1 Chapter 1

Cicero Suarez was stuck in traffic. Nothing new, but hated none the less. Cic, as his friends knew him, enjoyed riding his motorcycle to work and back. But not on days like this. Already it was starting to drizzle, and though Cic loved the rain, it's not something you appreciate when you are wearing a business suit while on a motorcycle. Traffic wasn't moving, and the road was packed. He couldn't even squeeze between lanes if he wanted to. And there it is, the inevitable downpour of rain. Cic just sighed. Just the perfect ending to his matching imperfect day. Getting fired for embezzlement was never a good thing, especially when you didn't do it.

His manager came into his cubicle a few months back, asking Cic to sign off on some checks. Of course Cic questioned the manager, after all, it's not every day your manager asks you to clear blank checks. Not only were the amount fields blank, they weren't even signed. No bank would allow such a thing. "It's for a special client" he says to Cic, who of course refuses. A lot of back and forth, in the end, Cic cleared them under the threat of termination. "Oh well" thought Cic, "It's his ass on the line anyway". Fast forward to today, where he learns not only were the checks cashed in, but according to records, he cashed them in. He was terminated on the spot. The banks vice president of course would not believe him that he only cleared them under orders from the manager. All he has was his word, the bank had his name and signature on those checks. So here he was making his way home to his crappy apartment, wondering when they were going to file charges against him, and if he could ever prove his innocence. Under the rain which was turning out to be a deluge.

An hour later, traffic has cleared enough for Cic to get off the main road. He could finally get some speed and get home and out of these wet clothes. Maybe it was him being morose. Maybe it was his slightly fogged up helmet visor. Or maybe it was even the rain. But who would have noticed the little kid crossing the street? Certainly not Cic. Until it was too late. Cic crunched on the brake pedal by his right foot, while gripping the hand brake. The wheels locked up. But the pavement was wet from rain, his tires hydroplaning. He steered to avoid the kid, who by now looked like a deer caught in headlights. Quick thinking made Cic steer right, avoiding the kid altogether. But not the parked car. His motorcycle slammed against the car's rear. The bike stopped completely, but not Cic, as he was sent flying over the car. He had but a second to register the wall that he was about to hit.

The impact had him seeing white. And blue. And green. And clouds, and sky, and birds.

"What?" Cic was pretty sure it was night time.

He was on the ground, looking up at the bluest sky he has ever seen. The clouds were slowly rolling by, less white and more silvery than what he was familiar with. He reached for his head, where was his helmet? He tried to sit up and was surprised he felt no pain. Looking around, he saw that he was in a clearing. Green grass and large trees abound. It looked like it was mid-afternoon. Cic looked down and saw his clothes. Gone were his suit and tie. He was in his favorite jeans, shirt, and running shoes. Cic stood up and shook the grass off him. Something was really off. He inspected himself again. He lost weight. A lot of weight. Cic was around 230 pounds. The body he was looking at now looked like an athlete's body. No beer gut, no flabby chest. He wasn't muscular, but this was definitely and improvement. Cic felt like he was going to throw up. His brains was having difficulty processing the impossible. He looked around bewildered, shook his head and said;

"What the hell is going on?!"

Cic walked for what seemed like hours. Nothing but trees and grass fields wherever he looked.

"I must be dead" he muttered to himself. It was the only logical conclusion he could arrive at. Though he was walking, Cic was lost in thought.

"I doubt this is hell, it's too nice. It seems too empty to be heaven. But it's not like I have any idea of what heaven or hell really, heck, I never believed in either."

Eventually he reached the tree line, and it seemed the forest went on forever. He took a minute to catch his breath. It was then he realized he wasn't really even tired. It reminded him of his altered body.

"Now this, as welcome as it is, makes no damn sense." Cic said as he inspected his flat belly, feeling a hint of abdominal muscles. He felt the firmness of his chest, the hardness of his arms. He looked around, seeing if anyone could see him, then laughed at himself, remembering there has been no one since he got here. Then proceeded to look down his pants.

"Oh. Guess everything did get better" laughing at himself as he observed his now obviously longer member. "If people found out cracking you skull in a motorcycle accident was the best penis enhancer, we would have idiots smashing their faces into walls at full speed" he thought amusedly. Then it occurred to him that with his new physique, he could do things he hasn't been able to do since he was young. Like climb the tree he was leaning against. So up he went, climbing the thick tree. He had some difficulty, but noted it was from not really knowing how to, rather than the physical exertion. He climbed higher and higher till he reached the apex, his head breaking through the crown of leaves and taking a look around. The sight left him speechless.

He could see what seemed like miles of trees. In the distance, snow-capped mountains, to his left, he could see the rolling plains and grass. To his right, a sight unlike any other. It was huge tree. Cic felt like it was an understatement. It towered over the forest by hundreds of feet. He couldn't even comprehend how thick it was, as it seemed like he was looking at a high rise tower amidst the suburban houses. He took note of the sun. He was casually observing how it moved, and so far it was normal and moved in a singular path. He knew he could use this for keeping direction.

"If the sun is moving from east to west, then that tree is to my north east. Seems like a good place to find shelter when night comes" So Cic climb down, and started his journey towards the BAT, or Big Ass Tree as he called it in his mind. He travelled north east, climbing a tree every few hours, to check on the sun, and figure out if he's going in the right direction. The forest had plenty of light, but he couldn't determine the position of the sun from down on the ground. While traveling, Cic had a slight concern. A gnawing feeling he couldn't ignore. So he climbed once more to verify.

At the top he checked on the sun again. He was right. Though the sun changed positions, it moved incredibly slowly. He has climbed to the top and checked his position at least a dozen times now, he was sure at least an hour or more passed in between his climbs. By his count, it should have been nearing evening, yet the world was still bright, and the heat still felt like mid-day. "Another mystery to add to this craziness" he thought. But still, he had a goal now. Get to the BAT. So Cic continued his journey, walking and climbing. Eventually he was approaching another clearing, one that he saw surrounded the BAT. As he broke through the treeline, he was speechless. He had misjudged the size of this tree altogether. From the edge of the clearing, the tree seemed as wide as ten city blocks. Looking up, he could barely make out the top foliage in the silver clouds. Even though he was in the clearing, the BAT still seemed like it was miles away. And so he walked.

Cic was checking himself. He was tired, but not enough that he couldn't walk. He remembered how easy it was to get tired when he was alive, since he assumed he must be dead. A few minutes of walking would leave him breathless or cramping or both. But with his new found health, even tired he felt he could still run a few miles before he gets exhausted.

"But if I'm dead, why would I feel tired at all? It's been hours yet I don't feel hungry, but I feel thirsty. This is some weird setup heaven or hell has."

Finally he reached the tree, its roots as big as houses protruding from the ground. He reached out to touch the bark. It felt more like stone than wood. Yet he felt it. A warm sensation beneath the surface, like there were hundreds of scurrying small things moving past his palm. He pulled his hand back in surprise. Certainly not a normal tree. He moved around the tree, avoiding small roots and jumping over and walking under the larger ones. By this time, the sun was in its west most position, the light it gave dimming a bit from when he first began his journey. By his observation, sunset would come soon. He better find a place to take shelter.

It wasn't hard to find a nook to rest. Barely an hour of walking and he found what seemed like a cave, carved into the tree itself. As he approached it, he noticed it was a natural hollow, not something mad made. He peered into the darkness of the hollow. It was deep, deep enough that it really did seem like a cave and he couldn't see the end of it.

"Oh well, massive tree, massive hollow. At least that makes sense".

He explored the inside of the hollow. Minutes of walking and he had yet to reach its end. Then in the distance he saw light. Faint, but he was sure it was illuminated. He approached slowly. Who knows what it could be in this strange place. The tree cave ended, and he found himself in an empty space in the wood, almost as large as a house. There was a huge hole in the ceiling at least 30 feet wide, and this is where the light was coming from. It shone brightly on a pool of water, which in turn illuminated the space. But the space wasn't empty. Not far from the pond was a chair. It was crude and made of logs and rope, but its purpose was identifiable. Cic felt a bit of excitement.

"Someone else is here! Maybe I can finally get some answers"

Then he heard a thumping. It wasn't particularly loud, but enough to get his attention. It came from outside. Cic ran hoping there were other people out there to help him make sense of what happened to him. He ran out into the light, looking back at the tree, hoping to find what who was making the noise. Nothing. There was no one there. He turned to and fro, hoping to find whatever made that noise.

"Grr, must me my mind playing tricks on me. I could have sworn there was a thumping sound."

It was getting darker. Cic climbed a large root, wanting to see the sunset. He observed the sun, now a dark orange ball that didn't hurt his eyes to look at, slowly disappear on the horizon. "Ok, so it may have moved slowly, but it's still a normal sun" he thought to himself. He watched it as it got darker and darker. As the last edge of the sun vanished in the horizon. And when it did, the world wasn't completely dark. The stars in the sky were brighter than he had ever seen. Brighter than from the provincial skies that he already thought were brighter than the city stars. He was admiring them when an explosion of light came from the east. The sun. Cic was stupefied. The sun did not rise, it just simply appeared in full brightness in the east. It looked like mid-morning already. Barely a few minutes passed from the sun setting in the west, to a new sun suddenly appearing in the east. Cic was so enthralled, he never noticed the figure approach him from behind. Until he felt something sharp poke his back. Surprised, Cic spun quickly and lost his balance. He fell off the root and unto his ass on the ground. He looked up, and saw a boy barely past his teens, wearing a school uniform. He had a wooden spear in his hands, a large wooden medallion on his chest, and a scowl on his face.

"Who the heck are you old man? And why were you in my house?"