Here you go everyone. Please read and review. :)

My Name is Brayden Miles

Journal Entry #2

Dear anyone,

This being my second journal entry you have come to the conclusion that no, I'm not dead. My unceremonious fall from the sky into a river did leave me unconscious. Once the current had released me I was alive for the most part. I figured that I was out cold for quite some time, but I had never expected to survive after that experience. I started to come to, realizing that I was out of the water as if by a miracle. My body felt heavy and drained, my lungs kicked in coughing up the large amount of water I swallowed. Taking in several gulps of air I was able to roll over a little so I didn't choke anymore than I had to. My chest felt like it had been kicked several times, so did the rest of me. Bits and pieces of my memory kept flashing back to what happened that led me to this point, my mind blank as to how I had gotten out of the water. But for right then it didn't matter.

I was completely soaked again, so much for the shower. The affects of the alcohol were now gone, and my stomach felt empty. I groaned and did my best to look around. It was still night time by the looks of things, the sound of the river at my feet was my first discovery. I tried to push myself up but my body was so sore that I couldn't move from the ground. What I could feel was the damp grass underneath me from me and my clothes, my frame shaking slightly after the rough ride and my skull still pounding from hitting the wall in my bathroom. I returned to my back and closed my eyes, taking shallow breaths, unable to do much of anything else for the moment. I could see what looked to be a very dense and oddly coloured forest behind me. From what I could tell it stretched up and down the river. I assumed it was on the other side as well even though I couldn't really see it. The sound of creatures I have never heard before were in the distance, which meant that I was safe, I hoped.

The first batch of questions circled my thoughts. 'Where was I?' was the immediate one; 'What brought me here?' was another. I knew I wasn't in the city, which was obvious. How I fell from the sky...ugh. I raised my hand and rubbed my aching temple as best as I could, letting my hand fall back onto the grass. Wherever I was wasn't home, and now I needed to figure out how to get back, or at least wake up from this vivid nightmare.

I sat up slowly when I began to hear an odd sound coming from the river. I held my side and groaned, feeling what seemed to be a large bruise forming from my lower back to my ribs. My breath hitched as I saw something moving in the water close to river bank, something big. I tried to move again, trying my best to be further away from the edge, but the sounds of the forest didn't sound very favourable either no matter how far away they were. My heart began to quicken in my chest, growing anxiety beginning to turn into panic. Something began to slowly rise out of the water. Whatever it was it very tall and long, like a serpent, making me turn as white as a sheet as I sat there. I tried to force myself up off the ground but my legs felt like deadweight, not wanting to move.

The huge creature continued to tower over me out of the water, it's lavender coloured scales somehow shining in the night. I could hear some splashing behind it, presuming that the other half of his scaly body remained in the river. I heard a low rumbling from his chest as it lowered its head towards me, making me freeze in place. All I could see was it's large eyes staring at me with a curious gaze, it's teeth large and looking rather sharp. I stared back at it, looking like a wounded, helpless animal, and I was its next meal. It exhaled through its nostrils, the warm breeze catching me by surprise and knocked me back down, causing me to grunt in pain. It let out a soft growl in response, making me go silent.

I heard something clattering onto the ground next to me. I looked over and saw what looked to be my wooden sword, wet and covered in some kind of sea grass. It seemed to have taken some damage from the river as well; some scratches were now etched in the blade, I assumed to be from some rocks. I reached for it and wrapped my fingers around the hilt, wiping off the wet debris. The serpent continued to look at me, wondering what I was going to do next. I sat up again, squinting to get a better look at the sea creature in the night, noticing that it had what looked to be hair on its head and a long goldenrod coloured moustache. Strange to find it on a serpent, but again, I didn't know that I would come face-to-face with something like this, real or imaginary.

"U-Uh...thanks." I croaked, my throat still not at its best from me screaming only moments before.

The creature snorted at me, lifted its head, and began to descend back into the depths of the river. My heart wanted to leap out of my chest as things grew quiet, my breathing was quick with alarm. I needed to get out of this place before something else wanted to come out and say hello and potentially try to eat me. It took several minutes to calm myself and get back on my feet. Not the best course of action giving my state, but I had no better option. My body wasn't used to this kind of strain, and I looked around to find some kind of path or direction to go. Noting the strange animal sounds, I found that it would be best to go a route away from that.

I looked down to find that I wasn't in the best shape when it came to my attire. My shirt and jeans were wet and somewhat torn, my feet bare except for my soaked socks. Trudging through a forest with nothing but my ripped clothing and damaged wooden sword didn't leave me in the best of chances for survival. I even checked my pockets, hoping that I had forgotten something in them while doing the laundry. Unfortunately I left everything in my other pants, damn.

I hobbled beside the river until I needed to enter the forest, my sword now acting like a walking stick supporting my weak limbs. The canopy of the trees opened up ahead of me and I saw what could be a moon shining above, lighting up the ground below. I stopped and looked up, gazing at the same odd pattern on the moon I had seen when I was home, the same horse silhouette looking down at me. At least that familiarity was comforting, even though it was strange seeing a similar, but different moon hanging above me.

I continued my trek, my socks and the bottoms of my jeans were covered in mud and twigs as I trudged deeper and deeper into the forest. How long I walked I couldn't tell, but my body was getting weak and hunger began to nag in the pit of my stomach. Surely I would find something nearby, possibly some berries to eat. If there were creatures in the forest, there must have been some kind of food. I did my best to ignore grumbling of my stomach and the pain that wanted to double me over, continuing my walk.

I found myself in a small clearing, looking at something that made me do a double take. I stood in front of a bunch of what looked to be apple trees. But these weren't any normal trees like the ones I knew. I could see in the moonlight their bark was smooth with a purple-brown tinge, their leaves were almost pitch black. But that wasn't the craziest part about the trees- it was the apples themselves. Contrasting the strange trees were these brightly coloured, rainbow-striped apples. I had never seen anything like it before. My stomach let out a resounding growl and I reached out and pulled one off a nearby branch, observing the oddities of the angled fruit right down to its jagged-looking stem. I rubbed it on my shirt and the stripes didn't seem to rub off. I gave it a sniff, it didn't smell like they were painted on which posed further questions. Nevertheless my hunger couldn't wait any longer and I took a bite, not giving it a thought that it might possibly be poisoned. By the way my stomach was feeling it didn't matter at this point.

I had never tasted anything that what this apple produced. It was sweet and savoury, more than a regular old apple. I chewed, the flavor all through my mouth as I swallowed. It made my mouth feel slightly tingly inside as it sated my hunger. I took a few more bites and quickly finished it, leaving nothing but a core. I felt a wave of the same sensation through my body, but it wasn't causing me anymore pain that I was already in. It was strange but it quickly faded away. The taste from the apple was so good that I pulled some more off the branches, only enough to carry in my free arm while the sword was holding me up. If I told someone that I had met a sea serpent, they wouldn't believe me. But if I was able to find home with these things, I know that I could prove at least something to be true about this whole thing, that is if this world was real and I find a way home.

I was going to sit down and begin to eat another of the strange apples when I heard a branch snap nearby. I stopped quickly and looked around, a low growl hitting my ears. This one sounded more deep and ferocious, with what looked to be yellow glowing eyes coming from the brush nearby the trees. I gulped and took a slow step back. The hairs on the back of my neck began to stand on end as I felt something breathing heavily behind me. I took a quick glance and realized that I met a silhouette of a creature, the same glowing yellow eyes piercing my very soul while the rest of its body was still shrouded in darkness.

"H-hi?" I stammered.

The large creature stepped on all fours out of the brush and into the moonlight. It was almost as big as a house completely made out of branches and other pieces of scrapped wood. It let out a loud howl, which made me drop my only form of sustenance and stare in terror. Its breath was pungent and foul, making me cover my face and cough in disgust, my stomach turning. Another one of same kind of monster took a step towards me, beginning to pin me between the both them. I dropped my hand and grasped the sword with both hands, holding it in front of me in defence as my body shook with fear. I had to make a break for it otherwise I was going to be into another world of hurt.

"E-Easy...let's not do anything that we would all regret." I said aimlessly to the monsters, as if they could understand what I was saying. I could hear more growling and more glowing eyes peering from the forest around me, which didn't bode well.

The second one howled, snapping me into attention as I gave one hard swing towards the one that was behind me, landing a blow on its muzzle. The move caused a sharp pain to rip through my side as I struck, my mind reeling and I did my best to ignore it. All I could see was pieces of wood fly off of the thing into the air, causing the monster to roar. I saw where the pieces fell, their outsides smouldering with a green aura, which I took it as my signal to run while the rest of the monsters seemed to be stunned for a moment by my action. My muscles burned as I did my best to sprint further into the forest. The group of wood creatures howled behind me, beginning their pursuit to chase me down. If I didn't find shelter or a place to hide soon, I was a goner.

I ducked and weaved as best as I could through the trees, the pain in my body becoming torture and agony. I held onto my sword for dear life, using it to beat some of the vines and branches that were in my way. I could hear the monsters behind me, heavy footfalls becoming louder as they were quickly catching up to me. Looking ahead, the forest seemed endless in the dark. I began to lose the last shred of hope I had left until I noticed something flickering in the distance. It could have been a light, or another monster who wanted to come and greet me. Taking my chances I changed direction and ran towards the faint glimmer.

That didn't seem to satisfy my pursuers as they were tracking me. Wherever I was headed, the monsters behind me didn't seem to like it. I could hear them yip and howl further and further away from me. But I didn't slow down, hoping that where I was headed was some sort of sanctuary or building. I may had found someone's house, or was going to be facing another encounter, either way it didn't matter. I wanted out of this freaky forest before I became someone's dinner for at least a few minutes. My legs wanted to give up on me, but I did my best to ignore it. The noise of the wood creatures became faint behind me, the light becoming my one chance of potential freedom.

Luck was finally in my favour as I burst out of the twisted treeline next to what looked to be a large hollow tree with windows carved in its trunk and a small round door in the front. I could see coloured bottles each varying in size strung up on some of the branches, which made me uneasy. A tribal mask was hanging above the door, painted in green and red, with some other masks strewn around the place. The tree seemed to be occupied, the light that I saw seemed to be coming from one of the windows. I was dizzy with fatigue as I tried to catch my breath, stumbling towards the tree. I couldn't hear the monsters anymore, which made me relieved.

The door was shorter than I expected, at least by a foot, but I knocked on the door, hoping that someone would answer as I collapsed onto the doorstep, shivering uncontrollably. I had finally found someone that may be able to help me. My vision began to blur as the door opened, seeing an oddly shaped figure above me as I fell back into unconsciousness.

When I began to come to my world was still a daze. I rubbed my eyes and opened them slowly. I didn't feel wet and cold anymore. The shivering stopped but my body was still in a lot of pain. Regardless I tried to sit up, smacking my forehead against wood which startled me. Everything went white for a split second and I rubbed my skull and muttered a curse. Today just didn't seem my day, no matter where I was. I shook my head and looked around, taking in my strange surroundings.

It seemed to had changed to day, the forest outside seemed to be brighter with light filtering in from the canopy. I found myself on a very small bed. From the knees down didn't even making it onto the spongy mattress. My head had rested on a small pillow and there was a thin blanket that covered my upper body that looked like it had a leopard print design. Whoever lived here was nice enough to lend me their bed, even though this person seemed to be small in stature. But I didn't judge, at least I could talk to this person to find out where I was.

The room was cramped thanks to my height and my feet extended into the next room which looked to be more open. I did my best to slowly move myself out of the bedroom, doing my best not to knock over anything. This stranger that took me in had a vast collection of different bottles and jars strewn all over the small bedroom. I was still sore, but at least I wasn't tired anymore. I rubbed my face and noticed my stubble had grown some more. Hopefully whoever lived here had a razor I could borrow.

When I finally got into the opened area of the next room, I wasn't wrong about the collection. There were shelves all around the circular room with jars and bottles, with some books and more of the tribal masks added to the decor. There were even some strange roots, herbs, and fruits growing here and there in between the walls. I stood hunched over, my head brushing the ceiling. I stayed to one side by the bedroom, praying that I didn't break anything. In the center of the room looked to be a cauldron, a sickly green liquid mixture cooking on top of a small fire. Whatever it was it didn't smell awful, but the look of it told me otherwise. At least the warmth of the fire made the room relatively comfortable.

My problem now was that I didn't see anyone around. Whoever saved me was away and I didn't have a clue what to do. At least those odd apples seemed to tide me over for now. I grunted in discomfort from standing and tried to sit down somewhere on the floor. I sat there quietly, unable to do much of anything. I reached for a book, hoping I could get some answers as to what this place was. But when I looked inside there was odd writing in a language I had never seen before. At least there were some pictures I could look at. It must have been a book on herbs because there was illustrations of various plants that I couldn't make out or had seen on Earth.

As I put the book back I hit a bottle nearby. I did my best to catch it but it hit the floor with a crash, breaking into small pieces. Fortunately it was empty, but I still felt bad that I destroyed someone's property. I heard a noise coming from outside. I guess I startled an animal or something, hopefully not one as big as the things I met last night. I shuddered at the thought and heard multiple light footfalls coming closer. I hoped that it was my rescuer, but it sounded that there was more than one person coming in. The door swung open and I was met with a peculiar sight.

There at the door was a creature that looked to be a small horse. No, not a horse, possibly a pony. The black, white and grey markings on it made me think zebra as my next guess. It had the same kind of mane and tail, but it was smaller and the patterns on its coat were not like normal zebras. What surprised me that it had gold earrings and bangles around its neck and one of its front legs. It looked at me with azure blue eyes, another questionable feature not normal to zebras. It walked in slowly with pouches strapped on either side of its body, giving me a once over while I looked back at it. I stayed in place, not wanting to startle the animal, my back giving me some grief from sitting still. I glanced behind it, hoping that I would find another human around, but it was only the zebra. I sighed, letting out another groan. The animal continued to look at me.

"I guess your master isn't around yet, huh?" I said softly.

The zebra snorted at me. I blinked in surprise as it pulled off what it was carrying, opening up one of the flaps with its nose. I watched in amazement as it seemed to know what its doing, carefully pulling out some kind of oddly shaped plants with its mouth that I had seen out of the book I saw. I had never seen that kind of behaviour before from watching animals on my computer, especially in horses. It moved over to the cauldron and dropped the plant into the liquid. There was a small puff of blue smoke that rose out of the pot and dissipated. The zebra looked in my direction, neighing at me.

"What is it?" I asked.

The zebra snorted again, looking up next to me. I followed its gaze, seeing a small wooden spoon hanging there. I grabbed it, moving slowly and held it in front of the animal. The zebra took the handle in its mouth and began to stir. Never did I see something like this before. Maybe this was all part of a circus act? Was this animal trained to do something like this? I watched stunned as the zebra continued to stir. It took out a portion of the odd liquid and poured into a large bowl. It continued to do so until the bowl was almost full. The zebra nickered at me, nudging the bowl with its hoof. The liquid swirled inside, a bubble popping on the surface that made my stomach knot. The animal whinnied at me, watching me.

"What?" I asked, staring at the zebra with mild disbelief. It nickered again, nudging the bowl now with its nose. "You want me to drink that?"

The zebra pushed the bowl in my direction, looking up at me. I took the bowl in my hands, cringing at the liquid. Another bubbled popped, making me want to look away in disgust. "Well, here goes nothing." I said aloud, closing my eyes and began to drink. I swallowed a big gulp of the stuff, tasting something bitter in the warm, pulpy liquid that made me sputter and cough. My chest pained in protest as I tried to catch my breath, shuddering as the stuff hit my stomach. I took a few moments to compose myself, the zebra watching me with a calm gaze; it was almost unsettling.

"Ugh...whatever this stuff is, it doesn't seem to have done anything." I commented setting the bowl down.

And that's when I heard another voice, it was female, and somewhat foreign. "Ah, but it seems to have done the trick, the problem that I was trying to fix."

I froze, looking around the room, not seeing anyone. I blinked several times. "Who's there? Whoever you are please come out." I called. But no one appeared.

"What do you mean? It's just us two. I'm standing right in front of you."

The gears in my head began to turn. I looked and only found the zebra, still staring back at me with its head tilted to one side. I took a moment, thinking. 'No, it couldn't have been the zebra, that's impossible...'

And then the zebra open its mouth, the voice I heard before coming from its direction. "It is I that you do see. My name is Zecora. Who might you be?"

If my jaw could unhinge and hit the floor it would have done so. I sat there stunned, my mind not comprehending what had just been said straight from the horses mouth, pun intended. The zebra, calling itself Zecora, took a few steps towards me, her hooves tapping lightly on the floor. I cowered against the wall, some of the jars clinking together behind me.

"S-Stay back." I said, my fear enunciated in my tone. All I could think of was whatever I drank just then was some kind of hallucinogen.

"Don't be alarmed, no need for fear. Nothing will harm you while you are here." she said, trying to reassure me.

My head began to feel fuzzy, shaking my head to force myself to stay focused. I wasn't going to pass out now. There had been too many moments of me doing that already. I began to think it out: here I was, sitting in a strange tree hut with a talking zebra. A zebra who was now trying to calm me down before I started a freak out. And right now, I was getting to that point, and fast.

.o~End of Journal Entry #2~o.

End of another chapter, tell me what you think.