What was a myriad of forest life, full of many trees, plants, and animals had gone. In its place, it was now a dark forest. There was sporadic beams of pale light filtered through the trees above, though even now she couldn't see past the fog that persisted in the canopy.

The apparent night of the area seemed to make the fog more of a black and looming mass, which Rita errantly thought contrasted beautifully with the leaking moonbeams.

Holding her breath in sudden panic, adrenaline causing her senses to peak as she tried to listen for the smallest of noises, she crouched low for fear of being spotted. This made her to feel feeling like an idiot, suddenly remembering the ever present radio she carried continuing to play, unhindered, in the dark.

Her eyes wide to the dark, she saw what she thought were shapes moving here and there in the lack of light as she fought her instincts to throw the radio, for fear of breaking it.

Holding herself still, she held her breath for minutes longer than she though she could. The pounding of her heart in her ears was met with the sounds of insects, like crickets and Cicadas.

From time to time, the occasional shift of bushes that carried a scurrying figure would sound. The myriad of night birds would also, fairly frequently, added their voices to the night.

Minutes ticked by and It became distinctly obvious, after a time, that it seemed this place lacked the malice she was worried it would. And so, with a sudden desperate gasp of air, she took a few steps back to gently fall onto a nearby tree, trying to maintain her vigilance for a while longer as she put her breath back under control.

More minutes ticked by until she decided that, for now, although the environment changed, it was simply as if it were nighttime. For the most part, for now anyway, hopefully for now.

The sounds of life were much less than before without the cacophony of various animal yips, barks, growls, hoots, tweets, squeaks, chirps, chips, cheeps, and chitters. The majority of sounds now was the cry of night birds, though much less frequent and loud as it was during the... Day?

Taking a moment to position herself from the tree she was leaning against with a sigh, Rita was growing tired of the reaffirmation that she'd never understand this place. Looking down at the guide in her hand, she held it out to see which way to go.

It was now that she realized the string was more akin to a thin rope than what was more of a thread before. "Well," she whispered to no one, "I guess this is a good sign i'm getting close to the source."

Keeping an eye on her surroundings, she was making herself nervous as she went through the foliage, making a lot of noise like a bull in a china shop.

she felt many eyes that observed as she trundled through with difficulty, hoping this was a place where even the night predators left the night prey alone.

Trying to keep calm, she tried to maintain the belief that, as long as no animal appeared before her, she would remain unharmed.

Her travel remained like this for a time, a mostly dark forest with not enough light to make sure of where every step was going, and taking the time to make sure every step did not break an ankle.

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It was slow and tedious, but safety was a high priority right now. Rita knew it was unlikely the paramedics could reach her even if she WAS on Earth, the paramedics not being able to reach you was a serious danger the further you traveled from civilization.

Deciding that was a doom spiraling train of thought, she tried to put her mind to other things. Looking around a bit to catch a glimpse of things each time she had to stop to measure her steps, her eyes had long began to adjust to the dark.

In the dim, she finally noticed some foliage she hadn't seen before, and actually took notice of some creatures munching on berries and the like. If not for the small movement of chewing, she might have missed something looking like a species of glider squirrel.

Careful not to approach lest she scare it away, she tried her best to see it from afar as it held itself to a cluster of berries still on the limb with one hand while balancing itself on a different branch with the other.

She had seen as much of the documentary series "Planet Earth" as the next person, but to be here in person was a much more engaging experience.

For the first time in a while, Rita actually smiled as she watched the small creature eat for a time, before it decided it'd had enough and scampered away.

The movement did little to the other creatures, as she turned to see what looked mostly like a deer eating something near the roots of the same plant. Like a deer, it would get enough in it's mouth to chew and raise it's head to look around as it's ears swiveled for danger, perhaps out of habit, she thought.

Slowly, further on she went, and slowly she saw more creatures of the night.

She had at some point realized the best way to see through the dark was to not cling so much to the light from above. And with that she was able to see a few species of Rabbit, some looking a bit more plump and fuzzy, some more lean and muscley.

There were some wild pigs, bobcats, raccoons, wolves, and bears as well, some of the creatures she considered a detriment of her health.

Though as before, they all maintained a certain distance, although it seemed like in this area there was less traffic. Looking around, she was sure there was less animals going to and fro to destinations unknown here, and unlike the last area, some seemed to just stop as if taking a break. She wondered if maybe, for some, this place was one for resting.

But after thinking that, she remembered some animals were nocturnal, and recalling seeing no sleeping animals in the last area, dismissed that idea.

Lost as she was to her errant thoughts, she continued taking her time muddling along the dark and uneven terrain. She wondered as she traveled where she was, thinking of the familiar and slightly unfamiliar animals along the way.

Perhaps this is one of those pocket dimensions she'd read about from the boom of speculatory theorizing. Perhaps this is somewhere that's been all along and she was just the most recent to find it, perhaps not.

Looking around again as there was little else to do aside from walking or small bouts of climbing, still thankful for the new mountain boots she got with the rest of her lost equipment, she actually saw the change in scenery this time.

At least it was a change of a kind, her eyes watched as she moved how the trees she were coming across were noticeable thinner, smaller, younger trees she supposed.

Stopping a moment to look back, she actually saw a blur of a sorts between where she was before, and where she was now. She remembered seeing the line in the Ocean where the Pacific met the Atlantic oceans, a vagueness in the air reminded her of it.

It wasn't exactly immediate, but the 2 defined areas had a noticable shift going one way or the other in the landscape, almost like a transitionary graph from 1 side to the other. Even the air itself seemed different the way she came, and like a hard haze that lessened towards this new area.

Checking the radio once more, she didn't even need to focus to see the guiding line now, a faint blue line that drifted lazy in a clear direction. It was definitely pulsing to the music to her eyes now, watching as it moved slowly like a spider's string in the air.

She took a moment to deeply regret that thought, hoping this wasn't the trap of another creature like the one before.

Taking a moment more to observe her new surroundings, it felt more familiar than the ones before. The trees around her seemed almost... normal, the fallen leaves around the dying foliage of autumn made her catch her breath.

And looking up at the sky, she shead a small tear as she once more finally saw the light of the moon.