I opened my eyes.
Well, that was already an issue, I shouldn't have been able to open my eyes. I did anyway.
Okay, let's back up a little. My name is… well, maybe was? Either way, it's Phoenix, Nick, or Nix for short. All things considered, a pretty cool name. Having that game with that lawyer sharing the name with me was pretty cool too.
Either way, that's not important. What is important is that I died. The way I died… well, it doesn't really matter. I died, and I know for certain there was no way I'd be able to survive.
Yet, I opened my eyes.
I always figured reincarnation was a thing, but to have actual confirmation of it is… well, it feels weird. Sort of like if you had a feeling your long lost toy was buried in the attic, and when you finally go look and it's actually there. The feeling of happiness, but also the distinct feeling of, "couldn't I have found this out sooner?"
Whatever I was feeling, I suppose gratitude should be on that list, seeing as I'm not really dead right now. After all, my back really hurts. Bad.
With a surprising amount of effort, I managed to sit up and take a look at my surroundings. "Great, a random forest," I said aloud, but then paused. My voice. It was very high, almost like a-
I quickly looked down at my body, and nearly jumped when I noticed it. I was in the body of a child! Frantically, I began patting myself down to make sure I was real. It was only after I pat myself that I noticed something even more unbelievable.
Opening up the rags I had for shorts, I peered down and…
I guess I was a girl now, and for some asinine reason the first thing that popped into my brain was, "does this make me trans?"
After that realization, I actually took the time to look around a bit. The results were less than stellar.
I was in the middle of a forest, as I said before. However, there was also a massive mountain range I saw through a break in the trees, and it was midday.
Basically, I was in a location that could be anywhere on Earth, and no way to navigate.
Great.
Though, to be fair, it's not exactly like I could find where I was based on the position of the Sun, at least relative to civilization. If I at least knew where I was generally, I could figure out a direction to go, but as it was I could be anywhere from the Appalachians to Mt. Fuji, and I have no way of knowing. I'm not exactly a botanist either, so looking at the plants gets me nowhere. My only way of finding civilization is hoping to find a river or just stumbling upon a town. Neither option is all that great.
Then there's the problem of my body. I've put off the question of why I'm in what appears to be a seven-year-old body in the interest of thinking up a solution. But the fact is, I'm a maybe seven-year-old lost in the wilderness. If any bear or jaguar is hiding somewhere in this forest, I'm screwed. There's also food and shelter, seeing as I have no idea how long it will take to get to a town even if I find some way to guide me.
The final big obstacle I see off the bat is language. Even if I don't run into any problems, even if I find food that won't poison me, and even if I manage to find a town before everything got worse, there's still no guarantee anyone there will speak English. Even worse yet, what if I make it to town, and someone sees a helpless little girl unable to communicate with anyone and decides to… well, you get the picture.
Basically, as far as I could see, I was better off staying dead.
Even saying that there are far less painful ways to die than through starvation, exposure, or being mauled by a wild animal, so if I still think that way by the time I get out of here, then it'll be an easy fix.
With that in mind, I began my trek through the woods.
I've never walked out in the pure wilderness before. A fact that hit me in the face, quite literally, when I tripped over yet another root and smacked into the cold hard ground. I was never a fan of camping in my… what would you call it? Past life, I suppose. But yeah, never been a fan of camping. A bad experience and general distaste from word, 'go,' made me hate it. Every time I did camp though, it was in camping areas, I never roughed it.
It sucked worse than camping.
There were the previously mentioned roots constantly tripping me, but to add onto that, big leaves and bushes I either had to push out of the way or go around, bugs constantly buzzing around me not leaving me alone, the constant feeling of being coated in dirt, and worst of all, I constantly felt this weird tension. It wasn't the tension of panic or even fear. If anything, it felt like dread, though that wasn't it either. Whatever it was, I wanted it gone, and being in the forest was not making it leave.
At one point, I had gotten so ruffled by the feeling that I began to run, but that just led to an even worse fall—this time on a stray rock—that led to a massive scrape and a bleeding leg. It got dirty too, so infection was likely.
Wonderful.
This unfortunately led me to yet another thing I had no clue about. "Can land animals smell blood?" Maybe that was a dumb question, but I knew sharks could, and that they went after it as well, so having a bleeding wound was a bad idea. Probably.
Though, to be perfectly honest, my biggest worry was that I was limping. My knee really hated everything about me right now, and my feet weren't fans either, what with the paper-thin sandals I had on. I also had a headache that may have been there from the beginning, I wasn't sure. Maybe it had something to do with my reincarnation. I doubted it was normal to be reincarnated into a seven-year-old girl.
Really just a cavalcade of issues, wasn't it?
On the bright side, however, that sprint through the forest led me close enough to hear the faint sounds of water, which meant a river, thank god.
It wasn't long now, all I had to do was make it to the river, find some shelter, catch some fish, and drink, and I'd be golden.
Of course, because fate was a fickle thing and jinxes are real, the second that thought crept into my mind, disaster struck.
It was innocuous as a simple snapped stick, but among the quiet of the mid-afternoon forest, it was like a thunderclap. I turned my head so quickly it hurt, but all the pain didn't matter anymore. Something was here.
Listening closely, I could hear faint shuffling, underbrush rustling, and a breeze drifting through the air. I knew, logically, that I should have already booked it, but having never been confronted with a wild animal trying to attack me before, I was frozen stiff.
As I stood by, completely helpless, a hulking green monster revealed itself, with dark green scales, black spikes trailing down its arms, and a wild white mane down its back. It gave an evil smirk, displaying a surprising amount of intelligence, before stalking towards me, drool seeping out from behind its razor-sharp, bloodstained teeth.
What in the ever-loving flying FUCK is that thing!? Help me! Please! I don't know what to do! I don't want to be mauled to death! Especially not bythat thing! Where even am I! Am I even on Earth anymore!? Please give me something- ANYTHING! PLEASE FATE!
It was at that last thought, however, that I remembered something.
Fate?
What has any such being known as god, fate, or anything like that done for me?
"Hey!" I remember being called to. "What's up? Why the long face, huh?" It was one of the only people who truly mattered to me, my best friend Hydrus. Looking back, we both had pretty weird names, though I guess that's what you got for growing up in Houston, Texas, only a short jog away from the Johnson Space Center.
I simply sighed in response. It was one of those days where I was worrying over our lot in life. Society's lowest rung, the ones who did the jobs nobody wanted to. While I was thinking about a lot at the time, the only thing I asked was, "You ever think fate is laughing at us, getting our hopes high only to get dug deeper into the cesspool?"
Hydrus just laughed at my question. "Fate? What's the point in worrying about something like that?" He hung his scraggly arm across my shoulders. "Listen, fate can suck a dick for all I care. We just gotta stick it to that smug asshole."
"I don't think antagonizing it will make our lives any better."
"What do I care, it's not like fate is a real thing."
"Maybe..." I gazed up at the sky. It was nighttime, though the glaring Houston lights were drowning out all the stars. "Think we'll make it?"
Hydrus scoffed. "What do you think I meant by 'stick it to that smug asshole?'"
A sense of melancholy overtook me. "I just think it's unlikely. I mean, just look at me."
"Hey!" Hydrus chided me. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You don't have to get offended, it's not like I was talking about you."
"Well, you might as well have."
I shook my head. "I don't get it."
A silence filled the air as we both continued looking up at the blank night sky. I wished I could see the stars in that moment.
Eventually, Hydrus said, "I don't like you talking about yourself like that man. You're one of the best people on this planet, and I couldn't choose anyone better."
"Sure." I shrugged.
"I'm serious, dude." Hydrus proceeded to grab my shoulders and pull me into a hug. "You're my best friend. We only have each other, and I don't want that to change."
I backed away and gave him a smirk that didn't quite reach my eyes. "You know, piloting a spaceship takes more than two people. If we ever actually make it, that'll have to change."
"When." He corrected and then gave a small huff. "And I guess you're right. I'm just greedy. I wanna keep all the good shit to myself."
"Ouch, no need to call me shit, man." I joked back, but my heart wasn't really in it. Luckily, it seemed Hydrus didn't notice that detail.
He instead gave a hearty laugh. "Well, I only say what's true." Shaking my head, I stood up to begin walking away, when Hydrus grabbed my arm. "I'm serious though, we will make it to space, and we will kick fate's ass. If anything, fate doing so much to keep us down only makes me want to go for it even more!"
At that, I gave my first genuine smile of the night. "Trying hard out of spite? I can certainly do that."
Indeed, I could certainly do that. Fate wants to throw some hulk ripoff at me and get me to lay down and die?
Fuck that.
As the drooling mass of death finished lumbering over, it licked its lips and swiped. At that moment, I dove forwards, tucking and rolling back up to a standing position, only for my leg to remind me that I was not in any sort of condition to be doing fancy tricks like that. As I made it back to standing, my leg gave out from under me, causing me to crumple on the ground. I managed to pick myself up rather quickly, but Dino-Hulk was faster than I thought, as it was already standing over me, looking rather excited.
I turned and booked it in the opposite direction without wasting a second, Dino-Hulk hot on my heels soon after. Very quickly, it turned into a mad dash through the wild, hopping, ducking, and weaving through every obstacle in my path, and hearing Dino-Hulk just tear through everything in its way to get to me. I had to pay close attention to my leg the entire time, willing it not to give out again.
After eons, I managed to burst out of the forest, and into a riverbank. I would have dove straight in, but my weak leg and lack of swimming ability prevented me. Coiled and ready to bounce, I surveyed my surroundings and noticed that Dino-Hulk was still past the tree line. It seemed it needing to plow through everything slowed it down some.
Good, that gave me time to plan.
I couldn't do anything too extravagant, it was approaching fast. I could, however, trick it. It may be more intelligent than an average animal, as shown by the emotions it displayed earlier, but it's not like it was using tools or speaking. That meant it was still dumber than me.
If we moved on to the more physical attributes, it was quite the large creature. Strong, sturdy, and most importantly, heavy. Maybe I could take advantage of its weight, and knock it over? No, that wouldn't work. I'd need some way to affect its balance, and I have neither the strength nor tool necessary. But maybe I could take that principle, and apply it elsewhere…
At the moment, I took note of the river. The very large river.
That could work.
Even if it could swim—which I doubted—being in the water would reduce its maneuverability, allowing me to run away.
The only thing I needed now was a way to trick it into going into the water, which I already had an idea for.
Good thing too, as right when that idea cropped up, Dino-Hulk exploded from the trees. I gave it a smirk and flipped it off as I began running once again. Like clockwork, it turned and chased me. It was certainly a good thing this monster was bipedal. If it wasn't, it would most definitely be much faster.
I hopped back into the forest after I managed to kite Dino-Hulk away some, and began the dance of danger that I did before, this time with a lot less panic.
Dino-Hulk followed my every move, determined not to lose me again.
Perfect.
I took a long circle back around to where we came out before, giving the occasional taunt to piss off Dino-Hulk even more until I eventually made it.
We were back, and it was time to execute the plan. I slowed down some, exaggerating my tiredness, giving Dino-Hulk even more incentive to catch me. It sped up for its final sprint, but just as it did, I dropped to the ground.
Confused, Dino-Hulk was unable to stop itself as it went sailing out over the river, falling in with a mighty splash. Much more splashing followed as it shrieked and hollered before it finally sank below the surface.
Did I? I waited a few seconds and nothing happened.
"FUCK YES!" I did it! I can't believe I did it! That dumb, improvised plan actually worked! Holy hell, I-
At that moment, a green scaly hand burst out of the water's surface and grabbed onto my leg. My bad one. "Son of a-" I was slowly lifted into the air as Dino-Hulk simply walked out of the river and gave me a smirk. I only then realized.
This asshole was faking it!
With a grunt, I kicked at the beast, but all that managed to do was cut up my other leg on its sharp scales. Blood began seeping as Dino-Hulk gripped harder, cutting into my legs with its claws. The smile on its face grew even larger.
It was enjoying this.
Damn it, after everything I said to fate, is this really how it'll end? For some strange reason, I wasn't scared. Instead, I was just angry. Angry at the world. Angry at Dino-Hulk. Angry at fate.
Angry at myself.
Maybe I wouldn't be in this mess if I never…
It was that feeling more than anything that made some sort of strength well up within me. I was so pissed at myself, every fiber of my being went towards some welling strength inside of me, rising with my wrath. It spread through my whole body, starting at my stomach. A heat that wasn't there before. Each new crevice of my body that heat explored shook with power until every inch of me was reaching boiling point.
At some point, without realizing it, I raised my arm, palms facing Dino-Hulk. All at once, the heat spread down to my hands and coalesced. The beast's eyes widened as a strange light began gathering. It quickly released its grip on me and tried to stomp on me, but before it could, a golden beam of light shot from my hands and pierced straight through it.
It then fell over, dead.
And then I followed.
Hey all, new story just dropped!
Uh, so basically, I have had a Fairy Tail hyperfixation going on for literal months by this point, and then I read this story called Ripples by therealnarnia over on AO3 (I would post a link, but you know how fanfiction dot net is). Ever since I read it, I've been inspired, one could say.
For those of you tuning in who are waiting on the next chapter of Like a River... Well, I sorta really fell out of love with that story, and I want to rewrite it, which will take some doing, so for now it's on hiatus. I'm not sure when it's coming back, please don't ask me.
Anyway, this has been Hyper, and I hope you enjoy!