Lost in a Forgotten Realm
Lost in a Forgotten Realm
Chapter 1: A rough re-entry
Blackness surrounds a small group of ponies, a blackness that is swirling and confusing color. It seems that shooting stars are rocketing towards them, but also away, a rushing tunnel of incomprehensible magic. Particles seem to touch them, yet flow through their bodies as they barrel towards a growing speck of normal. Sounds of all ranges and pitches, known and unknown, assault their ears, deafening in their cacophony. Each only feels terror, wanting to get away from the sudden magic of light and darkness, sound and smell. Some scream, some are too terrified to scream.
With little warning, the magic ends, thrusting them all into an unfamiliar landscape filled with trees and other forest vegetation. Nopony is paying attention; their fear is suppressing everything else for the moment. Two pegasi, an earth pony, and a changeling crash into the forest; they smash through and into trees before hitting the ground. A unicorn is thrown over a lake, landing in the water. Both of the pegasi mares hit hard, sustaining severe injuries as they hurtle through the canopy, into tree trunks, and slam into the ground.
¤ ¤ ¤
One of the mares, gray with a black and red mane and tail, bleeds from scrapes and cuts, the worst of which are on her barrel. She tries to catch her breath, but horribly sharp pains alert her to multiple broken ribs. As she attempts to rise, the broken bones grind together, making her scream again, collapse, and vomit from the pain. She rolls to her side, away from the puddle of sickness, and hugs her chest with both front legs and wings. The pain fades after a few moments, but only slightly. She finds herself unable to get enough air, her chest heaving. Her movements and attempts to breathe only cause her more pain. Combined with fear and blood loss, she quickly slips into shock and unconsciousness
¤ ¤ ¤
The unicorn screams as she is flung over the water, landing with a splash and panicking at the feeling of frigid water. She flails to the surface and gasps for breath, coughing and choking for a few moments as she expels the water from her nose and throat. She looks around, finding herself rather far from shore. Cursing quietly under her breath and still mentally reeling from the abrupt transport, she heads for the closest bit of land, beginning to shiver.
Finally making it to solid ground, she lays on a pile of dead but strangely shimmery leaves for a few minutes to catch her breath and warm up. As she rolls to her hooves, she takes in the strange environment so totally different from her home forest. The small muddy beach she is standing on is devoid of vegetation taller than her knees, with the tree-line about 50 feet away from her. All of the plants have an odd shimmer over the normal green. As a light breeze blows across the tiny beach, the trees seem to dance with an unusual rainbow effect, throwing off glimmers of emerald, sapphire, and amethyst light. The unicorn stares at the trees in wonder, her fear forgotten and replaced for a moment with awe.
She suddenly shakes her head, clearing her mind from the momentary hypnosis. Knowing that she is exposed in an unfamiliar place, she immediately looks for a suitable place to take shelter for the night. As she looks, she spots a rise in the somewhat near distance, and after shaking herself to get rid of the remaining water in her coat, mane and tail, she sets off. The intertwined branches of the canopy above her head block the majority of the sun, making the temperature noticeably cooler. Still slightly damp, she feels the occasional chill run through her body, but the slight exertion from walking through the forest keeps them from getting any worse. Her ears flick around as she listens, her eyes taking in the sight of the plants and trees. After some time, she notices that the land begins to rise and become rockier.
The trees are thinner, letting her see a clearing with the hill in the center. As she steps between two trees, she finds herself in the remains of an old landslide. Lichen and moss-covered boulders protrude from the brush and sparse grass, and rotting uprooted trees lay scattered, similarly covered in plant and fungal growth. She looks up at the hill and sees an exposed cave entrance and immediately heads for it. With the sun going down and no time for anything else, it will be a nice shelter for the night. She envelops some of the branches on a fallen tree in her watery blue-colored magic and breaks them off, carrying them with her to the cave.
After dropping the branches just inside the entrance, she trots a bit deeper into the cave. She goes a small distance deeper and sees no signs of habitation. The cave seems to be a natural formation, no marks of mining in any form show on the walls, ceiling and floor. The stone only shows small flecks of mica that gleam in the feeble light coming through the mouth of the cave. As she heads deeper, the floor slants down, fairly steep at times but more or less smooth. Soon, the cave becomes too dark for her to see her own creamy hoof in front of her muzzle and she heads back to the cave entrance, following the dim light. Once there, she breaks the branches into more manageable pieces, arranges them, and sets them ablaze with a quick spell, the flames burning a shade of blue slightly darker than her magical aura. Satisfied with the fire, she heads back down the hill to try and search for a little food and to gather a bit more wood in the remaining but dwindling light.
¤ ¤ ¤
The other pegasi lays where she landed, her dark gray coat spotted with blood from scratches on her back and a rather deep cut on her hind leg. She keeps her eyes closed, not daring to get up or move, waiting for the dizziness to subside. She rubs some of the dirt off of her cyan muzzle with a similarly colored cloven hoof, and with a deep breath she struggles to her hooves, her entire body sore. Her back left leg began to bleed a bit more and threatened to give out on her, but she refuses to fall. Looking around, she is unable to see through the tree trunks, glimmering canopy and moderately dense vegetation. In the back of her mind she notices the strange leaves, but she doesn’t think about it. Her mind was preoccupied with her condition and the need for safety. She chooses a random direction and limps away, hoping she can find somepony or at least someplace to sleep. As she slowly walks, her head begins to droop and she feels cold as shock sets in.
¤ ¤ ¤
The earth pony, purple with a bright green mane and tail, tumbles through the trees, bouncing several times down a small hill before landing headfirst in a hollowed out, partially rotten stump covered in large mushrooms. After several minutes of rocking back and forth, she finally manages to pull herself out of the stump, landing on her rear with a grunt as pieces of disintegrating wood fly through the air. There is a scowl on her face as she glares around.
“Ha ha, very funny Silver, Psych…” She pauses, finding herself alone in a strange location. “…Where the feather am I?” Her eyes narrow as she scans the area. She places her hoof against a nearby tree as she stands and trots away, only to be yanked back, her hoof stuck to the trunk. She pulls on her hoof, but it’s stuck fast.
“Damnit! Stupid tree!” She pulls even harder, her hoof still not noticeably budging. “Come ON!” She feels her hoof and leg strain and sprain as it finally comes off of the tree, a chunk of bark still attached. She growls down at it and walks away, the barky hoof clumping against the ground. Each clump is punctuated with an “Ow”. She comes upon a lake and grimaces at the water, keeping her distance. As she turns back to the trees, she spots a blue glimmer in the distance and decides to head for whatever it is.
A particularly pointy stick catches her eye and she grabs it in her teeth, using it to try and chip the piece of tree off of her hoof, only getting some chunks off the edge. As she goes to break some more off, she misses and stabs herself in the hoof.
“Feeeeaaaaatherrrrrrrrrrrrrs!” She cries out, in both pain and annoyance.
¤ ¤ ¤
The changeling crashes into the side of a tree, ricocheting into another tree, both impacts cracking his gray chitinous carapace and landing in a pile of dirt and leaves. The cracks in his body are now dripping yellow blood that sizzles slightly on the decaying leaf matter. He lifts his head up and glances at himself, grimacing as he notes his bent and tattered wings. Dragging himself to his hooves with a small hiss of pain, he limps, with the occasional yelp, away from his crash site. He looks around, determined to find a safe place to hide and heal.
As he tries to peer through the strange canopy, distracted and curious about its coloration, he trips on a root, falling to the ground with a muffled cry as his barrel lands on another root. He tries to stand back up, but his hoof slips. He unconsciously spreads his wings to catch him, but, because of their state, they do nothing to help. His other leg doesn’t support him and he lands on his side, right on a wing. He lets out a breathless scream as he injures it even further. He rolls off of it but keeps it spread out, knowing that bending it will only make it hurt worse. He stands and shuffles through a patch of mud, only using three legs, keeping the fourth tucked against his barrel. He continues through the trees, heading for higher ground to avoid more mud.
Still bleeding, he stumbles past a pile of large rocks into a clearing. He looks around and sees the hill, with the cave farther up, and the now-purple fire. Normally, he wouldn’t approach others, but in his injured state, he doesn’t particularly care if they help or harm him. Walking weakly up the slope, he blinks as his vision slowly fades. He almost slips several times on his own blood, but manages to make it into the cave, flopping down between the fire and entrance and falling unconscious.
¤ ¤ ¤
The unicorn walks back into the cave, carrying some thin but supple reeds, some firewood, and a small amount of berries, which she promptly drops with a gasp, upon seeing the strange, insect-like pony. The berries bounce and roll away while the reeds stay put and the wood clatters and thumps to the stone and dirt floor. She keeps back, but takes a step forward when the changeling doesn’t move, her eyes inspecting its unfamiliar appearance. The firelight reveals that it is covered in mud and its wings are tattered and bent. Her practiced eyes note the bleeding cracks in its chitin and she hears its ragged breathing. She also intuits that it is male. Despite his strange and frightful appearance, she decides to help him, not wanting the creature to die.
She rushes back into the trees, looking at the various plants in the underbrush. She runs a hoof over many of the leaves, smells them, and sometimes tastes them, grimacing at the occasional bitter tasting ones, and even spitting out a few of the more unpleasant ones. Grabbing some large, softly bristled leaves, a few roughly straight branches, some vines, and an entire branch covered in sweet smelling leaves, she heads back to the cave. Using the reeds and magic, she quickly weaves a small, fairly watertight bowl and fills it with water from a clear puddle just outside the cave. The fire reflects off of the water as she sets it down, casting orange flickers across her and the cave walls.
Gathering everything around her, she gets to work. Using her hooves and magic, she gently wipes off the majority of the mud from the changelings body. Switching to the large leaves, she gets the remainder of the mud and blood off. She grabs a small rock and a larger, flat one and pulls them towards her, putting a bunch of the sweet leaves and a bit of the water onto the flat rock. Using the small rock, she quickly grinds the leaves and water into a thick paste. She smears the mixture onto and into the deepest cracks in his body first, covering the smaller ones after and only if they were bleeding.
With his bleeding halted, she takes a look at his wings, frowning as she gently touches and moves them with her hooves, seeing how they lay against his back and how they move. Thankful that he’s out cold, she sets the bent wing and splits it using two of the sticks and several lengths of vine. She can’t think of what to do about the other wing, which is tattered but otherwise unharmed, so she flattens several more lengths of vine and ties them around his body and wings to secure them. The familiar motions help to calm her and as she works, she studies the unconscious pony- creature in front of her, confirming that her initial thoughts about his gender were correct.
Satisfied with her work, she weaves two more reed bowls, both smaller than the water bowl. She puts the now dusty berries into the middle sized one and the rest of the leaf paste into the smallest. Placing all three bowls over by the cave wall, she sits at the entrance, watching the sun set over the shimmering trees, which shine with a golden and emerald gleam. The setting sun begins to dip behind what appears to be mountains. The air to what she thinks of as west is slightly hazy, and coupled with the great distance, she can’t quite tell. She looks over her shoulder at the changeling, noticing that his breathing is already a bit better. As she turns back to the sky, she sees the sun fully disappear behind the mountains, its light fading quickly. The trees take on an average color for a few moments, the normal green of normal trees.
As she looks to her east, the sky begins to brighten with the rising of the moon. The silvery light hits the trees, and they begin to gleam a lovely dark amethyst and onyx. The unicorn once again marvels at the strange forest, having never even heard of such a thing before. As the moon rises higher into the sky, the colors only intensify. The leaves twirl and dance at the slightest provocation, every breeze and gust of wind. The display helps to clear her mind and temporarily dispels her thoughts of what happened to her earlier. She continues to sit within the cave entrance and stare out at the forest, preferring it to her thoughts. She sighs, relaxed for the time being, and waits for the being behind her to wake.
Lost in a Forgotten Realm
Lost in a Forgotten Realm
Chapter 2: The First Night
The changeling stirs as he wakes, grimacing at the sudden pain. He stops moving and lies still as he opens his eyes. He finds himself in the cave, blinking in confusion at the yellow-orange firelight; he vague remembered it being blue….or was it purple…? He gingerly lifts his head after a mental shrug and notices that he is actually deeper inside than he remembered, between the low fire and one of the walls instead of in the entrance. He sees it is actually night now, not sunset, the moon shining from its zenith and illuminating the mouth of the cave. The trees still shimmer but their leaves are still, no breeze caresses the canopies.
The moon also shines on another; a pale-bodied unicorn with a darker, two-toned mane and tail, the colors bleached by the silvery light. She had turned towards him as he woke, having heard his movements, but hadn’t gotten up or come closer, not wanting to scare him.
“Please, don’t move,” she says to him, her voice soft “I wouldn’t want you to reopen your wounds.”
The changeling lets out a chirping whine, in pain but dealing with it.
Frowning, she sighs quietly. “I…I wish I could do more for you, but with my unfamiliarity of the area and plants, I have not yet been able to find much that is useful.” She turns back to him, giving him a small, comforting smile as she sees him nodding, understanding what she’s saying. “But you should try to sleep, it will do you good.”
She watches as he nods with another quiet chirp, this one not quite as pained, and close his eyes. He falls asleep within moments. She levitates a few more branches onto the small fire, which greedily laps at the wood and grows quickly. Peering out of the cave once more to keep watch, she settles herself onto the ground, trying to get comfortable, and crossing her hooves in front of her. One ear stays trained on the forest outside, the other swiveling between the trees and the changeling. All she hears is the night breeze through the trees, frogs in the distance, the occasional owl, and the changelings breathing. She is pleased to note that his breathing is already sounding much less labored.
The moon passes behind a cloud for a moment, darkening the area. The trees now appear normal, their lambency gone as the light of the moon is no longer gracing them. By now, she had gotten over the novelty of the strange trees. She still found them beautiful but not as mesmerizing. The moon reappears and a wave of shimmers travels across the tops of the trees. She still hears nothing over or under the wind, and she sees nothing that stands out. No odd movements, no darting shadows. Letting out another quiet sigh, she leans against the cave wall and continues to watch the night.
¤ ¤ ¤
With an angry glare and a growl, the purple and green mare rips the sharp stick out of her hoof, only causing herself more pain. Her yell bounces through the trees.
“Grr…Fine!” Picking up the stick again, she proceeds to break up the piece of wood and the stick, as well as mangle her hoof. Throwing the pieces aside, she turns to her back right leg and unhooks a black and yellow striped sock with her good hoof. A soft pink mist wafts from the partially melted leg and drifts towards the injured hoof. The purple mare watches, her face set in a pained expression as the mist wraps itself around her hoof and sinks into it, sealing up the wounds while giving the hoof a rather crooked appearance. Somewhat satisfied, she replaces the sock into its original position and continues on towards the light, putting extra pressure on her bad hoof in defiance to the pain.
¤ ¤ ¤
Waking, the changeling finds himself in less pain than before, and able to see clearly. He lets out a questioning chirp as he peers around, looking for the helpful unicorn. He sees her in the same spot as earlier, but she scoots closer to the fire when she hears his chirp.
“How are you feeling?” she asks in the same tone as before, soft and cordial with a hint of concern. Her face is mostly expressionless. Her eyes are not. They display more concern for him than her voice.
He sits up carefully, being mindful of his bad hoof. As he moves, his bad wing shifts, making him grimace in pain. He lets out a mid-ranged chirp to indicate that he is still in pain and feeling better but that he is not as good as he could be. In case she still doesn’t understand, he waggles a hoof in a so-so manner. The bowl of water floats over to him, enveloped in the unicorns light blue aura. He takes it with his good hoof and momentarily feels the tingle of her magic before she releases the bowl. After taking a few small sips, he looks up and finds her staring at him curiously. She notices that he noticed her staring and glances away for a moment, her ears falling back in embarrassment as she chuckles.
“I’m sorry for staring…It’s just…I’ve never seen anything like you before. I’ve seen all sorts of equine creatures, but never an insectile one.” She looks back at him but he is staring at his reflection in the water. “I know you understand me but can you speak Equestrian?”
He lets out a short series of chirps as he shakes his head and puts the bowl down. Using his good hoof he quickly writes ‘I can write’ on the dirt in front of him.
“Better than nothing, that’s for sure. I would hate to have to use all hoof signals to talk to you.” She chuckles again quietly. ”Anyway, I’m Brook Runner.” She watches as he writes out a short name and a little more, tilting her head so she doesn’t have to read his writing sideways. “Hex…interesting name for an interesting being. You’re a changeling, eh? My parents may have mentioned your kind once or twice, long ago, but they never really explained anything else. Anyway, it’s nice to finally be properly introduced.” She smiles at him and he smiles back with a nod and a happy chirp.
Suddenly, a yell echoes out of the forest. Hex’s ears perk then fall as he scoots deeper into the cave on the other side of the fire. Brook’s ears twitch as she looks out the cave entrance. They both look at each other nervously. When they don’t hear anything else for a couple of minutes, they relax, but continue to stare out into the faintly moonlit darkness.
Hex lies on his stomach, blinking for a moment as he stares out, his eyes beginning to glow. Brook glances over at him, her eyes shining with curiosity and fascination. Hex blinks again as he notices her staring at him and the glow fades. He lets out a few chuckling chirps as she waves her hoof apologetically.
Brook looks out the entrance again as she suppresses a yawn. It had been late evening when she was pulled here, and combined with the harrowing day she’d had in this place, she was very tired. She was about to put her head down for a bit of sleep when the sound of crunching leaves reaches her ears. She instantly perks up and jumps to her hooves. Hearing a sound behind her, she sees that Hex had nearly disappeared into the shadows outside of the firelight. She could only see the fire reflecting in his eyes and a slightly darker shadow from his body.
As she looks back to the cave entrance, a lime green maned purple pony walks in, mumbling to herself. She sees Brook and narrows her eyes
“If you have any healing potions, hoof them over…Now.” Her muddy face is decorated with a demanding sneer. Brook stammers that she doesn’t have any and the purple mare growls. “Fine, then I’ll take all of your weaponry.”
With a confused look on her face, Brook responds “We don’t have any of those either.”
Muttering under her breath, the mare sits down by the fire, her back to the cave entrance. “No guns…what kind of…” With another growl she looks Brook in the eye, her face as hard as her voice. “Alright, fine. I guess I’m sticking around. Don’t even try to kill me…It won’t end with me dead.”
Brook’s ears lie back against her head at the purple mare’s statements, distrust in her eyes. “I wouldn’t attack anypony without reason, and I would prefer to help, not harm…Who are you?”
The mare ignores her question. “So, you’re a healer? And you don’t have any healing potions…? Pills, drugs, anything?! What the hay kind of healer are you?”
The unicorn shakes her head, having not heard of any of the items she had listed. “I’m more of an herbalist, a medicine mare, than anything else. I use natural remedies with a little magic to tend to the sick or wounded.”
The purple mare gives Brook a look that is part exasperation and confusion. “You…what…?” She facehoofs with a loud groan, “Fine, whatever…I’m Cuttlefish Camo.”
Just as Brook says her name, Hex starts to loudly click from the shadows. The sounds intensify before abruptly ending a few seconds after they started. His attempt to intimidate Camo doesn’t work; she only looks towards him curiously.
“Changey…?” She squints, trying to see into the dark shadows as Hex begins to click again, his body low against the ground as his eyes glow yellow. “You’re not Changey…” she says, her face and tone disappointed as she points at him with her mangled hoof, “Who’s that?”
Brook eyes the hoof as the changeling slowly scoots back into the light “That’s Hex. What happened to you?” She doesn’t hear Hex chirp at her as he settles himself by the fire.
“…Had a disagreement with a tree a while ago…if it was even a tree. I mean, it looked like a tree, but it had these things on the branches. Lots of things on the branches. Pointy and annoying things…and it was sticky!” She grumbles, looking at the changeling with a frown as he comes into view. She is pleased to see his ears fall back from her gaze, and almost doesn’t hear Brook ask if she wanted her hoof treated. “What? Oh, it’s fine. I’ve had worse.” She taps her injured hoof against the floor of the cave with a grimace, “See? Perfect.” One of her eyes is still wincing.
Brook grabs Camos hoof with her own as she rolls her eyes, noticing that even Hex is frowning. She cleans the mud, bark and leaf pieces off with some water before putting some of the leftover leaf-mash over the self-inflicted stab wound. She also notes how swollen the hoof and joint are. “Even though you probably won’t listen to me, your hoof is sprained, as you already know…try not to walk on it.”
The purple earth pony bites her lip and looks away, trying to not roll her eyes. “Fine…”
While Brook finishes with Camo’s hoof, Hex looks at his wings which are still very tattered. Noticing that they are splinted, he wonders when they will be useable again and gives Brook a questioning look. She gives him the same look back.
“Did I set them properly…? I’ve never done anything with wings such as yours. They should heal alright, so long as they stay splinted and that I did it correctly.”
He nods, writing a large THANK YOU in the dirt. Brook gives him a small smile and nods back. Camo just stares at Hex, a creepy grin on her face as her eyes flick between Hex and Brook. “We just banged them when they needed to heal. That’s how we did it at my place.” Hex flushes as he quickly shakes his head before burying it under his hooves, embarrassed. Brook looks almost mortified and in disbelief at Camo’s crudity. Camo is still watching Hex and she thrusts a hoof out at him, pointing, at his reaction. “Ha! Must work the same way with you!”
Leaning back against the wall of the cave again, Brook shakes her head in exasperation. “This is all so strange…” She yawns, unable to suppress this one, and lays down with her back to the wall. Out of the corner of her eye she sees Hex uncover his face, his eyes sliding closed as she watches. Movement from the other side of the fire catches her eye, but it is only Camo lying down as well. She lays on her bad hoof and growls, switching to her other hoof.
After a few minutes of silence, Camo begins to fidget. She taps a hoof against the ground, pushes a stick around, and forms little mounds of dirt in front of her. Finally, she breaks the silence, unable to bear the quiet. “So…how long have you been living in this place, wherever this is?”
Hex opens one of his eyes, looking between the two mares as he waits for Brooks answer. Brook continues to stare into the fire for a moment. “Less than a day. Only a matter of hours really.”
Camo’s mouth gapes, “Only…hours?!” Brook nods in affirmation. Camo mouths a “Wow” before asking another question, “So, wait…how did you get here? This place looks strange.”
Brook rubs her eyes with the back of her hoof before answering, “I have no idea…One moment I was relaxing in my cabin, almost ready to go to bed for the night, when I’m flung into this place…I landed in the lake down there, made my way up to this cave, found Hex, fixed him up, then you arrived.” She gives Camo a questioning look, asking her the same question without speaking.
The purple mare looks a bit uneasy, “Yeah, uhh, the same thing happened to me…I was just, um…playing with my friends.” She looks away and thinks of a way to change the subject, starting to mumble about stupid trees and their stickiness.
Brook just shrugs, not wanting to push the other mare for information that she doesn’t want to share. Hex begins to tentatively chirp. The chirps are small but they echo around the cave. Brook tilts her head in confusion while Camo just listens to them. As he lets out a series of chirps, both mares are staring at him, confused. “The feathering hay are you saying?!” Hex looks to Camo and sighs, not wanting to take the time to write it out for them. He lays his head down and sighs again.
Feeling bad for Hex, Brook gets up and puts a hoof to his shoulder, “Don’t worry, we’ll figure out a way so we can all understand you.” As he looks up at her, she smiles then goes to lie back down. He nods in her direction as she closes her eyes. As he stares back into the fire, he hears a soft sound coming from Brook. She had fallen asleep and was snoring lightly. He chuckles silently to himself, knowing that she hadn’t slept in a while and glad that she could finally rest.
He suddenly feels like somepony is watching him and he glances at Camo. She was looking between him and Brook but was spending more time staring at him. He flushes under her gaze, still embarrassed about how she knows so many intimate details about his race. He leans away from her as she scoots a bit closer. As she holds her good hoof out, he eyes it warily. She wiggles her hoof a bit as she gives him an expectant and impatient look. His own expression is confused but he takes her hoof with his own. Nothing happens.
“Is this doing something? Anything?” Camo takes her hoof away when he shakes his head. “You’re a weird changeling….even hoof-holding would have helped Changey…” Hex points to his eyes and yellow thorax before writing in the dirt: ‘You don’t say… I would have thought that my colors would have given that away’.
Camo glances at his writing before rolling her eyes. “Hmmph. Well, don’t even think of hugging me until you save my flank from a band of thugs.” Hex gives her a questioning look, to which she just scoots away and lays down, closing her eyes. “Whatever, Imma sleep…”
The changeling scoots a few feet deeper into the cave, preferring the shadows outside the circle of light thrown by the small fire. As he puts his head down, he glances at Camo; She seems to be asleep. He glances at Brook, and she is still snoring quietly, one leg pillowing her head while her other hoof was tucked under her chin. He smiles slightly, still a bit surprised that a pony actually wanted to help him and not kill him. He was still having trouble wrapping his mind around that fact. Thinking of ponies brought back unpleasant memories, which he quickly dispelled with a shake of his head and a buzzing growl. Putting his head back down, he tried to think nicer thoughts. Sleep snuck up on him during his attempts and he slept almost peacefully for the rest of the night.
¤ ¤ ¤
In the strange gray twilight before the sun shines its warmth on the land, another portal opened up, flinging a winged figure high into the sky. The figure rolls with the turbulence before spreading its wings and lazily gliding in slow circles and landing on a large cloud, disappearing into its fluffy depths.