I sit up as my breath slowly returns. I try to stand up, but there is a sharp pain in my ankle, so I'm instantly pulled back to the ground. I look at Cass and see her struggling to catch her breath. I scoot over to her and roll her over.
"Cass? You okay? Will you be alright?"
The breath slowly sneaks back into her lungs and she says, "Its gonna take a lot more than a fall to keep me down." She winks at me which just makes me feel so much better. That means she really is okay.
We sit up and look around. I point up to the tree and her eyes follow.
"What the heck..." she says as she scrunches her eyes in confusion.
"Yea... I was thinking the same thing. When we were in the tree, I couldn't see where the ground leveled out below us. But, almost as soon as we started to fall, we hit level ground. This doesn't make any sense. There were dozens and dozens of trees on that slope... and now there's only one?"
Cass gets up and walks over to the slope. She attempts to climb back up to the tree about 15 feet in the air, but the slope is too steep and she falls back down to level ground.
I turn my head behind us, expecting to see more trees from the forrest, but what I saw, was breathtaking.
A huge valley surrounded by enormous mountains capped with beautiful snow. The valley is filled with streams and rivers flowing through it. Birds are flying through the air. Beautiful skies. Luscious greenery.
"Woah."
"What'd you say?" Cass says while still attempting to climb the slope again.
"Cassidy. Come over here. Look."
She turns around and jogs back over to where I'm sitting.
"Holy crap... That wasn't there a minute ago! What's happening?!"
"I don't know... But look!"
On the right side of the main river flowing through the valley, there is a small town. I look a little harder and notice movement.
"Cass! There are people down there! Can you believe it? People!"
"Thats impossible. The Risen said that we were the only ones left. They wouldn't lie to us. Would they?"
"You know I've never trusted The Circle, much less The Risen. All the way back to when they first came. When you were only 13. I knew they were hiding something. I just had to go along with them because it was our only choice. The Happening took our home and our mother. They were our only hope at survival. The Happening was coming for us next, and we needed shelter and we needed security. They were our only hope. But, I've never trusted them. Even back then."
"Jake. We have to go see. We have to go down there. The Risen saw us in that tree. They know we're down here. They're probably going back to alert The Circle. They will send more of The Risen after us and we'll have no chance. Please Jake. We have no choice."
"You're probably right, Cass. If there really are people down there, then maybe they can help us. Otherwise, we're toast."
She nods in agreement and walks over to a clearing in the small trees and bushes nearby. She throws her hands up.
"Well what do you know? This is going to be a lot easier of a journey than I thought."
"Why?"
She puts her hands on her hip and chuckles.
"Well 'Captain Crippled', there's a path through that clearing."
"So how do you know that it leads to that town over there?"
"Well, you see, there's a big sign right behind those bushes, but all I could make out was 'This Way To The...'.The last few words are faded and damaged too severely to read."
"Cass, I don't think we should be trusting a old rusty sign in the woods."
"Oh, come on. It's not like you have a better idea!"
"Cass. I seriously don't think it's a good idea."
"Okay, well, how about we go down the path, and if there is any sign of trouble, we'll turn back."
"Cass... Okay, fine. But my ankle is hurt. I think I might've sprained it when we fell. It's gonna be a slow journey."
Cass walks over to me and helps me to my feet. I try to put pressure on my right foot, but the pain is too much. I bend over and pick up my bag. I throw it over my shoulder and Cass makes sure I'm good enough to hobble along on my own. We walk over to the edge of the clearing and I see the sign she was talking about. The sign was big and red with blue faded letters. The farther to the right, the rustier the sign was.
"Okay, you lead the way cap!" I say with a sarcastic tone.
Cass rolls her eyes at me and walks on ahead of me. I hobble along staring at the sign. Something strange began to happen to it.
"Cass wait! Look! The sign!"
The sign began to turn. It started turning quicker and quicker. It started spitting sparks everywhere so I backed up a few feet. I look over at Cass and her eyes are wide with confusion and awe. As I look back at the sign, I realize the metal poles holding it are beginning to change. They are extremely rusted, but the longer the sign kept spinning, I realize that the poles were getting shiny.
In about 2 seconds the whole sign stopped spinning and I couldn't believe my eyes. The sign looked as if it had just came out of the factory, and on the front, the words were as clear as day.
"This Way To The Land of Araria."
