Young Writers Society

Cracked stone pillars and cobbled streets overgrown with weeds are the only sign of some ancient civilization lost in the forest. Moss and lichen sprout from the cracks as creatures from foxes to birds skitter away from the nearing footsteps.

How did you get here? When? Why? How? This is up to you, for in the middle of this place is a rift in space and time that sucks characters in and here they appear. How will they get back? Can they? This is up to you, to us: the players.

A woman with a large, golden-eagle-like raptor perched on her gloved left fist silently walks among the ruins. She wears the forest-greens and browns of the woods, a longbow and quiver of arrows slung across her back.

The man pushed aside the branch of another overgrown plant, observing the ruins as he did so. He didn't recognize this place. He knew he should have. He should have ended up in a temple that he had been planning on visiting for the past month. He knew that he had hit the right buttons on the dialing device. The Stargate should have brought him there, not to this strange place that he had never been to before. He couldn't even find the Stargate that he had to have come through.

He sighed and readjusted the strap to his bag. He had been hoping that he could change into another form once he arrived at the temple, but, seeing that he had no idea where he was, he needed to keep up appearances.

He heard something else moving about in the ruins. He stood, silent, as he tried to determine what it was. It seemed to be humanoid, but that didn't mean that it wasn't a threat.

He withdrew the strange device from his side. It popped open into what looked like some sort of gun. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to use it.

She glances up, scanning the ruins as she hears the approach of another being.

"Shyriik, alek-liin," she murmurs and the bird takes off, soaring higher and higher to survey the ruins below.

He noticed a raptor soaring up ahead of him. After watching it for several seconds, his attention returned to the source of the sounds he had heard. He kept the zatnikitel ready at his side, but he used a calm tone when he spoke. There was no need to scare the other person if there was the possibility of them being friendly. "Hello?" he called out. "Whose there? I have a weapon with me, but I promise that I won't use it unless you attack first."

She turns, quickly sizing him up. Her hand rests on her longbow though he doesn't draw it. "Rowan Thorne. Who be you?"

He quickly debated which name he should give. If she was fairly updated on Goa'uld politics, or even just knowledgable about ancient Egyptian myth, his real name might give her the wrong impression. But he also wanted to gain her trust, and lying was no way to go about that.

"My name is Maahes," he finally said.

She raises her fist and whistles, the giant raptor returning to her upraised glove. As it flies over him, he might notice the glint of a golden anklet with a small, green gem set in it.

"What brings you here, Maahes?"

Should he be truthful, or should he lie? He hadn't heard of a Goa'uld named Rowan before. She also seemed to lack any technology that one of the parasites might have used. With that option ruled out, admitting that he was just as clueless as she was when it came to why he was there had a lower probability of causing him harm.

"I don't know why I'm here," he informed her. He turned back in the direction that he had come from. He pointed at where the Stargate that he had to have come through should have been. "I was going through a Chappa'ai. This wasn't even the place that I was going to."

She frowns. "A what?"

"A Chappa'ai," he repeated. When he finally understood that she had no idea what he was talking, he made the shape of a circle with his hands. "It's a giant stone circle with a dialing platform. When you enter the right sequence of symbols on the dialing device, the Chappa'ai opens up a wormhole to one of the other ones. You can go through to end up on another planet."

"A...wormhole? A rift or portal of sorts?" she clarifies. Her Common is pretty good, but it's still her third language.

"Yes!" he eagerly replied. He was relieved that she understood what he was talking about. If she hadn't, he didn't know what he would have done. "What about you? Why are you here?"

"I was just flying. Hit some turbulence, and then when we went down it was...here."

"So you have a ship?" he questioned, his voice filled with relief. He was worried about how he was supposed to get off of this planet with a Stargate, but a ship was the solution to his problem.

She shakes her head, not seeming to understand the relevance of the question. "No, I don't live near the coast."