The shimmering light from the portal wrapped around his form like water. He closed his eyes as he stepped through the portal out of habit. It acted like water so he treated it like water in his mind. The mountain pass had been shadowy, with misted peaks leading to cool and humid air. As he stepped through the gateway he was almost cool enough to feel cold. In just a few short moments his skin was being warmed by the sun. The sweet sounds of songbirds chirping rang throughout the forest. Wind could be heard whistling through the trees, finding openings between massive trunks and through leaves which rustled at its passing. Behind his closed eyelids, a blue screen popped up:

Saul’s eyes opened, and a smile blossomed across his face. Tall grasses swayed gently in the breeze, crowding around those tree trunks that were large enough in diameter that any car could drive through them. Those trunks were a variety of colors, from deep browns to soft, burnt reds that seemed to match what he’d seen in pictures of the redwoods. As Saul looked up the trunk of one of those trees, his neck began to ache before he laid eyes on the canopy. Colorful mushrooms grew out of the bark, large enough that it seemed as though they could be used as handholds to climb the great trees.

He drew in a deep breath, filling his nose with the scents of the forest around him. It smelled like life - Cool and refreshing. He could smell the lush greenery, a soft scent of mint drifting off of many of the ferns. The trees themselves had a different aroma, earthy and musky with pleasant hints of needles, almost like a pine. The air itself smelled like power. Saul could feel from that first breath that the Qi flowing in the forest was greater than it had been in the mountains. It wasn’t anywhere near the level of the deeps, but it was certainly much more concentrated than in the rest of Level II.

On the forest floor, wide open spaces between those massive trees seemed to be the domain of ferns, growing in abundance. Downed trees could be seen here or there and the ferns and mosses were busy claiming those trees, too, as their domain. The landscape rolled like the gentlest wave. Leading away from the gate was a dirt path. Judging from the deep brown soil that contrasted against the ferns, it seemed to be a regularly maintained trail.

‘It’s beautiful…’ Saul thought to himself. He heard a gasp just beside him and smiled. ‘Ishan must have just seen the same thing I did.’ He turned to look at his current party member. The look of wonderment on the man’s face was worth a thousand words. He’d probably had a similar expression on his face when he first opened his eyes. Next to Ishan, he noticed a brown placard that read:

Efnelion: 5 km

Sylethanas: 14 km

He was lucky that everything thus far had been in English. Suddenly a thought occurred to him, ‘I wonder if these signs are really in English, or if the Dungeon translates things for me automatically… Does everyone here see and hear in their native language?’ He looked over at Ishan, wondering where the man was from. He certainly seemed exotic in style and appearance, but that could just be him acting to the best of his idea of ‘Medieval fantasy’.

“Hey, would you like to keep travelling together for now? I haven’t been here before and I kind of doubt you have.” Ishan jumped at Saul’s words, as if disturbed from the middle of a pleasant daydream. His gaze fell upon Saul, the man’s amber eyes focusing as he gave a nod, “Seems prudent to stick together for now. Who knows what kind of place this forest is?”

They set out, the dirt of the trail soft enough to feel as though they were walking on pillows. The way seemed straightforward, but every now and again there would be a turn. After perhaps a kilometer the sound of rain filled the air, but no drops fell to the ground. Saul looked up, but through the dense canopy he couldn’t see any signs of clouds in the sky. As they continued further along the trail the sound grew louder and louder, like they were walking into a more intense storm, but still no drops fell to the ground. At last they rounded a soft curve and came across the source of the noise.

To their right about 400 meters away, a stunning wall of stone jutted up from the softly rolling hills of the forest, an island to itself. It seemed to tower above the trees, but their growth was so persistent that Saul couldn’t rightly say where the top was. At the base of the massive stone glacier was a lake that was being filled continuously by a large waterfall that thundered down from heights unseen. The water fell at least 100 meters, totally uninterrupted, before it splashed onto a large cluster of boulders, from there it spilled free in many directions in a large number of tiny waterfalls. At the edge of the lake, large majestic creatures that appeared similar to moose but possibly even larger were drinking from the clear water.

It was the type of majestic scene that could serve as the inspiration for a thousand paintings and songs. The two companions turned to one another as if hoping to verify the sights before them were real, expressions of total wonderment visible on their faces. Saul looked down at Basi, and noted that even the lizard seemed to appreciate the beauty before him, though Saul wondered if he wasn’t just imagining getting a bite of those moose. ‘This place is amazing. I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it before, even in pictures,’ Saul thought to himself. As if afraid that their words would disrupt the scene, both men just stood there and soaked in the sight for a few minutes, before finally turning away and continuing onward.

Eventually they came across another sign indicating they were doing well on the trail:

Efnelion: 1.3 km

Sylethanas: 10.3 km

“Ishan, I’ve been wondering… Do you think these signs appear to everyone in English? Is that part of the Dungeon’s interface, making sure we can read these?” The man’s eyebrows were raised as he turned to look at Saul, his hand pointing towards the sign, “You mean you’re not reading Arabic? You’re not -speaking- Arabic?” He put particular emphasis on the speaking part. ‘He must not understand English…’ Saul responded, “No, I’ve been speaking English this whole time. How curious. I guess that answers that question. Let’s continue on, we’re nearly to Efnelion.”

A few minutes later, they arrived at Efnelion, and the sight elicited a gasp from Saul. Looking out, he saw a ravine in the middle of the town, with three or four particularly massive trees clustered close to that rift. At the very edge of what he could see, a small waterfall seemed to fall down into the ravine with several bridges criss-crossing the scar in the land. Soft, misty clouds seemed to float in suspension around the waterfall, the light shining just perfectly from above to create a waterfall there.

The trees themselves had hundreds of branches, each one as massive and sturdy as some of the other trees they’d seen. They were so regularly spaced that they almost looked like a spiral staircase moving up the trunks. On each of those branches at least one building could be spotted, expertly crafted and all but blending into the tree itself if not for lights that shone from windows on those buildings. “It’s like a fairy tale…” He breathed. After a few moments spent drinking in the details, Saul began to move ahead. ‘Who could live in such a wondrous place?’