NEW CHAPTER EVERY FRIDAY
Meet Vitor, a young man who, after his death, awakens not in oblivion, but in the mystical celestial plane. Confounded and teeming with questions, he is thrust into the kaleidoscopic universe of Konosuba - a realm he once di...
"Argh...." I stretched out, feeling a pulsating pain in my back. "What a horrible be-... - Wait a second! Reality hit me all at once, ripping me from the last remnant of sleep. I wasn't in the comfort of my bed, but rather on a mound of hay in an abandoned barn. The sun sneaked through the cracks in the old wood, casting golden rays directly onto my face.
My stomach growled like a hungry monster, but it was thirst that tormented me the most. What was left of the stale bread and moldy cheese became an improvised breakfast. But water, that was a problem. None since I arrived in this world. Between bites, a subtle sound caught my attention. Could it be running water? Was I so exhausted yesterday that I didn't hear it?
I swallowed the last piece of bread and got up. The barn seemed much less threatening under the sunlight, and nature was vibrating in a symphony of colors and sounds. The birds sported exotic plumage, and their shapes were oddly familiar. Still, with a bizarre twist - I'll never forget the toucan with the hummingbird's beak.
I followed the soundtrack of what I suspected to be running water. After a relaxed ten-minute walk, there it was: a small stream, its waters murky and opaque under the morning sun. For a moment, I was tempted to drink directly from it.
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However, an old piece of advice echoed in my mind: "Never drink water directly from the source if you can't boil it, even if it seems clear and clean. Transparency doesn't guarantee the absence of microorganisms!" The words of 'Pink_Fire_Flames', a creator of game tutorial videos that I used to watch, may have saved me from a terrible stomachache.
Of course, that water was neither clear nor clean. With no possibility of boiling it, I opted to investigate the source. I picked up a fallen branch and walked a little upstream, looking for any sign of contamination. Instead, I found something much worse: a dead creature, a grotesque hybrid of rhinoceros and capybara, lay in the middle of the stream. Repugnant. So much running water, and I couldn't drink a single drop, let alone boil it. What the hell!
I know what you're going to ask: why didn't I go further upstream before the water reached the dead animal? Well, I tried, but the water's color was the same. And I really didn't come to this world to die of contaminated water a day later.
Without a backpack or something similar, I was stuck carrying my only possession in hand, the wine bottle. After spending all day in that hot sun, it wouldn't stay in good condition. I knew in the end, it would just be extra weight; I didn't have another choice; there was no way to keep carrying the bottle everywhere, so I decided to leave it on the ground and move on.
I was returning to the barn, now much more frustrated than when I woke up. The sun was scorching, and I had to do something about this before returning to the road. While walking, I remembered an episode of a survival show I once watched, 'Man vs. Nature, ' I think? Which suggested using a T-shirt to protect your head against the sun. So, upon reaching the barn, I turned my shirt inside out, as the outside was all dirty and messy, and wore it on my head as an improvised turban. I didn't know if it would work, but what choice did I have? Also, I rolled up the hem of my pants as high as possible; I knew the journey would be long, hot, and very dehydrated.
