She squeezed her eyes tighter as the wind grew something fierce.

Then, seconds later, the harsh winds dropped away. But it felt like she was breathing different. As though the winds picked up an odd breeze because it felt humid against her skin. She can hear the sounds of the jungle starting up, but the noise was a different instrumental symphony.
She lowered her arm, peering down to her feet. She expected to see grass and overgrown roots. Instead, it was black dirt. It was naked muddy soil where no green pasture thrived.

It took her a long time to figure out what she was seeing. For a good moment, she began questioning her sanity. She thought to look around but it didn't help.

The camp was gone.

Trees surrounded her but it was taller. Way taller. The sun up there could barely filter through the lush leafy vegetation overhead.

Her jaw dropped, eyes widening at the sight at the top of the tall trees. Behind the overhead leaves was an impossible sun shining through. I think they're called canopies, she thought and gulped through the growing panic. But why the hell did the sun look like that? It looked like it had two additional rings going around it, the same way it does for Saturn.

Her mouth was beginning to dry, she had to remember to breathe. Deep breaths. Remember the exercise Dr. Malia taught you.

Shaking off her panic, she paced around with dozens of questions whirling inside her head. Why was it daylight all of sudden?

How did the jungle start looking like an actual rainforest? When did that happen?

Did she pass out? Is this a new level of psychosis she was entering?

She needed to find her brother. Had they abandoned her?

Chest threatening to explode, the urge to break into a run was beginning to overwhelm her. She felt tiny, vulnerable, like the world was closing in around and she needed to run away. With a frustrated growl, she pushed back her primal instincts to flee.

Never mind the sudden time change. She can't wrap her head around that without going into a full blown panic. But it was clear she was in uncharted territory. She had to remind herself that she had been trekking the trails of the Ylein mountains for about a decade. Something was bound to look familiar if she walked far enough.

Taking a deep breath, she set on a path and resolved to keep on going in this particular direction until she can find someone friendly or something even remotely familiar.

A long time later, she began hiking down a wild mountain trail then it turned to climbing off ravines. A monstrous daring feat that didn't match her flimsy nightgown. Then, the trail winded up again in a steep increase so she had to climb upwards again up into a mountain. It occurred to her that going around mountains would have taken longer to gain perspective on where she was. If she climbed up some more, a larger perspective of the lands can be possible from a greater angle.

Walking with no gear or water seemed to prove more difficult the longer she stayed in the direction she set a course on, but she persevered. There were a couple of winding rivers that blocked her path but she hopped, skipped, and trudged through it. When facing brambles, she had to hop on trees and skip over to the next tree by jumping from branches. It wasn't the safest idea but she'll be damned to disregard her grandfather's best laid out advice at a time like this.

Keep on going, he had said when she was only 13. At a young age, he had brought her to a brutal trail in the Ylein mountains as a way to disrupt her narrow-minded desire to become like a boy like Rover. But, she had tried her damned best, wanting to prove him wrong and show the old geezer that she was worthy to be taken back to the city with her real parents. He must have taken pity on her because he had whirled to face her, bent down at his waist and said. If you must rest then rest, take a breath but no more than a minute.

By then, she had dropped to her knees in exhaustion while he continued. If you get lost and you're not sure where to go then choose a path and stick to it until sense catches up to you.

But, she defied him, If I take several minutes to sit and think about it, maybe I'll be able make up my mind better and make better decisions.

He narrowed his gaze down to her. You will think better when you're walking down a path. Any path, for that matter.

In hindsight, she began to understand what he meant. Things made sense when she was moving about, doing something and if there was remorse for it then it will have gone away just as she started doing something else.

River waved away the memory and forced herself to be calm when she saw a giant python wrapped around a branch above her. If her grandfather were here, he would have befriended the damn thing. Despite her grandfather's proclivity to befriend them, snakes and her have never gotten along. They were too damn friendly. Good thing this one merely watched her with bored attention.

To her relief, some of the animals she found on her path were rarely predators. Even the ones that did have sharp teeth and large biting jaws looked incredibly bored and sauntered on their merry way without a glance back at her.

She had a mind to test her newfound theory that this was all a nightmare by testing its limits. If she got swallowed by a python, will she finally wake up?

But the hunger in her stomach burned in a way that couldn't have come from a dream. And the chills coming up her spine every time a strange-looking animal appeared had proved that she might be having more than a nightmare.

It must have taken her several miles after crossing two rivers, climbing steep edges, swinging from tree to tree, followed by climbing more rock formations to reach a higher vantage point. Although, to her dismay, it seemed like the sun rose even higher at the sky. How many hours have gone past? She didn't quite understand how travelling miles upon miles hadn't taken a full day. By the looks of the sun, it was barely past noon.

There was a steep edge off the side of the mountain, and she hung on to it as as she climbed. The heights was exhilarating. When she looked over her shoulder, she could see the tops of the rainforest trees way down below her.

Peering up, she saw larger rock formations ahead that would prove tricky for her to find any decent footholds. We'll cross that bridge when we get there, she thought, I'll just figure it out when I get there, for sure.

As she reached up to the large boulders with bare hands and scratched knees, she was surprised to see a tiny space to squeeze into between the rock formations. Sunlight poured between the space, and its harsh glare prevented her to see what was on the other side. But she pressed onwards, squeezing her body through. "It had better not be another mountain to climb," she murmured through gritted teeth. "At this point, I'll be kissing any flat levelled ground I see."

She emerged between the boulders and onto the other side. The moment she came out, her eyes began focusing despite the strong sunlight. Shielding a hand to shade her view, she squinted to see what lay before her.

A peaceful landscape greeted her vision and took her breath away. Rolling yellow grasslands swept on the horizon ahead and the sight of it gave a fuzzy burst of thrill through her. It was wonderfully flat and level, and on top of that, the yellow colors in the grass came in a variety of vibrant shades that it looked like it could have come out of a fairytale painting.

Something in her chest unwinded at the absent sight of hard mountains and wild trees to climb. She held a mucked-up hand against her chest and relished the passing rush of endorphins flowing through her system. Pain dissipated from her joints and stark hunger melted away. The so-called runner's high was taking over. And she welcomed the blooming onset of euphoria.

Yellow grasslands might have looked strange since it was colored from tawny to amber; a plant seasonal stage that shouldn't be possible from the extreme dry regions of the Ylein mountains.

But she didn't care for how foreign it looked. What mattered is that her path no longer looked wild and dangerous. Because now, the path forward was clear and unmistakable. She took advantage of her rushing endorphins to jog miles ahead, a bubble of laughter bursting from her mouth.

Safe, she thought, I'm safe.