100 Day Journey: Part 1 (Solo)

by **Ditana Tesoni** on May 2nd, 2014, 4:01 pm

28-30th of Winter

Day 1: Late Afternoon to Night

It wasn't long into Ditana’s journey before she decided to trail off course to find a clean source of drinking water - being so close to a salt water sea while any seemingly drinkable water was frozen over looked to push her farther and farther from the road which lead Syliras and into the wilderness. Had Ditana been a bit more competent she would have known to make sure her Waterskin was full and to ask anyone familiar with these lands where a freshwater source happened to be during the winter so she wouldn't be in this situation; but she didn't, and by the time she realized going back to the city was her only option, she had no way of knowing how to get back.

Alone in the wild with nothing but less than the bare minimum amount of supplies: a weeks worth of food, a map, and her instincts, along with a few tools that wouldn’t be of very much help without some amount of creativity (A comb, brush, soap, razor, eating knife, and steel). At this moment, there was nothing on her mind other than getting from wherever she was in this forest to getting back to the city and getting more supplies before coming back out here. There was only one thing wrong with her plan, and that was the fact that she couldn’t read the map held in her hands. She had no way of knowing which part of the forest she was in, and without a compass she couldn’t know if she was facing East or North. Putting the map back in her backpack, she started scratching at her matted hair in frustration while muttering to herself.

“Shyte, a wasn’ supposed ta go dis far out in dis parta da land, jus feel it out so I’d know what I’d need.” Ditana couldn’t think of anything that could get her out of this situation, so the only option she could think of was to run in a random direction and hope that was the way. As much as she could admit that to herself that, that was a very poor and stupid idea, she still found herself running on the frozen ground on bare, callused feet that felt out the direction on the ground without any direction other than to just go and not to stop until they reached some type of settlement. Where she was going now, Ditana couldn’t answer that, but she let her legs carry her as though she wasn’t in control as they continued in one some-what steady direction. She didn’t bother going around obstacles and instead jumped or scrambled over them; pulling herself over a few fallen trees and struggling to keep her footing on the leaped over larger things that threatened to make her fall flat on her face or got caught on low, snarled branches that grabbed at her already torn clothes.

She didn’t stop until barely passed nightfall when she ran into a tree. Her heart pounding painfully within her chest, lungs feeling as if they were on the verge of bursting from the emance strain, eyes watering from the sudden change of harsh wind to semi-warm stillness as well as from the struggle to focus her eyes on her surroundings. Her tensed hands and feet, arms and legs, everything; slowly regained their feeling as discomfort waved through her body and caused her to collapse on her knees, causing the claws of her toes to scratch against the icy ground. Her clawed hands scraped against the bark of tree as she doubled over, gasping and dry heaving as bile threatened - in an almost teasing manner - to escape her throat and discard one of the few reserves her body held.

She put a hand over her mouth and scratched her cheek with her claws, trying to focus all the pain there as her body adjusted to the mixture of pain and nausea. It succeeded in helping her regain control of her stomach and swallow what little did attempt it’s escape before slumping onto her side, lying there as everything began to settle back to normal thanks to the blissful numbing sensation that came with the cold from the winter night that kept to the enclosed area around her.

The stars fully illuminated the night sky above Ditana before she heaved herself off the ground. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed; maybe a few minute, maybe an hour or two. It didn’t matter. Forcing her now numb legs to take on the weight of her body as she stumbled to her feet, using the tree to support herself. Leaning on the base of the tree beside her, she finally allowed herself to think.

If she hadn’t reached Zeltiva at this point, or even found the road that lead to and from the damn city, there wasn’t anything she could do but keep going and hope she got lucky. Even if she couldn’t find a way out of this forest, she was a bear! Living within civilization hadn’t changed that fact. And she’s reached her age of maturity weeks ago, she could learn and adapt to this environment easily enough, so long as she could keep herself feed and hydrated. Yeah, okay; no need to make this any harder than what it is. Stressing over this was not going to help her.

She looked at her hand, flexing them and examining the claws resting above her fingertips before turning her head up and towards the sky. Though she continued to berate herself silently over her decision to leave the road when she knew and had nothing of use in this situation the was a bit of excitement and determination in her eyes to not let herself die out here as though she were on equal grounds with a human in what should be her element. Even if it’s Winter, this is still her element, and she was going to claim it.

Pushing herself off the tree once her legs regained her strength, she removed her abused clothing and stuffed them in her bag; moving the strap of the water skin around her neck before turning into her bear form in a dazzling show of light which had no audience to anything but the trees. The light around her soon dissipated, leaving a rather large bear in it’s wake.

Ditana let out a yawn, deciding she would start off again on day break, but for now it was time to get as much rest as she could. She wasn’t planning on stopping for any reasons other than food, water, and rest until she reached a city. Picking up her bag between her teeth, she climbed up the tree she was previously using to support herself before finding her place on a branch that would serve as her bed for the night. And she was going to need as much rest as she could get, because this place was not going to be easy on her.

by **Ditana Tesoni** on May 13th, 2014, 4:48 pm

28-30th of Winter

Day 2: Morning to Night

By the time the sun had risen in the sky Ditana was off again, something telling her that running was one of the best options if she wanted to make progress in getting back to Zeltiva; the fact that she might be running in the wrong direction wasn’t something that could be helped and was pushed it to the back of her mind. Though the thought of running around in circles did worry her as well, but she blocked that thought from her mind too. Even as her muscles began to strain from the unwanted efforts and her lungs burned she didn’t stop, instead she slowed her pacing to a more manageable stride in spite of her body’s plea for rest before picking up speed when she felt she could manage it for a bit more. Each run would come more brisk than the last and her strides slowed more until her body refused to keep running, causing her to collapse on the ground from pure exhaustion.

She laid there panting for a few moments before sitting up slowly while changing into her human form.The kelvic sat there, coughing and hacking from the dryness in her throat, now realizing she was over exerting herself for almost nothing. As the coughing subsided realization set in that she wasn’t going to find the road or Zeltiva if she hadn’t found it by now; and the chance that she would find anyone - much less a city - by nightfall when she had no idea where she was, was slim to none. She really had no other choice but to survive out here as best she could.

She stood up again, adjusting the water skin so that it fell on her side as opposed to her chest and picked her backpack off the ground - which she originally had been holding in her mouth - to put on her shoulder. She let the cold seep into her burning skin as she walked through the wooded area, allowing her mind to wander as she went through the unfamiliar territory. Ditana willed herself to summon the energy she held last night, the feeling of being in control despite being on her own, lost, and with little to nothing that would be of much use out here.

But soon enough she remembered what her element was while looking at her clawed hands. She had stopped walking at this point and just stared at them as though she had never noticed how sharp and long her claws were, or even the pattern laced within her palm.

Yes, she was a kelvic. That meant she want simply some helpless human girl lost in the woods. She was still an animal - a beast that could survive on her own two feet, even if she’d been helped by humans all her life. Even if she had been helpless in the cities when she was a child - this wasn’t the city. She didn’t have humans to help her, the only thing that could harm her would be the beasts that dwelled within this forest. Her death would only come from exhausting all her energy in a futile endeavor to find her way back to the city - be it through starvation, thirst, or any other means. Helpless wasn’t a word she could afford to be out here.

Taking a few deep breaths and clenching her open hand into a fist, watching mist flow out of her mouth and barely being aware of the cold, she knew her only objective was to survive. It sounded simple enough: survive. That’s all… but why did it have to be during the winter of all seasons? Because she was foolish, and that’s the only answer that came to her. Her own foolishness to see if she could survive on the road for just one day lead her out here. Her foolishness to not buy what she needed is what put her in this situation. She didn’t even bring a compass of all things.

Ditana shook her head and licked her lips, beginning to move once again despite her own bodies pained protests. The sun was still high and looked as though it would sink over the horizon soon; she needed to take the time to find a source of flowing, drinkable water.

Her legs were sore from the constant movement, seeing as though she never ran so much or for so long since living in Ravok, and even back then she didn't run for hours on end.

With her mind now clear of finding her way back to the city, she became aware of another source of sustenance her body was craving: food. Her stomach groaned as though it had been waiting her to realize that. The kelvic remembered she hadn’t eaten since the day before yesterday; her original plan was to eat something at nightfall yesterday but her thoughts were preoccupied at that time…

With a sigh and a huff she shifted the backpack on her shoulder to her front and used her free hand to dig through the bag; not stopping as she looked through it. It wasn’t too long before she pulled out a fruit - an apple to be specific - and bit into it, knowing this would have to hold her over for either a few day or until she found something else out here to eat, and even then she’d have to preserve that alone with the rest of her rations.

She savored what little liquid the apple contained and she chewed slowly. “Dere’s gotta be a stream around here somewhere… how ‘m I supposed ta find it though…” Thinking back to the stories of when travelers were lost and had no way of knowing which way was which. The traveler would either stumble on it or use their skills to track it down, right? So maybe she could do the same thing - track down the water.

But now Ditana had the problem of not remembering quite how they did it. She remembers a jumble of words both spoken and in print, but she was having so much trouble remembering just what those words meant, and in what order they were in. What was it they did? Why did she have to forget now? Forget…

Listen! How the kelvic put those two independent thoughts together was anyone’s guess; but she remembered that she had to listen for the stream, or anything that sounded like running water. Discarding the apple core with a simple toss to the ground, she bent down close to the ground and listened for a noise that wasn’t simply rustling leaves and debris from from the foliage surrounding her.

Straining her ears and closing her eyes tightly - after a few long minutes - the light sound of trickling water reached her ears beyond the unwanted sounds among throughout the forest. She stood and hurried towards it, muscles groaning once again at the unwanted pacing while she hoped it wasn’t another stream of salt water.

To her grateful surprise - it was a stream of fresh water, she could tell by the smell of it. It was partly frozen, but the ice was thin and water leaked out through the cracks that failed to contain it. Yes, she would be fine out here. All she has to do is survive after all.

by **Ditana Tesoni** on May 14th, 2014, 3:22 am

28-30th of Winter

Day 2: Night

After refilling the water skin and drinking a few handfuls of freezing water, Ditana sat down by the edge of the frozen creek with her hands clutching her arms in an attempt to warm them - only to be disappointed by the fact that her skin was almost just as freezing as her hands. With her adrenaline gone and most of her body aching, the cold finally began to register only after she was hunched over and shivering. Even she knew that it was only going to get colder as the winter dragged on and decided it would have been best to learn how to start a fire now rather than wait until it was so could she wouldn’t last more than 3 seconds in her human form while barely clothed.

Moving away from the stream, she collected dry grass and small twigs - remembering how to start a fire from the first time she did it on her own. So to start a fire she needed the material to be dry, that was a simple enough find. It wasn’t too hard gather discarded twigs from branches and small rocks either.

She sat a few yards away from the creek, sitting at the base of a tree with her knees pressed to her chest in an attempt to keep warm while setting up the fire pit. Lining the circle of grass with rocks before setting the twigs in an almost teepee stance before picking up the two jagged stones that were on the edging of the creek.

“Come on, it’s petchin’ freezin ou’ here.” It took almost 10 minutes of pounding and slashing the stones together before she managed to get a spark; that’s when she remembered that repeatedly slashing the stones together gets the best results. Barely 3 minutes after that small revelation she managed to get a small flame going and started tending to it by blowing until she had a fully alighted flame burning in front of her.

The kelvic looked at the two stones she used to start the fire while warming her hands before deciding to place the stones in her backpack and setting it on the tree behind herself. She sighed hearing her stomach growl while removing the waterskin and ignored it while changing back to her bear form. She knew she would have to minimize the amount of shifting she’s been doing from this point; she didn’t have enough food to keep going back and forth.

Ditana curled up to the fire in a way that made her look like a big, black ball of fur and managed to slowly drift off to sleep as her fur and the fire warmed her.

by **Ditana Tesoni** on May 15th, 2014, 1:00 pm

28-30th of Winter

Day 3: Afternoon

The fire went out some time during the night due to having nothing tending to it other than the ice cold breeze that trailed from the creek nearby. The kelvic bear curled up more as the breeze hit her front in an attempt to take away the little warmth she held at that moment. Even with the sun above hanging high overhead it seemed to do nothing to heat the air and the few clouds in the sky above were happy to block what little heat the sun was willing to share,

Ditana didn’t move even when she awoke to the cold morning; the thought of doing so alone made her muscles tense and cry out, so she lay there on the ground. The cold was something she could deal with with her thick winter coat, the hunger on the other hand was another story. She still refused to eat, knowing that only eating a small bit every few days could make a week’s worth of rations last for almost two; it was too optimistic to think they would last any more than that without knowing she’d lose much needed body fat in the process of preserving the little food she had.

Her ears seemed to perk at the sound of movement behind herself. Moving her head back she saw a rather plump snow hare. It stared at her in her eyes and she stared right back at him for a long, still moment, before it ran - hopped - off in as quickly as any hare could. Something clicked in Ditana’s mind, making her stand and ignore the aching in favor of this new goal.

The kelvic walked to the spot the hare was standing, seeing faint signs of paw prints in the dirt where the scent was still fresh and clear. She slowly started towards where the hare ran off, staying on the trail it left in it’s wake. Where the ground was hardened and unwilling to yield to make footprints, Ditana had no other choice but to rely on her sense of smell alone as she wandered farther and farther from her supplies.

She wasn’t quite aware of how long she had been following the small creature, but what she did know was that she stumbled upon it’s burrow when it crawled out of the base of a tree completely unaware of her presence as it hopped off in another direction. She slowly stalked towards the burrow after seeing a bit of movement. Inside were tiny hare’s, not exactly new borns, but not so big they could hop faster than she could run.

So of course, making the kill was no long or arduous task, though it did take some time finding her little camp from the day before, there wasn’t much of a struggle. She only sunk her teeth into one, surprisingly enough to satisfy herself for a while, and put the other two with the rest of her reserves.

In a way, this little event felt a bit too easy, but she was not going to complain about it.