Chapter Ten: A Whole New World

“I’m alive,” was Trey’s first thought. He looked around. All he could see was black. It was cold, a damp cold, and floor was hard. Trey blinked and rubbed his eyes. He could see… nothing.
“Great,” he thought. “I’m alive, but I’m blind.”
Slowly, he stood up. With his hands groping in front of him, Trey walked forward. Suddenly, the ground sloped steeply downwards, catching him unaware. Trey fell face-first and, with a yell, slid down the incline, a shower of rocks and dirt following.
When he stopped sliding, Trey lifted his face, which was now scratched and bruised. He saw a dim light up ahead. Standing up slowly, he walked toward it. Trey could see now that he was in a cave tunnel. Around the curve, the light grew stronger. Realizing it was daylight, he quickened his pace. Suddenly, he was out in the open. The sunlight nearly blinded him. Blinking hard, he managed to focus his eyes and see where he was. He had just stepped out of a cave in the side of a mountain, and stepped into a forest.
It looked like a normal forest at first, with pines, evergreens, and ferns. But as Trey walked through the trees, he began to see things he had never seen before. He saw trees with deep blue, almost black, trunks with scarlet leaves. Some bushes looked like they came straight out of a Dr. Seuss book. There were purple bushes that looked like giant pom-poms with red flowers that looked like a cross between a daisy and a rose.
Hearing a noise above him, Trey gazed up into a tree with red bark and big, feather white leaves. A grey creature was up amongst the branches, staring down at him. It looked like a grey rabbit, with a fluffy squirrel’s tail and keen yellow eyes.
“Oh, wow,” Trey said aloud. “What is that?”
As if offended, the creature began squeaking loudly and jumping from branch to branch. Its eyes had turned orange.
“Oooookay, I’ll leave you alone, then,” Trey murmured, as he walked off. “I wish I knew where I was,” he sighed.
Climbing up a slope, Trey began to wish he had water to drink. He hadn’t drunk anything since the top of the waterfall. “It feels like a year since then,” he panted. Finally, he reached the top. Trey gasped.
He was standing on what was like a smooth, grassy tabletop overlooking a breathtaking valley. It was filled with trees and plants of every color, and a river ran through the middle of it. The sky was a startling blue, bluer than our sky, with not a single cloud.
“Wow,” Trey breathed. “Maybe I died and went to heaven.” But a second look on the other side of the valley proved him wrong. Standing atop a hill on the opposite side, like a ruler over this beautiful valley, was a dark castle it was built with what looked like jagged, black stones, and had steep towers and had rough edges. One look, and you knew it was evil. They began to feel creeped out.
“How do I get out of this place?” he sadly asked himself.
Suddenly, he heard a voice behind him.
“One move and you die, stranger.”
Trey swallowed hard. He didn’t dare move.
“Who are you and state your business,” the voice went on.
“I… I’m Trey… Trey O’Dell,” he stammered in a shaky voice. “I don’t know where I am.”
A different voice, a girl spoke up, in a taunting voice. “Hah, how can you not know where you are?”
Trey heard another girl answer her, in a softer voice. “Gasia, he does look like a stranger. I mean, look at his hair!”
“I’ll bet my hair’s messy,” Trey thought.
The first voice spoke again.
“Turn around slowly,” it commanded. Slowly, as commanded, Trey turned around. Three people stood in front of him. One was a young man, probably not much older than himself, eighteen or nineteen, maybe. He was dressed in a tunic with chain mail underneath, and on the chest of his tunic was an embroidered coat of arms, which looked like a heart of two colors with a key going through it. He had brown weathered boots. The warrior stood in a fighting stance, and a sword, with flames on it, drawn and pointed towards Trey. His curly back hair ruffled in the wind, and his grey eyes had a stern look in them. Trey thought he looked like he stepped out of a medieval history book.
So did the two girls next to him. Trey figured they both looked like they were about Rainbow’s age, fourteen. The one to the right of the young man had long black hair and fierce purple eyes. She was wearing a layered purple and forest green dress, just above her knees, had chain mail on her legs, and wore brown boots with buckles on them. A cape, attached to one shoulder, blew out behind her. Her arms were bare, and the coat of arms gleamed from the front of her dress. The strap of a quiver, full of arrows, half-covered it. A bow made of purple-black wood was in her hand, and she aimed an arrow, fitted to the string, straight at Trey’s eyes. The girl warrior looked ready to kill him, and Trey believed she wanted to.
Next to her, was the other girl, with black hair, a little past shoulder length, blowing in the slight breeze. Her sky-blue dress had a slanted hem, making it short on the right side, and long on the left. She also had a cape attached to one shoulder, her right, except hers was dark green. She too wore brown boots with buckles. Two long, drawn daggers were held tightly in her hands. The hilts were dragons, and the fire coming out of their mouths made up the blades, which gleamed in the sun. The coat of arms was embroidered on her front, as with the other two. The girl’s bright green eyes stared at Trey, as if studying him.
The young man stepped forward.
“Where do you come from, stranger?” he asked suspiciously, his sword still held up.
“Um…,” Trey licked his dry lips. “Southern California. Orange County.”
The three warriors glanced at each other, confused. The archer spoke.
“Where in Keenzendura is that?”
Now Trey was even more confused. “Keenzendura? What’s that?”
Again, they looked at each other. Finally, the girl with the daggers spoke.
“It’s…here.”
Trey looked at her. “What?”
The man turned to the girls. “I believe he might be telling the truth. He doesn’t have a clue as to where he is.”
The archer looked doubtful. To Trey, the man said, “Why don’t you come with us, and we will heat your story.” Not wanting to argue and possibly be killed, Trey agreed. The warrior turned back to the girls. “Put away your weapons,” he commanded. The second girl sheathed her daggers, while the other, somewhat reluctantly, lowered her bow and put away her arrow, all the while eyeing Trey suspiciously.
The young man spoke again. “My name is Lander.” Before Trey could get over how strange the name was, he was told two more. “This,” said Lander, nodding over to the archer. “This is Alagasia.” And gesturing toward the other girl, he said, “And that is Chasya.”
Alagasia just nodded, and Chasya smiled and said, “Greetings, was it…Trey?”
“Yeah,” said he, beginning to relax.
“Come,” Lander said, leading the way back down the slope. Trey followed obediently. He noticed that they were each wearing a curious looking ring. It was a silver dragon with a sapphire eye. Trey decided he would ask them about it later, when they became better friends. Alagasia and Chasya walked behind him. As they journeyed through the forest, Trey began to really doubt whether he was in our world anymore.