New World Awakening (Catalyst x NymphoWolf)

[Sin-Claire]

Annabel felt the sun press against her eyelids and she groaned trying to turn away from it to no avail. Ugh, why are the curtains open? She turned on her side and felt something dig into her arm. Abruptly her eyes flashed open and disorientation overtook her as she realized she was lying on a bed of grass. The offending object that dug into her arm was a stick and she moved it before sitting up with a confused grimace, clutching her pounding head. What on Earth did she do last night?

Turning to take in her surroundings she was surprised to see her older brother, Colton, passed out nearby. What the hell? Her head began to clear and she looked around them again, not seeing a house in sight. Only open fields with a forest in the distance and... holy shit was that a tree? She had no idea they even got that big. This one must have been 100 feet tall with a trunk that was easily 30 feet wide. Wait. Were those blue leaves? Her eyes followed up to the top of the tree and one more detail struck her making her rub her eyes before looking again. Two suns? She was definitely losing it.

Feeling a mild sense of panic begin to settle Anna crawled over to her brother and roughly shook his shoulder. "Colt!" she called out, glancing around again. "Colt, wake up, there's something really weird going on!" Sitting back on her heels she tried to remember the last thing she'd been doing. It was summer break right after she'd graduated from high school. She'd been in her room picking out an outfit to go to the beach. Glancing down at herself she wore distressed denim shorts and a deep red tank top with her hair pulled up into a messy topknot bun. Beneath that was her white string bikini. What had happened between this morning and now?

She waited for Colt to wake so he could tell her she was crazy or that this was some sort of elaborate setup.

 

[Catalyst]

At first, the faint calls of his name that reverberated between his ears seemed as though they were little more than a part of some throwaway dream he'd been having. It would not have been out of the ordinary for him, after all. Only he could not find the source. Not of his name, nor of anything at all. He felt aware, but there was nothing to be aware of. There was consciousness within, but his head was swimming in an endless pool of emptiness, searching in all directions, and yet, in no provable direction at all, for the source of that familiar voice. A dream...of nothing?

Colton's eyes fluttered open, only to immediately squint as he found himself looking straight up into the clear, greenish-blue sky. Slowly, he became aware of himself, feeling the grass beneath his body, and the dull ache at the back of his head. He brought one hand up to shield his eyes, feeling groggy and confused. "Ungh..." he let out a low, subtle groan, turning his hand to rub it over his face and the stubble that stood out against his jawline. "...the hell..." He had even less recollection of what he'd been doing or where he'd been than Annabel did. The last complete memory he had involved sitting around a warm fire with his friends, a Bluetooth stereo playing loudly, and a cold beer in his hand. Now, he was here, wearing the same full-length black jeans, black tank-top, and one of his favorite red, gray, and white flannel patterned overshirts, left completely unbuttoned; but everything else was gone. Everything between that moment, and the current one, may as well have been utterly non-existent.

His friends were not here with him, now, either. That much was obvious. As he eased into full consciousness and began to look around him, he sought out and soon found the familiar face behind the voice that still rang as though she'd only just called out to him. His little sister. She was panicked. He could see the distress written all upon her face, and it was no mystery as to why. It took but a moment for him to spot all of the very same oddities that she already had. Unfortunately for the both of them, it would soon become clear that this was all far from his own doing. In reality, he had just as few answers as she did.

"Anna?" he spoke up finally, sounding puzzled. "Where...Where are we? What are you doing here?"

 

[Sin-Claire]

Annabel wrung her hands worriedly as Colton took his sweet ass time waking up. He blearily sat up and took in their surroundings, looking as shocked as she felt. Ultimately it was his words and tone that really solidified her notion. Unfortunately she had grown up her whole life with him and she knew when he was lying or trying to prank her. This was not one of those times. Which meant this was real.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Anna stood and turned in a circle again trying to absorb their surroundings. She didn't bother answering him since she didn't know the answer to any of his questions. Her bare feet padded over the soft grass and she looked up to the pair of suns again, ensuring that she hadn't made that up in the last three minutes.

So, this wasn't Earth. The realization wasn't as scary as she thought it would be but perhaps she was just in shock or denial. At least the air was still breathable and it was more or less similar to the world they knew so far.

"Alright," she breathed out finally, pacing back and forth as her brain went into overdrive. "We aren't on Earth anymore," she stated aloud as she thought, her finger coming up to tap her cheek. "Perhaps we're having a shared hallucination," she reasoned at first before shaking her head. Unless she was truly crazy, which there was no helping, this was definitely real. "Wormhole would have swallowed Earth and frigging ripped us apart so that's out. Alien abduction? Actually the most plausible thus far," she continued, rambling and then glancing to Colt momentarily as she thought aloud.

"Do you have any clue what landed us here?" she asked him, her blue eyes meeting his. They needed to figure something out and fast. They were in a strange place with who knows what and nothing but the clothes on their backs. Annabel was booksmart but she was far from being a rugged survivalist.

Looking past him at the giant tree that may have been about 50 yards away Anna began walking towards it, needing more answers. Maybe if she could climb to the top she could see something to benefit them. A town or people or hell maybe even a freaking rocket ship.

 

[Catalyst]

"Wait, wait, what?" Colton asked her, shaking his head in bewilderment as he slowly worked his way up to his feet. There was a short spell of dizziness that overcame him as he did so, threatening very nearly to take him back down to the ground before he was able to stabilize himself. "Not on Earth anymore? What are you talking about?" His eyes did their best to focus on her, though it was clear he was not quite so present of mind as she was. At least, not at the moment.

"I- No. I don't know what happened. I was just hanging out with Derrick and the guys and-" he stopped himself as Annabel moved past him before he was even able to complete his thought. He turned to follow her with his gaze, brow furrowed, head pounding, and absolutely clueless. Glancing all around him then, he felt himself left utterly without words. The ground, the plants, the sky... everything looked so similar, and yet, so obviously very, very different. What is this place?

"Anna!" he called out after, following her as quickly as his legs could carry him without becoming a run. "Anna, what is going on?" he asked again. Wormholes? Aliens? Her disjointed thoughts had contributed almost as much to his state of confusion as the place they'd woken up itself.

When it became clear she wasn't going to listen to him, he picked up the pace, jogging forward to catch up with her, despite the pain he felt radiating through his skull and in his back with every movement. "HEY!" he yelled. "Where are you going!?"

If Annabel was the brains of the family, then Colton was most certainly the brawn. He was tall and broad, built like an ox, with a great strength that had come from years of working with his hands, competing in all manner of sports at some point in time, including playing football for his small-town college and spending the majority of his free time outdoors, hunting and fishing. With that strength came all the more the innate instinct for him to protect his baby sister. They had always been inseparably close, and even while through the years so many things had changed, one thing that never did was their unspoken bond. Whenever she needed him, he knew he would be there, no matter what it took.

If there was one thing that could pull him out of his disorientation, it was that need to keep her safe.

 

[Sin-Claire]

Anna could be hit with moments of such single minded determination that she blocked everything else out in her focus. Which is why as Colton was calling out to her she didn't turn, continuing to march towards the giant tree while muttering under her breath as she tried to think through their predicament. Attempting to decipher their situation was also probably keeping her from freaking out.

His shout as well as the fact that he was obviously trying to catch up with her made her falter and she slowed as he came alongside her. Seeing his obvious state of confusion and distress made her stop completely and she turned to face him. "I don't know what's happening Colt, but this is obviously not our world," she spoke, glancing up at the dual suns.

His face looked pained and she assumed he was facing the headache that had wracked her upon awakening. She should have given him a moment to get oriented, she realized. They needed to figure this out together. "And if that's true we need to know what we're dealing with," she continued, speaking a touch softer. "I think we need to see if there are any other people here that are like us and see if they have more answers than we do," she finished. Placing her hands on his shoulders she took a deep breath. "And if I don't focus on that I am seriously going to lose it," she admitted.The fact that they were probably most definitely not on Earth was terrifying. Could they get back? Could they survive?

Looking back over at the giant tree that loomed overhead she gulped when she realized how much taller it looked now that they were closer. Sweeping her blue eyes back to his face she realized that she was beyond relieved that he was here with her. If there was anybody she could count on when things got rough, it was Colt. "My thought is that we need to climb that big ass tree and see what's around us so we know what direction to head," she spoke, looking for his approval and ideas.

Colton had always been her rock growing up, no matter what trouble she had faced. He'd protected her from bullies, shitty boyfriends, and taken the blame for dumb crap with their parents. She needed him now more than ever.

 

[Catalyst]

Colt stared back into those big blue eyes with his own watchful gaze. Even without her words, it was not difficult to see the twinge of panic that lie beneath their shimmering surfaces. She was right. Something was unquestionably wrong, even if neither of them knew what. If it hadn't been for the very real feelings of pain he felt, he would have thought sure he was somehow still trapped within that dream state...

He did not know what to do, nor did he know much of anything. But he could sense the urgency in Anna's voice, feel the unsteadiness of her hands as she touched him. And immediately, he began to understand. Regardless of how lost he was himself, he needed to remain calm. Not for himself. But for her.

"...Are you sure you can get up there?" He asked her as he glanced up at the tree himself. If either of them had a better shot at climbing it than the other, it would be her. She was more nimble than him in that way. That fact did little to stop him from worrying internally, however. He turned his head to survey their surroundings a bit more carefully. From what he could tell, it seemed they'd found themselves in a clearing amidst the edge of some dense woods. All around them in every direction, there was a vast expanse of empty fields, right up to this line of trees that seemed to stretch out into eternity in both directions.

Their trunks were massive and daunting, and looking around them into the forest seemed to reveal only more of the same. Upon closer inspection, they'd find that the bark of these trees was remarkably thick and strong, and uneven enough to provide at least reasonable space for one to find their footing. The closest comparison he could find in the world he knew would have been the Giant Sequoias of California, but he'd never seen them in person, and even at that, he could only imagine that they would pale in comparison to the impossible immensity of these behemoths.

"Alright..." he relented finally, not seeing much choice. "...Alright, we can try it. But just, please, be careful. If you fall, I'm going to take a wild guess and say it won't exactly be easy to find you help..." If any help existed, at all.

 

[Sin-Claire]

Annabel glanced back at the towering tree and nodded even though it made her stomach knot in anxiety. "I can climb it," she answered resolutely. The thought of falling wasn't exactly a kind image and she pushed it solidly from her mind. "C'mon," she urged, taking his hand in hers and pulling him towards the tree. They approached and the trunk seemed even bigger close up but there were plenty of noticeable handholds and footholds.

Letting him go, she gave him a nervous smile before reaching forward and beginning to pull herself up. She'd gotten about a third of the way and made the mistake of looking down, vertigo making her heart pound. Clenching her eyes shut she held still for the moment and then kept her eyes resolutely on her next ledge. "No big deal. Just a little further. Can't quit now," she muttered the words to herself to keep her going and soon found herself a the top of the trunk, only branches going up.

Pulling herself up with the thickest of the branches she placed her feet against where they met the thick trunk and stood slowly, hooking herself in place with each of her own limbs. Finally she looked away from the tree, gasping at all she could see. A wide river passed to the left entering the forest behind her. In front she could see a mountain range in the distance, its peaks barely visible with sloping valleys and open fields stretching across the wide open expanse between them.

There was a herd of some sort of large animal she couldn't determine but they seemed to be grazing close to the river's edge further away. She was too far to see any details on them. Turning to look back at the forest, her eyes instantly lit up when she saw columns of smoke rising up from inside the trees, nearby where the river fed in. "I see smoke!" she called down to Colt. "I think there's a campground or village nearby!"

Excited by the prospect of other people, Anna suddenly realized she would need to made the climb all the way back down and her stomach dropped out. Deep breaths. Gingerly she began the trek down, this taking longer than the climb due to her caution even though it was less taxing. Placing her feet on solid ground she sank back against the trunk for a moment to sit, temporarily tired by the strain of the climb and the fear she'd endured.

She pointed in the direction she'd seen the smoke stacks and repeated her words in case he hadn't heard her. "The view was amazing. I saw about eight different columns of smoke all huddled together in that direction," she told him. "Unfortunately I didn't see any other signs of civilization. If there are major cities here we aren't close to them."

 

[Catalyst]

From the moment she left the ground, there was a vague sense of nervousness in the back of Colton's mind. It was not because he wasn't confident in his little sister's ability to handle herself in climbing the gigantic tree. He'd seen her do some arguably worse things over the years. But he could always take comfort in knowing that he would be able to help her if she needed it. Now though, with no immediate signs of civilization, the worries plagued him of whether or not he would truly be able to do so. That protective instinct was immediately kicking in, and the higher she climbed, the less sure of her plan he became. So he was thankful when she safely reached that branch and decided not to climb any further.

He could make out the river nearby from where he'd been standing, but everything else was up to her to see. She was so high up, by that point that it was difficult to make out the full extent of what she was saying, but he could gather from the tone of her voice that she'd definitely found something.

Then came the hard part; watching her as she scooted her way down, standing directly beneath her at the base of the mighty tree, his breath half-way catching in his throat with every step, his arms partially outstretched as he prepared himself to catch her if she fell, no matter the cost to him. It was only once she was within ten feet or so from the bottom that he could exhale, feeling more comfortable that he could easily catch her if need be. Thankfully, it never came to that.

"Really? Well hey, at least there's something," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder and checking over her to make sure she hadn't hurt herself at all. With so much of her skin exposed on her arms and legs, there were a handful of scrapes where the bark had caught her, small enough that she probably barely even noticed herself, if at all, and some rogue dirt marks on her clothes and body. All in all, though, she had impressed him with how well she handled it. He knew she had to have been nervous up there, but at least on the surface, she showed no signs of it.

"So we know which way we have to go then," he reasoned aloud. "We should follow that river for as long as we can, though. That way we have something to guide us, and we don't get turned around." He'd spent his fair share of time out in the woods, but never in a place as unfamiliar as this one. And with no sense of any local landmarks, nor knowledge of what was safe, and what sort of animals may be lurking within, the last thing that either of them could afford to do now was get lost.

It was then that he had a small revelation. He suddenly patted his pants down, feeling for the belongings he normally kept on him. He brandished both his wallet and his cell phone. Surely enough, though, the latter was worth little more than its weight in shit, as it would not turn on, nor would it respond to his attempts to do so at all. Then he dug further down in one of his pockets and brandished a black steel, folding serrated knife. It was something he'd always carried with him, and now, it seemed to be the only thing that might stand a chance of doing them any good, for the time being.

"I don't guess you have anything else on you, huh?" he asked, looking back at her.

 

[Sin-Claire]

Annabel nodded as she caught her breath, resting her forearms on her knees. She was glad he was here. He was the outdoor one out of the two of them. She spent most of her time with her head in a book and while she might know some useful information, experience trumped knowledge in most cases.

She watched him pay down his pockets suddenly and was surprised when he pulled out a phone, although her hope was quickly dampened when it failed to turn on. Of course not. However, he continued to fish around and pulled out a large pocket knife.

"That's wonderful Colt," she exclaimed her eyes widening before standing so she could check her own pockets. She had neither a phone nor a wallet since they wouldn't have fit in her tiny pockets but there was a small plastic bag in her back pocket. Her face turned red with realization but she pulled it out nonetheless. It was a small bag that held a few squished joints and a small lighter.

Looking at his sheepishly she waved it, "I've got this," she admitted. The lighter was an incredible find but she felt embarrassed by the weed. "We were planning on having a bit of fun at the beach today," she explained with a shrug, pulling the lighter out. She stuffed the bag of three joints back into her pocket and held out the lighter to him. He would be the better person to hold onto it with his deeper pockets.

Turning in the direction of the river she asked, "Should we just start walking then?" she asked glancing back at him. It would probably take them less than an hour to reach the river and then a couple hours past that to reach the source of all the smoke she'd seen. There was no telling how long the day would last but she didn't want them to be out her alone when it was dark.

 

[Catalyst]

Colt's eyes widened, one brow cocked in a slight surprise at the sight of the little baggie. He could see the embarrassment in her eyes as she looked back at him halfway innocently, but that did not stop him from crossing his arms and looking her over in a sort of mock-judgment.

"And since when have you been having that kind of fun?" he questioned her, a slight turn at the corner of his lips betraying him. It wasn't as if he could be mad at her; not when he'd done much worse himself on his own time. If anything, he was more surprised she'd never mentioned to him before.

He shook his head at her, allowing himself to smile a little wider. Eventually, he did take the lighter from her, sliding it into one of his own pockets and looking back at her. "Yeah, we should. It's going to take a little while." he glanced back up into the wide-open sky. With one smaller source of light a little less than halfway between the horizon and the highest point over his left shoulder, and the other, much larger and much brighter sun shining directly overhead, it was difficult to discern what time of day it was. In the time that had passed, though, it seemed as if both were moving in the same direction, toward the horizon, which did not bode particularly well for the two of them.

Three or four hours? Maybe? He thought silently to himself, trying to decipher how much time they may have hade, but not wanting to make any judgments aloud, just yet. Besides, it wasn't as though the length of time particularly mattered. Out here, they were exposed. Not only did they have no food, but they had no form of shelter. They could keep their eyes open for both along the way, but the simple reality of their situation was, light or dark, rain or shine, they would need to find something.

"Keep those," he said after a quiet moment. "We might end up needing them, at this rate." he chuffed beneath his breath, patting her on the back as he started past her, heading toward the river. "Come on, lets get going."

 

[Sin-Claire]

Anna grinned when she recognized the mock seriousness in his stance and on his face. Perhaps they could make use of the joints together later. First priority was going to be to find someplace safe with shelter and hopefully food.

She turned to follow as he began to set off towards the river. At least she was in relatively cool clothing. Hopefully it wouldn't get too cold when the suns finally went down. The biggest draw back was that she wasn't wearing any shoes. Luckily the grass underfoot was relatively soft and she didn't have much trouble as they walked.

It took a little over an hour for them to reach the river which was far wider than she had thought from her view atop the massive tree. In that time it was clear to see that the pair of suns had descended closer to the horizon. Approaching the water's edge, it flowed in the direction they were needing to go, and Anna wondered if there would be any issues with drinking it. Still, they had to have water. Although if there were people farther up they could find out from them if the water was safe.

As they followed the river heading closer to the forest Anna felt her stomach rumble. "I hope they have food," she lamented to her brother, clenching her agitated stomach. They were just getting close to the treeline when Annabel spotted a figure. "Colt, do you see that?" she asked excitedly. "Hey wait!" she called out, picking up her pace. They were close to the shoreline and Anna could now see there was a second person that stood up. It looked like they were women but one looked different. They were just too far away to be sure.

Before Annabel could get a good look at the pair they had jumped up with their things and disappeared into the woods. "Crap," Anna muttered slowing. Still it was good news. That meant there were people here. Turning to Colt she asked, "Did you get a good look at them? They didn't seem to be wearing much so I think they were bathing. Probably why they ran," she concluded.

They were drawing nearer to where she had seen them and there were buckets filled with water that they'd left behind. They had sure been in a hurry. But this made it look like they'd been collecting drinking water. Which made more sense because it was upstream of the village and wouldn't be a good bathing location.