The pitter-patter of rain-hitting leaves and the rushing water surrounded Norbert. A droplet landed on his nose.

ACHEEEWWW

With a startle, Norbert shot up and looked around in a dark forest resting on a root, the ground covered in grass. On his side were his two backpacks, sitting on one of the backpacks, Obsius hiding under a leaf bone dry.

With another sneeze, Norbert looked down at himself, half soaked in water; moving his hands together, warming up, and quickly getting dry clothes on, Norbert started organising his items into his new pack from the old one. He would not be able to take both of them for his journey.

He retrieved his old water bottle collecting the rainwater, knowing he could never have too much, learning his mistake from the last time. Pulling out his pocket watch, an antique-esk watch that required fully mechanical to have it spin, made of a silver-like metal, shining for the entire world to see except for the few scratches marring the back.

Confirming that the watch still functioned in this new world, thankful that he could at least keep track of time spent in this place now rather than crossing his fingers. Out of his new pack retrieving a personal altimeter, as rivers would naturally be at lower points, as it collected down the hill; however, not knowing when a river would be as it seemed as flat as ever in the forest. Pulling out a glow stick, Norbert cracked it to provide constant light rather than the near darkness the rain clouds brought.

Placing his cloak over his backpack to protect his belongings from the rain, Norbert left his old backpack to the side, reaching over and placing Obsius on his shoulder, protected from the rain by the hood of his cloak. With a glow stick around his neck to see his compass and altimeter, Norbert set off, heading in the same direction as before.

After thirty minutes of travelling, the landscape was the same as before; he could only hear water rushing. Quickly Norbert climbed over a root, able to look down at what was creating the rushing sound of water. Down a little hill at the base winding through was a river or maybe a stream looking at the size of the trees.

Norbert scanned his head up, placing his hand over his eyes to stop the rain from hitting it; on his shoulder, Obsius also looked up, and the canopy was unbroken, no change at all, just the constant sea of leaves. Just the same completely unobstructed canopy, the slight amount of light ordinarily can be seen covered by the clouds.

With a sigh that he had not found the river he saw before, Norbert climbed over the root and slid down the hill stopping by the water's edge. With a satisfied smile, he took all the items out, reaching for the raft at the bottom. He confirmed that it would be deep enough to go over.

The river's flow seemed to increase as he prepared the raft; pulling a plug, it expanded, having enough space for him and another. Breaking a branch off one of the plants to act as a pole for assistance, Norbert climbed on and set sail.

Down the river he went, as it wound around the hills and trees, sometimes the trees blocking the rain from coming onto the boat. Sadly for Norbert, it was not a completely relaxing trip as the raft was constantly filling with rain water resulting in a trusty water bottle to be used to collect the water and dump it over the side.

The pair went in the boat, always heading in the same rough direction. Norbert was amazed about how much time he could save just by skipping all the foliage, relaxing as much as he could, and not needing to carry around his backpack so much.

Up and down, the boat bobbed; looking over the side, Norbert saw several small fish swimming with the boat. Small silver fish reflected the glow stick's light and had a slight glow; looking into his bag, he brought out a bar as if it was once more time for food. Obsius looked up at the crinkling wrapper, knowing good times were coming.

Flapping its wings, it descended on his knee once more, chirping expectantly for its bite of the food.

Smiling, Norbert broke a part of the bar off; holding it out so Obsius could eat it while having the rest in his mouth.

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When both were finished, he took the rest of the crumbs in the packet he shook over the raft, allowing the fish next to him to have a free meal. The water agitated for a few seconds around the crumbs, unable to see the fish or the bottom of the river. Just a sea of bubbles, water frothing and the occasional fin.

Surprised at what had occurred as Norbert leaned over the raft, he looked at the fishes again, not daring to put a hand in the river again for fear that what happened to the crumbs would be his finger.

The pair made it down the river, as it slowly increased in speed until Norbert needed to direct the raft to keep it in the centre, avoiding anything obstructing the path so they would not crash and fall into the river with the fish.

Looking at the side of the river, the hill they entered became a cliff, getting steeper and steeper and higher and higher as they continued down the river. Looking around, he could see the roots of the trees, jut out into the air for a meter or so before they faltered, nearly connecting with the roots from the other side.

He heard something ahead as Norbert passed through the hall of trees, now using the branch to try and slow the raft down due to the speed it was going. Bobbing his head up, Norbert confirmed the rushing of waves and the immense sound of water being moved rapidly, rapids were ahead.

Looking down at the bird, it went and quickly took flight, slowly gliding above and watching Norbert. As the sound grew louder and louder, the cliff on the left side started to come down and open up; looking at it, Norbert saw that it once breached through and could see another river, the two joining together to meet.

Standing up as high as he dared to look ahead at what Norbert first thought was, a waterfall turned into rapids of such extreme magnitude that he could see the waves crashing up and churning around. Suppose he was to hit that, he would be instantly thrown off the raft's side and into the water.

With a groan of annoyance, Norbert moved the stick to the left side of the raft, pushing and nudging with his entire might to move it towards the bank and hopefully away from near death. With each push, it felt like he did not move, each bit of struggle worthless.

Slowly and indeed, it added up; just as he saw a rock pass him on the side, his raft started slowing down, grinding on the riverbed. With a shout of excitement that victory would be so close, Norbert gave it one last push, and the raft slowly ground to a halt. Lying back down on the raft, Norbert threw his arms and legs into the air before flopping them back down again in relief.

After a couple of seconds, a mass landed on his nose; Norbert waved his arm near the bird before its feathers started tickling his nose and forcing him to sneeze. Called to action, he got up and exited the raft; Norbert picked up the raft and opened it, letting the air out again. Once deflated, he strapped it to the outside of his backpack to dry off from the water, trying to keep his items inside as dry.

As the rain had stopped on his way down, everything was still slippery; however, the two carefully made their way across the riverbank with caution. The light from the day slowly disappearing; bathing the area in near darkness, save for the purple hue from the roots, the white speckles on Obsius and the glow stick around Norbert's neck. Around the pair of them walked, in the half-light, mesmerised by the forest and what it was at night and encapsulated by the beauty.

So enraptured Norbert was he missed that his feet were on dry ground again. Looking down, he saw that there was space on the right side, the cliff having been pushed back by something in the past or had naturally fallen in. Anyway, all that Norbert cared about was there was a place to set camp.

Placing the deflated raft on the dry ground, he grabbed a sleeping bag and crawled inside. Changing the clock time to be set to midnight to know how long the night would last in this place and for how long he was sleeping.

With one more pack of food eaten and a swig of water from his bottle, Norbert fell asleep, hoping he would wake up in daylight and sometime soon meet someone.

As Norbert went to sleep, a rustling of the wind came, and dandelions shining gold brushed against his face like a mother caressing his cheek.

***

Down the halls of marble and ice, the crackling of energy in the air constant around him, the annoyance on his face set in stone for what had recently happened. Through the palace for giants, he walked both filling the space and not big enough for the hallways he marched through.

Windows on the side depict the void and what had been left for the creatures in the lonely place. Sometimes they would breach their hand, touching the windows, trying to get back into reality and take some of what they need to feed and grow. But today was not the day to look at the creatures, as Galamamon opened the double doors on the end of the corridor, opening up to a table.

Surrounding the dining table of fire sat five figures, all crowded towards one end of the table, idly picking through the food set there. The smells cause any bodies mouth to water and be satiated for a time, combated by the look of perfectly cooked and glazed food, making anybody want a bite. Placing them in the eternal torment of sliding towards the food and backing off, their own body fighting against their mind.

The doors behind Galamamons back slowly came to a close by themselves despite the size of the immense doors; as they came to a close, Galamamon stepped towards the table, opposing the individuals from the other side.