Iris woke up, her eyes puffy and red. She felt more liberated but still had that looming cloud of worthlessness above her. She sat up, seeing her dirty clothes, and then a shiny light could be seen from her peripheral vision. She noticed that it was the seed-like object that the guardian had left.
She sighed after seeing it instead of all the meat that she struggled so much to get, but there was nothing she could do, and she knew it. Therefore, she stood up and walked towards the object. She grabs it, inspecting it to see if anything is weird about it, but its shape is that of a bean while its colors are a light brown with hints of green.
Iris' brain suddenly remembered how seeds could be planted, which led to an infinite amount of food being released without having to fight for her food. She lowers herself, carefully positioning the bean on her right hand as she begins creating a small hole beside Apatura, then she carefully drops the seed and covers it.
Iris looks at Apaturas's cocoon, wanting to touch it; she retracts her hand as she sees lightning appear.
Why didn't lightning appear when the guardian touched Apatura? Is it because it is immune to lightning? Is it because she is stronger? Iris couldn't wrap her head around anything involving the forest. No matter what happens, there is always something that contradicts what she previously believed as reality.
Iris now is going to rely on the seed, praying that it is a fruit or something valuable for her to survive the grueling nights. She now has to water the plant and collect more fruits to survive until she doesn't have to rely on leaving her zone to find food.
She makes her shield have some depth, enough depth to contain water for the seed. She makes her way to the river, passing through many trees and her faster route, a route with seemingly fewer animals.
She arrives, seeing that there are very few animals, so she cheerfully jumps towards the river, her body instantly feeling refreshed. She needed a way to destress and forget about everything, only enjoying the coolness and trying not to alarm any fish.
After her needed bath, she walks out, her clothes sticking to her as she pulls it to dry it while controlling her shield to carry water.
She arrives at her zone, watering the plants and creating a new fire after the last one gets turned off by the sudden wind of the guardian. After creating the fire, she cuddles beside it, admiring nature and how she knows nothing about it.
…
Iris is now one month inside the forest; her schedule consists of finding fruits and watering the new seedlings with one leaf. The day she saw it, she had so much happiness; she was already imagining what type of delicious fruits she would be eating every day.
In the month, she used it to train her shield's strength and try to bend it as much as possible, with her best being able to create a five-centimeter dent and the length being that of an average cat. She also began running until her feet gave out. The blisters appeared and disappeared the other day, causing her to stop earlier, as the pain is sometimes too much for her to run.
In the last few days, she has noticed how many animals aren't showing up; the many squirrels that she had to fight for the seeds to later give to them aren't causing her any more problems. Simultaneously, every night had become colder and colder; the vivid green trees changed color to dull red, orange, and yellow leaves.
To counteract the cold, in her runs, she grabbed as many big leaves to try and create a thicker blanket; however, she had only found four leaves that matched her criteria, and she had no way to merge them.
She also took more notice to see Apatura, but there is nothing different about her. She has had dreams about Apatura waking up, but they all result in dissolution after she tries to touch her as she is abruptly awoken by a sharp pain in her chest.
Iris's life has been stagnant, with very little excitement, only trying to survive. There have been close encounters with wolves, snakes, and pumas where she has fortunately not been noticed or not enough of a threat to attack.
Her only entertainment is creating a new record and eating new fruits that she enjoys; she has also taken a fascination in looking at the sky, feeling an extreme attraction towards it; there is always a spectacle to see in the vast sky.
Iris had been concerned about the lack of the mysterious creatures appearing. Did they run away after Apartura's showcase of power? Why haven't they appeared? Do they know something I don't? Every day a strange feeling loomed over her, a feeling that an imminent danger would appear.
Every night she became more careful in not revealing her location, creating two fires and covering Apatura with small leaves that, to her surprise, didn't react to Apatura's lighting. The decoy fire had more leaves stuffed as if she were there.
However, that fear appeared on a seemingly normal night, the animals doing their regular schedule until they all suddenly began to frantically run away. Noticing this, Iris quickly went to her zone, covering herself in the blanket to try not to be spotted.
Phwwwwwht
Her body felt how a sticky substance was covering it, an unpleasant feeling combined with the smell of citrus. Iris trembled but controlled her breathing to not be discovered. Relying on the other unlucky animals that weren't fast enough to escape. Using the sounds of their screams to take deeper breaths.
"You are quite a clever girl if I do say so myself." A distorted, thick voice spoke.
Iris closed her eyes, imagining the strongest shield she could build, a shield strong enough to send attacks while having the speed to retract to her before she got attacked. All she needs is to save time.
"Hehehehe" The voice maniacally laughed.
The smell of rotten meat protruded from its mouth, its eyes dark as the night.