Taylor awoke slowly. Her bed was surprisingly hard and she had apparently managed to kick off her duvet. Strange. She had not done that since she was little. Her room was also surprisingly warm, she could not recall raising the temperature. She tried to turn to a more comfortable position and found the mattress not giving in.
She jolts up, wide awake. It is pitch black, yet for some reason, she can make out her surroundings ever so slightly. Everything is grey-scaled, but she could see. Next to her, she can see her discarded coat. She could make out the look of filth that was still sticking to it.
The cave was still warm, thankfully, and sleeping had given her some more energy. She was still hungry, but alive. She had been uncertain whether or not she'd live through the first 24 hours, but so far so good.
Looking around the cave some more she could see more details to its structure. It was unnatural. She could see large, deliberate gashes all around as if someone or something had torn into whatever rock this was. Then a thought struck her. It wasn't that she could see in the dark, the cave was slightly illuminated. She stood up and walked over to one of the cave's walls. The gashes were glowing, ever so slightly. A faint, almost unnoticeable, cyan glow, but enough to light up the cave, ever so slightly. The implication was – terrifying. It should be enough for her to immediately vacate the cave, but she had nowhere to go, nowhere else to seek shelter in this inhospitable place.
Her thought process was interrupted by her growling stomach, she would have to forage for something, anything, to eat.
The climb out of the cave was smoother than her trip in; now being aware of the sliver of light provided by the walls. Reaching the mouth of the cave she once again got to take in the spectacular scenery. It was still early, the sun was hanging low over the mountains opposite the strange centre structure and she could still see the moon lingering near it.
Taylor did a double-take. There was not just one moon in the sky. There were
two. One was pale white and much larger than the moon orbiting Earth. The second, the smaller one, glowed a cool blue, looking as if it was chasing its larger counterpart.
This was not Earth, could not possibly be Earth.
Taylor could feel her breath shortening. She could just stare at the twin moons. Her head began spinning, thoughts racing. What had happened? Had she triggered somehow to become a parahuman? No. Parahumans had an intuitive, almost instinctual, grasp of their newfound superpowers, her mother had been quite clear on that. She could not feel any unfamiliar tug at the back of her mind, yearning to be unleashed. Had she gone astray with some sort of arcane tinkertech, absurdly advanced technology no one could understand, and been flung into another dimension, like the parallel Earth Aleph? How could that be? She was locked in her locker. Thoughts flew back to some mysterious rescuer, but what sort of rescuer would release her from her prison, only to leave her on a foreign world in the cold? Was it some sort of experiment gone wrong? Her thoughts kept racing and nausea was setting in, it was getting hard to focus.
She caught herself, bringing her hands to her mouth. She could not afford to panic over her discovery. She could deal with this when she had secured food. She kept her hands over her mouth, restricting airflow through her mouth. Focus on breathing through her nose. Inhale – exhale. Inhale – exhale. Concentrate only on her breath. Inhale – exhale. Taylor could feel her breath slowing down, and with it, nausea slowly dissipated.
Food. She had to get food. Worry about an existential crisis later, when her continued survival was ensured. She had seen some things that looked like berries the other day, but she had not dared to forage for any. They'd have to be a last resort; she had no frame of reference on what was safe and what was not. She would have to hunt, or trap, small game; something like rabbits, squirrels, or equivalent.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
After searching for seemingly hours Taylor finally found a good place. The trees and broken stumps had created a natural funnel. Small creatures would follow the trail through this passage, there were coincidentally also a number of springy looking saplings scattered about. Perfect for a snare. She would need to find some branches and rocks to set it up. To make sure she began inspecting the surrounding saplings, testing their springiness. Most were too stiff to bend, others were too weak and had snapped. She finally found one that would suit her needs for an engine sapling. It was not too stiff and was tall and strong, she would have to wrestle with it, but it would hopefully suit her needs.
Satisfied with the sapling, Taylor began searching for a suitable, thick branch to use as a base and one to use as a trigger. Searching for suitable branches took several minutes, but she eventually found two thick, snapped off branches in the snow. They would have to do for the base and trigger.
Taylor made sure to take note of any edible looking plants and berries that peered over the surface of the snow and in the bushes as she was searching. She could see several tracks around, indicating that
something had been here before, grazing on the bushes. She did not want to resort to eating unknown berries, but it was good to have a backup plan if a desperate one.
She walked back to the clearing with her spoils and got working on her trap. She unlaced her boots and tied them together with a simple square knot, followed up by tying a poacher's knot on one end and leading the rope back through the loop. The two laces would give her a good-sized noose to catch prey in. Grabbing hold of the engine sapling she secured the loose end of her snare and tied it tightly to the branch. Making sure to stay below the engine's whiplash she tested its springiness once more, finding it satisfactory to hopefully catch some small game. She then attached the trigger branch to the rope with another, simple loop, giving the snare a nice, almost ninety-degree angle to the noose itself.
The next step was to secure the base into the ground, attach the trigger and set the noose. Simple enough affair. She plunged the base into the snow. The snow was deep, it was unlikely that her branch reached the soil below. Once again she dragged the sapling down and carefully laid the loop on the trail, then she attached the trigger to the base.
Moment of truth.
Leaning backwards, away from the trap, she let go of the trigger.
The sapling snapped upwards, sending the base flying.
She tried again, but try as she might she could not get the base branch to stay grounded when the engine sapling was attached. The branch would just slip out of the snow.
She couldn't go on like this. The desperate, backup plan it was; time to forage for questionable berries.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Taylor was carrying her foraged goods in a makeshift bag made from her t-shirt. She had, in a moment of brilliance or insanity, quickly stripped away her warm coat and sweater to get to her shirt, removed it, tied shut the arms and neck, so she could carry more berries in it. She had managed to harvest a good amount of berries but had yet to try any outright. If she were to be poisoned by them, at least let it be a warm place with water where she might be able to recover.
"Svabol ui nomeno?" a voice called from above. It was distant, yet at the same time, it echoed so loudly Taylor could not help but shift her gaze upwards.
In the distance above the trees, she heard the sound of
something. Like the sound of massive, beating wings. She could feel the air itself displace under the weight of whatever wings were holding, was rapidly approaching, afloat. Suddenly, there was a massive gust of wind, which knocked her off her feet, and she saw an enormous, blue blur fly over the treetops, causing the snow caught by their branches to fall. Whatever it was, Taylor did not want to find out.
"Thric fiik usv kabru xurwk seirvu hefoc nomenoi," the voice called again, this time barely noticeable.
Taylor glanced in the direction the – thing – had flown, the direction of where she had attempted to set her snare. She was
not going back in that direction any time soon.
She paused.
Her footprints. Clearly legible in the deep snow. Whatever had flown above could most likely follow her tracks. She did not want to come face to face with whatever it was. The snow was too deep to easily cover-up.
She had to reach the cave. Hopefully, before it came back. If it could track her, the odds were slim.
Taylor started running. The deep snow made it difficult and carrying her makeshift bags even more so. She would probably have to discard her prize if it came to it.
The slow, rhythmic, thumping sound returned.
"Si jahus harkt, mobi ui vi mablik tenpiswo."
The voice was almost gentle, but even roses have thorns. She would not get lulled into false security over a voice's timbre.
Taylor's curiosity got the better of her. She could not help but look up, over the trees.
A great, blue figure hovered over them. Giant, rhythmically beating wings kept it afloat. It's tail, tipped with what looked to be like an icy mace, hung beneath it, swaying back and forth. From its head grew two massive, curled horns, draped with some sort of decorative, purple clothing adorned with what looked like golden runes. Across its torso hung some sort of ornate, golden plate with a huge, purple, glowing gem centrepiece and attached to the sides of the plates were more horns, albeit a different colour to the horns it adorning its head. The same sort of plate and gem, but smaller, could be seen on its forehead, like an accessory. Its massive claws were also decorated, each talon with more gold and their wrists being wrapped with large, gold bracelets. The final feature Taylor noticed was its icy blue, glowing eyes, and the way it was tilting its head almost in confusion, clearly intelligent.
The sheer size of it defied reality. It was large enough to swallow her whole. Something that big should not possibly be capable of flying. While its wingspan was enormous, what little she knew about aerodynamics and biology told her it was impossible; it was not large enough to carry its bearer's weight. It was a giant, flying, blue lizard.
No. There was a word for this. She wanted to deny it, but reality was in front of her. Dragon. Not one of the greatest heroes of her home planet, but a real, mythical dragon. It was majestic in a way, like one out of her old books. Dragons, in most books, were not benevolent towards humans. This one had her in its sights. It was appraising her. The choice was simple.
Run.
"Pok! Si jatil thric levnim!" it called.
Taylor dropped her makeshift bag of food and made for the trees. Her best option was to seek shelter between their trunks and try to lose it in between the trees. She did not know the capabilities of the reptile, but she would take no chances to give it an easy target. Unfortunately, the density was not too high, so she probably could not try to lose it under the canopy. Her only option was to wait it out, and hope it would find easier prey elsewhere.
"Wux re ti tokeq tenpiswo!"
The dragon swiftly flew overhead, knocking snow off the treetops. Was it trying to flush her out? Taylor's stomach growled loudly in protest. This was not the time! Focus on surviving this. Everything else is secondary.
Another gust of wind blew past her, knocked her to the ground. The trees she had been hiding under was gone! No trace of them could be seen anywhere, it was as if they never were there. She could feel her heart beating hard in her throat as realization dawned upon her. She was trapped.
Taylor's feet gave out below her and the ground came rushing towards her. The last she saw before her eyes rolled to the back of her head was the terrifying claws of the dragon settling down next to her.
"Hofibavi, hofibavi mablik," the dragon's tone was almost resigned.
Darkness once again claimed Taylor.
