3

The Other Side

When I awoke, I found myself dazed in the center of a clearing in a forest with only the surrounding treeline in sight. The sun was at its peak in the sky, its rays bearing down upon me. I stood up trying to collect my thoughts and think back to what had happened.

“Ah. I died.” I was more so surprised at the thought that there was an afterlife if that's what you would call this. This place was a far cry from the pearly gates that I had read about before.

“If this is the afterlife, where exactly am I?” The idea sat on my mind. “Let’s see if I can find anything around here.”

I looked over at myself to see if any of the injuries I had sustained remained. It seemed like everything was okay, but I noticed that there seemed to be some steam coming off of my body. I guess this is just what it's like when you die, you look like a ghost? Pushing the thought to the back of my mind, I began to make my way into the dense forest.

Underneath the thick canopy, barely any light made its way to the forest floor. I saw nothing around at first, only small flickers of light that looked like fireflies. As time went on, the steam that enveloped my body grew more intense. The larger it became the more that I could see. The flickers grew to flames and formed many shapes and sizes. Before I realized it, I found myself surrounded by various animals ranging from bears to tiny fox pups.

By now the steam surrounding me had transformed into an iridescent, blue flame. Everything appeared in front of me with vivid detail. There were many creatures around, but what I really wanted to find was a person or at least a building of some kind. I ventured further for what seemed like hours and eventually came upon what I was seeking.

After traveling a great distance, this was the perfect respite. I made my way in and looked around, anything that used to be furniture was no longer recognizable. Spotting an open space on the floor that seemed relatively clean, I laid down and attempted to close my eyes. So much had occurred today, if today was even the same day. Time seems to flow unnaturally here. The sun appears to be in the same place when I first arrived here, but most of it is blocked by the closely knit leaves that make up that canopy. I’ll have to try and see what else is around here once I wake up.

“Finally, some evidence of civilization!” which was putting it kindly. What laid in front of me looked to be an ancient shrine forgotten by time. The structure looked stable, but it was overgrown with vegetation and faded. I guess it’ll do for now, but I'm surprised by the lack of people here. The only things I’ve run into so far have just been animal spirits.

As I was about to fall asleep, a voice called out. “You’re making yourself quite at home here.”

“Wha-? Who's there?” I sat up in a frenzy looking around to find the source of the voice. Almost as soon as I pulled myself up, I felt hands gripping both of my shoulders and pulling me back down. Instead of being greeted by the cold floor from before, I had a softer sensation on the back of my head. As my gaze had been forcibly shifted from surveying the room to the ceiling, I was greeted by an unfamiliar face; a girl with pale blue hair and eyes.

“Finally, there was someone else here!” Was my first thought; however, as my eyes shifted away from her face she grew to be more unnatural than I originally thought. She had large ears on her head and a great, big, bushy tail that all seemed to belong to a fox.