Falco
Moments after Vern left to work on the school that would one day be used to educate our children and the many others of the Enchanted Forest and surrounding area, I put on a pair of pants and a long-sleeved shirt before slipping on my shoes.
Normally, I would have visited the community garden, but I had other plans for the day.
I had to find a special gift for my soon-to-be mate.
The day after we’d been intimate, we arranged for our mating ceremony, and Vern moved his few belongings into the house I lived in.
We became a couple in every way except for an official service.
It took him a few nights before he decided to join me in bed, but I think I had worn him out that day.
Sex with him became less about me telling him what to do and more about enjoying the euphoria he managed to fill me with.
Once he figured out what to do, instinct seemed to take over, and he fucked me better than the few partners I’d had in my former world.
Not once did I ever yearn to go back to that place. Sure, I’d had to get used to living without some conveniences, but the Enchanted Forest proved much more fulfilling. And my upcoming mating ceremony with Vern would ensure I wouldn’t be sent back to the outer-world. Something I dreaded.
But I had to find Vern a gift. It wasn’t part of the actual service, yet I felt it necessary with all the presents he’d brought for me and the extra time he spent to customize the house. I wanted to give him something back.
Heading out the door, I wracked my brain for any gift idea.
I wanted it to be something from this world, not the one I’d left behind.
Instead of going to the village, I took a slightly overgrown path through the woods.
I had no idea what lay ahead, as I’d never heard anyone talk about what lay beyond the village in that direction.
I knew the bear shifters along with other mystical creatures lived in the east. The meadow I’d arrived in was to the west, and many ponds and lakes could be found south of the village.
Yet, the area north of us remained a mystery.
One I planned to solve while on the hunt for the perfect present.
The elevation sloped upward as I traipsed over fallen logs and around overgrown bushes along the path.
My legs got a workout they hadn’t had since I’d had to climb stairs in my apartment in the outer-world.
My new home was one-story and the village was on flatland.
When I returned, I would have to remember to stretch or I would cramp.
Farther into the woods, I still had no idea what to bring back for Vern. I considered a nice log, but I didn’t want to put him to work with the gift.
The land eventually flattened out before I heard the sound of rushing water.
Perhaps a different body of water could contain something not found around the village.
Leaving the path, I searched for the source of the sound.
The trees thinned out and the vegetation became more sparce before I reached the origin.
A breathtaking waterfall. I stood on the cliff face to the side of it.
Somehow, I had to find a way down to the pool at the bottom.
Not only did I hope to find what I searched for, but it would be nice to bathe in moving water again, something I missed from my former world.
Though the land dropped off in front of me, it did slope downward to my left.
With my anxious heart racing, I headed that direction.
I gripped the tree trunks on my way down, trying to prevent myself from slipping.
Hurting myself out here when no one knew where I was would not be ideal.
Taking my time, I finally reached the bottom, only a few slides and scrapes along the way.
At the bottom of the falls, the water sparkled in the sunlight. I contemplated perusing the shore for Vern’s possible present, but the urge to soak and splash proved too great. I stripped off my clothes and raced into the water.
Though I expected the water to be slightly cool, it had a different feel to it than the water from my world and even the water I drank from our well.
As I ran my palm through it, I realized it seemed thinner than normal H 2 O.
When I took my hand out, no water dripped from it, and my skin didn’t seem wet at all.
Stepping carefully back to shore, I worried I wasn’t supposed to be in the pool at all.
Would my skin break out in a rash? Or worse, would contact with the strange liquid kill me?
Putting my clothes back on, I waited for some kind of a reaction. Yet, my skin didn’t feel any different and remained the same pale color. Strange.
I chuckled at myself considering I’d easily accepted shifters existing, yet the liquid at the bottom of the falls left me worried.
Instead of heading back in for a swim, I scoured the shore.
Overturning driftwood and running my bare feet through the pebbles initially brought no results.
Then I caught a glimpse of something shiny where the pebbles turned into bigger stones.
Squatting down, I pushed away the rocks on top to see what lay underneath.
Another rock. But it caught the sun and sparkled like no other I’d ever seen.
I plucked it from the ground and examined it closer.
Maybe it held diamonds inside, or just simple quartz.
Perhaps it was a jewel that was only found in this world.
Regardless, it was exactly the type of gift I had been searching for.
I placed it in my pocket, and after putting my shoes back on, headed back toward the village.
I needed to get to the community garden before dinner.
But the clouds suddenly grew dark. A strong wind came out of nowhere, tossing the foliage of the trees around.
Though I’d gone off the path to get to the falls, I was sure I knew my way back up to the top.
Rain began to fall. Not a light shower like I was used to in the village but heavy drops, making the rock faces slippery.
I used tree trunks to pull myself back up and eventually found the path I’d abandoned.
The rain came harder. Somehow, even through the canopy of the trees, it hit me like millions of tiny grains of sand. Nothing like the liquid at the falls or the sun showers in the village.
I dashed as fast as I could along the path, but eventually, I wasn’t sure I was still on it. Everything around me appeared wet and flattened. And with the sun gone, I couldn’t tell the trail from the rest of my surroundings.
Back in my world, I could find some building to dash into to get out of the rain, or even an overhang to hide under.
But here, nothing stopped the assault from the pounding liquid.
I didn’t know where I was or how to get back.
Sure, I’d found a gift for Vern, but it seemed the forest wasn’t going to let me escape with it.
I dropped the rock to see if it made a difference, if the rain would let up.
No change. After picking it up again, I hunkered down at the base of a tree and removed my soaked shirt, holding it over my head to ease some of the onslaught.
I had no idea what else to do other than wait it out and hope I managed to find my way back home when the skies cleared again.