Chapter 3 I may be lost...

The next thing James knew, he was being launched across a clearing within a forest. He didn't get a good look considering his speed and the approaching ground. Still, he was reasonably sure the massive towers of bark in his peripherals were trees.

Impacting the ground, his body skid across the slick grass, still wet with morning dew. He didn't stop sliding until he nearly collided with what he thought might be a root or it could be a village wall. It was hard to tell with the size of the thing.

Still splayed out on his back, he tilted his head up to watch the crack in reality that he was shot out of simply fade away into the open air as if it was never there.

James continued to lay there for what felt like hours, still staring at the space the crack used to occupy.

His mind felt dull and hazy from the experience, but he knew something extraordinary had just happened.

Even in his world of ability users, opening cracks in reality was simply not possible. Hell, he thought such a thing could only happen in science fiction. Something he thought he would never personally experience.

And what an experience it had been.

James's memories of his time between reality were short and long at the same time. Time and space seemed to have no meaning where he had been, and he felt like he experienced everything with all of his senses all at once.

The only way he could describe what he had experienced would be to say that it was like being the whole of reality and absolute nothingness simultaneously. Highly confusing and totally useless as a description, but James would stand by it.

Once the sun had moved to directly shine on top of James, he decided he should get up.

Raising himself up into a sitting position, James finally saw that he had been right in his first impression. The dark brown surface a few feet in front of him was a root. A root that stood taller than him at full height and connected to a tree that he couldn't actually see the top of.

Looking further around the clearing, he saw that the tree before him was not unique. Every tree surrounding the clearing was massive with a capital M. Interspersed were other smaller plants that looked like flowers and bushes. Still, James wasn't about to believe that entirely.

He was a survivor, had been his entire life, and likely would be for the rest of it. He knew his current situation was unusual, well more like impossible. He wouldn't take for granted his surroundings; he hadn't lived as long as he had by being stupid.

Carefully rising to his feet, James checked himself for injuries.

Besides the cuts he received from mindlessly climbing through the rubble, he was relatively unharmed.

He did notice that he now sported a rather painful heat rash all down his legs from when he was ripped out of his frozen pants, but miraculously, James received no other injuries from his jaunt through the crack in reality.

"I am either a lucky bastard," James contemplated out loud. "Or, more likely, I've landed somewhere dangerous." He finished as he eyed his surroundings warily.

Unlike what could be expected in an adventure novel, nothing immediately jumped out to support his slightly paranoid ramblings. Instead, a cool breeze blew through the clearing, bringing the smell of a forest clear of pollution.

The grass around him flowed in the breeze like an ocean of greenery, and the sight calmed his tensed nerves enough to really consider his situation.

He was alone in an unfamiliar location surrounded by trees he knew could not possibly exist in his world.

Only moments before, he had been launched through the folds of reality after fighting a deadly battle with a cultist that was part of the group that destroyed his home.

Taking stock of everything that had happened, James felt his legs give out as he plopped back onto the ground.

His face paled as he contemplated everything he had just done and survived. Then his mind caught onto his last thought, and a smile began to spread across his face.

He survived. The thought ran through his mind over and over before he began giggling madly and finally full-out laughing.

"Hahaha! I'm alive! Hahaha! Suck it, you stupid cultists! You hear that world? I'm alive!" James shouted into the air as he raised his arms in triumph.

He may have lost his home, but he lived. He will build a new home, a better home. A home no one would ever dare destroy.

ROAR!!

Unfortunately, the world heard his declaration and decided to test how long it would remain faithful.

Hearing the roar, James immediately jumped back to his feet while resolutely ignoring the pain in his legs.

Turning toward the direction in which the roar came from, James sees… nothing. The scenery is exactly the same as the last time he looked.

"The hell?" James mutters in confusion.

He had expected to be attacked, had expected it since the moment he arrived. Still, it seemed this new world simply enjoyed messing with him.

Then he felt the ground shake.

Then he felt it again but stronger. And again.

"I hate when I'm right," James groaned as he saw the massive slab of stone crash into the ground a few hundred yards from where he was standing, causing the ground to shake again.

Eyes trailing up the stone slab into the sky, James could see it was not a random moving boulder.

It was a leg.

A leg of an enormous humanoid rock behemoth. Even with James's shallow knowledge of Fantasy, he would say it was a golem and a giant one to boot.

The golem was at least 20 stories tall and entirely made from stone. The chest was broad, and the head was carved to look like the golem had a crown.

James booked it in the opposite direction before the behemoth made it to the clearing.

He knew his limitations. His ability may work better on rock, but it still required him to touch the thing. And he very much did not want to get close enough to touch the giant lumbering golem slowly following him.