A light breeze caressed Ace's face, and his brows furrowed slightly. His body felt worn out from excessive strain, and he wondered how many pushups he'd done before passing out. With his eyes still closed, he clicked his tongue, annoyed he hadn't kept track of the number.
Suddenly, hushed voices reached his ears, making Ace think that maybe it was his neighbors talking out on the shared balcony. An old couple who smoked cigarettes there every morning. One voice suddenly turned a bit louder, and he could finally make out the words:
"Decan, I think you worry too much about the guy? He doesn't look like much to me."
"Shut up! Do you want to wake him up? You better start praying the guy's dead, or he'll..."
"He'll what? If he's that dangerous..." There was a brief pause, and Ace suddenly heard a snap, as if a branch had been broken in half.
Ace didn't recognize the name Decan, but a wispy voice he definitely recognized reached his ears, "H-Hey man, I don't think you should do that. The cops will be onto you when they hear of this."
But this confounded Ace even more. Why was Norman on his motel balcony? How did he get access? Were Norman and the two others related to the old couple? He really wanted to open his eyes and assess the situation, but lying on the grass felt so good. The sensation was totally unlike lying on his cold, hard mattress, gently soothing his tired body.
Why am I sitting on grass, Ace thought with shock. He realized that he was outdoors, and all his senses flared up, but still, he didn't open his eyes yet. He heard footsteps approaching, and given the strange circumstances, did not wish to alert the person heading his way that he was awake.
The person approaching him spoke again, "Since he's sleeping, we might as well take care of him now."
Ace heard uncomfortable shuffling and it dawned on him what was about to happen. He gave a cold smile but made sure it wasn't too obvious since he wanted to keep the surprise a secret.
When the footsteps reached right next to him, his eyes shot wide open and he grinned.
"What are you doing?"
"Argh!"
A boy looking no older than Ace screamed like he had seen a ghost and stumbled backward a couple of feet. His face whitened to match the color of flour, and his hand holding a thick branch shook tremendously.
The boy had been scared out of his mind when he'd seen Ace grin and had almost suffered a heart attack. Seeing as he'd been caught, the boy gritted his teeth and charged at Ace, lifting his branch high above his head.
Ace's grin disappeared and his eyes grew cold. He gave a small sigh, sidestepped the lad, and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck as he overshot passed him. He watched as the branch felt limply to the ground when he applied the slightest of pressure on the young man's neck.
The young man froze, his face contorted as if he was a cat grabbed by its mother, but his eyes were filled with horror. He tried escaping, but with each small movement, his spine was compressed harder. The young man felt a pain travel from his neck towards his brain, feeling as if someone was splitting his nape with a dagger.
Ace lifted the young man off the ground with one hand and whipped his other hand across the guy's mouth.
Pa!
A shower of blood and teeth erupted from the young man's mouth, splattering the green and purple undergrowth beside them red. Ace then threw the guy aside like a used shoe and took in his surroundings.
Blergh!
Ace saw six other young men, two of whom he was familiar with, having interacted with them yesterday. One was Norman, who was puking his guts out, and the other was a terrified large redhead, whose name Ace couldn't remember.
"Ogh my ghad, my tgheght! My tgheght are ghone!"
Ace ignored the young man wailing to the side and looked at the tall, massive trees around him. He shook his head, thinking that the word "massive" couldn't truly describe how large the trees were. He had to crane his neck so much to see the top of one. He was standing right next to one, but it didn't feel like a tree but rather a continuous wooden wall. He estimated it was a hundred feet in diameter, and he felt like there were others even larger in the distance.
"Norman, do you mind telling me why my motel room suddenly ha red woods in it?"
The short boy had by now recovered, even though he stood with his back to the disfigured young man, not wishing to see the gore any longer. Despite being visibly shaken, Norman nodded and followed Ace's gaze to the trees.
"I've estimated their height already, in case you are wondering. Some are easily a thousand feet tall, and there are many of them. I counted at least ten that reach that high. That tells me that larger specimens are definitely possible."
Ace frowned, trying to recall if any forest on Earth had such large trees, but he finally regretted not paying much attention in class. He said, annoyed, "Norman, I don't know much geography, but where on Earth can you find such trees?"
Norman smiled ruefully, "Well, Ace, that's the thing. There are no trees on Earth that are this big. Because of gravity, it's impossible for trees to grow this tall."
"What do you mean, 'back on Earth'? I thought you were smart, Norman. You don't even know what species of trees these are."
Norman shook his head and pointed upwards at the sky. Ace followed with his eyes, and even though he had to search for a while, he saw a hole in the thick canopy hundreds of feet above the ground. Through it, he saw the sun and another smaller orb orbiting around it. The light the orb emanated barely bothered his eyes, but it sent shockwaves of incredulity through his mind when he realized what that small light meant.
"This isn't Earth, is it Norman?"
"Most likely. Now check your countdown."
Ace quickly realized he'd forgotten an important detail and pulled back his sleeve, only to see the blue light still greeting his eyes just the same. However, the number displayed now was forty-seven hours.
"Norman, you mean to tell me we transported to another world?"
He turned to look Norman in the eye and saw the boy nod. Ace immediately took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. He looked at the countdown clock once more and said, "What do you think happens when it reaches zero again?"
Norman shrugged his shoulders, "If we're lucky, we go back home. If we're unlucky, we go to another world."
"It has to be back home." Another voice chimed in, and Ace turned to see another boy his age, munching on what appeared to be a purple fleshy fruit of sorts. He frowned and immediately barked at the young man, "Put it down, idiot!"
The boy began trembling, but despite feeling nothing but fear, he looked defiantly at Ace, "I'm not giving you my food, dude. I'm not scared of you, and if you assault me, I'll go to the cops."