In a week's time, a lot had unfolded. Many discoveries were made, none of which were pleasant.

For one, there was actually life here in this world, but it wasn't pretty. This place was a host to an entire ecosystem that wasn't just tied to enormous mushrooms, as bizarre and eccentric as it could be.

Prime example: Carnivorous flesh-eating bunnies.

Of course.

Of course.

Right now, as Aldrich ran for his life from a hungry horde of the aforementioned bunnies racing after him, he bounced on top of a shorter mushroom before leaping onto a bigger and taller one. Through his acrobatic endeavors, spurts of sunlight jetted out from his feet, boosting him higher into the air.

However, some of the bunnies, with their sharp fangs bared open, decided to crowd around the front of the mushroom he was atop of. Together, they all lunged forward, bashing their fluffy white bodies against the mushroom stem.

They intended to knock down the stem with the collective force of their numbers. The surface of the mushroom quaked underneath Aldrich.

Think, think, think.

He could blast them away with some sunbeams, but then he would be blasted away to who knows where himself. And while he couldn't necessarily fly, he could still conjure up enough sunlight around his feet to avoid a major crash landing.

He tossed a glance behind his shoulder, only for his stomach to sink once he realized that there was nothing but an ocean of mud awaiting him. By some cruel twist of fate, this mushroom was the last of its kind before crossing into more uncharted territory. Nothing else could be seen beyond the horizon.

It was either drowning in mud or facing the carnivorous flesh-eating bunnies. And as much as he hated getting dirty, he couldn't afford the luxury of decent hygiene. Not anymore, not since being dropped into this cursed realm. He couldn't afford to die either, especially since he'd already sworn to himself that he would find another portal back home.

And so, with a sharp inhale, he jumped off the mushroom cap and plummeted into the murky brown abyss down below.

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺

Chocolate.

Not mud.

Chocolate.

He had been drowning in endless tides of chocolate. The only reason he managed to survive was because he had barely managed to catch onto a slanted slab of blue rock candy jutting out from the edge of a waterfall.

Though all of his limbs were still intact, he was drenched to the bone in the sticky sweet sustenance. First the carnivorous flesh-eating bunnies and now this.

Aldrich truly was done.

This world was topsy turvy, with no rhythm or rhyme. For the past week, he'd been exploring the chaotic wilderness of a mushroom mania, only to now stumble into a candy wonderland instead.

He had unlocked a new destination, but at what cost?

As he trudged past spirals of candy cane trees, stomping over bubblegum pink gravel with a trail of chocolate footsteps, his stomach let out a painful growl. Once more, he felt his insides churning. He hadn't had anything to eat for days.

The last time he ate something, he took the risk of consuming a patch of some, er, smaller mushrooms. Luckily, they weren't harmful, though they did trigger a trippy hallucination episode that led him right into those bunnies in the first place.

Perhaps his new destination was more of a blessing than a curse.

He snapped off a candy cane branch nearby and brought it to his mouth, gnawing into the hard red and white surface. Mint numbed his tongue, keeping his hunger at bay for now. He already had his fill of chocolate earlier too.

For hours after that, he continued to wander, trying to not get as lost like last time. He knew that his navigational skills were not, well, ideal.

But he was still in search of another body of water that wasn't made out of chocolate. At least with Shroom Land, he had stumbled into a river used to help keep cool. He needed to mark down a similar landmark in Candy Land.

Finally, after roaming through the candy cane wilderness for what felt like forever, he found a trail of broken candy cane branches that then led up to a sparkling pond. Up ahead, a miniature waterfall emerged into view, connected to the same body of water. Water shimmered underneath the light of a full moon, crystal clear in appearance.

Seeing as though it was a path littered with broken candy that brought him here, he initially assessed the rest of his environment, on the lookout for any more wildlife. If there were still carnivorous flesh-eating bunnies here too, he'd go insane.

But there was no one. Not a sound to be heard nor an anomaly to be seen. So far, there were no other lunatic animals present.

Briefly, as he found himself already diving head first into the lake, he pondered if he was already going insane. There was no way that after all he endured, it could be this easy.

As he waded through the refreshing cold currents of the pond, washing away a day's worth of dry chocolate residue and bodily grime, he dived further ahead to bask in the free shower that the waterfall had to offer him.

For the first time since his arrival, fortune seemed to shine on him.

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺

Aldrich's good luck streak didn't just end there. In fact, it was turning into quite the auspicious pattern.

Every time he went scavenging for different kinds of foods outside of candy, every time he went searching for anything relating to survival, he always stumbled into a trail of broken candy cane twigs that would lead him to his desired outcome.

Someone was here– that he was certain of now. Whoever they were, they were watching over him, leaving him all these delectable hints and clues. In the past few mornings so far, they've even been blessing him with berries and cooked fish for him to wake up to.

Wherever they got the berries and the fish from, Aldrich had no idea. He knew that there was possible sea life in these ponds he'd been coming across lately, so maybe from there. Honestly, he didn't care to question it much.

For someone who only ever snacked on mushroom edibles and candy canes within the past week, biting into some fish was euphoria for his taste buds. It genuinely made him tear up with relief.

These broken candy canes... They would guide Aldrich through new paths never seen before, straying away from all the usual miscalculations that he would make during his time in Shroom Land.

Often times, he pondered over the identity of his mysterious guardian while traveling all by his lonesome. He'd been trying to catch them in the act before, hoping to steal a glance of what they looked like at least. Hoping to at least say 'hi' or 'thank you', but all of his efforts were fruitless.

Whoever they were, they were very good at hiding. Perhaps very shy too.

And they were nice. Really nice. They stuck around, even if they didn't have to. They maintained their distance, respecting his boundaries. They made sure he was alive, fed, and decent.

Aldrich really, really wanted to meet them. Curiosity was eating away at his brain. He couldn't take not knowing any longer.

"I know you're here," he blurted out aloud. Even he was surprised at the words tumbling out from his lips, popping up at random. "I know you come in peace. There's no need to hide. You don't have to hide from me."

Silence.

Maybe they weren't even here right now. Maybe he was talking to himself.

Aldrich continued anyhow, unnerved but also determined. "I won't hurt you. I wouldn't do that to someone who's helped me."

More silence.

After waiting for a few moments longer, he told his mysterious guardian, "I promise I'll make it up to you somehow, whoever you are. I'm a prince, you see. And as a prince, it's my royal duty to always keep the promises that I make with my allies. I'd like to think you already qualify as one after everything.

"So just you wait. I'll find you and show my gratitude in person. It's the least I can do."