Chapter 12

***Chapter 12 ~ Nature***

***Flora Province***

***~***

***Sydney, Australia***

"Hey, Wes, I'm gonna go on ahead, I wanna go explore!" I shouted as I ran ahead on the wooded hiking trail.

"Uh uh, no way, you aren't gonna go prancing off in the wilderness alone. Who knows what's in there!"  My older sister, Weslyn, snapped.
"Bloody hell, you're sounding more like a diva every day!"
"Can't help that, now get back down here!"
"Nah, explore on your own, remember what Doctor V said: 'Nature is your friend'!" With that, I sprinted out of sight up the trail.
Wes had some...self esteem issues recently with coming out as female instead male. Personally, I could see it coming, it wasn’t that big of a big deal really, but there were some people who didn't think the way I did. Her psychiatrist said that being out with nature might help things out and luckily I was able to to persuade her to let us go to a new trail rather than the ones we always go to. But I was tired of being tied to her hip.

I ran along the edge of the trail, jumping over logs, and took my time to admire all the little details of life and nature as I passed by. It was all so perfect, and it better help Wes or I dunno what will. I started to slow down when I saw a fork in the trail, well not a real fork in the trail, but there was a much smaller, tree covered trail pulling from the official one. I smiled to myself and headed for the smaller one, pushing all the low hanging branches out of my way. The trees covered me from the sun and sky, but let little patches through like leaves giving flowers the spotlight, and I loved it. The smaller path lead me further into the woods and higher up on an incline. The higher I went, the faster I ran, it felt like I was faster than the wind. I watched at my side as the trees and branches whizzed past me in a blur. I could feel myself move closer and closer to the edge of the trail, entranced by the world around me. In the midst of all the running, I didn't have time to noticed the rather big stone in my way. When I hit the rock, my foot got caught, sending me sideways, giving my foot enough room to escape but at a price. My balance was so off, I took one wrong step and was sent tumbling down the wooded side of the trail, The fall was a disaster, the thorny plants cut my skin and rocks bruised my body, but nothing prepared me for the final blow, towards the bottom was a giant rock just waiting for me. With all the force from my fall my head slammed straight into it's face. I could feel blood drip down the side of my face and even though I stopped rolling, my head was still spinning and turning. My whole body throbbed and ached like there was no tomorrow. Everything was fading away, like darkness was blanketing over me, and I was left alone in the black. That was, until voice came. It was like a horror movie, the villain's voice meant to scare.

"Little Flora, all grown up and exploring all by yourself. We're so proud of you." He said softly.
"What are you goin' on about?.." I snapped, without the intimidation due to my grogginess.
"Well, I'm 'going on about' how you need my help, which I am willing to do so graciously. All it takes is for you to sign. Not too hard really, rather simple."
"I'm fine on my own. I don't need your help, you creep."
From the shadows stepped forward the voice. He wore all black, from his overcoat to his wide brimmed hat. I couldn't see his eyes, only from his nose and down. Besides his pale skin and dark brown hair, a bright green pendant hung around his neck by a chain.

"Of course, my mistake, but in case you change your mind-" He nodded and opened up his jacket pocket just enough to pull out something from his inside jacket pocket. It was a rolled up piece of paper in a sandy color.
"What is it?" I asked. I didn't even bother to take it though he pushed the paper closer to me.
"I said I could help you. Even though you refused my help, this is how I would've gone about the task. Just keep it in case you change your mind for some reason." He insisted holding it closer to me.
I hesitated before slowly taking it and unrolled it to get a good look at it. The black writing was in a language I couldn't understand.

"Oh and Flora?" He asked calmly.
I looked up; his necklace had changed from the pretty green an elegant light purple.

"You might want to do something about that wound. It's getting a little, you might say, messy." He said with slight smirk that sent shivers down my spine.
Clouded in complete confusion, I placed my fingers on the side of my head, I could feel something wet. When I went see what it was, it was bright red blood from an open wound. I stared at it blankly for a moment and put my hand back on the paper, the bloodied finger on the black line. The man took the paper from my hands roughly and rolled it up before sliding it back into his pocket. He gave me another sickening grin before walking away, abandoning me in this wasteland of black.

Slowly, then all at once, my body began to burn and felt as if I was going to burst. There was so much pain and pressure at once: it was just too much. I fell to my knees in pain, begging for it to just end. Through clenched eyes, my head felt like it was spinning around and around, until it suddenly stopped and was as it was before. I could slowly feel something brush against my face, which eventually brought me back to the world. Cautiously, I blinked my eyes open to find that the world I was in was one I had never seen before, or at least had no memory of. Everything was so green and full of life. It was beautiful; colorful flowers poked out above emerald colored grass. I sat up a little more, a breathless smile plastered on my face; the flowers and leaves swayed along with my every movement.

"Beautiful here, isn't it?" A light voice asked.
I nearly jumped out of my skin and let out a small yelp in surprise.

"O-oh, I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you-" He stammered. I could see movement in the bushes and out stepped a young man, a few years older than me with curly red hair and rimmed glasses on the edge of his nose. His accent wasn't too far off of my own, but still different.
"Who are you? Where am I? What even is this place?" I asked all at once.
He looked around and pushed up his glasses with his fore and middle finger. "Well, my name is Nerve. We call this place the Island, it's kind of hard to explain it all really. There are others here too; Twister, Beast, the twins, River and Frost, Flare, Grave, Skye, and Duskara, you'll like them and I'm sure they'll like you. What's your name?"

"Flora, I think."
"Welcome to the Island, Flora! Come on, I'll introduce you to the others." He smiled and gestured me to follow him down a path through the trees.
I paused and watched him, not sure at first to trust him, but felt a smile grow and I ran to follow after him, excited for the new adventure. He explained a bit more about what the island held in store, all of the terrain and how we were adapting to our surroundings.

“We all have these weird abilities, you see? Like me, I can actually move things without physically touching them and I can read minds, so I’m sorry if I do, I don’t quite have a grasp on it. What we’ve noticed that our names correlate with our abilities, so it shouldn’t be hard for you to figure out.”
“ ‘Kay? I mean, I guess so, just gotta go with it then, right?” I shrugged.
“Exactly! Like I said, we’re all trying to get a grasp on it all so you will just have to bear with us through it all, I apologize in advance for some of them, we do try our best.”
“No worries, buddy.”
He smiled again down to me and let me follow him a bit more until a series of tiny houses came into view through the trees. Nerve seemed natural about the sight while I was still in awe.

“This is….” I muttered slowly, not really sure how to finish.
“Home! We’re bound to find at least someone for you to meet, everyone just does their own things mostly, adjusts on their own terms.”
I was actually starting to doubt that there were other people, despite how much he was assuring me that there were. I made sure to keep a keen eye around the rows, following close behind my less than stranger who walked ahead attentively with his hands clasped behind his back.

“Well I’ll be stuffed…” Believe it or not, right in front of us was a man, or at least, I thought, he looked like a fella, but had a dog tail and ears, not to mention the fur that covered his body.

Nerve looked over to what I found and waved towards the “man”, “Beast! I want you to come meet Flora!” The man perked up at the name, his ears twitching slightly

I was honestly speechless as the man approached us with a slight smile. He looked down at me curiously with another flick of his ears before looking back to Nerve. “She does speak, no?”

“Oh yes she does, you can be quite a surprise, my friend. Besides, we are the only ones she’s seen on the island.” Nerve chuckled happily, talking like I wasn’t even there.
“Flora, you say?”
All I could do was nod my answer to him. God did I try not to stare the tail, or the fur, or the ears, or the teeth that looked like they could crush bones.

“A cabin opened down the way, flowers on the door. Could be hers.” He continued.
Nerve simply nodded with his smile and Beast led the two of us down another row of houses until we came to that matched his description -- a flowered door opened.

After reminding myself that it was just another adventure, I pushed the door opened a bit more to squeeze through. It was….it was beautiful. There were so many pieces of flowers that decorated the room, from the pillows and the couch to the lamp that hung above my head, streaming the rooms in a soft pink glow. The grass green curtains opened the view to me of a small pot along the window frames, welcoming to life. There was just so much nature and flowers both inside and out, it felt like I was living in Spring. In the midst of my exploration, I found myself on the second floor, admiring the tulip blankets over a beautifully designed iron bed frame.

The view from the upper windows were just as wonderful, it felt like I could see the whole Island from where I was. This was to be my home now. There was so much I didn't know but that couldn’t stop me from enjoying it or working to find it. I bet Nerve would help, and maybe the others here too! This could be fun, actually