Something's Wrong With the Different Realms

Eleven: Finally on Earth

Horizon Drottisylvro

I peeled open an eyelid. A strange, musky, wooded smell fills my nostrils. It reminded me a bit of the smell of the Forest at home but in its own way, it was different as well. I opened my other eye and focused on my surroundings: I spotted snow-covered trees in my line of vision. They were tall and resemble triangles, with sickly, sharp needles with cones at the edge of their needles. A word popped up in my head, these were the types of trees that humans called "coniferous trees."

I glanced around, Allaira was nowhere to be seen.

"Surely this worked, It had to. Surely we weren't dead and transported into another plane of existence where all the dead creatures go," I whispered to myself angrily. "Why were we separated? Weren't we supposed to be together?"

It was then that I noticed where my body was. I was half-submerged in water, lying on the edge of an icy lake. I stood up from my position and shivered. Then, I attempted to brush out the rest of the water from my apparel, but I ended up shivering instead.

My stomach rumbled hungrily as I trudged out of the icy lake and onto the soft, mushy, snow-covered ground. Allurie had reminded me that Earth would be experiencing winter at this time, so no wonder it was so cold. I glanced around and managed to spot a dirt-covered trail hidden deep within the wood.

I decided to walk towards the trail because at least with a trail, it meant that I could find a path. This would help me find Allaira since she was nowhere to be found. And after finding Allaira, I could follow the map and follow the rest of Allurie's directions and make my way to Fleur's house.

I hopped over logs and trudged through the snow and dirt, ducking at low-hanging branches and swiveling my body into a twist whenever there was a tight nook that I had to go through. Finally, I was on the trail. I chose the direction that extended closer to the little lake that I'd emerged from. I reasoned that Allaira would probably have to be close by.

I took the time to glance at my surroundings as I followed the trail. At least it would distract me from my shivering. It was a whole lot of forest that just seemed to stretch on forever, with endless trees covering the area, covering the snow, their needles pointing up towards the cloudy blue sky.

At one point I was so uncomfortable and cold that I just wanted to fall on my knees and rest. But I kept pushing myself forward, I'd been threading around what seemed like an infinite amount of time and it was tiring. My bones felt achy and my feet felt numb, my eyes wanted to snap shut. I wish I could fly, I thought to myself but I knew it wasn't possible. At Allurie's insistence for my safety, I had to fold my wings. She'd reasoned that there might come a time when some unsuspecting human pokes around and they'd somehow discover my wings. She was worried for our safety. We didn't know if we would be captured and used as experiments like some of the other creatures were in the stories about humans that we'd studied in order to prepare for this very journey. We didn't want time on this Earth to end badly. So, I did what she told me and kept my wings folded behind a special skin on my back. Right now though, I really did want to pull my wings out for a stretch as the woods seem to stretch on endlessly.

Then, as I rounded the next bend, I caught a glimpse of something that got me to pause right in my tracks, it was a waterfall. A rushing, towering, pouring, and magnificent waterfall standing tall in grandeur, pouring with spills of water. I was probably so deep in thought about all that was going on to notice the thunderous, roaring noise that was emitting from this waterfall. But now that I saw this waterfall in all its glory, the rush of the waterfall seemed to scream at my ears.

I broke into a sprint as I neared the waterfall. I figured that this waterfall led up to the shallow edge of the lake which I emerged from. I'd probably drifted there, which explained my sore back and the scratches on my knuckles. But Allaira was probably still somewhere near the waterfall. This was why we'd gotten separated.