A Land Called Alternia

A Very Extraordinary Day

(Drawing by me.)

A rather large book falls to the carpeted floor with a thud, making Kat look up from the novel she had previously been absorbed in reading. The fencer and high school student had been slacking off taking a break from studying for finals when the sound broke her concentration.

Glancing around the large open room that was located in the back of the public library, she can see no owner. This is quite odd, as the book had only dropped seconds ago, yet the room is completely empty. The only light comes from the fluorescent lighting, and the many windows around the room show only darkness.

Shrugging slightly, she sets her novel aside with a pencil acting as bookmark. Maybe it just fell off the shelf, she reasons. Not a very good answer, but a plausible one.

The strange book has no apparent title, only an odd symbol on the front. It appears much like a five-pointed flower, with interlocking circles where the petals join, outlined in golden coloring.

She picks up the large volume off the floor and turns it over to look at the back. There is no summary, only a blank back cover. And maybe the dust jacket fell off or something.

A bit confused now, she flips it open and skims through the first few pages. Still blank.

"What kind of a book is this?" Kat wonders aloud, starting to flip through the rest of the pages more rapidly. A flash of color catches her eye and she stops too late, almost losing the page she had seen before she carefully turns back to it. This page has nothing but a single word written on it in elaborate script, with graceful curves and curls.

Hivebent

"Hivebent?" She murmurs aloud, bewildered. She finishes flipping through the rest of the pages, making sure to keep the page marked with her finger as she does so. Nothing else. The rest of the book is entirely empty.

"Aggh! This is so infuriating! Who designs a book and only puts one word in it?!" Kat proclaims, then looks up. It's pretty late, but some kids could be here studying for finals like me... Oops. Her expression turns from shame at having shouted in a library to surprise.

The first thing that registers is the sudden change in illumination.

Why is it so bright? She shields her eyes against the harsh glare, looking around. Surrounding her is a forest. The colors are entirely off though; instead of trees with brown trunks and green leaves, these trees have blue trunks and pink- almost purple- leaves.

Kat looks down at the innocuous book in her hands. Did this bring me here?

She takes a few hesitant steps forward, unsure of exactly what to do. If this is some kind of illusion, I should bump into one of the tables right about now. She braces herself, but the impact never comes.

Aside from the impossibility of the scenery around her, the forest is actually quite beautiful. The way the trees glint in the light of a- possibly alien- sun and provide shade makes the environment seem almost welcoming.

Off quite a ways to the... What was it? North? West?

Well, off to the left of her current position is one tree that seems to be inhabited. There is a kind of building built into the trunk of the tree, near enough to the canopy that she only notices it now, constructed with dark gray stone rooms which jut from the blue bark. The many windows are tinted with teal, and too opaque to see through.

From the branches of the tree hang many ropes, with stuffed animals looking somewhat like dragons in various states of disarray affixed to them. The sewing on some is cleaner, and as the stuffed animals seem to grow newer, becomes sloppier. On some, the buttons sewn on for eyes hang from loose threads.

From inside the tree-house, abrupt, sharp laughter cuts through the relative silence of the forest.

Although the rest of her is frozen, still trying to process this new setting, her feet lead her towards the inhabited tree. It's the only sign of civilization, and, if I hope to make it back to Earth, my only resource. The reasoning does little to lessen her fear. Just think of it as another adventure. It's only a daydream... right?

The leaves don't entirely block the light, so some sunlight dapples the ground in pleasantly warm patches as she walks.