After having arrived inside the forest without being noticed, I decrease my speed and immediately catch my breath.

 

I have run such a long distance and constant time, adding that while carrying a young girl with me, I am mostly tired from it.

 

And so, while sitting under the shade of a giant tree to reoxygenate my body, I look around my new surroundings.

 

Around me, there are similarly countless giant trees as the one currently on top of my head covering the sky, only casting twilights and rays of light through the crevices between the leaves from the morning light.

 

Their giant roots decorate the ground level as other kinds of plants populate the surfaces of the roots and the soil.

 

Needless to say, all of the plants are thick and lushful, pulsing the forest with vigor and vitality with clear knowledge of them being untouched by external forces. Furthermore, most of the plants have hazards bound to them from the varying sizes of thorns on their bodies.

 

The dark smoke from that burning village has traveled far enough to have reached the top of the trees and causes slightly dimmer illumination under it, but it is more than manageable for the numerous leaves to do their job and does not taint the ground.

 

Having said that, the giant roots blocking both of my sides' vision is providing the extra cover had pieces of that group of goblins somehow noticed me.

 

It is probably a needless worry, but I really want to live considering that magic truly exists within me and this world, so my survival is top priority.

 

On the note of magic, I seem to have an inability to use magic despite it existing within me. When I try to use it, the lumped particles of magic would quickly turn dark before it completely disappears, so I have been living without the aid of magic.

 

While thinking about my life, my lungs are getting more organized as I turn my head downward to look at the already neutral face of a young girl sleeping silently in my arms.

 

She bears the same silver hair as me but is spanned longer. Probably up to her waist. Her eyes are red and her naked body is considerably well-proportioned.

 

Bits of ashes and splatters of blood have sullied her once pristine looks, however, the incurred contamination is nothing like me which are wholly covered in dried blood and numerous darkened surfaces of the skin.

 

It is a bit of a weird thing to say ‘her’ when this girl is also me at the same time, but it is for the sake of easier management of my current body control. But then again, I can not even get the chance to do just that for whatever reason and that moment of her face mysteriously smiling seems to originate from a reflexive reaction.

 

But maybe I can replicate its outcome again?

 

“Damn, she really won't budge.”

 

When I tried to mentally control her with increased intent, my brain started to hurt a bit.

 

Yea. The thought is futile.

 

Likewise, it would have been fine with just having two bodies to attend. Seriously. But then again, it is like my soul was split into two to enliven these twins and thus, causing them to share an inexplicable bond raised to the extreme level.

 

Fortunately though, any damages sustained are independent, meaning that only one of them suffers from their own cause.

 

Thinking it like that is starting to stray me from who I originally am. I should better stick with calling her as someone outside of my own to some degree since we technically share the same consciousness.

 

After relieving myself, I tighten my grips on her before veering away from the site of the burning village of goblins infestation.

 

Some time has passed from the moment I begin walking along the forest. The day has already reached its noon phase and is nearing evening.

 

I have not eaten anything since entering this world, so our stomachs have been depressed about it.

 

I have not searched for food throughout the time of treading this place from the fear of being chased by hidden goblins, but I think it should be fine now.

 

I settle her down in between the cover of giant tree roots and under the tree's spacious silhouette before I begin the operation.

 

Naturally, the soil of this place is loaded with soft grass, so her body should be comfortably resting on top of them while the soft grass cushions my feet.

 

While avoiding the thorns from the several plants around me, I nib out the strange fruits of this world from the strange plants and inspect them using the knowledge of botany and agriculture from Earth.

 

However, it does not take me a while to realize that those hard-earned arsenals are magnificently useless. The peculiarity of this world plants are on a whole other level.

 

An apple-shaped fruit is within my hand, but its skin is pink and there are weird vine-like protrusions stemming at its top and bottom. Above all else, there is a white liquid dripping from the vine-like protrusions.

 

I have no idea if this is even edible, so I just shelve it in my hand and nib out another strange fruit from another strange plant while evading the hazards around me.

 

This time, the fruit is a lump of several circle-shaped fruits possessing a similar appearance as that of berries. But veering away from their Earthly characteristics, viscous liquid of deep purple keep dripping from each of their bottoms while fragments of magic's particles are oozing along the flow of the liquid.

 

While looking at the two fruits in my hands with hesitation, I realize that these two are the most similar of Earth's characteristics when glancing at the other fruity plants around me.

 

…am I being forced to eat these or one of them?

 

Granted, the grumbling of my stomach from seeing the risky yet tempting fruits in my hands causes a chain reaction to happen, grumbling the girl's stomach in sync, so I can not just ignore these two. But maybe I can find an alternative method.

 

Oh, right, there is the option of hunting. But then I have not seen any animals during my walk.

 

However, just as I think about it, my eyesight catches a hazy bending figure in the distance.

 

It is slowly approaching me, giving me the chance to observe it before coldness runs down my spine.

 

That is practically a predator! There are even multiple of them!!!

 

My mind is instantly permeated with distraught and havoc while moving my body towards my other body, hastily picking my other self to my arms before speeding away from them spiritedly.

 

No, I do not want to turn my head around. That is too distracting on top of hearing their abundantly abnormal growls!

 

The distance was long when I first noticed them, but they are rapidly decreasing it due to the trees' roots and thick ground-level plants as sounds of plants and woods being destroyed behind me further energizes my alarmed brain.

 

Amidst the run, at the corner of my eyes, a group of abnormal rabbits are feasting on the grass and plants around them, causing me to stumble to the ground in front of them and catch their attention.

 

The moment I look towards them while the girl’s body is lying unresponsively near them, I am immediately frozen in shock.

 

I can only catch a glimpse due to my muddy mind, but their eyes are vividly red, closing and opening them sideways with a white horn protruding from their foreheads.

 

My eyes are fixating on their eyes as they jump over us. But then immediately after they do that, I can hear whimpers and scattering noises behind me before my head can turn in that direction.

 

My body froze for the second time. Staring in silence at the corner of my eyes, the figures chasing me are utterly perforated with a big hole on their bodies.

 

The figures that resemble wolves with spike protrusions from the lining of their spines are lying lifelessly in front of the rabbits. Some that managed to evade their vital organs from being destroyed are whimpering on the ground while the rabbits are solely watching them.

 

I can not move from the shock inflicted to my mind. I am only staring at them until all of the wolf-like creatures have died from blood and organ loss.

 

When the rabbits turn around and face me, my mind subconsciously goes blank as their vivid red eyes are spinning. Then, after a few seconds, they jump away from me before being veiled by the lushful plants, only leaving me, the girl and the carcasses in the area.

 

Wait. Did they seriously just leave me…?

 

While fixated on the blood pooling from the carcasses flowing towards me, my body slowly stands up and picks my other self… or the girl. After that, I tread in daze along my original route.

 

————<>———O———<>————

 

The day has turned dark.

 

At the moment, I am holded up inside one of the giant trees.

 

It is a place considerably safe against outside threats. The enormous size of the trees of this place makes it so that almost all of them have an empty space covered by their intertwining sizable roots and below their trunks.

 

The entrance of the empty space I have chosen is a hole just apt enough for me and my other body to fit through together, so I have just rooted out some plants to cover the gap. Furthermore, the remaining unused plants are being used as fuel for the fire in front of me.

 

Naturally, I am saying all of this is due to the survival intensity of this place.

 

After having felt death from the wild animals of this place, I have opted into only consuming the two closer Earth-style fruits that I have gathered and completely thrown the idea of hunting out the window. And so after that again, I have to endure the extreme coldness of this place's night hours.

 

I do not know why, but it does not even generate snow and freezes water despite the exceedingly low temperature.

 

The temperature outside would be similar to that of a fridge, so I had to strenuously suffer the impending frostbites while I was gathering sticks and fallen branches for fire and gap's covering. It was after noticing the rapid coldness felt during the evening that I had made that decision. Due to that, the impending frostbites specifically at my feet and hands did not occur.

 

However, merely sheltering inside here with the fire is not enough to withstand the coldness. Thus, after ruminating about it, I decided that embracing my other self, no, the girl’s body is the most feasible manner.

 

When I think deeply regarding it, this is practically the only option available for me. Since biological beings' bodies will generate exothermic heat as long as they are alive, it is a gateway towards free naturally producing heat. I am using even hers and my breaths to reduce our bodies rate of heat loss.

 

Other than that, I will admit it, she is surprisingly useful.

 

Ignoring that my life is basically tethered to her, she functions as a good pillow due to her astronomically soft body. I had been feeling it during my run and walk, but those moments gave me no room to appreciate her features.

 

And so with that, while me and my other self are still slightly trembling, I try to sleep through the night and wait for tomorrow to exist.