Now that we've established that my sister does not pay attention to the finer details of a life-or-death situation, let's continue with the story.

We were stumbling through the forest, minding our own business when a group of people surrounded us. The leader of the group was a man in his thirties with shoulder-length black hair and piercing brown eyes. He was followed by a boy with ear-length black hair and light green eyes who looked only a little older than me. There was a girl standing next to him who looked to be in her mid-teens. Her sleek black hair fell into her brown eyes, which were fixed on me with a look of curiosity.

The leader of the group walked forward, his sword still pointed menacingly towards us. I'd like to think that I stood tall and composed myself to look brave, but the reality is that my knees were knocking together. He began to speak to me in a hurried and angry tone, but I couldn't understand any of the words that were coming out of his mouth. I held up my hands, my eyes wide as I stared in confusion. He seemed to realize that I didn't understand what he was saying because he began to speak in English.

"Why do you trespass in Shugiyo Forest?" he demanded, holding his sword to my throat.

"Uh, we don't really know how we got here. We were in a museum one moment and then we opened a lid on a jar and something weird happened," I tried to explain, stammering.

"Museum?" he asked, the word rolling off his lips as if it were foreign to him, which it probably was. I got the feeling that this guy wasn't much of a museum-goer.

"Yeah, you know, like a place where you go to look at ancient artifacts." He still looked confused, so i mumbled, "Never mind."

The guy that looked around my age turned to the leader and whispered something into hsi ear. The man seemed to agree, because he nodded, muttering something back before turning to Lisa and I, fixing us with an icy stare.

"We are taking you to the leader of our village," he said, and then made a signal to several of the men. One of them grabbed my upper arm and began to drag me along roughly. I desperately tried to pull my arm from his grasp, but he would not budge. It was like he had a literal iron grip or something.

They led us through the forest, past little ponds and statues made of jade and stone. Past those blossoming trees and shrubs trimmed into various shapes. It seemed that these people knew their way around the forest.

At last we came to a gateway. I vaguely remember Lisa telling me something about these, and I racked my brains trying to remember what it was. It had been a stormy night and she had been teaching me about several different mythologies.

"In Ancient Japan, the main building was the temple. Before entering the temple, the people would wash their hands and mouths at a fountain, believing to be washing away what evil their hands and mouths could do, before entering the gate, often referred to as a tori."

A tori. That's what she had said. That's what we were going through. But a shrine in the middle of nowhere? Who were these people?

We stopped just short of entering the gate, and the man that was holding onto me let go for just a moment to dip both of his hands into a basin that was sitting on a stump nearby, then smeared the water over his mouth. The others followed after him and, when they were done, the man that had been holding me in a death grip nudged me forward toward the basin.

"Now you go," he demanded, shooting me a stern look to remind me it wouldn't end well for me if I didn't listen to him. I scowed but obeyed, smearing the water over my lips and scrubbing my hands. Lisa washed just as I had and soon we were all purified or whatever.

The leader, whose name I soon learned was Suki, led us through the gate, with https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-cf9OH877Athe guy who looked around my age bringing up the rear, making sure we didn't escape. As we walked through the gate, I felt the stirrings of some sort of feeling rise up inside my chest, trickling into every corner of my being. It weirded me out a little, but I ignored it, focusing on the situation at hand.

"Where is Sensei Saito?" Suki asked a man dressed in black silks.

"He is in the Great House," the man replied. Suki thanked him and bowed. The man returned the bow before turning and continuing to make his way down the dirt path.

It took me a moment to realize that they hadn't spoken English, but for some reason I had been able to understand them, which was weird because I hadn't been able to before. I remembered the sensation that I had felt when we walked through the gate and I got the irksome feeling that something had changed in me at that moment.

Great, so I wind up in a strange place and now magical gates are messing with my head. For what seemed like the billionth time today, I wondered if I had hit my head or had fallen asleep in the museum. If so, this was one bizarre dream.

I had the feeling that it wasn't a dream though, and that terrified me more than anything.

Suki led us toward a towering crimson and black building with several traditional curved roofs stacked one on top of another. Gold-colored paper lanterns hung along the edge of the porch, swaying slightly in the afternoon breeze. Two guards stood, unmoving, on either side of the doorway that led deeper into the Big House, their spears crossed over the doorway. He made his way over to them and began to speak.

"We are here to see Sensei Saito. These two were found prowling the Shugiyo Forest," he explained to the guards.

I almost scoffed. Prowling? What an exaggeration. I don't prowl.

"You may pass," one of the guards declared and lifted up his spear from the doorway, the other guard following suit. Suki bowed to each of them before leading us up to the Great House.

"Where are you taking us?" I asked him shakily.

"Sensei Saito is the leader of our village. He decides what to do with any foreigners who trespass in the Shugiyo Forest," replied Suki, glaring at us. For some reason, this annoyed me. It's not like we meant to trespass in their stupid forest. Occasionally you just open the lid of a museum artifact and it transports you to a random forest. You know?

Suki dismissed the other men, but asked the guy that looked near my age and the girl that had been with them to stay and keep guard over us as we entered the Great House. The guy's hand closed around my upper arm in a vice-tight grip. I gritted my teeth in annoyance. I wanted to tell him that I was able to walk on my own, but I had a feeling that wouldn't be a good idea.

In what felt like no time, we were in the entrance hall of the Great House. Before us was a throne, gilded with gold and intricately painted with red dragons that snaked their way across the entire chair, rubies sparkling where their eyes should be.

The sound of footfalls echoing throughout the entire hall caught my attention and I glanced away from the throne to find a servant running up to us, stuttering out a welcome.

"We have come to seek an audience with Sensei Saito," Suki demanded sternly.

"Yes, very well. I shall go fetch him," the servant said, bowing deeply to Suki, then rushing off.

Now undeterred from distractions, my eyes wandered around the room, taking in my lavishly decorated surroundings. The ceiling rose far above us and was sectioned off into squares. The inside of each square was decorated with a mini-mural of various things such as cherry blossom trees, animals, and figures that I assumed were Japanese deities.

Before I could ask Lisa if they were or not, the gilded doors to the left of us swung open and an old man with long, snow-white hair and a matching beard strode in. He sat on the throne that was in front of us and gave me and Lisa a long, hard look. His startling blue eyes seemed to pierce my skin and stare into my very being as if he could read my mind.

"Welcome to the Great House. I am Sensei Saito," he greeted us warmly.

"Th-thank you," I stammered, taken aback by his kindness.

"Shinji, Sora, you may release them," he said, speaking to the boy and the girl that were holding me and Lisa captive. Shinji let go of my arm and I rubbed it, scowling at him. To my further annoyance, he seemed to ignore me.

"State your names," the man on the throne commanded.

"Uh, I'm Danny and this is my sister Lisa," I replied.

"Now, may I ask why you were wandering around Shugiyo Forest?" Sensei Saito asked. I opened my mouth to ask him how he knew that we had been since no one had seen fit to tell him yet, but I figured it was best to not ask questions, so I decided to answer him instead.

"To be honest, Sir, we don't even really know how we got here. It's actually kind of a long story and partially my fault--"

"Entirely your fault," Lisa grumbled, interrupting me.

"--entirely my fault. You see, we were at this museum and I touched a-- what did you call it, Lisa?" I turned and looked at her expectantly.

"A satsuma jar," she answered.

"Yeah, that," I said, turning back to the man. "I touched the satsuma jar and some mist came over us, then we appeared in the forest, the one you call Shugiyo Forest," I explained.

"Curious," he muttered, scratching his long, white beard thoughtfully. It was painfully, awkwardly silent for the next few minutes as he appeared to be lost in thought. I fidgeted nervously, shifting from one foot to another.

"Uh, sorry, but why is it curious?" I asked, not being able to take the silence anymore.

"There is a spell placed upon the Shugiyo Forest and the entirety of the area that surrounds this village that wards off outsiders. It is most curious, then, that you two were able to somehow break through that spell and appear here," he explained.

"Oh," I said, still not sure if we were in any kind of trouble.

"Perhaps the gods have brought you here for a reason. It might be the best course of action to train you up in the ways of our people," Sensei Saito mused.

"Saito-San?" Suki asked questioningly, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"Sensei Saito," he said, chastising Suki kindly.

"Sensei Saito," Suki said through gritted teeth. "We cannot train up outsiders who do not know our way. It is unprecedented and dishonorable to the gods."

"Only the gods know what is dishonorable to the gods. I shall consult with the Oracle before I come to a final decision," Sensei Saito explained. This answer didn't seem to please Suki, but he kept quiet, scowling at me from across the room as if I had personally asked him to be kept prisoner in this crazy place.

"Look," I began, pausing to choose my words carefully. "Is there a way we could just... get home? We didn't mean to come here and our father is probably looking for us by now." Before I had even finished my sentence, Sensei Saito was shaking his head sadly.

"Portals are incredibly difficult to conjure. The satsuma jar that brought you here must have held great power. Unfortunately, there is no way we can replicate a portal of that strength at this time. However, I will have the magic-users begin research on this immediately," he explained. "In the meantime, you and your sister will be housed with the apprentices."

Great. So we were stuck in a magical land full of strange people with strange customs. At least I could understand their language now because of whatever that gate did to my head. It all seemed so surreal and, for the first time in a long time, I was homesick for our tiny apartment in the middle of Massachusetts.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N" So I know the first couple of chapters were pretty slow, but starting in the next chapter, it should pick up and contain more action! Leave a review and let me know what you thought! I'm really excited for where this story is headed!

If you're interested in more of my work or would like to learn more about the characters and lore in this novella of mine, you can support me or follow me on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/kmanderson

Thank you to everyone who has read and supported this story so far! Next chapter should be up by this Friday, hopefully! I'm currently living in a place with no internet, but I'm still trying to faithfully update this story, so bear with me!

~K.M. Anderson