She wasn't there. Just Matt and Leo, alone in this strange wilderness.
They walked aimlessly, brushing aside vines and branches, trying to make sense of the last few hours or however long it had been.
"Are you sure you didn't see her when you woke up?" Leo asked, stepping over a root.
"The only face I saw was yours," Matt muttered. "And let me tell you, it wasn't exactly a comforting sight. No El. No angelic beauty. Just you and your ugly face."
"Do you think… she woke up somewhere else?"
Leo already had a nagging suspicion. One he didn't want to voice. Maybe she had woken up earlier and left them.
"I hope not," Matt replied.
They pressed on in silence until a sudden rustling snapped them to attention.
Something was moving in the bushes.
It wasn't the wind. It was too quick. Too deliberate.
They grabbed the nearest sticks and rocks they could find, hearts pounding, breaths shallow.
The noise came closer. Closer.
Then—BAM!—a blur of white fur leapt from the brush, and they screamed like terrified toddlers, throwing everything they were holding.
They cracked open their eyes, bracing for doom… only to see a rabbit?
Or what looked like a rabbit.
It had oversized ears almost like wings. Definitely not an ordinary woodland creature.
"What the heck is that?" Matt asked, voice shaking.
But before they could process the odd little thing, more rustling came. Heavier. Bigger.
The rabbit if it could still be called that wasn't charging them. It was running from something.
It skidded to a stop, wide-eyed and twitching as it stared at them.
Then, without warning, a hand shot out from behind and snatched it by its wing-like ears.
"El?" Matt and Leo said in unison, still crouched in fear.
She stood there casually, bunny dangling from one hand, a kitchen knife in the other.
"Oh good, you're awake," she said, as if they were just in her backyard and not in some mystical forest. "Who's hungry?"
After that event...
They camped where El had found them. She gutted the bunny expertly, her hands moving with strange precision.
"Tried waking you guys up, but neither of you budged," she explained. "So, I went out to explore. Found this little thing and had to chase it all over. Got lucky it ran back toward you and stumbled. That's when I caught it."
Matt sighed in relief. "Honestly, I thought you might have woken up somewhere else."
El didn't look up as she worked. "I was gonna come back once I caught it. Turns out, luck's on our side. You both woke up right on time."
Leo glanced at Matt, who looked at her with stars in his eyes like she was some survivalist goddess.
Yeah, right. Leo wasn't buying it. Not fully.
The sun was setting, casting golden hues across the forest. Matt gathered firewood while Leo set up the fire, silently thanking every Boy Scout skill he'd ever mocked.
The roasted bunny turned out to be… surprisingly good. Savory. Tender. Still didn't make sense.
They tried to piece together what happened. No answers. Matt only remembered following El, then nothing.
But Leo remembered.
He remembered the reality cracking open, like a mirror breaking… something dragging them through.
Did El remember?
He had to find out.
That night...
They slept. Or, well, Matt definitely muttered something about "ladies" and "strength" in his dreams.
Leo? He kept watch. Eyes closed, ears open. Something told him not to trust El, not fully.
Then he felt it.
She moved. Silent, but not invisible.
She slipped into the woods, thinking they were asleep.
Leo counted to ten, then followed.
The sound of rushing water met his ears. A stream. Maybe even a waterfall.
Moonlight shimmered over a pool of crystal-clear water. And there she was, bathing under the moon like something out of a fantasy tale.
He turned to leave fast, but stopped dead as two glowing eyes met his from the bushes.
He stumbled backward in terror. El heard the noise.
"Who's there?" she shouted.
It was just another weird winged bunny… staring at him.
He tried to shoo it, but by the time he turned around, El was already there not fully dressed, in a long shirt that covered down to her mid-thigh, kitchen knife in hand.
"You pervert!" she shouted, eyes blazing. "I never thought you of all people—"
"No! I wasn't— I just followed you—"
"To spy on me bathing?!"
"No, I thought you were going to leave us—" he stammered.
She didn't wait. The knife flew and stabbed the ground right between his legs.
He paled. Future him, his children, his grandchildren they all flashed before his eyes.
"Talk," she said, calm now. Too calm. "Maybe I'll spare you."
"I will… but…"
"But what?"
"Can you put on your pants first?"
He stared at the ground, beet red. Her shirt covered a lot, but from this angle...
She looked down, realized, then shrieked and ducked, curling up and pulling her clothes tight.
And then she slapped him in the face.
Back at the tree, once she'd returned fully dressed and still armed, she finally asked him to explain.
So Leo told her. Everything. His suspicion that she had planned to abandon them.
Well, he should have lied he knew that but the thing was, there were two reasons why he told her the truth.
First, nothing would happen if he didn't direct her, and he needed to know if she knew something.
Second, because he couldn't lie. He had a reason for that. Let's just say that was his weakness.
She looked at him, eyebrows up.
"Really?" she said quietly. "You thought I'd leave you and Matt?"
She sighed. "We're stuck here wherever here is. You really think I'd try to survive this godforsaken place alone?"
"I have reasons why," Leo said.
"What then? What could possibly be the reason I'd abandon you both?" she replied sarcastically.
"First, the reason why we're here is because of you—"
"Uh, first of all, I didn't drag you here. You both followed me here on your own," she butted in.
"Touche," he replied.
"Clearly you know something. You're the reason why that… whatever-that-thing-that-sucked-us-in happened. And by the way, how come you have a knife? It's clearly a kitchen knife, which you clearly planned on bringing here in advance. You knew what you might face coming here."
He paused, and she just looked at him, menacing.
"I do. And?…" she replied.
"Uh… That's it? You're not going to explain where we are, why you were eager to come here? And since you know how to get here, surely you know how to get out?"
She just sighed, still holding the knife playfully. She clicked her tongue and said,
"Fine. First of all, I don't know exactly where we are, but I know we're not on a place you call Earth. Second, I'm here because this is where I'm from... Happy?" she replied.
"Wha—what do you mean we're not on Earth?" Leo asked.
"Ugh, question after question. Have you ever looked at what's around you? What did you eat? We're not on Earth," she said, annoyed.
So impatient.
"Do you know where this is?" Leo asked again.
"No, again I don't—"
"I mean, if this is not Earth, then what is this place called?" he butted in.
"Antares," she replied.
And she added, "Can we go rest now? Look, I'll explain everything tomorrow. I don't like repeating myself if Matthew asks me these questions again."
Leo sighed, thinking, then nodded.
He wanted to ask more, but she was right. They needed a lot of energy for tomorrow. Answers could wait.
They got back to the camp, and Matt was still sleeping like a baby. Nothing disturbed him not even the insects that crawled on his face.
---
In the morning—
"WHAAAT??" Matt exclaimed so loud that even birds in the trees flew away.
Both El and Leo closed their ears as he shouted in surprise.
"We're not on Earth? That explains why the trees are larger than usual and, not to mention, the delicious rabbit we ate yesterday that looked like it had wings."
"At least you're smarter than this guy for noticing that," El said sarcastically, pointing her thumb at Leo.
Of course Leo noticed it. He was just more focused on getting the broader answers. Hmph.
"Then since you're the reason why we're stuck here—" Matt coughed as he noticed El's serious face "—I mean, since you know the way in, then you know the way out, right?" he asked.
El took out the silver necklace hanging on her neck, hidden inside her outfit.
"This is called Gatein; it's an emergency gateway on Earth and here in Antares. They said there's only six of these. Four have already been used before, and I have two. The other one has already been used getting on Earth and this. It's basically useless now because it can only be used once," she said, holding the necklace.
"But you see, the reason why only six were created is because it's hard to find the natural source of Gate," she added.
"What do you mean?" Leo asked.
"Basically, there's good news and bad news. Good news: there is a way of getting out of here without Gatein. Bad news: the natural source of Gate randomly pops up around the world every month. And let me tell you it's unpredictable. No one can tell where it will pop up next," she said.
Both Matt and Leo looked at each other, utterly hopeless. But then she added:
"But…" she paused, thinking, as if she was contemplating whether to say what she was thinking.
"There is a way," she said. "I know a place that might give us an answer."
"And where is it?" Matt asked.
"At Livero. At the center of it, there's a public library that contains all the knowledge… I think. But first, we need to know where we are," she said.