A collection of groans left a trio of mouths. Up in a large brown tree with white streaks laid the three with limbs caught in the numerous branches. They had to have fallen from higher up to manage such positions.

The first to manage audible speech was a young woman with long hazel hair. There were gold flecks in her disoriented and half-lidded emerald gaze. Her blue sundress was tangled - and in some cases, pierced - by the many branches that had partially ensnared her.

"...everyone alive?" she asked as she struggled to free herself, only briefly getting a glance at how far they were off the ground and where one of her sandals had fallen to. The voice was light in its dulcet tones.

"Wow, you do care, Lily~" said another female's voice - this one slightly huskier in comparison.

The first speaker grumbled. "It's Lilian," she said as she looked up to see the speaker caught in the branches like she was. "Don't let this situation fool you into thinking we're friends, Gwendolyn. I'm just not a fan of anyone dying."

"Just call me Gwen like you used to--"

"Not happening."

Above Lilian was Gwendolyn who was more tangled than she was because of the guitar case on her person. The blond had a couple of purple streaks in her hair and appeared to be similar age to Lilian but they couldn't have looked more contrasting with her black hoodie and distressed jeans combination. Lilian's frown was like trenches dug into her features; Gwen being with her made this more insufferable.

"Sora, are you okay?" asked Lilian.

"I am fine," said Sora, the tanned male that was hung up like the others were, but out of their sight in another part of the tree. His t-shirt was torn from the odd angle he was at and his voice was quite androgynous in tone. "Just staring at the green sky."

The girls looked up. If their uncomfortable position in the tree didn't firmly deliver the point, their view of the above did. This wasn't their world and it wrote off the possibility of preceding events as a surreal dream brought on by Lilian’s utter rage.

I just wanted to ask Michael out for some tea...then Gwendolyn just showed up and ruined that...then...then all this!

==================

Lilian remembered the scene turning from arguing with Gwendolyn in the street to ending up in a dark void facing a mirror with a golden border. Her reflection stared back at her with void-like eyes. It was through this that she realized she wasn’t alone as the reflections of two others were alongside her, each with black stares.

She had quickly turned on Gwen - blaming her for this extension of her bad day - before an echoing voice grabbed their attention.

Interesting...just one thing to test first… went the voice.

Then something happened. There was a feeling in the middle of her forehead. It didn’t hurt, but it certainly made her feel ill. Looking at her demented reflection made her feel worse with the added visual aspect. It was like her forehead was replaced with dough and an invisible finger was poking into it, leaving a deep impression. Gwen appeared to be looking as unsettled as she was. Sora appeared to be having an anxiety attack, clawing at what wasn’t able to be clawed at to stop the sensation. After a few moments of this, the echoing voice spoke again.

You meet our qualifications…

Then the void was no longer solid. The trio started falling. As their consciousness started to fade as they fell, Lilian swore she heard the voice again - this time in her mind.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

For what you desire...unlock the gate and hold Chaos in your hands…

===============

Lilian struggled to free herself from the branches, fairly sure she could manage her way down. She managed to swing her white stocking-clad legs to start climbing down. As she neared the ground, however, part of the tree came off in her hand. She flailed a bit as she fell until she got her legs underneath her. It wasn’t the perfect landing as she stumbled about in the aquamarine grass, trying to get her balance. She finally did and at the same time she looked back at the tree she climbed down, she heard a loud thud and a groan of agony. Seeing a leg sticking out from around the other side of the tree, Lilian recognized it as Sora’s.

Lilian rushed around to help him up. She was surprised how light he seemed to be. “Are you alright!?” she asked.

“I’m okay. I think,” said Sora, slowly leaving his crumpled position on the ground with Lilian’s help. His black hair stopped just before the end of his earlobes. “At least I didn’t hit my head. Thank you, Lily-- I mean Lilian.” His brown eyes quickly looked away as he flinched.

Lilian noticed how much he jerked at his verbal gaff. “It’s fine if you call me Lily...sometimes,” she said as she attempted to calm him with a calm smile and gently held him up.

“But I thought--”

“It’s just her that I get mad at about it.”

“You two must have known each other a long time,” said Sora, gaining more confidence in his voice as he was back on his two feet.

“Since 7th grade,” she said with a huff, smoothing a hand through her hair to remove the leaves and splinters of wood from her head. “Thought I’d never see her again after high school ended, but I guess I’m more cursed than I thought.”

“You’ve disliked her that long?” asked Sora, looking confused about that. “She doesn’t seem that bad.”

This was the point Lilian remembered the first time she knowingly met the quiet Sora was practically at the hip of Gwen. Not that they spoke - she was too busy being upset at another sudden appearance of Gwendoyln. “We were close...once,” Lilian said. “But glad you can deal with her. Maybe it can make her leave me alone.”

Lilian walked around the tree again and looked up to see Gwen’s body still struggling in the tree as she finally got her sandals back on. Her smile was swept away with the breeze.

“Speaking of, we should try to figure out where we are and where to go. Gwendoyln, climb to the top of the tree and see what’s around!”

“Finally admitting you need me for things?~” teased Gwen as she tried to kick her way free with her black boots.

“Need - no,” growled Lilian before a reluctant sounding sigh. “But you’re further up the tree already, so can you just do it? We’re clearly in a new world, so we need to be sure where we are. Like I said...I don’t want to see either of you hurt.”

“Fine, but catch my guitar. It’s going to keep getting tangled if I go up further.” Gwen rolled herself out of one of the straps on her black case.

Lilian narrowed her eyes. “I don’t even have my little bag and you have a whole guitar with you? We’re going to stand out so much in this world and make things more difficult!”

“Oh right - you always did love this fantasy stuff, didn’t you, Lil’ Lily,” said Gwen as she finally got her guitar free of the grasping branches and dropped it when Lilian looked ready to catch it. “Who cares about blending in anyway unless you’re trying to impress the pretty elves or something.”

“Just climb already,” Lilian growled as she caught the falling case with more of her previous stumbles without somehow breaking it or herself, being surprised by the weight of it.

Gwen went quiet as she climbed up to beyond Sora and Lilian’s sight. After a few minutes, she was seen coming back down with leaves in her hair. Gwen didn’t look winded from the whole exhibition and had a wide smile on her face.

“Okay first of all, this place is huge - not just the forest, but whatever this place is,” said Gwen, looking down at the other two. “A bunch of little cities, a large castle further out, mountains beyond that, smaller ones scattered around, big flying creatures - it’s nuts.”

“Castle?” Sora thought about that curiously. “Like a place with kings, queens, and knights?”

Lilian was secretly grinning as she was hoping that was the case. She did love this “fantasy stuff”. If only I wasn’t here with her…

“But as far as what is closest that I could see, there’s a town that way with lots of smokestacks and could see lots of bustle. And two villages this way separated by a field. One seems like it’s having a party and the other seems so quiet and peaceful in comparison.”

“Quiet...like dead quiet?” asked Sora. “That way sounds worrying.”

“Or lootable,” said Gwen as she put the guitar back on her back. “But pretty sure there are people there...somewhere.”

“And that party could be a huge fight,” worried Sora. “At least the town sounds normal.”

“Couldn’t get a read on the people in there from this far away - it’s troublesome. No guarantee it’s good.” Gwen sighed.

Then she looked at Lily, who quickly lost her smile once the attention was back on her. Sora was now looking at her too.

They are leaving the decision to me? Or at least my insight?

“Well, if I had to pick one, I’d pick...this way.”