Animalian

Chapter 2: The Red Fang

"What's the matter?"

Cinnamon loomed over Emily like a giant, and with a start, Emily realized that Cinnamon hadn't grown. She had shrunk!

"What happened!?" Emily lowered her voice once she realized she was yelling.

"Calm down!" the sarcastic bunny told her with a smirk. "Did I forget to explain that the bread shrinks you small enough to enter the tree? Whoops. It must have slipped my mind."

"What would mom say if she saw me like this?" Emily bit back a grimace when she realized her mom would mistake her as a bug. Emily knew her mom and bugs had a long history. Mrs. Morning would go straight for the broom.

Cinnamon twitched his nose, apparently oblivious to Emily's horrible thoughts.

"Well? Are you coming or not?" and with that, he tapped three times on an odd-looking knot on the tree's trunk, scurried under the opening door, and was gone.

"Oh boy," Emily muttered. "This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder."

She crawled into the tree after Cinnamon, and then everything was dark. It was as if the hole in the tree was never there. "Was it really there?" Emily mused aloud.

Emily stumbled blindly in the darkness for what seemed like forever. She was walking, flying, swimming, all at once. Emily was just starting to question her sanity when she saw a faint glowing light up ahead. She followed the light, the walls of the tree as she could now see, growing brighter and brighter. Suddenly, the glowing brightness encased her, and she was standing in a long golden hall, seemingly one that you might find in a palace. She heard a melodic voice in her head, similar but softer and warmer than Cinnamon's. Looking around, she saw she was alone in the hall.

"Greetings, Emily Morning. I see Cinnamon has brought you to Animalian. You might be the one to save us all. I'll explain later, I'm sure of that. Are you fully committed to helping with whatever may lie ahead?"

Emily tried to respond but found she couldn't make her mouth move. She tried responding in her mind, as the beautiful voice had. Despite being scared out of her mind; Emily had always wanted a good adventure.

"Uh . . . yes?" Emily formed the words in her mind to the voice

"Is that a question or an answer, Emily Morning?"

"Before I answer yes or no, is my family here?" Emily asked. "And will I be able to get back?"

"A wise question," the voice responded. "I see you are a resolute girl. As for your family, I do not know for sure, but I suspect they are. And you cannot go back until your task is complete. And if you're not the one from the Vision, which is most likely, then yes, you may go back with Cinnamon. Remember that this is not your Earth. Not everything is always as it seems in Animalian."

"Ok . . . I mean, yes, I would." Emily responded, with as much confidence as she could muster. If there was even a shred of hope that her family was here, she would do anything in her power to get them back.

"Then go out that small door," the voice said, and Emily noticed a plain wooden door that she'd never seen before. "Then you will arrive at the Lake of Life, the center of our world's fading magic."

Emily walked through the shabby door and was suddenly falling into a crystal-clear lake. She could see small fish swimming everywhere around her, their scales shining rainbow in the translucent water. She swam upward toward what seemed to be the surface, and suddenly found the top.

Gasping for breath that she hadn't needed before, she looked around, trying to get a bearing of her surroundings, and gasped at the beautiful landscape. Emily swiveled her head all around, looking at the breathtaking vista. It seemed that every place she looked was different, from long rolling green fields to huge forests to large distant mountains with streams running through the crevices. As Emily took in the amazing view, she felt a serene air fall around her, and she struggled to remember what she was supposed to be doing.