Terra's War

Introduction

The first thing I felt was the blanket laid on top of me. The only sounds present in the house were the fridge and its motor trying to keep the food cool and the birds' loud chirps coming in from the outside. I tried to open my eye a tiny crack only to have the sun obscure my vision. Reaching up, I rubbed the sleep away from my eyes and blinked a couple times, trying to see around me.

There was popcorn everywhere and the pillows from the couch were on the floor. And Juniper was a mess. There was popcorn in her rat's nest hair and she was barely hanging onto the couch, slowly falling onto the floor, making me suppress several giggles.

I pushed myself into a sitting position and swung my legs over the edge of the couch and stretched, yawning. Then started to clean up. I also tried to wake up Juniper several times but she wouldn't budge.

When I just finished cleaning up, Juniper shot up into a sitting position flinging popcorn onto the couch.

"What happened?" She asked. I smiled.

"I just cleaned up a bit. Don't worry," I explained.

"Oh. Sorry. I just go into deep sleeps a lot that I-"

"No, it's okay. I don't mind," I reassured her. She gave me a tired smile and exhaled. "Anyway, what's for breakfast?" Her smile widened.

"We make our own,"

We paraded into the kitchen and made scrambled egg sandwiches with bacon, talking and laughing while we cooked and ate. After breakfast, she suggested that we go to the backwoods and I agreed immediately.

Both of us got ourselves ready. I took a quick shower and pulled on a turquoise t-shirt and my black sweater with jean shorts and my sneakers. I combed my hair and kept it down, making it reach the middle of my back.

We raced down the huge expanse of grass to the trees lining our backyard. The weird thing was, I couldn't see past the trees. The trees were so densely packed together that branches seemed to block out all sunlight.

When we finished catching our breath, Juniper was grinning from ear to ear.

"I would've taken you here last night since it's better, but you need to get used to the forest and its... inhabitants first," She said, rather mysteriously.

What did she mean she would've taken me here at night? Wouldn't her mother get a bit worried? And what did she mean by 'inhabitants'? Isn't it just animals in the forest? What did she mean by all this?

"What-"

"No questions, yet. They'll probably be answered afterward but then a bunch more might pop up so just try to keep the questions in until then," Juniper cut in.

Then she waved her hand. I saw a light green glow appear at the palm of her hand as she waved it in front of the trees. Then the whole crowd of trees literally moved creating an aisle.

When Juniper turned I must've looked idiotic and confused because she laughed softly.

"Don't worry. It gets weirder," She grabbed my wrist and pulled me in. When we were about a third of the way down the aisle, the trees rustled behind us, moving again and closing the entrance.

Well, no going back now.

After a few more steps, we reached a clearing.

"Welcome to Terra Arbor,"

It was beautiful. There was a fountain in the middle of the grass filled clearing. It had a tree made of stone on a pedestal. Some of the branches had water spraying up then making an ark into the basin below.