Just like a camera flash, the whiteness of the light went by faster than I could blink. But the powerful force of the light forced my eyes to adjust to the surroundings again. For what felt like five minutes, my vision was blurry. Finally, after countless blinks, I can see the tropical jungle again...or that was what I expected.
I was still in an area with a lot of vegetation and trees, that's for sure. But I was not in a tropical jungle anymore. I was now in a temperate-climate forest with trees that look like pine trees stretching to the skies above.
"What the hell? Even the temperature changed…" I muttered.
I was not using the screenplay paper as a makeshift fan anymore. The temperature dropped significantly to around 16 degrees Celsius. I looked around my surroundings to find that all of my equipment and even the white van is still there.
I wasn't stupid. Being a filmmaker meant that you have a special sense for the surroundings and what was currently happening to me was akin to a Sci-Fi or Supernatural film where the character is suddenly transported to another location. I knew that I was in a different location than I was before. If this was just a prank, then it would certainly be an expensive one. But I knew that wasn't possible since it had only been a few seconds since the flash of light transported me here.
"Shit. Was it the chant I read before? Is this the doing of that mysterious backer!?" Again, being a storyteller and filmmaker meant that you are very familiar with story beats. In a three-act film structure, this would be the end of the first act. The first act is where you introduce the main character and show his or her daily life before the event of the story. At the end of the first act, some life-changing event occurred to the main character that would change the status quo. This would signal the start of the second act, where the main plot of the story will take place.
"But why am I thinking that I'm in some sort of story? Shit, this is real life motherfucker." I muttered.
I didn't know if this place was safe. All I knew was that I had to pack up everything inside the van and find shelter or civilization. Luckily, the white van was very large and could fit everything inside it. The van only had two seats at the front to leave more space at the back.
I packed up everything inside the van —cameras, lighting, microphones, the projector and screen, the solar-powered generator, laptops, etcetera.
I opened the door to the van and went inside. I looked at the dashboard to see the vehicle's information and status.
"Let's see….the power is still at 100% since we left it charging under the sun. Ah… food supply—"
I looked behind my seat to find several cans of food and gallons of water.
"Great. This'll last me a few days, maybe weeks...fuck I don't know man. I don't know how in films the character would just look at some food and water and they could deduce right away how many days it would last them. Well, the plot required them to be like that I guess." Humor is truly the most calming thing on earth...ah I'm not on earth anymore...at least I think I'm not if this were to follow the plot of a story.
I turned on the van. Of course, since it was solar-powered, the engine didn't make any noise whatsoever. I am quite glad that we modified the tires to ones that would be able to be driven off-road. I would be screwed if this was a normal car.
I started to drive the car deeper into the forest. The forest was unnaturally quiet. Occasionally, I would see some small creatures that I have never seen before. I saw a snake with wings, birds with arms, tortoises with furs, some very weird animals. This fact already confirmed that I am not on Earth anymore. Or maybe I'm in like the Bermuda Triangle or something since they haven't explored the place yet. I did hear there were aliens and extinct animals there...at least that's what the internet says and we know that everything we read on the internet is all true. Jokes aside, I was mesmerized by some of the creatures I've seen.
After driving a while, I found a clearing of grassland in the middle of the forest. There, I saw weird creatures that resemble an elephant with snouts but it had the body of a horse. There's a whole pack of them.
"Wow...I shall call you…..Elehorse." I said to myself.
I stopped the van around 100 meters where the Elehorses were. I rummaged through the bags behind my seat to find a camera. The Sony a6000 of the alpha series, my go-to camera for photography. It wasn't the best but it was my favorite camera at the moment. For shooting the Elehorses from here, I pulled out a telephoto 55-210mm lens and attached it to the camera. The telephoto lens allowed me to zoomed in very closely to the creatures while being 100 meters away.
Photography was my hobby as well. Being a filmmaker also meant you had to know some basics of photography if you want to learn how to frame a shot correctly.
"Alright...here we go" I aimed the camera towards the Elehorses.
I waited until a beautiful scene unfolded. One of the baby Elehorse went to its mommy and started to suck the milk from her nipples below her body.
I pressed the shutter and took the picture after adjusting the image with the gridlines so the composition is nice to look at.
"Ah, it came out great. Nice." I looked at the result and was satisfied.
I was walking back to the van when I heard a large roar. I turned back to see the beautiful scene from before destroyed. The baby Elehorse was eaten by a giant….rabbit.
"What the hell…" I muttered. The sight of a giant carnivorous rabbit was just too ridiculous.
The rabbit ate the baby Elehorse in one gulp. Maybe it's more accurate to say it swallowed it. The rest of the Elehorses ran away towards the forest.
"What the hell…what an awful mother leaving her child like that," I said to myself and sighed in disappointment.
I turned around again to walk back inside the car. However, I heard the roar again.
"What?"
I turned around yet again to find that the giant rabbit spotted me from the distance and was going after me. Its speed was too ridiculous. I don't think I could make it inside my car before that thing caught me with its mouth.
"Shit...what an uneventful way to die" I complained.
Suddenly, an arrow flew by, striking the giant rabbit. The rabbit stopped and gave a painful roar. It then looked towards the left, which was the direction of the forest, to find who shot the arrows. I also did the same to see who it was.
What I saw was a group of people in leather clothing, fully armed. When I say fully armed, in earth's definition, it would be with guns or something. They were armed alright—with swords, bows, and what seemed to be just a long-ass wooden stick.