Mrs Sophie Foster-Sencen (Sokeefe Tale of Two Times) - KOTLC

Forbidden Doorway

~ Present Sophie's POV ~

My heartbeat raced in my chest, rapidly becoming faster and faster.
Not only was this illusion (or maybe even illusions) out of the blue and ominous, but it entertained the possibility of certain people being behind it, those of whom I did not want to cast light upon.
I felt my palms become sweaty with phobic aversion of the sight in front of me.
The palpitations of my heart rang in my ears, oversupplying my aortas and flushing my skin, as I clutched to Keefe's hand as if it were the only source holding me stable.
But his eyes, too, were wide, and his mouth, agape.
My own lips remained parted, only brought together with a swallow of trepidation.
One misstep and we could be launched wholly of course.
"What..."
I whispered, barely registering the word as my voice trailed off.
I'm not sure if I intended it to be a question or merely just the word, as there was no tone, leaving the word sounding almost automated.
I shivered a little as well...I hadn't even known the sudden drop in temperature until now...unless that was due to the cold sweat I had broken out into and the furious fright that had paralyzed me.
And something stood out...something very peculiar and minuscule.
The tree had some particles...or rather shreds...of light tuckering from the bark like an aura, especially around the whole that homed whatever species was said to live there.
That could only mean one thing...
See, this very tree encapsulated my fears of the future.
For instance:
What if we never defeated the Neverseen?
Or worse, what is new trouble was brewing that no one knew about?
But also, what if it lead to something paradise-like?
Some discovery worth more than crystals and jewels could afford?
Only one way to know, right?
I straightened out my posture, not letting myself hesitate with a second, and grappled onto Keefe's wrist, beelining towards the tree and launching myself through the glowing portal with my eyes squeezed shut.

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The first thing I felt was softness beneath my knees like a thick, and rather odd balanced blanket.
I had toppled onto my knees as I flung through, gasping with surprise when I found myself in a non-dangerous area.
Typically, I didn't rush straight to the hazard, but in this case, I had just hoped for safety and prayed for the best.
I pried my eyes, finding Keefe on the floor beside me, both of us sprawling on whatever flooring was provided beneath us from the fall.
Both he and I had made ungainly noises of terror upon entry, mine a shriek, and his a short stifled yell, so I wasn't concerned on not finding him should anything have gone awry.
I panted a bit, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the brightness of the world, and squinting painfully in the process.
Once the blur had finally faded, I saw in front of me a quite disconcerting view.
The ground was squishy and light pink, with a texture similar to playdough.
When you put pressure in a certain area, a patch beside it would rise like yeast had caused it to.
The sky was a shade of light airy pink as well, and scattered upon it were various different...hieroglyphics?
They were so small, but so easily spotted that they would drive one crazy if they were to stare for too long.
Flowers sprouted on the "grass" flooring, however they were off.
The stems were multicolored in a painstakingly bright and crazy way.
The petals and core were inverted, with the millions of tiny seeds shaping into petals, as if they had simply seeped into them, like thousands of tiny unblinking eyes staring at you.
It surely was intimidating, in a skin-crawling sort of way.
The core, meanwhile, was an array of spots of different colors, each containing large numbers in tiny fonts.
Pebbles were scattered around randomly, and took on a midnight blue color with white stripes.
What I assumed were trees were huge, thin stick-like structured lines sticking straight up, with no stability or support yet somehow they managed. Vine-like branches were wrapped from the soil around the trees core and eventually split halfway up, housing various chrome colored circles, as if they were made from tin foil.
Patches of something were growing out of the soil around 10 feet in front of us,
But the soil was a strange aquamarine blue and green spotted mess.
Then suddenly, a creature hopped by.
It looked like a hare, though it's image was oddly distorted.
It's body was glowing, like a blinding aura, flashing my eyes with thousands of different colors across the color spectrum dependent on the angle I was staring at it from.
It's eyes were just black, as if it were a stuffed rabbit of which the creator intended for cuteness instead of accuracy.
And it had robotic movements, slow and calculated, as if it ran through each possible outcome and consequence before hopping.
It blinked it's void-like eyes and turned its nose up, sniffing the air.
After a few seconds it paused, and turned its head slowly towards the patch of whatever was growing.
It leapt right up to it and tilted upward and back, balancing itself on only its hind legs.
The hare used its front paws and literally tugged a stem from the patch, revealing a neon yellow fruit.
Then it took its leave, darting into the nearby brush.
I don't know much about hares, but I do know that they're not supposed to do that.
Like that's not normal...
A gentle breeze blew through, but it felt strangely artificial, swaying none of the elements in the area out of place, even for a fraction of a second.
It also didn't emanate a small chill like a normal blow of wind would.
It was all very...disorienting.
Yet something in my head screamed at me,
This was how it was meant to be.
Is it possible it was made to disorient one unless they knew a correct path to take to find whatever was hidden.
It was like someone alternate dimension.
"Where are we?"
Keefe asked, bewilderment in his tone.
"I...I don't know..."
I mumbled in response, flabbergasted myself as well.
I shifted my head slowly, turning it to view everything present around me.
The more I stared, the sharper the colors brightened, causing me to wince from extreme concentration.
I fought through the pain, turning my head 30° to the east, and that's when I saw it.
A cobblestone path leading down into the misty forest.
"Keefe, do you see that?"
"Yeah."
He voiced, and I turned to find him staring directly at the place aforementioned.
"A path..."
I was curious as to where it would go, but with the mist, it looked extremely ominous and slightly unsettling.
"Should we follow it?"
I asked, not sure who I was asking, myself or him...or both.
"I dunno."
He gulped.
"It looks...not so friendly."
"That's for sure."
I responded, my eyes glued to the path.
I stood up and was about to brush off the strangely yellow soil from my clothing, but when I made contact, the soil turned moist and dripped off my fingertips.
"Woah..."
I whispered, trying to rub it off my fingertips, but then the consistency became slimy, dripping slowly off my fingertips and rolling onto the unstable ground.
"Do you think these...illusions...are distractions?"
I asked hesitantly, and when Keefe met my eyes, he looked slightly lost.
"Like, do you think this was all put here to distract us from what we're supposed to find? Like the disorientation is only meant to be bypassed by those who created it or have access to where it leads?"
I gulped, tapping at my leggings for a response so that I didn't seem crazy or mislead.
But Keefe would never do that to me.
"It's highly possible."
He responded simply.
"Should we check it out? And more importantly, where should we go?"
"Follow the path?"
I suggested with a shrug.
"Doesn't that seem to obvious? I know it's ominous and all, but doesn't it seem like maybe they, whoever they is, wants to lead us that way?"
He asked me, beginning to get to his feet.
I held my hand out for him to grip on for support, as I mulled over his words.
"I guess."
I decided, agreeing.
"So then where should we go?"
I dropped his hand once he was up garnering his bearings, and turned myself in a 360, surveying the scene around us.
"How about...there?"
He suggested, pointing to nowhere in particular in the vast trees.
I squinted.
"There? As in..."
I was at a loss of descriptive words so I went with,
"...the trees?"
"Yeah?"
He responded, his voice shaky with uncertainty and doubt.
"Ok..."
I responded, with the same tone of unsureness.
But neither of our feet seemed to want to advance.
A few moments we waited in silence, in hopes that some miracle would occur to prevent us from taking the foggy path through the trees, which, by the way, seemed more ominous and scary.
It didn't help that it looked as if almost no light reached through the area, leaving it in a pitch black state.
If anything, this way screamed 'run away quick while you still can!' Instead of, 'freshly made sweetberry swirls and mallowmelt with some cinnacreme!' If you catch my drift.
And even if there wasn't anything to be wary of, it still seemed like pointless wandering.
I sighed, breaking the silence, and I latched onto Keefe's hand, entwining our fingers.
"We have to go."
I whispered, my eyes still glued on the trees.
"I know."
He responded quietly, also staring at the trees.
I gave both of us one last minute to breath in before potential doom.
And with that, we set forward.

~ Hey guys! Updating schedule will be weird this week due to being on vacation for spring break. Enjoy this slightly longer chapter for now! Sorry! And thank you all for reading!
Lots of love,
Your author 💕 ~