The Land of Etherio

Wake up,Reader 4

I was honestly never expecting any of this to happen.

I was walking home with my friend,Tori. We always walked together since she lived a few houses down from me. We parted ways when we got to my house. Tori's mom always complained when she stayed at my house straight from after school. She would always come by later though and then we would chat about normal girl stuff.

I walked into my house and called if anyone was there. "Joanne,I could use your help in the kitchen later if you don't mind" my mom said. "Sure, I'm just gonna do some other stuff first." I replied.

As I made my way to my room my mom suddenly said "Wait, I forgot, there's a package for you. It's on the couch". I went to see what it was. I almost had an explosive reaction, similar to as if my crush had just asked me out. "It finally came!" I screamed. "What! What happened?!" my mom panicked. "Don't worry,mom. It's just that book I was telling you about" I said calming down. "You know what?" Mom said "I actually won't need you here for about an hour, so go ahead". I gave my mom a hug and said ( I assume it sounded like) "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I love you so much."

I ran to my room and jumped on my bed. I tore open the wrapping paper. I was never a fan of Twilight or Shadow hunters,I never really knew why. I opened the book and started reading, except, I couldn't.

The book was entirely blank,wait, no. Not entirely. On the very last page, it read "Welcome to Etherio".

And then it began. As I fell through the pages. I thought of the other world. My world. What was going to happen to me? What about my parents? Oh my gosh,Tori!she was coming over. All these thoughts faded, then I blacked out.

I woke up but something felt different. For starters,I wasn't wearing my normal clothes. instead of jeans and a hoodie,I was wearing a pure-white nightgown. I was sure I had my shoulder-length brown hair tied up in a ponytail but now it was all loose. In fact, it actually seemed longer. Then I noticed I wasn't in my bedroom.

I was sitting in the middle of a forest. The grass was soft and green. There were leaves strewn around. The trees had a myriad of colours,red,orange and yellow. A few wildflowers sprouted here and there.

I looked around me. The forest went on for quite a bit. I couldn't see anything beyond the trees as they faded to darkness. Streaks of light broke through the forest leaves.

Near a fairly large rock,something seemed eerie. These woods were fairly dense but it didn't darken for quite a distance. But right in front of me,about the length of a room, was a wall of darkness. It felt like everything was somehow retreating from there.

I got to my feet and peered into this darkness. It radiated fear. An aura of malevolence came from it. Growing and nearing. My entire body was paralyzed with fear. I thought of what might come from it. I heard a rustling sound. Fear and suspense hung in the air as it finally emerged.

Out stepped a woman. She didn't look young,but mature and motherly. She had this almost motherly essence to her. Her face was beautiful. Not like a model or an actress,she was naturally beautiful. She had long,curly black hair. She was wearing dark gown that just flowed off her body. Her eyes had this deepness to them. She held out her arms as if to embrace me.

I don't know why but suddenly I could move again. But instead of running away, I walked towards her. Not a single whisper escaped her lips yet she communicated.

Her smile, her expression. It was remnant of a parent seeing a lost child. It called me and I heeded. I was there. In her arms.

"Welcome back. I was so worried. Please never run away again. Now come,we've been waiting for you."

I didn't have enough time to contemplate those words. She snuffed me in the dark of the woods.