Magic Madness™️

Chapter Three: Fight or Flight

WORD COUNT: 1,830

    Eli was beginning to think that, maybe, this wasn't fake. He was beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, he wasn't dreaming. This much was incredibly difficult to believe, considering he was currently being lead through a magical forest by a purple-eyed video game wizard, but it was starting to become more and more real.

    And that frightened Elijah to no extent.

    Eli wasn't very accustomed to change, generally speaking: he hated change of any kind that he wasn't in complete control over, and seeing as he had no control, whatsoever, over any aspect of what was currently happening, he wasn't exactly thrilled (to say the least). The only thing that hadn't changed in the last hour was himself and Alex, so he had a lot to take in.

    Now, if Alex was as concerned as Elijah, or at all, really, it wasn't showing. He just looked around in awe.
The forest that the group walked through was the same as a forest on Earth, when one looked at the 'big picture', but it was the details that fascinated Alex.
    The variety of trees was much larger than that of Earth. No two trees seemed to be the same. They all seemed to have the same shape, the same way that all pine trees look mainly alike, but the details on the leaves and patterns in the bark of these trees were all beautifully unique. If Alex didn't have his glasses on, or maybe if he was standing at a greater distance, the two trees in front of him would look basically identical. Right then, though, Alex did have his glasses on. The tree on the left had spirals in its bark, and it's leaves all had vertical stripes in their pattern. The one on the right had the bark growing in horizontal lines rather than the vertical lines on Earth trees, and it's leaves were rather blank. Alex was properly intrigued, a certain glaze in his eyes that couldn't mean anything but pure amazement. It also meant that he was lost in thought, so to speak, and probably couldn't hear anything that anyone might be saying to him.

    "So where are you guys from, anyway?" Amber asked, trying to follow Alex's line of vision and figure out what he was so entertained by.

    "We're from Sacramento," Eli told her, and he saw the gears in Evalyn's head start to turn.

    "That's in...California, right? No, wait-Nevada? No, I think I was right the first time. California?" Evalyn asked.

    "Yeah. California," Eli replied slowly, "I forget you guys don't know anything about Earth. Well, I'm assuming you guys don't know anything about Earth?"

    Amber opened her mouth to say something, and Evalyn put a hand on her arm.
    "Should we tell them?" She asked Joan, who thought about it for a moment.
    "I suppose it doesn't matter. Tell them, if you so please," He finally answered, hands behind his back in a professional manner that Elijah found infuriating.
    "Well, to be completely honest-" Evalyn began, just as Joan came to a sharp halt and held a hand up, signaling for everyone to stop.
    "I take it back, everybody shut up," Joan hissed, listening. At this, Alex zoned back in with a slightly startled "what?".
    "Nobody move. Alejandro, Elijah, stay close," Joan whispered.
    "Alright," Alex whispered back.
    "Did you hear me, Elijah?" Joan asked, whispering slightly louder.
    "Elijah?"
    There was a crunching sound, and Joan turned around in alarm. The good news was, the sound had only been a twig breaking. The bad news was, it broke as a result of Eli taking off running in the direction they had come from.

    "Elijah!" Alex called. Joan shushed him harshly, and Alex shushed him back with an unruly amount of sass.
    If he couldn't call Elijah back, he'd just have to go after him.
    Alex started running, chasing Eli down in hopes of bringing him back.
    "Alejandro. Get back here, now," Joan insisted, but Alex kept running.