Given An Unwanted Second Chance

Chapter 32

I laid on the ground for a bit, trying to gather myself.  After that moment, I shakily pushed myself to my feet, rubbing my arms.

My first instinct was to try to open a portal back and try to talk everyone down, but I pushed the thought away.  Fresh seemed heavily dead-set on "trial running" my soul.

I took a deep, shaky breath.  I then took in my surroundings, trying to figure out where I was sent to.

I couldn't figure it out, though.  The air felt vaguely positive, but not overly so.  Just a little more than neutral.

I was in a small forest.  Or the edge of one.  I could see buildings a little ways away.

...I hadn't been in this shapeshifted form for long, so I was probably safe for now to look around.

I closed my eyes for a moment, shaking slightly before opening them again.  I took a step forward, and then another, and then began walking out of the forest.

I squinted my one working eye against the sunlight.  It was pretty bright...

 My soul was pounding in my chest.  I was scared, and I didn't know what to do.

Maybe just...give Fresh time to calm down?  Rethink trying to pilot my soul or whatever...?

...I highly doubted he'd rethink it.  I had to think of something...but my mind was too scattered from the encounter.  I needed time to calm down myself.

I was really worried about my group, but I was most worried about Dust.  Did his LV get downgraded to 20 from dying?  Or did it go back up to whatever its previous level was?  Was he weaker?

I shook my head, trying to gather my thoughts.  I looked around more, now seeing more open field beyond the forest.  There were some people walking around or sitting in the grass, clearly just enjoying the day.

"Look out!"

I turned my head swiftly and yelped a bit, dodging backwards from a stray frisbee that had been flying.  It had been thrown from my blind side, so I hadn't even noticed it til it was way too close to hitting me.

A couple kids ran over, looking sheepish.  "Sorry, miss!  You kinda came outta nowhere..."

I smiled weakly.  "I-It's okay.  I wasn't really paying attention."

The younger of the two was looking at my face curiously.  "Is your eye okay?"

The older lightly bonked the other on the head.  "You can't just ask that!"

I chuckled.  "It's okay, I...get asked that a lot.  I'm blind on the one side.  It's why I didn't see the frisbee coming."

The younger gasped.  "Oh no!"

I glanced over at the frisbee then back at the kids.  "Don't mind me.  I was just taking a stroll through the woods and clearly picked a poor spot to emerge."

The younger followed my gaze and then ran over to the frisbee that had continued flying a small distance away before landing.  The older sighed.  "Sorry about him.  He can be blunt sometimes."

"It's fine, really.  Kids can be like that.  I'm just gonna continue on my way.  Have a nice day."

"You too, miss!"

The older kid ran after his younger brother, and I turned away, continuing my walk.  I set my sight on the buildings in the distance and altered my path slightly to start heading there.

I walked past people, not paying them any mind.  They wouldn't be able to answer the questions I had.  Not without me seeming real strange, anyway.

I wondered if ANYONE would be able to answer the questions I had.  Though if I happened across some----