Will groans as he opens his eyes. The sun is shining brightly overhead and he has to shield his eyes. He looks around himself. Yup still lost.
He slowly gets to his feet.
With a hand to his head he steadies himself and continues to look around.
He hums to himself. “Are the trees bigger than they were last night?”
He starts focusing on the trees. “And I thought this forest was all pine trees. Where the heck did I run to last night?”
He’s not sure what kind of trees they are but they definitely aren’t pine. The trunks are huge. He figures it would take four or five of him wrap his arms around the whole thing. And they’re TALL. He looks up. They definitely seem much bigger than the pines he’s used to. At least twice the height.
“Well nothing to do but keep walking. With as far as I ran last night, I’m probably closer to the other side of this forest than from where I entered it at.”
The only problem is he’s not 100% sure which direction he was going before he knocked himself out.
“Who knocks themselves out? Seriously.”
Exasperated with himself he picks the direction he’s almost positive he was heading last night and continues to walk. After half an hour he realizes another problem. He is incredibly thirsty. And hunger is starting to set in. Not that hunger is an altogether new feeling for him. Just like loneliness and fear, hunger is an almost just as constant companion.
Hunger he can deal with. Thirst however…well one problem at a time.
After another 15 minutes he finally sees something.
“I think the woods are thinning! Finally I’m at the end of this thing! Whew that was close. I was actually starting to think I might not make it out of here.”
As Will walks out of the woods, he realizes that he hasn’t found the end of the forest, just a decently sized clearing. It’s not empty though. There’s a small log cabin smack dab in the center of it. A thin trail of smoke is rising from the chimney.
Instantly Will gets creeped out. He’s watched too many scary movies to not know this is the kind of place mass murders who eat weary travelers like to live. But honestly what other choice does he have?
“I swear if I get eaten I’m going to be so pissed.”
He walks up to the house and steps onto the small porch. Taking a deep breath to steal his courage, Will knocks on the door.
The door opens immediately and a tall man is appears in the doorway. He is perhaps 6’5, broad shouldered, with pitch black hair, a slight goatee, and piercing green eyes. He’s wearing an odd looking cut shirt that looks like to be made of silk, and...Are those black leather pants? The expression on his face is menacing with a slight look of bewilderment.
“You are not supposed to be here.” His voice is deep with a pitch to match the menacing look across his face.
“Uhh…sorry?”
The bewilderment vanishes and a sense of irritation replaces it.
“How did you get here?”
Will takes a second to answer. Looking up at this man that could most definitely kill him where he stood with no trouble at all, seems to have left him struggling to find his words.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“Um..uh..I..I think there’s been a mistake.” The man seems to be about to say something but Will rushes on with his explanation before the imposing man has a chance to pass judgement. “I was just running through the woods, trying to get home. I thought I knew the way and I got turned around. Before I knew it I was lost and then there was this crazy blue moon and then BAM! Tripped, hit my head, and when I woke up everything seemed different and I walked a little way and here we are.”
Will rambled a little at the end but he just wanted to get through his explanation. He didn’t want to die because this man thought he was trespassing on purpose.
The man raised a defined eyebrow into a slight arch. He almost seemed at a loss of what to say or maybe just deciding on what the best course of action would be.
After a few seconds of the man staring at Will he finally turned aside and gestured into the cabin. “Well then, come on in and let’s see if we can’t get you sorted out.”
What?? No way! Awesome, this guys gunna help me out. Will tried not to think of the slight chance that he was serving himself up on a silver platter here. But at the end of the day he needed help and this guy is the only one around for miles. Well, most likely.
Will hesitantly walked into the cabin and the man closed the door behind him.
“Take a seat.”
Will looked around. There seemed to be a small bedroom off to the right. At least he guessed that’s what the only other door in the cabin led to. To the left was a tiny kitchen and a table with 3 chairs.
Will walked over to one of the chairs and sat down. The man following soon after.
“Don’t suppose you get any cell service out here huh?” Wait….his cell phone!
In his panic he didn’t even realize the missing weight from his pocket. His hand immediately went to his pocket and found it empty. “Must of dropped it in the woods.” He mumbled.
The man’s eyebrow became a bit more arched as he questioningly gazed at Will.
“No. Not really.” The man intoned. “I like the peace out here. The quiet. It’s a nice place to think and gain perspective.”
“Yea, I’ve heard a lot of people go camping for the same reason. I’m sure having a whole cabin makes that a lot easier.”
The man just stared at him again, his expression unreadable. Almost as if he was intentionally guarding himself.
“I’m Will by the way. Will Asher. It’s nice to meet you. Again, thank you for helping me out like this.”
“Ezra.”
He says it straight faced and with no seeming intention to say more.
“Well Ezra, nice to meet you. So do you know the way back to Valley Street? It’s where my house is at. I know I ran pretty far into the woods but I didn’t think I ran far enough to run into someone’s cabin. Have the developers been trying to buy your property? I bet they’ve been a pain.”
Again he starts rambling. It’s hard not to be nervous in this kind of situation.
“You really don’t know where you are do you?”
“Umm..no sir? Like I said if you can just point me in the direction of Valley Street I’ll be on my way and won’t bother you any further.”
The man Ezra took a deep contemplative breath. His eyes searching Will, weighing him. Seeming to decide what to do.
Will continued to get more nervous and then felt a…feeling..pass over him. He would call it a presence, or maybe an assessment? He couldn’t explain why if someone asked him to explain it. It’s simply what his intuition was telling him.
“What the heck was that?” He mumbled.
“You felt that?” Ezra said, both of his eyebrows slightly raised. “Hmm. That settles it then.”
“Um, what settles what sir?”
“Call me Ezra kid.” He chuckles. His voice deep and seemed to vibrate the room around him. “I know you don’t know where you are. In fact, this whole thing must seem very odd to you.” Will was about to say something to confirm but Ezra cut him off and kept talking. “I would explain it, but you wouldn’t believe me even if I did.” Ezra let a few breaths go by as he looked at Will without saying anything. It looks like he’s finalizing a choice he’s made up in his mind.
“Here’s what I’m going to do for you kid. I can’t send you back. That’s beyond even me. Where you come from is off limits to practically everyone. But I’ll send you on your way to where you need to go, and even make sure you end up somewhere where you’ll be safe. Relatively.” Ezra adds the last part as an after thought and with a little smirk, not wanting to outright lie to the child.
“And, because you’ve been so respectful and show so much talent, I’ll even throw in a kicker. Have you ever heard the expression ‘touched by the dragons’?”
Me? Talent? Wait..dragons??
“Listen Ezra, I’m not really sure about what’s going on here bu-“
Ezra lets out a booming laugh. Will’s ear drums almost rupture. “I look forward to seeing how you turn out kid! You’re either going to be really special or a complete flop. I’m bettin’ on the special though.”
Ezra snaps his fingers and a concussion impact sounds out. Will sees a bright white light and losses consciousness. Again.
