Chapter 5 - The pond and the Knight

The branches hanged low like skeletal hands reaching for a lost soul, they were gnarled, black twigs spread as a spider's web might be; Rina had to stop several times to tug loose the large, grey, spotted t-shirt. The sky was clouded, grey giant rolling waves closing in fast above her head, but she cannot feel the cold. She wrapped her arms around her torso, her mind whispering a mantra – it should be cold, she can't feel the cold, why can't she feel the cold – perhaps, the adrenaline had spiked her tolerance. 

Rina walked deep in the bowels of the gloomy forest, yet, the further she walked the deeper the impression of the strangeness of this world – she wandered if she'd been drugged – so far, Rina had passed a squirrel with two tails, red eyes and razor sharp teeth, a soft looking bird that ate another bigger bird whole, and a mewling fox she thought was terribly adorable until it hissed at her and tried to bite a chunk of flesh on her leg; Rina wacked it with a long, mean stick. 

She broke though the foliage to a glade with grass a rich verdant, lovely wild flowers blooming, and a small pond. She felt the instant desire to rush forth, but her instincts made her hold back. For many long, painful minutes, Rina waited at a safe distance. She stepped gently on the floor, carefully edging to the bank. 

For the first time since she'd woken, Rina had the chance to look at her face; baby blue eyes, auburn waves, sweetheart face...these were not her features. Rina had almond shaped brown eyes and black fair hair, her face was round and her cheeks always a little too full when she smiled. This gaunt face, and dark circles and golden skin – they weren't hers. 

Rina's shaky hand reached out, the image flickered, the wet baby blue eyes rippled – suddenly, a black sludge jumped from the depths, greedily grasping her wrist. She tugged her arm back, but the slimy, purplish appendage pulled harshly, and Rina's knees skidded across the floor. 

"What the fuck?!" 

She clung to a sticking root, it was thin and reedy, and the middle already begun to crack. The sludge tugged harder; half her body submerged into the chilly water; bubbles frothed on the surface. Rina stared dumbfounded. It was cold but there were bubbles? Her distraction cost her heavily as her grip loosened, only two fingers clutched at the straining root, her skin ached and her palm turned red. 

Rina was going to die in the middle of a God forsaken forest with a weird slimy creature.

The air split, a knife cut smoothly through the purple sludge and Rina fell back, she crawled away on all fours, her chest raising rapidly as her lungs strained to bring in air. 

She glanced up, the opportunity to appraise her saviour slipped as he squeezed her arm, dragging her body away from the pond to the edge of the clearing where they tumbled into a copse of bushes.

Rina had the intention of accosting him with all sorts of questions, but his large, calloused hand slid over her chin, covering half of her small face. 

"Hold still." He said quietly.

From the surface of the water tentacles shot out swaying and almost caressing the air in the strange dance before retreating to the depths. The large man heaved a relieved sigh, the warm air raising goosebumps on the back of her neck.

Rina watched the water blankly, to think she'd been close to death's door because of a little pond. Her death wouldn't have been swift, fighting off that crazy woman in her own back garden had been a torturous ordeal, the tentacles of the creature would have clung to her limbs the same way her robes had that night. Rina gulped, her throat constricting. 

She was in a strange world.

In a foreign body.

And her mind constantly in turmoil. 

The man lifted Rina up as if she was nothing more than a loose leaf stuck to his boot, crouched and deftly slid the knife into a heavy military boot, he patted her shoulder and instructed her to follow him sombrely.  He hadn't glanced at her once and walked off into the woods expectantly, his pace swift but hard to keep up with. They walked and walked and walked – Rina grabbed his arm to stop him when they were near the treeline.

The man towered over her, his hazel eyes narrowed as he took a general sweep of her body, the corners of his lips curled downward, a frown marring his face. He bowed his head and curly, brown locks fell over his forehead like bountiful waves. He was a strange mix of youthful faery and stern warrior.

Rina did not know quite what to make of him, neither did he. 

Her mind did not revolt, for once, no secondary voice screamed names or shoved pictures to the forefront - he was a stranger to her as much as he was to the original owner of this new body. If her situation had not been clear when she woke in an attic, was accosted by two men she had absolutely never met but her mind decided to excruciatingly pop into existence, and nearly died via tentacles in a picturesque little clearing...then she really has no idea what would make it clear.  She died. Rina Okinawa died after a crazy serial killer got her hands on her for a sick demonic ritual...which apparently had worked. 

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice softer than what she was used to. 

Not her voice. 

Rina shook her head, she squared her shoulders, flinching at the ache under her shoulder blades - just how fragile was this girl's body? 

"Thank you for your help, but I need you to answer - "

"Why are you here?" He asked briskly. 

Rina paused. Unconsciously, she stepped back. She bit her lip to stop her body as the man's disapproving glare increased in intensity. As a priestess, she'd often been denied normal things other girls indulged; Rina took to reading. She experienced many adventures through the many books, fell in love, laughed and cried all along with her beloved characters. Recently, there had been a favourite trope - the one where the main character died and transmigrated into a book, into the past, into another person's body...the list never-ending with possibilities. 

One thing she'd taken from those stories had been the universal rule that carelessly speaking and revealing abnormalities in your character often led to attracting interest. 

Interest meant observation. Observation meant she couldn't move around freely. Rina cannot grasp her situation in its entirety yet. More information had to be acquired. 

"I...I got lost," Rina said. 

The man nodded, his frown easing and his arms uncrossing. He tilted his head, waving her to follow behind him. Rina screwed her face, silently mocking the man behind his wide back. They trudged through the forest for a good twenty minutes, at which point Rina was halfway through a mini scenario of her future murder at this man's hands, despite the fact that he saved her life. Just twenty minutes ago. 

They stopped before a low, square building bustling with noise and activity; a girl in a skimpy two piece walked by them, gracefully joining the crowd. For a second, Rina worried she ended up in hell and was being punished via some sort of TV show based school...she pinched her arm and the pain woke her from her fantasy. Anything would be better than going to school again. 

The man pushed her into the throng of sweaty, heavily perfumed, chaotic mass of bodies, Rina grabbed his sleeve, desperately tugging on it. Her eyes sought his, and she nearly cried at the smirk directed at her. 

"What's your name?" She raised her voice. 

Rina's body was swallowed by the many bodies in the narrow hallway, slowly being pushed further in. The man looked over his shoulder, his smirk transforming into something serious, something neutral that made shivers run through her body. 

"You should not wander off again little cub."