Chapter 5: Welcome to Gorm

Nick and Toby both turned towards the pool circle when it began to glow. The glow flew straight up into the air in a pulse like if it was going to hit the ceiling. 'Glad it didn't,' thought Nick. 'Otherwise, we'll be in trouble with whoever lives here.'

Going from the top to the bottom of the place, the boys went down the shorter set of steps towards the portal where its glow continued to shine amongst the crystals.

"What is that?" Toby questioned the glow. "It seems to be-"

"Calling us?" interrupted Nick, studying the specks of light from the pulse glow. "I'm not sure. It doesn't seem to be."

Toby decided to place his hand into the pool-circle. He felt it was a bit silly doing it but still, he didn't had a choice. It felt a bit hallow as a pool would usually be but it didn't seem to end. 'Strange,' he thought. 'I've never seen a pool with an infinite end. How odd,'

Nick turned towards Toby with a serious look on his face. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking of?"

"That we should go in?"

"NO!" Nick was immediately thinking about his answer and rapidly grabbed Toby's shoulder. "There's no telling what might be in there!"

Toby let himself free from Nick's grasp and went back a couple of step. "So? It might be exciting! Come on, let's go!"

But once again, Nick shook his head in frustration. "I don't believe it's right for us to go in when we don't know anything about it." He began to head towards back to the books. "We should carry on finding out where we are."

Toby sighed in annoyance. Why waste time reading books when there's adventure just around the corner? After all, that's why he and Nick are here, right? The place that there were in now could be the start of something exciting so by going through that pool-circle, a extraordinary thing could happen.

He once again placed his hand in the pool-circle while Nick grabbed another book.

"Hmmm. It says here that this was an ancient place discovered by-"

Nick suddenly heard a scream when he began his first sentence.

"Toby?"

Nick swiftly turned his head in shock before he noticed his older brother was gone.

Racing down to the pool-circle in a panic, he noticed that the pulse glow was still there. Nick's heart was pounding every second. He was the youngest but Toby was the oldest and his mind was racing where he could be. Could he be back up in the pantry? No, he wouldn't dare to that. Then the only place Nick could think of is…

Oh no…

His gut feeling was telling him that Toby went into the pool-circle thing while he wasn't looking. Nevertheless, if he was going to find his brother it would have to be…in there.

With a deep breath through his lungs, Nick dived into the pool-circle, hoping to find Toby there.

Nick opened his eyes as soon as he heard a thump, assuming it was him landing down. He carefully kneeled up on both knees and amazement went to his face when he looked around.

He was no longer in the aquamarine place anymore but rather a forest. The forest had tall, strong trees with bushy green leaves on every top. The floor beneath Nick was a sandy colour probably filled with dirt which little bits of dusty brown between the sandy ones. The sky was the usual blue colour although it was covered by the rest of the green trees.

Nick was in awe by the beautiful scenery. But this was no time to take into the view; he needed to find Toby. And fast!

The problem was he didn't know where to begin, so he decided to call for him first.

"Toby! Toby! It's me Nick. Can you hear me?"

No reply.

Right. So, the only way he could do now is to find him through the forest he just landed in.

Calling out Toby's name, Nick paced himself speedily making sure he didn't trip over anything that he couldn't see such as twigs, stones. Especially boulders.

After a while, Nick must have though he was running around in circles considering that it was a particular big forest but he finally stopped after running for the twentieth time.

Sitting down on a tree stump, Nick took a couple of second to take a breather and check his pulse. He knew it was important to do this, especially if it mean a long journey trying to find Toby.

After a minute, he decided to try again but before he started running…

"Nick!"

Nick's ears pricked up the sound of a voice. "Toby?"

"Yes! It's me! I'm over here!"

Surprised by the sound of his brother's voice, Nick began to race forward, still calling Toby's name.

"I'm here!" Toby was frantically waving behind one of the bushes that appeared while Nick was doing his first search. Noticing his older brother, Nick ran towards the bush and gently pulled him out, leaving no twigs or sticks everywhere.

Toby brushed himself off and gave his brother a hug. "Thanks! I thought I was lost here for good!"

Nick smiled. "I'm honestly relieved to see you. But pleased don't do that again,"

Toby patted Nick's shoulder. "I won't," he suddenly turned around, admiring the scenery. "Do you have any idea where we are?"

Nick took a couple of steps into the middle of the forest. "I'm not sure." He gave a wiggle of his glasses so he could see the view of the forest a little bit closer. "But from what I can guess, we're defiantly not on Earth anymore."

Now it was Toby's turn to be confused. "What do you mean 'we're not on Earth anymore?' It just looks like a normal forest to me."

Nick pointed his finger towards the sky. "Does this look normal to you?"

Toby shielded his and noticed another tree that Nick was pointing at. However, unlike the other trees, this one was humongous, almost reaching the sky and the clouds with its leafy top.

"You're right. It's not a normal tree, so why-?"

Nick quickly placed a finger on his brother's lips. "Shush! I think someone's coming! We better hide!"