Young Writers Society

Evaline woke up with a splintering headache. It didn't feel like a familiar stress headache that dulled the back of her head; instead, this pulsated and deeply ached, like she had hit her head on something... because she had hit her head on something.

By the time she groaned and sat up, her eyes adjusted to the bright light around her to see that she was laying on a flat rock. Outside. She was outside. How did she...?

Squinting from the bright light of the strangely white-light sun, she looked around her surroundings and noticed that there was only grass and prairie around her. The wind seemed to lazily nip at her skin, and she finally noticed what she was wearing. An outfit... that most definitely wasn't hers.

Evaline stared down at her pants for a moment before panic started to surge through her veins and she quickly got up to look for a place to hide, but not finding anything. Instead she quickly laid back down, trying to blend in with the tall grass as her heart thumped loudly against her chest, beating faster and faster.

She was outside, wearing clothes that wasn't hers, and she had no idea what was going on. What could this all mean? She was kidnapped. Maybe drugged. There was no way she could escape the base without knowing this was happening. Where was everyone else? What happened? She couldn't remember...

In a desperate attempt to figure out what what happening, her eyes darted around near the rock she was at, looking for clues. Her hands also patted down her clothes to see if there was anything there, and she did her best to furiously ignore the fact that somehow her clothes were changed out of her will.

Evaline didn't find anything -- until her hands reached in her pocket.

It was an unfamiliar folded piece of paper. When she haphazardly unfolded it, she stared at the paper, not understanding. It appeared to be a map of some sort, with only pictorials and squiggly lines and a legend. The legend held at least ten lines, each with a symbol that made no sense. A flower, a bird, a mouse, a dragon, a flame...

She had to be dreaming. She had to be.

Evaline couldn't help but let out a small nervous laugh. "What the f--"

Jerica gasped as her eyes snapped open, entire body tense -- and sore -- head throbbing painfully. She was outside. She smelled dirt under her face and felt heat on her back. She pushed herself off the ground, fists clenched as she scanned the area. There was nowhere around. Just a bunch of tall grass. At least... no one that she could see.

She winced at the pain in her head, but kept looking around, uneasy. She didn't know where she was -- or how she'd gotten there -- or what the hell she was wearing. But it was clear someone had brought her here, and she was going to be ready for them when they came back.

She felt quickly, but every last one of her daggers had been stripped away. She tugged on whatever nonsense they'd dressed her in, then spotted a stand of trees a few dozen meters away. She sprinted to them, then crouched behind one, watching the area intently to see where the enemies were. They had to be somewhere.

She patted her legs again as if by willing it to be true she could make a dagger materialize. Instead, she felt a paper in her pocket. She pulled it out and unfolded it then read quickly, Follow the path of the dragon. Whatever that was supposed to mean. She snorted and crumpled the paper in her fist, then shoved it back in her pocket.

She couldn't follow any path at all if she didn't know where she was. And she certainly wasn't following any path to any dragon -- she'd already been there and done that.

Jerica grabbed one of the low-hanging branches of the trees and hauled herself up until she was near the top of the tree. The field stretched out for miles. And, a few dozen meters opposite the side of the trees that she'd woken up on, there was a woman wearing the same freakish outfit that Jerica was. Good. Now, to get her answers.

She let herself down the tree as easily as she'd climbed it, cringing again at the terrible headache. It felt like someone had split her skull right open. But, she had bigger things to worry about right then.

Jerica silently crept through the trees and hesitated, listening to the woman laugh to herself. Oh, so you think this is funny-- Jerica dove forward through the grass, grabbing the woman's upper arms in an attempt to keep her from being able to punch if she fought back. "Who are you?"

Evaline's thoughts that she had casually gone insane were interrupted when a woman's voice coldly asked her who she was, and she felt her grab her arms. The familiar feeling of panic and anxiety shot through her again, and she just barely flailed away by elbowing as far back as she could go, and then quickly turning around. It was a bit of an awkward motion since she was crouched on the ground, but she just managed to get to her feet on time.

With wide eyes, Evaline looked to see who she was dealing with. A woman, but not anyone she knew. She was about her height, but a lot more muscular. Her hair was dark and short, and she had vibrant green eyes. She looked to be about her age, but she was still intimidating. It appeared they were wearing the same clothes as well.

"Who are you?" she asked cooly back, swallowing the fear in case she was aggressive.

“You know who I am,” Jerica snorted. As if anyone didn’t know who she was at this point. She supposed the whole King’s Assassin bit was a bit less obvious as she stood in this ridiculously stupid blue outfit that had her trousers sewn shut to her tunic. But, if she didn’t know who Jerica was, she wouldn’t have brought her here. “Where are we?”

I should be saying that to you, Evaline wanted to retort back, but decided to save it. She honestly had no idea who this woman was, but it sounded like she was supposed to know her. It didn't sound like she knew who Evaline was, though. And she'd rather keep it that way, not bringing attention to the fact that she no clue who she was or where they were.

Evaline didn't break her stare from the woman even though she was itching to take a better look around her surroundings and make sure there was no one else out to jump her. One aggressor at a time.

"You don't know where we are?" she asked neutrally.

Evaline had so many questions. Why did she dress her in the same outfit? Why did she take her here if she didn't know where she was? Just who the hell was this person?

"Oh, yeah, of course, I know where we are -- just quizzing you," Jerica said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. It was becoming increasingly apparent that this woman, whoever she was, wasn't going to be useful. Jerica didn't need her own questions repeated back at her. "Why the fuck would I ask you if I knew where we are?"

She glanced around the area, wondering what was going on. Nothing about any of this made any sense whatsoever. Who was this woman? Where were they? Why were they there? She wished she could remember what happened before she woke up here, but she didn't have the first idea what'd happened after she went to bed last night.

Evaline's eye twitched from the sarcasm attack, but she chose to ignore it. Instead, she tore her glare away from the woman and looked around, scanning her surroundings. She didn't seem aggressive. At least, not yet.

They appeared to be in a meadow of some kind, with rolling hills and small mountains in the background. The grass was tall and reached her shins, and some white and other multicolored flowers dotted the landscape. There were a few trees nearby, but it was mostly prairie.



Evaline thought back to the map. At least, she thought it was a map. Honestly, it looked like it could be drawn by a child, especially with the ridiculous legend. She wanted to take it out to study it again since she didn't have the time to burn it in her memory yet, but the woman in front of her still posed as a threat. There was no telling what she would do if she took it out. For now, this childish paper was an asset.

So, to put some space between them, Evaline started to walk away from her, careful to keep her in the corner of her eye so she could watch her in case she attacked.

She was going to figure out where she was and why she was here, and clearly the woman was going to be useless to figure that out if she didn't know either.

Jerica eyed the woman irritably as she continued to not be useful. Fine, then. If she couldn't help Jerica, then she'd just help herself. She turned and went back to the stand of trees, pulling herself even higher in the branches. The valley stretched out for a while ahead of them. There was a distant rumble.

She frowned, turning around. The sky was free of a single cloud. So, where was the thunder coming from?

Behind her, the meadow stretched out several hundred meters, but then turned sharply to the left, the rest of the area cut off from view by a mountain. It seemed like the noise was coming from that direction, but she still couldn't tell what was causing it.

She looked the other way again. It would have been beautiful -- if she knew where she was and why she was here... and if the godsdamn rumbling would stop. It was making her feel unsteady, as if the tree itself was moving beneath her.

Evaline was glad the woman was also walking away from her. She felt more at ease knowing they were mutually parting ways without a problem. The woman wasn't exactly an ally, but she wasn't exactly a threat either. She was just neutral. And Evaline was okay with that.

As she put more distance between her, she pulled out the map again and turned away from her just in case as she tried to decipher and memorize it. It still made no sense, but she did her best to record the lines in her brain. It wasn't that useful if she didn't have a compass or landmarks to go off of, though. Or know its purpose. Overall, it seemed to be an almost useless hint.

This could be a bizarre dream, or it could be an even more bizarre show of powers. She had heard of rumors that astral projection was possible, so maybe this was that. Somehow. With her. Or maybe she had truly somehow been transported across the lands without her knowing, and the motive was not yet clear. There was a lot to consider.

Evaline just had to be careful. It felt like too big of a coincidence that this happened to her, and she didn't want to play a part in whatever this was. She didn't want to be a pawn in someone else's game. She would make sure that wouldn't happen.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the ground began to rumble. She knew that the lands here were more susceptible to earthquakes, and although she hadn't experienced one herself, this seemed to fit the description. Luckily, there was only grass around her, so nothing could hurt her.

Just to make sure, she crouched down and placed her hand on the ground to feel the vibration wave through her skin. It oddly felt... strange, like the source wasn't from the ground. It was hard to explain, but the hairs at the back of her neck stood up and she had a weird feeling in her chest that something was off.

Jerica cracked her neck with a deep sigh. Where was she? The landscape wasn't even remotely familiar. This certainly wasn't Atraya... but she wasn't sure what other country it might be. And she still didn't know why she was here to begin with.

The rumbling was getting worse.

She lazily turned back around, then her eyes snapped open wide. A few hundred meters in the distance, just starting to round the mountain was a herd of hundreds -- thousands -- of massive rhinoceros-esque creatures in a huge stampeded headed straight for them.

Her gaze snapped towards the trees around her. None of them would be big enough to stand against that force. They had to get to the higher ground. And they had to go now.

Jerica clumsily leapt to the ground, jumping and swinging off the branches in a wild attempt to dismount as fast as humanly possible. Then she sprinted towards the right -- towards the mountain nearest them. She rushed towards the nameless woman. "Run! Gogogogogogo!"

Evaline continued to get lost in her thoughts until she finally tore her hand away from the rumbling ground and stood up straight, feeling a bit uneasy that the ground was shaking harder and harder. If this was an earthquake, it was best to stay still and away from objects that could fall.

Suddenly the woman from before started to run towards her, yelling at her to run and go.

At first, Evaline put her guard up and was prepared to run and evade the woman since it appeared that she was trying to run over her. But upon closer examination of the backdrop behind her, she could just barely see animals running towards them, looking small in the distance.

The fear in the woman's eyes and the vibrations suddenly made sense.

This was not an earthquake. It was a stampede.

Evaline stated at the incoming animals in shock as she took a few steps back, and by the time the woman was near her, she was already turning around and running towards the mountain.

"What did you do?!" she yelled angrily at her, her blood now running on adrenaline and survival.

The woman had already been on Jerica's last nerve, and now it seemed like she was jumping up and down on it. The actual audacity. Jerica had warned her to run -- she could have just blown past her without an explanation, but no, she'd offered help -- and now the woman dared to pretend like it was her fault.

"Sorry," Jerica spat, running as fast as she could. "Pulled a stampede out of my ass. My bad."

Evaline shot the woman a glare, making a mental note to part ways with her again when this was all done and over. She seemed insufferable and already wearing on Evaline's little patience.

But for now, survival.

Evaline was less of a sprinter and more of an endurance runner, and she was falling behind as the women ran ahead. She glanced behind her and saw that they were getting closer at an alarming rate. She could make out their meaty arms and tusks as dozens of them ran towards them.

Still, she ran as fast as she could, exerting herself more than normal and staring straight at the mountains. They were nearing the base, but it looked to be too close of a call to know whether they would make it in time.

Jerica ran as fast as she could, the annoying woman quickly losing distance behind her. Well, that's what she got for asking stupid questions instead of listening to Jerica when she'd told her to run.

The stampede was getting progressively closer.

Jerica glanced at it. She'd make it in plenty of time. She was angled to run to a steep-but-easily-traversed patch of the mountain and should be safely out of the way by the time the rhinos got there. The other girl, not so much.

She's not your problem.

Jerica glanced over her shoulder, then back to the rhinos. There was no reason to help her. The woman had been nothing but utterly infuriating since the moment she'd laid eyes on her... fuck. She couldn't just let her die. Her conscience wouldn't let her do that, and already, she could hear Uncle Derik's voice in her mind chiding her.

She looked at the mountain ahead of them. Part of the mountain curved out towards them -- nearly a straight up and down in a cliff face about fifteen feet tall. It'd be hell to get up it. But, it was closer. And, Jerica saw a branch hanging over the edge that was only about ten feet off the ground.

"This way!" She shouted over her shoulder, turning slightly towards the right -- ever so slightly back towards the stampede -- and sprinted straight for the cliff. The woman seemed both stupid and infuriating, so Jerica wouldn't be particularly surprised if she disobeyed. But her conscience would be clean if the woman had chosen to die by refusing her help.

Jerica ran straight towards the cliff, then kicked off it with one foot and propelled herself up, grabbing onto the limb with her left hand. The stampede was less than a hundred meters from them now, and Jerica could see that these rhinos looked like they were taller than she was herself. She twisted and reached as low as she could, offering a hand if the woman chose to follow her.