You are determined.

The moment you crashed into a full-fledged storm, you had already concocted several escape plans. You had been in this situation countless of times before, so you knew exactly what to do. As you pulled on the strings of your blimp, desperately trying to steer it, you managed to snatch the straps of your backpack, the thing that carried your parachute. You strapped it to your back, making sure to tighten it as much as possible. The storm roared and the harsh winds threw you back and forth, almost dislodging you from your basket. Lightning struck down from the dark, angry clouds above, but they thankfully missed you each and every time. You struggled to remain on and you felt your footing slip as snow started to pile inside of your basket.

Suddenly, you heard a loud crack and pop echo through the frosty air. The entire blimp shuddered and started to descend rapidly. You slipped and let go of the basket, slowly lagging behind the blimp as you fell.

The wind blew at your face and tears filled your eyes as the world blurred. You felt raw fear collect in the pits of your stomach and you felt weightless as you careened toward the forest below. As you drew closer to the earth, your blimp moved far away from you, and you felt your fear increase. What would you do without your balloon?

In a moment of clarity, you tugged at the string on your backpack, missing the string three times. A wave of panic washed over you as you missed, your adrenaline spiking. You stuck out your arm a fourth time and finally managed to catch the string between two fingers. You curled your hand into a fist and pulled as hard as you could on the thin string.

The parachute unfolded just in time and you were jerked upward. You felt the chill of the air increase as a sudden gust of wind pushed you toward the trees below. As you went closer and closer to the ground, a branch swung down from a tall tree and pierced through the parachute, barely missing your head. With a hiss, you plummeted to the ground once more before the branches from the rest of the trees broke your fall. You were jerked up and bounced around before slowing to a halt. You felt dizzy from the rough landing and groaned loudly, cradling your head. With your eyes blurred with snow and tears, you glanced up and gazed at your surroundings.

It was picturesque landscape, you were sure of that. The snow fell softly onto the earth, coating it in a thick layer of powder. The moon highlighted the scenery, making the snow reflect a silver light. You sighed, white puffs of air escaping your lips. You swayed slightly on your swing before looking down at the ground. You grimaced slightly at the height. You felt a headache coming on, but the freezing cold kept it away. You shivered and felt your bare hands become numb. You rubbed them together before looking down again.

You had no choice.

With a faint click, you unbuckled your strap and plummeted to the ground. You fell to the freezing snow below and shuddered as your brain was rattled once again.

"Fuck," you muttered under your breath. "That was a rough landing." Your red eyes gazed the landscape once again. Snow, snow, snow, as far as the eye could see. Muddy rocks and trees stuck up from the flawless white. You screwed your eyes shut and shivered heavily as the cold pierced through your clothes. Your entire body was beginning to feel numb.

"S-So cold..." You thought of multiple ways to keep warm. Eating or drinking something hot or even slightly warm would keep you a bit warm and could give you some energy. Moving and doing exercise in general forced your body to heat up, which you decided would be the best thing to do without any supplies. The last and most promising option was making a fire, but the wind was too harsh and the ground was too wet with snow.

You opened your eyes and stood up. Snow fell off of your body like clumps of dirt. You patted yourself down, immediately taking note of the snow already piling onto your shoulders. You reached for your hat and grasped thin air, and you widened your eyes. You looked around wildly before seeing a small hole several feet away from you. You trudged through the snow and scooped up your hat, a twinge of sharp pain snaking through your fingers. You wiped the frozen powder off of the golden eagle plate on your hat. The words "Bronze Dragon" were printed on it. You smiled faintly at the wispy memory rising within you, but you crushed it down as easily as it came.

You can't think about your *past* life.

You have to think about how to stay alive.

You ran as fast as you could through the snow, scanning the ground and the tangled roots of the trees. You felt yourself heat up as you moved around, jumping from rock to rock. When you were in the center of the clearing, you saw something flutter in between the cracks of a rock. You paused and ripped it out. It was a ragged note, and it was wet. You could faintly see some words scrawled on it. You squinted and murmured the words.

"Don't trust anyone around. Someone shot you down. His name is- nothing. It's too wet to read it. But I thought the lightning brought me down...?" You glanced up at the sky and raised an eyebrow. Now that you thought about it, it was eerily strange that there was lightning in the middle of a snow storm. You shivered, but it wasn't from the cold. Who would shoot you down in the middle of a forest? You knew you had a lot of enemies, but your most viscous enemies had either been pacified by removing their Evil Totems or were just in jail. Only a rare few were still evading prison time, but most of them were too weak to ever attempt to throw you down.

The thought that struck you to the core was the fact that somebody had been in the very situation you were in. Or, perhaps, they are in. They had to have notice you crash. How else would it explain the note being so dry? You shook your head and looked around again, through the long, thick branches of the trees.

"Hello?" You yelled, looking around frantically. "Hello! Anyone out there? I know you're out there! I need help!"

Nothing responded.

You sighed, feeling the chills of winter creep around you again. You started going forward in a light jog, scanning the area with frantic eyes, your nerves on edge. Whoever- or whatever- was out there might be watching you. You kept a keen eye on everything that slightly moved, including the shriveled leaves clinging onto dead branches.

Suddenly, you spotted a flash of red and brown come from a hole in a ground. You broke out into a run and leaped onto the blur of red and brown, pinning down the brown thing. The creature hissed as it dropped the book, narrowed its neon blue eyes, and nipped your hand, leaving a large crimson welt. And, just to add more pain into your life, the creature's heavy tail swung and hit your hand as it fled from you. You gasped and fell back, clutching your hand.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuuuuuuuccck. Stupid ass beaver! You're the one who was carrying the stupid book! Gah... Ouch." You grimaced at your bleeding hand, caressing it slightly. Blood stained your aviator jacket and you felt the urge to gnaw it out. You repressed that temptation and ripped off the red bandana around your neck and wrapped it around your injured hand, exposing your neck to the cold. You tightened it and grimaced at the pain surging through your palm. You shook it off and tentatively picked up the book, flipping it and examining it.

Wilderness Survival:

How to Survive

You gulped on dry air and shuddered from the cold filling you. You concluded that someone was definitely watching you, but refusing to make direct contact with you. Well, at least they bothered to show you how to survive.

"I wish they'd have done more than that..." You murmured. You opened the book and almost dropped it in surprise.

Almost all of the pages had been ripped out.

"What? What the hell? Where's all the pages?" You glared at the book and felt your hands tremble at the rage building inside of you.

"What sort of sick joke is this?!" You almost threw the book in sheer frustration, but you grit your teeth and harshly tucked it under your shoulder. Even though it was useless, it was better than having nothing at all.

You walked around, batting away leaves and snow from your face. Frost crept up your boots with every step you took, and the snow started to come in thicker waves. As you kept on moving forward, you jumped down a short ledge and landed on some ice. The ice didn't even budge under your feet. You trudged forward and up a tiny hill until you came upon a tall tree. When you looked up, you spotted a backpack dangling from a tree branch high above the ground. It was blue in color, and it seemed to be torn in various places. And, even though the wind was harsh, it wasn't enough to tear it down. You licked your dry lips and looked at the trees. If you could just climb on of them...

You ran to a pile of rocks and leapt onto them, almost slipping on the slick surface. You waved your arms around to regain your balance, swaying slightly as you squinted at the branches above you. You reached up and grabbed a branch, testing your weight on it. It creaked a bit, but it was able to stand your weight.

You pulled yourself up onto the first branch and hopped from branch to branch. The branches were slick despite their rough bark, but you managed to stay on because of your boots and experience in climbing onto dangerous objects. You jumped higher and higher onto thinner and thinner branches until you came to a branch that you couldn't jump onto. Thankfully, when you looked up, you saw a handle attached to a spring. You crouched down and jumped, grabbing onto the handle and dragging it down to your level. Then, you climbed on it, finally reaching the blue backpack.

You had to be careful. You slowly reached down and tried to free the backpack, but your foot slipped on the icy strap and you almost fell down a painful height. You gritted your teeth and gripped the branch, steadying yourself before trying again.

You reached down slowly and hooked your finger around the button that was keeping the lid closed. You tugged on it, prying the lid from the rest of the backpack. You leaned forward on the tips of your toes to reach into the backpack, scooping the contents out.

You felt the branch groan under your feet and suddenly felt it jolt away from you, a loud crack resounding through the air. You let out a choked gasp of shock as you fell. You careened down for a few seconds before a large branch caught you, knocking the wind out of you as you landed on your stomach. As you gasped for air, you fell once more, into the snow below.

You groaned, clutching your stomach, unable to screech out your pain. You had to lay down there for a while, feeling the cold begin to freeze you alive as you pushed through the agony. You shifted and sat up, shaking the snow out of your hair. You looked around for the stuff you had dropped into the snow, standing up slowly. You shuffled forward, scanning around.

You spotted a hole two feet in front of you. You snatched up the two items in the hole, quirking an eyebrow at both of them. One was a striker and the other was a piece of paper. You unfolded it and discovered it was another note.

"If you're reading this, then I'm probably d- Wet spot, wet spot- ere are some mittens in a log. Use them to make a fire. I tried to make one, but- wet spot, another wet spot- keeps on hunting me and the only place I can make the fire is in the cave. There's a bear in there, though- the writing is smudged- hid this here just in case. Don't need it yet. Can't write too much. Must run. So hungry. Please help me!" You frowned and folded the paper up, tucking it away into the survival book. You fingered the striker in between your two fingers before tucking it away too.

You stepped lightly on the snow, breathing slowly, your eyes peeled for anything useful. If you found something as useful as a striker, there was bound to be more supplies. And, as you scoured the area with your steely gaze, you caught sight of a stump with a hatchet wedged into it. You felt a grin form on your face and you ran toward it, barely skidding to a stop. When you glanced under you, you could spot liquid water rushing barely inches away from your boots. You grimaced at the frost forming on your legs. You thought it was cold now, but, as you looked at the water, you knew that it would become much, much colder if you broke the ice.

You treaded carefully over to the hatchet handle, gripping it with all the force you could muster. You tugged quickly and found yourself falling onto your back. A thin layer of melting ice covered the palms of your hands. You shivered, standing up and stuffing your hands into your pockets.

There was no way you could pry the hatchet out with your bare hands. The handle was too slick and your hands were too stiff from the cold. You needed something to create friction, heat. Something like... gloves...

Taking out the strip of paper, you examined the smudged words carefully. If you assumed that this guy was actually telling the truth, there should be a pair of gloves in a log. You didn't know where the log was, though. You needed to see the complete landscape and the only possible way of doing that was to climb a tree.

Again.

You shivered and glanced up at the trees uneasily. You weren't too keen to scale the trees again, but your survival depended on it and you were determined to survive. So, with slight hesitation, you grabbed the nearest branch and climbed.

When you reached the top, you looked around. The cold, bitter winds batted at you, filling your eyes with tears, but you wiped them off with your sleeve and looked out into the vast landscape. You peered through the thin trunks and searched for logs, only finding one that looked like someone had inhabited it. Even from far away, you could spot gashes and scratches forming together to make the words "HELP ME". You cringed in sympathy and slid down the trunk, landing with a soft thump. You simply walked to the trunk, surprised when you stood face to bark with it.

The log was certainly taller than you. You peered through the dirt between the roots, searching for the gloves. You couldn't spot anything that stood out to you. You grumbled a bit before climbing up the roots, mud and snow smearing your body. When you finally managed to climb onto the log, you immediately noticed the gaping hole in the bark. With cautious steps, you approached the gap, staring into it.

It was pitch black inside. You felt yourself shudder. You hated the dark. However, you instinctually knew that there was something important in there. And you always followed your instincts, no matter how ridiculous they seemed.

You quickly hopped down and hit solid oak and snow. You momentarily slipped, but managed to regain your balance in time. You shifted around until you were face to face with the darkness. You listened carefully, but no sort of threatening sounds echoed within the log. You stepped forward, your eyes slowly becoming used to the dark. The wind was practically nonexistent inside the wooden cavern. You smirked. You knew it was the perfect place to create a fire.

You started as something crisp crackled under your foot. You halted and stared down at the piece of paper. Unlike the other papers, that one was clean and strangely not wet. You stooped down and picked it up, struggling to read the words in the darkness. You momentarily walked to the hole, the filtered light highlighting the words. The snow, while harsh, did not touch the paper.

"To produce a fire, one must find a nice, secluded place. One should most likely choose a location with little to no wind to stop the fire forming. However, while tempting at first, DO NOT attempt to create a fire inside a closed area. If too closed off, the smoke created by the fire will cloud the area and may seriously harm the maker. We recommend finding a place without a roof. Not only that, one must also make sure that the ground is dry." You frowned. Ah, you thought, more complications.

You stuck the piece of paper into your survival book and skulked back into the shadows, your irritation stifling some of the fear inside of you. You kept on moving forward with your arms outstretched until you brushed the back of the log. It was pure black inside and you could barely see your fingertips in the shadows. Thankfully, you spotted the silhouettes of what appeared to be mittens. You reached forward and snatched them, immediately pleased when your suspicions were confirmed. They were, in fact, mittens. They also appeared to be very new. You examined them with your hands, rolling them around in your palms. They were very soft and fluffy to the touch. They were slightly covered in snow, but not enough to freeze your skin off. You wanted to examine them more, but the cold was seeping into your being and you needed to get moving. You put them on, wrapping the strap around your wrists.

You quickly hefted yourself out of log and into the wind. You shivered heavily as snow battered against the exposed parts of your body. However, you trudged forward, jumping off the log and into the powder below. You paced back to the axe and gripped the handle, feeling extremely satisfied when it gave away and ended up in your palms. You stumbled, but managed to regain your balance. You grinned at the sleek piece of wood. Even though it lacked the blade at the top, it was extremely useful. You swung it as you walked forward.

You stopped yourself after you almost fell off the side of a cliff. Snow careened down into the dark pit below, the textures blurry in the distance. You sucked in a breath of cold air and stepped back. You had been so close to falling to your doom. If you had taken a few more steps, all of the stranger's advice would have been for naught. You felt sudden chilly beads of sweat form on your forehead at the dash of adrenaline the drop had given you. You wiped off the drops and quickly examined the border between ground and air. You could easily see the cliff edges and everything on them from where you were standing. You noticed that a rotting stump had trapped a piece of paper in between its roots, keeping the paper above the snow. It looked like it was mostly dry which you considered to be a blessing.

You walked over to it and tried to tear the paper out. Unfortunately, it looked like more than half was tangled in the roots. You grimaced and slid as much of the axe handle into the tangled mess, pushing down on the handle. It relieved the paper and gave it enough wiggle room to slide out easily. It fluttered out of the stump's grasp and into the snow below, the frost immediately curling around the paper. You tore the handle out of the roots and picked up the torn page. It was slightly wet from the icy powder.

"One may never know when one might need to fashion a handmade tool in the wilderness. Stout wooden sticks can be used as levers, to pry and move heavy objects. However, one must be careful when choosing a stick to use. A skinny or flexible stick will most likely snap with too much weight. Pressure-treated lumber works best. A wedge is mostly helpful in a survival situation when used as an axe or hatchet. They can be used to dress wood or capture prey."

You raised an eyebrow and scoffed slightly. As if you didn't know that! You rolled your eyes and placed the paper into the shell of a book. You glanced around, unable to find anything else that looked moderately useful on the cliff. You swung around and decided to head back to where you landed. You wanted to make a mental map of the area and, to do that, you must make sure that you don't get lost in the process.

In a few minutes, you managed to get back to where you started. You could spot the snow accumulating on top of the torn parachute, the fabric barely keeping the powder from careening into the forest floor below. As you looked toward the ground, you could see the hole you had made when you fell down. You paced past it and eventually found yourself in a rocky area.

Giant rocks jutted from the earth, snow smothering the top of every rock. The earth was a muddy mess and you instantly knew that you didn't want to jump down into it. A clearing sat in the middle of the pile of rocks. Half of the clearing was consumed by a frozen lake. On the side of the lake, there lied a deep cavern. You could hear thick drops of water drip onto the ground as the fluid froze midair. You were very hesitant to step into the clearing for an obscure reason. You felt your instincts scream at you not to approach, to stay on top of the slippery boulders. Perhaps it was that slight rumbling noise emitting from the cavern or that sickly feeling rising in your stomach as you felt eyes watch you. However, you could spot flint glinting moonlight, the shadows barely skimming over the surface. You immediately perked up, remembering what flint was very useful for; creating fires. If you obtained the flint, you could use that with the striker to make a warm, vital fire. You sighed internally before hopping down into the muddy bank.

With every step you took, you could feel yourself sink deeper and deeper into the mud. It was awfully surprising to you that the mud had not frozen completely. However, the ground was not immune to the snow's effects. It was a muddy, disgusting slush that melted into your boots and soaked through your thin socks. You could feel yourself grow colder and your feet felt like they were on fire. You shivered madly, but kept moving forward until you reached the frozen lake.

You reached out hesitantly and placed your right foot on the ice. You pressed down and almost jumped back when it emitted a loud creak. The ice looked slightly unstable under your feet and you really didn't want to go on it, but there were chunks of flint sitting right on top of the edge, right next to a steep cliff. From the look of it, it was the only flint and you needed it badly.

You tentatively stepped out onto the ice. It shifted terribly under your weight and you cringed as you felt water splash your boots. Long, stringy cracks appeared under you and the ice let out a terrible groan. However, the ice bore your weight and you were able to step forward a couple of other steps without incident. Finally, you reached the flint and, with a quick swipe, gathered it all in the palm of your left hand. The tiny shards of the flint immediately entangled themselves into the fabric of your mittens. Grumbling softly to yourself, you stuffed the shards into your pockets, soaking most of the flint. You winced. Hopefully it would be dry enough to start a fire.

You hugged the walls of the cliff as you edged back toward the shore. Relief flooded you as you reached the shore, sinking once again into the mud. You sighed and glanced back in the cave, mind stirring with thought. The cave looked abandoned, that was for sure. Inside, it was pitch black. You could see a thin beam of light in the distance of the cave, illuminating something. You narrowed your eyes and looked closer, desperate to see what was glowing in the dim light.

Suddenly, you saw it.

A side of the cave was moving, stirring. It was a shifting wall of black that moved quietly at first, but it became apparent when glinting white claws scraped against the stone floor. The wall yawned and turned, its teeth ebony in the dim light. You flinched as its paw came close to the edge of the cave. When staring at the thick-furred limb, you immediately recognized the shaggy black fur.

It was a black bear.

Now it made sense why you felt dread whenever you looked inside the cave; your eyes had subconsciously seen the bear moving around in the cramped confines of the cave. You shuddered and stared at the limb. There was no way in Hades you would get close to that thing. But, as you looked out into the cave again, you spotted branches. Dry branches. Fluffy, dry branches that would work perfectly in a fire. You licked your lips. It was an opportunity you couldn't miss.

You stepped forward tentatively. Your foot made a quiet tapping sound as it connected to the stone floor. The mass of fur twitched slightly, but otherwise it didn't react. You slowly began edging forward, creeping along the opposite side of the wall. You were suddenly aware of every sound you made from the sharp breaths you took to the quiet shuffling of your clothing. You quietly stifled your breathing, holding in your breath until you managed to reach the dry branches. They shone a perfect gold in the dim light. It's a treasure, you think to yourself. You glance at the mass of black behind you. It barely moved, barely breathed. You let out a sigh of relief as you collected the sticks, stuffing them carefully into your pockets. You gave yourself a small grin before edging back as quietly as possible. The bear let out a small grunt and rolled over, inches away from your feet. You froze in terror as one beady yellow eye opened, peeking through its thick limbs at you. It blinked before growling lowly.

You unfroze and ran for the exit, exploding out of the cave, barely hearing the scraping of long claws behind you. You scrambled onto the long, grey rocks, tiny pebbles falling behind you with each step. A loud growl erupted from below you as the bear climbed up the rocks, occasionally slipping because of its own weight. You, however, didn't have any real problem jumping from rock to rock. You simply stuffed the torn book and all the items inside one of your pockets and used your now free arms to successfully coordinate yourself through the obstacles.

After a while of trying to find a way to lose the bear, you found a large, round rock. A boulder. It was standing precariously over a long fall over the mouth of the cave. It was strange, really, but your gut told you that it was useful. You crawled behind it, barely managing to hand onto the steep roof. You could hear the ferocious snarl behind you as well as the nips landing on the back of your boots. You swallowed nervously before maneuvering yourself behind the boulder and found yourself face to muzzle with the beast.

It was large, tall, and, most importantly, furious. Its fangs were a stark white and its muzzle had long gray hairs. Its yellow eyes were slits, its black ears stapled to its skull. The bear raised its paw, but, before it could swipe, you heaved the boulder forward, straight into the bear.

You heard a loud crack resound through the air. Pops echoed as the boulder ran straight into the creature, squishing its skull and breaking its entire body. The bear rolled off of the roof of the cave and landed on the ground with a soft thump, staining the snow crimson. You clung onto roof, staring blankly at the crime scene below. You wanted to feel for the bear, you honestly did, but it had just attempted to kill you and, well...

You weren't exactly the most sympathetic person in the world.

You let go of the roof, sliding and falling into the snow. You barely blinked at the dead bear, instead choosing to follow the rolling boulder. It continued crushing all in its path until it stopped mere moments before colliding with the roots of the decaying log. You paced toward it and noticed that a mound of rocks had stopped the boulder in its tracks, creating a roofless cavern for you. You bit back a small smile. It was the perfect place to create a shelter.

You gripped all of your supplies, momentarily spotting some other useful fluff hiding in the roots of the tree. You created a small pile and started your work.

You first cleared the area of any snow. The mud underneath was wet, but it was still better than solid water. You momentarily cleaned some muck off of your gloves before placing the fluff and some tiny sticks in a pile. You gripped the flint and striker, twirling them between your fingers before scraping the flint against the striker. A small spark was driven out, but it didn't start the fire. You struck again and the spark caught onto the sticks, immediately eating the wood hungrily. You blew on the tiny embers until they roared and you placed some more sticks in the flames until it was a fire. You smiled in glee as heat finally reached you and you let out a content sigh, leaning against the bloody boulder.

As you slept on your comfy spot in the snow, you felt the hair on the back of your neck rise. You scratched your neck and rolled closer to your fire, breathing in the scent of burning wood. You sighed and snuggled deeper into your jacket, relishing in the warmth your light source provided.

Unbeknownst by you, you were being watched. A person gazed at you through a pair of binoculars, chuckling slightly.

"Hm, what a strange person. I never expected her to make it this far. She sort of reminds me of him..." The figure spat out the last word with obvious hatred, enough hatred to make the person next to him shudder. The figure shook his head, smirking to himself as he mentally chided his childish behavior.

"Ah well. She'll be dead soon."

Welp, that's the first chapter. They'll be five chapters in total, each describing the events that took place in Survival Island. I must say that I am rather fond of that island. Question is, are you? Review or PM this story, if you wish! Encouragement is always needed! :)

Thank you for reading!

Update: HOLY FREE HOLES, DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG THIS TOOK TO MAKE? I thought it would only take a week, but nooooo... IT TOOK THREE GOD DAMN MONTHS.