Here's chapter 2! I guess you have to 've read The Transall Saga to understand this, so I'm not expecting a huge response, but just want to have this uploaded if there is anybody who's interested… I also might come back in a couple years and read this, just to satisfy my curiosity.

Disclaimer: Don't own anybody or anything except for Sophia and James.

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The desert hadn't changed much in the past twenty years. But it felt like a lot more than twenty years to Mark, who hadn't been back since that fateful day when he was thirteen.

When the group had stopped for lunch, Mark decided to have a granola bar. Better not start the trip by grossing them out with a dead animal, he thought to himself. The others seemed slightly worn out from the hike and were taking advantage of the break. Mark, on the other hand, finished his bar and explored the cliff they stopped by. When he was out of sight, James turned to Karen.

"Is he really going to be okay without a sleeping bag or anything? I can lend him food, but what about things like a fresh pair of socks?"

"You know, I think he can handle himself. He's not stupid- how else could he be a highly respected doctor? I can tell he knows what he's doing." She replied.

"Okay. But seriously, he only has four granola bars and a bottle of water from his car. "

"He'll find a way to feed himself. If not, we have the emergence food we can give him."

James fell silent. Mark returned within a few minutes. He sat down on a nearby rock and rubbed his neck. The group decided it was time to continue. When Mark was younger, he didn't rush himself. Now, they only had three days to do what he was planning to in a week. He was older, so it evened out, but he couldn't do as much exploring of the land.

They stopped at a familiar canyon. It was the one Mark stayed in before, but about a kilometer south. The four of them dropped their bags while the sun was still up and set out the beds. Mark found a few patches of tall grass and ripped out handfuls. He laid it out as a bed near the others' beds then grabbed his backpack. He put it at one end to eventually use as a pillow, but picked it back up and pulled out a hunting knife.

"Guys, I'm going to go get some dinner. I'll be back soon half an hour at the most." He smiled at their confused faces then nodded when Sophia mumbled an acknowledgment. He brought the bag with him and went hunting.

The doctor found himself a squirrel. He started heading back to camp, and just as he was about to turn the corner to it, he stopped and watch with a surpized face as a bright beam of blue light appeared infront of him.

This isn't supposed to happen again. The chances are enormous. Mark ran around the light to the camp just in time to see several things happen at once. Karen just tripped and fell into the campfire, guaranteed to be burnt badly. The others, who were staring transfixed at the light, turned when they heard her cry of pain. Then, the whole scene turned blue as the light moved onto us. Home was all Mark thought as his world turned around.

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(A/N: you thought I was gonna stop it there, didn't you? Well, it would have been a great place to stop, but this is under six hundred words… soo…. I'll write more…)

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James, Sophia, and Karen groaned with the headache they were given. Mark had quickly recovered but his head was still throbbing. As soon as Karen sat up, she looked at her hands and arms, expecting to see markings of her recent -or very, very not recent- accident. Nothing was there. Her eyebrows shot up and she put a huge, confused smile on her face.

James and Sophia also sat up and looked right at her, then at me. Sophia was the first to notice the red plants and grasses. The desert was gone, replaced by what appeared to be a jungle. She gasped and closed her eyes, thinking this was just a dream.

"You're not imagining it. You're really here. Any the light fixed your burns, just like it fixed my snake bite the first time I came here." I quietly explained. "I spent years here when I was a teenager. This is my real home."

"What are you talking about? Where are we? There's nowhere on Earth like this, is there?" James said.

"When I was thirteen, I went on a hike through the Missile Range. The same beam of light appeared infront of me. As I watched it, a snake came up and bit me. I jumped up; I lost my balance and fell into it. I woke up about a kilometer from here."

"How did you get back?"

"Well, I didn't return for many years, but when I did, it was because the light appeared for me again. I never thought I would return."

James, Karen, and Sophia seemed to have calmed down, but still looked uneasy. Luckily they were quick to accept him as their guide. Mark looked behind them and saw that the only bag the light had brought was his own, probably because it was still on his back from the hunting trip. His headache was getting more bearable, and he could think clearer. He thought of the dark forest. It was only a few kilometers from here if he remembered correctly.

Mark stood up. "We should get a place to spend the night. I know a safe spot not far from here, but it's a bit of a walk. Three kilometers of thick bushes. "Let's hope it hasn't been too long since I was here last. I wonder if Willie is still alive.

The hikers followed Mark around quicksand and thorn bushes. When they passed through grassy clearings, the yellow sky was visible. They stopped a couple times to have some water and Mark broke one of the granola bars into quarters so everybody could have a bite.

Slowly, the forest began to change. The trees got taller with no low hanging branches but lots of vines and smooth trunks. The familiar sounds rushed onto Mark as he stepped through the trees. He could hear the monkey-bears in the distance. The red coloured leaves blocked out the sunlight like a roof, making it hard to see where they could step.

"This way. Just a couple more minutes. Step only where I do. Keep quick. Oh, and does everybody know how to climb a tree or rope?"

"Rope and trees. Why do you ask?" James said.

"Because we're going to be sleeping in trees tonight." Mark turned and carried on.

"Oh. Why didn't I think of that?" James mumbled to himself and followed, shaking his head disbelievingly.

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Well, the hike took a bit of a turn, didn't it? I know the chances say that this would never happen to Mark again, but it was necessary to the story :)

Let me know what you think

~Maux