The two brothers, Adrian and Leeroy, were both groggy as the drove down the empty road. “Why the hell are we up so early?” The younger one, Adrian, asked.

“You know why were up, it was your idea to go there before it got hot.” Leeroy answered, slightly annoyed at his younger brother. The two were both young, 21 and 24 respectfully, but Adrian had always been more immature than his older brother. “Besides you should be used to getting up early, you have to get up before the sun is up usually right?”

“That’s different, it's not my choice, I don't usually have to have to wake up this early, and I'm on vacation so fuck you.”

“Quit being such a bitch, at least you don’t have to drive.”

“You’ve were always the chauffeur when we were younger so why change that now?”

“Whatever just pick a new song already, you’re slacking on your one job.”

Despite the constant bickering between the two, they were both good friends and still stayed in contact when they both joined the Army. This was their first time being home together after they both finished Basic and AIT. Adrian’s training was significantly shorter than his brother’s so he had gotten to his first unit already while his brother was going to his after his leave ended. They were on their way to meet up with a few of their old friends to go on a hike like they used to when they were in high school. Despite their age difference they were only one grade apart due to the fact that Leeroy had got held back and Adrian started early.

They were both fairly similar in their appearance, both about average height, although Adrian was slightly taller and liked to rub that in his brothers face, and fairly stocky. If anyone looked at them you would immediately know that they were both strong and in great shape but Leeroy had always liked to work out more, which is why he looked bigger than Adrian, while his brother preferred to read. After high school Adrian had went to college but dropped out in order to join the Army so they could pay for it and so he could get some real world experience. Leeroy, on the other hand had just decided to work various jobs around their hometown, deciding to join the Army after his younger brother had left to Basic.

After an hour of driving they had finally made it to their destination. Parking their car they put on their gear and headed out to meet their friends at the base of the trail just a few minutes of  walking from the lot. Before they could arrive a sudden hole of blinding light exploded out from underneath them, blinding the pair and swallowing them. As the light disappeared so did the hole, and all that was left were the footprints they left behind.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

When Leeroy awoke he found he had a nasty headache and his brother was still unconscious beside him. Looking around all he saw was that he was in a thick forest and could hear a river flowing somewhere behind him. He stood up, his body aching, and kicked his brother’s feet to wake him. “Dude where the hell are we?” Leeroy asked his newly awoken brother.

“How the hell am I supposed to know, you’re the one who woke me up.” came Adrian’s annoyed reply.

“I don't know aren't you supposed to be the smart one?” asked Leeroy shrugging as he helped his brother up from the ground.

“Yes I can tell exactly where we are due to the position of the sun and the time zone just give me a minute. Hmm okay I got it, due to the variables I listed and the direction of wind and sound of the river has led me to conclude that we are in the middle of a fucking forest.” an annoyed Adrian answered.

“No need to bite my head off.” Leeroy replied holding his hands up.

“Well ask stupid questions, get stupid answers. Have you tried looking at your phone, they have GPS for a reason you know.”

“No, the first thing I did was wake you up. Hold on let me check. Nope I don’t have a signal do you?” asked Leeroy as he put his phone back into his pocket.

“Nah it must be out of range.” Adrian replied as he checked his own phone. “Any idea on how we got here Leeroy?”

“All I remember is a blinding light and then waking up in the middle of this stupid forest.” Leeroy replied.

“Same here. Well we couldn’t have gotten far, the Sun has just barely came up. Since neither of us knows where the hell we are we should find a back to town.”

“Well shit how the hell do we find our way back to town. We don’t want to just go wandering around, you know how easy is to get lost.”

“Umm there is a river somewhere that way,” said Adrian as he pointed toward the sound of the river, “let's follow the stream until we hit the town. I believe there was a creek around the town and the river might lead into it.”

“That’s as good a plan as any.” Leeroy shrugged, “Lead the way.”

It only took a minute of walking before the reached the river and started following it. As they walked the two bounced ideas off each other trying to figure out what happened. Their ideas ranged from the simple, that this was all an extravagant prank that their friends played on them, to the ludicrous, that they were abducted by aliens. Unfortunately none of their ideas were right.

After an hour of walking the two brother found a clearing with a strange altar glowing with a dull white light right in the middle of it.

“The fuck is that?” Adrian asked

“Really. You get on me for asking stupid ass questions then you ask what the strange glowing altar is.”

“... Fair point. Should we go up to it?”

“Sure what could be the harm of approaching a glowing altar in the middle of the forest. I’m sure nothing bad will come of it.”