Work Text:
Patting their pockets and rifling through their satchel, checking for one last time they had everything they needed. It was time for the next world, they’d spent far too long here already. They’d known about this door for weeks, reluctant to leave the hodge-podge group of adventurers they’d befriended behind, but the signs that they should leave were everywhere, their vision kept glitching, the tips of their fingers were turning black and the points of their ears were reappearing, threatening to poke through their unruly mass of chestnut brown hair. This form wouldn’t hold much longer. They reached for the handle of the door in front of them. Before they opened the door, they looked around and took a deep breath. The door swung open silently, pulling them through.
Blinking as their eyes became accustomed to the dim light of the forest now surrounding them, giant trees reaching for the sun that filtered through the lazily swaying boughs far above, speckling the leaf litter with small, irregular patches of light. As their senses adjusted they began to feel uneasy, hazel eyes scanning the shadows surrounding them, and elvin ears perked, listening for any sound of life. It hit them then, the thing that was so uncanny about this place. The silence, the complete and utter lack of sound, not so much as a bird call was to be heard. That was strange in a place like this, so beautiful and ethereal, a place that should hold so much life, how was there none? Surely there had to be some somewhere? Right?
Instinctively their hand dropped to their hip, a jolt of fear ran through them as they realised their sword had not made the journey with them. They cursed softly as they pulled their empty hand away, now they were unarmed in an unknown world, facing an enemy they hadn’t so much as heard, let alone seen. They needed to find a way out or away and fast. The door they’d come through wasn’t an option, they could feel the worlds slipping apart and if they went back through it was possible they’d end up floating in the endless void until by pure chance they floated past another door. Really there was only one choice, find a decent sized stick to sharpen, hope they didn’t come across whatever this thing was, pick a direction and walk, either until they found whatever people lived here or the edge of this accursed dead forest. Mind made up they stood up, picked up one of the sticks that lay nearby and began to walk.