A storm

Alexandria peacefully rested in the small hole. There were no animals nearby, all most likely seeking shelter from the coming storm.

On her skin, ants, and insects crawled, biting at the unwanted guest who invaded their little oasis.

None of this woke up Alexandria, who was exhausted beyond belief from being constantly on guard while adjusting her plans to maximize her odds of survival.

Humans were never built to do all of these things alone, we were always meant to travel in packs and look out for each other exactly so what happened to Alexandria wouldn't happen.

Nonetheless, Alexandria is alone, in an unfamiliar world.

The only silver lining is that the constant external pressure had stopped her loneliness from destroying whatever remained of her willpower.

As the dark clouds above rumbled with power, the first raindrops started to fall, each one cold and uncaring for the poor girl below them.

Alexandria woke up only minutes after it started to heavily rain, her brain no longer capable of ignoring the outside world in favor of recovering its strength.

-x-x-x-

Hey, I'm still alive I guess, though the mud around me seems to disagree.

Seems like while I was asleep some clouds gathered above the forest and unloaded on it, and me as well.

My arms shivered as I felt the goosebumps on my skin desperately trying to keep me warm.

My teeth are clattering too, I'm absolutely freezing. I need to get out of here before some bacteria or virus hops a ride on my already weakened body.

I stood up with no issues, my wounds now fully healed.

I grabbed my "spear" from the ground, the wood starting to mold thanks to the newfound moisture in the air.

As I looked at the walls of dirt containing me here, I realized that I would have to climb out.

The bad thing is, the dirt around looked unstable as hell, and the water just added to its weight, meaning I could get crushed beneath it.

Giving an exasperated sigh, I probed the dirt with my stick, testing it a bit before trying to climb up.

Fortunately, nothing happened, and I was able to climb out easily enough with a bit of effort.

The downpour was only getting heavier, and I could already see the grass completely buried beneath the water, it showed no signs of stopping too.

It's a fucking flash flood, the whole forest is failing to cope with this.

Now I had to make a choice, I could run up to higher ground and seek shelter in the trees, or I could go downhill, all this water has to go somewhere, and the odds of a river or lake being downhill are high, especially if this kind of flood happens periodically.

I could follow the water as it flows as well, giving me a guide to follow through the forest.

With that, I made my choice and started running downhill, the crackling of leaves replaced by wet squishes of mud and the sound of splashing water.

Good thing that the previous owner still had these thick leather boots, otherwise my feet would be frozen already.

I continued to run, the water levels only rising further and further, the water flowing downhill with me.

Eventually, the water got to the height of my beasts and I lost all control of where I was going, the water now taking me wherever it wished.

I did not trash around, since that would be a waste of energy, instead, I focused on keeping my head above the water no matter the cost while occasionally testing if I could move my limbs, which I could no longer feel due to the cold.

There is no way I won't come down with sickness after this, I can only pray that my healing magic will kill the bacteria and viruses that are no doubt already wreaking havoc inside my body.

The current continued to wash me down the forest, with its strength constantly increasing and my limbs growing weak from constantly trying to give my head breathing room, I was forced to abandon my "spear."

Farewell fateful comrade!

The water continued to bring me lower and lower until I finally managed to see the edge of the forest.

Just beyond that edge, a large lake could be seen, the heavy rainfall causing ripples on its surface.

The water from the forest seemed to be barreling toward it, and in the distance, I could see more lakes that absorbed much of the water flooding from the woods.

The water crashed into the lake, completely submerging me and pushing me deep below the lake's surface.

After a second of panicked fumbling, I let my body float toward the surface to re-orient myself

Now that I knew which way was up, I managed to crawl out of the lake at its edges, the rainfall still going strong.

My body felt sore and I coughed violently, trying to remove the water from my lungs.

Well, I managed to find a source of fresh water, and there might be fish in this lake too, it seems pretty big.

The lake was, in fact, very big, it was around 20 meters by 20 meters, and it was most likely extremely deep, so the odds of some fish living here were high.

I laid down in the mud, no longer caring for hygiene, not that I cared for the past few days anyway.

My body felt sore, my head ached, and my lungs exhausted took in sharp breaths, each breath hurting like hell.

Just how long is this gonna go on for? Is there no end to this constant struggle?

I was frustrated but too tired to do anything with that frustration, and soon enough, my thoughts fated as only the pitter-patter of rain remained.

-x-x-x-

As Alexandria slept, her body struggled vehemently against the microbe invasion now seeking to destroy her, but it was a hopeless fight. No human could suffer through such an intense three days of constant injury, pain, and exhaustion without severe consequences, and those consequences were now catching up to her.

Her heart flooded white blood cells forth, but it was all in vain as the bacteria continued to overwhelm her, causing her to violently cough in her sleep as her temperature rose to 40 degrees Celsius despite the cold outside.

However, as her weak and tired heart was about to give up, just as the bacteria were about to do enough damage to ruin her lungs beyond repair, a dim halo appeared above her head, barely visible and incredibly frail, but it was most definitely there.

Her body glowed with dim light, her tired muscles rejuvenated, her heart beating with new vigor as her immune system dispatched the invasion in a matter of minutes.

The halo stopped glowing, and so did her body, now it simply floated lightly above her head.

-x-x-x-

I slept surprisingly well considering yesterday's situation, and as I awoke I was surprised to feel energetic and healthy, with no fever or horrible cough awaiting me.

I quickly got up and walked toward the lake, its clear surface reflecting my appearance at me.

My hair is now a beautiful silver, though it is dirty and messy due to all the things that have happened, my eyes are a clear admiral blue, and my looks are a mess.

My clothes are soaked, ripped, torn, and damaged in various places. At this point, they are completely useless in protecting me from the elements, though they still cover my privates at least.

Now, your typical isekai protagonist would magically create new clothes with knowledge no normal person should have, contradicting their "I'm a nOrMaL wEeB" shtick.

I have no idea how to make clothes, why would I ever need to know that with modern comforts around? So until I manage to buy some, I'm stuck with this.

Though all of this is certainly interesting, I, as an atheist, am incredibly confused as to why I have a halo above my head.

Magic exists here, so it's certainly possible, but usually only angels have halos, why do I have one? Am I no longer human? Is that why the biblically accurate angels attacked me before?

I reached my hand and tenderly touched the halo, only to be shocked to see it disappear.

Oh? Was I hallucinating? As I considered this, it reappeared above my head again.

Okay, let's try to make it disappear again, for longer this time.

I focused my will on the halo, and it disappeared just as I wished, but the second it did, I felt my body lose some of its strength. It felt like I lost a tenth of my muscles.

Fuck, Fuck, come back!

And so the halo appeared again, and my strength returned with it.

...Well, seems like I'm tied to this halo now, for better or worse.

As I was considering this, I noticed a fish jumping out of the lake, a larger fish jumping after it, biting into it, and killing the prey in a matter of seconds.

Damn, not even here is safe from the law of the jungle huh? I mused to myself as I watched the clear blue water change to a lighter shade of blue.

I was surprised by this since that was the first time I've seen blue blood, I know some animals on Earth had it as well though.

Cool, the more you know I guess.

I walked to the edge of the forest grabbed a stick and snapped it over my knee, creating many small sharp points at the end of it.

I then walked to the edge of the lake and waited for any fish to come closer, and soon enough, I noticed a group of small fish fleeing from a larger fish.

I positioned myself, pulled my hand back, and with all my strength threw it half a meter into the water, slamming it into the larger fish.

I've never felt more ecstatic in my entire life, with a huge grin on my face I charged into the water and pulled the big fish onto dry land.

It's about 17 centimeters long and looks a lot like a golden trout.

I put it down on the ground and did my best to remove its organs, though I did a very messy job, I managed to remove all the harmful organs like the stomach, and the rest I would eat.

I hummed a tune as I set up a fireplace, I turned around, ready to spear the fish on my stick and cook it, when I realized it was gone.

I could say I was furious, but that would be an understatement. I frantically looked around, and I noticed a small green creature, cackling as it ran with the fish in its arms.

I immediately gave chase, my longer legs allowing me to catch up with it even as it ran at full sprint.

It looked behind itself, each time letting out a shriek of surprise as it realized I was not giving up, after a minute or so, just as I was about to slam it into the ground, it turned around and nearly stabbed me straight into the heart with a small stone dagger.

It looked horrendously crude, but it certainly was at least a bit sharp.

I looked at the dagger and realized this goblin just gave me something way more valuable than a mere fish, with that dagger I could sharpen my stick even more, actually making it a wooden spear.

The goblin itself gave me goblin slayer vibes, with a loose loincloth being its only clothing.

An ugly ass face too. it looked incredibly creepy while it scanned me with its eyes.

I'll assume the worst and say that these guys are like in Goblin Slayer, in that case, this is very bad.

I have to kill him, if I don't, he'll alert his nest about me and they will... Yeah, we know what they would do.

I readied my spear, and just as I did, he charged at me, trying to rip my belly open with his knife.

I simply kept him at bay with my spear, constantly trying to poke into his eyes, which he defended at the cost of his vision.

As he put his arm up to defend his eyes, I continued poking him while sneakily getting closer to him, as he smacked my spear away and shouted in anger, he realized too late I was in hand-to-hand combat distance.

I grabbed his throat and slammed him into the ground, the wind knocked out of him by the maneuver, next, I forced the knife out of his hands and used it to stab him in the throat while he gnawed at my hand like the dirty little gremlin he is.

And that is how I became a goblin slayer!

Chapter end