Phantasia: The Princess Knight

Chapter 2: Alicia

Sound of dripping water filled Akari's ears. Her pounding head felt like it had been hit by a rock. She slowly opened her eyes allowing the dim light to pierce the darkness. "I could have sworn that I had just died..."

Akari looked at her surroundings a bit confused. She was in what looked to be a small wooden shack. "Where am I?"

Akari's head was killing her. Her vision was a bit blurry but images of a young girl's life kept flashing through her head. The girl's name was Alicia. Alicia had no idea what her last name was. She had been alone for as long as she can remember. While she was out in the woods she met some men who wanted the food she had collected. She had worked so hard for that food and refused to give it up. She had already gone a few days without eating. The men did not seem to care and hit Alicia in the head with a stick. She collapsed to the ground and passed out. When she woke due to the drops of rain hitting her head she found herself lying in a pool of blood. There was no sign of the food she had gathered from the forest. Using the rest of the strength she had left in her she made her way to her makeshift shack where she had fainted.

After the memories finished flashing through her mind Akari realized she was now a girl named Alicia. The girl had died from blood loss after being hit in the head. Akari no, now Alicia shook her head. She felt a tinge of sadness for the poor girl who had to take care of herself at such a young age. "I guess from this day forward my name will be Alicia. I will live for the poor girl who lived such a hard life. I will also live this new life to the fullest for myself as well. But my first task..."

Alicia rubbed her stomach. The hunger pains from her stomach hurt just as much as her head did. Alicia slowly got up from the dusty floor that was now muddied from the rain and blood that puddled in a pool on the floor. Alicia looked at the pool of blood and frowned. "This is why I am so light headed. The poor girl really did die from blood loss. But how is it that I was able to take over the body?"

Shaking her head and pausing her thoughts, Alicia felt like she would die from thirst before she died from hunger. "First thing's first I need to get some food and water. Water part should be easy..."

The rain was coming down good. Alicia saw that there were already a few broken pots collecting water. She staggered her way over to one of the pots and looked at the clear water inside. "At least the little girl knew to wash her pots."

Alicia picked up the broken pot carefully and took a sip of water. The cool water felt good as it moistened her parched mouth. Alicia did not drink too fast, she did not want to make herself sick. She drank slowly until she felt hydrated. She put the pot down and felt a lot better. "Now that I had a drink I need to find some food. But from what I know the little girl had only found a few wild vegetables before they were taken by those men. At least I have a bit of knowledge from the little girl on what is edible. I can also try to trap some animals..."

Thinking for a moment and looking around the shack one more time she saw that there was nothing she could really use as a weapon. She looked outside and saw that the rain was letting up and the sun was starting to poke out from between the clouds. "I will need to go out to the forest. Although this body is weak, I will need to endure it. I died once already. I can not die again from starvation!"

Building up her determination Alicia forced herself to make her way out of the shack and headed back towards the forest using the memories of the little girl. The shack was about a ten minute walk from the forest. There was no one else around.

Off in the distance, she could see a small village but she saw no people around the area she was at. Alicia could only assume that those men who robbed her of her food and killed the little girl were from the village itself. If she had the strength and a sword she would bring retribution on to those men for killing the little girl. On this thought, she was not sure if she should thank the men or not. They deserved to meet the same end as the little girl. But if they did not kill the little girl would she have had the chance to be reborn here in this place? Wherever this place was.

Right now Alicia had no idea where she was or what time she was in. But her current lack of food took precedence over knowing where she was exactly. Alicia ended up taking almost twenty minutes to get to the forest. The normal ten minute walk turned into a twenty minute walk due to her injuries and lack of stamina. Right as she entered she immediately looked for a sharp rock and a somewhat long stick. She planned to use the stick as a weapon and according to her memories to sweep the forest floor to scare away any snakes.

After a few minutes of searching, Alicia found what she was looking for. She found both a sharp rock and a decent sized stick that even her weak little body could swing or throw. She felt strange for being in such a weak little body, compared to her old body that had all the correct muscles of a swordswoman.

"I will have to train hard to reach my previous state." Alica mumbled to herself as she started to whittle away at the stick in her hand.

After a bit of work, Alicia looked at her handiwork and smiled. "Not too bad... Should at least pierce the skin of a small animal. I do not know much about plants but my father did teach me trapping. I can set a trap then use this sharpened stick to kill whatever I catch. The sharp rock will come in handy for skinning it. The only problem after that is starting a fire... I guess I will worry about that after I catch something."

Alicia got up from the ground and started to look for things she could use to make a simple trap with. She had no bait at this time so she could only hope that something would be curious enough to want to check out the trap once it is set up. As long as it was not too big she could even scare whatever it was into the trap then kill it. Alicia knew that her current condition was not going to allow her to chase anything down and kill it that way. But this body needed some form of meat to nourish her current state and build up her stamina and grow some muscles.

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