Cad knew he got lucky, or at least as lucky as he could be in this situation. The split of the trunk that he had seen from below had a wide, nearly circular base. The area was relatively flat and large enough that he could fit most of his body lying down. It looked like he’d found his resting place for the night.

Scout climbed up next to him on the platform and walked straight to a bit of sap that was leaking out of the tree. The little fox licked the sweet liquid and let out a happy call. It seemed the thick substance tasted good. Scout scurried over to Cad and lightly bit his shirt, pulling him towards the tree sap. He looked at the cub before once again deciding to follow its lead.

He leaned down to lick the tree like Scout had done. When his tongue hit the liquid, the taste exploded in his mouth. It was overwhelmingly sweet, like hyper-condensed honey was poured over his taste buds. He gulped, the sap almost too sweet to swallow, and a message flashed across his vision.

You’ve ingested ‘Sap of the Giant Atendew.’ Your hunger and thirst have been satiated for 6 hours.

The stomach rumbling he’d been putting out of his mind suddenly disappeared, along with the growing dryness in his mouth. He let out a sigh of relief. It appeared that not everything in this world was out to kill him.

During his climb, the Suns had finally started falling beneath the clouds. The leftmost Sun was slightly lower than the other and somewhat smaller. It had already mostly disappeared beneath the horizon, while the larger Sun was still shining through the tree-tops.

From his new vantage point, he could clearly make out the mountains he had seen earlier framing the remaining Sun. The next day he would take a closer look at his surroundings, but for now, he was relatively safe, satiated, and absolutely exhausted.

Scout seemed to agree, and the little fox curled up against him as he lay down fully. He didn’t have any rope to tie himself to the branches of the tree, so he counted his lucky stars that he didn’t roll around much in his sleep.

He put his hand under the back of his head in an attempt to become some form of comfortable. His eyes slowly closed as he stared up at the darkening sky through the leaves of his new world. I guess it could be worse, he thought as he drifted into a deep sleep.

He was in a taxi on his way back to the apartment. He glanced out the window, but something felt off about his surroundings. Manhattan doesn’t have that many trees, does it? It doesn’t matter, just focus on the interior of the cab. But the more he tried to ignore the surroundings, the more it seemed to enter his vision. The trees were too green, the bushes too fluffy. Why are the sidewalks covered in moss and grass?

Bang! The taxi rocked back and forth as if it had been struck by hurricane winds. The rocking sped up until the car was perpetually shaking. He tried to grab a handhold but he shot up and out the top of the cab, flying up into the air. Instead of falling back down, he paused in midair. In front of him, framed by giant mountains, was a glowing blue face. It looked like neither a man nor a woman, short bangs reached halfway down its forehead, and it stared at him with an even yet intense gaze. Then, the entire world shattered in his vision and he was thrust into a dark void.

He woke with a start and sat straight up. Scout was sitting on his chest and whined at the sudden awakening, but he was busy trying to calm his racing heart. It was just a nightmare, he thought to himself. The sky was still dark, both Suns below the horizon. He leaned back and stared up at the stars above him. It was almost comforting seeing them, something so similar to his home. He just had to ignore the unfamiliar constellations.

If there are people here, they must have made up their own myths and likely have their own constellations and religions, he thought to himself. I hate to admit it, but it would be interesting to learn about the beliefs of a world entirely separate from Earth.

He felt like an old philosopher, contemplating otherworldly societies by starlight. He was finally starting to relax from the frightening dream, but that’s when he heard the howls.

The first one was barely noticeable. It echoed through the trees, softly fading into the soft underbrush. Cad didn’t hear anything, but Scout’s ears perked up. Soon after, another howl called from much closer to their resting spot.

“Crap, wolf pack,” Cad muttered under his breath. At least wolves can’t climb trees.

Scout let out a small whine, so Cad rubbed the fox’s ears to calm it down. Not that he was staying much calmer, with the howls getting louder with each passing moment.

Cad put aside some of his fear and crawled to the edge of the crook he had been resting in, holding tightly to a branch with his hand. He leaned over and looked down to the ground, trying not to get vertigo from the height. As he peered down, the howling reached a climax and dark grey shapes burst into the small clearing around the tree.

Dozens, maybe hundreds of the shapes passed by the duo’s hiding place, not pausing in their mad dash. Whew, it doesn’t look like they’re stopping, Cad thought to himself. After the initial wave of wolves, Cad began to notice splashes of red on the wolves. Is that… blood?

He crawled back to the small nook he rested in earlier. He certainly wasn’t going to get back to sleep anytime soon. Scout looked curiously at Cad, cocking its head to the side. “It looks like something fought a massive pack of wolves, and somehow managed to send them scurrying,” Cad said softly.

He spared a moment to consider whether he was losing his mind now that he was talking to a fox, but shook his head. That was something he couldn’t worry about right now. “Hopefully, whatever was able to cause this much damage isn’t following the pack.” All we can really do is hide here and wait. He sat down against a branch and let out a slow sigh.

He had been dropped into this world out of nowhere, and so far everything he had interacted with had almost killed him. His only company was a small fox that had attacked him the moment it saw him. This world sucks, he thought to himself.

BANG. Cad’s tree shook with a powerful rumble. BANG. Leaves fell from all of the trees in sight. BANG.

Cad grabbed a hold of a branch to steady himself. His eyes frantically searched for the source of the shaking. Is this an earthquake? It doesn’t feel at all like the ones back on Earth. But then he saw a shape through the forest. The silhouette looked nearly the height of some of the smaller trees, but it was slowly moving.

The figure stepped into a bright clearing a few dozen yards from the tree where the duo was hiding and Cad gasped. The rumbling was caused by a person, or, to be more accurate, a massive humanoid creature. The giant was dragging along a wooden club the size of a small tree that left a ditch double the width of Cad’s body in its wake. And, Cad realized in a spark of fear, it was walking right towards his hideout.

He froze. There was nothing he could do. If he tried to climb down the tree now, he most likely wouldn’t be able to make it down in time, and even if he could, with the shaking caused by each step of the giant he was just as likely to fall to a rapid death.

Come on, Cad, think! There must be something you can do. He looked at the leaves all around him, swaying quickly with the shaking of the trees. That’s right! He forced himself to calm his breathing and focused on swaying in the pattern that felt ingrained in his memory. As he slowly moved, a warmth spread from his chest into the rest of his body.

He looked down at his arm and was shocked to see it shimmering as if the light reflecting off it was shaking. As he continued his slow sway, he watched his hand all but disappear from his sight. He knew it was there, and he could still somewhat see it, but it barely stood out from the trees behind it.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Scout seemed to understand the need for stealth, and the small fox scampered higher up into the tree, hiding in a patch of leaves near the top of the tree. Throughout this, the giant continued its heavy march, now within 15 feet of Cad’s tree.

The creature was angled just off to the left of the tree, so hopefully, it wouldn’t knock it down as it walked. Cad maintained his slight sway, struggling to control his breathing as the giant’s head came within a few feet of him. But it didn’t turn, it just kept walking past.

He was just about to count his lucky stars when the giant paused and appeared to sniff the air. No. Please no. Slowly, it turned its massive head toward the tree Cad was hiding in. It closed its eyes and took a deep breath in through its nose. When its eyes reopened, they were staring right at him, and it started to raise its massive club.

The creature let out a bellowing roar, loud enough that the few birds still remaining in the nearby trees took flight at once. It took a single step and began to swing the tree-sized weapon in its hand. There’s nothing I can do, Cad thought to himself. Whether he stayed and took a tree to the head or he tried to jump off, there was no way for him to make it out alive.

Just as he was about to resign himself to a remarkably short existence on this planet, the giant stopped its motion entirely. It looked to be frozen in place as if someone had pressed the pause button on the world. Cad glanced around, unsure what was happening.

He didn’t have much time to think before he noticed rapid movement at one of the feet of the giant. When he glanced down, it seemed like a shadow was rapidly climbing up the massive creature. In just a moment, the shadow had made it all the way up to the giant’s head. It paused there, giving Cad a brief glance at the newcomer.

It was small, and not just relative to the hulking creature it was standing on. Perhaps three or four feet tall, its back was hunched and its bare skin ragged. Cad couldn’t see its face, but its carrot-colored straight hair reached down to its shoulders.

A creaky voice sounded from the hunched being. “Care to stop staring, lost fawn?” it said without turning its head. Cad was taken aback, was it talking to him?

“Yes, my words are for you that hides in that tree.” Each word was accented by a voice crack as if its voice hadn’t been used in a while.

“S-Sorry,” Cad stuttered, still reeling from the giant’s earlier actions, the giant which was still frozen with its club held high in the air.

“Do not fear, small one, this young giant has found himself adrift from his part of our forest. He won’t harm you here.” As the small figure said this, the giant began to lower its club. At the same time, its eyelids began to droop, and it started walking back the way it came, this time as if it was in a trance.

As the giant walked past the tree Cad was still standing in, the red-haired creature jumped the ten-foot gap between the giant’s head over to him. It didn’t land beside him but instead swung around one of the two branches that made up Cad’s resting spot and flipped up above him. Cad finally got a glimpse of the creature’s face, and his eyes widened. While its body seemed to be that of an old man, its face looked like it belonged to a young child.

“You see me and so I see you. No need for your hiding in sight, my vision sees through your magic,” the creature said. It took Cad a moment to parse through the interesting syntax and creaky voice and realize that his “camouflage” spell was still active. He quickly stopped the minute movements he was unconsciously doing and felt the strange warmth leave his body.

“Ah, now I see you plain. My name is Elowen of the old spriggan race, now do tell me from whence you came, for you smell not of this place,” the creature spoke in its cracking voice.

“I-” Cad hesitated. Should he lie? It’s unlikely this creature --a spriggan, if it was to be believed-- would believe him if he told the truth, but at the same time, he needed information on this world, and the baby-faced humanoid in front of him was the least hostile being he’d encountered so far.

He also thought he recognized the word “spriggan.” Wasn’t that a creature from British mythology? Not that he remembered much about them, or if the spriggan in front of him would have anything in common with them in the first place.

He was interrupted in his musings once more by the small being. “Do not lie, for I will know. You mean no harm to this forest, and that is my care, so you need not tip toe.”

That was as much confirmation as Cad needed to tell his story. He spoke of Earth, not giving too many details but describing it as a wholly different realm. He explained how he passed out there and awoke in this forest, and how he’d just been trying to survive with his new familiar since that moment.

Elowen stayed silent throughout his story, still staring at Cad from atop its branch. While its constant eye contact was not comfortable, he didn’t feel any malicious intent. Most of all, he was just happy to finally speak with something; his conversations with Scout were rather one-sided.

After he finished his explanation, he let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. He hoped the spriggan believed him, or at least didn’t attack him if it did not. This was a creature that stopped the hulking giant from before with a single tap, Cad knew he didn’t stand a chance.

“In my years, of which there have been many, this would be the first I’ve heard of such a place. And yet your story does ring true to my old ears. If you wish, my help I could provide. But know, young fawn, my path is not one easily trod.” Elowen’s voice forebodingly dropped lower as he finished his statement

Cad looked around as he thought. The forest continued as far as the eye could see in every direction. He knew there were mountains to his west, but how long would it take for him to reach those? Weeks? Months? And even if he did, there’s no confirmation that he would be any safer there than he was here. Anything would be better than wandering aimlessly and nearly getting himself killed time and time again.

Cad decided to be somewhat formal as he wasn’t sure what would happen if he accidentally disrespected the powerful spriggan. “I would appreciate your guidance, if you would be willing to give it.”

The spriggan made a harsh sound that at first worried Cad, but after it continued for a few seconds, he realized it might just be the creature’s laugh. “There is no need to fear my wrath from words you speak. Upon Althesia I have lived long enough to hear most things that can be said. Speak what comes from your head.”

Cad couldn’t help but cut in. “Althesia? Is that the name of this world?” He asked.

“There are more things that you must learn than there are stars above. Let us move to a space that is more comfortable than this place you’ve made your home.” Elowen once again made a harsh chuckling sound.

Listening to the spriggan, Cad noticed something. “If I may ask, it sounds like you’re speaking a bit differently now than you were before.”

“A proverb even more ancient than I, from a time long since passed by. ‘When a lost bird falls from the sky, it may just need a reminder of home to fly,’” Elowen responded, a creak from his original voice sneaking into his words.

Cad wasn’t sure what to make of the spriggan. The fact that it had saved his life was definitely a plus, but the somewhat creepy looking creature was difficult to read. It was hard for the man to stop being cynical after his short yet near-deadly time in this new world.

“Come now, we must be going,” Elowen stated, clearly having grown tired of waiting to leave this tree, “take hold of your small friend. Some day she will be fast enough to follow me, but that day has not yet come.”

Cad turned to the small fox that had been hiding behind him for most of the conversation, clearly frightened by the spriggan’s casual dismissal of the giant. As Cad reached down to pick up the cub, who protested surprisingly little, he realized Elowen’s casual use of the female pronoun for Scout answered one question he’d had for a while now.

Before the man could have another thought, he was grabbed by the arm by the spriggan and pulled out from the tree. The ground suddenly rose up beneath him and he barely remembered to keep a hold of Scout in his panic.

He let out a sharp yell as he fell, but he was jerked to a rapid stop when a thick blue rope extended out from his fox cub and attached onto a nearby tree. The rope slowly lowered the duo down until Cad landed in a heap on the ground.

Scout was visibly panting, exhausted from saving Cad’s life once again, as he now realized. But the fox’s wonderful powers were not the focus of his mind at the moment.

“What the hell, man?” Cad stood up and looked around for the spriggan who appeared to be slowly floating down on a leaf. “Are you trying to kill me?” Cad asked as he locked onto Elowen’s bright green eyes.

“Did I not warn you that my path is not an easy one? Or have you so soon lost your will and wish me to leave you on your own yet again?” The spriggan responded, meeting Cad’s stare.

Cad broke eye contact first, dropping his gaze to the side. “I didn’t realize your help would include trying to get me killed!”

“Who said your death was my goal? Did you think I knew not of the cub’s power? Did you think, even had that failed, I had no means of preventing a fatal fall?” The spriggan responded, somehow making the idea of dropping a person 40 feet out of a tree seem reasonable.

Cad wasn’t convinced. “How could I know those things! I didn’t even know Scout could use that magic, and I don’t have a clue what your capabilities are,” he responded. He wasn’t willing to give in so easily after the panic-inducing fall.

“One of the many things you must learn is to trust. Trust in the words that following my path will not be simple, and trust in me that I will not expect impossibilities from you.”

“Trust is to be earned, not decided! We just met, do you trust me already?” Cad asked.

“I do, and so too should you. But if earning your trust is what I must do, so be it. Let us begin walking to my home.” And with that, Elowen took off at a quick walking pace in the direction opposite the mountains Cad had seen from the top of the tree.

After a moment of contemplation, Cad decided to follow the spriggan. Maybe he’d regret this later, but at the moment he was mostly just scared of being alone again. With that thought in mind, he gave Scout a thankful head pat and strode after Elowen, fox cub in tow.