Voyage of Prophecy; ROUGH DRAFT

Chapter Three

Dren awoke to a bright sky. His left arm awkwardly rose to cover his eyes, an unfamiliar motion. Dren analyzed his surroundings. He was in a large bowl-shaped woodpile. Thin branches stuck out in all directions creating a spiral to which Dren sat in the middle. There were others like it close by. Supported by thick bald branches that bent with the weight of the baskets. The tops of the trees Dren had never seen. He never imagined a world above his sky. The questions build as his chest burns with the desire to learn what his world is, but his chest ached with fear and the desire to run home. Leaves filled in the gaps creating an ocean-like view of branches and green stipule with islands of the odd woodpiles that sat like mountains above a fog line. The sky above Dren was unlike anything he had ever seen, it was a blue with soft white patches that moved. It was beautiful.

A familiar eerie sound came from Dren's left that forced his body to instinctually shrink back into the nest. Peering through a hole in the wood, Dren focused his sights on a massive black-winged creature. The creature flew down into one of the same wood piles nearby the one Dren occupied. The thought of another one of those creatures returning to the nest Dren sat within caused him immense fear. The creature adjacent to him cocked his head in his direction. For a long moment the two stood frozen staring at one another. Dren couldn't move.... Had the creature seen him? The creature rose from its woodpile and flew wildly into Dren's direction. An overwhelming feeling of death ran over him as vivid pictures of the creature feeding on his kind were projected into Dren's mind. Horrified, Dren's body moved without his instruction. He leaped from the nest, and fell into the leaves.

Hitting hard against a massive branch, Dren panicked looking around for movement in all directions. Above him and through leaves the size of Dren, black winged creatures hovered. The winged demons screeched loudly trying to move the thick leaves aside to reach him. Dren stood, and sprinted toward the trunk of the tree. Tripping over the thick ill-patterned bark with nearly every step, Dren rushed to cover. Adrenaline pumping through his body propelling him forward, and forward. Soon reaching the trunk, he sat against it breathing heavier than he ever has.

Moving the surrounding pine leaves around himself to create a shelter, Dren tried desperately to calm his breathing to listen for movement from outside. As his body calmed, a sharp pain in his lower back made Dren want to cry out. He looked up at the leaves above where a small hole indicated where he had jumped through only to land roughly on the uneven bark below. He sat in silence afraid to make a sound, but the immense pain in his lower back had him clutching his fist to prevent him screaming out in pain. Thoughts raced in his mind: What were those creatures? How were they able to send me those thoughts? Why was I brought there?

The sky above him darkened, and Dren hadn't heard the birds for some time. Crawling to the edge of the branch to look down, he couldn't see the bottom of the tree. He couldn't see home.

Helpless, he backed up crawling on his arms and legs to hide inside a small crevice in between bark. A sticky sap clung to him from behind holding him in place. Dren flung his arms and legs wildly trying to break free from the sap, but in moments he gave up and began to cry. Dren wanted nothing more than the safety of his home. His mother and father. His sister. Elvy...

Had she gotten home safely...?

Do mom and dad know yet? Dren quietly wept giving in to the tenacious sap.

Where am I.... Will I ever return home...?

Waking up with puffy eyes from a night o f crying, Dren pulled himself from the sticky sap that from the night before held him tightly but now clung with loose strands. The morning air was quiet. He took the moment to breathe in the surrounding world. He was very high up. The color green cluttered everything around him. The leaves around him clung to branches like stiff systematic clouds.