Aubrey woke to a myriad of sensations. Scents of flowers and pine, birds chirping, sunbeams. Oddly strong sunbeams. She sat up, hands spreading out into the grass.
"What...?" Sure enough, midday light filtered through a canopy of twisting branches, even though it had been afternoon just now when she'd spotted the wandering figure...
"Nissa?"Her head jolted from side to side. Other forms surrounded her, some sleeping, some waking. Young forms.
"Nissa!" With frantic eyes, she scanned them, heart sinking. None of them were her sister. Even so, she staggered to her feet to check on them - and froze.
This wasn't the same woodland. In fact, this wasn't like any woodland she'd ever seen. Swirls of mist shimmered iridescent colours as it drifted around tree trunks. Birds that looked straight out of fairytale illustrations flitted about. She was even sure she heard the occasional chime from bell-like flowers in the wind. Exactly the kind of world she and Nissa had longed for.
Exactly the kind of world that looked too ideal to trust.
"Ok. What the actual fuck." On reflex, she clenched her fists. Was she dreaming? Had she fallen in the forest and hit her head? She inhaled deeply to clear her mind, the cloying scents overwhelming her instead. This was much more vivid than any dream she'd ever had. Shaking off the dizziness, which reminded her all too much of how she'd felt before turning up here, she ran to the nearest figures.
"Up. Come on, everyone, up," she urged, her voice cutting through the whimsy.
"To say something weird's going on would be the understatement of the year."
"Up."As the voice registered, Brenton stirred. The speaker didn't sound like any of his friends, and sure enough, he slowly blinked to see an unfamiliar rough-and-tumble looking girl standing over him. Over him? Wait, what was he doing on the ground?
"Uugh..." He staggered to his feet, hefting up his backpack as it slipped down his shoulders.
"Wasn't counting on the impromptu nap, but I'm u..." He trailed off at the sight of the scenery. The campsite hadn't had plant and animal life
that garish, or fog with odd sparkles and colours, or lights flickering in the distance.
"Yeeeah. Weird is right." He stepped back, surveying the scene.
"Guys?" he called. The rest of the camping group were nowhere to be seen, and didn't reply, but many other people lay unconscious.
He hurried forward, swaying and sinking to one knee as wooziness flared. Through the shock, his mind raced for a logical explanation. He had to be in his tent, dreaming. Or one of his friends had smoked something dubiously legal, and he'd inhaled the fumes - there were a few he wouldn't put that past. Or he was crazy. Yeah, reassuring thought there. Whether this was real or not, though, he couldn't just hang around and do nothing.
"Everyone ok?" he called, standing up once more, shrugging off his backpack and reaching for the first aid kit. He wasn't hurt, but it'd be rash to assume nobody else was.
"Does anyone need help?"
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