In The Forest

Ch.16

       Aria slowly got up, and opened her eyes, "Whoa, where am I?" She looked around. All she saw where trees, and grass. She quickly checked herself, "Well, I seem fine, I still have my gun?" She looked around again, "Nothing but trees. Hm, for a dream, this......this is pretty realistic......" She took a deep breath, and shouted, "HELLO!?? Anyone out here?" She heard nothing but her echo in the distance. She decided to just walk straight from where she sat up.

        The air was fresh, and more natural than what she was used to, and then a sudden, gentle breeze picked up, lightly swaying the trees. It all felt so calm and relaxing to her. After a moment, the trees started to let up, and she could see a clearing up ahead. When she got to it, she noticed there was a small river on the side, and what looked like a camp fire, that had long been put out. There was a large boulder by the river, "Maybe, I can see something from up there." She thought.

       After getting on top, she could see a bit better. She was in the middle of a wide, shallow valley. Off in the distance she saw what appeared to be light traces of smoke. She climbed down, and headed off. After some time, Aria started to notice something. She stopped walking, stood still, and closed her eyes, listening intently. But nothing, not a sound could be heard. She thought to herself a moment, "Damn, not a sound, not even the wind blowing against the trees, or grass". She opened her eyes, and looked around, "Wait, no wind? In the middle of the valley, and not a sound, no birds, no bugs, hell I haven't even seen any. The trees aren't moving either." She looked down, "Same with the grass huh? The heck is going on." She pulled out her pistol, aimed off into the distance, and fired. The echo ripped across the land, and as she expected, not a single bird flew away, not an animal fled in terror, all was silent, she was all alone in this random empty world, or at least that's what she thought.

        "Hmm, figures, guess I'll just continue on toward the smoke-" Then it hit her, the smoke trail was gone too. She frantically looked around her, nothing. "Shit, not even a big rock I could get on top of either, stuck at ground level." She sighed, "Well, I think I was going this way. Whatever, probably can't get any worse than this. In an unknown place, no direction, no path, nothing." She started walking again, and almost like a curse, dark clouds quickly rolled over the valley, and rain started to poor down. Aria stopped, and just stared at the sky, irritated to the core. "Ok, you know what, whoever is in control of this world, why, huh? Just why, what did I do, did you not want me here? I came here cause I was intrigued by this magical crap! I also thought that you were sorta reaching out to me! Was I wrong?!?"

       All she heard was the rain hitting her and the ground. All it did was anger her and confuse her. "Okay fine, screw you......you.....clouds.....AAaaghhhhhhhh!" She whipped out her gun, and fired up into the clouds, round after round till she was out. She stood there panting in anger, and screamed into the sky till she was out of breath. And afterword, fell to her knees. And like magic, the clouds separated, and faded away, leaving clear blue skies again. Aria just sat on the muddy ground, not caring how dirty she now was. She sighed, "Well........you know what, I don't really care now, whatever it was I was supposed to find, well you're gonna have to come to me, cause I'm done with this crap. If you have business with me, then come to me yourself, coward!" She stood back up, and yelled, "You hear me? Come here your damn self, you lazy ass. Cause I'm sitting my ass down right here!" She sat back down in the mud with her arms folded, Waiting for whatever would eventually show up.

       Nearly ten minutes went by when she started to think about Caitlin, "Oh man, if only you were here with me, this wouldn't be so damn boring." Then she really started to think, "I hope she's okay, and not lonely, or freaking out, I know I came to this weird world, I wonder, was it like I just vanished before her eyes, or did my body just fall to the floor like Victoria said?" "Oh damn do I wish you were here." She looked down at the ground in sadness.

       Just then Aria thought she heard something, she looked around, but saw nothing, then she frowned, and looked up. There, in the sky, she saw a flash. She took a step back, and held her hand in front of the sun. As soon as she blinked, she was thrown to the ground, along with a loud crashing sound piercing the silence. Aria, dazed, and confused, slowly got up. Coughing, and trying to see through all the dust that had been thrown up, she tried to look through it. After a moment, the dust had settled down, and before her, stood what looked like a person, a dark figure. Aria stepped back in surprise, "H-who, are you? What are you?" She asked, as she took another step back, she drew her gun slowly. The figure stepped closer, reveling itself. A man, about six inches taller than her, spoke, and in a deep voice, "So, what's with screaming, and shooting into my sky huh? That how you face things? Shooting, and screaming?" Aria looked at him, a little confused, "W-Well, no. I-I'm, I just, was upset, and irritated. I get thrown into this world, not knowing anything of what, or who I'm looking for. I'm sure you could have shown yourself instantly if you wanted."

       A bit more irritated now, she adds, "So why didn't you? Huh? Making me walk, and get soaking wet like that, probably did it on purpose didn't you?" She glared at him. Smiling, he laughed for a moment, "Yea, so maybe I did, what of it, you could say I was testing something. But, I can tell you're a bit impatient right now, so I'll make this simple for you. I know you want my power, and to get back to reality, and I want to see the.........outside, I guess you could say. So, with that, we need to make an agreement of sorts, and when you get back, take the crystal, and using your new power, turn it into a trinket of sorts. To carry around with you, like a ring or something, and I will be, well, residing in it, so to speak."

       Aria looked with curiosity, "And what of this, agreement? What are we gonna, like, agree on?" The man put his hand to his chin, "Well now let's see, how about I make it simple, since we are both getting what we want. You, will have to keep your trinket safe from harm, till the day you die. And I will give you my full power. Simple enough, yes?" Aria nodded, "Yea, sounds fair enough. So, like, is that it, are you gonna send me back now? Or what?" He laughed, "Well, is that what you want? To just go back already?" Aria nodded, "Well, yea I guess." The man grinned, and snapped his fingers.