The Portal Of Odd

Chapter 1: What An Odd World

It was in the dead of night as I lay under a tree with blood on my left shoulder and arm. I had no idea what time it was. I could only guess it was about 3:00 in the morning. My brown shirt had blood stains on it now and dirty tan pants from me falling down a few hills to escape the enemy. My mouse-brown hair tied up in a ponytail started to become crusty from my dried blood that got onto it. I grew faint, feeling me lose consciousness from so much blood loss. My backpack was stolen from me, along with my camera that was inside it. The only thing I have on me is a black hoody that I ripped up the sleeve to wrap my left arm and shoulder. I leaned on the tall abstract tree as I look up to the night sky, sighing to myself, "Why me?"

My name is Theresa, nickname, Tree. I'm sure you're wondering how I got into this predicament? Well, let me tell you how it all started. It seemed like a typical day on Earth, taking photos in the forest near my home, listening to the Cannon River flow and the birds chirping along with the geese honking in the river to ward off any predators. I wanted to take photos of birds today, having my large 500-millimeter lens attached to my Canon T7i camera. So many birds to choose from as I snapped photos, hearing the calls from many species where I live in Minnesota. But I was unaware of a type of bird that stumbled into my world. The same birds that got me into this predicament.

I left my dog Finn at home to get a chance to capture some shots of the wildlife peacefully without him tugging me around and demanding me to play with him in the river. With my backpack on my back that held my lenses, my camera was around my neck. It started to feel heavy around my neck from how long I've been taking photos of random things. I was out for about two hours wandering the trails that zigzagged around. My feet started to feel a bit sore on how far I walked. My back was feeling the pain from the backpack with all of the lenses inside. But I still pressed on to find some hidden treasures within the deep woods as I stepped off the trail for a moment seeing something moving in the distance. It was a deer. Not just one, four of them! I quietly snuck to have a closer look, but they knew I was there. They stood still as if they saw headlights from a truck. I had a great view of them as I started to take photos of them before they began to dash off deeper into the woods.

I took a moment to look back at my camera's screen to view the images I've taken with a smile on my face seeing some of the shots turned out crisp. As I looked through the pictures, I heard fluttering behind me. It sounded like pigeons or doves by the sound of it. I turn to face the direction where my ears listened to the flutters to see if I can spot them in the trees to take a photo, but I saw nothing around. Not even cooing calls sounded. It was like everything around me grew silent all of a sudden. And knowing this as the Oz effect, I started to sweat.

The hairs on the back of my neck began to rise. Something terrible was about to happen. I quickly made it back onto the trail, thinking I was safe. I retreated back the way I came until I heard feathers flapping behind me once again. I whipped my head around, seeing a brief glimpse of tail feathers from a few birds. I started to back up slowly from where I heard the birds. In the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of light. I shot my head around to face the object in front of me, only to feel the pull from it forcing me inside the strange portal-type thing. Around this portal, a group of birds circled, creating another dimension. My mind went wild as I tried to remember where I saw this before. But I had no time to think about this! I had to get away from the pull of the portal that opened up in front of me! I tried to back away, but my shoes slipped on the rocks on the trail, and I fell, having the portal take me into another world.

~

Big Face softly hummed, opening the portal with his chant for the enemy once more with his body strapped onto a machine that shocked him if he refused to cooperate. His humming sound grew louder to have the birds create the door to the other side. Big Face opened the portal into random areas to stall time by sending the enemy off a cliff or into the open ocean somewhere, which he did many times over to the poor Sligs that had to go through them. Luksin and Vykkers knew this, so they threw test dummies into them.