A harsh blinding light fell on Vesi's closed eyelids, scorching his eyeballs to the last nerve and tissue. Slowly he opened his eyes and covered them with the back of his hand to shield them from the blinding rays of light that were coming out of nowhere. Vesi realised that it was surprisingly cold and the wind that was blowing at wherever that he was, was extremely biting and bitter against his skin. He felt shivers done his spine and goosebumps littered the whole of his body like endless tattoos.
With a groan coming from his dry throat, he slowly sat up, an unfathomable weakness seeping right into his bones. He felt as if he had working for endless days, his joints screamed in agony and his mind was more than tired to even conjure up a word. His throat felt too dry so he tried swallowing whatever amount of spit he could make up in his mouth only to get nothing but absolute bitterness.
In a slow movement, he raised his hand to scratch an itching part on his head and looked around. He saw that he was in a large unending vast space, there was nothing existing there in particular apart from him. He found out that the harsh light had no source and it seemed to just zoom out of an invincible vacuum. Vesi exhaled and he swore he could hear the solid thumping of his heart as he concentrated more on his surroundings. It was more than eerily quite, and it seemed to be an atmosphere resembling the breaking of dawn.
Vesi opened his mouth to mutter a hello but his tongue felt too heavy, it felt like lead and even lifting it up became more than a chore. His lips were parched and it hurt when he tried to open them to exhale again.
"Where am I?" Vesi wondered as he looked around again.
Then a splitting pain shot right through his head and then on instinct, his mouth opened and gave out an ear piercing shriek that left his throat sore and made his mouth bleed for no cause and what ended the scream was an unending fit of cough. Vesi fell back on his back and his eyes closed, darkness surrounding him as he gave up to it.
Vesi woke up again but this time, he could hear the chirpings of insects and the sweet melodious tunes of birds. He felt a soothing ray of light on his face and his lips automatically tugged up to reveal the ghost of a smile. His throat felt dry alright but this time it was manageable enough for him to sigh out loud. He opened his eyes and saw himself on the ground of a forest filled with tall trees adorning brown fiery leaves, forming a huge canopy over the forest floor. Vesi scrunched his eyebrows together from confusion as he studied the trees, they were like no other tree he has seen before. The trees were large in width, almost measuring up to ten grown adults standing together and they were exceptionally tall, reaching high into the dainty clouds of the sky. The trees seemed to be part of the clouds or better yet there seemed to no space between the clouds and the trees, the land was linked directly to the skies through the trees.
Vesi observed that even the birds and the insects of this particular forest were also different from the normal birds he knew. The birds were as big as grown lion and those were even the smallest of them, the insects were different in structure with the four pairs of wings and their exceptional speed. Vesi marveled at the scene that was unfolding before him as he smiled wider and sat up. This time his bones didn't protest but rather allowed him smooth and less painful movements. He looked around again and finally stood up. He threw his head back and closed his eyes allowing the sun rays that spilled through the cracks of space between the trees to soak into his skin and soothe him. He was really content with as he breathed out sighs of relief.
Just then he heard the crunching of leaves behind him, heavy footsteps from someone or something approaching him. Vesi turned abruptly but found no one. He craned his neck and squinted his eyes trying to look further into the woods to see but he still found no one and so decided that his ears might be playing tricks on him. But just as Vesi was about to turn again, something caught his eyes.
Not far from where he was standing was a large but short tree, standing apart from the rest of the trees. The short tree was standing on a little hill of it's own that was green with grasses. The tree had some fruits of sorts on it, half blue and half red. It had the space above it cleared from any wandering branches of nearby trees or anything at all, it was free as sunlight descended done upon it making it ethereal. The stem of the tree was crooked and winding beyond belief and it seemed free of any animal or insects whatsoever. Vesi observed it and contemplated on moving forward to investigate more about the tree or to just admire it's beauty for afar. He exhaled and finally came to a decision to approach the tree, besides there was no harm in trying and since he was already there why not take advantage of whatever chance he could get who know when he will leave here or when he will even be able to encounter such a place again.
After a few leisurely steps, Vesi found himself about a metre away from the tree and it's little green hill. As Vesi tried to take another step towards the tree, a figure started descending from the sky. Vesi's eyes widened and he took a step back abruptly almost loosing his footing. The figure finally descended and plucked one of the fruits of the tree, sitting in the low branches of said tree.
Vesi now saw the figure clearly, it belonged to a woman, a beautiful one at that with long dark locks of hair that spluttered around her as the gentle breeze of the forest blew through them. Her teeth dug into the flesh of the fruits as she lifted her chin a little and turned to face to Vesi,
"I see you already found this place" she removed the fruit from her mouth and laughed.
Vesi frowned "Who are you?" he asked.
"Oh sorry for my bad manners" The woman chuckled "I am Aya and I know you are Vesi" she bit into the fruit again.
"What?" Vesi was confused "How did you know my name?"
"Because my dear Prince" Aya said and climbed down from the tree hovering above the ground "I am the one who brought you here"
"What do you mean?"
"Simple, I casted a spell on you and bow you are under my grasps" Aya answered like it was the most sane way and that casting a spell on someone was no big deal.
But contrary to that, Vesi shared a different countenance "You what!" he seethed through his jaws.
"You heard me perfectly" Aya shrugged.
Vesi made movements to attack Aya but he suddenly was frozen in place as Aya ticked her tongue "Be careful, you are in my domain after all"
"What are you doing to me!" Vesi snarled at Aya.
"Just as I said I have a spell on you and even though I was the one who brought you here, you were not supposed to be this conscious" Aya paused and stroked her chin "Maybe it's because of that troublesome girl" she muttered which was too low for Vesi to hear.
"What were you saying?" he questioned.
"Anyways," Aya broke into a smile "That isn't what is important, now let's get to the fun part"
And right after that Vesi watched as the insane woman called Aya lifted her hands and large green gory vines came out of the hill on which the tree stood on. Next the vines seemed to roar as they started entwining over the tree and squeezing the tree and what was weird was that, as the vines continued strangling the tree upwards, Vesi felt weaker and weaker and his head started throbbing. It felt as if a thousand bricks were being dropped onto his head.
Finally the vines engulfed the tree and what once stood starkingly beautiful was now nothing more than an eyesore. The tree looked pathetic as it's leaves withered and dropped to the ground, the the colorful fruits turned brown and fell off rolling off to nowhere. Even the grasses on the little hill withered and Vesi felt himself slipping from any share of mentality he had.
"Wow, I this is perfect" Aya sighed in glee.
Vesi didn't get a chance to frown and make a comeback as the pain in his head became too much and he screamed falling into unconsciousness.
He opened his eyes again to find himself in a a different place again but this time in the hut he had assigned to with the Makri. He groaned and he heard the distant voice of the Makri as she approached him.