//------------------------------//
// A New Land 
// Story: To Save a Home 
// by Thethhron 
//------------------------------//

        As the light faded and her vision returned to normal, Megan found herself on top of a rather large hill. In front of her stood a large forest, extending as far as She could see. Far in the distance, a mountain rose up, just barely visible. Turning around, Megan spied the edge of what she now assumed to be Atlantis. A protrusion stuck out, forming to a point in the distance. Just as she was about to begin her way down the hill, Faust spoke.

Before you go, I need to give you one more thing. After this point, I will no longer be able to provide you with much information about the world and certainly none about the location of other pieces. I have a single gift I can give to you and that is a map. This map, of Atlantis, is special. You will be able to determine your exact location on the map at any time and while it contains no names, you will be able to make notes on it using your thoughts. 

A scroll appeared in front of Megan. As she unfolded it, she found it flattened out for her in such a way that she could easily hold it and still look at what she wanted to. At the north end of the island, a small red marker blinked at her. The floating island itself was almost shaped like an elongated dog’s paw, complete with pads in the toes and claws. Megan found her marker to be precisely on the middle “pad”. South of her was a large mountain, just as she had seen earlier. With a thought, the map displayed a note above her location, that simply said “origin”.

Your biggest enemy will be my opponent’s piece. His name is Scorpan and he appears as a winged demon. Avoid him until your have gathered friends, as I do not know how strong he is now or will prove to be. I can’t stay and talk with you most of the time, due to the rules, which even we gods do not fully understand. I wish you the best of luck Megan. Your people are not the only ones you will be saving.

“Goodbye Faust.”

Megan took some time to study the map. The first and most obvious location to explore would be the mountain, as it was the largest landmark on the island. First, however, she was going to create a base of operations for herself and hunt, as her MREs would only last her two days if she was to retain her strength. 

She started to walk down the hill, only to find that, with her first step, she was hopping instead of walking. Regaining her balance after landing, she recalled what Faust had said about gravity being less than she was used to. Crouching, Megan propelled herself into the air and found she had a couple extra feet of height to her jump. She could easily jump over another human if one had been present. Before making another attempt down the mountain, Megan took some time getting used to the gravity. Pulling out the compact distress beacon she brought, Megan opened the protective cover and pressed the only button the device had externally. Setting it down, she watched as the capsulated dish unfolded itself and started broadcasting into space. 

Satisfied that her people were coming, Megan began her climb down the hillside, taking care as she dropped from ledge to ledge. Once she was on the forest floor, she kept her ears sharp as she got out her map. The forest canopy wasn’t so thick as to completely block the sun, but compass directions were hard to find. Megan decided against creating a base at the hill only because it was so close to the edge of the island. If she wanted her base to be useful, it needed to be a more central location. Having arrived around midday, Megan had plenty of time left for travel and started off southwards into the forest, moving at a decent pace. 

For the first hour or so, she encountered little besides the sound of birds, which were thankfully not disturbed by her presence. Hopefully, no cynogriffins were nearby, as she was unsure of how her first meeting with them would go. Faust had said they were territorial and violent, and she was certainly an unknown and unwelcome visitor. In the worst case scenario, they might decide to make her their next meal and while she had fought many enemies faster than herself, both bipedal and quadrupedal, these wolves could also fly, a luxury she did not and likely would not have access to. Supposing they could be reasoned with, she might have a chance at finding food and shelter before meeting with these other two allies but even if she was willing to risk it, there was no guarantee they even communicated in an understandable language. Already, many risks were too high for her liking. Taking another to acquire something she could get on her own was not an option she would choose. 

In her third hour of trekking, Megan crossed a game trail. After checking her surroundings for anything new to her since arriving, she paralleled the trail in hopes of running into a stream for fresh water. Only five minutes had passed before she heard rustling behind her. Immediately, she dropped into the underbrush and strained her vision in the direction of the noise. Moments later, a large deer trotted into view and past her. She drew her knife in anticipation of her first quarry. A ray of light piercing through the branches above lit the deer’s nose for a moment, giving it almost a glow. Instantly, a large shape hurtled down from above onto the deer, crunching its ribcage. Megan froze.

Half a second passed before a loud boom reached Megan’s ears and what appeared to be a rainbow spread out beyond the tree heights. The shape, now shaking the neck of the dead deer, was just as Faust had described it: a large wolf, sporting wings on its back. Megan slowed her breathing as much as she could, hoping the large canine would not hear her. Sadly, there was nothing to be done about her scent, not yet at least. She could only hope the underbrush would contain it enough.

Thankfully, the cynogriffin appeared too enthralled in its kill to be bothered. Soon, it had taken off, deer in tow, leaving another sonic boom in its wake as it left with the same rainbow effect. Megan released her control over her body and rose from the ground, sliding the knife back into her boot. These cynogriffins were certainly far faster than anything she had dealt with while outside of a pilotable machine. Far from being as fast as some of the more advanced space-planes owned by humanity or produced by alien forces but fast nonetheless. Hopefully, Mach 1 was the fastest they could travel, or she was going to have problems without some kind of high velocity projectile. They would be easy enough to dodge if she could see them while they were in the sky but here in the forest, they would be a hard force to manage. Even more so now, she needed to make sure her presence was as unnoticeable as possible.

With this new knowledge of the dangers the forest had to offer, Megan once again set off down the game trail. Every so often, she passed what appeared to be a fruit tree with all it’s fruits already stripped from the limbs. Keeping her eyes out for more trees, possibly with the fruits still there, the remaining hour before she found a stream were uneventful.

Megan stopped a good 20 meters back from the stream and scanned for any deer or wolves. After a few minutes without seeing any, she moved from her position and moved to get some water from the stream in a canteen. While her survival kits had water, they also contained some empty bottles for liquid storage. She also wanted to take small doses of local water to expose herself to any local sicknesses, to slowly immunize herself. This process was less than ideal, but water sources were the closest thing to a vaccine she was going to have, besides the meat she would gain from hunting. After collecting water and taking a few sips, she moved back, far from the stream. The first day was nearing its close and she need to set up a shelter. 

Megan spent fifteen minutes gathering wood for, not only for a fire, but also for her shelter. First, she built a simple lean-to with some of the larger logs, then covered it with leafy branches while the whole thing rested against a nearby tree. The sun was going down, so Megan collected the small firewood and used the flint and steel in her survival kit to catch the tinder. After creating a small, low fire, she opened an MRE and began cooking it. By the time she had finished eating and smothered the fire, the sun had set. Clothing herself completely with the fatigues, Megan quickly fell asleep.





Megan awoke sharply at what she guessed to be 0600 hours. Due to the trees, she could not see the sun, but the sky beyond their limbs was growing brighter. No sounds alerted her to the presence of anything nearby, so Megan quickly arose and tore down her temporary shelter, scattering the wood to and fro. Pulling another MRE from her pockets, Megan made quick work of her breakfast and set off southwards again. She had traveled for quite a while, probably two hours, before the sun made itself known to the forest floor.

After the sun finally shone through the forest proper, Megan noticed some of the fruit trees she had seen earlier. Except that her assumption had been false. These trees did not grow fruit, at least not normal fruit. In truth, Megan found the sight in front of her hard to believe. There was no way it should exist.

Donuts. Donuts growing from trees. Megan’s hand reached out and hovered an inch away, waiting for some plant trap. None came. Quickly, she reached up and pulled the glazed pastry off the tree, backing up. Nothing. The yeast-y goodness in her hand smelled, felt and looked entirely proper. Cautiously, she bit in. Almost fresh from the oven and incredibly delicious. The donut was gone almost instantly. Megan pulled another and ate it. 

This land was just full of surprises. Trees that grew donuts and supersonic flying wolves. A snap to Megan’s left made her whirl around to find a deer eating a donut from a different tree, before leaping into the air and  soaring upwards into the sky. So magic, flying DEER as well. What else could be out there? Megan wondered. 

Moving away from the game trail, Megan started south-east, so as to go around the mountain on the map. While she still had far to go, it wouldn’t do to make a right angle out of her path. The faster she got to where she was going, the better. At around midday, she stopped for lunch, using some donuts to supplement her tasteless military rations. She also began formulating an exercise regimen to keep her strength up, seeing as her muscles would deteriorate if she didn’t continue to strengthen them. By the end of the day, she had traversed a good distance and could no longer see the hill she had arrived on.





The following day, Megan was truly out of the rations she had brought. The donut trees provided her with breakfast. The existence of such things perplexed her. While she was no scientist, she certainly knew how donuts were made. How a tree could replicate the process of baking the dough so it ros,e and glazed the donuts as well, was far beyond Megan’s ability to process, and so she did not dwell on it. Regardless, while she had been supplied with breakfast, she would need to hunt for the protein required to keep her energy and muscle mass consistent.

Just before midday, Megan stopped near another game trail leading to the river she was paralleling. Hiding herself among the bushes, knife drawn, she waited for one of the deer she had seen before. Within half an hour, one came meandering along, nibbling here and there as it went. The moment it crossed the path in front of her, she leapt, surprising herself by knocking it to the ground. Quickly, she jabbed her blade into it’s skull near the base of one of it’s horns. Only a few struggles accompanied its death, before it fell limply to the earth.

Dragging the body some distance away, she set to carving it up, setting the pelt to the side to clean later and possibly make into bags or some such thing. The meat itself, she would have to use by the end of the day or cook into jerky - which she would likely do, seeing as the deer was a little larger than her and she certainly couldn't eat it by herself. Once she had the meat carved off the bones, she took the bony carcass and drug it away from the stream she had been traveling along. Taking her spoils, she made her way to the stream and cleaned the gore off of the pelt and left it to dry in the sun while doing the same to the meat. After an hour or so, the pelt had dried and Megan used it to contain the meat. 

Later that evening, she had her first real meal, a far cry from the dry, powdered feeling often left by MREs. Megan had stopped earlier in the day than she had before, in order to properly smoke the meat that was left over. It would serve her well over the next few days. The night sky here was particularly beautiful. While the vast expanse of stars had plagued her thoughts constantly while she was on her ship, here it felt beautiful and amazing. She was honestly surprised how much the soft soil beneath her changed her view on something that had become so routine and, in some moods, hated. She could not wait to let her people roam free, show them once again the beauty of the natural world. 

Megan slept with a smile that night.