The Journey: Farland's Secret

by Rainbow Cyder

A Strange New World

Jason was blinded by the sight of the bright sun beaming against his face, he brought his hands to his face trying to shield is eyes. The warm air blew against him, clothes flapping in the wind. Jason had no idea where he was and he didn’t care. Opening his eyes again, this time successful, Jason noticed a big blue circle surrounded by green getting bigger and bigger. “What the?” he thought aloud. As the navy blue circle got closer Jason closed his eyes, the warm air suddenly turning cold as he hit the circle.

Jason opened his eye again and stared off into the dark blue void. Stunned from going to the now freezing surroundings from the warm air, he let his body be suspended in the blue void. Several seconds later he was brought back from the shock by the urgent need to breath. He held his throat as he tried to gasp for air, bubbles floating upwards as they escaped his lungs. He instantly propelled his body upwards. His head broke the surface, taking in the crisp cool air. Wiping the water from his face, he looked around for the shortest way to the shore. Spotting his route, he gathered his strength and pulled himself to shore.

Once a good distance from the water, Jason propped himself up against a tree and his soggy backpack next to him. He leaned his head back to rest and noticed a dark figure in the sky before being blocked out by the leaves of the tree. Leaning forward again, he looked towards the sky and noticed a black rectangle before having to cover his face from the blaring sun. Once he was able to shield his eyes from the sun, Jason saw the rectangle again. Bewilderment spread across his face as it simply disappeared from existence. Sighing, he leaned back against the tree and stared over the pond he had just fallen into.

Noticing the trees on the other side of the lake had a simplistic view. He looked up at the tree above him and it too had a simplistic view, even up close. Everything around Jason seemed texture-less. Holding his hands in front of him he studied them; they had the same simplicity as the trees around him did. They also seemed to bit squarer and blockier too, he moved his eyes up his arms and noticed that all of his hair on his hands and arms were gone too; there was also a faint outline around him that he didn’t notice before. It was a shade darker in some places while others were lighter than his skin tone.

He looked up at the trees and the lake; they too had an outline around them, everything he saw did. Jason studied his hands and arms some more, then studied the rest of his body, as he suspected, his clothes were also simplistic, but yet they had the same feel to them as they always had. Jason panicked at his new appearance and quickly stood up, a loud crack echoed over the pond as Jason hit his head on a low lying branch. He slid back down the tree and his consciousness faded from him.

Jason lurched awake. He rubbed the top of his head. “What a weird dream.” he said, shaking his head. He looked out across the pond; an orange glow was casted upon everything in sight, the trees swayed in the light breeze, the pond lay still in front of him. It was a beautiful sight to Jason but an unwelcome one. “You got to be kidding me.” he said, throwing his hands in the air and slapping them down on his knees. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as a howl echoed through the air.

Jason picked himself up and surveyed his surroundings; a light cool breeze blew against his face. The evening was approaching and Jason knew he needed to find shelter, or at the very least a tree he could climb, but first he needed to quench his thirst. Jason bent down next to the pound’s edge and cupped his hands, and drew some water to his face. The water felt silky and cool against his skin, Jason drew some more water and drank it. He then got up, picked up his backpack by the tree and made his way into the forest.

The Sun had set and Jason sat along a branch in a tree. It was harder to climb than he though, since most of the trees had nothing to grab onto, except for a few slits here and there, to pull himself up. It wasn’t the best place that he could find, but it was better than being on the ground and being attacked by God knows what. Jason looked up at the obsidian sky and the stars sparkled like street lights in the distance, but still no clouds. Jason continued to stargaze for the better half of an hour, until he heard a howl and rustling in the bushes around him.

A figure on four legs walked towards the tree, its eyes glowed yellow in the darkness. Sniffing around it circled the tree that Jason had taken shelter in. sniffing up the tree it spotted Jason and snarled. Jason swung his legs up and stood up on the branch, trying to get out of reach of the figure, which he assumed to be a wolf. The wolf like figure jumped up on the tree and swung its paw at him.

Jason saw the paw in the moon light and it looked as if it was made out of wood. The figure swung again. Yes, it was made out of wood. Jason eyes widened at the sight of the wooden figure below him. “Wood, what creature could possibly be made out of wood?” He said in confusion. The figure swung again and hit the branch, knocking Jason off balance. Jason struggled to require his balance once again and fell. He landed on his stomach and quickly got to his feet, when the backpack hit the ground next to him, an assortment of items spewed from the backpack which scattered across the ground
.

A spray can rolled to Jason’s feet and taped his shoe. Jason saw it and was about to kick it away when he formed an idea in his head. “If these creatures are wood, then they might not like fire very much.” He though. He picked the can up as he reached into his pocket and produced a lighter, hoping it still worked from being in the water, it sparked. “Uh, come on.” Jason murmured as he tried the lighter a few more times. The wolf like figure was now in front of him, growling at him. Jason could now see its face, it had a wolf like face pieced together with sticks and twigs, while its eye continued to glow yellow.

Jason took off running trying to get the lighter to light, while the wooden wolf followed close behind him. Jason dodged low hanging branches and roots that stuck out of the ground, trying to outrun the wooden wolf creature. He heaved himself over dead trees and slide behind a tree stopping. Jason was still trying to get the lighter to work. “Come on, come on, come on!” he could hear the sniffing of the creature getting louder and louder, Jason knew he didn’t have much time, a few seconds later he would either be dinner or have to take of running again. He didn’t know how much longer he could keep running, his time on track certainly helped, but he still couldn’t run forever.

Jason tried the lighter one last time; it finally produced a beautiful, fierce flame. Jason ducked as a wooden paw tried to claw him. Jason rolled to the side and held up the spray can and lighter as the sound of cracked wood filled the air. Jason looked at the spot where he once been, a paw print was engraved into the splintered wood. “Unbelievable.” Jason said “That would have broken a few of my ribs for sure. How does this creature have that much power?” He turned to the wooden wolf creature and stared into its yellow eyes. Jason aimed the spray can at the creature and held the light up. An orange glow erupted in front of Jason and a screech echoed through the forest.

Jason knelt down and picked a plastic bag that contained a letter off of the forest floor. He eyed it for any damage, seeing that it was unharmed he folded it and slid it into his pocket. He quickly picked up the rest of the items lying across the forest floor. Once everything was packed, he swung the backpack onto his back and stood up. Another howl filled the air, then another. Jason quickly started moving again, one wooden wolf creature was enough for tonight.

Jason ran along the forest, a few hours had passed and Jason had not seen a single wooden wolf since his first encounter. He needed to rest, and could see that the trees were starting to clear; he thought that he should almost be out of the forest. He sat down deciding it would be the best if he rested for a few minutes. He almost regretted sitting down as he felt a breath on the back of his neck. He slowly turned around and 3 pairs of glowing yellow eyes were staring at him; he took off running again.

A few minutes later he jumped over a fence and ran through a field of trees, looking back he noticed that the wolves had stopped at the fence and retreated back into the forest. He slowed down to a slow walk, and looked up at the trees. Apples, but not just any apples, rainbow apples filled the trees. Jason gazed with his mouth agape at the sigh. He had never seen anything like it in his life. He walked down the row of rainbow apple trees and looked at all the fruit. His stomach grumbled at the sight and he remembered that he had not eaten anything for some time. He decided to try one.

He found a good rainbow apple tree he was able to climb and pulled himself up into the tree. He grabbed one; a little shock hit his hand as he did. He eyed the apple and then took a bite. He took another, and then again; stuffing his face with the fruit. It was the most delicious thing that he had ever eaten in his life. He grabbed another on and stuffed it into his mouth. He had eaten almost six apples before he heard a voice.

“What’n tarnation do you think yer doin’? Stop eating mah Zapapples!”

The tree rocked and the apple fell from the tree, as did Jason. Jason got to his feet and was face to face with the creature that just knocked him out of the tree. It was orange, with a cowboy hat, blonde hair, freckles and emerald eyes. It looked like a she, and she looked like a pony. She turned around as Jason just stared at her. “What. The. He-oof” Jason felt pain radiate from his chest and heard a crack, she had just kicked him in the chest. Jason was pushed back against the apple tree with force, hitting his head. He then fell to the ground; he heard one last thing before everything went black.

“Don’t ya eat mah Zapapp- wait a second, what are ya?”

Comments

[Fluffyyeti]

You know what this was petty good keep up the good work.

[Rainbow Cyder]

639515
Thank you.

You can bet that i will.