After the sword slash, you see thousands of tiny ants march up the blade.  Each ant has a barber knife in its pincer. They start sizing you up for a shave.

And soon each ant is working on an individual hair.  And each hair is painted red, white, and blue.

And the ants are all talking to you at the same time.  They are telling you the Secrets of the Universe, but unfortunately you can't make it out because everyone is talking on top of everyone else.

And then you realize that is the wind blowing through grass. The sun is warm on your face. You don't hurt.  You're laying on your back.

Something very large is breathing in your face. You can feel the ground shudder when it moves.

PT

What the hell?

I try and sort through that dream and wonder if instead of a lethal sword slash I took a shot to the head. I take mental inventory of my body from head to toe and when I dont find any major pains I try to figure out what is going on around me. I dont hear the sounds of battle, which means either we won and the troops just havent got me to the first aid tents yet, or I'm really dead. No other options enter my mind because if the Thanar had won my head would be decorating a pike right now.

Instead of opening my eyes right away, I try to telepathically sense what is breathing on me. I know its big if the ground is moving, so I'm guessing its a riding lizard....then I crack my eyelids open ever so slightly, and make myself as ready as I can to roll away and find a weapon if I'm wrong about the lizard.

You touch with your thoughts a vast, slow, mildly curious mind.

*What is it?* Is the sense you get, and a flicker of images runs through your mind as it tries to compare you to what it knows. Grass....berries...water....an image of long stabbing teeth...another of slicing feet....

It examines your mouth with a soft, but very strong push that drags you six inches.

No huge teeth appear as it pulls back your lips.

Cracking your eyes open, you see a long, leathery trunk which goes up to a Mastodon's skull.  You're laying between its front legs.  Its snuffling at you.

PT

Oh crap! I go from 7-8 foot furry things to this. Am I ever gonna be remotely the biggest thing around?

I know how to deal with horses, and I've learned how to deal with riding lizards, but I have NO experience with elephants much less mastodons. But if I can remember the little I know about them I might not get squished. I know that they were herbivores...then again so are elephants and elephants kill more than a few people every year in Africa, so maybe that isnt the most help. But at least it seems to have some intelligence, so maybe I can work with that.  I slowly extend a telepathic link with the creature and at the same time use my voice.

Easy there big fella, everything is alright and no one is gonna hurt ya. I slowly start to ease myself from between the tree trunk like front legs and once I have a little room I try to make slow calming motions with my hands. I'm just gonna ease back a little bit so I can see ya better big guy.

Once I get some distance I glance around and try and spot my troops, my weapon or anything familiar.

It snorts its amusement back without words, but the concept is clear.

"You...little thing...hurt me?"  But at the same time, it seems relieved.

You step back, and get a good look at him.

He's bigger than you'd thought.

A good thirty feet at the shoulder which makes him considerably larger than any elephant you've seen.

Your sword is five feet away in the thick luxurious grass.  You saw a glint of it, and just knew it was there. The same with your other stuff.

Thing is, that same 'know' is telling you that something else is out there.

And the landscape is familiar.  The shape of the land looks like the Dig Valley, except covered with grasses that start at four feet tall, and go up to nine feet tall.

PT

I decide to keep a calm soothing flow of sounds to the mastodon just so I didnt spook the thing while I gather up my belongings. Once that is done, I mentally review a few facts.

1) For some reason I'm not dead when I should be..... I dont feel dead anyway, but then again I really dont have anything to base what being dead feels like, so who knows. At any rate, if I am indeed dead, this sure isnt what I expected. No pearly gates, no St. Peter, nothing from any other religion. Well maybe the Buddist idea of reincarnation, but I'm pretty sure that this isnt how that works, so for now I'm operating under the assumption that I'm not dead until proven otherwise.

2) Things arent as the should be, or as they were an hour ago. I dont know when, why or even how they changed, but since there isnt anything I can do about it, I should just make the most of the situation and go from there.

3) I seemed to just know where my gear was without thinking about it. Almost like an instinct. There are some instincts that the corp trained out of us... for instance running towards gunfire instead of away from it, but for the most part we were taught to hone and listen to them. And something seems to be almost pulling me in a direction that doesnt make any sense. So I'm gonna roll the dice and follow that hunch that I should follow the pull.

4) Since the terrain has drastically changed and I no longer have a means of transportation other than my own two feet, I might want to see just how intelligent "Snuffy" (which is what I'll be calling the mastodon until I figure out something better) is, and maybe I can persuade him to give me a lift in the direction of the pull.


"Your right big guy. There probably isnt much I could do to hurt you even if I wanted to...and I dont want to by the way. I'd much rather make friends, but I need to go in" I point in the direction of the pull "that direction. Is there any chance you might be headed that way? If so we could talk a bit and get to know each other a little better."

Since I seem to be pushing my luck anyway, and havent got squished for it....yet, I decide to try and push it a bit further. Even though I'm ready to high step it away from Snuffy if any of my suggestions seem to irritate him to the point of turning me into Taylor toejam.

"If you do happen to be heading in my direction and you dont mind the company... do you think I might be able to ride on your back? You are much bigger than I am and can probably cover ground much faster than I can. I could even help you keep watch for things with long teeth and claws."

Snuffy thinks about it for a minute, and you use the time to gather up your things.  Its spooky how well you can find things lost in the tall grass.  You find one of your daggers buried blade down, and up to its hilt.  It should have been so well camoflaged as to be invisible, but you just unconsciously headed right to it.

Snuffy yields to his curiousity, and scoops you up with his trunk. He's never had a rider before so when he drops you on his back....he drops you.  You 'oof' at the four foot fall, and get straightened out in a scramble as he starts to amble off at about ten miles per hour.

He stops every twenty minutes or so to get a snack.  He is following the natural curve of the land down valley.

At one point, you see a herd of mastodon's about a mile away.  A bull mastodon, even bigger than Snuffy trumpets defiance, and Snuffy with a deep sense of longing, and sadness moves on.

Suddenly the sky darkens, and you look up. Tens of thousands of pigeons race past you, splatter you with pigeon poo, and keep on keeping on for nearly a minute.  They keep on winging down the valley ahead of you.

The flock looks to be about a mile wide, and you can track it by the shadow it casts on the ground beneath it.

PT

Great....now my day is complete. First the battle, then almost getting crushed by a ten ton pachiderm, now I'm covered in bird crap.  Whats next, uncontrolable disentary?

I glance around for a water source and if I cant find one I plan on using dry dirt to scrub off the bird crap. I plan on cleaning Snuffy up first (he did consent to be my ride/guide after all) then my equipment, then finally myself.

As I'm working I think about the encounter we had with the pack of mastodons and I start talking to Snuffy.

"You seemed pretty regretful that you couldnt join that pack of your people big guy. If you want to head back to them I totally understand. I havent even seen one of my own kind in months, and I know I would be eager to join them again. Even though the grass is pretty high I'm sure I could make it to where I'm going alone...and if you wanted I could ride back with you as far as that heard to keep an extra eye out for predators."

As I finish cleaning us up I wait for his decision, still kind of anxious to get on my way even if it means back tracking to the herd.

There are plentiful small rivers on this well-watered valley.  They are not easily spotted from more than ten yards away with the thick grass.  You find one, and splash about in the four foot deep water.  Snuffy cleans himself off as well using his trunk to squirt water.  He does appreciate your help getting some hard to reach places like behind his ears.

When you talk to Snuffy about going joining the herd...he flashes you an image.

The herd is a collection of hot females anxious for Snuffy's company.  However, the big bull mastodon is a demonically huge, fire-breathing monster that would crush innocent, kindly Snuffy, and send him staggering out back into the grasslands with painful wounds.

Poor Snuffy can't get a date.  He feels deeply sorry for himself although he does know that he is still growing.

You continue on, and circle a herd of bison that stretches for four miles.  None of them seem particularly disturbed by you or Snuffy.  You see sitting watching them from several hundred yards away, a patient knot of saber tooth tigers.

And then five miles past that, you see smoke.  Its a thin trail going skyward.  You continue on, and soon you see a small log cabin with a cleared space, and garden area around it.  There is a horse in a corral as well.

When I see the cabin my heart races a little bit. It reminds me of my cabin in Washington, and my life before all this strangeness began. My mind wanders back to the last moments I was in my cabin and I feel a profound sense of irritation at that scrawny little techno-geek with his stupid little palm pilot. If I could go back in time I would have canceled that trip before it even began, but since I cant, I just have to go forward.

"Hey Snuffy, do you know anything about the person that lives in that cabin? Anything at all?\"

I guess its better to ask before I just rush in, but I'm going anyway. I have Snuff lower me to the ground, settle my equipment into place and head for the cabin. I intend on being polite and knocking on the door, but if I dont get an answer, I'll scout the outside and wait for whoever lives there. They cant have gone far with the fire burning.

Snuffy knows nothing other than it was not here last time he visited which was 'last spring'.

You climb off, and walk up to the door.

Upon closer examination, the material looks profoundly odd.  It works, but its not how you or anyone else you know would make a house.

You knock, and you hear a crash inside followed by a Southern accent of a female saying ...

"Drat."  And then "Portalis...." Something, something....

The door swings open, and in the interior dimness you see a woman with long, dark hair standing across the cabin.  In her right hand is a cast iron skillet from which popping sounds are coming, and in her left is an intricate golden sceptre with an eye-popping ruby at its tip.

Flour smudges dust her face.

"Can you speak English, American, Common Tongue, Espaniol, Francaise, Kit-lki'tok, or and she whistles a tone? Oh, and welcome to my house."

PT

"Uh....thank you ma'am. Its been a while since I've seen another human face and you are a sight for sore eyes." I unsling my rifle and pack, setting them down just inside the front door. I stick my head outside and let Snuffy know that I'm going inside for  a bit and turn around and make my way inside.

"I'm Jesse. Jesse Taylor, Master Gunnery Sergeant, United State Marine Corp...retired." I pause and give her a moment to introduce herself then stumble ahead. "This might seem like kind of an odd question, but how did you come to live here? My friend outside says this cabin was not here when he came through last spring, so that at least give me an extended timeline, but the how might help me explain how I got here and how I might be able to either get back to where I was before or better yet home."

As I wait for her response I try to cast my thoughts around for any traces for other humans, because where there is one, there might be more.

She puts down her sceptre on a fireplace mantle that is cluttered with other objet' d' art.

"I generally go by Dawn as in the Dawn Woman." She says that like it some sort of title.  "I was making cornbread and scrambled pigeon eggs, and bison steak. You interested?"  She turns back to her kitchen doorway.

As she begins cooking again, she calls out.

"Oh yes, well, I'd dropped Whispering Winds in the Empire of the Five Nations. Sad, but he'd been looking for a new home for a long time. And then I went on to New Lunagrad, and got a faceful of nervestick when I tried to stop a clot of guards from beating a protestor.  After that, I arrived here, about four months ago.  Took out my little log cabin doll house, and magicked it up to size, and moved in." She pauses, and hands out a plate of food. *  "Get home? Well, when you figure it out, you be sure to tell me."

You don't detect any other humans.  But the effort strains you more than you expected.

PT
*I've met a few women who will politely ask if you want food, but then serve it up before you can really say yes or no.

I gladly accept the food and search out a place to sit, eat and try and digest some of the things Dawn just told me. After all I've been through in the last few months nothing should surprise me, but I catch myself wondering for a moment if my host has slipped her gears.

Empire of the Five Nations? New Lunagrad? Nervestick? Magick? Could it be that Dawn isnt playing with a full deck? I think to myself. Then again I've just lead a major campaign of bronze age, 8 foot tall aliens, met a thing that could almost be considered a god, and somehow survived a lethal sword blow not to mention the effects of the mind blast Shepherd pulled out of me. So who am I to think anyone else crazy?

"I'm very pleased to meet you Dawn, as I said earlier, its been some time since I have seen another human face except when I was shaving, and when Snuffy was the first being I encountered here I thought it was more of the same. None of the places you mentioned are familiar to me, but I'm guessing that they are somehow mixed up with whats happened to me and I guess to you as well."

I try and think of a polite way to ask her about the whole magic thing, but give up and go for the trademark marine bluntness.

"Magic? Like David Copperfield? I've seen a couple of shows in Vegas, but nothing that could explain this house. I hate to impose on your hospitality, but could you explain it to me a little more in depth? I'm just a field soldier and I think I'm a bit out of my league here."

I lean back, and give her my best Aw Shucks grin as I wait for her to answer.

"Well no reason they have to be familar to you. There are a lot of places out there, and I've only been to a very few.  But I had hoped.  I'm trying to put together a map, see if there is some pattern.  Have you been to a place with orange grass, or a mountain of ice?"

She gets up, and opens a chest from which she takes a large scroll.

"Hmm...after lunch. Don't want to get grease on it."

She sits back down.

"Magic..." She gets her own plate and sits down at a table across from
you. "Will...Visualization...and Mana which may be contained in appropriate objects, or by tapping into your own life force, or the general field of energy.  But Mana contained in objects is easiest to tap into..."  She pauses. "I mean Real Magick, not that Illusion Rabbit out of a Hat stuff....like so...unless you're talking about President Copperfield. I heard another walker talk about meeting him."

She closes her eyes, mutters a few words that sound Latin, and waits for thirty seconds or so...by this time you're pretty sure she's nuts.

And then she opens her hand, and a ball of fire about the size of of a melon floats above the palm of her hand.  You can feel the heat of it from across the table.

"The Will and the Way. Magick with a 'k'.  Of course, growing a knick-knack house to full size is a lot harder.