To Live Again, For the First Time!

Chapter 66 - Off Track Pt I: (Getting Off Track)

Many thoughts ran through my mind in that instance.

I looked from one end of the long path I had been treading before looking to the other and then up. The path wasn't too narrow, but it wasn't wide either. The rockslide was above, and a cliff was below, as for my right and left, the rockslide wasn't going to spare those two ends either.

I craned my neck to look up at the movements of the giant pieces of the cliff that were slowly sliding down, reaching in my direction, being pulled by the force of nature that is gravity.

Looking both left and right, as far as I could see on this path, the same phenomenon was occurring, there was just no way I could get out of this by running now, not even if I sprinted at my fastest speed would I be able to outrun the speed of the sliding rocks considering the distance I had to travel.

I knew my physical capabilities perfectly well. Even if I had a sudden 'surge before death', it wouldn't work out.

Maybe if I had moved out right after taking that first photo here I could have made it out, but now it was too late for what-ifs. I just didn't have the time to think about those anymore.

I could hear the gears churning in my head, thinking of any other method I could use to get out of this without having my neck broken into two by a giant boulder, and at the end of a lengthy inner debate, there was really only one option left.

Well, the debate wasn't that long, I mean, you can just imagine how much time I had to spare... it was probably only half a second or two, but in front of imminent danger, it felt like much, much longer.

In the end, I was left with only one option, jumping down.

It's not like I could fly up.

The branches of the trees were layered, which could somewhat cushion my fall, and though the height I would have to jump was still staggering, I wouldn't die from it. 

I think.

Well, I'm 90% sure I wouldn't die from it.

As for coming out unscathed, well I guess it would only be slightly more likely than me finding a flying pig named Peppa and jumping onto it before flying off to a land beyond the rainbow in order to steal the gold from the leprechaun with the name of 'Shiny Pants'.

But only by < 0.000000001%

The best would be to be able to hang on to one of the branches from any one of the trees before climbing down or simply jumping down, but I had no time to pray right now so I guess I'll just have to make do.

I quickly removed the chip from my camera, just in case I'm not able to protect it later on, before stuffing the chip into my breast pocket and the camera into my hiking bag, which I promptly threw off the ledge.

Well keeping it was doing me more harm than good, dead weight if you know what I mean.

It wasn't going to be of any help unless I aimed for landing on my back, but considering how vital my spine is, there's just no way I would risk it.

I started climbing down the side of the cliff, trying to close some of the distance between the ground below and myself before jumping, but I quickly realized that my thoughts were simply too ideal. 

The debris was coming in quickly. I knew that at some point, rocks would start falling off this cliff, hindering my path.

If I were to be hit by one of those, my chances of survival would decrease exponentially. 

***

Emilin, whose hand clutched onto the side of the mountain, bent her legs, moving them closer to the cliffside before extending them in one fell swoop and letting go of her hold on the ledge she had been franticly holding on to.

Everything happened in a matter of instances. 

There was no more time to waste nor choices left to choose from.

As Emilin propelled herself outwards to avoid the rockslide as well as the debris, she arched like a weak projectile into the forest below.

*Creak* *Crack*

The branches, unable to sustain Emilin's weight, started to crack.

*Creak* *Crack*

She didn't fall on any tree, but rather a space between two trees, plagued with branches, but none of them thick nor strong enough to hold her weight.

*Creak* *Crack*

No matter how Emilin grasped at the branches, they just broke, one after another.

*Creak* *Crack*

Until there were no branches left.

*THUD*

'Crappity crap crap crap.'

'F... that hurts like hell.'

Emilin had done her best to land on her feet before rolling on the floor...

The number of swear words she had thought of in the last two days was probably equivalent or even more than that of all the swear words she had ever said in her lifetime. Well, at least in this one.

Even when she was working with foreigners with a different identity, she would always assume the identity of a gentleman or lady who knew no improper words, not because she was super against saying them, but rather because she wouldn't be able to make them sound natural at all in many of the circumstances. 

Being a gentleman or lady who only spoke when necessary was much more convenient overall.

All the personages who worked with one of Emilin's other identities found themselves working with someone who went straight to the point, not wasting another word. Someone who probably wouldn't even flinch if they were bombarded with curses, probably just calmly drinking their tea while ignoring them. Or even someone who was just too lofty to care.

This was mostly a misconception seeing as Emilin worked with these people through a screen and various voice modulators. She would just mute whenever she wasn't talking.

When she was muted, a preprogrammed calm, even, and faint breathing sound was all that the other side would be able to hear.

This subconsciously left the person on the other side of the call with the impression that they were talking to someone who couldn't be fazed no matter what they said or what happened during their transactions or businesses, which was quite useful on most occasions.

Well, the point is, she didn't really swear and she didn't bother with her business partners who did at times.

However, her actions gave others a different impression.

The people who interacted with her all thought of her as a lady/gentleman who was very proper and was strictly against cursing. Even if she/he didn't say anything, Emilin's business partners simply stopped swearing around her since there were just too many occasions in which an awkward silence followed any swear words.

To be fair, when most of these people first started working with Emilin, she was still quite young, so perhaps at that time she might have been slightly averse to strong curse words, but in order to not blow her cover, she simply didn't say anything. In present times, she could really care less.

Even her Big Brother Theo and Big Brother Nathan who worked with her in many of her ventures thought that she didn't like curse words, though they may or may not have been slightly (strongly) influenced by the preconceived image that they already had of their little baby sister in addition to the fact that she was still young.

The truth is, Emilin didn't really care all that much.

She didn't really care if you swore not or even if she swore or not, but still, the habit of not swearing grew on her, mind you, after Emilin got the reputation of someone who wasn't fond of swearing, most people around her watched their language and since Emilin didn't really say anything about it, it just became a habit.

Not that she would be able to correct any of these people, nor did she really want to.

Anyways, at this moment, Emilin couldn't help but want to think of all the swear words in her personal dictionary.

[9 long seconds later]

After going through the layers of branches, Emilin had done her best to aim for a smooth landing, but luck wasn't exactly on her side.

She had grabbed multiple branches, which eventually slowed her fall quite a bit, but as result, her hands had small cuts and scratches, but that wasn't the main issue.

When landing, her left leg had been grazed by a sharp rock on the ground and when she instinctively rolled to the side after dropping to the ground to lessen the impact, she had ended up getting dirt all over the wound.

'It hurts like crazy!'

Emilin couldn't help but release a loud grunt.

She shifted to her side so that she would lean on her right arm so to get her left leg off the dirty ground, instinctively reaching out for her throbbing leg before coming to her senses.

She couldn't help but close her eyes, shutting them tightly. As tightly as she could to endure the pain.

When she opened them again, she was finally able to properly see the condition of this leg. 

'&%!!&@^£&!'

'GAH!'

'What bad luck!'

Her left leg was grazed by a sharp rock after having endured the hits from the trees above just like the rest of her body.

The result is what we have now.

Emilin had branches and leaves all over her clothes and her body while her bloody leg had even more accessories attached. 

'What a pain.' 

She wasn't talking about the pain she felt now, but rather, just imagining how much it would hurt to clean the wound out, Emilin could already feel her head throb.

Thankfully it was mostly surface wounds, she wasn't going to have too much trouble walking after a good rest.

'God whatever. Where's my bag?'

Emilin wasn't sure if this was the same area in which she threw her bag, but when she jumped down, she had made a conscious effort to land somewhere in the same area.

"Why is it so far!" Emilin said out loud. 

She had turned her torso to look around, not moving anything below her hips so as to not irritate the wound any further.

Well to be fair, Emilin's bag wasn't as far as it could have been. There was even a possibility that Emilin wouldn't be able to see her bag, much less find it, especially in her current condition.

Thankfully the bag was just around 7~ meters behind her, but now, looking back at her legs, it was 7 meters more than she would have liked.

This trip had really gone off track.