I tumble out of my… did they call it a ship? It can’t be a ship, though. Ships float on water, not fly through space. I rub my face. “I swear on the maids of my uncle, it’s like the engineers of this thing didn’t know the meaning of safe. I’ve seen rickety carriages safer than this hunk of metal.” The soil underneath my knees is soft and warm from soaked up summer sun. I get up, dusting off my trousers and tunic, looking around. A loud, metal thing flies overhead, with a long, white body and two nonmoving wings. I yelp, jumping back. “What IS that?!” I peer up at it as it ascends into the sky. It has sort of dark window things lined against its sides, and a pointed nose at the front. “It looks like a bird… do they have different bird species here?” It disappears into the blue sky without a trace, and I shrug. “At least I landed in a forest.” I touch the trunk of a nearby tree, and its voice bursts in my mind, curious, strange, and headthrobbing. “Strange. Horns. Horn girl. Pointy ears. Who? Not human, not human. What? Who?” I yank my arm back. “Okay, so demons don’t exist here. Obviously, they’ve never seen one.” I touch the tree again, the bark rough and familiar under my fingers. “Where am I?” I ask it. “What organisms live on this planet?” “Earth, Earth. A place the humans call Maine. Who? Who? What? Humans. Animals. None of you.” “Humans and animals…” I murmur. “I’m a demon. You wouldn’t know me then.” “Like your touch. Not greedy. Not mean. Not like humans. I like you.” “Aww, I like you too. You’re gonna probably get to know me well. I don’t think I’m going back anytime soon. My ‘ship’ sucks.” “Hide. Hide now. Humans. They’ll catch you. Poke you and prod you. You’re not human. They won’t like you.” I gasp, ducking into the bushes and pulling my legs and arms close. I trust the trees. If they say humans won’t like me, they won’t like me. “I told you, there was a spaceship! It looked like an egg!” A young boy’s voice says. “Uh huh, sure kid. It’s probably just a big bird. Or a helicopter.” An adult voice replies. Three people burst from the trees at my crash site. A ten-year-old boy with messy black hair and blue eyes, wearing some sort of short tunic and trousers made of a stiff blue fabric with weird footwear. And two men about thirty or so, wearing complete blue or black with gold badges, holding L-shaped things in their hands. I don’t know what the men are, but I recognize the postures as similar to those of knights and soldiers. This is bad. Is there a kingdom nearby? The men hold up the Ls, swiveling around to point the end of the longest side at everything. Weird crossbows? Or wands? I do not want to deal with magic right now. Elves are annoying with their spells. I scoot back in the bushes, accidentally making the bush rustle. The blue knight closest to me points his L wand at me but doesn’t see me. The kid stumbles into the crater, pointing at it. “See?!” He calls. The knights look over and lower their L wands. “Well, color me surprised,” the farthest one says. “It really is a spaceship. An extremely outdated one, from the look of it.” “Stay back,” the closest knight growls. “There might still be people inside. Spies, maybe.” The men climb to the top, peering inside the open hole. “Wooow,” one murmurs. “This is prehistoric.” “Don’t be ridiculous.” The other growls. “Prehistoric is before spaceships. I’d say this looks from around 1861 or something.” “Yeah. That was around two hundred or so years ago! Prehistoric!” Two hundred years ago?! So they’re sped up on technology, then. I’m prehistoric to them. The kid starts wandering around, peering into bushes and such, probably looking for keepsakes. Oh no. I try to scoot back farther as quiet as I can. “I can help,” a different tree than the one I talked to earlier says in a sort of western accent. “But, I’d need a few favors in return, see? S’how the world works.” Uh, what? The police jump inside the spaceship, poking around. Oh crap. My stuff is still in there. The three satchels I brought are thrown out, along with the parchment binder I was writing my thoughts in. Yes, help, please. What do you need? I rest a hand on the trunk of the tree. “Ah, s’been a while since someone accepted. S’not a hard favor. I’ll help first. Kinda need ya’ alive, see?” Roots burst from the ground outside the underbrush, curling around the ankles of the boy. Four more roots sprout from the soil, reaching into the hole of the spaceship and pulling out the two dangling knights. The knights frantically hold up their Ls, and loud bangs arouse from the clearing, along with some thunking. “Ah, hurts a lil’ bit, but I’ll survive. Damn human firearms.”
Firearms? “Oh, yer not from around here. The L-shaped weapons, see? They call ‘em guns. Dangerous. One hit in the right spot for ya’, yer dead.” I don’t reply, utterly shocked by the thought of it. That’s… not right. “Yah. Makes me want one ‘o my own. Protection, see?” The roots flick, sending the cops flying into the forest. It sets the boy down. “He’s justa child. Just try to act like a scary monster and tell ‘em to go home.” I stand up, staying in the shadow of the tree. I clear my throat, dropping my voice low. “The blue men were a warning,” I growl. “Leave now. Never come back. Or the forest itself will turn on you.” The kid screams and sprints off, disappearing into the trees. I touch the trunk of the tree again. “Thank you,” I murmur. “What did you want me to do?” “Ah, find ma mother. She’s gone. When I was a little seed, I flew too far, and now I can’t find ‘er.” He groans. “For Gaea’s sake, I’m behind you!” A female voice bursts in my brain. “It’s like I can still hear ‘er voice…” he murmurs sadly. “Uh, tree, sir?” I ask. “Yes?” “You can hear her because she’s right behind you. You’re just facing the wrong direction.” I tell him. “Ah, a tragedy. I miss ‘er. Thank you, child.” The tree mother snorts. “Now if only I could locate your father!” “Right behind ya, love,” Another tree says. By this point it’s getting hilariously annoying. Earth trees are fun. “It’s like I can still hear his voice…” she murmurs. “I hope the humans didn’t cut him down.” “Like mother like son,” I mutter. “He’s behind you, ma’am.” “Oh, really?” She chirps. “Silly me! I’m facing the wrong way!” I walk over to my stuff, pulling my cloak around my shoulders. I pull up the hood, effectively hiding my horns and ears. I strap the satchels around my chest, picking up the binder. “Oh, thank the Ancestors they didn’t read this.” I murmur. “It would give me away.” I flip through it. Notes, worries, anger towards Damyan. Damn arrogant, greedy shapeshifter. Everyone else might think he’s good, that he truly wants to help us along the timeline, but I’m not a fool. His words are laced with honey. If they read this, they’d know everything. I clutch it to my chest. I can’t stay here. They can always come back. “Beautiful girl,” a female tree murmurs. “I can help. Without a favor. You don’t have anything I want.” I turn towards her. “Yes please! Thank you, ma’am!” She giggles. “So respectful! Now, listen carefully. I’ve been studying the humans for years.” I give her my full attention, nodding. “People your age must go to school. You must be familiar with that. But it will be different than you know. You need a home and guardians to watch over you, and you must go to school. Otherwise those blue-donned men, police, will take you prisoner.” She explains. She continues. “Use those plant powers of yours. Create humanlike beings, but they’re really plants. Find a home. A place to live. Then, go to the nearest school. For your age, you’ll want to look for the words ‘High School.’” “I’m familiar with high school. Though I doubt it’ll be the same thing.” I tell her. “Thank you.” “It will not be easy without the currency here. You are legally able to have a small, part-time job by this age, I believe. But I’m not sure. With a job, you will be able to earn the money you need.” I nod. “Thank you, so much.” “What is your name, sweet?” She asks. “I’m Dragonflame. But you can call me Dragon. Everyone I know just finds it easier.” I gasp. “Oh, I forgot something in the ship.” I leap inside, my boots thunking against the metal interior. The ship is shaped like an egg, but dented in the places it crashed on. I stumble to the chair I was strapped in while I was traveling, running a hand over the controls. The screen is still blinking red with white text saying, “Error. Damage critical. Ship compromised.” I crouch, looking under the seat. My cloak drapes around my entire body, hiding everything. That’s good. I’ll be able to hide this then. I pick up my weapon. It’s a spear-slash-sword thing. I don’t know, I made it myself, though. In the middle is a three foot long wooden rod wrapped in navy leather for my hands. At the top, there’s a triangular blade about two feet tall and a foot long, extremely sharp. At the bottom, there’s a five foot tall blade about a half foot long, even sharper. I spin it in my hand, clipping it into the sheathe on my back, positioning it so it doesn’t stick out the top and instead the bottom. Ugh. Terrible. I’ll figure out a better way to hide it later. I grab the edge of the exit hole, hauling myself out of the ship.
