It Was All In The Eyes

Chapter 9: Release

Pennies...pennies...pennies...no...blood...

Smoke...pain...a FIRE! I opened my eyes to near darkness, the cold rush of evening air seemingly permeating my very being with its cold fingers that clawed deep into my bones. My head was pounding and hung heavy against the waves of rushing blood that assaulted my senses as I fought through the stars in my vision and cloudiness of my mind to figure out what had happened. I tried to move my legs only to find the movement restricted by a tight, binding force like ice cold metal that seemed to be wrapped around each leg all the way to my waist. Despite the freezing nature of my lower body, I could feel beads on sweat dripping down and off my face and onto the cold loose soil underneath me. Wait... Before he could ask where he was Michael looked once more at his legs to inspect that unknown binding only to realize that he was planted waist deep into the bare ground. Plants he has never seen before twisted around themselves in a rootlike, thorny mess that reached into his line of sight from the darkness beyond. They were far enough away from him to keep him from touching them, but close enough to see that underneath the thorns they was something wriggling and writhing.
That sent shivers up his spine and reinforced his desire to get the hell out of there. What the hell, it's like they're reaching for me... Another chill shot its way up his spine.

Placing his hands to the ground on either side, he lifted himself from the hole he made and looked up for the first time since waking up. Oh my god...what is this place? Beyond the silhouettes of trees a myriad of celestial bodies decorated the sky with both colorful planets and fiery, massive suns dominating each side of the once placid Rocky Mountain skyline. Directly above him, dark, low clouds rolled continuously into themselves, audibly cracking with electricity and separating the halves of the sky from one another. He looked down into the hole he had made and saw a receding blue glow dissipate into nothing at the removal of his body. Well this is downright fucking fantasy, how did I end up here?

Vision having adjusted to the growing darkness, he could now see that he was in the center of what looked like a crater formed by an explosion, with plant debris and black rock thrown all about the area. This is fucking nuts, did I fall from the sky? He looked back to the section of blackened tree line where the twisted roots seemed to be coming from only to realize that they were a lot closer than they had been only seconds before. Time to go. Michael wasted no time lacing his Chucks before turning the other direction and ran for the up edge of the crater, only to clear what seemed like around a hundred meters in a handful of steps before looking back to see that same blue glow dissipate into the ground again where his feet had touched the ground. He practically flew. What in the world..am I dreaming? What was that rush of wind I just felt and how did I get here so quickly? That was too fast. With no answers to his questions he placed his face in his hands to calm down before his attention was quickly shifted to what he saw before him.

At the top of the crater Michael was able to see the faint glow of lights of a town or village a few miles away, in the middle of the misty forest. Structures were small, scarce, and hardly visible at all even from his high vantage above the tree line. I should check that place out and see if there are any other people unlucky enough to get caught in this strange place. Careful not to slip or fall, he made his way down the dusty incline to the entrance of the forest. Having gotten closer he could see now that this was no ordinary forest and was home to no ordinary flora.

Every surface of every tree seemed to be alive with movement, never staying in one place as it constantly shifted and melted together as smooth as watercolors on a wet canvas. The foliage that donned their branches seemed to be confused as to whether it was Spring or Winter, as multicolored leaves and flowers clung hard to some, while others were bare and lifeless. Like capillaries to a vein the roots of the trees shifted too until disappearing in all directions into the grass and earth. Even the grass is shifting and moving on its own. This is getting too damn freaky. Despite the many suns in the sky, darkness seemed to approach with every step he took towards this forest as the temperature grew cooler as well. Every polarizing tree trunk and branch seemed to cast multiple long shadows along the ground, giving the area an almost ethereal appearance as their leaves danced with the motions of the rolling clouds overhead. Oh that's spooky as hell.. Michael swallowed hard, flipped his hood and rolled down the sleeves of his hoodie before taking his first steps into the Moving Forest and towards the village hidden in the mist. Having nothing to keep him from getting lost, he looked to the sky once more to make a mental note of the small blue sun that was in the direction that he needed to go, and of the stony gray surface of the planet that was directly behind him. He was scared, but now with a semblance of bearing somehow felt ready for anything.