The Key To Terra

Chapter Two

Marina made sure that both dogs would be fine by themselves downstairs. She gave the both of them one last head later and then she sped up the stairs and into her room, the large book still under one arm. She decided that while she waited for her dad she would scan the pages to make sure they were in at least decent condition before showing it to him. No need to potentially get his hopes up just to end up giving him a book with damaged pages. She hoped that he liked it. Perhaps then they could be more at ease with each other.

Her earbuds were yet again at home in her ears, playing her favorite rock music as she opened the book to the first page. Of course it was a blank page. But to her surprise, that quickly changed. One by one dark letters appeared onto the page. Letters became words staring back at her. Completely in awe, she watched the book basically write itself before her eyes.

Once the page was filled with words she began to read. Marina quickly realized that it was some sort of fantasy story. It featured elves and magic use. An entire world where many of the individuals had no magic or special fighting affinities but also a good amount that did. And those individuals ended up traveling to the epicenter of the city to hone their skills. The well educated, naturally magically inclined elves were their teachers.

The book even had elaborate pictures of the different races present in that world. First were the humans, known for their natural brute strength. The tall and thin but often ethereally beautiful elves were known for their intelligence. They were all magic users. And lastly, there were the Chimera. The Chimera were apparently a race small in stature that looked just like humans but also had animal like features that set them apart. They were well known for their speed and agility. There were many different animal features that a Chimera could have. These features seemed to often manifest as ears and tails resembling those of the animal.

Thoughts of the book dominated Marina's mind even as she had dinner with her dad. She was only half paying attention to his attempts at conversation. And as soon as she could politely leave to return to her room she did. She continued to read and fell asleep that way. Wondering how amazingly exciting her summer vacation would be if she were a part of the world in that book instead of stuck in boring southern Vermont.

The book was left splayed out across her abdomen by the time she passed out. Unbeknownst to her, the words on the exposed pages began to glow a brilliant gold before disappearing as mysteriously as they had appeared. The pages were completely blank once more, leaving no trace of the words that appeared earlier.

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Marina squeezed her closed eyes tightly when she regained consciousness. For some reason her room was really bright. When had she fallen asleep? She reluctantly opened her eyes to discover that she was not in her room at all. Quite the contrary, she found herself outside. But where outside she had no idea.

The sun overhead shone bright and red. Huge trees, larger than she had ever seen, were everywhere as far as the eye could see. Their leaves were a deep green and clung to thick, dark branches. Thick trunks gave way to large, exposed roots that found their way into the ground. Some of the roots made archways so tall that she could easily walk under them if she wished. Various different species of brush accented the roots along with patches of lush green grass. Small colorful flowers dotted the patches of grass with every color of the rainbow.

She wandered the forest, completely in awe at just how big the trees were. Every single one of them had to be ancient. Their sheer size minimized the amount of sunlight that could filter through the branches. Small beams of light did manage to break through like little spotlights from the sky.

Above, birds made sounds that were foreign to her. Several flitted around the tree branches like hummingbirds. They moved similar to them and were just as colorful.

Marina was no expert on the distinctive sounds of different birds but she did know of some. Yet she still did not recognize any of the calls they made. They were all pleasant to listen to however. Where exactly was she?

Shortly after, she came to a tree with a natural cove at the base of its trunk. She chose this cove to sit down and gather her thoughts. It seemed a safe enough location to stop and relax. The cove kept her partially hidden from view while also allowing a great vantage point for one to gaze at the forest.

This definitely did not look like anywhere in Vermont or any part of New England at all. Marina was quite certain that she had never seen such a forest ever in her entire life. Could she be dreaming? It did seem eerily similar to how the flora was described in the book she had found yesterday.

Marina suddenly stood up in excitement. She was dreaming about the world she had been reading about earlier! She brushed the dirt off her clothes and noticed for the first time what she was wearing.

Letting out an audible gasp, she grabbed ahold of her new wardrobe. A solid dark cloak hung about her shoulders. Underneath that were bandages arranged in such a way that they covered her chest and form fitted pants and comfortable boots. What appeared to be leather fingerless gloves adorned her hands. She flexed her fingers a few times to test their durability.

Breaking her attention away from her outfit, she heard a loud shriek from farther into the forest. Goosebumps covered her arms in response. Whatever had made that sound sounded really creepy and likely dangerous. She should probably put as much distance between her and that sound as possible.

But Marina's curiosity got the best of her. She could not help but want to know what had made that sound. Call it morbid curiosity.

So before she knew it she was headed towards it, attempting to be as quiet as possible. She tiptoed through long grass and brush. After some time she heard it again and immediately hid behind a nearby bush. She did not want to be seen by whatever it was before getting a good look at it first.

Up ahead was an oval shaped clearing. The large sun was now dropping below the horizon. Perhaps heading towards the sound at this hour was not such a good idea after all. She had clearly underestimated the amount of time she had before sunset. The first stars began popping up in the sky. Another shriek sounded. This time it was definitely much closer. The sounds of birds chirping had stopped, leaving the forest disturbingly silent.

Marina cautiously peered over the top of the bush. She then found herself face to face with an entity not quite humanoid and not quite shadow. Its mouth was inhumanely agape, revealing rows of needle thin teeth. Empty eye sockets stared back at her. Her and the disturbing creature shrieked together, the sound combining and echoing throughout the forest. It loomed over her menacingly at several feet in height. She closed her eyes in pure fear and tried her best to hold tears back.

This was it. She was going to die at the hands of some twisted creature. Maybe she was not cut out for a world like in that book after all. She wanted to go back to her boring, barren room in Vermont with her dad and his two dogs. She did not want to be here anymore. This dream was becoming all too real for her liking. If only she would just wake up already.

"Please wake up," she kept whispering to herself. Hoping that that would somehow bring her back to her father's house. But nothing changed. She did not need to open her eyes to know that what hit her face now was no breeze and was instead the foul creature's breath. It stunk of death. As the creature grew nearer, she began to hear whispers. Loud enough to hear but still quiet enough that no words could be distinguished. They seemed to come from all around her. She braced herself for whatever horrible fate awaited her.

But seconds passed and nothing happened. Instead she heard the creature let out an inhuman hiss. Marina slowly opened her eyes and followed the direction that the creature appeared to now be staring at. A small figure was perched up in a nearby tree on all fours. The sturdy branch held up the extra weight with ease. The figure hissed in return, sounding a lot more like a cat than the eerie sound coming from the creature, before jumping from the tree and throwing out a hand towards the creature.

"Purify!" her small savior shouted. White light shone brilliantly from the open palm and nearly blinded Marina. The creature shrieked and shrunk away from the light.

The small figure landed gracefully onto the ground and stood in front of Marina, protecting her. The figure was humanoid but definitely was under five feet tall. Fuzzy cat ears dark in color sat atop their head and a matching tail swished back and forth restlessly. The cat person glanced back at her and Marina noticed catlike pupils and bright green eyes. Short brown hair framed a feminine yet feline tanned face. She was barefoot yet seemed completely unbothered by the uneven ground.

The creature shrieked even louder, attracting the feline humanoid's attention again. Seconds later more of them materialized and quickly surrounded them. As if one was not terrifying enough.

"Please tell me you're another magic user," Marina's savior muttered while taking a couple steps back.

"Um..." Marina quickly checked herself for any weapons but found none. Then again she was not sure if weapons would be effective against such creatures anyways. They did not appear to be entirely physical in nature. Instead they seemed to be somewhere in between having a physical form and not."I'm not sure." The feline humanoid's eyes got larger in shock.

"You don't know?!" the creatures edged closer and they both tensed, "we're screwed. I can't take them on by myself." They now stood side by side. Marina's new friend attempted to ward them off with the light from her palms but the creatures just crept closer and closer. Her magic did not seem to do them any actual damage at all. It merely repelled them for a moment before wearing off. Then the creatures would advance on them once more.

Marina knelt on the grass at her feet in frustration. This person came to save her and she could not do a thing to help out. Her friend finally had no choice but to give up. Her efforts were getting her nowhere. Instead she put her arms around Marina tightly in an attempt at protecting her and let out an almost inaudible whimper. Marina hugged her back and closed her eyes yet again. She did not want anyone to get hurt but at least she was not alone anymore. The whispers became deafening but the words were slurred into jumbled nonsense. She still could not distinguish what they were saying at all. Hopefully whatever it was was not important.

Marina and the feline humanoid let out fearful shouts that intermingled throughout the forest. But she was sure that neither of them expected someone to come to their rescue. The group of grotesque shadow creatures that now surrounded them were surely going to eat them both. They were both screwed.