2: The dense forest

Sage grabbed all he could. A medical kit, supplies, etc, and rushed towards the kitchen door. The fire already spread through half of the house by the time he got there. Everything was well and good until...

"What!? what's going on? it's not opening"

The door was tightly shut, and this was not good news for Sage.

"Okay focus!, I got to find the key"

he looked around the kitchen, desperately trying to find it, but time wasn't on his side. The fire had already reached the entrance to the kitchen.

"where is it!?"

Sage took a good look at the area surrounded by fire and spotted the key, it was miserably dangling on a key holder next to the kitchen's door. His only way to get it was to walk on the kitchen counter, and that he did.

"Whoa!!, I almost fell there, that was a close call"

In admits all the smoke and heat he was able to get the key, but his worries weren't over just yet.

(*shing*)

"Wait a minute!! which ones the right one!!?"

There were approximately four keys, Sage already knew which key was for the kitchen but not the others. And It was only seconds away before the fire burns down everything in its way. He only had one chance at guessing which key was the right one.

"I only have one shot at this, I hope it works"

he puts the key into the keyhole and the result was...

(*Cl_*)

Sage turned pale and went into a panic mode, and with all the smoke engulfed in the kitchen he passed out.

(*_ick*)

he fell towards the opened door and landed on the ground. Sage was safe from the flames that turned the house into nothing but ash.

▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎

A few hours later Sage opened his eyes, he was surprised, he checked his body to see if he was alive even to the point were he pinches his own cheek. He was so happy that he shed tears of relief.

He turned back to look at what happened, but the whole area was already burnt to ashes, there was no sign of life in the vicinity. But what Sage thought was more troubling was the fact that the forest was not in the slightest bit affected by the fire.

He turned towards the deep dense forest in order to find out more about it, to quench his curiosity. That was if he could even get in.

"Agh, what is this!? I can't get in!"

There was a mysterious wall blocking Sage's way, which appeared to be invisible, but when Sage came into contact with it glowed.

"Is... Is this a barrier!? I thought these only showed up in movies and videogames, but there's actually a real one right in front of me!!!"

Sage was astonished, he couldn't believe his own eyes, but considering what he has been through up till now, he had no choice but to accept it.

He tried desperately to get through the barrier, he used everything he could find, rocks, branches, even with his own body he tried to breakthrough.

(*bang*)

(*bang*)

Sage tried again and again, but it was of no effect. That was until...

(*Swirl*)

A mysterious portal opens.

"It opened on its own!? hmmm, I don't think it's that simple"

Sage stood there contemplating whether he should go in or not. His mind told him not to but, He had a gut feeling that he had to enter, and so he did.

(*Swirl*)

The portal closes.

Upon Sage's entry through the portal, a mysterious figure in the shadows watches from afar.

"Umm? so he did enter! interesting, he could be the one I've been waiting for... Well let's not be too hasty, let's see if he can pass the little test I arranged for him."

•••••••••

Sage arrived at the other side of the barrier, he turned to look at the portal which had closed behind him, he figured that it was common sense for a portal to close if it could open, but he then realised that there was no way for him to get out.

But that was at the bottom of his list of worries for the time being. he turned to look at the forest, which he thought was dark and gloomy but his speculations were completely off the mark.

'' Wow!! what is this place? something like this was in my backyard all this time!!''

The outside of the forest was completely different from the inside. Outside was that of a normal shady forest but the inside was another world entirely.

The place was like a jungle, filled with many beautiful plants and creatures that were not known to those on earth. rabbits had horns, tigers had no fangs and even birds were way bigger than the norm. It was a sight that could never be forgotten.

"Amazing!!"

Sage began to move forward, as he did, he uncovered other mysteries of the forest.

A few minutes later he arrived at a waterfall.

(* Splash!!!*)

The sound of running water

"Woooow!! is this really a waterfall!? the water is just too clear,"

Sage had never seen such clean water in his life,

it was as clear as crystal.

"I wonder if it's safe to drink it?"

He took a sip of the water, and his entire body began to glow.

"Whoa!! what is this!?! my body feels weird, it's as if I'm growing stronger!!"

Although Sage was having fun exploring his new discoveries, he never forgot what he had to do, and that was to find a way out.

As he continued admiring the water, a light suddenly is shown into his sight.

"Huh!? what's this? it's coming from the waterfall."

The light suddenly disappeared, Sage wondered what it was, he wanted to find out so he ran to the direction of where it came from.

"It turns out that there's a cave behind the waterfall."

Sage enters the cave and is greeted by stones which shown brightly in different colours and little creatures that resided in the cave, it was quite a sight for sour eyes.

"I think I should go back, I have a bad feeling about this place"

But Sage did not listen to his mind instead he once again went with his gut feeling. Thus he ventured deeper into the cave.

Little did he know that this was the worst decision he had ever made in his life.

<End of chapter >