Materia Book 1: A Survivalist's Guide

“First day. Woke up. Appear to have… new life. Vividly remember dying. Demon attack, fire, ash, destruction. Multiple organ failure. Last memory of world overrun by demons. Curious. Cycle of life and death broken somehow? In tropical seasonal forest. Old growth. Little civilization. Found one local wildlife, monkey. Not too talkative. Material plane. Could be unexpected afterlife, but gut says not. Rebirth of some kind? Not alone. Several others, similar predicament. Dwarf, one other lizardfolk, two humans, one yazata. One called Steve insists he didn’t die. Says was hungry and took rest buried underground. Unlikely. Out of touch with reality? Decent survivalist. Good to not be only one in group who knows how to live off land. Appears we will have to do so for now. Other lizardfolk seems… inexperienced. Lost dagger in river trying to catch fish. Went fishing again in dark. Unsuccessful. May have to keep eye on, lest he get hurt. Dwarf and yazata seem more charismatic type. Don’t trust. Dwarf obsessed with ordinary bucket. Yazata appears to be trying to teach monkey. Don’t know what. Don’t like. Human called Jack unknown quantity. Quiet, no impressions yet. Found river, seemed logical course to follow first. Caught fish in river, shared with others. Seemed grateful enough. Made camp for night. Flora and fauna suggest unfamiliar locale, but laws of nature similar enough. Can adapt, learn. In night, found decrepit cabin. Appeared to be scaled for humanoid races approximately nine feet tall. Writing unfamiliar. Theory: different place than Ethelas, but not entirely unfamiliar. Only one moon, as opposed to usual three. Mystery of apparent rebirth remains at large. Second day. Forest seems quiet. Steve reported tall creatures yesterday, no longer present today. Group proceeds along river. Find boar. Highly agitated. Attempt to approach, but human interferes, assumes threat, causes altercation. No choice but to fight. Regrettable, but predictable. Invoke magic, summon beast. Spell familiar, but result not: unknown raptor-like creature answers call. Haven’t seen before. Curious. Boar slain with little difficulty. Steve proves capable survivalist, makes excellent use of carcass. Boar provides generous supplies, despite regrettable outcome. Keep traveling. Begins to get darker, stormy. Have to take shelter, find animal den, make camp. In middle of night, yazata finds poisonous berries, asks if edible. Glad she had presence to ask first. Would have been unpleasant otherwise. In night, visited by more. Humans, not locals. Same as us, remember ravages of demons, dying, waking up here. Speak of large flying raptor-like creatures, poisonous berries, other dangers. Seemed sincere. Displacement larger than just group so far. Powers needed to circumvent Cycle… Unprecedented. Speculation, but likely kind of divine intervention. Not enough pieces to put picture together. Must keep exploring. Third day. Keep venturing forth. Humans from last night follow. More mouths to feed, potentially more resources also. Risky, but right thing to do. Find road, leads to signs of civilization. Farms, manned by tall humanoid race. Scale appears reasonable to cabin found before. Race lives presently, then, not past. Unable to communicate with unknown species. Language barrier. Social customs too dissimilar to communicate effectively. Dwarf and yazata tried, managed to get a direction. Unclear what to. Acquired sample of their script for study, but will need more detailed material to study to learn language. Managed to converse with local birds using appropriate incentive. Spoke of blueberries. Flora surprisingly similar to Ethelas, despite other differences. Warned of large flying lizards, apparently main threat in area. Know no similar threat from my world. Caution very advisable, as is watching skies. Found campsite, left abandoned. Looks like occupants left in hurry. Unable to ascertain reason for departure. Vexing. Taking supplies questionable given proximity of civilized peoples. May be viewed as theft. Would personally prefer to leave behind, but will likely be outvoted.”