Just A Tad Lost

Chapter 1

The girls brain was scrambled, grasping for information that wasn't there. She knew her name, it was Mangane. She knew how to survive, what was nessecary to keep herself living, but anything past that was... Non-existent.

She didn't know who she was, what she was like. Living without knowing herself was unsettling, to say the least.

The moons rays could reach her through the light fog she was in, their muted glow being the only light source for who knows how far. The frosty, wet ground brushed against her ankles as she found herself walking foreward. At least there was practically nothing she could have tripped on. Although she knew that falling and getting amnesia wasn't that big a concern.

No noise could be heard. The air was far too quiet, with how dark it was mobs should be everywhere. Still, she wouldn't turn down a stroke of luck. Hurrying along, there was nothing to be found. No hint of anything other than grass. No trees. No water. No civilization. Not even a stray rock. Nothing. It was all too strange for her.

~~~~~

Sunlight found its way through the mist in the air, helping her to see more and more as morning approached. Her feet aching she kept on her seemingly endless walk. Somehow she knew she had walked this often before though, so she could power through it.

The sun grew stronger, and the air grew steadily warmer. She regretted wearing a thick sweater, but had no choice but to wear it. She had nothing on her.

Clambering over a short hill, she saw a welcome sight. A familiar sight. The glimmer of sunlight on running water.

Eager to be near some sort of landmark, she shot off towards the large river in front of her, foregoing the pain in her legs from walking for who knows how long.

She sat down on a patch of grass on the riverside, resting from her short sprint. The speedy river was calming, though clearly dangerous. She needed to avoid falling in. The water might just take her a hundred feet downstream in a second.

Mangane looked over the river, seeing a spruce forest, snow falling gently despite the sweltering heat she felt on this side of the river. Ice gathered along the opposite edge, but not close enough to leap to. With how cold it would be, wet clothes were a big no-no.

She needed to get across the river. Wood would be an important resource, and the only trees she could see were across from her. She started upstream. Maybe it would become thin enough to jump across.

~~~~~~

With time, it did just that. By the time she could get across, the sun was high in the sky. She hadn't lost the forest, but she had lost a lot of daylight, so she worked quickly to punch a few trees, using the first log she gained to protect her hand from the pain of wood against flesh.

She cut down a few trees, gathering the wood they dropped, and checking the remaining branches still held up by something stronger than gravity for saplings or apples. Satisfied with her findings, she quickly made a crafting table, and with it a wooden pickaxe.

Placing her crafting table back into her inventory, she chose a random direction, looking for a cave so she could have some proper tools.

~~~~~

By the time she had mined enough for a few basic tools and a furnace, and found a few wild sheep and slain them, darkness had started to creep up the horizon. Mangane had to finish up soon.

She hurriedly threw together a small hut with the wood she had found, blocking off anything that may want to harm her while she slept. She made a bed with the wool she had collected from the sheep, and placed it in the corner away from the door. The mutton she got was placed inthe furnace while Mangane thought to herself.

How? She didn't think she had hit her head and forgotten everything, there were no bumps or pain, but what else could have done this? Magic? Simple misfortune? There were far too many questions to answer and no way to do so.

She knew she had a home. Somewhere. Half-baked thoughts of a rushing stream. The warm glow of sunlight through trees. Smells of something sweet. The adrenaline from being somewhere she wasn't supposed to, doing something that wasn't allowed.

Strangely, she didnt really want to go back. Something about her old life was unappealing, and Mangane had no clue what. She had enjoyed being out in the wilderness, alone but unafraid.

But why didn't she want to go back to whatever she had before? There was something there, there were people she missed, places she loved. In her heart she knew it was home but she never wanted to go back. There was something around the corner, unseen but terrifying to her.

The mutton was done cooking. Pulling it out of the furnace she ate a bit, and saved the rest for when she'd need to eat next.

A clattering of bones rang out, revealing the location of a skeleton, but it sounded far enough away to worry. Noises rang out during the night, making sleep a challenge. But nothing noticed the little hut, and in time its occupant drifted off in the warm embrace of woolen blankets, the chill from the snow outside unable to reach her.

BOOM.

A noise startled Mangane out of slumber. It wasn't very close to her, thankfully, but the sound of feet pounding the earth was getting closer. Going outside, Mangane saw a woman, short with striking red hair, running from a zombie. There were scratches all over her and a large hole a little ways back.

Noticing Mangane, she called out to her, "Hey! Oh wow I haven't seen anyone here yet but may I come in not to intrude but I'm kind of getting chased by a zombie and I like to live but I'm also low health!"

Not even waiting for an answer, the stranger ran inside, slamming the door shut and glancing back at the zombie just in time to see it burst into flames.

"Sorry about that miss, my name is Palladi! What's yours?"

"Um..." Mangane muttered, taken aback, "I am Mangane. I think. The whole memory loss thing makes it difficult to know if I'm being truthfull, but I can't think of anything else my name might be."

Palladi gasped, "Girl, you got the weird no memories thing too! Hey maybe there are even more people who forgot literally everything! We should totally go see if that's true later but I'm really hungry right now, got any food in this place?"

Mangane nodded to her, handing her a few bits of mutton. While she ate the two of them spoke. (Read: Palladi spoke, Mangane listened and made a few noncommittal responses.)

The two of them decided to work together, maybe they would find out something about their past.