《Elemental School of Hard Knocks》


 Preface

    In the year 2216, by pure accident, scientists studying the leading edge of portation physics managed to open a pathway between dimensions, and into another plane of existence.


    Not even they themselves understood how it worked, or where exactly the place they had found was.


    Some said it was too dangerous. What if the connection cut off, and they were stranded over there.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Others said that it didn''t matter, and that the whole of humanity should just pack their bags and move there immediately. For the discoveries that were found by the initial scout team were simply too great to ignore.


    In the year 2228, governments all across the world announced that they would be celebrating the dawn of the new decade by opening up the newly replicated portals to the public, just as the first clocks in the world struck 0000 hours January 1st, 2230.


    The use of the portals would be free for anyone who wanted to go, but whether or not you could survive on the other side...


    Well, that was up to you.

 Chapter 1: No Place Like Away From Home

    Kyra stared at the swirling vortex inside the newly constructed Stonehenge atop Mount Maunganui. The damp moss growing over the Jade stone pillars belied its recent construction. The swirling concentric patterns engraved upon them were rumoured to have carved themselves into the stones as the power of the portal was first activated.


    Kyra wasn''t certain if she believed that, but however they had gotten there, they certainly added to the ancient and imposing vibe of the place.


    The rest of the mountaintop was deserted. It wasn''t a surprise really. The first rush of people who had decided to cross over had already gone through a month ago, and the curious sightseers who just wanted to get a look at humanity''s so-called "biggest invention since the internet" usually came up to picnic during the day. Not in the middle of the night as she was doing.


    The only other human being up here was her baby brother. Not even a year old, he was currently sound asleep and strapped to her chest in a carrier.


    She had named him Ihaka in the hope that she would see him laugh one day, and to honour her heritage on her mother''s side. Although she never knew her mother''s family, curling up on her lap as her mother read to her about Maui and his brothers, were some of the fondest memories of her childhood.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    It had not initially occurred to Kyra that she might want to go through the portal and into an unknown and unfriendly dimension. Especially with no other backup and a baby in tow.


    Then her mother had died a day after giving birth to Ihaka, and Kyra had known that she could not stay.


    So with nothing but her brother in her arms, the clothes on her back, and the Pounamu pendant that her mother had given her for her fifth birthday hanging around her neck; Kyra had gone to enrol herself into the training program that had been set up by the government in order to give people a fighting chance at surviving on the other side.


    As a legal young adult with no financial background and a minor to support, she was even given government funding to be able to attend the training for free.


    Now, standing in front of the stones, just a few feet away from no way back, Kyra felt her heartbeat pounding through her ears as she took a deep breath. One hand wound around Ihaka to make sure that he was secure, the other groped around behind herself to check for the thousandth time that her survival pack was indeed still there. She stepped forward once, twice, thrice... and she was through.

 Chapter 2: First Look at the Spirit Realm

    Kyra blinked back her tears as the piercing light of the clearing that she stepped into assaulted her eyeballs. Although it had been the middle of the night back on Earth, it was just her luck that the moment she would slip through the portal, it would sync to what appeared to be the middle of the day over here in the Spirit Realm.


    Kyra cursed the erratic time dilation between the two dimensions that made it impossible to calculate exactly what time of day you would come through. As she tried to focus her vision, the first impression she got of this new land, was the uncertain feeling of her own weight. In a nutshell, she felt both incredibly light, and yet very solidly planted into the ground at the same time. Although she had been warned of the odd sensation, it was still fairly unnerving.


    What more proof did she need that she was no longer on earth, than that the feel of gravity was no longer the same as what she had known, and had taken for granted her whole life.


    Before she even had the time to get more of her bearings than that, Kyra heard a faint hissing as her bleary eyes made out a dark shadow flying towards her face. Her right palm came up and over from the left, diverting its trajectory as her left palm came up to smack into the ribs of what turned out to be a small cat like creature. It flipped over once in the air before landing, as she turned to face it once more and lowered herself into a battle stance.


    Her right to practise Chen Tai Chi was the only argument Kyra had ever seen her mother win against her father. A feat that she had resented at the time, as she didn''t even want to learn how to fight in any kind of way. But she had gone, if for no other reason than that she refused to give her father the satisfaction of seeing her mother''s efforts go to waste.


    As it turned out, her mother was right, because her ability to defend herself right now was the only thing that had given her the courage to leave Earth, to find new possibilities in this foreign place.


    As such, Kyra refused to embarrass her mothers'' memory by being knocked back into the portal mere moments after she had stepped through. And by some puny little Shadow-cat no less!


    One thing was for certain though, she had changed her mind about her previous resentment of the time. With the sun high overhead, the Shadow-cat had no shadows to travel through. Thus its most frightening ability to slip through space was sealed, and it had to face her head on just like any other physical entity.


    The Shadow-cat seemed to come to this realisation as well, keeping a safe distance as it hissed at her again.


    The cat and the human stayed like this for several minutes as they each tried to find a weakness to exploit. Kyra especially, was trying to figure out a way to move the fight away from the portal, to force the Shadow-cat to back off, and to accomplish both things without endangering Ihaka in the process.


    She thought of the knife hilt that was sticking out of the gap between the small of her back and her backpack. She had been training with the army knife in the last 10 months since she had joined the program, but she was far from proficient with it yet. Not to mention, she had also been warned against showing undo violence towards the smaller and less dangerous creatures. As doing so generally meant that the bigger and badder ones would feel the need to make their presence felt.


    Finding out first hand exactly what her instructors had meant by that was so not something that Kyra needed right now.


    Before Kyra could fully make up her mind on what to do, the Shadow-cat gave one more hiss in her direction before sprinting off towards the edge of the clearing.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Feeling both relieved and somewhat deflated by the anticlimactic fight, Kyra waited for a few moments before deciding that it probably wasn''t going to come back, and lifted herself up out of her stance.


    As she did, Kyra was able to take a good look around herself for the first time. Every colour that she saw, was far more vivid than most naturally occurring plants on Earth. The grass type plants that blanketed the clearing were a soft amethyst, as were the leaves of all the trees that she could see from where she was.


    A slight tugging at her ankle snapped her out of her daze. Giving a tiny scream, she jumped nearly a foot in the air.


    Looking down, she realised that she had been standing on the stem of a flower, and that the grass around it had been trying to tug her off. Kyra, however, barely had the where-with-all to mumble an absent-minded apology as her fright had woken Ihaka.


    "I''m sorry to you too, baby. Shhh, go back to sleep. I''m sorry. Go back to sleep." She mumbled softly into his ear as she patted his back, and gently rocked him in her arms. Her face was flaming as she remembered a lecture about the different grasses in the Spirit Realm, and how every single one of them could move to a certain extent. She wasn''t too worried about what she had been standing on, as the lecturer had also mentioned that none of the grasses surrounding the portals could exert more strength then what most humans could do with their pinkies. She was just mortified about her own reaction. Of how caught up she had been in taking in the scenery, that she had neglected to pay attention to her immediate surroundings.


    Ihaka was not going back to sleep. Now that he was awake he seemed to have noticed their odd surroundings. Though he was not old enough to really understand or panic about it, it seemed that the odd sensation of the gravity here was enough to confuse him. Screwing up his face, he pulled up his feet and grabbed onto Kyra''s hair with his hands. Tears filled his eyes as he seemed to search Kyra''s face for answers and did his best to climb up her body.


    Careful to avoid any of the flowers, Kyra placed her pack onto the grass and rummaged around for one of the milk fruits that she had packed, along with Ihaka''s bowl and spoon.


    In order to help the people in the programs begin to acclimatise their bodies to the Spirit Realm before they went, the military and researchers, who had had early access to the portal, had begun to send back food that they could eat.


    The Milkfruit tree was a fruit that was found to be fairly abundant in the Spirit Realm, as many of the indigenous creatures would pick the fruit and bring it back to their young. Preliminary research had found that it should be safe for babies to eat. So when the instructors had come to Kyra and had asked if she wanted to try giving it to Ihaka, Kyra, who had been worrying about what she would feed him when they got there, had agreed to give it a try.


    They had been taken to the most state-of-the-art medical facility for babies in New Zealand, and had spent six weeks there as they slowly introduced the fruit to his diet, then eventually switched over to it completely.


    All the tests that the doctors could do had proven that the fruit had immense benefits for an infant¡¯s brain development, as well as their immune system, and just their development in general. Large scale trials had begun shortly after Ihaka had proven the viability of the fruit, and there was even talk of making it into a product available to the public in a year or so.


    The milk fruit had a thin red scaly skin that could be peeled back fairly easily to reveal its green pearly insides.


    Ihaka wasn''t paying as much attention as usual as she mashed up his late supper/lunch into his bowl. Instead, he was fussing and pulling at the straps holding him in place. Kyra wasn''t about to let him down to explore however, and after mashing up the fruit into his bowl, she tried getting him to eat.


    Ihaka couldn''t seem to decide whether or not he was happy that he was getting fed, or still upset about the strangeness of the new environment. As such, he made a comical picture as he switched back and forth between reaching for the spoon saying "Nom, nom.", and squealing and squirming as he generally made his dissatisfaction felt. Kyra tried to keep a straight face as she murmured reassurances to him and finished feeding him all of the solid bits in his bowl. By that time he had calmed down somewhat, and Kyra poured the rest of what was left, which was a considerable amount of liquid, into his bottle.


    The juice of the milk fruit, despite its name, did not look like milk at all. It was a thick liquid, light green in colour, and had a pearly iridescence to it that if seen on earth, would have made you assume that it had mica or some other similar shiny substance mixed into it.


    Ihaka finally settled down as he grabbed onto the large handles, and eagerly started sucking on his bottle.


    Kyra wiped the remaining tears from his cheeks. "Alright, little man. First goal of making it in this place. Make it to the human base ... I swear that rhyme was unintentional."

 Chapter 3: Follow the Greenstone Road

    After rinsing off Ihaka''s bowl and putting it away, Kyra stood and took in her surroundings again. This time with a purpose. She found what she was looking for on the other side of the portal from where she was standing.


    It was a cobblestone road, wide enough for a car to pass through, made out of a green jade stone that could be found commonly here.


    Word was, that when the first portal had been opened in England, they had tried to lay concrete down. Needless to say, the local flora had hated it. And with the plants having much more active existences here than on Earth, they had made their objections felt by tearing up the freshly laid road, breaking it into bits, and scattering the remains. All within the short span of a few days. Sometimes you could apparently still find little lumps of concrete several kilometres from where the road had been.


    The idea for the cobblestone had come when someone had realised that if you moved a rock, none of the plants would care about it. So they had given it a go, and now stone roads had become the standard for human advancement into the Spirit Realm.


    This particular road was the one that led between the New Zealand portal, and the base that had been set up nearby. Of course, nearby was a relative statement. It was a six-hour hike away.


    Six hours. Assuming that you were a fit adult travelling with other fit adults, and didn''t have to care about a fussy soon-to-be toddler as you went along.


    Kyra tightened her grip on the straps criss-crossing her shoulders as she determinedly set off. This was going to be a long day.


    It would have been easier if Kyra hadn''t just gone with everyone else in the first wave of migrants when the portal was opened up to the public.


    The fact was though, that she was a latecomer.


    Although you technically didn''t have to go through the survival course in order to walk through the portal, not doing so was considered a nearly suicidal act. Moreover, there was no reason not to take the course, as government subsidies were available for those like Kyra who couldn''t afford it themselves. Since Kyra hadn''t been planning to go right up until the moment her mother had died, she had completely missed over a quarter of the first lessons for the first batch of students. Given Kyra''s reason for wanting to go to the Spirit Realm in order to get away from an abusive situation, they had made an exception and had allowed her to join halfway through. However, cram as she had to get done in 9 months what was meant to take a year and a half, it had still taken her another month after that before her instructors had said that they were happy with her results. It had helped that she had already had some fighting ability, which meant that she didn''t have to work so hard on those lessons.


    So if they were willing to make so many exceptions for her as a student of the program, why didn''t they make one last exception and get someone to escort her to the base? Again the answer was simple. For all the help that the governments were willing to give to their citizens before they went through the portal, that was as far as it went. If you wanted to receive any kind of substantial support once you were through the portal, besides being allowed to live within the relative safety of the base, you had to be willing to join the Army.


    Giving up her freedom to make decisions about her own actions was not something that Kyra was willing to do. Hence, she was now making her way to the base on her own.


    New Zealand was considered to be one of the better places, as you were still allowed to live in the base and have access to the military¡¯s medical facilities without having to join.


    If Kyra had said that walking beneath the canopy of trees which were capable of literally reaching down and pulling her up into its branches, didn''t give her the heebeegeebees, then she would definitely be lying. However, she trusted what her instructors had said about most of them being benign as long as you didn''t try to hurt them first.


    It''s was just the "most" part of that statement that had her feeling like an army of ants were crawling up her spine.


    The first couple of hours into their journey were fairly uneventful. Ihaka took a good thirty minutes to finish his bottle as he was distracted and looking around. After which, Kyra kept them both entertained by pointing out and describing all the plants that she recognised from her lessons.


    Of course Ihaka didn''t understand most of what she was saying, however, he enjoyed listening to her talk as he looked around at all the new things. It was at least enough to keep him happy and giggling for a while, and when he got bored of that, she took out his little Kiwi plushy that she had gotten for him, and let him play with that. It meant extra exercise for Kyra who had to squat down to pick it back up whenever he dropped it, but it was a worthwhile trade when she thought of the possibility of him kicking and screaming along the way. Or at least it was until he discovered the amazing hilarity in her actions, and decided to play a game of fetch with her. Immediately throwing the Kiwi down as she handed it back to him.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Exasperated, she stuffed the toy back into her pack, and before he could get really upset, she did an abrupt forward bend. Flipping him upside down and singing "Weeee!" as she did so. The first time she did it he seemed determined not to be distracted from the abrupt robbery of his toy, grumbling from his upside-down position. But she eventually won him over with her antics, and before he realised that he had forgotten something important, she had swung her pack back over her shoulders, and they were on their merry way.


    It was at what Kyra thought was approximately the halfway point that their surroundings began to change. The constant rustling of the leaves, that Kyra hadn''t even realised that she was taking for granted, began to slow and then stop completely. It was only as she registered the absence of the sound, that she realised that since the moment that she had stepped through the portal, she had never felt any wind. The whole place became deathly silent. It was the kind of silence that Kyra had never heard before on Earth, and it made her wonder if even the small bugs had stopped moving.


    She stopped walking as one arm tightened around Ihaka. The other reaching for her knife. If she had been on Earth she would have long since started climbing a tree. However, she wasn''t certain that doing that here wouldn''t be walking right into the maw of the predator. Frantically she searched around for some kind of high ground, but the trees and other small bushes pushed up against the side of the road, forming a veritable wall that suddenly looked a lot more threatening than it had even a few moments ago. Ihaka was able to sense her sudden tension, and he searched her face as he mumbled inquiringly.


    Then, a hundred metres ahead of them, a large wolf like creature stepped out onto the road.


    Kyra''s blood chilled. That was no puny little Shadow-Cat. That was no puny little anything. That. Was. A fully grown terra-wolf.


    Its black fur looked like it was made from Obsidian, its eyes looked like emerald gems encasing its black pupils. These beasts were said to be difficult for even a pair of Soldiers working together to bring down. Thankfully they weren''t seen very often, but when Kyra saw it slowly licking its chops as it sniffed in the direction of Ihaka, Kyra knew that she couldn''t put this encounter down to bad luck. Which meant that hoping it would lose interest and go on its way would be pointless.


    Heart hammering in her throat Kyra decisively put her pack down in the centre of the road, and then propped Ihaka up against it. Deciding to bank on what her instructors had said about most plant life being benign unless you provoked them, Kyra stepped a few metres in front of Ihaka as she quickly pulled on her face guard and cloth gauntlets that had been hanging off the side of her pack. Then she faced the Terra-Wolf as she lowered herself into her battle stance and held her knife at the ready.


    The terra-wolf cocked its head to the side as it observed her for a moment, then, after seemingly deciding that she wasn''t going to be much trouble, it huffed out an exasperated breath, and moved.


    The wolf was like thunder in motion as it bouldered down towards her. No doubt, if she took the charge head on, a few broken ribs would be the least of her worries. At the last second, Kyra shifted her weight over just enough that its nose was aiming just past her right shoulder.


    Before it could adjust itself, she stabbed the knife in her right hand directly at its eye, forcing it to flinch further to the right. The blade of her knife made a scraping sound against its fur, and she aimed a vicious kick right for the joint in its front leg as it went past her. Forcing it to turn away from her, and away from Ihaka.


    The terra-wolf was angry now. It snarled as it turned back around to face her.


    Kyra was distracted however, as out of the corner of her eye, she saw vines reaching out from the forest to pick Ihaka up and disappear again with him.


    Kyra screamed. She couldn''t afford to take her attention away from the threat in front of her, but if she took any more time with the Wolf, Ihaka could be long gone before she got to him.


    Something in her snapped. And her leg snapped out with it. Landing an uppercut to the jaw of the wolf, she knocked it off balance, then kicked out again, knocking its left paw out from under it.


    As it stumbled, she grabbed its right paw and pulled it out and up. Effectively flipping the terra-wolf over.


    Then she jumped onto the wolf, kicked the joint of one of its hind legs to hinder its movement as she grabbed it''s upper jaw and groundits nose to the ground.


    The terra-wolf squirmed as it desperately breathed through its mouth. The angle made it impossible for it to bite down on her hand effectively, and the way that she was holding herself close to the Wolf''s body meant that its front paws could only ineffectively scrape against the tough material of her clothes.


    Her blade made a sharp ringing sound as she brought it down onto the roof of the Wolf''s upper jaw, once, twice, and again. The terra-wolf became frantic in its attempts to throw her off, and she nearly lost her precarious hold before it finally gave. Not stopping there, Kyra twisted her knife deeper. Going for its brain.


    As soon as the Terra-Wolf had gone still, she tore her knife free and had sprinted off in the direction of the vines. Hoping that it wasn''t about to jump up from behind her.


    She plunged through the flora. Frantically looking around through the canopy above her. It didn''t take her long, and she was only a few feet in when her eyes landed on a small cradle made of vines. In it was Ihaka. Safe and sound as he sucked happily on a.. "Milk Fruit?"

 Chapter 4: Talking to a Tree

    The tree in question looked like a candy-cane had had a baby with a willow. Dark Emerald green twisted around Amethyst from the base of its trunk, becoming lighter the further away from it¡¯s center you got. To the point where the long dangling tips of its branches were a soft downy white. The use of the word "downy" was very deliberate, as the purple leaves of the tree looked more like the down that you would find on a baby bird than leaves on a tree.


    The Milkfruit hanging all along its upper branches made the entire thing look like some sort of absurd fantasy-dragon themed Christmas tree.


    The branches holding Ihaka began to lower as she approached. The sudden shift upset him at first, but when he saw that he was being delivered into Kyra''s arms he happily held out the Milkfruit to her as though proffering a great discovery.


    Kyra laughed with relief as she reached for him. ¡°I need to teach you not to take food from strangers." She chided him gently as she touched the soft branches of the tree.


    "Thank you," she said before the absurdity of the entire situation hit her, and she burst into laughter. "Not that you likely know any English, even if I did assume that you could hear and make sense of the sound of my voice."


    She was about to turn and leave when she felt a light tapping on her shoulder. She then looked back to find that it was one of the white tips of the tree''s branches. At a loss and not knowing what else it could possibly want, Kyra lifted her hand to shake the branch. The Milktree pulled out of her hold, then gave her forehead an exasperated little flick. Kyra wasn''t certain why she was so certain that it was exasperated, but she could have also sworn that the other surrounding flora were laughing from the rhythmical susurration that travelled through their leaves.


    "Ow. I''m Sorry, I don''t know what I can do for you."


    And then, something amazing and unbelievable that had never been described to her by her teachers began to take place before her eyes. The entire tree began to move as the branches lifted to form a giant picture. At the centre, the shape of a wolf began to take place. Then another, and another, and another.


    The blood drained from Kyra''s face, "There are more of them?" Her voice trembled, "A pack!?"


    A single branch stabbed out in her direction, and Kyra had the impression of someone playing charades pointing at the person who had guessed a word right.


    Kyra glanced back towards the road, "I need to quickly get my things."


    But just as Kyra was saying that the entire Milktree bent itself over, and with far more dexterity then Kyra would have credited it with, it picked up both her pack and the body of the Terra-Wolf that she had killed. Dumping them down in front of her. Kyra blinked at them for a second before looking back up at the tree, "Um, thank you. But I don''t think that I''ll be able to carry the wolf with me. I''m kind of at my limit with just Ihaka and my pack." Hooking the straps of Ihaka''s carrier into place, she then bent down to grab her pack, "I know it''s rude to take a favour and run, but to be frank, if there are more of those things around I''ve got to get us out of here. Like, a few hours ago."


    Kyra felt another light flick on her forehead as the tree picked both her pack and the Terra-Wolf back up. This time securing them in place deep within its branches.


    Kyra wasn''t really sure what to make of that, but before she could think up a protest, the branches of the tree reached down yet again. This time to actually pick up Kyra herself. The Milktree even picked up Kyra''s knife that she had dropped, who knew when. Kyra and Ihaka were passed securely between the many branches until they were a good two thirds up its total height.


    "Ooh, my Goddess." Kyra hushed as she was finally set down with her back securely within a dip between one of its thicker branches and its trunk. "Haa haha. Wow." Kyra hadn''t been able to see the full height of the Milktree from the ground, but right now, she could see that she was a good two stories above the ground. "Alright, I hear you. Waiting here until they have passed us is probably also a good option." Flick. "Hey! Wait, what are you doing?"


    Kyra had been diverted from her protest as the whole tree had started shaking and shifting. Peeking down Kyra was met with a roiling sight. One that she did not believe that she would be able to forget, not for the rest of her days. It was like looking down into an incredibly fast moving snake pit. Or a school of Eales. The ground began to make an incredible grinding and shifting sound. The Milktree was uprooting itself.


    "Holy... Carps!" Kyra exclaimed, "How are you not hurting yourself!?" Flick. "Ow! Stop that."


    It took the tree a good ten minutes for it to get itself totally free, and then it started moving at an incredibly fast pace in the direction of the human base.


    Kyra wasn''t sure what was more incredulous. The fact that none of the seemingly hundreds of roots in the writhing sea beneath her ever seemed to get tangled on each other, or that the tree wasn''t leaving any kind of devastation behind itself on the smaller flora it ploughed over. If it wasn''t for the bare patch of upturned earth that she could still barely make out disappearing rapidly into the distance, one might have sworn that the Milktree had never passed through the area.


    Realising that she still held her knife dangerously in her hand, she wiped it off on the cuff of her pant leg for what good that did, then sheathed it behind herself. Figuring that there was nothing she could do about her current situation even if she had wanted to, she settled more firmly into her perch and prepared to wait.


    Seemingly sensing her unwinding nerves, the tree lifted her pack up until it was hanging on one of the thinner branches that was coming out of the main one near her hip. Kyra thanked the tree and opened it up. Thinking to get one of the sandwiches that she had packed for herself. But before she could even finish taking it out of its paper bag, it was torn out of her grip. The branches of the Milktree brushed over the sandwich in a horrified manner, before it threw the whole package far away into the distance. "Hey, I need to eat!" Protested Kyra, as she secretly admired how far the package had gone. Another flick landed on Kyra''s forehead before the branches - that Kyra was more and more wanting to call feelers - started rummaging through her pack. It pulled out every food item that she had brought, even going as far as to forcefully crack open one of her cans of baked-beans to see what was inside. It was seemingly unimpressed with the lot of them, as soon everything was flying off into different directions.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    Then it slowly brought out one of the Milkfruits that she had. Thinking that it couldn''t possibly have a problem with that as it had fed Ihaka one of its own fruits, Kyra was quickly proven wrong as it very deliberately held the fruit up to her face as if it wanted there to be no mistaking what it was talking about. Kyra was too late to protect her forehead as another, particularly strong flick hit her forehead.


    "Ok, we seriously need to find a better way for you and I to communicate." She said as the fruits she had packed went the way of her other foodstuffs. "But what was wrong with those?"


    The tree very pointedly threw one of its own fruit into her pack. "You have a problem with Ihaka eating fruit from other trees?" Kyra grabbed at the feelers -they were definitely feelers - that went for her forehead, "OK! Is it because they weren''t fresh?" A branch stabbed out in her direction. Yes.


    "But fruits from this realm have an incredible shelf life. It takes a year for them to even begin to go off." The feeler that she was still holding wiggled towards her forehead. "Stop. Stop! Ok, I''ll take your word that they''re not as good if they aren''t fresh." The feeler retreated, and Kyra breathed out with relief. "Um, may I have one of your fruits then? I am getting rather hangry." She looked down at Ihaka who was looking curiously back at her. His face was a mess from having had the fun of single handedly cracking open and eating a Milkfruit earlier. Kyra sighed and went digging for something to wipe him off with, almost forgetting her request before the tree swayed to the side. When it righted itself, it presented Kyra with a long orange stick. "I don''t know what that is." She said, and the tree proffered it in the direction of her mouth. "Um, thank you. But I''m not sure that I can eat it. Human bodies didn''t evolve in this realm, so we have to be incredibly careful before we decide to ingest anything."


    It picked up the fruit from inside her pack before holding them both out to Kyra.


    "If you''re saying that I can eat that if I can eat a Milkfruit, then I''m pretty sure that that is not how it works."


    The tree exasperatedly shoved the stick in her direction before throwing the fruit back in her pack. Kyra glared at the stick distrustingly for a few more seconds before taking it.


    "Alright, but if I die because of eating this then I''m holding you responsible."


    The feelers surrounding her gave an almost shrug like roll, as Kyra quickly finished wiping Ihaka off before biting into it. The closest Kyra could come to describing it was celery textured bamboo. Only instead of being completely hollow, it was filled with an incredibly sweet tasting thick creme that reminded her of ambrosia back home. Mixed with the incredibly refreshing and crisp outside, it made for an interesting meal.


    Water dripped out of the cut that Kyra''s teeth had made in the top, and she quickly sucked it up. "Oh, my Goddess. This is so Good! Panda''s would have a field day." She gushed, then belatedly remembered to thank the tree.


    The soft susurration that she associated with laughter travelled through the Milktree.


    "Sure, go ahead and laugh. See if I care." She mumbled, causing the susurration to intensify.


    Regretfully, Kyra found herself becoming full after only a few bites as an incredible warmth filled her belly. She carefully put the stalk into her pack facing straight up to stop it from losing all its liquid, and then stopped Ihaka as he reached for it. "From how rich that was baby, you''re likely way too young."


    The Milktree stabbed out at her as it did when it wanted to indicate that she had gotten something right. "Why don''t we play a game with the tree Ihaka? What do you think? You reckon we can teach it some Earth symbols, so that it can talk to me without resorting to poking or flicking my forehead??"


    "Ya!" He exclaimed.


    "Ya!" She replied, "I think so too."


    And so it went as they sped along. Kyra, along with Ihaka''s enthusiastic if mostly unhelpful help, began to curl and stretch the trees feelers into the different basic shapes that were used universally in most parts of the world. Explaining each as she went along.


    She started with a circle for yes, an X for no, and a triangle to indicate an ambiguous answer. She then went on to demonstrate the question and exclamation marks. She even explained the basic math symbols of plus, minus, times, divide, equals, and percent as she figured that they had a myriad of uses that didn''t necessarily have anything to do with math. She finished explaining numbers, by which point she was embarrassed at how surprised she was that the tree had no problem understanding, and went on to demonstrate the bigger than, smaller than, sideways V symbols. She figured that they could also be used to indicate the importance of something. She was beginning to wonder whether or not it would be helpful just to straight up teach it the alphabet when the tree suddenly slowed.


    Surprised, she looked around to realise that she could see the roofs of the human base in the distance. So either Kyra had completely misjudged how far she had come, or the tree had done what should have been the distance of somewhere around a three hour hike for fit humans, in what she was sure was under thirty minutes. Without breaking a figurative sweat.


    The tree came to a complete halt some hundred meters or so into the tree line from the base. There was a bare patch of earth there that looked remarkably similar to what the Milktree had left behind, and Kyra wondered what plant life had recently relocated.


    Feeling a bit melancholy as the tree lowered Kyra, Ihaka and their things down to the ground, she said, "Thank you so much for the lift. I''m not sure when I''ll see you again, I doubt I''ll be heading back towards the portal very often."


    But again she was surprised as the tree began to move, this time digging its roots deep into the ground. It was then that Kyra realised that the bare patch of earth had likely been there because the local flora had recently shifted to give the Milktree space.


    As the Milktree slowly finished wriggling around to settle comfortably where it was, Kyra asked the obvious question, "You''re staying here?"


    Only to be rewarded when the tree created a garland out of its feelers before her, signalling a big yes.


    "Can I come to you for Ihaka''s fruit?" This got her a teasing flick to her forehead. Her protest was cut short as a garland was lowered over her head, and she and Ihaka were both enveloped in what she could only feel was a hug.


    She laughed as it finally turned her around to nudge her in the direction of the base.


    "Ok, I''m going, I''m going!" She protested as she slung her pack over her shoulders and frowned down at the body of the Terra-Wolf. There was no way that she was going to be able to pick it up. Not to mention, walking into the base with the thing would signal to every human there that she could take care of herself. Something she wasn''t certain that she wouldn''t rather have the opportunity to shock any potential... holes of derrieres with. In the end, she decided that it was probably better to not come off as easy prey in the first place. But thinking of going under the radar, that reminded her of something else. She turned back to the Milktree and asked, "Would you rather I not say how much you can understand to the rest of the base?"


    When presented with a small triangle she clarified, "Don''t care either way?" and got a circle back.


    "Hmm. Well, I doubt anyone would listen if I did try to tell them. Ok, I¡¯ll see you soon yeah?¡±


    Kyra turned towards the base. Picking up the two hind paws of the Terra-Wolf, she was again confronted with the bizarre gravity of the Spirit Realm. The body feeling somehow both heavier than she had expected, and yet somehow easier to move at the same time.


    As she walked, the grasses and bushes bent out of her way, outlining a path that she eventually realised took her around the more fragile plants. Thus preventing her from flattening them with the body of the Terra-Wolf that she was dragging behind herself.

 Chapter 5: Blaize

    The human base was a motley looking town that included a few hundred buildings. It was surrounded by a set of deer fences that were twice the height of any seen on earth.


    The thick wooden poles were big enough that she could only just barely hug the circumference of one if she didn¡¯t mind getting electrocuted by the thick wires running in a grid pattern on both sides of the two lines of poles. Effectively creating four lines of wires between the humans and the rest of the Spirit Realm. Barbed wire further rose over the fences, creating a very unwelcoming image.


    In contrast, the buildings inside the fences did not look like they were built by a modern militaristic organisation at all.


    Honestly, it looked like an old European village. If European cottages were all fairly large and made out of stone, that was all the colours of the rainbow.


    As one might expect, dragging the body of the Terra-Wolf around to the entrance caused quite the commotion among the people near the edges of the town. By the time that she got to the gates, there was a crowd brewing.


    ¡°Kyra!¡± The call came from a woman towards the back of the crowd as she pushed her way through. ¡°How are you alright!? Is that what I think it is??¡±


    Blaize was the definition of the word Amazon, as far as Kyra was concerned. At 178 centimetres, she was the tallest woman Kyra had ever met with dark, nearly black mahogany skin, curves to die for, and cheekbones that looked like they could cut butter. On top of that, she was incredibly smart and confident. So basically she was everything that Kyra wanted to be and admired in a woman.


    Point in case, the first thing she did after reaching Kyra was to say, ¡°Let me take that.¡± Then proceed to sling the body of the Terra-Wolf up into a fireman¡¯s carry, just as though it didn¡¯t weigh somewhere between 60 to 80 kilograms. A weight that Kyra would have struggled with even if she didn¡¯t also have Ihaka and her pack to worry about. ¡°I knew I should have waited to go through the portal with you. Look at this thing! Kyra, I swear. If anything had happened to you..¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I survived, Ihaka survived, and we¡¯re here now.¡±


    Honestly, Blaize intimidated Kyra. Although she had been nothing but friendly since Kyra had joined the class, the more friendly she had become, the more nervous Kyra became. And the more nervous Kyra was, the more standoffish she was. Kyra wasn¡¯t even sure why Blaize continued to be so friendly towards her, despite her many rebuffs.


    ¡°Out of the way! Sure Kyra, you survived. So it¡¯s fine! I said get out of my way! You know what? One day, that pride of yours is going to get both you, and your brother killed. Move it! I¡¯m not asking for permission here!¡± Blaize continued to scold Kyra as she manoeuvred her way back through the crowd.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Kyra only wished that it was her pride had that kept her from being able to accept Blaize¡¯s good intentions. She could bend her pride. Pride was worth nothing in the face of Ihaka¡¯s life, and it would have been easy then, to swallow whatever silly notion was keeping her from saying yes.


    ¡°So which way is registration then?¡± She interrupted her, hoping to avoid the topic entirely.


    Blaize rolled her eyes, evidently not fooled at all, but thankfully she let the topic drop after expelling a deep breath. ¡°We¡¯re going there now.¡±


    The building in question was the largest one in the town, made out of a dazzling array of different coloured stone. It was the headquarters of all political shenanigans that went on in the base. As well as being a post office, and a research facility.


    It was flanked on one side by the hospital, made out of a green stone that surprisingly wasn¡¯t Jade. And on the other, was a huge training ground that was mainly for the military, but open to the public as well.


    Through the large arched doorway, Blaize and Kyra came into a large reception room that had what looked like white marble floors, and desks that looked like they were made from some kind of granite.


    Comfy looking beige chairs littered the central area of the floor.


    Kyra started walking towards a desk that was in the back left corner of the room.


    The guy working there gaped at Blaize as she dumped the Terra-Wolf onto the desk. She got straight to the point, ¡°Not mine. Hers. She¡¯s Kyra, she needs also needs to register herself and her brother as new residents.¡±


    The receptionist spluttered a bit before coming back to himself and pushing a whole lot of forms in Kyra¡¯s direction. Blaize told her to go fill those out while she dealt with the wolf for her.


    It didn¡¯t occur to Kyra to wonder if that had been odd until she went back to the desk with the forms. As she handed them over with their Passports to be stamped, the guy asked if she wanted to sell the entire body of the wolf to the military. She let it go however, and, after giving Blaize a raised brow to let her know that she had caught on, she decided that she would like to keep the hide for Ihaka, and told the receptionist so.


    After handing a few more forms to that effect, she was given back their Passports with a new page declaring them to be Citizens of the first New Zealand base in the Spirit Realm, a bank account book already showing the balance that she received for the TerraWolf, a receipt for the hide so that she could come to pick it up after it had been cured, and finally, key¡¯s for one of the temporary residences that all new people stayed in until they were able to rent or buy their own official house.


    ¡°The large number on the key-fob is your house number. The smaller one bellow it is your bed number.¡± He said.


    Kyra looked at the fob for a moment. It was made out of a dark blue material and somehow, it didn¡¯t seem to fall into either the metallic or stone category. Nor was it plastic. It was very warm and soft to the touch, yet somehow unyielding and if she tilted in the light, she could faintly make out gold and silver lines dancing underneath its surface.


    ¡°What is this?¡± She asked.


    ¡°The scientists are still working on categorising it, but so far, it¡¯s the most pliable material we have found. So it¡¯s being used to make a few different miscellaneous things.¡± The receptionist replied, ¡°They wanted to use it for some bigger projects as well, but there¡¯s not much of it. If you find any, we¡¯ll buy it for a pretty good price. Much more than you¡¯d get for any other rock lying around.¡±


    ¡°Cool, thanks. Hey Blaize, do you know where building four is?¡±


    Blaize did know where building four was, and was happy to show Kyra the way.

 Chapter 6: Building Four

    Building four was a long three story building, about a thirty minute leisurely walk from where they had been. The blue stone walls and orange tile roof gave it a calm feeling. Though the lack of shrubbery did make it seem a little bit barren and lonely.


    Possibly exhausted from the long day, Ihaka had fallen asleep sometime during the walk over. Blaize offered to show her directly to her room where she could put him down, saving the grand tour for later. She seemed to be getting a little nervous, and when they got to the room, Kyra found out why.


    The rooms were large communal spaces, that were then sectioned off into smaller cubicles. The dividers between the cubicles were made with wood imported from Earth.


    Blaize pointed out cubicle number 8 on the first floor (above the ground floor) to her, but Kyra¡¯s eyes were drawn a piece of art that she could see was hanging high up on the wall above the opposite cubical.


    ¡°Is that your painting?¡± Kyra asked.


    Blaize¡¯s hands went to her hips, ¡°Yes.¡±


    Deciding not to comment further, Kyra used the smaller key to unlock the folding screen into her cubicle. Never mind not commenting further, ¡°There is even a cot already in here!¡± Then, before Blaize could get a chance to defend herself, she leaned over to give her a quick hug.


    Blaize was left speechless with her hands hanging in mid air. Kyra had managed to dodge before she could return the hug.


    The cot was built in over the lower quarter of her bed, which took up most of the right side of the cubicle. At the end of the bed further from the door was a set of shelves. Piled onto the bed in front of that, was a standard issue set of blankets and pillows. Baby stuff included.


    To the left was a desk nook at the far end with some more shelving behind it. Kyra and Blaize laid out the baby blankets into the cot, and after Kyra had put Ihaka down into it, Blaize offered to show her around.


    Not knowing how to say no at this point, Kyra agreed.


    They started in the cubicle. First, Blaize showed her how the bottom of the lower shelf at the head of her bed could be lifted off to reveal storage there as well. Something Kyra felt was convenient, as it allowed for a fairly decent sized space that could be used for less frequently needed things. Another good point was the fact that the ¡°lid¡± was elevated somewhat from the top of the mattress. The surface of the container becoming a small headboard.


    To the side of the shelves was a smallish window that was convex with a tiny alcove underneath it that was cushioned. Obviously intended for someone to be able to curl up in.


    ¡°And look,¡± Blaize said, as she took down what looked like a long oval plank of wood hanging on the side of the shelves, ¡°If you flip this over, then you can find its legs. And now you¡¯ve got a cute little table that you can put a cup of tea on, or have dinner at or whatever. Aaand, and, and and!¡± She then reached down to grope underneath the alcove, ¡°Chairs!¡±


    A whole stack of them. Kyra was amazed when Blaize pulled out three decently comfy looking fold-out chairs from under the alcove.


    ¡°Wow, this place is beginning to turn into one of those elaborate puzzle boxes. More things just keep appearing.¡±


    Blaize laughed as she pushed the chairs back away, ¡°You ain¡¯t seen nothing yet. Take a look at this.¡± Blaize hooked her fingers into two indentations in the base of the alcove, pulling out a draw. Inside it was all the cutlery and tableware that a single woman with a kid could possibly need. Including a few knives, a chopping board, and an old fashioned teapot.


    Blaize seemed to sense Kyra¡¯s ambivalence to the latest surprise, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s got a kiddy lock.¡± She said, before closing the draw and fiddling with something underneath the lip of the alcove. When she next tugged on the draw it would not open. ¡°See? Come take a look.¡±


    Kyra got down onto her knees and felt around where Blaize¡¯s hand had been.


    ¡°Now push that lever up and away.¡±


    It took quite a bit of strength to do so, and Kyra was quite confidant that Ihaka wouldn¡¯t be opening that drawer by himself until he was at least five. Blaize grinned at Kyra, and Kyra returned it with a tentative smile. She really wasn¡¯t sure how to deal with Blaize¡¯s overt friendliness. She hadn¡¯t missed the small kiddie plates and sporks. Things that wouldn¡¯t likely have been found already in her draw, if someone hadn¡¯t asked for them to be put there in preparation for her arrival. Not to mention the existence of the kiddy lock itself.


    Deciding to decide what to do about how to repay her for everything later, Kyra clicked the lever back into place and stood up.


    ¡°What else is there?"


    ¡°Well, you¡¯ve got four drawers underneath your bed.¡± Blaize said as she turned to open them, ¡°The bottom two are pretty standard deep draws, while the top two are shallower, and have different compartments.¡±


    ¡°Cool, I¡¯ll go through them properly later.¡±


    ¡°Sweet as. Well, that¡¯s it for this side. Do you wanna check out the desk, or the cabinet first?¡±


    ¡°Ahh. Cabinet. Is that Fire Lapis?¡± Kyra asked the question that had been on her mind since she had first glanced around. The Fire Lapis was called that because of the fact that it looked like a red version of Lapis Lazuli. It had nothing in common with the stone found on earth geologically however, and that fact became clear when Kyra hovered her hand over the round slab embedded into the top of the cabinet.


    ¡°Wow, I can really feel the heat from about a foot away! Hey, is that Black Lapis?¡± This time Kyra brushed her fingers over the surface of the counter/top of the cabinet. When she did so, if she hadn¡¯t felt something hard beneath her fingers, then she would have barely known that anything was there. The temperature was so close to that of her own skin.


    Black Lapis, you guessed it, was black in colour. Unlike Fire Lapis which had the enormous capacity to take in and amplify the ambient heat around it, Black Lapis was known for its ability to somehow remain almost entirely unaffected by the surrounding temperature.


    Famously, when the portals were only just being discovered, some scientists had taken a sample of Black Lapis back to earth. They had then stuck it into the most advanced furnace known to humankind. Able to get to the temperature of several trillion degrees Celsius, they had been sure that they would be able to melt it down in there.


    However, after a few failed attempts, they had left it in the furnace at its highest possible output for over 7 hours. When they were done, the scientists had reported that they were able to pick it up with their bare hands immediately upon taking it out, and that after measuring the surface temperature of the Black Lapis, it was found to have risen by 0.001 Degrees Celsius.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    No one had tried to put the Fire Lapis in there after that, as they didn¡¯t want to know what would happen to the billion dollar furnace if it kept up its ability to steadily amplify temperature to up to 10 times what it had originally taken in. The highest that they had reportedly tried was 10,000 degrees.


    ¡°Wait, does this mean that we get Ice Lapis too?¡±


    Blaize laughed and said, ¡°Yeah, down below.¡±


    This prompted Kyra to look down and take a proper look at the dresser. The closest that she could describe it was a tallboy. Made by stacking two large ¡°chests¡± on top of each other. Only the ¡°upper chest¡± was made of one large drawer on the left side, with smaller compartments on the right. Guessing correctly that she would find the Ice Lapis in the larger drawer, she pulled it out.


    Sitting inside was a decently long chilly bin of about 80 centimetres. The lid hinged up away from where she was standing in front of the dresser, so she could see inside.


    There were two compartments. The divider, which seemed to be movable, was in the centre at the moment. An Ice Lapis¡¯s was embedded into each end, and there was another one embedded into the side of the divider.


    Kyra guessed that which ever side of the chilly bin the third Ice Lapis was facing would become the freezer, as the two stones amplified each others effects.


    ¡°Sweet! I can¡¯t believe that we get these right off the bat.¡± Kyra exclaimed as she closed the lid and pushed the drawer closed.


    ¡°Yup, and check this out!¡± Blaize slipped her fingers under the lip of the counter, and pulled out another thin slab of Black Lapis, ¡°You can either lock it in using this lever on the side here to use it as an extra counter, or, you can take it out all the way, and put it on top of the counter to ¡®turn the stove off¡¯ so to speak.¡±


    ¡°Nice!¡±


    ¡°Speaking of which, you have an oven.¡± Blaize pointed to the recessed upper cupboards that were sitting at eye height above the counter.


    Now Kyra saw a box, situated on the lower left shelf, made out almost entirely of Black Lapis. Excepting a small window that was made out of a clear material, allowing her to see inside if it wasn¡¯t so dark. Opening it up, she found that the Fire Lapis in there wasn¡¯t giving off nearly as much heat as the ones on the counter, and she found that to be reasonable. The Black Lapis was an incredibly insulating material, and it wasn¡¯t likely to allow the Fire Lapis to gain much heat from its surroundings.


    ¡°Can we get the Fire Lapis¡¯s heated up? Or do we just leave them out in the sun?¡± She asked doubtfully.


    ¡°There is a small gas oven in the communal kitchen, which is a copper bit coin for 30 minutes. Unless someone already has it going, in which case they¡¯ll generally let you stick yours in with, for free. The base encourages us to use the Lapis, since it¡¯s way more cost effective. The only downside is the more difficult temperature control. That¡¯s why you¡¯ve got three different sizes of Lapis in there. Not for three different pots I¡¯m afraid. Just three different temperatures at any given moment.¡±


    ¡°How come we have cooking things in here if there is a communal kitchen?¡±


    ¡°You kidding? There are thirty cubicles in this building alone, a quarter of which are shared by couples.¡±


    ¡°Argh. I get your meaning.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, the shared kitchen is mostly used for big stuff. Or people who are cooking for a group.¡±


    Kyra grabbed one of the small pot¡¯s that were hanging at the back beneath the upper cupboards, and sat it on the largest fire stone. Taking in the feeling of having it there.


    ¡°There¡¯s also a barbie out back, which can be fun.¡± Blaize added absentmindedly as she reached towards the back of the cabinet, sliding the entire back wall out from behind the pots and pans. Revealing hooks that were holding four mugs, a ladle, spatula, tongs, and a small sieve.


    Kyra gaped at what she was seeing, ¡°I didn¡¯t even notice there was enough space for that there!¡±


    Blaize laughed, and held up the slab in her hand ¡°It¡¯s double handy, ¡®cos it means that you can wash this if you need to as well!¡±


    ¡°Wait, is that also Black Lapis?¡±


    ¡°Yup. I guess they don¡¯t want us having burnable materials right next to heat sources.¡±


    ¡°But it¡¯s Fire Lapis. It¡¯s not going to drastically heat anything that¡¯s not directly touching it.¡±


    Blaize simply shrugged at that.


    ¡°Ok what else have we got?¡±


    Next, Kyra reached for the slim drawer on the upper right next to the chilly bin. Inside, she found a full assortment of spices. Picking up a few, she frowned at their labels.


    ¡°Why do I find it hard to believe that the cubicle just happened to come with a full drawer of spices?¡± She asked.


    Blaize squirmed under her gaze for a few moments, before braking ¡°Ok, I might have brought them for you. But it¡¯s just a few little things, and I figured I was grabbing my own stuff anyway¡­¡±


    Kyra tried to suppress the uncomfortable squirmy feeling in her stomach, ¡°Blaize,¡± she began.


    ¡°Ok, and a few baby plates and things. Which weren¡¯t strictly what I could just grab along with my own stuff, but I figured you¡¯d need them right away. And this way you didn¡¯t have to wait while they were being ordered.¡±


    ¡°Wait, did you pay for the basinet as well!?¡±


    ¡°No! No. I didn¡¯t need to. Every person here is entitled to the basic living necessities, including a bed, and including for babies.¡±


    Kyra stared at her for a few more seconds until she continued.


    ¡°A point which I may have argued for on your behalf before you got here, yes.¡±


    Fighting down bile, Kyra took a breath.


    ¡°Thank you for the bassinet. And I appreciate the thought on everything else, but I did bring some baby things with me for Ihaka, and I could have waited for anything else that I needed.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but now you don¡¯t have to.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll pay you back for everything.¡±


    ¡°No! They¡¯re gifts, it¡¯s fine. You don¡¯t have to-¡±


    ¡°I appreciate the gesture Blaize. I really do, but it¡¯s too much.¡±


    ¡°I just wanted you to feel at home when you got here.¡±


    ¡°I know, but I¡¯ll pay you back ok?¡±


    The was a very pregnant pause before Blaize relented, ¡°Fine.¡±


    ¡°Thank you. Shall we continue looking around?¡± She asked in an attempt to broker peace.


    They continued looking, and although Kyra was fascinated as she pulled out the bread bins to discover another compartment behind them, and pleased when she saw the exercise equipment rack that was built into the side of the desk near the wall, some part of the joy of discovery had gone out of her exploration.


    She wondered if Blaize was being totally honest with her about how much she had spent to set things up for her.


    Earth money could be used here. As long as the portal to earth existed, people could order things from back home. Kyra remembered Blaize mentioning at one point that she had a little nest egg tucked away that she intended to use to set herself up here.


    Question was, just how much of that had she used on Kyra?


    At least the equipment rack and all the drawers in the desk had been empty.


    Once they finished up in the cubicle and checked to see that Ihaka was still completely conked out, they went around to see the rest of the building.


    After the Russian-dollesque feel of going through the cubicle, it was pretty tame.


    Communal bathrooms on each of the top two floors near the stairs. Mens on the second floor, womens on the first.


    A large open floor community space took up the majority of the ground floor, with the kitchen/dining room taking up the last quarter of the space.


    The community space was filled with groups of couches, various games such as table tennis, pools, foosball, a couple of chess and card game tables, as well as a dart board in one corner.


    The kitchen had four large ovens like the one that was in her cubicle, six sinks, and three large fridges. Blaize told her that those were free to use for everyone so long as you put your name, cubicle number, and the expiration date on it.


    And finally, tucked away in the farthest corner from the stairs were the small gas stoves that Blaize had mentioned. They were made to be a series of small square boxes built into the wall. Each metal door had a small coin slot above a gas dial next to it. Inside were a row of metal slots that you could slide the Fire Lapis into to heat.


    ¡°How did they get the coin slots to work without electricity?¡± Kyra asked, but Blaize just shrugged and said that she didn¡¯t know.


    Thanking Blaize for the tour, Kyra then demurred that she was feeling quite tired herself -not a lie- and that she would like to get some sleep as well as check on Ihaka.


    Things were still quite tense between them, and Blaize seemed to sense that Kyra was still feeling somewhat defensive and angry about her ¡°gift¡±. On Blaize¡¯s part, she herself was annoyed with Kyra¡¯s stubbornness. As far as she was concerned, she had done a nice thing, which Kyra had rejected for no real reason.


    Kyra made her way upstairs with the feeling of ants crawling up her spine. She didn¡¯t know if Blaize was watching her, or if it was just her being overly sensitive. She did wonder however, if she had finally managed to burn a bridge or two with Blaize. Not that that was her intention, but she really hoped that Blaize would at least get it through her head how uncomfortable she was with getting so much unsolicited help. If there was something in the known space of existence ¡ªshe was about to think world, but then that seemed too narrow considering her current whereabouts¡ª that she really couldn¡¯t handle, then that was owing someone. Especially when she had only known that person for a little over half a year.


    Blaize was nice, and she seemed to mean well. They even got along when she wasn¡¯t trying to constantly do things for Kyra. Kyra just wished that Blaize would back up a bit every now and then, and give her some space to breathe.

 Chapter 7: An Exploration That Didnt Happen

    Kyra woke up a few hours later to a very pitiful sounding voice saying, ¡°Kai!? Kai!?¡± From the direction of her feet. Ihaka had pulled himself up using the bars of his cot, and was bopping up and down with a very uncomfortable look on his face. It was a look she knew all too well, and coupled with the smell in the air, she didn¡¯t even need two guesses to realise what he wanted.


    Groaning, she pulled herself up and reached for her pack ¡°I got it baby, let me fix that for you.¡±


    Once Ihaka had been changed and fed, Kyra filled herself up by munching on another quarter of that mysterious celery/bamboo looking stalk that the MilkTree had given her before deciding to go exploring. The planet (assuming that it was a planet) that they were on had an approximate 48 hour day cycle. So even though it felt like she should have used up most of the day by now, especially considering that it was midday when she arrived, she actually still had a few good hours of light left.


    Kyra was still debating with herself over whether or not she should invite Blaize to come along, or if she should give the both of them a bit more time to cool off, when the choice was taken from her with a light knock on her cubicle door. Kyra put down the small blue shoulder bag that she had been packing to go.


    She opened the door to see Blaize waiting there with a smile on her face. ¡°I heard you up, and I wondered if you wanted some dinner?¡±


    ¡°Well actually, we just ate. I had some leftover road rations that I didn¡¯t want to waste.¡±


    ¡°That couldn¡¯t have been very substantial right? I just made some Shepherd¡¯s Pie, with a Kumera top.¡±


    ¡°Um, actually I¡¯m really quite full right now.¡± Kyra demurred as calmly as she could, before trying to offer an olive branch, ¡°I was thinking of going exploring, maybe after you eat you could come with?¡±


    Blaize¡¯s smile had turned stiff, ¡°Maybe next time, I don¡¯t want to hold you up.¡± And with that, she turned around back into her own cubicle before very firmly shutting the door.


    Kyra sighed as she gently closed her own door and continued getting ready, clipping her knife onto her hip and adjusting the straps of Ihaka¡¯s carrier so that it could go on her back instead of her front.


    She strapped him in, and after quickly going to the toilet to relieve herself and flush away the contents of Ihaka¡¯s soiled nappy, she sealed the soiled nappy into a ziplock bag to deal with later, and slung her bag over her shoulder so that it was hanging on the opposite hip to her knife.


    ¡°Alright Ihaka, let¡¯s go exploring!¡±


    ¡°Ya!¡±


    Taking a long look at Blaize¡¯s folding door as she walked passed, Kyra sang ¡°We¡¯re going on a Lion Hunt and we¡¯re not scared!¡± as she skipped along the hall and down the stairs, making Ihaka clap and laugh behind her.


    She also received some amused, and a few annoyed looks from her new housemates as she made her way through the common room. However, she decided that she wasn¡¯t going to care about those.


    Out the back door near the kitchen was the courtyard that Blaize had mentioned. Kyra noticed the promised Barbeque pits placed throughout the large area, which was surrounded by six other identical buildings. Save for the different large numbers depicted with dark stone above their doors.


    There were, of course, no play pits or other child friendly equipment. Not that she had really expected any, but still, you¡¯d expect that there might be something. Although not many kids had been brought through as of yet, the number was expected to significantly rise in the future.


    Not seeing any familiar faces, and deciding that she would rather take a better look out here another day, she asked Ihaka if he thought that they would be able to find any amazing things today. Causing him to enthusiastically wave his arms and call out ¡°Ya! Ya!¡±


    ¡°Ok, here we go then!¡± And she abruptly turned on her heel before running to the corner, where she could see an opening between the buildings.


    The opening led to a lush purple field between the buildings 4 and 6. Kyra was somewhat surprised that they didn¡¯t just build four more buildings in the corners of the block. But maybe there were plans for developing those areas in the future.


    What she was really surprised about after the day that she¡¯d had, was the fact that the native grasses were seemingly obediently growing where they were put. From the incredibly sharp outline of the field, she was wondering if they were acting even more agreeable than the Earth varieties that would have no doubt grown out into the road by now.


    Though, perhaps the reason for their apparent good behaviour could be found in the fact that the grasses here, may very well have been able to realise that the humans would stop yanking them out if they just stayed away from those areas. If that was the case, then Kyra wasn¡¯t sure how to feel about this very neat patch of field. The seemingly innocuous straight lines around the edges began to look like an invisible set of bars.


    Swallowing down her nerves, Kyra skirted around the edges, deciding to think about the implications of that another day.


    ¡°Alright Ihaka, shall we look to see if there have been any shops put up yet, or shall we go see what kinds of jobs I might be able to find?¡±


    ¡°Ya!¡±


    ¡°Which one are you saying ¡®Ya!¡¯ to? Shops or jobs?¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ¡°Ya! Ya!¡± Ihaka just laughed.


    ¡°You¡¯re no help.¡±


    Another giggle came from behind her.


    ¡°Well, I guess I don¡¯t really want to be responsible right now. I¡¯d rather just have some fun. So how about we have fun now, go and look for shops, and then I can be responsible and look for work tomorrow, yeah?¡±


    ¡°¡®Un!¡± Came the enthusiastic response from the peanut gallery attached to her back.


    ¡°Yeah! Fun! Sounds like a plan.¡±


    ¡°Lan!¡±


    ¡°Yeah! Plan.¡± She said as she set off back towards the Registration building. It was the only place that she had relative confidence in reaching without getting lost at the moment, and she was regretting not asking earlier if she could purchase a map or information booklet of the base.


    Kyra had planned on letting herself take in the scenery as she walked, but there wasn¡¯t much to see really. Despite the wide open roads that looked like they were built to let tanks through ¡ªand maybe they were¡ª they felt almost deserted. She had seen one woman reading in a window of what was presumably her cubicle, and a few small groups of people were walking by.


    However, Kyra knew that somewhere around 10,000 people had opted to cross over to the Spirit Realm in the first batch. Not including the number of Military personnel who had already been here. All¡¯n all, Kyra estimated that there should have been around 15,000 to 16,000 people living here. Quite small by modern city standards, but far from being as deserted as it appeared right now.


    Kyra remembered the crowd that had gathered around her when she had come through the gate. Perhaps most of the goings on were concentrated on the outskirts, people only coming into the inner area to go to their resident building.


    It might have been true, as the number of people that she saw as she walked along did seem to increase slightly, the further out she went.


    Back at the registration building, the guy the desk seemed to be surprised to see her. Stuttering at an apology that the wolf skin probably wouldn¡¯t be done for another couple of weeks.


    Kyra quickly reassured him that that was not why she was here.


    ¡°I was actually wondering if I could get directions to a shopping district or anything similar that might have been set up by people.¡±


    He blinked at her, scratching his bright orange hair. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what you mean. The only place where you can buy anything is here.¡±


    ¡°What? Nobody has set up any kind of shop yet?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Wait, just actually how long has it been on this side of the portal since the first batch of people came through?¡±


    ¡°Um, just over a month and a half.¡±


    ¡°And not even a single street stall!?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what to say.¡±


    ¡°How are people making a living? Weren¡¯t a significant number of people planning to make money through hunting and stuff? I know we can sell our catch to you, but isn¡¯t anyone selling themselves? Is there a regulation?¡± Kyra asked, surprised.


    ¡°There is no regulation beyond needing a health and safety certificate. But I think you might not know what¡¯s been happening.¡± He fidgeted.


    ¡°Ok, what¡¯s been happening.¡±


    ¡°While it¡¯s true that a significant number of people came here intending to hunt and gather, but they significantly underestimated the difficulty of doing that here.¡±


    ¡°How significantly?¡±


    There was a very pregnant pause. ¡°537 people died within the first few days.¡±


    Kyra¡¯s breath caught in her throat. ¡°What!?¡±


    ¡°Animals here, they are far smarter and more dangerous than back home.¡±


    ¡°I know that, it was drummed into our heads during training.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think you do.¡± He shook his head. ¡°You see, when people started going out, it was chaos for a while. They would be ambushed on their way to check the traps that they had set up. Snipers would have their guns aimed at something they were tracking, only to realise too late that they were only seeing the decoy, while another one was sneaking up behind them. Not to mention hitting those animals with a gun at all is difficult. It¡¯s like they can sense when you¡¯re pulling the trigger, and dodge right at the moment the bullet leaves the barrel.


    That¡¯s why I was so surprised to see you with that TerraWolf. How on earth did you manage to take it down!?¡±


    Kyra blinked, for the first time thinking about how much of a close call that whole encounter had truly been. She swallowed, ¡°Adrenaline. It was going after Ihaka here.¡±


    He blinked at the oblivious little boy behind her who was tugging on her hair, giving her a tight smile.


    ¡°Mothers instinct huh? He¡¯s lucky to have you.¡±


    Kyra just gave another tight smile right back at him. She had long since stopped trying to correct people about thinking that Ihaka was her son. For all intents and purposes, she was his mother now.


    ¡°So what have people been doing? We can¡¯t just abandon the ability to get food right?¡±


    He laughed, ¡°No! Most people joined the military hunting teams. Though some still work privately, even they have banned together and have started to form teams of 50 to 300 people or so. Even they only really go out to get enough for themselves.


    Other than that, most people have joined the building and farming teams. Are you interested?¡±


    Kyra thought about it for a moment. Joining one of the base organised teams would certainly be a reliable solution to getting a job and a dependable income. But how much support and leeway would she have in that kind of environment, as someone who had to devote much of her time to raising a kid?


    Originally, Kyra had been planning to be a Gatherer. Going out as a Freelancer to collect food and record data on the kind of flora that surrounded the base. She had figured that she could do that with Ihaka strapped to her back, and that she could then take commissions from the people whom she knew were intending to set up shops.


    If the situation really was much more dangerous outside then anticipated as the guy said, then it was much more likely that these new ¡®groups¡¯ that were forming would eventually open some kind of business, and that they wouldn¡¯t usually be looking for commissions from outsiders. Not to mention the question of her own survivability.


    ¡°I need to learn sign language.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Um, nothing. Is there any way that I could order a whole lot of books?¡±


    ¡°Sure, it¡¯ll cost an arm and a leg to get them here though.¡±


    ¡°How much?¡±


    ¡°It would depend on how many you wanted, but I¡¯d recommend catching another couple of TerraWolfs.¡±


    ¡°Damn.¡±


    ¡°You can try the library.¡±


    ¡°There is a library here?¡±


    ¡°Yup. Just behind the medical facility. There aren¡¯t many books for entertainment in there as of yet, but there is plenty of information and education stuff.¡± He gestured in the vague direction, ¡°Also, if you order the books you want to read through there, it¡¯s free as long as they are approved. I mean, it costs you a couple of copper bits to take them out, but that¡¯s nothing to what it would be if you got them yourself.¡±


    ¡°Goddess, yes! Thank you.¡±


    ¡°No problem.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±


    He grinned, ¡°Alex.¡±


    ¡°Well, do you have any maps of the base that I can get Alex.¡±


    ¡°Sure do.¡± He said as he rummaged a bit in one of the cabinets behind himself, ¡°One copper.¡±


    ¡°One whole copper?¡±


    ¡°Of course! This is printed paper. Cannot be made locally.¡±


    ¡°Alright, fair enough.¡± Kyra put her hand on her pack, then blinked. ¡°I just realised, I probably should take some money out.¡±


    Alex laughed again. ¡°Sure thing.¡±


    Kyra took out her bank book and looked at the balance again. 2 Gold, 7 Gold Bits, and 5 Silver were written into the income section for the TerraWolf. Under that was a deduction of 5 silver for the curing of the hide.


    ¡°Uh, I think I¡¯ll take 20 silver out for now. And brake one of them down into 9 silver bits, 9 coppers, and 10 copper bits.¡±


    Alex smiled as he took her bank book off of her, and went through a door behind the counter. ¡°Be right back¡±


    When he came back, he handed everything to her, and she checked her bank book to see a new balance of 2 Gold and 5 Gold Bits written down onto it.


    Handing him back a Copper for the map, she thanked him again and put the money away into one of the pockets of her bag.

 Chapter 8: The Derelict New Library

    Back on Earth, New Zealand was a country that had a fairly good Library system. Every city of a decent size would have a well maintained Library that had a good selection of books, and a steady amount of foot traffic.


    So while Kyra had been surprised when Alex mentioned that there was a Library here, it had mostly been a reaction of ¡°Already?¡± that had caught her off guard, and not so much the fact that there would be one at all.


    When Kyra had gone around the large green building that was the medical facilities, to see the tiny little cottage with a plain plastic sign above its door declaring it to be the Library, Kyra found herself struggling to believe that it was actually what she was looking for.


    Thinking that this cottage was perhaps only meant to be a stand-in to hold the first lot of books that were sent here until better arrangements could be made, Kyra approached.


    A little bell rang over the door as she entered, waking the man in military uniform that had been dozing off behind the desk to the rear of the room. It was vaguely L shaped, and seemed to take up most of the entire space of the building, except for a small corner to the right side of the desk that was walled off. Probably as an office or something.


    The walls were undecorated, and were the same slate grey that could be seen on the outside of the cottage.


    Four metal bookcases were lined up in a row to her right, and there was a tiny seating area to the left where four comfy looking chairs were arranged around a small circular coffee table.


    The guy didn¡¯t even bother to take his legs down from the counter as he gave her a once over, rattling off, ¡°Books over there, you¡¯ll need to create a membership if you want to take anything out. For which you¡¯ll need your identity papers.¡± Before closing his eyes again.


    As she looked around, she decided that she would need to mention the definition of the word ¡°plenty¡± to Alex the next time she saw him. If there were more then 500 books on the shelves combined, Kyra vowed to herself, she would eat one of Ihaka¡¯s nappies.


    Figuring that it was safe enough to let Ihaka down since none of the books were placed below the height of Kyra¡¯s hip, she took out his floor blanket and put it down near the seating area.


    Giving Ihaka his bottle that was filled with juice from his earlier Milkfruit, Kyra placed him down with his kiwi plushy, and told him to stay there, and that she would be right over with the books.


    Ihaka protested marginally, but was soon occupied with his bottle. Kyra then reassured him a bit more by playing a few rounds of peek-a-boo through the bookshelves with him, proving that she was still there.


    The guy sitting at the desk opened his eyes for a moment to snort at her.


    Ignoring him, Kyra finally took a look at what books there were. The first shelf closest to the seating area seemed to be dedicated to human history. There were a number of books with lofty titles including the words ¡°World History¡± and a few dedicated specifically to New Zealand and Maori history. Kyra skipped to the next shelf. It consisted of manuals on Agriculture. The one after that on Horticulture. The last shelf contained scientific textbooks and a few craft manuals.


    I¡¯m not going to be needing to eat a nappy today, Kyra thought to herself as she brought her estimation on the number of books down to 200, tops.


    Absentmindedly answering Ihaka¡¯s querying call from across the room, Kyra glanced over the Horticultural books, wondering if any of this knowledge would even be relevant here. Then she remembered Blaize mention something about a Kumera topping earlier, and how Alex had mentioned farming teams. Kumera being a sweet potato that was native to New Zealand, it would either be insanely expensive to continue to bring it through the portal periodically, or, they had begun growing some of Earth¡¯s flora here.


    Shrugging, Kyra put the book that she had been looking at down, and went to intercept Ihaka whom she could hear throwing away his bottle and coming to find her. Grabbing him just as he was about to crawl off his sheet, she picked up his bottle and asked him in a surprised voice if he didn¡¯t want it anymore. Threatening playfully to drink it herself.


    Ihaka protested this vehemently, and Kyra gave it back to him after receiving his solemn apology for throwing it on the ground.


    Once she had quieted him down and he was sucking peacefully on his bottle once more, Kyra resettled him firmly into the crook of her arm and approached the counter. The guy saw her coming, as he had been watching the previous exchange out of the corner of one eye.


    He used one hand to pull open a filing cabinet in the desk.


    ¡°Membership?¡± He asked.


    ¡°Is it possible to request books?¡±


    He blinked in surprise at her question, finally lowering his feet from the desk, ¡°You mean order one from Earth?¡±This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    ¡°Yes, though not so much a specific book. As I don¡¯t know the titles.¡±


    ¡°For your kid?¡±


    ¡°Um, maybe. But I was mainly wondering if I could get anything on sign language.¡±


    ¡°Someone deaf?¡±


    ¡°Ahh, no. More mute.¡±


    ¡°Little guy seemed pretty verbose to me.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not for Ihaka.¡±


    ¡°Whatever. You can fill out a request, but better ask for everything you need if you¡¯re also planning to ask for kiddy books. You¡¯re much more likely to be rejected if you ask multiple times, then if you ask for a ton, once.¡± He took out several forms from the cabinet, ¡°There, and a Membership form. You can¡¯t request books without being a member.¡±


    ¡°Thanks.¡± Kyra was unable to decide if he was rude or just brusque as she took the forms and went back to sit in one of the little couches.


    Ihaka wouldn¡¯t let her put him back down without an argument. So, deciding that it wasn¡¯t worth the potential tantrum, she pulled the little table as close as it would go, and commenced the awkward operation of writing around a baby who one, found great interest in what you were doing, and two, tried to participate in any way they could.


    The Membership form was pretty straight forward. Just needing her name, birth date, and address. It also asked her to present her identification and key fob as proof to the Librarian who would then sign off as witness.


    He had given her four copies of the Request form, each allowing space for her to write up to three books and the reason she was requesting it.


    After she wrote in the request for a book on sign language, Kyra figured that it couldn¡¯t hurt to expand the dismal selection that she was currently faced with, and so filled out all of the remaining slots in with different storybooks that she could think of.


    As she did, she wondered about the fact that he had told her that she would be much more likely to be rejected if she asked multiple times. Before, Kyra had assumed that there would be a fairly regular back and forth between the base and people on Earth. If nothing else, scientific research should have been being sent back fairly regularly.


    And if that were the case then it would logically follow, that whatever supplies and things that were needed were simply being sent through at the same time. Take that a step further and one might assume it would be much easier to handle the requests if they came in smaller amounts, regularly. Not this almost, ¡°Ask once and then forever hold your peace¡± kind of approach.


    Should she ask for even more books, Kyra wondered.


    Eventually dismissing the idea, mostly because she was getting tired of wrestling Ihaka for the pen, Kyra took the documents back up to the counter with her Passport and key fob.


    The military guy checked them over and stamped them, before handing her an old fashioned Library card that looked like a little booklet with her name and Membership Number, 00006, written into the front, and space for the titles and due date of any books that she took out to be written into the inside.


    ¡°You¡¯ll be able to find out if your books were approved by the end of this week.¡± The man looked as though he wanted to say something more to her as she gathered her things and prepared to leave.


    However, in the end, all he said was to have a good day as she walked out the door.


    Kyra was at a loss for what to do next. Somehow, the library had been more of a disappointment then if it hadn¡¯t existed altogether. First of all, she hadn¡¯t thought to wonder about it until she knew it did exist. Leaving her with nothing to be disappointed over.


    Secondly, until she had gone through the door, she had been able to assume that the small size was just due to them having bigger projects that were far more urgent. Such as the medical facilities or coming up with regular food production.


    However, from the way they didn¡¯t seem to want to encourage regular book orders, or the fact that it was being run by a bored military officer and not anyone who might actually care for the place, Kyra was forced to wonder if the so called ¡°Library¡± was only a front. A front for what she wasn¡¯t sure. Maybe just the appearance of caring.


    Ihaka was quiet as she pulled out her new map for inspiration. He was finishing his bottle and seemed content to just watch as she unfolded the fairly large piece of paper.


    For all it¡¯s size, the map was still rather simple. The different buildings were shown depicted in different colours depending on what they were for, and the large sections of land that were set aside for farming were shown with thin diagonal lines.


    If Kyra had thought that the military influence couldn¡¯t be seen from the way that the buildings had been built in the base, then that was not true of the layout. She hadn¡¯t noticed because of the sheer size of the place, as well as the scale of each block of buildings, but all of the roads were ruler straight.


    She had also felt like she had walked a good long distance since she had come through the gate earlier that day. Looking at the big picture now, she hadn¡¯t even scratched the surface.


    The entire base apparently spanned a diameter of 40km, a good large chunk of which was depicted on the map as one whole irregularly shaped white box, with nothing but the words ¡°Military Grounds. Authorised Personnel Only.¡±


    Kyra felt as though a bubble that she hadn¡¯t even been aware of around herself had been popped. For all that she had known that the military held power here, she hadn¡¯t so much as seen a patrolling officer since she had arrived. This had given the illusion that nothing was different from living in New Zealand. However, she couldn¡¯t afford to forget that she was living in a military controlled base now. For all that it was still supposedly under the laws of New Zealand, Kyra wondered how much control the government actually had here.


    Hopefully they would continue the seemingly non-heavy handed approach that they had started out with.


    Most of the military zones were to the right on the map. Between the big white blotch and the Library, there was depicted a lot of military housing. Single homes, mostly.


    To the left was the registration building. Which she ow knew was called the Central Support building officially. The Medical building, and beyond that was the common housing. Of witch, her building four was a part of. There seemed to be some 400 such buildings up already.


    The rest of the space, mostly the upper half of the map, was covered in labels such as ¡°Plans for¡­¡± as well as the aforementioned farmland.


    Near the bottom of the map where the entrance was, were a few recreational buildings. At first glance, there was a bowling range, an archery and gun range, as well as a Rugby field that Kyra wondered how on earth ¡ªor Spirit Realm rather¡ª she had missed it as she came in.


    Deciding to go to check out the bowling range to get a feel for the atmosphere of the new community that she had become a part of, Kyra folded the map down to where the relevant section was visible, and idly chatted to Ihaka as she made her way over.

 Chapter 9: Factions

    The sun was finally beginning to hang low on the horizon as Kyra made her way to the bowling alley. Although she hadn¡¯t noticed it, she had actually walked passed it on her way in along with Blaize earlier. It was a grey building, made with what looked like a slate quarry.


    The interesting thing about it was that in amongst the thin slices of grey stone, were spots of colour, where someone had slipped in different types of stone. It was subtle, but it brightened up the entire feeling of the building quite a bit.


    Kyra rearranged Ihaka so that he was strapped to her front before stepping through the door. The interior revealed itself to be a large spacious area with Burgundy walls, honey-coloured wood floors, a bar to the left of the doors, and over twenty bowling lanes stretching out in front of them.


    It was also packed.


    Kyra hear a loud ¡°Whoop!¡± as she looked around. ¡°Yeah! Right in the pocket!¡± Exclaimed a tall beanpole of a guy with a dark mop of hair.


    ¡°Brag when you can do it consistently.¡± Said an identical-looking guy next to him as he went up to the lane.


    A hand appeared through a hole in the back wall, resetting the pins as the second twin took aim.


    As the hand placed the last pin and disappeared, he released the ball and managed to get a strike as well.


    ¡°Can¡¯t let you get too cocky.¡± He laughed.


    ¡°Luck!¡± Screeched the first twin.


    ¡°Hey there hon,¡± came a voice from behind her, ¡°You looking to bowl a few rounds?¡±


    ¡°Ah, No.¡± Kyra blinked as a woman stepped off something from behind the bar, and then literally walked underneath the flap that most would have to lift out of the way. ¡°Thank you. I just arrived in the base earlier today, so I was taking a tour.¡±


    ¡°Arrived today?¡± Asked the woman. She had dark hair plaited to her waist, and a Moko Tattoo around her mouth. ¡°I haven¡¯t heard of any convoys going in or out, the last couple of days. Wait, are you the young¡¯un who came in with the TerraWolf?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s probably me.¡± Kyra was feeling pretty awkward at this point. ¡°Unless anyone else has come in today with another one.¡±


    ¡°Trust me dal¡¯, you¡¯re the only one who¡¯s not in any of the large teams that have ever, broughtanything bigger than an AquaRabbit back from any hunting.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m starting to wonder about how I managed to survive that encounter myself¡± Kyra¡¯s arms went around Ihaka instinctively, and the woman nodded her head in thought.


    ¡°Well, you made it here in one peace any old how. You said that you were takin¡¯ a tour?¡±


    ¡°Ah, yeah. I settled in earlier. Took a little nap, and then figured I could take a look around. Not that there seems to be all that much to see just yet.¡±


    ¡°Ah. Well, most of what¡¯s interesting to see here lies beyond the fences of this base, that¡¯s true enough.¡± The woman held out her hand. ¡°But I haven¡¯t even introduced myself to you yet. How lax of me. I¡¯m Annie. It¡¯s nice to meet you, and who would you be.¡±


    ¡°Kyra!¡± She said as she shook Annie¡¯s hand ¡°Lax of me too. Sorry. I¡¯m Kyra, and this here is Ihaka.¡± She indicated.


    ¡°Hi there little one,¡± Annie crooned as Ihaka giggled back at her. ¡°Oh! You¡¯re a smiley one, aren¡¯t you!? Do you think you and your mummy would like to get a drink? On the house, first-timers welcome, with a combination of congratulations for surviving and bringing back a TerraWolf!¡±


    ¡°Um,¡± Kyra was uncomfortable again, ¡°Yeah ok, why not.¡±


    ¡°Excellent!¡± Annie exclaimed as she walked back under the bar flap, and stepped up onto whatever platform was there that allowed her to see over the top. ¡°What¡¯re you having?¡±


    Kyra perused the chalk menu hanging up on the wall behind the bar. ¡°Would you mind mixing some apple juice with water for Ihaka, I don¡¯t want him getting too much sugar at this age. And a glass of apple cider for me.¡±


    ¡°Coming right up dal¡¯. You just take a seat if you like.¡±


    ¡°Thanks, Ihaka¡¯s drink can go in here,¡± Kyra said as she pulled out his now empty bottle.


    Taking a moment to look around as Annie got the drinks, she noticed that one of the twins was looking at her from over his shoulder as he continued to bicker with his brother.


    Seemingly taking their brief moment of eye contact as an invitation to make his way over, he tapped his brother on the shoulder to get him to turn around and called out ¡°Hey, you wanna come play a few rounds with us?¡±


    Kyra shook her head and demurred, ¡°I¡¯m good thanks.¡± Kyra had a feeling that playing a few rounds of bowling wouldn¡¯t be this guy''s end goal, and to be frank, even if she was interested in finding some company right now, he was the wrong gender.


    ¡°You leave her alone Casper! You hear me!?¡± Anne snapped, as she placed the drinks down on the counter with a little more force than necessary.


    Casper flung his arms into the air, ¡°Annemarie! How many times do I have to ask you to call me Cass!?¡±Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    ¡°Once for every time you act like an ass, and two for every time you call me Annemarie!¡±


    ¡°I just asked her to bowl!! How is that being an ass?¡±


    ¡°Oh? And how many girls have you ¡®Asked to bowl¡¯ since you started coming here, hmm? You know exactly how you were being an ass.¡±


    ¡°Come on! I never did anything without their full consent.¡±


    ¡°Hmph!¡±


    ¡°Just give it up man, you¡¯re on her blacklist.¡± Cass¡¯s brother clapped him on the back.


    ¡°No, if he were on my blacklist, he wouldn¡¯t be allowed in my bowling ally. He¡¯s on my watch list.¡±


    Cass looked disgruntled as his brother laughed and said, ¡°Fair enough. I wouldn¡¯t trust him if I were you either. He is a lot of fun though.¡± He winked at Kyra, ¡°If fun is what you want.¡±


    Kyra found her lip twitching at the way he was subtlety selling his brother¡¯s strong points to her, even as he continued to rib him.


    ¡°I¡¯m good thanks. I have all the man that I need in my life right here.¡± She said as she stroked Ihaka¡¯s hair.


    The twins blinked down at Ihaka as the baby in question turned to look at her inquiringly. His mouth not leaving his bottle for even a second.


    ¡°Dude. That¡¯s some stiff competition!¡±


    Cass rolled his eyes ¡°Whatever. You guys are ganging up on me.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s good for you! Stops your head from getting too swelled.¡± Cass¡¯s brother reached his hand out to Kyra, ¡°I¡¯m Seb. Sebastian. Nice to make your acquaintance¡±


    Kyra put her hand out automatically, ¡°Nice to meet you too.¡± She blinked, ¡°A ghost and martyr?¡±


    Kyra had come across the meaning of the name Sebastian as she was looking for a good name for Ihaka.


    ¡°What can I say, those¡¯re the names our mother gave us.¡±


    ¡°The original meaning of Casper is treasurer.¡± Interjected the miffed sounding live Casper.


    ¡°Sorry. It¡¯s a cool sounding name.¡±


    He gave a devilish smile, ¡°I¡¯ll forgive you if you agree to a date with me.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I owe you that much for being surprised at your name.¡±


    Annie gave a guffaw, as Seb covered his mouth and tried to be a bit more subtle about it. ¡°She has you there man.¡±


    The twins, who gave an excuse of feeling a bit tired and needing to take a break, came to sit down next to her to chat for a while.


    Kyra managed to learn quite a bit during that chat.


    For example, the fact that the together the twins headed a relatively small group of hunters, nearly 60 people in total, who called themselves the Tuis after the native New Zealand bird.


    Now that she knew to notice, Kyra saw that the iridescent colours of the Tui¡¯s dark green and purple feathers could be seen in the wrist bands that the twins were wearing. As well as wispy strings of white coming out here and there, to represent it¡¯s white tufted bib that the Tui was so famous for.


    Sebastien also gave her a rundown on the biggest groups that had begun to form in this last month or so. ¡°Right now the biggest and most notable groups that you want to be aware of are one, of course, the military,¡± Seb explained ¡°Two, the Crouching Tigers. They have close to 1000 members and tend to be the most domineering. Three, the Dancing Dolphins. They are run by four quite truly formidable women.¡±


    At this point, Cass gave a quite disgruntled snort from the side, which made Kyra wonder if he had tried ¡ªand failed¡ª to hit on one of them.


    Seb carried on as though he didn¡¯t notice. ¡°They¡¯re the Crouching Tigers'' biggest rivals, and tend to be the only ones who can, or will if you count the military, give them a what for when they step too far out of line.


    As a result, a lot of women who came through without any family or such, have joined them for protection not just outside of the gates.¡± He gave Kyra a significant look.


    ¡°Thanks for the tip.¡± She acknowledged softly.


    ¡°Well,¡± he cleared his throat, ¡°last but not least, the Haast¡¯s¡±


    Kyra blinked, ¡°As is the extinct eagle?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the one,¡± Annie interjected as she poured drinks for some other customers.


    ¡°Yup.¡± Seb continued, ¡°They are the third-largest group, and tend to think themselves above what they call ¡®petty politics¡¯, but they act lofty enough.¡±


    ¡°I guess they think of themselves as looking down on the rest of us, just as though they really were eagles.¡± Snorted Cass.


    Later on, the topic of Military patrols came up. Kyra mentioned that she had found it odd that she hadn¡¯t seen any kind of security since she had gotten here.


    ¡°Oh, they¡¯re there all right.¡± Annie grunted, ¡°Don¡¯t know who they think they¡¯re foolin¡¯. Hiding up in trees outside the gate, and walking around in plain clothes in here.¡±


    ¡°Plainclothes patrols? Why would they bother?¡± Asked Kyra.


    ¡°Beasts me dal¡¯. All I know is that either way they¡¯re not to be messed with. Sure the military is technically still under New Zealand government jurisdiction. But who on earth is out here to reinforce that?¡± Annie¡¯s eyebrows arched high, ¡°Nobody but the military, that¡¯s who.¡±


    The twins snorted in agreement.


    Still later, Kyra asked about the lack of shops.


    To which the three of them snorted and Seb said, ¡°That¡¯s because the cost for setting up a shop and paying the taxes on it are only just a few coppers shy of being absolutely prohibitive.¡±


    ¡°Everyone just does private transactions.¡± Cass gave two air quotes with his fingers.


    Their conversation came to an abrupt halt as the twins started making noises about getting up and having a few more rounds. Casper seemed to take this as his cue to try his luck again with Kyra, and, deciding that enough was enough she said, ¡°I appreciate the flattery and the determination Cass, but I tend to prefer my partners more with upper accessories then lower accessories, if you get my meaning.¡±


    Immediately his face became hard.


    ¡°Obviously, you don¡¯t,¡± He said, glaring pointedly at Ihaka who was playing with his Kiwi plushy.


    ¡°Not that it matters,¡± Kyra sighed, ¡°But biologically speaking, Ihaka is my little brother.¡±


    ¡°Whatever. I¡¯m going back to bowl. Thanks for making us waste the last two hours talking to you.¡±


    ¡°Hey!¡± Snapped Sebastien, ¡°Speak for yourself.¡±


    ¡°You coming with me or what?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll join you after I¡¯m done apologizing on your behalf.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s the one who pretended like she wasn¡ª¡±


    ¡°Finish that sentence, and I¡¯ll deck you myself!¡± Sebastien pointed his finger at his brother.


    As Casper stormed off back to an empty lane, Sebastien gave Kyra a helpless look and said, ¡°He was raised by our mother.¡± As if that explained and excused everything.


    ¡°Seriously though.¡± He said, ¡°It was nice meeting you, Kyra. Hope to see you around again. And I¡¯m really sorry about that oaf.¡± With that, he turned to join his brother. Slinging an arm over his shoulder, the two seemed to get into a heated discussion about something, and Kyra was fairly certain that she was glad that she could not hear what they, or rather what Casper, was saying.


    Shaking her head, she turned back to Annie and her second glass of cider.


    ¡°You all right dal¡¯? I swear that man just doesn¡¯t understand when he¡¯s about to go way over the line sometimes. He has been getting somewhat better though.


    In fact, I¡¯m rather certain that Seb brought him here mostly to get him away from that mother he mentioned. Didn¡¯t give Cass much of a choice about it, it sounds like.¡±


    ¡°Is she religious?¡± Kyra asked.


    ¡°Neither of them have ever talked about her in detail, so I can¡¯t say for certain. But I¡¯d put money on it being yes.¡± Annie¡¯s eyebrows arched up into her hairline again. ¡°Any old how love, if you¡¯re interested in joining the Dolphins, I¡¯d recommend going around the 19<sup>th</sup> building for brunch one day. Around 10 in the morning. That¡¯s when they have their get together, and Kaitlyn cooks for the whole lot of them.


    I had a bite of one her pie¡¯s once. To die for! No exaggeration! Even if you weren¡¯t wanting to join for the solidarity, you¡¯ll be joining for the regular access to them. I tell ya!¡± She winked at Kyra.


    ¡°I might just go and check it out, actually.¡±

 Chapter 10: The Spirits of the Spirit Realm

    The sun had begun to sink below the horizon as she stepped out of the bowling alley. Looking off towards the slowly sinking globe, Kyra was once again reminded of the fact that she was no longer on Earth. The dazzling light hit the peaks of the mountain and refracted off the fluffy white clouds in a dizzying array of rainbow colours that would put an Aurora to shame.


    Seeing the sun so low on the Horizon reminded Kyra that the MilkTree from earlier had thrown out all of the Fruits that she had kept for Ihaka, and that he had already eaten the only fresh one that she had gotten from it.


    She had a fierce debate with herself as she stood there with her fists clenched. After seeing everyone¡¯s reaction to her bringing in the TerraWolf today, and since hearing about the fate of anyone who went hunting alone, Kyra had become far more reluctant to venture back out through the gates again. She thought about asking Blaize if she would be willing to watch Ihaka for an hour or two as she went out, but even with the slow passing of the day here, she didn¡¯t think she had thirty minutes before the sun was gone. If she went to talk to Blaize, it would be dark before she even made it back to building four.


    On the other hand. The MilkTree had planted itself ¡ªquite literally, Kyra giggled to herself¡ª fairly close to the entrance of the base. She was sure that it wouldn¡¯t take her 20 minutes to quietly go there and back.


    Annie had also mentioned that the Military did have patrol¡¯s out and about. She should be able to get help if it came to that.


    Did she want to bet Ihaka¡¯s life on a should? Did she want to face the next 18 old hours without food for him?


    Cursing herself for naively thinking that she could pop over to visit the Tree at any time, Kyra started towards the gate.


    As Kyra walked, she thought about the stark contrast between how the SpiritRealm had been depicted both in the Medea and her lessons, to the reality of what she found here.


    Back on Earth, the impression that she¡¯d gotten was of untapped potential with just a slightly higher level of danger than what you would find on any frontier on earth. Not that Kyra was really aware of what the frontier¡¯s had been like when they were frontiers.


    But she certainly hadn¡¯t been led to believe that there may be any possibility of meeting her death on the hike to the base. Let alone that the native beasts might be so ferocious that they would drive the majority of the population to abandon the idea of creating new opportunities for themselves, and that they might decide it would be better to join a corporation.


    And however anyone put it, a corporation was what those new groups were looking like.


    The shadows stretched long as Kyra jogged through the gate. Just then, she realised that she had left her protective gear back in her cubicle. Cursing, she turned right and broke out into a run.


    The canopy of the trees blocked out a lot of the light, and Kyra almost hesitated to go in, but not wanting to waste what little light there was left, she ploughed forward. The nearby trees gave as softly welcoming susurration as she did, and though she told herself that she did not actually know whether or not it had been intended in that way, it did make her feel marginally safer somehow.


    Hurrying along the path that she remembered from earlier, Kyra noticed that the grasses and shrubbery were again bending out of her way. At first she was just grateful, and even mumbled thanks under her breath as she ran passed. However, it did not take her long to realise that they were taking her far too far to the left to then where she thought the MilkTree was.


    ¡°Am I remembering wrongly? Isn¡¯t the MilkTree that way?¡± She pointed and seemingly asked the air.


    In response, the brushes simply bent further in the same way as they were before. Kyra took a split second to decide whether or not she wanted to trust the directional sense of these plants who were at best strangers, even assuming that they could indeed understand her and where she was going.


    Plunging through the opening that they gave her, Kyra snorted at the odd thought of considering plants as strangers.


    After running for a good ten minutes, Kyra was starting to get out of breath and to regret her choice to trust these strangers when she heard it.


    Growling. Snarling. Coming from behind her.


    Kyra¡¯s heart leapt into her throat, and Ihaka was also starting to become scared. Trying to hush him, Kyra took advantage of the newfound energy that suddenly coursed through her.


    She saw a large creek through what little light remained from the sun, and though she wasn¡¯t certain the concept of breaking up sent trails translated over into this Realm, she still plunged into the shin deep water to wade upstream.


    After a good five minutes of this, the shrubbery on her right abruptly split open. Taking that as her cue, she grabbed Ihaka¡¯s bottle to fill it with water and quickly took a gulp herself.


    She nodded to herself as she started jogging through the brush once more. Kyra had time and again proven to be woefully underprepared and under informed since stepping through the portal that morning. But even she could learn. Lesson number one of survival. Have water. Only a small amount, but check.


    She had long since stopped hearing the sounds of growling, in fact, she was almost certain that they had never been following her in the first place. She had no idea where she was now, but the path that the plants had taken her on seemed to have completely avoided any of the large predators in the area.


    Focusing more now on keeping quiet than on speed, Kyra started to look around, realising then, that she could do so.


    The sun had definitely sunk completely over the horizon by that point. The canopy was also thick enough to have blocked any light that the eight moons might refract down on her. Yet she could see fairly clearly where she was going.


    Her heart sped up, but with excitement this time. She knew what this was.


    Not wanting to scare them away she focused on the path ahead, but was unable to suppress the tiny whisper that escaped her lips, ¡°Will-o¡¯ the-Wisps,¡± She grinned down at Ihaka.


    Seemingly relieved at the change of her mood, Ihaka squirmed and inquired up at her, ¡°Isps?¡±


    ¡°Shh. Yes. Wisps. They are lighting our way.¡± She grinned at him, keeping to herself that the lighting of their way was probably not intentional on the Wisps side. Although. With how aware and intelligent the rest of everything in this Realm was proving to be, you never could know.


    ¡°We should thank them later.¡± She added, figuring it couldn¡¯t hurt to do so.


    Ihaka nodded enthusiastically, ¡°Tank Isps!¡±


    ¡°Shhh. We don¡¯t want to scare them away.¡± She said, still moving at a steady pace.


    A horrified look crossed Ihaka¡¯s face as he hurriedly used both of his fingers to create a shushing gesture over his mouth. ¡°SHHHH!¡±Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    ¡°Exactly.¡± Kyra affirmed softly, ¡°Shhh.¡±


    ¡°Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh¡­¡­¡­..¡± Kyra just about jumped right out of her skin. The light surrounding them dimmed slightly, as the Wisp that had apparently been floating close to Kyra¡¯s right shoulder abruptly fled.


    Ihaka¡¯s eyes were wide as he stared at the spot where it had disappeared from. ¡°Isp ¡®one?¡±


    Kyra cursed herself mentally for not having seen that coming. ¡°Not too far I don¡¯t think, or the light would be gone.¡± She smiled down at him, ¡°We both gave each other a fright, but maybe if we keep quiet,¡± she huffed, ¡°it¡¯ll maybe, possibly, come back.¡±


    Ihaka gave her another wide eyed look as he silently pressed both of his index fingers down over his lips.


    Kyra nodded back at him as she pressed on as quietly as possible.


    After about another thirty minutes or so of trekking, Kyra came to a large clearing that had formed around the gigantic fallen log, of what had evidently been a truly massive tree in its time.


    The diameter of the log was twice the height of Kyra, and the lights of the Wisps lit up the area enough so that she could tell that, even if it had been bright, she wouldn¡¯t have been able to make out the length of the thing.


    For the first time since passing through the gates on her way out, Kyra stopped to take a proper breath.


    It was quite possibly the most enchanting sight that she had ever seen.


    A huge array of wildflowers and different grasses blanketed the fifty meters or so of space between the tree line and the log, different mosses grew up and patterned themselves over its sides, and thousands of tiny, myriad coloured lights, flittered over, in, and around the entire space. In this setting, the Will-o¡¯ the-Wisps looked more like tiny little fairies flying around their meadow home, than they did their more ominous namesake of floating lights that appeared in the forest to lead travellers astray.


    It was as Kyra was turning her body to the side to allow Ihaka to take in the sight that something even more magical happened. A golden crack appeared down the side of the fallen trunk, and a small opening, just big enough for her to slip through, showed itself to her.


    Oh, my Goddess, Kyra thought to herself, I am literally stepping into a Fairy Tale. Let¡¯s just hope that it¡¯s not of the Grimm kind.


    ¡°Shall we go see what that is?¡± She whispered to Ihaka with some apprehension.


    Clutching at her shoulder straps, his eyes wider than they¡¯d ever been before, Ihaka made a little ¡°Mm¡± sound.


    Taking that as a yes, Kyra stepped forward into the swirling lights of the meadow. The Wisps danced and swirled around her as though curious about this strange creature that was intruding on their home.


    Ihaka let out a soft gasp of delight as Kyra put one foot in front of the other, not entirely sure what to make out of this scene. One thing was for certain, and that was that she could definitely understand now, how these little glowing lights, so much like tiny little spirits darting around her, had inspired the name of the Spirit Realm itself.


    One Wisp seemed to be particularly interested as it bobbed half a meter in front of her. It¡¯s light flashing a different colour with each bob.


    Slowly, hoping not to scare it off, Kyra extended her hand palm down towards it. The Wisp made one circle around the proffered appendage as if wondering what she was trying to do, before it lit very briefly on her forearm, then started bouncing on that instead.


    Kyra let out a very soft laugh, to which Ihaka responded with a very shrill giggle. Clapping, he then reached out to try and grasp the Wisp. Predictably, it zipped off into the night to get away from the grabbing hand.


    ¡°No!¡±


    The rest of the Wisps around them undulated with surprise.


    ¡°Shh, baby. Nobody likes being grabbed ok?¡± Kyra whispered, ¡°You have to be gentle and let them come to you if they want to.¡±


    Not seeming to grasp her sage wisdom, Ihaka made a pleading sound and pointed off in the direction that the Wisp had disappeared to.


    Sighing, Kyra gently grasped Ihaka¡¯s pointing hand in hers, ¡°No baby. You scared it.¡±


    ¡°¡®Ared?¡±


    ¡°Yes, scared.¡±


    Still pouting slightly, but seemingly resigned to not getting to pet a Wisp right then, Ihaka turned his attention to the rest of the swirling lights around them, and Kyra resumed walking towards the golden crack in the bark ahead of her.


    Feeling more and more like a character out of a Fairy Tale, Kyra peered through the opening and couldn¡¯t help but let out a gasp as she did so.


    Inside was a cosy little room. Calling a hollow in a fallen log a room, would have seemed like a stretch to her any time before then, but really, the space was too, too deliberate ¡ªfor want of a better word¡ª for her to call it anything else.


    It was an oval space. Just over a meter wide, two meters or so long, and just high enough for her to stand in without hitting her head. The floor was blanketed in a thick layer of fresh petals, and in a nook on the wall to her left, was a small pile of MilkFruit, and a couple of the bamboo/celery stalks that she had eaten earlier.


    Taking off her shoes, she stepped into the petals, which proved to be a lot fluffier and softer than she had believed it possible for them to be. Kyra then bit back some tears as the warmth of the inside hit her and she sank to her knees.


    ¡°I don¡¯t even know who to thank,¡± she muttered as she ran her hand down the wooden wall nearest to her.


    It was then that she saw where the light was coming from. Gasping, she first let Ihaka out of the carrier as he was squirming to be let down. Then she again pressed her hands to the walls, bringing her face so close that her nose almost touched it. Following along the grain of the wood were tiny streaks of golden light that were flowing through the grain of the wood.


    Breathing deeply, Kyra leant back and looked at the space that she was in. It did not look like a hollow in a dead log at all. If anything, it looked very much alive and healthy.


    Even though it was getting well past the ¡°time¡± for Ihaka to go to sleep, the circumstance and the adventure left him far too excited for Kyra to even think about laying him down just yet. Honestly feeling more than a bit excited and adventurous herself, she didn¡¯t need much convincing to; First, treat the petals as a play/sandpit, where Ihaka would go diving and crawling wobblingly amongst said petals, between building ¡°petal castles¡±, and the occasional screaming laughter as they would just throw them up into the air to watch them cascade down around them.


    Then, after what was probably about an hour or so of such shenanigans, Kyra whole heartedly supported Ihaka¡¯s curiosity about taking another look outside and exploring the long meadow where the Wisps stills danced.


    She was careful to introduce the concept to him as a solemn affair, however. For one, she really did want him to settle down to sleep before he got tired enough to throw a stroppy, but also just because she wanted him to remember that the Wisps weren¡¯t toys for him to grab at.


    Wanting to give him a chance to get some exercise as well, Kyra brought out Ihaka¡¯s floor blanket and laid it down in an open area not too far from their hollow, intending to give him a little challenge.


    Sitting down on it, she called him over from the entrance to the hollow. ¡°They¡¯re so pretty Ihaka, come watch them with me.¡±


    He came, as babies his age were want to do when in an unfamiliar environment and being called by an adult they trusted.


    Occasionally he would call ¡°Kai!?¡±, in an uncertain voice when a particularly long clump of grass would block his view of her. She waved her arms up into the air and called back to him.


    He got semi-lost and panicked a couple of times, to which Kyra would persistently call out to him until he calmed down. She also noticed the Wisps reacting and worriedly hovering closer to him when he did.


    Eventually, he found her. Screaming her name in triumph as he crawled onto there edge of the blanket. Kyra grabbed him up as if it was the most exciting thing in the world. Kissing his little face all over, and gushing about how proud she was that he had found her.


    As she did, she slowly started rocking him from side to side, talking more slowly as she started mentioning how even the Wisps were proud of him as they really did seem to be swirling around him in exited congratulations as he made it to the blanket. She described to him in a low voice how they had been watching over him the entire time, and how she had never let him out of her sight.


    By the time she had moved on though wondering just what the Wisps actually were and where they came from, and had started talking softly about how pretty the flowers were in the light of the Wisps, Ihaka¡¯s head was drooping on her shoulder and he was yawning heavily.


    It didn¡¯t take much longer for him to nod off completely.


    ¡°I really am proud of you sweet heart.¡± She smiled, ¡°That was a big distance for such a little guy in the dark, through an untamed meadow no less!¡±


    Supporting him with one arm, she grabbed the blanket with the other, and in less than a dozen strides, she was back at the hollow.


    Settling Ihaka down into the petals, Kyra took a seat in the entrance, and finally, let the events of the day hit her.


    She had no idea where she was. This place had ended up being a lot more foreign and dangerous than she had anticipated, or been led to believe, and she hadn¡¯t been expecting a walk in the park. She had NO idea where this was, and it was unlikely that she¡¯d make it back alive without the help of the plants. She had no clue where the base was, and the plant life was apparently more sentient than animal life here. Maybe, who knew? Animals were apparently way smarter here than on earth too. And. She. Had. NO. CLUE. WHERE. SHE. WAS!!!!!


    Finally exhausted with her own inner turmoil, she let out a long heartfelt sigh, and leaned her head up against the entrance.


    ¡°It¡¯s so beautiful.¡± She murmured.

 Chapter 11: Relatable Sense

    Kyra woke up next to an energetic baby crawling onto her stomach demanding attention. Giving a groan she rolled over onto her side, taking Ihaka with her.


    ¡°Five more minutes baby.¡±


    This, of course, did not persuade him in the slightest as he squirmed in her arms.


    Sighing Kyra sat up, muttering under her breath about getting her revenge when he was a teenager.


    Although, she was feeling a lot more well rested than she had expected to feel after sleeping on hardwood for the night. Even with the petals providing a form of padding.


    Just as she was thinking that she realised that the spot that she had been sleeping in was ever so slightly concave. Gulping, she pulled Ihaka onto her lap to reassure him as she used her free hand to push aside the petals.


    Sometime during the night, the floor of the hollow had moulded its self to fit the contours of her body.


    Kyra stood up abruptly, a hard shiver rushing through her from head to toe. Not having the where-with-all to reassure Ihaka, who was trying to get her attention as he reacted to her sudden tension, Kyra poked her finger against the floor to see if it had any give to it. However, nothing she did could budge it. It was solid as a, well, a plank of wood. Yet, it was somehow pliable enough to change shape.


    Closing her eyes, Kyra took several deep breaths.


    ¡°I¡¯m alright baby, I was just surprised is all. Let¡¯s take a look outside, shall we?¡±


    Her heart still halfway up her throat, but not wanting to freak Ihaka out any more than he already was, she stood up and stepped outside, more to prove to herself that she could than anything else.


    ¡°Isp¡¯s ¡®one?¡± He asked distressfully, as they looked around at the dimly lit meadow.


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think that they¡¯re gone sweetheart, or it would be so dark right now that we couldn¡¯t see anything.¡±


    Just as if to prove her right, what looked like a small dewdrop of white light came slowly dripping out of a nearby flower, only to flash a bright fuchsia colour as it seemingly bounced off a thin blade of purple grass, before then swirling around them in welcome.


    Ihaka gave a shrill laugh and clapped.


    Kyra felt her heart settle as more and more lights came out of hiding. It was impossible to watch them and not feel a deep sense of peaceful awe.


    As Ihaka took in the sight of the dancing Whisps, Kyra glanced back towards the hollow. From how tired she felt, they probably hadn¡¯t been asleep for a full eight hours, and the hollow feeling in her stomach gave Kyra a good idea about what had prompted him to wake up.


    In all the excitement before falling asleep, Ihaka had seemed to forget that he might want to eat. Kyra hadn¡¯t reminded him, because quite frankly, she hadn¡¯t been all together certain of if she wanted to trust the food that had been left there for them.


    Sure enough, the sight of the Wisps could only keep his attention for a short while this time, and soon he was tugging on her teeshirt asking for sustenance.


    Not really feeling like she had much of a choice in the matter, Kyra brought Ikaha back inside the hollow before putting him down in the petals and picking up one of the MilkFruits.


    ¡°All right Ihaka, so far since coming here, the plant life has shown us nothing but goodwill. In fact, I would go as far as to say that they have saved our lives a couple of times. So, whatever the fff¡ªfruit is going on here, I doubt that it¡¯s meant to hurt us. Hopefully. Maybe.¡±


    I guess the only thing I can do is check if it tastes bad, Kyra added to herself, even if she wasn¡¯t all that confident that the taste of the fruit would reveal anything.


    After first dabbing some of the juice on her lips and feeling no numbing or tingling, Kyra slowly ate some of the fruit before putting the rest up out of Ihaka¡¯s way over his screaming protests. After several minutes had passed and Kyra still felt no dizziness or pain anywhere, she waited just a little bit more until Ihaka had fully calmed down. Feeling a little bit silly now, and with Ihaka pouting and making her feel like the biggest monster in the world, she decided that she had done as much as she could, and let him have it.


    Sighing while Ihaka made a complete mess of himself, as he had turned his back on her and refused to let her help him eat, Kyra eyed the orange celery-bamboo like things ¡ªshe needed to come up with a name for them¡ª and finally gave in to her own hunger, picking one up gingerly and nibbling on the end.


    Not certain if she was glad, or if she was feeling even more ambivalent after the celery-bamboo like things didn¡¯t seem to be poisoned either, Kyra finished the stalk down to one of the segments that closed off the middle.


    They were quite filling. Kyra couldn¡¯t help but sigh contentedly as the now familiar warm feeling spread out from her stomach and seemed to travel down her veins out to the ends of her limbs and up into her face. The sensation continued further then it had before this time, wrapping itself into her spinal column, and then up towards her brain. Kyra jumped up in fright, not that she could do anything about it at this stage, but when it got there, instead of warming her brain, the most refreshing and cool feeling that she had ever experienced before overcame her.


    Then it was gone. Just as if it had never been.


    Eyeing the rest of the stalk that was still in her hand suspiciously, Kyra then noticed that Ihaka, with a shiny green beard and moustache, was staring at her gape mouthed.


    Sighing once again, it seemed like she was doing that a lot recently, she sank back down to her knees.


    ¡°I¡¯m alright, baby. Finish you¡¯r¡ª oh, you have done. Why don¡¯t you hand me the skin? There we are, I¡¯ll just put this out the door for now. Look at you, were you determined to become an old man before your time!? You¡¯ve got a green beard all the way down your front!¡±¡ª¡ª And so she continued for a while. Distracting herself by fussing over Ihaka.


    Once he was as clean as he was going to get under the circumstances, and she had changed his unfortunately overdue nappy, Kyra was back to having to face the reality of where they were.


    She had two choices. The first option was to stay here until it was at least light. Entirely feasible, though it was going to be at least another fifteen to twenty hours until it did so. Two, she could go exploring a little. So far though, none of her attempts at doing anything independently since coming through the portal had worked out well. She also wasn¡¯t certain if she would encounter any predators even if she stuck pretty close to the log.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Then again, she at all wasn¡¯t certain how safe they were staying in this hollow either.


    If Ihaka hadn¡¯t been there, Kyra would have stuck her head in the petals to do a ¡°pillow¡± scream at this point. Or at least a groan, as she didn¡¯t want to attract unwanted attention. Instead, she just gave yet another very long sigh.


    Ihaka, who was tucked into her arms, gave a questioning noise and touched her cheek.


    Swallowing down a sudden lump in her throat, Kyra gently placed her palm over his hand, holding it in place.


    ¡°I love you baby, you know that right?¡±


    Ihaka gave another, slightly more distressed inquiring sound.


    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry.¡±


    Wet hot tears rolled down her cheeks as she held Ihaka close. He squirmed a little, but after a moment he seemed to understand that she just needed to hold him, and he quieted down, occasionally patting her wet cheeks worriedly.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Having cried herself out, Kyra was then immediately confronted yet again with their precarious position as she needed to drink some of what little water they had.


    Frowning down at the now three quarter full baby bottle, still feeling thirsty but unwilling to deplete their reserves further, Kyra desperately tried to remember if she had seen a spring, or anything of the sort it the immediate vicinity.


    She couldn¡¯t think of anything, but then, she had been too relieved to see the hollow to pay attention to that kind of thing yesterday. Not that it was strictly yesterday that she had arrived¡ª¡ª Argh! Not that it mattered what day it had been!


    Poking her head out of the door, Kyra tried to see through the lights of the still dancing Wisps.


    Feeling Ihaka grab onto her pant leg, she picked him up and took a small tentative step outside, explaining to him that she was looking for water, and why that was important.


    Again, she didn¡¯t expect him to understand what she was trying to say to him. But it was soothing to both of them to talk, and, Kyra new that the more she talked to him, the more chances he had to learn the language.


    Kyra eventually did scout around their immediate surroundings, never going further than approximately fifty or so metres away from the entrance of the hollow.


    When she finally carried Ihaka back in defeat, it was with a heavy hearty, and the knowledge that she would have to move away from this area sooner rather than later. They could do without food for a while, not to mention that they did have some food, but not having¡ª


    Kyra¡¯s train of thought cut off.


    There, in the corner of their little hollow opposite the food, was another little alcove. It looked like somebody had meticulously carved out a steeple shaped opening, but instead of a flat surface at the bottom, it had been further hollowed out into a round bowl. Into which, flowed crystal clear water from an opening in the top of the triangular dome shape above it.


    Abruptly back-pedalling, she slipped on the petals. Then, only just having the where-with-all to make sure that she landed backwards with Ihaka safely on her stomach, Kyra groaned from having the wind knocked out of her, and from having hit the back of her head on the lip of the entrance.


    Quickly reassuring Ihaka, who was on the verge of tears just from the shock of her falling, she held him to her as she sat up, wearily looking in the direction of their new water source.


    After having investigated as best she could, and having found no indication of sawdust, or anything else that might betray a fast woodworking session, Kyra tried to wrap her brain around the sudden appearance of the small fountain.


    Checking the lip around the surface of the alcove showed no signs of their possibly having been any kind of panel there to conceal it either.


    Also, Kyra supposed that someone could have snuck passed her as she was exploring with Ihaka, however, she had been hyper-aware of how far she was getting from their little nest of safety the entire time. Therefore keeping an almost constant eye on the entrance in her peripheral awareness.


    So while it was not impossible that someone had slipped in and out if they had been very careful of their timing, it was improbable.


    Suddenly feeling a load of ants crawling up her spine, Kyra started methodically knocking on the walls and ceiling of the hollow, trying to find if she could hear any differences in the sound.


    When that failed to yield any results, she stared at the alcove with her hands on her hips for a good long minute. Debating with herself before finally giving yet another good long sigh, and extending her hands under the stream.


    The water tasted quite sweet.


    Staring yet again at the little fountain, this time with a very odd look on her face, Kyra resisted the formation of an extremely outlandish idea that was trying to take form in her mind.


    Then again, where was she right now, if not literally Out-Land, Out-of-Earth, out any kind of remotely familiar territory that she had ever been in?


    Even now, with everything else that had happened and that was going on, Kyra was still frighteningly aware of the weird sensation of gravity under her feet that constantly somehow made her feel both as if she might just float away in the slightest wind, yet somehow managed to also keep her feeling very solidly planted on the ground.


    She needed to stop thinking as though anything that she understood, about physics and general wildlife behaviour before coming here, would in any way translate to her current circumstances. Nothing made sense, because she had no relatable sense to put to her understanding of this place as of yet.


    Suddenly wanting nothing more than to have some kind of relatable sense to put to this situation, Kyra grabbed her tote bag, strapped Ihaka into her carrier so that he was on her back again, and marched out the door. Grabbing the Milkfruit and the celery-bamboo on her way out.


    Not to go away from the log this time however, no. This time, she was going to climb it.


    Digging her fingers and shoes into the thick knobbly bark, Kyra realised for the first time that the log wasn¡¯t actually round in shape. Rather, it was vaguely triangular with mostly convex sides and a flat top.


    Not thinking much about it except to be glad that it was a little easier to climb than she had expected it to be, Kyra dragged herself up and straddled the 40 centimetres or so wide edge that she found up there.


    The bark was firm and healthy looking beneath her hands, and apart from the places where there was moss like plants growing over it, it was also dry to the touch.


    Ignoring for the moment, the inquiring noises that Ihaka was making behind her, Kyra reached out to touch one of these bits of moss.


    Whoosh!


    A dizzying array of psychedelic colour burst along the moss from the point of her finger in a wave. Swirling and following the length of the log, as it curved through the trees and into the distance.


    Sucking in her breath as Ihaka exclaimed in surprise, Kyra checked behind herself to see the same dizzying flow of colours happening in that direction as well, and realised that she could not make out that end either.


    After a while, the lights stopped their seemingly random swirling, and started flowing in one directing in particular.


    It was the direction she was facing, and it brought to Kyra¡¯s mind the way that the plants had led her to the hollow in the tree to begin with. Feeling like she had nothing to lose, and not having any bases with witch to otherwise choose a direction, Kyra took a moment to orient herself ¡ªthe opening of the hollow was to her left¡ª and then stood up.


    Finding it a lot easier to balance up there than she had expected, Kyra set off.


    The lights of the moss soon dimmed and went out, but Kyra wasn¡¯t too bothered by that, as she hadn¡¯t liked them casting what was effectively a spot light on her to begin with. Besides, the Wisps still danced on either side of the log, and that was more than enough for her to see where she was going.


    Very gradually, the height of the log seemed to dip.


    Kyra wasn¡¯t exactly sure how far she had walked. It wasn¡¯t long enough for Ihaka to get too fussy, but eventually the log became low enough that she could have easily stepped right off it, and then it disappeared into the ground altogether.


    Stepping lightly onto the grass, Kyra stared at the large deer fences that stood before her. Somehow, she had made it back to the base.


    Feeling slightly stupefied, she turned back, only to find that the massive log, root, vine, thing, was gone. Even the Wisps were gone. All that was left was an oddly long grass meadow, stretching into the distance.


    Inwardly freaking out more than a little, she put her foot where she knew it had been, only to feel nothing but grass beneath her shoe. Investigating with her hands yielded nothing different.


    Wanting to look further, Kyra then became afraid that if she did, this time the fence of the base would disappear.


    So, vowing to come back and search when it was light out, Kyra dug around in her bag until she came up with one of her spare hair ties. Then, she secured that to the point of the fence directly in front of where the root or vine had been. Kyra¡¯s mind boggled at the idea of there being a tree big enough to have that as its root.


    Not even hesitating to follow the direction that was being indicated by the plants anymore, Kyra then set off to her left.