(SCRAPPED VERSION) The Other Side of The Planet

Chapter VII

Ackely awakes in a meadow of pastel pink grass, staring at a cloudless, blue sky. He stands quickly, feeling a light breeze brush past him and across the unfamiliar terrain. As he gains his senses, he hears the hush of rustling leaves and the bubbling of a nearby stream. He looks to his left and sees a forest of trees with lavender leaves. To his right is a stream of deep violet. Across the stream is a distant mountain. A colossal flight of stairs snake up the mountain and at the top, a stone temple rests. Above the temple floats a large mass of still, stone tentacles, rotating slowly.

"Is this where we're going?" Ackely thinks. "Are they up there? Why would they leave me here? Maybe we crashed and this is the afterlife." He leans down, picks a few blades of grass, and examines them. "This is so strange. I always thought an afterlife would be much different from my waking life."

He looks to the large, floating statue, hanging above everything. "Is that what made me?" He begins to approach the stream, slowly, studying the statue. "It looks nothing like me. What even is it? A bunch of vines?" He looks down to see the bank of the stream as the amethyst water flows past. "I think I might be able to clear this with a jump," he thinks, backing away from the stream. "I feel like I should be freaking out, but," he plants one foot behind him, preparing to dash towards the water, "I'm just so relieved there's more."

Just as he pushes into the ground with his talons and takes a few running steps, a deep voice calls from within the woods.

"Ackely?"

Ackely halts himself, nearly losing his balance and tumbling into the stream. He turns around and cups his hands around his mouth, shouting back, "Ogden?" though the voice in the forest is in no way familiar.

"Oh! You are Ackely!" The voice sounds as if it has been altered in some way, as if its pitch had been artificially lowered. "Wait, I know this place. Come this way! Quickly! This isn't a place to linger."

"Who are you? Is Ogden with you?"

"Is it enough if I say that Biff sent me?"

Ackely gasps shallowly, surprised. "I suppose that's enough. I'm on my way." He trots into the forest searching for the source of the voice.

"Over here!" the voice calls. Ackely weaves around tree trunks and finds a flat, blue, glowing star shape floating and spinning with a creature poking its head out of a hole in the center. The creature's head is nothing more than a hollow pumpkin with a large hole in the front, exposing a flame inside. Behind the creature's head is a room completely separate from the forest. From the portal, the sound of rain can be heard.

"Do you need help getting in?" the creature asks.

"N-no, I don't think so. Where does this take me?"

"My own little personal place. Come, it really isn't safe out there."

"How can I trust you? How do you know Bi—"

A vine rushes out of the portal and wraps around Ackely, pulling him in before he can scream. After yanking him through the portal, the vine lowers him onto a carpeted floor. Ackely collapses onto his knees and gazes upon the creature with its body now visible. The creature stands at three times Ackely's height, its form resembling a cretus. The vine recedes into its torso of leaves as its lanky arms and legs of wood protrude from the bottom. Ackely stares into the flame burning inside the creature's head as the portal closes behind it, frozen in fear.

"I suspect that this is your first time being here, based on how long you decided to dwell in that beast's territory."

Ackely quivers. "You're not going to hurt me, right?"