Chapter 6 Aftermath

Blurrily, James opens his eyes only to be assaulted by a bright ray of sunshine penetrating his makeshift home/hole. Groaning in frustration, he rubs his eyes while considering his ridiculous dream last night.

Letting out a yawn, he sits up straight or tries to, only to smack his head on a hard surface.

"God damn it! What is with today." He growls while rubbing at his head and opening his eyes to see what he hit, only for his jaw to drop.

Illuminated by the rising sun is a forest out of a fantasy writer's wet dream. Trees scrape the clouds with limbs as wide as buses are long. In the distance are mountains that would make Mt. Everest appear like a small bunny hill with wisps of clouds flowing down from them like mystical waterfalls.

He can spot what looks like a flock of flying lizards in the air, only labeling them that because he doesn't like the thought of dragons being as common as pigeons. They lazily glide over the smaller trees and twist through the branches of the smaller ones.

James can barely distinguish the ground far below him, the sight alone giving him vertigo. However, he thought he saw what may have been a unicorn darting across the forest floor. It is also possible it's a very thin rhino, wanting to avoid repeating the mistake of early explorers. Still, that possibility is slim, considering everything else.

James is enchanted by the sight. The beauty of it all is incredible from so high up. Which is when he realizes he is really high up. Looking around himself, he understood why.

He sits in a small, spherical hole in a tree or wooden structure. James was still determining how long he had been out. However, it was clear the reason it took so long to reach the surface was that he had been tunneling through what had to be one of the bigger trees in the forest.

Kind of wary of a tree of that apparent age in a fantasy world James decided it was prudent to feel like an idiot and apologize.

"Thank you for, uh, housing me for the night? I apologize for any pain I might have caused when I was, you know, burrowing my way up." James said, feeling more like an idiot the longer he talked.

It did not make him feel better when he witnessed a flower slowly grow out of one of the sides of his hole. If anything, he desperately wanted to run far away.

Yet, James was a survivor, and one of the most important lessons he learned growing up is that if someone, or, in this case, something, offered help, you don't turn it down. And James needed a lot of help.

Yesterday, or last night, or whatever, had been hell. The time between arriving in this world and the golem appearing had been within minutes, James was sure.

That meant one of three things. One, he was incredibly unlucky to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, which was entirely possible considering everything. Or worse, options two and three. There were a lot of golems on the ground, or the golem that chased him was nearby and could somehow detect him from a distance.

It could be any number of things that led to the golem showing up when it did, but without really knowing anything, all James could do was plan for the possibility that as soon as he reached the ground again, he would be chased.

Not ideal.

Which is why he needed to stay in his tree hole…in the sentient tree.

James dragged his fingers through his hair at the absurdity of his situation before slapping his cheeks to prep him for what came next.

Turning to face the now budding flower, James spoke, "Hey, um, tree? I'm not exactly sure what to call you. Would it be alright if I stay here?" Fidgeting a little, James continues with his more daring request. "And, would it be alright if I widened my hole?" James asked before quickly adding. "Not too much, just about the size of a small apartment." He said before palming his face. "Which is stupid to say because you obviously don't know how big that is." He mumbled.

Yet, before he could explain what he meant, the budding flower in front of him suddenly began to bloom and from within came out what James could only describe as a tiny fairy. It came out clothed in the petals of its flower, looking like a young child.

With an energetic hop that denied its status as a newborn, the young fairy flew through the air to land on James's lap. Still in a state of shock, James could only continue to stare at the little fairy that now beamed up at him.

After a few minutes of staring James finally returned to himself and accepted that weird stuff would continue to happen to him. It isn't like he hasn't seen stranger things in the past day.

"Uh, hi?" He said. Just because he accepted the weird stuff did not mean that it was not still odd.

Instead of the little fairy saying hi, which he should have expected, the fairy simply smiled wider and glowed faintly. Then it twirled up into the air, making a musical whistling sound. The sight actually brought a small chuckle out of James.

It was such an innocent display of affection that James couldn't help the smile that stayed on his lips after he stopped laughing. It felt good to laugh too. It felt as if his worries had slightly lessened, not to the point that he wasn't still hyper-vigilant, but he no longer felt like his sanity was ready to snap.

As he watched the fairy continue dancing through the air, James realized he had a chance in this new world. Things were different here. His powers were different. Hell, he woke up feeling different even before he hit his head.

It didn't take a genius to realize that he was changing; whether it was the result of his trip through reality or the obviously magical world, none of it mattered. Because whatever was changing about him so far was for the better. And that, he could get used to.