Lapse into Reverie

I know for a fact that I fell asleep that night like any other.

"So, how did I get here?" I wondered.

I was lying on my back in the middle of a field of flowers, still in my jeans and hoodie from yesterday. The ground was soft beneath me, and I felt the hints of a cool breeze on my face. I was laying at an angle, on a small hill overlooking the field, so I was able to see it in its undiminished glory; it would be an understatement to say it was like a painting come to life. Paintings paled compared to this. Red and orange blossoms dominated the landscape, vibrant and alluring; The yellow flowers were beaming like the sun, giving light to the scene; and the blue flowers were sprinkled throughout the field, like drops of water. No sooner had I taken in the sight when the sun peaked its first rays from out the distant horizon, gradually bathing the entire field in the light of dawn as it rose.

Suffice to say, it was the most stunning scene I had ever witnessed.

I watched the field for a few minutes, as it shifted mesmerizingly under the wind, until I was reminded of my situation.

"Where am I?"

The last thing I could remember was lying down in bed and falling asleep. But instead of waking up in my bed, I had found myself here, a place which was about as far from our dull town as you can get. Our town had no fields of flowers, let alone ones as entrancing as these; in fact, we hardly had flowers at all.

It was at this point that I acknowledged the fact that this was unquestionably not Earth. It sure as hell wasn't anywhere in our town, and the idea that I had woken up in some random field somewhere on the planet was absurd. No, there was a much better, and to me, much more familiar explanation.

To be honest, I had sometimes thought of how I might act if this type of thing happened to me. After reading as many books as I have, hundreds including some depiction of a normal person being transported out of the blue to another world, I had seen the situation occur in dozens of ways, but I never really could vouch for the accuracy of the situation, since there really wasn't any way of knowing how someone would act unless it really happened to them. In my case, I assumed I would stay calm and handle the situation normally, instead of freaking out like many protagonists did.

Well, I was completely wrong.

I didn't stay calm at all.

But not because I was scared. Or worried. Or in a state of shock.

I was ecstatic.

I felt so free.

I stood up, and, to my surprise, felt extremely refreshed, like all the fatigue and soreness in my body from last night's reading session was gone. I didn't even feel like I needed a shower to get myself up and moving, like I usually did. I was invigorated.

I started running towards the sun.

I knew that this couldn't be a dream. No dreams are like this. It felt far too real.

I could feel the sun beaming onto my face.

I could feel the soft, springy flowers under my feet.

The cool breeze blowing as I ran across the ground.

The tears flowing from my eyes.

The tightness in my chest.

I don't know how long I ran. It wouldn't be inaccurate to say I was almost in a trance, running without thinking. But by the time I stopped out of exhaustion, the sun was high in the sky. And my tears had stopped.

I had calmed down by then, and begun to think more clearly.

First I considered the possibility that this might actually be a dream after all. The idea of running through a field for at least a few dozen miles and never encountering anything was suspicious, to say the least. But I dismissed this idea quickly. Everything was too real. I was fully conscious. It could be a lucid dream, but this didn't feel like what I had read about them. Also, I should be able to do whatever I want with just my mind, but when I tried, nothing happened. I couldn't even create a glass of water for myself.

So I was definitely in another world. But I had no idea what this world was like. The whole world could be as beautiful as these fields, or I could've found a patch of heaven inside a ravaged world filled with monsters and maniacs. This was when I started to get a little worried.

"I suppose the only thing I can do is keep walking and hope to find something..." I thought.

Something good, preferably.

The next two hours by my estimate passed with little progress. The fields of beautiful flowers stretched in all directions, the only outlier being the distant mountain peaks on the horizon that didn't seem to be moving any closer no matter how far I walked. Somewhere in the third hour, I stumbled upon my first major discovery: a river. It ran perpendicular to the path I was traveling, and it was around ten meters across, but looked like it wouldn't go up to my shoulders even in the middle. The amount of relief I felt finding something other than fields of flowers surprised even myself. I supposed I must have been getting rather anxious, wondering whether I was actually traveling in circles or something. I stepped down to the riverbed, standing on the stones that fringed the water. It looked perfectly clean, so I cupped some in my hands and tasted it.

It was incredibly refreshing, especially after running and walking for the entire day. Although the air temperature was perfect, just like that of early spring or fall, the running I did earlier in the day had gotten me sweaty and thirsty. I was tempted to try getting in and washing off, but I had no way of drying off my clothes, and who knows how cold this place might get tonight. The last thing I wanted was to freeze to death because I took a bath.

With that reasoning, I was also unable to continue moving in the same direction I was before, as it would mean crossing through the river, and there was no bridge or easy bypass visible anywhere. So I decided to start walking along the river. I was perfectly content with this though; rivers generally meant civilization, so traveling along one was my best option right now. I had high hopes now, that if I traveled along this river, I had a much higher chance of succeeding in my quest to find civilization, hopefully a friendly one.

Well, my wish was granted, although calling it civilization might be a stretch.

After walking in the fields along the riverbed for another two hours, as the sun was getting lower and lower in the sky behind me, I could see something in the distance getting larger, and as I got closer, my heart began racing.

There was a small cottage along the riverbank, on the side I was walking on. It was fashioned from wood, had visible windows and a door, and I could see the windows were aglow. That meant either electricity or fire, although one of those options was probably more reasonable than the other. But either way, it looked to be an extremely homely place, not something I would expect ogres or vampires or other malevolent beings to be living in, which was no small confidence booster.

It was getting slightly chilly, and most of the light had left the sky by now. I felt that at this point, I had no option left but to knock and see if I could figure out what my situation is, and hopefully sleep for the night. I walked up to what I could only assume was the front door and listened quietly, hearing muffled voices inside. They definitely didn't sound like ogres, but I couldn't tell whether it was English or not. I raised my wrist and gave the door the politest knocks I could manage. By this point, my heart was beating faster than I'd like to admit.

I could hear the voices inside stop. After what felt like an eternity the door opened.

And I was greeted by a beautiful girl around my age, brandishing a sword at me.