Dive Sasquatch God!

“Silly girl, stop playing with spider webs.”

These were the first words that registered in Kimarya’s mind. She stood and shook her head from left to right, trying to clear her head.

Her vision started clearing, and she focused on her surroundings. She felt her back pressing against something solid, which she assumed was a tree, as she noticed the ominous, humid forest around her.

These details immediately alarmed her, as the last thing she remembered was being in a city.

“Where am I?” she wondered.

She moved her arm to brush something tickling her face and realized it was long wavy hair.

When this registered in her head, she stopped moving for a moment in shock before firmly tugging on it again and feeling a stinging pain.

Kimarya was absolutely sure her hair wasn’t that long. The pulling seemed to trigger something, as a massive rush of information violently exploded in her head, almost causing her to pass out from the overwhelming pain.

She felt like her head was going to explode!

She heard a beep in her mind.

“FLOODGATES PROTOCOL INITIATED!”

“Kimarya, a massive amount of new information has been discovered. This information contains a foreign language, culture, memories, thoughts, and beliefs. Something forcefully assimilated some of it before protocols fully kicked in. How do you want to proceed?–”

Kimarya stayed entirely still as her splitting headache died down.

“We appear to be in an unknown and likely hostile environment. How would you like to proceed?”

Kimarya replied, “Sunny, please scan through all the assimilated information, prioritize potential threats and safety, and then organize the rest in a new folder. Categorize it so we can look through it later on.”

Sunny responded, “Understood. Starting emergency full-body cellular scan.”

Kimarya sat in silence, holding onto her hair for a few minutes as her mind finally stopped spinning.

Sunny continued, “I have determined that this is not our original body. In fact, with the biological markers detected, I can hardly even consider this body to be human. I have detected many new biological factors in the host body. 300… 2,000…16,000 unknown factors.”

Realizing what Sunny said, she urgently started to observe her body.

She felt it was weird that everything around her seemed gigantic.

Was this body smaller than her old one? She looked at her surroundings before realizing that the woods and everything around her were vastly larger- likely enough to put the evergreens to shame!

“What’s going on?!” Kimarya asked in alarm.

Kimarya, with her back pressed against a massive tree whose elastic, pore-like bark sank in slightly under the pressure of her hand as she stood.

She looked down at her hands, noticing the dark red hue of her skin and the absence of her tattoos and body mods.

This was a completely different body, one smaller and seemingly more agile than her old one.

She walked on shaky feet, trying to get a bearing on where she was and how she had gotten here.

As she examined her body, she realized she was wearing crude clothing made of animal skins and odd fabrics but with impeccable stitchwork.

She felt anxious as she tried to recall her last memories- she remembered being in a city, not a dark forest.

“Sunny, what’s going on?” Kimarya asked, her voice tinged with alarm.

Sunny responded,” Kimarya, after scanning through your memories and the new information, my general conclusion is that you died in your sleep of a heart attack and other odd complications being reborn in the body of this person.

This body differs vastly from the standard range of a human being; there are even new organs outside of what humans are supposed to have. Even the usual ones are slightly different but with similar functions. The vitality of this body is tremendous! The muscle density and structure are beyond anything that a human should have.

It’s safe to assume we are in a different world.

Gravity and environmental factors vary significantly from those on Earth. Sunny showed Kimarya a blue screen of light in her vision, showing text.

Name: Draeneoy

Age: 13 years old

Sex: Female

Health: Unknown status, but healthy.

Kimarya’s mind reeled at the flood of information. “All of this sounds insane,” she said, her voice laced with disbelief. “How is this possible? 13 years old? Is Draeneoy the name of the host of this body?”

Her heart suddenly skipped a beat.

She stopped breathing briefly before asking, “Wait, where is she??”

Sunny responded, “Regarding the host, it seems she also died from an unknown toxin, likely from our immediate environment. The likely source is the odd tree-like organism you were leaning against. I recommend creating more space between it and yourself.”

Kimarya immediately increased the distance between herself and the odd tree, brushing off her entire body. There seemed to be some bizarre powder substance all over her body.

Sunny continued, “From looking through these memories, she seemed to have been on the autism spectrum.

Unfortunately, this made her incompatible with her tribe and culture, so she didn’t have a great time. In fact, the reason she was out here was because of a tradition among her people, where some 13-year-olds go out into the sacred woods to find an ancestral spirit guardian or never come back. Based on the dangers and creatures out here, the more likely scenario is death. It’s a coming-of-age ritual, to describe it better.

Kimarya wondered out loud, “Death from what? Are there more of those toxic mushroom... trees?”

Sunny responded,” It’s actually a gigantic variation of mushroom - but Kimarya, there seems to be a massive ecosystem of dangerous and extremely powerful creatures all around. Apparently, with the coming-of-age ritual, an extraordinary method exists to accept an ancestral spirit guardian. The inhabitants of this world possess an astounding growing potential to increase their power.

Your options for right now are to either get back to the village or try your luck to form the Ancestral Spirit Guardianship. The latter would undoubtedly be more dangerous and most likely lead to death if its lineage doesn’t accept you. However, banishment from the village for not doing so would be assured if we return now without it.

Assuming that we make it back...

Her body started shaking, and goosebumps formed on her skin as she grew serious and rightfully scared. Kimarya stood in the dark and humid forest, her thoughts in turmoil as she tried to decide what to do. On the one hand, she could return to the village and risk banishment from people she had no emotional attachment to.

On the other hand, she could follow the insane rite of the coming-of-age tradition and most likely die in the process. Having already experienced death once, she was not keen on going through it again. She weighed her options carefully, trying to find a solution that would keep her safe and allow her to explore this strange and exotic world.

Finally, she made her decision. “Sunny, I don’t know what to make of this world, but I’m not willing to risk my life on such a low chance of survival. Take me back to the village.”

Filled with determination, she made her way through the forest, her gaze sweeping the trees and underbrush in search of potential threats. Despite the fear of encountering a terrifying creature, she couldn’t help but be filled with a sense of wonder and admiration for the peculiar plants that encircled her.

She had never seen anything like them before and couldn’t wait to learn more about this new world and its possibilities.