As Gwen fell through the portal, she went from feeling weightless to suddenly having a sinking feeling in her stomach. She crashed on the ground which appeared to be at the top of a hill. She rolled down the hill and felt a slicing pain on her upper left arm, probably from a rock or branch.
"Damn it!" Gwen screamed as she stopped rolling once she reached the bottom of the small hill. She clutched her the wound on her left arm with her right hand. She sat up and observed her surroundings. It appeared she was in a forest. The trees were the tallest she had ever seen and the trees grew close together. The vines from many trees were intertwined. The forest gave Gwen an odd feeling that made her stomach churn.
She took a moment to look at her wound. It wasn't that deep but it probably needed stitches. Whenever Gwen slightly moved her arm a shooting pain worked its way over the left side of her body.
'Where the hell am I?' Gwen thought to herself. After she screamed, Gwen realized that she had no idea if anyone else was in the forest, enemy or friend. She did not want to draw attention to herself so she decided to make as little noise as possible. Gwen's mind was confused but she knew that she had to focus on her safety first and foremost.
One moment she had been retrieving a ball that her fiance's nephew had thrown. As she was picking up the ball she saw a glimpse of light and walked towards it. The next moment she was tumbling down the hill. None of this made sense. Gwen was a practical person, she did not believe in magic. Her upbringing had made her focus on survival and practicality, she tried to use reason to analyze the situation.
'Maybe this is a detailed dream or I tripped when retrieving Jamison's ball and I'm hallucinating' Gwen frantically thought. Gwen was from Chicago, Illinois. She was engaged to a man named Tommy. Tommy had a similar upbringing to Gwen. Both of their father's had lived on the wrong side of the law so they were forced to be tough and to never show fear. Gwen had learned how to break a man's nose by the time she was 10 and when she turned 14 she started carrying a switchblade. By the time Tommy was 10 he had already headbutted a cop or two.
Gwen and Tommy had taken his nephews to a park in a small town outside of Chicago, as a sort of birthday celebration for Gwen; she had turned 21 the day before. Plus it was the start of a new decade, 1920. That was excuse enough for a celebration. Unfortunately this celebration had somehow landed Gwen in this strange forest.
Gwen started rummaging through her coat pocket and was glad to find that she hadn't forgotten her handkerchief that morning. She also had her switchblade. This gave her comfort. If someone approached her she could try to defend herself. She could also use the blade to hunt small animals if she needed to. She could use her handkerchief to bind the cut on her arm but she needed to clean it first.
She did not see a stream or puddle anywhere but she could hear the sound of water moving. Gwen picked herself up and began slowly walking towards the sound of water, observing her surroundings along the way. She looked at the overgrown trees and vegetation, she listened to the forest. It seemed alive in a strange way but she heard no birds or animals crawling about.
After a five minute walk she reached a murky looking pond. She looked at her reflection. Her shiny black hair was ragged looking and her green eyes looked irritated. As usual, her face was a picture of seriousness. Tommy said that Gwen was stunning when she smiled a genuine smile, not the polite or sarcastic smile that usually graced her lips. Her genuine smiles were few and far between however.
She cupped her hand and filled it with water from the pond. She used the water to clean the cut on her arm. The cut stung as she cleaned it but she was glad to clean the dried blood off of her skin. She then tied her handkerchief around her arm. She was parched, but the feeling the forest gave her convinced Gwen not to drink the water.
As she was staring at her reflection in the water, she heard the branches of trees crunch and crack behind her. She froze, her heart was in her throat. She slowly stood up and turned around. She pulled her switchblade out of her coat pocket. If it was a wild boar her knife wouldn't do too much damage to the boar, but it was better than nothing. But the cause of the sound wasn't a wild boar.
It was a spider. Not the spider that Gwen saw on her kitchen floor in the summer or in the park where she played with Tommy's nephews. It was a giant spider. It was taller and wider than a horse. Gwen almost vomited; she was so afraid. She abandoned the idea of facing the animal head on with her knife and decided to run.
She let out a scream as she began to run. She had no idea where she was going. She could hear the stomping of the giant spider legs behind her. Suddenly another giant spider appeared in front of her, and another to her left. She was trapped!
She raised her switchblade. "If you think that I'm going to lie down and die you gotta another thing coming you sons a bitches!" Before the fight began one of the spiders gasped in pain. Gwen realized an arrow was shot in the spider's eye. 'A bow and arrow? What century is this?' Gwen wondered. All of a sudden several figures jumped out of the trees that carried swords and bows and arrows. They began to fight and kill the spiders. Gwen was stunned. The unknown warriors moved like angels and they had pointy ears, yet they were the most beautiful creatures that she had ever seen.