The Land of LD

Chapter 1-Awake

"Mmm....."
The girl opened her eyes in a strange place.
She looked around herself, and saw that she was in a woods. Alone.
It was the strangest woods she had ever seen.
She was in a small clearing surrounded by trees, with the leaves in a color of turquoise and magenta purple.
And she was sitting on a pile of these leaves, when she suddenly remembered what had happened-that she was not alone.
"Kyle!" she called. "Kyle!! where are you? Kyle!"
"Hey!" came the reply.
"I'm right here! what's wrong?"
"Oh my god, Kyle! where are we?"
"I don't know about that, Em."
The girl-with the name 'Emily Riverside'- sighed and looked at her older brother, Kyle Riverside.
He was still in his same cowboy costume he was wearing when both siblings had went to the school Halloween Party together.

Emily finally got up and asked, "How do we get back home?"
"I don't know about that, either."
"Okay, and how did we get here?"
"Hmm.....we..well.. we were walking home from the party, then we discovered a rabbit hole-thing, and suddenly the hole sucked us in!"
"Um......" Emily began to stutter. that didn't make any sense, did it? but it was true that now that both of them remembered, that was the last thing they were doing just before they landed in a strange woods.
"Fine. what should we do?"
"We find a way out of here. now, follow me! can you walk?"
"Of course I can...let's get out of here."
Then both of them started to walk down the woods' paths....

- - - ⭐ - - -

"Hurgh....Hurgh......"
"Are...you okay? shall we take a break a little?"
"Sure...*pant* fine.....*pant* that's....*pant* great....."
Kyle slumped right onto the huge rock on the side of the trail, and Emily set down next to him.
Both siblings were now very tired, and Kyle, especially, was literally out of his breath.
Emily, meanwhile, sighed and looked up at the sky through the tree leaves.
The sky was already dark, and full of stars.
Although both of them were awfully concerned now that it had gotten so dark, they could be sure that their parents would be worrying very much right now.
But Emily could also be sure that because of the sky full of stars more than they originally knew, that this place was far-or maybe totally opposite from their home, California's San Jascinto town.
However, on the other hand, because they were in the woods, they could have been either near or far from home-they could have been anywhere.
Emily sighed and stood up, and Kyle, who recovered his breath by now got up as well.
"Huh? wait a second, do you see that?"
"What?"
Just then, Kyle discovered something, and he pointed down the trail-and he was pointing to a tiny light in the woods' darkness.
Emily also saw that. they saw the small light like a lantern light floating near a bush.
"What is that..?"
"I don't know. maybe it's some person! we should go and ask for help!"
"But what if it's someone dangerous?"
"Well, I don't know, but what's certain is that nothing gonna happen if we don't do anything right now-good or bad."
With that, Kyle began to walk in the direction of the light, and Emily, reluctantly, followed.
"Excuse me, me and my sister here are lost. can you please tell us how to get out of- Woah!"
The stranger, who was actually a girl similar to their age, suddenly whipped a small dagger out of her pocket, and blocked herself with that defensively.
Kyle managed to dodge, so he wasn't hurt, but him and Emily were certainly surprised.
"Hey, what's your problem?!" shouted Emily.
"...Who are you two?"
"Us? well, we're just....lost? here..? I guess.." stuttered Kyle.
"Are you guys humans?"
"Huh?"
"What?"
Now that was the really strange question, but Kyle decided to answer, while Emily held more uncertainty.
"Why....yes?"
"What do you mean whether we're humans? does that mean you're not?"
"Hmm...." the strange girl didn't answer Emily, and began to study both of them in a strange gaze.
Now that they could see the strange girl in the light properly, they decided that the girl was definitely looking strange-too strange to be a normal human.
She seemed like a similar age to Kyle and Emily, who were each 16 and 15, and yet she had the white, short hair with only the single streak in her front bangs black.
And she had a pale skin, and had a red and white eyes each, with dots placed on the middle of her each cheeks.
She also holding a basket full of shrubs and berries, and the lantern shaped like a beanstalk.
"So you both are lost?" she asked a less sharper than before and yet a bit low-toned and airy sounding voice.
"Well....certainly we seems to be far away from our homes in this late hours..haha.." Kyle tried to sound a bit optimistic, but no one responded to his attitude.
"Hmm...." the girl seemed to be thinking for a moment, and she said, "Well, both of you will far into danger if you stay here out alone. I'll give you a place to rest for tonight. follow me if you'd like."
"Oh! okay!" said Kyle, and he started to follow the girl, when his sister suddenly grabbed his arm.
"Huh? Emily? what's wrong?"
"Kyle! how could you be so naive?"
"What?"
"I mean, look at her! she shoved a dagger at your face and we can't even be certain whether she's a human or some other kinds of monster! how could you just trust her and follow her?! imagine what kind of a hole that she would take us to!"
"Em, look at me. calm down. now, first, we can't be sure whether she's really dangerous or not. and second, despite what she did, we really don't have a choice now. we really need somewhere to stay for tonight. and last, we really can't be sure whoever or whatever kind of a person or a creature she is, and yet we can't judge her before we get to know everything."
"And what if you're wrong and that she's really dangerous?"
"Well, then we run for the best of our lives!"
"Kyle!"
"I know, I know. but actually, if she had meant to hurt us, she would have done that already. now please, for our sake, trust me, Emily."
Emily stared at Kyle's face for a moment, and finally, sighed and said, "Fine....."
"Good! now let's go! here, hold my hand."
Then two of them hurried after the strange guide.

"Well, thanks for helping us.. but..where are we actually going?"
"To the Village. where I stay. but I can't guarantee that you would be entirely welcomed there."
"Huh? but why?"
"I don't know...because villagers there doesn't really like humans that much at all."
At this, Emily held onto Kyle's arm more, so Kyle decided to change the topic.
"By the way, we never knew your name! oh, and I'm Kyle Riverside, and this is my younger sister, Emily."
"Hm...my name's S.S."
"S.S.?"
"Yes."
"Oh well.. what's that stand for, may I ask?"
"'Shatti Stella'. something like a 'Shattered Star' in Human language."
"Oh well...did..your parents named you that?"
"No. my teacher."
"Your..teacher..I see."
'What's wrong with this girl? she's more weird the more you know about her!' thought Emily.
"So...this village..do you live there with your family?"
"......." the girl didn't answer for a moment, and then she opened her mouth.
"...Actually..I don't have any idea where I'm really from, or who were my family, or what name did I really have at all."
"Um....what?"
"I mean I don't have any memories of the past. I'm literally is indebted to the Village and my teacher who I'm living with right now."
"Oh....that's...really awful." said Kyle.
But at that, girl turned around to stare at him in a quizzical way.
"Um..did..I offend you?"
"No..it's just..no one said anything like what you said before."
"Um..the what?"
"You said it's awful that I have no memories."
"I mean....well...isn't it bad for having no memories of the past...and probably not being able to remember anything about your family or friends at all, and yet they might still be looking for you?"
"....Well. it seems.."
With that, three of them walked more until they arrived at the wooden gate with tall fences surrounding the inside of the gate.
"We're here. the Maga Village."