile of burnable kindling.

This process took a fair bit of time however they were on the right track, setting up a temporary place to safely eat and refresh their internal battery. If they just pushed on in a haphazard direction, they would not be confident enough to secure a secondary source of water or a fighting chance for survival for much longer in this unknown setting. Overall, the two intuitively knew that they were given almost a bonus head start in order to satisfy their goals for the upcoming future.