Chapter 2:

Throwing the pith of a red bell pepper away Thomas finished his meal. I really need to find some kindling to make a fire. Raw peppers and onion just don’t compare to the cooked variety.

He wasn’t the happiest about the taste of his meal but, at least he had a meal, and if he wanted to have another he’d need to get back to that berry bush. Finding others would be nice too. First however, it was getting late into the day and sleep was calling.

Leaning back against the central tree of the grove Thomas decided that it was as safe a place as any to sleep. It had, after all, protected him the entire time he was unconscious. Unaware of how fatigued he truly was, Thomas was asleep in no time at all.

Waking up, he was surprised to find the sun hadn’t even risen yet, but he was wide awake and brimming with energy. Normally he was groggy and lethargic right after waking up. Small blessings, gotta savor them while you can. Luckily the moon seems to be strong this evening.

Debating what his next steps should be Thomas looked down at the plastic grocery back sitting next to him. Well if nothing else the small amount of food I have won’t last long. I’m going to need to find more. And that means going back to that berry bush or mindlessly walking around the forest and praying I come upon another. Also water, I’ll die without that faster than without food.

Thomas found it odd that he hadn’t felt any thirst so far, but thankful nonetheless. Still he well knew the dangers of dehydration. Just cause you don’t feel thirsty doesn’t mean you aren’t dehydrated. He reminded himself. Deciding that it was best to look for a source of water while he still had some surplus of food available, he chose the opposite direction compared to where he found the berries and set off.

Sadly finding a source of water was ending up much more difficult than finding a source of food. After searching the forest for many hours, Thomas had no luck in finding anything. He found it a little disconcerting how he somehow just knew where he was in relation to the grove at almost all times. While it may be disconcerting he was thankful all the same, as it allowed him to easily find his way back.

Lady Luck appeared to be watching him on his way back, as when he was less than 20 meters away from the grove he heard a small dripping sound. Heading toward the direction he heard the noise he found a small pond. The dripping came from a nearby tree that appeared to be at least one source for its water.

“Finally!” Thomas let out in an elated cry. While I don’t have anything to carry it around in, with the pond this close to the Grove I should have no problems with water in the future.

Still, Thomas slowly approached the pond keeping an eye and an ear out for any animals near or within the pond itself. After waiting for a few minutes he was sufficiently assured that nothing was around, he approached the pond, and almost fell in in surprise as he was met with two green orbs staring at him.

Wha… what? Who? Thomas was barely able to form a coherent thought, due to the reflection that was currently staring back at him in the pond. Gone was his short cropped light brown hair, trimmed beard and dark brown eyes. Instead a completely different face stared back at him.

Its’ most eye catching detail was the short, but shaggy dark brown almost black hair. The tips of which had smatterings of white. Silky smooth skin with not a hint of hair on it ran along the entire jawline. The eyes were a brilliant emerald green with thin diamond shaped pupils.

As he moved his head in every direction the reflection perfectly mirrored him. As if he refused to believe what he was seeing he brought his arm up to touch his chin. He watched as in perfect sync an arm raised towards the face in the reflection. His fingers made contact with perfectly smooth skin, before he yanked it away as if he touched a hot stove.

Stepping away from the pond he grabbed a single strand of hair, and with one strong tug pulled it out. Bring it down to eye level he was indeed met with a multi colored strand of hair. One that was incredibly dark before turning white just before the very end.

Stumbling back over to the pond he took in his reflection one more time.

He noticed that his facial shape had also changed, whereas before he had a round and soft face, now it was sharp almost to the point of being jagged, and predatory. His eyes naturally seemed to almost narrow to slits, and his eyebrows appeared to be just slightly slanted giving him an almost angry look.

Th-this is insane. What am I? Is this still my body? Or have I possessed someone else? Ughhh… let-lets just ignore what I just saw for now. My mind is still mine. And this body listens to me.

Oblivious to the potential danger due to shock and wanting to disrupt the crystal clear smoothness of the pond, Thomas shoved his cupped hands inside and drank some of the water. Heading back to the Grove after drinking his fill, he checked to make sure the grocery bag was still there and promptly fell asleep against the central tree.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Waking up Thomas headed to the pond to drink while studiously ignoring any reflections that he saw on its surface. He then headed in the direction of the berry bushes. Spotting a small nook under one of the tree's roots on his way out, he stuffed the grocery bag inside to keep it from being stolen by the wind. Hopefully that’ll protect it from any wandering animals as well.

Thomas quickly made his way back to the berry bushes that he had found, and was relieved to find that there were no rabbits near it this time. Cautiously he made his way towards them keeping his senses peeled to try and notice anything that seemed out of place. Oddly enough after focusing for a few seconds he was entirely sure that there were no other life forms nearby other than of the plant life.

Arriving at the berry bush, Thomas remembered that the rabbit yesterday had deliberately ignored the blue colored berries and vowed to do the same. Though he took one with him for his own curiosity, as he was unable to note any features that differentiated it from the other colored berries. Using his shirt as a makeshift pack he was able to pick a good portion of the berries. This should hopefully last me for 2 days especially if I ration them. But now that bush is pretty much picked clean. There may still be some purple berries on there but I don’t want to risk taking a blue one by accident. Let’s head back.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back at the grove Thomas pondered where exactly he had ended up while snacking on some berries. Oddly enough both of the berries tasted almost exactly like black raspberries even though none of them looked like such. One strange thing about them was that the red ones left a warm sensation that traveled through his body from his stomach. The purple on the other hand did not do this. Then there was also the fact that he appeared to be in a groomed and tailored grove while also being in the middle of the forest. He would have expected to see this type of grove on some rich person's estate. But he hadn’t seen another self-aware being since he had woken up under the central tree.

Deciding that he’d eaten enough berries, Thomas walked over to where he had hidden the grocery bag and was stopped dead in his tracks. The grocery bag was no longer where it once was, and in its place was a small bundle of bark which looked suspiciously similar to his grocery bag.

Crouching down Thomas carefully pulled the bundle of bark from the nook that it was stuck within. No freaking way. He flipped it over within his hands and found a small opening on the underside that flipped over into itself as if someone had folded a plastic bag to keep what was inside from escaping.

The freaking tree somehow what? Transmuted the plastic into bark? Well I think this fully confirms it then. I am definitely not on Earth anymore. Or I have somehow been transferred to an alternate reality where magic is real.

As the revelation settled over him he dropped to the ground like a rag doll. Sitting with his head in his hands emotions rampaged inside of him. Mother, Father… A-are they okay? What about Nick and Phil. Or little Laura.

Thomas sat there silently crying on and off by himself as sadness, denial, grief, and anger ran through him. After a short while a soft breeze passed through the grove, and he could swear someone embraced him. Give him a shoulder to rest on. However, opening his eyes revealed that there was no one else within the grove.

His emotions slowly began to calm down before all of a sudden it was as if a barrier was erected within him. All his negative emotions were put on the other side of the barrier. He could still feel them, but it was as if he was removed from them. As if they no longer had sway over him. The change allowed for one emotion that had been battling within the sea to bloom. Wonder. Magic was real.

That was really the only thing he could call this, Magic. That amazing fantastical force that many, MANY fictional universes were based upon. A force that allowed someone to conjure fire with their finger tips, travel miles in the blink of an eye or read someone's mind. Or at least that was what it did in the stories he had read as a teenager, and secretly enjoyed reading every once in a while still. But if there was one thing that Thomas knew for sure, it was that the application, rules and power-scale of magic varied more than almost anything depending on the world that the author had created.

Now if magic was real, just what type of effects would it have in this reality.

However, before he had time to figure out any of that, he needed to find out if his food inside the bag had also been turned to bark! Giving the bundle a couple of testing tugs Thomas found that it came apart relatively easily, and was relieved to find that all the food inside the bundle was just as he had remembered it. The bark now actually made a semi circular container. Kind of like a basket, well this will be useful. Potentially more useful than the plastic bag was.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thomas spent the next couple of hours trying to figure out what he should do. After seeing the bark bundle that used to be his plastic grocery bag, he was now sure he wasn’t in a place or time that was anything like he knew, and that the Grove he was in was something special. That also meant that even if he were to meet up with other people there was no guarantee that they would have the same cultural beliefs on morality and ethics as himself, let alone understand the language he was talking. That was assuming that there was any civilization near him in the first place.

As such, he decided that setting out in search of civilization in his current state was likely a death sentence. If magic was real then there would be other beings that were capable of using magic as well, not just the tree that he was currently leaning against. He was fairly sure the tree was not sapient or at the minimum did not have any way to communicate that it understood anything he was saying.

He had actually tried for a good 10 minutes to talk with the tree. Telling it to wiggle its branches if it could understand him or do something else obvious. Of course it didn’t work and he only ended up feeling embarrassed for himself even though no one was around to watch.

A grumbling sound brought Thomas out of his thoughts and reminded him of one thing that he was sure of. He needed more food. While he did have some of the berries and other groceries he had purchased, that would only last so long. Which meant he needed to do some more exploring. Getting to his feet he grabbed a few berries to snack on, and headed out of the grove back in the direction of the bushes he had originally found.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time passed quickly for Thomas, days turned to weeks and still no significant events occurred. He was surprised to find that even the day after he had picked berries from the bushes, new ones were already half grown, not that they were ready to be eaten. He simply chocked this one up to ‘magic’ and took the blessing for the easy food source that it was.

He did spot the horned rabbit, or some of its relatives, a couple more times but didn’t dare to approach it after what had happened last time. Especially now that he knew some form of magic was real he wasn’t about to risk that the little animal could actually generate lightning or move at the speed of sound.

During this time Thomas tried everything he could think of to use magic. Bringing up memories of all the different novels he had read while growing up. He tried meditating, coming up with spell incantations or just focusing his mind entirely on one subject. Nothing actually worked of course. But he was still determined to learn how to use magic. If for no other reason than he was sure it would increase his chances of survival.