A vortex ripped through the fundamentals of time and space a meter off the ground, and a gray-skinned woman appeared on the other side. The mother of prophecy fell through the portal, landing unceremoniously on the ground, and it closed behind her just as suddenly as it appeared. Slightly dazed, she hastily rose to her feet, ignoring the pain and discomfort that the abrupt fall inflicted upon her. Grandfather, where have you sent me?

  She warily turned her head around, quickly scanning her new surroundings. The pale full moon offered barely enough light in the cloudy sky. Straining her ears, she listened for anything hidden in the undergrowth nearby. An empty grove with no present danger, and I'm alone.

  Her hand gravitated to and rested on her belly. Or am I? She relaxed visibly; her features softened, and a gentle smile crept onto her face as she cradled her hope for the future. The adrenaline rush that fuelled her actions until now abruptly ceased in the absence of imminent danger.

  Keep yourself together, girl. I’m not out of the woods yet! When she broke free from the distraction, tension returned to her limbs. Her attention snapped back to her surroundings. She peered up at the canopy, down at rocks, shrubs, exposed roots, and oddly shaped trees, looking for anything familiar. She frowned.

  I don't recognize anything here. Vivian pushed her tired body to her feet and moved forward. I can’t stay here.

  Exhaustion crashed through her body; her legs wobbled unsteadily, and she collapsed. The fear, loss, near death, and the rollercoaster of emotion she endured; everything overwhelmed her all at once. Tears flowed freely from her eyes, and soft whimpers betrayed her until consciousness abandoned her.

  While she lay prone, her body shimmered and emitted an eerie, pure blue light. The shimmering stopped just as suddenly as it began. The light lingered a moment then it also faded away.

  Vivian lay asleep. Her breath came calmly and evenly, a momentary state of tranquil bliss after the catastrophic events of last night. The morning sun broke over the horizon. She clenched her eyes as the warm light obliviously glazed rudely over her. Still mostly asleep, her hands covered her eyes on reflex. Dirt and tears had dried and caked her face. The side she had collapsed on could serve as poor camouflage. She scratched the itchy concoction, destroying the inelegant facemask.

  Rubbing the final remnants of sleep away, Vivian unhurriedly raised her upper body off the ground and propped herself up with her left arm. Her right hand instinctively rested on her abdomen. She unconsciously rubbed her belly; maternal tranquility permeated her being, granting her a sense of delight, contrasting directly with how hungry she was.

  "Where am I?" she asked rhetorically, casting a wary glance around.

  "Who's there?" she questioned as she pushed herself to stand, her body tensed to confront the unknown entity. Her arms moved naturally to protect her baby. Her belly grumbled, accompanied by pain. Both served as a nagging reminder.

  The demand for food had intensified since the ritual. In due time, for now, stop needling me. She rebuked her body’s basic needs and returned her focus to the blue window still in her vision.

  A solid image replaced the box, filled with dots of various sizes, skittering to and fro. It obstructed the world behind it, and the sudden appearance caused significant discomfort and confusion.

  "What the?" Vivian tried rubbing her eye to remove the offending blockage. It failed epically. She frantically blinked her eyes, an exercise in futility. With a deep sigh of frustration, she closed them to calm herself. The map persisted. Is this what grandfather meant "the ordeal is just beginning?"

  "What is this? As if I don’t have enough problems already! What’s wrong with my eye?!"

  Vivian exhaled in relief as the map gradually faded, overlapping with the world instead of obstructing it completely. She wiped the sweat from her brow as this newest issue seemed solved. Her stomach voiced its discontent again, gurgling loudly. The hunger is real enough. Vivian, in her frustration, looked at her balled-up fists, uncurled her fingers, and slapped her face. Alright, that confirms I’m awake.

  "Let's try this again. Who-or what-are you?" Vivian voiced her question into the air with uncertainty, fearing another blow to her sanity if she got a response.

  "Okay, so does that answer ‘who’ or ‘what’?," Vivian commented.

  "No, that sounds terrible. I'm calling you Sasha instead," Vivian countered and waved her hand dismissively. A full minute of silence passed while she waited for a response.

  "Wonderful. Now, what the hell is going on here?" Vivian asked, ignoring the visual changes; she preferred the new look.

  "Sasha, the only thing you’ve given me so far is a headache. Let me ask more directly, what did you do to my eye?" Vivian folded her arms across her chest, noting that these boxes had become much more verbose. Maybe too much.

  "I know I’m a wreck; living in this world hasn’t been the most leisurely!” Vivian shouted her disdain. “It wasn’t always like this, but the golden age in the dawn of my race wasn’t worth two millennia of hardships and counting.”

  "Enough about that. Could you do something about my eye? I have an afterimage of the map burned into my vision, and apart from distracting, it hurts."

  "Sasha, I—" Vivian impatiently started, her belly interrupted with its raucous rumbling. She continued after a heavy breath. "Forget it. This discussion will have to wait. Can you fix up the map for me? Make it a bit more useful?"

  "I need to have more than white dots to indicate, well, literally everything. I assume all the dots on the map are animals? Bigger dots means bigger animals?"

  "Can you assess their strength, but most importantly their eating habits? I need to know what to avoid far in advance. By default, anything that wants to eat me is on the ‘don’t mess with me’ list. And color them in a meaningful way."

  “Very well,” Vivian scratched her chin thoughtfully. "Display me on the map as a gray dot. Next, if the animal is weaker than me, color it closer to white. Otherwise, adjust closer to black. The beasts that consume meat I want you to replace the circle with a square. If something out there actively wants to kill me for any reason, mark that as a star."

  "Can I control the map?"

  "Limited functionality. Yeah, I got it." Vivian interrupted with a wave of her hand. Sasha’s limits are frustrating, but I can't wait to tap into her full potential. Now the more pressing issue, I'm too weak for hunting.

  "Can you add plants to the map? Safe to eat can be green. Red for poisonous. I’m in unfamiliar land here, so better safe than sorry," Vivian continued.

  "One last request. Can you make it easier to see through it? Yes, yes, just a little more and—perfect! I'll work with this for now." Vivian's belly rumbled again. She turned her attention to the forest.

  "Sasha?" Vivian asked curtly, slightly frowning. "Can you? Or is that broken too?"

  "Is that so? Thanks. And, I’m sorry,“ Vivian shook her head and let her next question go. I’m lashing out at her unfairly. I need to get some food in my stomach. “How long until you clean up that abnormality?"

  "Do your functions include providing food or water? Anything tangible?" Vivian asked as her belly grumbled again. Seriously, I know, alright? Can’t you hear me up here trying to find something to eat?

  "Relax, alright? Sorry if I touched a nerve,” Vivian softened her voice. “Make the map just slightly more visible."

  She split her attention between the map and the undergrowth. With trepid breaths and light, silent footsteps, she abandoned the grove. She maintained a long distance from everything marked darker on the map as she whisked through the undergrowth like an invisible phantom, her eyes darting from side to side as she moved. She presented a wide berth for every square on her map. They were all pitch black.

  Sticky saliva clung to her dry throat. She forcefully swallowed the offending wad as she cautiously darted through the undergrowth. The map exhibited its value, showing where every animal in the forest was including the relation to herself. However, she lived the life of a survivor: the hunted, the fearful, the cautious. She trusted nothing beyond her own ability. But maybe. Maybe I can lean on Sasha?

  Vivian traipsed in the undergrowth. Her eyes were attracted to every movement nearby. Her ears pricked at every noise. Little by little, her faith in the map grew as she confirmed its accuracy. Her head started pounding from the influx of world data. She dropped to the ground and hid among fallen branches and leaves.

  "Sasha. I'm getting another headache from all these notifications, and animal data, popping up in my vision just because I'm looking around. Can you stop throwing information in my vision unless I ask specifically to see something?" Vivian groaned while rubbing her temples.

  "I fail to see how the gestation period of manticores and the detailed intricacies of the beldereaver courting and mating process will help me." Vivian visibly shivered, pushing those images far, far away. She continued. "That added nothing of value. The only useful bit I obtained from all that information you overloaded me with at present is that the wild raspberry bush right there isn't poisonous."

  Vivian approached the raspberry bush and plucked a tiny fruit from the vines. Popping it into her mouth, she bit into it. The sweet and tart flavor that ensued was smooth and refreshing. She reached for the bush; reason and caution be damned, but she managed to hold back.

  She put her diligence to the test. Collecting the ripe berries despite the hunger pangs and her stomach’s cries for more. She avoided the thorns as much as possible, and soon a pile formed at her feet. Vivian plucked a final raspberry, tossed it into her mouth, and turned her attention to the pile. Throwing etiquette to the wind, she ravenously attacked.

  Sweet and tart assaulted her taste buds once more. Handfuls of berries disappeared into her mouth until she devoured her berry pile, Crazed eyes turned to the lush plants. She moved to a full bush, caution lost to gluttony, and she blindly plucked everything she could reach. Her hands and arms became riddled with scrapes from the thorns in her haste to harvest. Raspberry juice covered her hands from pinching a few too hard.

  The aroma from the juice incited her hunger further. She hurriedly stuffed everything she picked into her mouth as quickly as she could. Raspberry juice covered her cheeks and lips and leaked down the corners of her mouth.

  "No. At least, not at this time. I don’t have much ability with my bare hands, as my strength is lacking. As such, I don’t have confidence in killing something, even in a drug-induced sleep." Vivian replied between chewing. She licked her fingers and then wiped her face.

  "That’s not necessarily true, either. You mentioned my malnourishment earlier. Also that I'm starved and dehydrated. These conditions make me even weaker physically.” Vivian explained while scouting the area for more bushes. “Strangling an animal or breaking its neck—even beating it to death with a stick takes some strength. More than I feel I have.”

  “Additionally, I refuse to eat raw meat; I can’t stomach the smell, let alone the flavor. That is enough for me to prefer fruit. Add in it could make me sick, and I’m even less inclined. I’m pregnant on top of that. I won't eat anything that could harm my baby.” Vivian’s right hand trailed to her abdomen and stopped over her child. An act more comforting than filling herself with raspberries, even taking into account the pain relief from satiating her hunger.

  “With that said, eating meat would require making a fire. Fire by itself would attract unwanted attention. Additionally, the smell that cooking meat would disperse would undoubtedly attract hungry beasts that wouldn't mind adding me to their diet." Vivian casually picked some raspberries, tossed them into her mouth, chewed, and swallowed.

  "Before ingesting meat, I'll need materials to make tools for killing and skinning. Also, weapons for protection are critical when much bigger and more dangerous animals appear." Vivian stated as she eyed the last raspberry stuck to her finger. She ate it and licked the remnant raspberry juice from her hand. I devoured all that rather hastily. I hope I won’t be sick.

  "Helping you helps me." Vivian shrugged. She wiped her face and rose to her feet. "These berries are delicious. If I could live off these, I would."

  I need to get this map sorted; it could be much better. Vivian burped abruptly and covered her face in slight embarrassment.

  “Just shut up.”