Harm and Harmony

-Chapter 6-

Day: 1

Days Left: 5479

Lives Saved: 0

Corinna opened her eyes, choking and spluttering out water. She looked up and rolled to the side, dodging the blade that swung down. It missed and struck the sand. Her eyes darted up at a mass of black fur drenched in water, with a pair of toxic green orbs glowering at her, hungry and starved. The monster grabbed her ankles, its talons clawing at her skin, pulling her towards itself, raising the dagger once more. With a loud shriek, Corinna kicked the monster in the snout, then the neck. It stumbled, dropping the knife, then collapsed to the ground, clutching its face and throat.

Using the opportunity, Corinna took the dagger and ran as fast as she could. She didn't care where so long as it was far away as possible from the monster. The darkness prevented her from seeing anything beyond a metre in front of her. Still, she continued to look behind, to see if it was chasing her.

From what she could see, the Prison of The Eternal Abyss was mostly sand, dead grass, or grey earth. But in the distance, she could see the desolate and flat void jut up into a vast mountain range. Occasionally she would see a decaying plant that had grown to a pitiful height that rose to her shins.

Upon seeing a shelter, Corinna stopped to catch her breath before examining it further. Near a pile of rocks was a small hut crudely constructed out of corrugated iron plates. Behind the metal shelter was a black tree, bare of foliage and charred.

She tore open the makeshift door, made from the same material as the rest of the house, and stepped inside, heaving the door closed behind her. The metal plates that acted as walls were barely rooted into the sand, likely to collapse from any moderate amount of force. Corinna was reluctant to stay in such a hazardous shelter, but it was better than nothing. With no windows, the inside was dark, only the cracks between the wall joinings and the door allowed slivers of light through.  

Inside was a pile of sticks and twigs, a crate of an assortment of items, and a thin red blanket that served as flooring. Corinna bundled up the material, shaking as much sand off as she could, and wrapped it around herself in an attempt to regain her body warmth. All of that running had dried her clothes to a small extent. But her body continued to shiver from her damp and cold hair that snaked down her back. After taking them off, Corinna squeezed her socks then banged her shoes together to drain them of water as much as possible.

She rummaged through the crate and found a coil of rope, then took the longest stick in the pile and tied the dagger to the end, crafting a spear as she knew that she would have to defend herself.  A knife would be useless to her, as it would mean having to fight in close quarters, but with a spear, she could stay at a safe distance. It also had other practical uses; a walking stick, something to reach high places. She would need to find food soon. Maybe there were fish in the sea? Perhaps she could go spearfishing? She then remembered the water nymphs that tried to drown her. Perhaps not.

Corinna huddled in the corner of the metal hut, snuggling under the coarse blanket as she continued to rummage through the rest of the wooden crate, trying to find anything of value or use. She took one of the other sticks and wrote in the sand a to-do list, sectioning it off with branches that led to possible methods and locations to find food or shelter. Recalling the weekly broadcasts of the Eternal Abyss, she drew the different types of monsters, all of various sizes and behaviours, that inhabited the realm. Her body jittered and shivered from the cold water droplets sliding down her back and the hair on her arms spiked up. The diagrams she drew were crude and messy as her hands would not stop shaking. From remembering the creatures in the sea that had tried to drown her, Corinna's eyes watered.

"Those were definitely water nymphs," she noted to herself. "Don't see them much on the recordings but... yeah, water nymphs. I'll be fine so long as I don't go into the sea."

Sniffing away her tears, she looked down, noticing a trickle of blood running down her feet. There were small scratches on her ankles from where the monster had grabbed her. She had been so preoccupied that only until now had she felt the sting of seawater infecting her wound. Corinna wiped away the blood, treating it as best as she could by tearing off strips of her sleeve and tightly wrapping it around her scratches. As only a few drops of seawater had been in contact with the injuries, she hoped that they wouldn't have become infected. 

She thought about the monster, wondering which type it was. All she caught sight of was a large mass of black fur and sharp talons and fangs. It was some sort of feral beast. Yet it used a dagger. The very thought that a monster was capable of using tools and instruments sent a shiver down the young woman's spine.

When she had regained consciousness on that beach, she had little time to think about how she had awakened on land. She was with the monster instead of being devoured by those water nymphs in the sea. Did that monster save her? Why would it if it were planning on killing her anyway?

Corinna then remembered that she had seen the monster before, only a glimpse of it. It was the same monster from back when she fell out of the portal. It was trying to escape, and it failed because of her.  She understood now that the monster wanted to kill her itself. Only having spent maybe not even fifteen minutes in the Eternal Abyss, Corinna already hated the place. She too would have wanted the person who stopped her from escaping to suffer.

Regardless of motive, it wanted to kill her, and Corinna had to defend herself. Despite watching the broadcasts of it live, the Eternal Abyss was different as a prisoner as opposed to a spectator. Though her great-aunt Rhea advised not to trust anyone, Corinna knew that she could not survive alone. Hopefully, there were other prisoners nearby, ones that were more hospitable than the monsters that occupied the land. 

There was a deathly silence outside. All that Corinna could hear was the sound of her own disjointed breathing, her body shaking, and the occasional creak of the metal hut. 

It seemed quiet, safe outside for now. She could find other survivors later. 

But first... rest...