The forest had seen many things come and pass in it's long years. At one time the forest had covered half the world and more creatures and entities had resided within it than you or I can imagine. Some wondrous, full of light and love, others terrifying, full of darkness and hate. At other times the forest had shrunk to a mere fraction of it's current size, as mother nature destroyed many acres of woodland in her unrest and anger or as humans and other more astral creatures had prized clear land above wooded and driven the forest back from the world.
So over the years the size of the forest had flowed and ebbed. At this point in time, whenever that may be, the world around the forest was advanced enough in mythology to know better than to wage war on such an old and ancient beast, and medieval enough that even if they were to fall into such folly they would come up hopelessly short in their venture against such a monster.
Within this magical place there were areas of dense foliage where no thinking creature had trodden for thousands of years, places where silence lay heavy upon the air like a thick musty blanket. In other places deer skipped and birds chirped, rabbits ran amok in the undergrowth and light shone down through the tall trees above to bring light to the forest floor. In yet other places there was neither silence or light, but something more menacing that lurked in the shadows and moved silently in the eternal gloom.
Deep in the heart of this forest, many miles from the forests edge there was a small natural clearing. This clearing was caused by a single gigantic lym tree, which had grown so tall and thick above, and sunk its roots so deep and wide below as to allow no other living thing to live beneath it. In this clearing there was a strange sight to be seen, for lying there where there should be nobody lying were 13 female humanoids of vastly varying backgrounds.
Arwen was the first to rise, unsteadily gaining her feet, mind still slow and foggy. She looked around her trying to remember where she was and how she got here and suddenly it all came flooding back and she was instantly alert, scimitar suddenly appearing in her right hand. She had been travelling with other elves from Riverland heading towards the Grey Havens and they had been ambushed by orcs, the last thing she could remember was turning towards a growling frothing Mordor orc jumping right for her throat.
However, she was bemused by what her eyes saw and the forest around her was unfamiliar like no place she had ever been in her 2777 living years, and there were definitely no orcs to be seen. Instead there were 12 unfamiliar young humans lying on the forest floor around her.
At a quick glance Arwen took in a young blonde girl wearing a short skirt and an odd low cut top, an older girl with dark hair wearing fancy clothing equally as unrecognisable to Arwen as the blonde girls attire. Two teenage girls, one very young, dressed in some sort of dark robes, a very pretty blonde girl dressed in light blue, two dark haired girls dressed in very lightweight clothing, in fact they liked like nightwear to Arwen. Two younger blonde girls dressed in some sort of one piece suit, one all green and the other all white, a very slim girl wearing a tight fitting short dress which left plenty of exposed skin and a slightly older girl wearing tight black clothing.
Not a single one of these girls was conscious, although Arwen could sense they were all breathing. None of them were familiar to Arwen and their clothing was downright bizarre but one girl did catch her attention. She was wearing full chain mail beneath a Rohan tabard.
Arwen silently crept over to this girl, she had blonde hair and what was still a beautiful face despite being covered in bruises and dirt. It was obvious to Arwen she had just been in heavy fighting and very recently, her left arm was injured and her armor was battered.
Desperate for news from the west Arwen gently shook the unconscious Rohirrim girl but she didn't even stir.
Arwen felt movement behind her and gracefully whirled, scimitar raised again. The movement had come from one of the younger blonde girls in one-piece suits, the one in white. She was on one knee and staring at Arwen with a confused glazed look in her eyes. "Is this a dream?" she asked quietly in the language of Men.
Arwen relaxed a notch, "perhaps" she replied softly in the same language.
Siri rose to her feet and quickly surveyed her surroundings. She was only 11 years old but had been training as a Jedi for as long as she could remember and knew that even dreams could be important and should be taken seriously.
She didn't recognise any of the unconscious girls on the floor, nor the dark haired, pointy eared female who was regarding her with something resembling curiosity. Siri noticed that the forest all around their small clearing was dense and dark, although their clearing was reasonably well lit with a small glimmer of blue sky visible far away through the top branches of the gigantic tree in the middle of the clearing.
Siri shrugged, having learnt nothing from her brief investigation she turned to the pointy eared female and asked "Why are we here?".
"I do not know" Arwen replied, "do you remember how you got here?" She asked.
Siri shook her head frowning, "I was sleeping...and I presume I still am" she said. Arwen didn't respond, turning again to try and wake the sleeping Rohan maiden and taking a closer look at her injured arm.
"Who's she?" Siri asked inquisitively.
Having no interest in hearing questions she was asking herself and that she did not know the answers too, especially from one so young, Arwen ignored the question.
Boring of quizzing the unresponsive Arwen, Siri turned away just as Elizabeth's eyes snapped open. Siri saw fire burning bright in Elizabeth's dark eyes and took half a step back in surprise catching Arwen's attention.
Elizabeth took in her position with still wild eyes, before bringing her burning brown eyes back to settle on Arwen. "Where am I?" she asked aggressively.
Arwen didn't reply and before Siri could speak a new heavily accented voice said "I too would know this." The new voice came from the exceptionally pretty silver-blonde haired girl dressed in light blue.
The blonde girl in the short skirt and odd top was also awake Arwen noticed and she decided to turn her attention back to carefully rousing the Rohirrim girl and looking into doing something about a sling for her arm.
Siri answered the questions instead "I think I'm dreaming" she said, "so I s'pose that means you're in my dream."
The three freshly waken girls regarded her dubiously and it was the silvery-blonde girl who replied "If this iz your dream I would know you. I was in ze library and now I am here. How iz this?" she asked, sitting up and staring at Siri.
Dumbfounded by this logic, Siri paused. If this was not her dream then where and what was it.
She regarded the waking and sleeping girls with a new interest as the four of them all carefully watched each other, none of them sure what to make of this situation.
The first thing Jaina noticed was that she was cold. She shivered and tried to bury deeper under the covers but there were no covers. Annoyed, she muttered a curse and opened bleary eyes. What she saw bought her straight awake and she sat bolt upright automatically reaching to her right where she kept her lightsaber, except of course it wasn't there.
The fours girls had just been about to exchange names, but their attention was caught by Jaina's sudden movement and they were all staring at her and Jaina stared back, suddenly very conscious of her lack of suitable dress.
"Where am I?" She demanded. If she had been more alert Jaina would have noticed the slight disappointment this question bought to all four of her observers.
"We don't know" Siri answered, "none of us do. We were just about to give our names, I'm Siri Tachi. Who are you?"
"Jaina Solo" Jaina responded, with a quick look around the other girls and her surroundings. She recognised Tahiri with some surprise but didn't say anything as the short-skirt girl gave her name "Buffy Summers", the elaborately dressed girl with burning brown eyes was Elizabeth Swann and the pretty silver haired girl also introduced herself as "Fleur Delacour".
Meanwhile Arwen had managed to rouse the blonde haired Rohan girl. She quickly explained the situation to the best of her understanding then asked for her story. Wide eyed Eowyn quickly explained how Gondor and Rohan had taken to the fields of Pelennor. How the battle had been finely poised, how she had killed the Witch King but it still looked as though the forces of good were going to be defeated and then Eowyn could remember no more until waking here.
Arwen shook her head, completely bewildered as to what had happened as she fixed a quick sling from a scrap of material she tore from her dress.
"The Cruciatus curse is one of the three unforgivable curses and is strictly forbidden under ministry law." Hermione said with conviction, wondering why her eyes were closed. She opened them and then wished she hadn't as a blinding pain drove her to snap her eyelids closed again and instinctively curl into a ball, hands cradling her head which felt like it had just been hit by lightning.
"What did you say?" Elizabeth asked with curiosity, all five woken girls staring at the whimpering Hermione. "Are you alright?" Siri asked to which Buffy made a deriding noise.
Fleur, who was nearest to Hermione was also staring at the girl but with a different look to that of the other four girls. "I know this girl" she said, which caused Siri, Jaina, Buffy and Elizabeth to all turn their attention back to her. "She iz from Hogwarts" She pointed at the other similarly robed girl with fiery hair who was still out cold, "so iz she."
"What's Hogwarts? Some sort of disease?" Elizabeth asked.
"Perhaps," Fleur said with a distasteful look, "It iz a school."
Jaina, who had been observing the still whimpering Hermione with pity, hesitantly placed a hand on the young girls robed shoulder. She instantly pulled her hand back like it burnt as a searing pain blitzed through her brain and disappeared equally as quickly as it came when she removed her hand. "Ouch." She muttered.
