uuuuuuh….
my head… my poor… poor head.
What a feeling that was… So strange.
The first thing to catch my eye was the difference in greens. One had been a deep forest. This… was inviting and more… Emerald.
After blinking a few times to adjust to the lighting. The throb in my crown subsided.
I took in a deep breath. The air…. felt, fresher… I smiled like a king upon realizing his true inheritance. My thoughts no longer felt like sand through an hourglass. Or… a stream of water through my fingers.
My feet felt unsteady as I stumbled from the bush I’d fallen into. A look around told me there was something very different about where I was… but I couldn’t quite put my finger on anything specific.
And as soon as the foreign feeling had reared its head… it was as good as dead. I suddenly pictured it exactly as it was.
The faintest echo of laughter swept over me. It didn’t sound like mine… it was an old man’s laugh. A wise cackle full of mischief and maybe a touch of something more… dangerous.
“Father!”
The only sound offered in return was the murmuration of starlings taking flight from the canopy above me.
“Faaaaaaather!”
Silence…
“hmmm”
I puzzled over the shift that was just out of my reach. Why did I suddenly feel so strange?
What was the last thing I remembered?
I stopped under a massive oak and offered my back to its trunk. I rubbed at my temples and focused on my most recent memory.
A flash of movement, a loud roar and a heavy push!
That’s it…
I’d been hunting with my Father, we’d been on a trail for the last… three days straight and realized to late we’d stalked into unknown territory. That’s why none of this looked familiar.
The rationalization spilled out as relief poured in to take its place.
It was short lived as a new picture stole the platform. Where was he?
“Father!”
My heart started to race while my feet leaped up to follow suit. I weaved soundless over what appeared to be a deer path. It lead me from the circle of oaks and pushing through to the underbrush at either edge, all the while dodging the looming forest giants.
Their bases are cleverly hidden in creeping vines and foliage so there’s a lot of last-minute dodging and dipping.
I stumble a few times, mostly over my own feet before I have the chance to notice the sun is more vibrant than I remember. It pierced through the leaves violently striking my eyes at every opportunity.
I burst from the final layer of greenery and stumble to a halt. casting away the heavy spear and bow to gather my breath and my bearings…
I felt weak here. The idea seemed strange as it slank over my mind… here… I slowly lifted my head and a heavy arm to guard against the hot sun beating down on me.
I blinked and winced and leaned in all at once. The town standing before me was… nothing… like I remembered it…
Gone were the thatch hutches and shoulder-length stone walls.
This was a new thing...
To be continued…