“Are you, ah…alright there?” The woman’s voice hovered over Oscar as he bent over. 

He gave another wretch, but at this point his stomach had been long spent. His white hoodie now covered in a fresh smattering of blood that he desperately tried to ignore. Though his eyes couldn’t help but glance down at it periodically.

And every time he did his body would try to imitate those sharks that eject their own stomachs from their bodies.

“His jaw exploded!” Oscar shouted as he wiped his mouth. He had finally acquired enough sense of self to not wretch between every word.

“Aye.” The short woman nodded. “That it did.”

“You chopped that other guy's head off!”

“Aye.” She replied again. “That I did.”

“Stop acting like it’s normal!” Oscar threw his hands up as he spun around. His focus was stolen by the scenery, however.

He hadn’t expected to be back in Derring City, he was in a dingy cave after all. Though he still wasn’t ready for the view before him. The easiest thing to understand about it would’ve been the trees before him.

He knew trees, though he’d lived in the city most of his life he did frequent places that had them readily available. These trees were different, twisted and turning with leaves of purple and blue hues. They had many branches, more than would be expected in any sane setting. They were also numerous. In all his life he’d never seen the wilderness pack so many together in one sitting to the point where he seriously doubted if he’d be able to get through them without some level of scratching.

Following that was the ground. It might’ve been the roots of the strange plant life but it seemed to roll and roil slightly underfoot. It was gray, gravel gray specifically. He knew it wasn’t stone by the way it clumped and didn’t make noise when the rootwork shifted and moved it around. Though that might’ve been more of a point of worry for the boxer than comfort. Then, to make matters worse, he could’ve sworn that he saw a tree uproot itself and move ever so slightly to his right.

His schooling might not have been the best, but that didn’t exactly seem right.

As his eyes drifted up to the sky they widened even further. Instead of the usual blue with white hints that he was used to, the sky was a mixture of colors all battling for dominance in the air. It wasn’t a blinding array, but he saw the ever shifting mixture of colors as a frightening affair.

He immediately bent back over to try and throw up again.

“Woah there.” The shorter woman commented in her deeper voice. Oscar felt her place a hand on his shoulder.

“I get this is a lot to take in but we don’t exactly have a lot of time.”

“Time for what?!” Oscar’s hands flailed as he brought himself up. 

He would be hyperventilating if there hadn’t been at least someone else there to help keep him steady.

“For more to show up.”

“More?!” Oscar looked back at the cave. This time he fought the urge to wretch again as the thoughts of the mutilated jaw of the one creature came back to him.

Followed shortly by the thoughts of an axe buried into someone’s skull, of course.

“Aye. Those were just guards, there’ll be at least four or five more of the blighters coming back.” The mystery woman waved for Oscar to follow.

A slightly cumbersome feat given that she only came up to the base of Oscar’s chest.

“I’ll show you the way back to my shop. You can tell me about yourself and how you got here then.”

Oscar followed her gingerly. He had debated staying put, but if there were more coming he didn’t want to risk losing his streak of good luck. The woman seemed to be on his side. Or at the very least she wasn’t against him, which was more than he had previously. She also seemed to know how to navigate the ever-shifting mass of trees.

His feet touched the dirt nervously. With every step he wondered if the strange visions would play out again. The thought of them played out in his mind as he pondered. Where did they come from? Was it a hallucination? If it was then it certainly helped him. Though what did that mean for him? For his boxing career? It might’ve been just a hobby but being able to see his opponent’s moves felt dirty. Against the sport of it. He wouldn’t be able to step into the ring in good conscience again.

A fate worse than death, at least to him.

“I know we’re being cautious, but you don’t have to be THAT cautious.” The red-haired woman called out. 

She had apparently been staring at Oscar for a bit as he gingerly moved about.

“Not sure how you handle yourself, but I’d like to get home and get a shave in before things fall apart even more than they have.” She continued. Oscar blinked in surprise and looked at her face.

He couldn’t be sure from the distance but he was certain that the woman did have the barest hint of red starting to color her rather square jaw.

Oscar’s back straightened as she gave a smirk. Seemed she had noticed him staring. She turned and kept walking whilst carrying her axe, poorly kept leather armor jangling ever so slightly as her thick footsteps kept them going.

The boxer followed wordlessly. His fears and worries were not entirely abated, but they definitely ebbed when he saw how much confidence the woman walked in this area.

“Can’t they just track us? The ground is pretty soft, what if we’re leaving footprints?” Oscar glanced behind himself only to find that at a certain point the ground had been disrupted behind him.

He hadn’t heard a single thing following them, which set the back of his neck to tingling. He crouched slightly and got ready to make a dash for the edge of the woods. Though he was stopped by the woman patting his back awkwardly, the height difference made it awkward for her to reach his shoulder.

“Ease up.” She said soothingly. Her voice, while deep, was surprisingly gentle.

“The forest moves, likely the reason the bastards chose the place. After an hour it’ll be impossible to tell where we’ve gone.”

Oscar kept his eyes trained on the path that he had been on. Like he had seen before, roots began to overturn dirt in a few choice places.

“If that’s the case…” Oscar began to follow behind the squat woman once more.

“How do you know where we’re going?

“Dwarf senses.” The woman replied with a wry grin.

“Dwarf…senses?” 

Oscar’s head tilted to the side and his brows furrowed. He found himself walking beside the woman now. Best to stick close to the people who knew what was going on, and he was definitely one who didn’t know what was going on.

“Aye. You must definitely not be from around here if you don’t know that…”

The dwarf woman looked Oscar up and down appraisingly. Her look was just a tad incredulous, her brows furrowed just a little bit.

Oscar couldn’t help but feel her eyes were on him just a second or two too long.

“Well, that doesn’t seem too surprising considering. Still, means we have a lot to talk about to get you up to speed. In short, though, I can sense certain minerals in the ground. I’m connected with the land in a way that makes it hard for dwarves to get lost.”

Oscar’s face was blank during the brief explanation. Were the woman before him to understand modern technology, she’d probably hear a dial tone going off in his head.

“Just stick with me and you’re good.” She eventually sighed.

“Why are you so willing to help me?” The boxer asked. He ducked out of the way of a shifting tree branch.

This place was going to be incredibly frustrating for him, he could tell.

“Well, you helped me escape captivity for one.” The dwarf replied. “I can’t just not return the favor. Goes against everything I stand for.”

Oscar took care to avoid a root that had started rising up to catch his foot. He stumbled only a little bit before catching himself.

Would be really great if that vision thing would kick in now…

“Well that helps.” He replied.

“Do you mind if I ask your name?”

“Not here.” The woman replied quickly.

“Why not? We should be well out of earshot of anyone near the cave.”

“The trees can hold knowledge. You don’t want to give them names or places or anything that can be used to track you.”

Oscar’s eyes immediately darted around to the trees again as they would move. Suddenly they seemed a good deal more threatening.

Treacherous bastards…

“That’s definitely a…worrying concept.” The boxer stated.

What else could these trees do? Was there anything else this strange here? Of course there was, Oscar just had to wait and find it. Though that was currently the last thing he wanted. Right now he just wanted to go back home.

Maybe he was home. Maybe this was all a dream and he’d wake up any second now. All he’d have to do is hit something hard enough and he’d be up…

That thought was dashed as a tree branch he hadn’t seen  smacked him across the face and sent him reeling backwards onto the ground. The air didn’t rush from his lungs like his match back home before all of this happened, but he definitely felt the ground slam against his back.

So much for that hope.

Oscar stared at the ever shifting sky for a few moments as the severity of the situation slowly began to click in his mind again. Panic settled upon his person and he felt as though he were about to scream bloody murder.

Thankfully the woman who had been helping him clouded his view of the sky and held out a hand for him to take.

“You alright? That was a nasty tumble you took there.” She asked. Worry apparent in her voice.

“I’ve had worse…” Oscar replied slowly, his hand gripped hers. She had a surprisingly calloused palm and a grip that could crush walnuts. 

She hefted the boxer to his feet and she set to helping dust him off as they began walking again.

“Would’ve thought you could avoid that after the show you put on back in the cave.” She commented idly.

“I would’ve as well…guess it-” Oscar paused and looked at the trees again.

“How about I tell you about what happened when we get somewhere safe?”

The woman nodded and took her place at the front again.

“Aye, suppose that would make sense. I’ll let you know when we’re good to talk freely again.” Oscar noted that her eyes rested on him for a second before darting away.

He shuffled behind her as the pace quickened. Their journey was stuck in some relative silence. A few hints at conversation, or warning, emerged but nothing substantial. Oscar’s eyes went to drifting as the quiet began to settle for an uncomfortably long time for him. He wanted answers, but those would have to wait for safety.

As his eyes bounced between the many colorful sights and wondrous views a thought began to creep into his mind. This wasn’t normal, for him at least, but seeing this woman walk around…

This had to be normal for someone, right? His guide didn’t seem bothered by the surroundings. Hell to her everything seemed…mundane? The thought helped ease his mind a little. If people lived here, then that meant that this was survivable. Hell it might even be navigable. Perhaps there would be time to panic, but for now it would be best to just keep walking.

His thoughts then began to drift to what had happened before. That one homeless guy…what had he said to him? He seemed to know something. He gave Oscar the horseshoe that, inexplicably, exploded the jaw of that one freaky guy in the cave.

Oscar fought a dry heave that tried to escape his lips from the thought again. After swallowing he tried to focus once more.

He had been told to find…somebody here. Who was it? Nev…something or other. Maybe his guide would know where this person was. It was a better shot than guessing on his own at any rate. Though that conversation would have to wait until the trees with ears were well and out of sight.

He shuddered at the thought of trees listening in on his every word. Even a little violated. Like eyes were on him at all points. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up at the eerie thought of it all. Were trees at home like that as well? Talking dirty secrets with one another as innocent park goers went about their business?

How dare they.

He’d have to discuss a possible war on trees later, but with the state of the world as it currently was the bastards had made themselves indispensable to the survival of humanity. Not that it stopped anyone back home, either way.

Humans were kind of stupid bastards weren’t they?

His train of thought was interrupted as he bumped into the dwarf woman in front of him and he let out a grunt of surprise. He would’ve stumbled over and took her with him had she not been as hardy as she was.

“Hey! Watch it.” She grunted as she took an awkward step forwards before catching herself.

“Sorry!” Oscar exclaimed as he jumped backwards.

As he suddenly re-obtained focus he saw that the sky was no longer a myriad of mixing colors, but the familiar blue he had been accustomed to. That was a good start at least. His eyes drifted down to his guide, who now had her hands on her hips.

“You good?” She asked.

“Yeah…” Oscar replied. His eyes continued to drift over the new landscape. Grasslands from the looks of it, lusher and greener than the boxer had ever seen. Rolling hills that looked like still waves were before him and the gentlest hint of a lovely breeze touched his skin.

It wasn’t freezing cold here like it had been back home. No frosted breath, no goosebumps, the temperature had been perfect…

Almost a little too perfect.

“Well if you’re done gawking.” The dwarf replied with a sigh. She turned and pointed down a long dirt path.

“My home is down that way. We can likely make it there just before nightfall.”

“Right…” Oscar replied as she began to make her way down the path. The trees didn’t seem to be moving from the border of the forest that he just left. As he gazed above the surface of the ever shifting trees he saw a strange miasma of colors floating above it.

Guess that explained the strange sky.

“Well. Now that we’re out of that mess, I suppose we can talk a bit more freely.” The dwarf glanced over her shoulder at Oscar and waved for him to follow.

He did with little hesitation.

“Do you mind if I ask your name?” She continued as they walked down the path.

“Oscar.” Came the reply. He probably shouldn’t be so free with that information, but he didn’t have much choice but to trust this person. Besides, it might pay off to be a little friendly.

“Oscar Martinez…and your name would be?”

The woman nodded in response and kept her focus on the road.

“Name’s Thailyn. Thailyn Hammerbrawn.”

Oscar wasn’t sure of what to make with the name. It was one he’d never heard before. Though this place was unlike anywhere he’d even heard of back home. Well it wasn’t a big deal either way.

At least there was someone here that he knew the name of now. That might’ve been more than a lot of people who wound up here anyway.

It was a start, anyway.