by Lucas Flint
But her flashlight did reveal more statues like the rhinoceros one, except depicting creatures even more fantastic and unnatural than that one. Due to the small size of her flashlight, Treehugger only ever got a couple of glimpses of parts of these statues, but what she saw was more than enough to make her thankful that she could not see more. Otherwise, she was sure that she would have gone insane.
One thing it did confirm to her was that these statues had not been built by humans. The few glimpses of the statues that she caught had shown shapes and geometry that no human hand could ever hope to carve, even using modern technology or superpowers. That meant that she was definitely not on Earth; however, that didn’t really help her figure out where she was, exactly.
As best as Treehugger could figure, she was standing in the courtyard of a temple of some sort. The ground was solid stone under her feet and rays from her flashlights showed that there were elaborate patterns painted on the surface of the stone, patterns depicting more freakish beasts that looked like nothing you could find on Earth. There were even some steps nearby leading upward, most likely to the entrance of the temple, but Treehugger was not in any mood to go inside any building in this strange dimension when she sensed a vaguely hostile force somewhere in the darkness.
She smelled something like old rock and dust, but it also smelled vaguely like strawberries, oddly enough. Whatever it was and wherever she was, Treehugger didn’t know, but she did know that she would not be safe until she left this courtyard. How she knew that, she wasn’t sure, but the truth of that thought propelled her feet forward, although she moved forward carefully, because she could not be sure what lay ahead.
What Treehugger did discover, as she slowly moved forward, was that the pathway, though largely cleared of debris, also had steep drops on either side. Due to the darkness, it was impossible to tell what lay within the drops; indeed, she suspected that the drops didn’t have bottoms at all, because she accidentally kicked a stone into one of them but never heard it hit the bottom. The thought of the bottomless pits filled her with dread, but Treehugger never stopped moving, because she instinctively knew that stopping would be even worse than advancing, even though she did not hear anything follow her.
Indeed, it wasn’t until Treehugger passed through some type of gateway out of the courtyard and into the rest of the world that she heard a crunching sound from somewhere within the courtyard behind her, a sound like metal being crunched. The sound was so sudden and abrupt that Treehugger nearly screamed, but she put a hand over her mouth as she realized that it was the sound of something eating her escape pod. She didn’t even bother to shine a light on it, however, because she was worried that the thing eating her pod would come after her next if it saw her light.
Instead, Treehugger made her way downhill—because it turned out that the temple was on top of a hill—until she reached the foot of the hill and rested under the shade of a huge tree of some sort. Despite the freakish nature of the tree (her flashlight revealed that the leaves were purple and the branches were made out of a kind of wood that looked more like flesh than wood), Treehugger decided to sit down and rest here for a moment. Even though she had only been walking for about thirty minutes, Treehugger still felt very tired. There was something about the atmosphere of the darkness that made Treehugger feel sluggish, and it wasn’t normal exhaustion, either. It was like there was some kind of poison in the air slowly whittling down her health, making her weaker and weaker every second, although it could have easily just been her own imagination at work.
Treehugger glanced at her suit-up watch, but there was no way that she could contact anyone with it. It read ‘NO SIGNAL,’ a pretty good sign that she was no longer on Earth. She was still tempted to scroll through it anyway due to her boredom, but she was just too tired to care. She placed her flashlight on the ground beside her, rested her chin in her hands, and sighed.
I still haven’t seen anything yet, Treehugger thought. There was that thing back in the temple that ate my escape pod, sure, but since I technically didn’t see it, my point still stands. I wonder how long I’m going to be in here. If I have to spend the rest of my life in this place …
A loud, slimy-sounding slap came from behind her. Treehugger immediately jumped to her feet, but did not look over her shoulder. Instead, she just stood very still, hoping against hope that she had not actually heard anything, but only a few seconds later did Treehugger hear another sticky, slimy slap. It did not sound any farther from her than the first one, but neither did it sound any closer, either. It sounded like it was coming from the tree behind her.
With dread rising in her body, Treehugger turned around to face the tree. It did not look very different from before; the leaves were as purple as ever, while the bark looked more like stone than wood. It occurred to Treehugger that she might be able to control the tree, seeing as it was a plant and she could control plants. She didn’t try to control it, however, because she didn’t know what would happen to her if she tried to control a plant that was clearly not from Earth. She wasn’t even sure that it was a tree; given how alien and strange this world seemed, it could just as easily have been something else, perhaps even something that was living, more like a human being or a dog than a tree.
There was that slap again. This time, Treehugger realized it was coming from a hollow near the tree’s trunk. She had not noticed the hollow before; given how dark everything was, however, Treehugger was not very surprised. She considered walking away, but at the same time, she picked up her flashlight as curiosity drove her to draw closer to the hollow in the trunk. She did not know what to expect, exactly, but she hoped to find life that might be able to tell her where she was and, perhaps, how to get back home.
But as soon as Treehugger shone her light down the hollow—as soon as she saw the dead red eyes, the undulating tentacles, the smoke rising from what may or may not have been nostrils—she dropped her flashlight and ran without another thought.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Present time …
Treehugger shuddered. Thinking about how she had gotten to this point hadn’t helped her at all, although she did feel drowsier than she had just a few moments ago. Her eyelids felt heavier, but at the same time, she found it hard to sleep, because that evil intelligence was still out there somewhere, even though she could no longer hear or feel it nearby. It had likely already passed her and would hopefully not come back this way in search of her, but something told Treehugger that she should stay here just a little while longer, because if she moved, she might attract the intelligence’s attention. Or the attention of something worse.
Once again, Treehugger looked at her suit-up watch. It still said ‘NO SIGNAL,’ making her feel depressed just by looking at it. She was so frustrated by the fact that she couldn’t contact anyone else due to the fact that she was not on Earth anymore. She had wanted her suit-up watch back so badly, but now that she actually had it, it was utterly useless. Not that she would get rid of it, of course, because it was still useful for telling the time and the like, but she wished that it could open dimensional holes now, instead of merely acting as a device for contacting people or as a way for her to conveniently summon her suit.
It’s hopeless, Treehugger thought, lowering her head onto her chest again. Darkness everywhere, strange creatures that have no right to exist out to get me, and I’m all alone, too. I might as well give up here. Not like I can save myself.
But Treehugger shook her head. She couldn’t allow herself to dwell on such negative thoughts. She remembered what Bolt had always taught her, about keeping a positive attitude even in the face of hopeless odds. She would just find a way home herself, she decided, no matter how long it took. Still, she didn’t think that thought with any real confidence; it was more like a resigned attitude, a little timid, because she was not certain that she would ever get home.
First, however, Treehugger ate some of the food pellets that she had found in her escape pod. They didn’t taste very good,
but when she swallowed, she suddenly felt as full as if she had eaten a full meal. How that worked, she had no idea, but she was not one to question the advanced technology of the IEA. She just rose to her feet and peered out from between the boulders, looking this way and that, but not seeing any danger. Of course, the heavy darkness made it very difficult to see much, but Treehugger didn’t sense anything evil, either, which meant that the evil intelligence that she had fled was indeed long gone. She wondered if the evil intelligence was in some way connected to that … that thing she had seen in the tree trunk, the thing she didn’t like to think about. It would explain why the evil intelligence pursued her, though she had no idea if the intelligence and the thing were one and the same or two separate creatures.
Regardless, Treehugger stepped out from between the boulders. She decided to go back to the temple where her escape pod had crashed; true, she had heard it being crunched to pieces by some kind of monster, but given how the escape pod was her only way to escape from this place, she decided that it would be worth trying to go back to see if there was anything left to salvage. Even if that meant coming face to face with whatever had destroyed her pod, Treehugger would do it, if only because the alternative was mindlessly wandering this strange, scary dimension with the risk of being killed at all times.
But … which way did I come from? Treehugger thought, looking this way and that with a frown on her face.
This was a problem. Treehugger had been so consumed with fear that she had just run off in a completely random direction without thinking about it or doing anything to give her a path back to the temple. She felt like she had come from a vaguely western direction, but her sense of direction was messed up in this place, because there was no sun for her to guide herself by and her suit-up watch’s GPS system didn’t work here for obvious reasons. So Treehugger just stood there, tapping her chin silently as she tried to remember which direction she had come from.
Before Treehugger could do much, however, she heard the sound of something huge rolling nearby, followed by the sound of claws scratching against rock. She looked over her shoulder just in time to see something falling toward her. The thing slammed into her, knocking Treehugger down onto the ground.
Treehugger slammed her head against the ground, causing her senses to spin. But even if her senses hadn’t been out of whack, that wouldn’t have meant much, because she felt some kind of claw tighten around her neck and pin her to the ground. Treehugger gasped for air, but the thing on her back had a grip like steel. It was too heavy for her to throw off and she couldn’t roll with it on her back, either. All she could hear was the sound of heavy breathing above her, like a dog after a long day of hunting. She doubted that the thing on her back was a dog; for one, she sensed the evil intelligence behind it, the same evil intelligence which she had fled, and which she now realized had finally gotten her.
“What do we have here?” said a voice above her, one which didn’t sound even remotely human despite it speaking perfect English. “You look like nothing I’ve seen before. Two arms, two legs, a head … very strange. Are you edible, I wonder?”
Treehugger felt another claw running down her back. She tried her very best not to scream, because she felt that this thing was going to kill her if she moved.
“Ah, I know what you are now,” said the voice. “Yes, you are a human. The shadows haven’t seen many of your kind for years. But we remember, yes we do. We remember that you humans are edible. That makes it so much easier to decide what to do with you, yes it does.”
Treehugger immediately gave a panicked yelp and started struggling, but it was no use. The thing that was going to eat her was strong, much stronger than her. And she could not rely on her plant powers, either, because she did not know if there were any plants nearby that she could control. She just felt the thing’s grip tighten on her neck, no doubt trying to kill her before eating her. She supposed that would be better than being eaten alive; given how strong this creature was, she was pretty sure that being eaten alive would be very painful.
At the last moment, Treehugger heard something rush through the shadows nearby. Then she heard what sounded like a sword being drawn out of its sheath, followed by that same sword being slashed through the air. She heard the sound of metal cutting flesh, followed by a gurgled yell from above and behind her, and then the creature’s grip on her neck vanished. Treehugger breathed in deeply, but stopped as soon as she heard the sickly sound of flesh falling against the earth.
For a long moment, Treehugger did not move. She lay there on the ground, panting and sweating, wondering what happened. Had the creature been killed? If so, by who? Or, more likely, by what? Had another monster killed the creature? Maybe it had overheard the creature mention how edible humans were and had decided to steal her from him. Yet she was still alive and she did not hear the sounds of any nearby creatures, which made her wonder, once again, if she was losing her mind in this cursed place.
But then Treehugger heard what sounded like a cape blowing softly in the wind. A second later, Treehugger sensed that someone stood next to her. It was still too dark for her to see, but she could feel the tip of its long cape with her fingers, which meant that she was probably dealing with a human, but who, exactly, she didn’t know. Of course, it was equally possible that she was dealing with some kind of extraterrestrial creature that for some reason wore a cape; if so, she had no reason to suspect that her savior was really her savior at all. Perhaps it just wanted to kill her for itself.
Taking a deep breath, Treehugger looked up at the creature. At first, it was too dark to see who or what was standing above her, but then she saw two red eyes looking down at her, two red eyes that were looking at her with recognition and surprise. The red eyes looked familiar to her, too, but she did not know where she had seen them before, though she did not have any bad memories or feelings associated with them.
Then a light shone somewhere near the head of the upright creature. It was a weak light, not very bright, but it was bright enough for Treehugger to see the demon-like helmet and the pitch-black armor of the Midnight Menace, the leader of the Independent Neoheroes for Justice.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Treehugger could not believe her eyes. Out of all of the people she had expected to see here, the Midnight Menace was the most surprising of them all (well, she supposed she would have been far more surprised to see someone like High Fly, but that was irrelevant). He stood tall above her, the light coming from a flashlight in his raised left hand, while his sword—long and bloody—was in his right. In the shadows of this strange dimension, the Midnight Menace looked even more terrifying and otherworldly than he usually did, even with his very human-looking surprised eyes.
“The Midnight Menace?” said Treehugger. She blinked. “Are you real or am I just going crazy?”
“I was about to ask you the same question, girl,” said the Midnight Menace. His deep voice was too real to be a hallucination, Treehugger decided. “But I think it’s safe to assume that we are both real. If you weren’t real, you would not have been screaming for your life when that Shadowlands beast nearly killed you.” He tilted his head to the side. “But how did you get here? You don’t have the powers necessary to travel to this place. Did someone bring you here?”
“I was going to ask you the same question,” said Treehugger as she pushed herself up into a sitting position and rubbed her neck. She was very careful not to look at the beheaded monster lying behind her, though she could smell its metallic blood in the air. “Of course, I don’t even know where I am. I know it’s not Earth, though that’s about all I know.”
“Brilliant deduction,” said the Midnight Menace with more than a hint of sarcasm. “What tipped you off? The eternal darkness, the eldritch abominations, or the growing sense of unease at the unnaturalness of this whole dimension? Perhaps it was the tugging at the edges of your sanity. Of course, you seem sane enough at the moment, but I’ve seen what happens to those who spend too much time here. U
sually, they’re not much more different from the very beasts they flee from after a week or so.”
Treehugger gulped and put her hands on her head, even though she wasn’t sure that that would do much to protect her sanity from erosion. “I didn’t come here voluntarily. I crashed here in an escape pod from an interdimensional spaceship.”
The Midnight Menace tilted his head to the other side. “An interdimensional spaceship. I see.”
Based on the Midnight Menace’s tone, it was pretty obvious that he didn’t believe Treehugger’s story. Of course, Treehugger didn’t think it was any weirder than anything else she had experienced as a superhero, but she decided that it would not be wise to annoy the only person in this dimension who could potentially help her get home.
“It’s complicated,” said Treehugger. “I was kidnapped by these guys from another universe and—”
The Midnight Menace suddenly waved his hand, causing Treehugger to fall silent. “You can explain how you got here on our way to the Temple. It isn’t wise to spend too much time here in the open. There’s a reason most Shadowlands creatures hide wherever they can; it’s the best way to avoid being caught.”
“Being caught by what?” said Treehugger.
“Not ‘what,’” the Midnight Menace said. “But ‘who.’ And no, I won’t tell you ‘who,’ at least at the moment. For now, follow me. Tell me your story on our way to the Temple.”
The Midnight Menace turned and walked away. Treehugger quickly scrambled to her feet and followed after the Midnight Menace, keeping as closely by his side as possible. It was hard to keep up, however; the Midnight Menace’s strides—if he even had feet, given how Treehugger did not hear any footsteps from underneath his robes—were longer than hers, not helped by the fact that Treehugger was fairly small herself. She just did her best to keep up with him, helped by the knowledge that if she didn’t, she would end up wandering this strange place forever.
