Sitting on the ground sipping at his water Wyatt felt an uncontrollable urge to laugh come over him. The absurdity of his situation stranded in what appeared to be a deserted field of dying grass. Having been for lack of a better word 'robbed' of his electronics, and without any indication of what to do next he felt both free and overwhelmed. There was no plan anymore. For some reason he thought the path forward would be clear once he passed through. After a laugh that sounded like a braying zebra had worked itself out of his system, he considered what to do next. Taking a moment, he really took in his surroundings. The sun here was similar to the one on earth with 1 exception, it had a purplish halo surrounding it. It was quite beautiful but did an excellent job confirming that he was no longer on earth. Wyatt considered his choices and decided to walk and keep the sun behind him. He would use the sun to make sure he moved in the same direction throughout the day.

With his direction decided Wyatt set off across the grassy field only realizing once he started walking just how quiet it was here. Other than the sound of his breath, and now his footsteps, he hadn’t heard any other sounds. Hours passed, the eerie silence only broken by the scuffing of his feet against the ground, and his quiet breathing. It became clear the trees he had seen in the distance were quite a bit further away than he thought they were. Stopping for yet another water break he silently thanked his friend that had convinced him to bring the additional water. It was almost 15 lbs. of additional weight, and he had been against it until his work friend Nate had convinced him dehydration was more likely to kill him than a wizard. His back, and shoulders might disagree, but the extra weight was worth it already. If he had less water, he would have been fighting his anxiety rather than just enjoying his walk in an entirely new world. Reattaching the water bottle to his pack he set off again, and as the hours rolled by it became clear the sun was taking much longer to make its arc through the sky than it would on earth.

“Well, isn’t that interesting.” Wyatt mumbled as he tried to figure out how much longer the day and night cycle were likely to be. He glanced at his wrist where his stolen watch would normally rest. He shook his head. He knew if he allowed himself his thoughts would spiral out of control. Now wasn’t the time for worrying or as he preferred to call it contemplation of potential obstacles. In this case with so many unknowns it would be unlikely to produce any sort of useful thought and would just serve to drag him down into that numb place that lived within him where hope had died as he exhausted himself cleaning fish for barely any pay. He was living his dream right now, and staying positive, and continuing on was what he needed to do. With that final thought he focused on his breathing, and his pace. Another hour or two must have passed without anything breaking his focus on his breathing, and heartbeat. He looked around trying to figure out what brought him back to reality. It appeared he had finally reached the tree line.

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He quickly examined one of the trees, and although he was decidedly not an expert on the subject it looked similar to a maple tree. There could be numerous differences he was missing, but the leaves were a reddish color, and they shared a similar shape. That was good enough for him to consider it if nothing else red maple adjacent. Examining the tree also made Wyatt realize something else. The trees were almost all an equal distance from each other. It was rather strange and made him immediately assume that this was clearly designed by someone or something. Realizing that the trees were clearly planted this way by something wasn’t the win he was hoping for. He just had no good way of knowing how long ago these trees were actually planted. It was clear from the existence of the gate that people had been here at one point, the tree just backed that up. When it became clear nothing further or at least nothing useful was going to be obtained by further study of the tree Wyatt started walking deeper into the forest.

It was nearly immediately upon entering the forest that he felt an odd sense of unease settle on him. The hair on his arms stood up, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched. Although the more he thought about it ‘watched’ didn’t feel like the right word. Hunted or stalked seemed more appropriate based on the feeling he was getting. After looking around for a 3rd time, and coming up empty he started walking again. That feeling never left, and after twenty minutes or so it seemed to be increasing. More time passed, and he felt like he had goosebumps all over his body. He knew something was wrong, but he couldn’t quite figure out what it was. The feeling had slowly morphed from unease to something more sinister. Wyatt wasn’t sure if he was feeling paranoid or if something was making him feel paranoid, but his travel speed dropped down as he examined everything he could as he walked. Hours of further walking on high alert had frayed every nerve he had, and eventually without even realizing it his overworked brain stopped paying as much attention all on its own.

Eventually it reached the point where Wyatt needed to take a break. He stopped and enjoyed a drink of water. He also realized that while he had his staff resting on his shoulder as he walked, he should also attach the 5” knife he kept in his bag to his belt. The feeling of wrongness was so strong even resting for a moment to attach his knife had him on pins and needles constantly searching for a threat. He stowed the water and set off again. Trying to focus on his breathing to calm himself down. As more time passed, he found himself jumping at shadows. The continuous state of hyper awareness was taking a toll on him, and without even realizing it his brain started to drift to other thoughts. He wondered why his electronics were taken, why there did not appear to be anyone else from earth in this place. He wondered about the people who were waiting to enter after him. If not here, where did they end up? As his brain jumped from thought to thought he continued his walk.