Otherworld

Prolouge

The day started out as any other day would have started out. People got out of bed, ate breakfast, got dressed, and left for school or work. Then they would go about they're day doing whatever it is that they do. Except one girl in particular. Not because she was special, or she was about to embark on a fantastical journey, but because of the day. The very special day of the year when you turn a year older than what you were before. A birthday. An eighth birthday to be exact. Now this girl was a very curious girl. She loved to read and write and especially loved solving mysteries. The girl and her father would spend hours and hours reading the same Nancy Drew books over and over and over and over again -if they had enough time. Every year, her father let the girl stay home from school. And every year the girl would argue...

"But daddy, I can't possibly miss a day of school! I won't get perfect attendance!"

And then the father would reply...

"My precious darling, there are more important things than school. There is family. And birthdays to celebrate. And don't even get me started on how much cake we are going to have to eat! Although, school is very important too so don't go skipping it on me."

After that sentence, the girl would always give her father a big hug.

They always had a theme for their little party. This year the father had set up a little table in the middle of the woods that they called their backyard. He had gotten the girl's favorite lemonade from the store. This would be a big surprise for the girl because the lemonade costs a fortune. More money than they usually had, at least. The father and his daughter were not very rich people. They could afford what they needed, but not much more. That is why this was going to be such a big treat for the girl.

The girl skipped along the little stone path that led to the forest behind the small house. Once the father and girl had just about reached the clearing, the father covered the girl's eyes with his large hand. The girl giggled and smiled. The father led her to the clearing where he sat her down at a small table. With his one hand still over the little girl's eyes, he poured the two glasses of lemonade.

After he finished pouring the glasses, he finally uncovered the little girl's eyes. The girl looked around in awe at the beautiful clearing that they were in the center of. Around them was a feat of nature. The clearing was in the shape of a large, perfect circle. There were four skyscraper-sized pine trees surrounding the little table in the very center of the clearing. When the girl had finished taking in the amazing site, she finally saw the lemonade. This made her even happier. "Everything was going perfectly" thought the father.

After a little while had passed, the little girl decided she wanted to explore the clearing. She saw a butterfly perched atop a beautiful Peony (this was the little girl's favorite flower by far) and tried to get it to land on her finger. The father was very amused at this, for the little girl had attempted to catch the butterfly multiple times now and had failed each time. The little girl chased the butterfly back to one of the oak trees, where the butterfly had landed. She thought she had finally got it cornered, but it flew away with ease into the sky.

But, the little girl was interested in something else. There was a mysterious carving on the tree. Now that the girl looked, she noticed a carving on all of the trees. She began to run around and touch them all.

First, she traced her finger around the carving in the tree closest to her. To her amusement, it began to glow a faint pink color. Then, the girl ran her finger over all the other symbols in the trees, which all started to glow the same faint pink color. When she had touched them all, she stepped back to the edge of the clearing to admire her work. She held on to a nearby tree branch and sighed. This was the best day of her life.

Then something happened and the carvings started to glow brighter and brighter. The father sitting at the table had been too focused on counting how much cake and how much lemonade they had left over to notice the glowing carvings. Then, all at once, there was a blue circular hole in the ground inside the circle of the four trees. A sudden gust of wind blew the girl to the ground. She blacked out, and lost her memory. As for the father? He was never to be seen again.