?/?/? – Nighttime

I found an empty journal in the backpack I was carrying! I don't know what I was thinking of not looking into it sooner, but I had other things on my mind. I got bored later and decided to check if anything was inside, and there was! I found a few pencils, tons of drawing essentials, and a couple of notebooks. I checked each one to see if there was something inside them, but nothing. So, I'm putting them to good use.

I don't know what I'll exactly put in here, and I might not write much inside this thing, but I'd rather record my progress then just keep it to myself. Besides, I'm bored.

For a few hours, the creature and I flew around in the sky. I tried to see what its face looked like, but I didn't want to risk falling off it so I didn't attempt to do so. There wasn't much for me to do other than to think about where I was and what was going on, but I didn't want to think about it so I tried to daydream about eating candy corn instead.

I could practically taste it in my mouth…

I didn't find out much, however. As we flew around, all I saw in the distance were trees, mountains, and more rivers. Nothing to exactly find out where I was, which stinks of course. I think though that I must be getting closer to the sea since rivers and lakes were getting more frequent around the area.

The pain in my head didn't vanish completely, but has since slowly dimmed…

The pencil lied still on the paper as I looked at the word "dimmed". Somehow that struck a chord with me because I could feel a tinge of sadness in my body. I don't know why exactly since I still couldn't remember a single thing about my past, but the word just brought me despair.

The breeze around me almost made it impossible to write as the paper flapped away, so I closed the notebook and hurriedly put it in my bag which contained a few notebooks, pencils, and a few drawing supplies which I probably won't ever need. I don't know why my kidnappers would still let me keep it if they were trying to get rid of me unless they had no need for it either.

I know that it might not have been kidnappers who did this. Maybe I just somehow woke up in the sky, or just tripped off an airplane, or something else I can't think of yet. Kidnappers though seem to make the most sense though, so I guess I'm sticking with that logic instead.

I'm still wondering if the bag I hold is my school backpack. I know for a fact that I'm twelve, so I must have attended school before I came here. I don't know why I would only bring three notebooks to school though.

Slinging the straps over my shoulders, I sat quietly as the wind blew by me. The moon looms in the distance as it shines its rays on me. It looks like a normal Earth moon, but I've never seen creatures like the one I'm sitting on that have ever lived on Earth.

Whatever the case is, I'm glad the creature likes me or somewhat cares about me since it hasn't flung me aside ever since I accidentally landed on it. It could have just turned around and let me fall, but it either purposefully went out of its way to save me, or I just somehow landed onto it with the greatest luck in the world.

I don't think I ever thanked it for stopping me from falling, which seems a bit rude of me. I might not remember who my parents are, but I bet they taught me to learn good manners. I should have thanked it the moment I landed onto it, and here I am just writing down random stuff without even thinking about the animal.

So, I carefully turn around and get near its circular-shaped ear, covered in fluffy fur. I struggle to find the right words to say, and I don't even know if this thing can understand human language, but I open my mouth and force it out anyway.

"Hey," I croak out, realizing I've never spoken up until this point, "I don't know if you can understand this… but I wanted to say thanks… for saving me from falling to my death."

I don't expect it to do anything, but shockingly it's eyes move up, staring at me. My blood ran ice cold as I stare back at its warming eyes. I didn't even expect it to notice me, so now that it did, I instantly decided not to move an inch. We don't do anything but look at each other silently. I don't know how it's not crashing into anything while it does this, but I guess there aren't a lot of obstacles in the sky.

The creature looks down after staring at me for a concerningly long time. I try not to sigh in relief as that would be rude and again… good manners. It was very cool and worrying that the creature did in fact respond, and now I wonder if it can actually understand me.

Before I can stop myself, I start speaking to it again.

"Do you… understand me in some way?"

The creature looks up again, and while I take great care not to get to close to its eyes, I could see something in them. Something comforting that I can't quite place. Even if I can't tell what it is, its eyes relaxed me and made me almost forget about the thousand feet fall I had earlier.

"It seems like you can," I say, "so are you okay if I just stay on you for a little bit longer before I find a safe place to drop? If that's okay with you of course."

It didn't respond, but continued flying without shaking me off, which felt like a good sign at least.

Seeing as the animal wouldn't kill me or fling me off its… back or head, I continued talking to it since no one else was around for me to make conversation with. Even though it didn't respond, only occasionally glancing up at me, it felt good to talk about the things on my mind.

"Do you know where we are exactly?" I asked, "I mean I've bet you've lived here for a while, so you must know the different towns and stuff right?"

It glanced up at me for a bit before looking down and continuing to glide through the air.

"In fact, how long have you lived here" I continued, "I don't really know how you work… like, what's your anatomy like? How do you fly? Do you travel alone or in groups?"

The ears of the animal perked up the moment I asked the last question. It glanced back up at me with its huge eyes as the wind blew around us.

"Oh," I say, "You travel in a group?"

A moment passed before the animal looked down and started to make a sound I can't describe. Whatever sound it made pierced through the air and around the land. I had to cover my already sore ears to try and partially block out some of the sounds. It muffled some of it, but I could hear the loud high-pitched hum the creature made as we continued to fly wherever we were going at this point.

Then there was silence. The only thing I could sort of hear were the birds darting off the trees in a panic due to the noise. Other then that though, the animal was silent, looking around with its eyes for something. I didn't say a word either, maybe in shock that the creature was capable of making a sound, or in curiosity trying not to disturb whatever it would do next.

Then I heard it making the sound again, except it didn't come from the animal that I was on. Shocked, I turned around to see…

Another one of those things?!

Right beside us was another type of orb-like animal, the same color fur, same floppy ears, same wavy tail. It must have been the same animal because it looked exactly like the one I was on. I watched as it continued the make the noise coming from its mouth and trying my best to block it out.

Not even three seconds later, another one appeared right beside me. I almost stumbled back in surprise until I remembered where I was and latched onto the animal's fur. There were two of them now, which must mean others are coming soon.

Just on cue, more of them did come, flying right overhead and making a louder sound then I can even comprehend. Huge yellow orbs surrounded us as we flew above the woods, and deeper into the night. It kind of sucked for my ears, but it actually was really cool to see all of these other "orbs" flying around, which is what I will now call them since they looked like orbs flying and calling them creature and animal doesn't seem right anymore.

They probably have a more legit name for them in this world, but I haven't made it there yet.

Anyway, the orbs flew perfectly in synch with each other as we traveled through the air. None of them broke apart from one another, and whenever an orb did move somewhere different, the entire fleet moved right with them.

"I guess this answers my question huh?" I say looking down at the orb I was currently on.

It didn't respond, but I could notice the slight smile it had on its mouth.

I don't know if they know where they're going, or if they're just flying around because why not, but deep inside my gut, I believed that they somehow do, and hopefully that place allows me to find some help.

There wasn't really much I could do except watch in awe at the orbs. None of them seemed to pay much attention to me as they were focused flying around.

Except for one playful one with a black streak of fur that came way to close to my face then I would like it to be. It had a very shiny and excited look in its eyes as it examined me closely. I didn't know how to respond so I just reached out slowly to touch the black streak of fur that it had, which contrasted very much to rest of the yellow fur.

I touched the soft streak of black fur and immediately thought I was done for due to the Orb shaking slightly. Clenching my teeth, I braced for the orb to crash into me, only to hear it making some sort of sound. It seemed to like it, as there was a sort of dreamy look in its eyes as I softly petted it. I made sure to pet the orb softly while holding onto tightly to the orb I was still on.

For a few moments, time was freezing as my hand glided across the fur of the animal. It was so soft, and there was so much of it too. I almost didn't want to let go until eventually, he flew off to join some of his orb buddies, but the warmth and the softness of the fur still lingered on the top of my fingertips. I didn't move a muscle as I watched the colony of orbs soar silently together. They almost looked majestic in the moonlight.

Without thinking, I quickly pulled out my notebook, grabbed a few pencils and pens, and started to sketch the orbs around me. It wasn't hard since they had a simplistic design, but I took great care to try and capture every detail I could. The floppy ears, the wavy tail, the huge eyes.

The fur was the hardest part as I drew more and more of the orb. Everything else was simple, but I wanted to try and make the fur feel special. I curved and softened the lines to make the fur feels just as soft as it was in real life. I tried to mix in a lot of patches of fur, while also having single detailed pieces. I even decided to add a black streak to the orb in the first page of the entire notebook.

It almost felt impossible to do it with the wind blowing in my face, and it almost was, since I had to rip out multiple pages and fling them aside. However, I managed to actually finish on the sixth try.

It felt good to see the drawings. Even though it was drawings from this place, it somehow reminded me of the world before this, the world before I could fly with orb-like creatures.


The misty moon shined brightly above the city of Trolberg, casting an ominous type of aura onto the streets. The neighborhoods were dead silent as the night passed over them, with most citizens already turning into bed after a hard day. Some of the critters around the city quickly and efficiently found a place to hole into for the night, while others just sat outside and watched the stars move on by.

Hilda was in her bedroom, watching the same brightly lit stars from her window. There wasn't enough light out tonight to conceal them. As a result, millions of stars were sprinkled in the night, some of them brighter than others, but all of them yet the same. If it was anyone else looking at them, they might have taken a picture, or just admired them from afar.

However, Hilda wasn't just admiring them, she was studying them closely, seeing if there was any pattern to be held within the stars. She didn't own a telescope or binoculars, so she resorted to just watching them very closely, counting how many stars seemed to be out of place from the rest. It seemed like an impossible task, but Hilda continued to do so anyway, not being able to shake the words the old lady said from her head.

"BEWARE OF THE FALLING STAR HILDA! IT WILL COME AN BRING YOU MIS-"

The words continued to echo in her mind, even when she attempted to fall asleep. Hilda knew that it could have just been some old loon spewing out nonsense, but then why did she have such sadness and sorrow in her eyes? Hilda could have sworn she had seen it, even when they were running away from her, Hilda could see it clearly in her old worn eyes.

There were other things that Hilda thought were weird too. Everybody hated somethings, but Hilda could tell that the women had an unusual hatred for birds. The broken birdhouse, the ripped-up bird parade poster thrown onto her front porch. Even the bird bath was shattered and strewn across the lawn. Hilda also could remember the woman using a broom to try and chase her and her friends away. She couldn't have only used that to shoo away children, right? She must have used that broom for other things besides cleaning.

Which seemed like she never did, due to the fact that her house was a complete and utter mess.

As the clock ticked on by, Hilda continued to star gaze. The stars never moved, but they twinkled in the darkness.

A part of Hilda tinged with sadness as she watched the sky. It reminded her too much of her old home in the wilderness. Seeing all the brightly lit stars conjured up memories of when she used to see millions of them in her old home. She could remember opening her window and watching the stars brightly light up the forest below as woffs drifted on by.

More memories appeared in her mind as she thought of all the things she used to do. While Trolberg was a fine place to be, the wilderness was always Hilda's true home. Far away from everyone, doing her own thing, having her own adventures. She's learned to adapt to her new life in Trolberg quite well in the past year, but there was still some part of her that urged to be in the forest again.

Maybe one day she would return, maybe one day she could find herself running around in the place she could call home.


Everything was dark again, and I could feel kind of woozy. My mind was spinning in tons of different directions as pressure increased in my smashed head. I couldn't open my eyes, they were so heavy it felt like trying to lift a fuel tanker. I felt weary, and everything was just a mess. Everything hurt. Everything was very hurt.

Maybe I fell off the orb, and I landed on some rocks, I thought, Or maybe the orb thing got tired of me and started to eat me alive.

I probably should have been more alert and terrified of this feeling I now had. However, I felt so warm, everything was so warm. I must have been wrapped in a blanket it was so warm. I could feel myself slipping from something, I don't know what it was, maybe my bed? Maybe I was back home and very sick, all of that stuff about the orbs and falling through the sky? Just a dream. I knew it was a dream, I just didn't trust my gut at first.

I attempted to call out to my parents, they must have been monitoring me right? They wouldn't let their sick son get worse right, because that was what I was feeling. Much, much worse now.

I felt something warm dripping down my nose, maybe snot? It tickled then, it tickled my skin on the way down to my mouth. It felt like it was pricking me but making me laugh every time. I need a napkin, it feels so gross, and thick. The snot feels warm and thick, and it's dripping down, down, down.

It's… dripping…

I snapped my head back up so fast I'm pretty sure I almost broke a bone. The weary feeling I once had instantly vanished when my eyes popped open, and I could feel the pressure in my head cease away. Everything was cold again, no longer warm like in my dream, but that was okay because I just realized how much I preferred the cold over the heat. Much better keep yourself occupied with something else other than sweating.

None of the other orbs that were flying with us last night were there, they all have seemed to have gone by the time I passed out. The only orb that was still present was the one I was sitting on, who also seems to be very content with letting me stay on him. I don't know how it puts up with me, considering I'm sweating on him, sitting on his head, touching his fur. If I was him I would probably be annoyed at this point, but this guy looks okay with everything I've done so far, so I'll be as grateful as I can.

Rubbing my eyes, I looked around to realize that the sun has risen. The moon was still faintly visible in the sky, but the sun was coming up and getting rid of all the stars that once occupied the area. The orange glow cast onto the land below, reaching me and the flying orb quickly. The warm rays it produced almost made me moan with pleasure since my frozen fingers were finally getting heated up.

I love the cold, but sometimes heat can be a lifesaver.

The feeling didn't stop though. As the sun continued to warm me up, I could feel something hot dripping down my nose, just like my dream, only this time it felt really thick and big. It tickled my skin and annoyed me to the point where I used the sleeve of my jacket to wipe some of the snot away.

Only it wasn't snot, it was blood. A lot of blood.

I've never experienced a nosebleed before, so this should have been a cool thing to witness. However, I was panicking the moment I saw the red outline on my jacket. I touched the bottom of my nose with my finger and pulled it away to find deep red liquid running down my nails. My body shook as I felt more of the blood run down my nose.

I was shaking, my body was moving an awful lot, way too much for my comfort. I had no idea what to do other than to cover my nose with my hand, but that would just make a bigger mess and cause the orb to have blood on its fur. Not to mention I could get blood on my notebooks and bag.

So, I tried the next best thing, my jacket. It did keep me warm, but besides the notebooks, it was the second most expendable thing on me. I quickly took the thing off and place it right under my nose. I couldn't breathe through it, but I could breathe with my mouth, so at least I wasn't suffocating myself to death. The jacket effectively stopped the blood from dripping down, however, I had to constantly hold it with one hand and use the other to keep myself steady on the orb or I would fall off.

Either way though, it was better than nothing.

I carefully moved myself over to the backpack I had to see if there was a gauze, or napkins, or towels that might have been hiding somewhere deep inside to help me stop the bleeding. There was nothing, only the notebooks sitting there quietly.

Now that I think about it, I might have to report this onto my journal when I get the chance.

It was hard to move around with the jacket blocking half of my vision, so I had to carefully maneuver my way around the orbs body. Which was hard because it was, well… you know… an orb. I somehow managed though and was able to hold on with my jacket 12 inches deeper into my nose. I couldn't see much of the area very well, but I was able to watch the sun continue to rise, no longer producing an orange glow, and instead making a bright yellow aura. This must have been signaling that the day had finally come.

Countless thoughts flowed through my mind, but I chose to ignore them. I wasn't going to get any answers anyway until I found another town, or home, or even a city. Until then though, I'm stuck In the sky.

"I wonder how much longer I'm going to have to stay in this place," I said silently.

No one was around to hear me, except the orb who didn't respond anyway, but I was afraid to say it out loud. I don't know why, but I just had a sinking feeling appearing in my stomach. With me falling from the sky to having my nose bleed and my head in constant pain, I felt like this could be more than a kidnapping.

Although the question still arises, what is really going on?

I thought on the question for hours. As the sun rose higher in the sky, I pondered on everything that happened. My nose kept bleeding and didn't show any sign of stopping. Although the jacket helped, I was half tempted to fling it aside. It was annoying to have to hold it up all the time and have to cling onto the orb as well. I didn't have anything else to stop the bleeding other than my backpack and notebooks, which I wasn't going to do, and there was no way I was about to use the fur of this poor guy to try and block the bleeding.

So, my nose continued to bleed as we flew around the air. I kept my eyes peeled for any types of structures or buildings in the distance, but yet, I found nothing. No cities, or towns, not even cabins in the woods. It seemed like there was nothing but wilderness for thousands and thousands of miles. I wanted to keep my hopes up, but eventually, I started to worry about my situation.

Was I really alone?

That's what I thought for a while as the hour ticked by…

Until I finally spotted something.

We were low toward the forest, so it was kind of hard to see over the mountains, but I could have sworn I saw a tower. Maybe a skyscraper? Just a really tall building? What was it?

Maybe we were close to a city!

"Hey, bud!" I called out to the orb below, "Can we speed up? I think I saw something!"

The orb appeared to ignore me but I noticed a quick change in speed. It was going faster, to the point where the forest below us became a blur. The wind started to pick up, and before I knew it we were flying upward. Confused, I attempted to ask the orb why we were going up until I realized we would get a better look high above the mountains. That made a lot more sense than just flying it to whatever this place was, so I decided to clutch tightly onto the orbs fur and prayed silently that he wouldn't let me fall to my death.

Cold air surrounded me in an instant. My backpack was tightly secured on my back, but I glanced every so often to make sure it didn't fly off me. My jacket flapped widely with the breeze and hit me multiple times in the face. I could still feel my nose pouring out with warm red blood. I looked down quickly to find myself way higher then I'd like to be. The idea that orbs could go this high up into the sky never crossed my mind before.

It was getting colder, to the point where I regretted not using my jacket to protect me. The only piece of warmth I found myself with was my bloody nose heating up the skin above my mouth. The wind rushed by me at a ridiculous pace. Did orbs fly this fast? I thought they just glided through the air?

Then, all at once everything stopped.

It was cold, but there was no more wind. I felt the orbs fur, but it was no longer moving. I could feel the blood on my skin, but it was no longer pouring out of my nose. It seemed like time stopped for just a moment. I took that moment to open my eyes.

There was a city, a huge city filled with buildings and towers. There appeared to be skyscrapers in the middle of everything, except that they had slanted roofs on the tops of them instead of flat ones. Toward the edge of the city, the buildings became smaller, almost like houses. Then there were the walls, that spammed hundreds of miles surrounding the city. It enclosed the entire area inside it, towering over the neighborhoods and parks.

My eyes were tearing up, my vision blurred. I couldn't even feel the orbs fur anymore as I watched the city in front of me. It was huge, there had to be people living there. Someone could help me! I didn't even care about any of the strange qualities the city held, like the huge wall, and the slanted roofs on the towers. All I cared about was getting there instantly.

"We need to get there," was all I said, "We have to get their buddy."

He didn't even hesitate and quickly started to fly toward the huge city towering over the land.


I'M NOT THROUGH WITH THIS THING YET!

So yeah, here's another chapter for the four people that read this. Hope you all enjoy it!