The Written Works: First Recognition

By the time that she was able to find a place to rest, it was midnight. The moon shone down on her, showing her just how bad her arms were damaged. She tried to care for them, but neither of them would move, which made it incredibly difficult to do anything.

But soon she felt a sense of remorse for her behavior towards the villagers. Of course, she was still slightly upset at them for causing this, but she remembered that they had apologized many times to her, and…

“Oh, for crying out loud, why didn’t I just stay there for the night…”

Now, in the freezing cold, in the forest, she began to remember that she’d turned down a warm place to stay, where she would be cared for by a sympathetic young woman, and she felt the anger she had towards the village redirect towards herself. And she knew that her current situation, lying in a random clearing in the woods in the middle of the night, freezing because her clothes were long since ripped, was all her fault.

She shivered, unable to try to warm herself up with her arms, so she brought her knees to her chest and tried to fall asleep like that. But every howl or rustle or hoot that came only served to keep her awake.

“I just was angry…” she muttered into her knees, trying to hide from the world.

She clenched her teeth, attempting to stop them from chattering, but they refused to stop. And then, to top the cake of her pain, her arms became less numb than before, and she could now feel the full extent of her wounds.

For the first time, she felt as though it would be better if she could leave this world. Of course, she still had the goal of finding her characters, but she forgot about it for a moment, just to sulk that she appeared to be here. Stuck. She remembered that she’d never learned how to leave once she entered.

That scared her greatly. While she did enjoy this world, she would like to leave eventually. She had a lot to live for where she came from. She wanted to go back to her study, read, write, and hang out with Thaire. Did she want to be here?

But the tinkling of a bell interrupted her near spiral into misery. The faint ringing, jingling, of a small chiming bell. It sounded all around her, faint at first but ever growing louder. Louder, louder. A small light wove in between the trees, taunting her. She stopped hiding from the world to listen.

As the bells grew louder and louder, she sat on her knees, looking around impatiently for the bells. The echoes made it nearly impossible to determine where they were, so she waited, closing her eyes and carefully listening to the bells.

She felt a sort of presence in front of her feet, and the bells abruptly stopped, so she looked up, nearly blinded by who she saw. A concerned looking girl stood in front of her, seemingly made of pure light, her hair pulled up. She seemed both real and fake at the same time. When their eyes met, Jordini’s heart skipped a beat in fear.

Jordini scooted back from the girl as best as she could, startled by her sudden appearance. But the girl only came closer, standing over Jordini, seeming concerned for her. All of the words seemed to be pulled out of Jordini’s mouth, and her entire body froze. The girl bent down slightly, whispering with a calm and soothing tone.

“Are you alright, miss?” the girl asked.

Jordini’s voice barely came out, and all the air from her lungs appeared to be gone.

“No…”

“Who did this to you?” 

The girl sat next to Jordini, glowing slightly less.

“It doesn’t matter…”

“If you do not wish to say, I will not force you. But would you like me to help you? Perhaps get you a warm place to sleep?”
Jordini tried to move her arms, and they still lay limp at her sides.

“That would be amazing…”

The girl grabbed her shoulders and stood her up, beginning to walk as the tinkling bells came back once again.

“Follow me, there is a cabin nearby.”

She felt slightly uneasy with this girl, but nonetheless, she wanted somewhere to stay other than the freezing cold woods. It was only a short walk before they arrived at a log chopping cabin which appeared long abandoned. The girl led her in, and stoked the fire while Jordini sat in a chair, too exhausted to do anything else.

“So,” the girl said, setting the fire tools aside, “what is your name?”
“Jordini-”
“Wait, you’re Jordini!” the girl stood up, bowing in front of her. “To everything that is good, you are far more powerful than me! Is there anything you need?”

Jordini watched the girl panic, shell-shocked by her reaction.

“Do… you know who I am?..”

“How could I not know! You created everything here! I-I never expected to be able to help you! Please, let me get you some things!” the girl rushed out of the cabin, coming back only moments later with food, bandages, water, and a change of clothes.

Although the supplies were great, Jordini now felt bad, thinking that this girl had given her too much. So she stood up, standing in front of the girl.

“Please, you don’t have to do this for me-”
“Of course I do! I-it is the least I can do! Please, I insist!”

There was a long silence, before Jordini nodded, feeling slightly guilty.

“Would you like me to help you with your arms?”

It now felt rather embarrassing to be cared for like this by a girl she didn’t even know the name of, but the girl had insisted, after all. Jordini sat back down and let the girl tend to her, wanting to simply be able to do it herself.

“I am happy to help you with your journey, Jordini. You created me, after all. I will never be able to thank you enough, but let me try.”

The girl finished tying the bandages around her arms, which helped greatly with the pain. Jordini smiled, feeling appreciated but still rather guilty.

“Thank you…”

“Of course! Now, please, get some rest.”

The girl guided her to the bed, turning around and preparing to leave.

“Where are you going?” Jordini asked.

“Ahah… important business.”
And with the fire stoked, and Jordini sitting on the bed, the girl left, the wind howling outside. But the warmth of the fire drowned out every single worry Jordini had, and she soon was able to fall asleep again.