Boreen woke to see the sky bright purple. Things seemed different. The air itself seemed to be vibrating with random notes of music. All around him were trees, tall beautiful trees. The smell floating in the air was something sweet, yet spicy. Something he could not recognize but still wanted to find the source of. He stood up slowly, feeling every muscle ache and every bone creek. Fighting through the pain he began to follow the path he imagined the smell had taken to arrive at his nose that day. The farther he went into the forest the darker it became. It was one of the few times he was grateful for the night vision the gods had blessed on his kind. Around him, the world seemed to be much larger than he was used to. The trees towered above him. The smallest stone was a boulder compared to him. He couldn't figure out where to go. Being so small was disorienting. He looked around hoping to see something that would be recognizable. Instead, he saw a large pink river. Taking the chance, he set the river as his first destination.
It took some time but he made it to the river unscathed. The water was full of life. Fish jumped out of the water and moved around as if dancing. "I must be dreaming," he thought to himself as he watched the fish and beavers dance together. He walked away trying to make the most sense of what he saw. Soon he found his way to what he could only describe as a giant nest. In it, a large crine roosted. Its deep black feathers shined with a pearly tint. The creature was awe-inspiring. Boreen stood looking at it for what could have been hours when suddenly the bird tried to eat him. The large beast was not very fast on the ground allowing him to get away easily. It was then he knew not to trust a single thing in the strange land he was in.
Boreen looked to the skies and found that there was more than one sun. From what he could see there were four. He now knew why he was having such a hard time keeping track of how long he had been there, there was no night. Now that he had thought about it, it could have been days since he last slept. Taking the chance that he had, he starts looking for any form of shelter. The first thing he came across was a large cave, the entrance was bigger than any of the homes back in his village. He went in only to find four giant bears cuddled in a pile and behind that one an even larger bear sleeping soundly. When it dawned on him that the four giant bears were just cubs he decided to back out. Not knowing what better chance he had Boreen climbed the nearest tree, using his claws to get him up. Finding a lone branch he drifted off into sleep.
Boreen was unable to tell how much time had passed when he had woken. All he could tell was something was wrong. Instead of waking up naturally as he usually did this day he had woken up to something sticky wrapped around him and unusual dizziness. He looked around in an attempt to get his bearings. It was then he saw just what had awoken him. A Spider six times larger then he had wrapped him in its web net and was slowly wrapping him up for dinner. Panic set in right away. He was completely incapable of moving any of his limbs, the web being too strong. His attempts to move did succeed in warning the spider. It began to pull its web closer as it hissed and clicked at the stuck cat. "What can I do? I'm going to die in this strange world aren't I? Just as he began to see the large fangs of the beast he heard a deep yet familiar noise. A squawk. Then another. Just seconds after the second sound. A large baby crine flew through the air and ate the spider that was pulling him in. The web bundle fell hitting multiple branches on the way down, ripping with each that it hit. By the end of his fall, Boreen found himself dangling by one foot from the web, still too high to fall with fear of dying as he landed. Holding tightly to the web Boreen began to swing himself back and forth. When the swing became large enough he let go and jumped towards the trunk of the tree. Allowing himself to pick up some speed he slid down the tree, landing safely on the roots of the tree. Under the roots, he saw large worms writhing around each other. Boreen wasted no time leaving the forest. He had not known there to be so many deadly creatures in his homelands.
He got out of his way safely to see that the purple sun was back in the sky. He started to feel his world spinning around him as he got dizzy again. What was happening to him? He couldn't tell where he was or why he had arrived in this strange place. Suddenly a loud voice echoed in his ears.
"Boreen, please come back I am sorry. I should have just asked you." It was the voice of Mue. Why was she yelling at him, and where was she? Suddenly he felt a sharp pain across his face. It stung for a few moments before he heard another voice.
"Don't prove my husband to be a bad judge of character you brat, wake up already." With those words, the world went black as he felt himself being rushed through space. Panic welled up in him. He didn't know what to expect. In the distance, a tiny point of light appeared. It started to get larger with time. Boreen rolled over and tried to swim away from the light, but still felt himself being pulled towards the light. The sensation of being ripped out of fluid quaked through his body, and a brilliant light blinded him. He began to cough and throw up everything in his stomach. He rolled to the floor, landing in his sick and tried to crawl away.
"No, you can't eat me! No, you can't have me!"
"Boreen! Boreen, it's me Mue. Boreen! We are right here." He opened his eyes again being blinded by the light around him. As everything came into focus around him he began to recognize his surroundings. In front of him sat Mue, holding him. Just then the pain in his lower back roared through his body as he remembered what happened. He pushed her away and crawled from her, landing in Grantaw's lap. "She tried to have me killed head shaman."
"I know, she confessed to me. Can you try to hear her out." They both slowly looked to Mue and waited for her to say anything."
"It started the day after we met."
