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When the light died, Sylvia opened her eyes to the sight of barren tree branches stretching out above her. Moonlight cast a soft glow over the woods, allowing her eyes to pick out the individual trees and plants which surrounded her. An owl hooted in the distance and dead leaves crunched every once in a while as what Sylvia assumed to be animals moved around, but no other sound disturbed the otherwise silent night.

Sylvia shivered, but not from freight this time. The temperature here was drastically cooler than at her grandmother's home- her home. She rubbed her arms to try and keep warm, but the white puff of air that escaped her lips when she breathed told her that this was not a good long term solution. She would need shelter, a fire, anything.

"Meadow? Bryn? Forrest?" She called, praying that any one of them had somehow been dragged along.

No one answered.

This didn't look like the forest near Gran's home, or even like the woods filled with pine trees and wildflowers like in Wynovia. Where was she?

Walking aimlessly through the forest didn't sound appealing, but Sylvia saw no other option. She stood and brushed the dirt and dead leaves from her clothes before beginning her trek. She just had to find another person, someone who could point her in the right direction.

The right direction. Those words alone made Sylvia want to laugh deliriously. She had no idea what was the right direction or wrong direction. Should she be seeking shelter, enquiring how she was transported here, where was here, how could she get back home? If she was in another land again was it even wise to mention it to whoever she met first?

She still didn't know after ten minutes of stumbling over tree roots, hidden by fallen leaves. Her pant leg snagged on a bush and Sylvia fell to the ground.

"Ah!" Leaves flew up and dirt covered her pant legs and palms.

"Hmph." A voice sounded from above her. "Well deserved if you ask me, disturbing my sleep."

Sylvia looked up, but she didn't see anyone else in the vicinity.

"Who-" A figure melted from the shadows of the oak tree to her right. Not who, "What are you?"

The man seemed to have walked straight out of the tree. His skin was covered with bark, or maybe the bark was his skin. His hair was in braids; strands of copper, bronze, and black woven together and just falling short of his shoulders. His chestnut eyes glowered down at her.

"What am I? You come into my home, stumbling over my roots, and you have the audacity to-"

Sylvia rose to her feet. "I beg your pardon, but I-"

The ground shook beneath her feet and a large tree root, which had been buried deep under the earth just moments ago, swept at her heels. She fell backward into the leaves and dirt again.

"I didn't mean to disturb your sleep. I hadn't known that anyone but myself was out here!"

"Humans, so self-centered." Bark Man shook his head. "They don't even-"

Sylvia scrambled to her feet and darted into the woods. She no longer cared to converse with this man, she had to get out of here, wherever here was.

Her legs burned, but she couldn't stop, not when the trees and plants were out to get her. It was like the entire forest had come to life now. Roots rose from the ground in an effort to trip her again. Branches stretched towards her, jabbing at her arms and legs. The few trees that still had leaves conveniently lost them as she ran past and they fell into her vision. Even the wind seemed to be against her, every few steps she could swear she heard her name being whispered in the breeze.

Sylvia swatted at leaves which tried to obscure her vision. She didn't know if she was getting close to an exit or if she was running deeper into the forest.

"Frix!" Sylvia shouted as the leaves beneath her feet gave away and she found herself being swallowed by a large mouth of mud. In less than a minute, she was already knee deep. So this was how I was going to die, consumed by Mother Nature.

"Sylvia." The breeze whispered her name again, but this time it was louder, as if the voice whispering in the wind had finally caught up to her. "Sylvia"

"Ah!" Sylvia closed her eyes and covered her ears, hoping that she could block out the sound, but it just called to her again.

This time, she realized it sounded like more than one voice. She could hear her name reverberate in her head as if she were standing in an empty stairwell. "Syl-"

Abruptly, they all stopped, like a faucet that had been switched off.

She opened her eyes and a figure was standing before her, thankfully not Bark Man.

The man leaned against a tree, a tree which Sylvia watched with careful eyes. He looked down at her, his expression torn between puzzlement and mirth. "I was under the impression mud baths were supposed to be relaxing, but you look rather stressed, dear."

"Can't say my treatment here has been five star." She gave him a tight smile and tried to move her legs. The mud was almost to her waist.

"Yes, I suppose the tree nymphs around here are easily miffed. I take it you're not from around here."

"Whatever gave you that impression?"

"Quirin." He said, holding out his hand.

"What?" Sylvia grabbed his wrist and allowed him to pull her out of the mud pit.

"My name is Quirin." He offered her a smile. "And you'd be?"

Had he really not heard the voices who repeated her name like a mantra?

She paused a beat to long for the dialog to sound natural. "Sylvia."

She probably should have lied, but her real name had slipped out of her mouth before she thought better.

"You shouldn't be wandering these woods alone, Sylvia. If not the tree nymphs, some other creature could be lurking. I was on my way to a friend's house. She doesn't live far from here and I'm sure she wouldn't mind making an extra bed for the night."

Noticing Sylvia hesitate, he added, "Or if you have a destination in mind I could direct you-"

"No, I suppose I don't have anywhere to be. Thank you."

Did she have a destination in mind? Yes, but Sylvia didn't know if this man could direct her to a magic portal home. It wasn't as simple as not knowing where Sylvia was on a map of this land, when this wasn't her home land at all.

Sylvia followed the man to a clearing along the outskirts of the tree line. Here a rather large building, similar in size and style to a Victorian mansion stood proudly in the moonlight. Beside the manion was a barn, painted a classic red with white framing.

The pristine lawn and flower patches leading up to the mansion would have made Gran weep tears of pure joy. She always loved gardening and before she had moved to the country with Grandad, she had strived to have the best looking lawn in her cul de sac in town.

Quirin knocked on the door and it opened moments later.

"Quirin, late per usual." The girl smiled at the sight of him, then her blue eyed gaze moved past his shoulder to Sylvia. She raised an eyebrow at Quirin.

"I got a little sidetracked." He admitted. "You wouldn't happen to have an extra bed?"

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The girl, who introduced herself as Aspen, had left Sylvia in the bathroom to get cleaned up while she and Quirin prepared a room for her.

Sylvia looked at herself in the mirror above the sink. Her green eyes were surrounded by red bloodshot veins. Her dark clove colored hair was a tangled mess and she had a cut on the side of her neck and all along her arms. Purple bruises were forming on both her arms and legs where she had run into trees and bushes.

The mud on her sweatpants was starting to dry and chip off in flakes. Sylvia sighed and reached her thumb into her pant pocket. Her finger brushed against something wet that didn't quite feel like her sweatpants.

"Frix!" Sylvia said, gently pulling the letter out of her pocket. By some miracle, only the edge of the letter that had been near the opening of her sweatpants was covered in mud. She placed it on the counter gingery and began to strip off her clothes.

As Sylvia closed her eyes and as she sank down into the bathwater, she imagined that she was back home.

No new lands.

No Bark Man, wood nymphs, or evil plants.

No voices.

All that was washed away, at least for the next fifteen minutes.

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Sheesh, what a night Syl had!

Anyways... I will try to post future chapters on Wednesday of each week. Fingers crossed that stays consistent, but it's to the wind.

-Sea