1: The Begining

Marlon's eyes blinked open, trying to shield him from the piercing blaze of the spring sun. He could hear the distant rush of a river, and the soft chirping of birds all around him.

Wait, spring? The last thing Marlon recalled was the November cold, and red leaves carpeting his London balcony. But this? This was not what he remembered. He sat up, and gazed stupidly about him at the soft green pastures and rolling hills in his vicinity. He looked about, and saw tall grey peaks in the distance, and a great, dark forest carpeting their feet. A light scattering of trees met his eyes from across a small stream bedded with rushes, and he could see winged, colourful forms flapping through their branches. Moss clung to boulders that littered the meadows, and he could see the cotton-like clouds peacefully drift across the baby-blue sky.

A commotion from behind him caused Marlon to blink himself out of his glazed-eye daydream, and turn to face the newly noticed crowd behind him. About a hundred people stood clustered and panicked, glancing around in fear at the new world they had appeared in a few moments ago. None seemed, from Marlon's observations, to be over the age of thirty, which seemed to indicate that these people either came from the same place, or were deliberately picked from the world's crowd. He stared harder at the group, his eyes scanning faces to find someone, anyone he recognised.

His eyes fell upon a girl from the university he went to, who had been the only person he vaguely recognised. Marlon hadn't really known her well, but he had talked to her occasionally before. He walked towards her, as he felt he needed be near someone he had at least seen before in this time of confusion. Marlon wormed his way through the crowd, and managed to catch her eye as he struggled to reach her. From the way her despondent eyes lightened a little, Marlon guessed she had come to the same conclusion as him, that it was better to have an acquaintance here then to be surrounded completely by strangers. "H-hi..." she stuttered, her eyes still scared and worried. "Hey." Marlon greeted her, and offered her a warm smile that hid his own nervousness. "It was... Freya, wasn't it?" He said, briefly fumbling for her name. "Y-yeah" Freya stuttered in reply, her words still shaken and wobbly; "D-do you know what happened? I was just finishing dinner, when all of a sudden, I-I was here!". "Unfortunately, I don't really know either." Marlon admitted, "The same thing happened to me. I was just lazing around in my dorm, and then suddenly...". His words trailed off as he saw Freya staring wide eyed and horrified at some thing behind him.

He spun around to see a giant floating ring facing them, it's perimeter littered with alien symbols and letters. There was a flash of light, and the inside of the circle became misty. A child's face smiled down at them, it's sweetness and innocence a total falsity. [Welcome, ladys and gentlemen!] He said in a carefree and cheerful voice, [To the world of Wood and War!]...