Changes (2)

After her dinner, there was much to do. Kyriaki's mind was elsewhere, floating among the clouds above for some reason. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she might be in an intoxicated state. 

Still, she tried her best to prepare herself for the next day, and of course, that went horribly wrong. Firstly, she had mistaken the bowl for a small bundle of sticks (for firewood) and thrown the bowl into the fire for fuel. 

Then, with a bemused expression, Kyriaki stared at the fire as the bowl crackled and burned. "Well, that wasn't my brightest idea," she mumbled, shaking her head at her blunder. "That... hmm. Yeah..." 

Secondly, as the night progressed, she somehow ended up in a near-death situation when she tried to take a quick dip in the river, she almost fell asleep and that ended up causing her to drift downstream. 

Luckily, she didn't make it to the waterfall due to the immense sound that it produced, so it had woken up Kyriaki much earlier, but still, 

"Well, that was scary," she remarked. "I should not do anything else other than go to sleep." she vowed. And that was the cause of the third problem; she accidentally extinguished the flame of her campfire. 

How exactly? Well, due to her sloppy movements, when she returned to her camp all wet (and naked), she searched for the clothes that she removed earlier and put them on. After that, she tripped on a loose piece of rock on the ground and fell onto the campfire. She was so intoxicated, that she wasn't able to feel much pain caused by the fire, and with the fact that her body was still wet, the fire eventually extinguished. 

In typical Kyriaki fashion, she immediately attempts to start another fire with a piece of flint and rock—fortunately for her, succeeded—on her fourth try too. 

She went to sleep afterwards. 

The next morning arrived, and Kyriaki woke up a little after sunrise. The temperature wasn't as bad compared to the previous night, but it was still cool enough to create a thin layer of mist. However, she had a painful headache as soon as she woke up and it wouldn't go away. She also felt weakness in her arms and legs, along with being thirsty. 

And so, Kyriaki decided to take a sip of water to hydrate herself, unlike the day previously, so it seemed like she had learnt her lesson about treating herself as a priority and everything else—like her interests as a secondary objective. Though she still didn't eat, unfortunately, but it was still a move in the right direction.

"What should I do for today? Oh, I know. I would need to search for berries. The terrain, weather and temperatures should be able to support berry growth. They should also contain a fair amount of potassium. And if I stumble across Enset Ventricosum, the 'False Banana', that would also be great." 

The Enset Ventricosum, also known as the 'False Banana', is a large herb, despite looking like a tree, that grows in the former country of Ethiopia (now incorporated in Alkebu-Lan). It would grow upwards of roughly ten metres and it was an extremely useful plant for those who lived in the area. 

And why? Well, everything about the plant could be used. The roots and stem could be used to make a type of bread called 'kocho', a great carbohydrate provider. Then, there was also 'bulla', a side-product of making kocho, a white powder that could be used to make several other kinds of food. 

Nevertheless, the reason why Kyriaki had thought of Enset is because he had guessed the broad location of where he was. And that was somewhere in Ethiopia, where those in the Homo genus first originated. 

After all, if this was really two million years ago, then humans shouldn't have made it past Arabia yet. Therefore, this place should be in Africa, likely central east Alkebu-Lan, the land where the former country of Ethiopia once controlled, is the only place where humans are present.

"Ugh. I just remembered. I would need to create a page for that mushroom I ate yesterday... either my tolerance is low, or the alcohol or whatever substance that was in the mushroom was so powerful that it got me into that state of drunkenness." she complained.

So she sat down on a ledge and began to make a quick sketch of the mushroom she had eaten yesterday. It was umbrella-shaped so it was easy to identify even without a detailed drawing, thus a sketch with most of the broad aspects should be enough to be a reminder. 

Then, as Kyriaki finished up the quick sketch, she made sure to label it as 'dangerous' and 'intoxication' with the words and a simple icon. "Oh yeah, I should give it a name," Kyriaki realised. She paused and thought real hard about it. "Is 'White Umbrella Mushroom' all I can come up with..? Ugh. Let's just call it that for the time being." 

In large, bold letters, Kyriaki wrote the name she came up with for the mushroom and she snapped her notebook shut after she was done. Proceeding with her goal of finding some fruits or berries for potassium, she ventured back into the forest in hopes of a big haul. 

"If I want to find berries... I believe they need a lot of sunlight per day in order to grow..." she scanned her surroundings for patches of sunlight shining through the canopy and onto the forest ground. "I should go search the perimeter then. The sunlight should be quite constant there." she uttered to herself. 

Kyriaki then navigated through lush green shrubs and plants searching for a small to medium-sized bush that contained fruit or berries. Any fruit or berry was fine, as they all contain some amount of potassium, though it will vary... a lot. 

Let's review here as I search. Electrolytes—sodium and chlorine, safe level. Potassium, currently finding a source, magnesium, I think fish would supplement it, along with calcium and phosphate. 

Now... vitamins. That's the real pain here. There are thirteen vitamins a human would need to survive, but I should focus on three—vitamins D, B12 and iron/vitamin A. Iron should not be a problem as deer meat (or venison) is rich in iron and vitamin B12, and the best source for vitamin D is sunlight. 

Huh. I actually know much more about vitamins than I thought I did. Maybe that survival class my mum signed me up for during summer vacation is finally paying off. Now how about the other vitamins—C, E, K, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7 and B9? 

Now I think about it... I do not know about any natural sources of them that I could get my hands on. But I'll just rely on fish then. I clearly remember that it is a good source of many of these vitamins and minerals. 

Kyriaki sighed. 

"This is too many changes from my previous lifestyle. I really want to go back~" she complained. It is true. From constantly worrying about vitamins, minerals and electrolytes, hunting your own food instead of going to the supermarket, sleeping on and using primitive tools or buildings, there are many changes to Kyriaki's life. And there are definitely more challenges to come knocking up her doorstep in the future for her whether she liked it or not.