Chapter 1

INTRO

Selene Valois did not think today would be her most remarkable (or unfortunate) day during her twenty-five years of existence. She diligently woke up at six AM like usual. Doing some quick meditation and stretching before she started her day, she drank her chrysanthemum tea, a gift from her beloved best friend Cécile when she went on her vacation in China two weeks ago.

No, she thought her day would be a monotonous routine as usual.

Woke up early,

Meditated,

Drank her tea, took her breakfast,

a quick shower prepared her outfit,

went to take the subway and then arrived at her office,

fired up her laptop and started working in her cubicle. 

Just usual yadda yadda. 

But something was eerily calm this morning. Selene just could not put it into her mind or words. She was just feeling weird inside and began feeling her heart throbbing faster.

She tiptoed into the big white window of her flat, which directly presented her with the blue sky and the hustle and bustle of her hometown.

Hesitantly she opened the curtains and saw the sky was ominously grey. She frowned and thought, ‘Hmm… must be pouring rain today.’

 She tried to cast aside her feelings and walked into her routine.

“You silly girl, this is what you get when you read some paranormal romance novel before sleeping!” Selena tried to lighten her uneasiness and ‌talk by herself.

She was determined to improve her day and went to the bathroom with her mind focused on her future tasks at the office. She didn’t realize that a click at her bathroom door would change her life forever.

***

Selene Valois, a twenty-five-year-old plain girl, thought her life might be like a normal girl. Or maybe if she wanted to be a little realistic, she would end up either as a grandma completely white-haired altogether with wrinkled skin, sitting hand by hand-with the love of her life, and surrounded blissfully by their beloved grandchildren. 

Or if she took the extreme opposite, she would become a single white-haired grandma with many cats in her senior living house playing bridge with her greyish-haired old friends who are also full of life wisdom and rich experiences. 

What Selene Valois did not realize was that her life would turn upside down this morning, and it would change her life direction forever.

Her morning was supposed to be normal, boring, and filled with a constant routine. But she felt rather different this morning. Or perhaps, the morning was different than what a normal morning looked like. 

Putting aside her queasiness, Selene moved to her bathroom to start her day as usual. She stretched, cracked her fingers, took her soft towels, and went to her bathroom. Her small minimalist white room was in the corner of her one-bedroom apartment. 

But she halted before the doorknob, slanted her eyes, and tilted her head. Alright, maybe she was hungover but somehow ended up not realizing that. She was almost sure she heard a faint sound behind the door.

'Huh? Did she put the radio inside her bathtub?'

"You are weird this morning, Selene Valois." She muttered to herself. She opened the doorknob,

And…

Holy fudge!...

What the hell is that?

***

Selene thought herself was a moderate and plain woman. She would not call herself ugly, but she was not going overboard to say she was beautiful. 

No, she was just a Selene. With her slender but petite figure, there were no assets that drew people's attention to her body. 

Small cup size bra, little but perky behind because she was routinely doing yoga after work 4 times a week; long curly hair, the auburn with a hint of copper color that made her splurge on her hair routine; a decent nose, moderate brows and eyelashes, and plump pink lips that accompanied with a single dimple on her left cheek. 

Maybe one of her best features was her eyes. Green like moss in a deep forest. So dark, defined, and green. 

And about her traits, she thought she was a kind person, with little crazy clumsy traits that sometimes surfaced when she was frustrated, nervous, or shy. She was mostly a pacifist, did not like confrontation or fights, and did not like being put under the spotlight. So she was mostly content living a peaceful and unassuming life just like she did in the past twenty-five years. 

But she was sure she was not a madwoman or someone with a mental illness. 

Why would she think that? Because no other logical explanation was apprehensive for her to explain THE SIGHT in front of her eyes, or inside her bathroom, to be exact. 

Did she hallucinate?

What the effing hell was she seeing right now? 

She was freaking out. 

She was frozen in her place, unable to turn around and run. 

Selene blinked her eyes several times. To make sure that what she saw in front of her was real. 

Seconds passed felt like an eternity. Selene finally woke up from her trance and slowly walked into the greenest grass she had ever seen. 

"What happened?" whispered Selene. 

The grass felt cold and moist under her feet. The room that was supposed to be her bathroom changed into a thick, lush forest. She did not know what exactly had happened. 

'Was she still dreaming?' 

When she wanted to return to her living room to retreat, Selene was shocked when she turned back to the place that was supposed to be her door magically disappeared, and now all her surroundings was a forest. 

She was lost in the unknown forest. Unknown territory.

Holly shit, she was doomed! 

*** 

What was before her could be described as holy and majestic. 

"You've gone crazy, Selene!" she squeaked. 

Her breaths hitched as she observed the forest that she was transported into. These ethereal beauties bombarded all of her senses. 

High canopies of ancient-looking trees were standing majestically from every corner of this forest. Thick, lush leaves made this forest darker and scarce of light. 

Either if it was coming from the moon or the sun. The green she saw daily could not compare with the greenest she ever saw right now. 

Selene had no idea what kind of trees surrounded her, but she absolutely knew that all of these were old, ancient, and might be sacred trees. 

They were mostly gigantic,  size-wise, with a diameter length twice more than her body length.

Selene was also seeing some other trees she had never seen, with the leaves tendrils dangling and every tip having some flower bud with white, soft pink, yellow, and bluish colours glowing softly in sequence. 

'Glowing, yes! You did not mishear me.'

The flower buds were glowing just like fireflies. 

Other mesmerizing trees, like bamboo trees, but bamboo was sparkling like fine diamond dust, were pasted all around. 

Or fairies just visited it, leaving their trace behind like that. 

While her visual sense was almost overwhelming to digest her surrounding scenery, her auditory sense also tried to catch up. 

She heard nocturnal creatures cricketing faintly, overlapped with faint melodious bird chirps and songs and some growling, howling. Any other thrilling (big) animal sounds that instantly made her nape hairs stand up, and she instantly had goosebumps. 

She sincerely hoped to God no other beastly creatures would appear near her. She had no idea how to handle them. 

One of her consolations from this helluva uncertainty was a flowing river around 10 meters from her left side. 

The river was so beautiful, serene, and calm. No turbulent torrent appeared on the surface. Just a steady flow of water rushed down and led downstream. 

Its splashed water made her heart a bit more calmed than before. 

On the river bed, she could see colorful delicate flowers. The flowers made a powerful existence inside this forest in the middle of the night. 

"If only this forest was real, and it did not equal my insanity, I would gladly hang out under the trees, hearing the forest and all its inhabitants make beautiful sounds like this," Selene muttered slowly. 

She was at her wits' end. She had to form a plan and get out of this forest, or at least find out what was happening to her. 

But how could she form a coherent thought when now questioning her sanity? 

She took a deep breath and gulped crisp cold air to soothe her mind. Let's think slowly, Selene... 

First, she needed to ensure she was in her right mind, sound, sane, and not hallucinating. Several seconds passed after she pinched her cheeks, scowled after her cheeks felt sore, and made herself feel like a dumb act like that.

She was not hallucinating; she was sure. Because ‌these were too beautiful to be such a hallucination, and neither her mind could draw and make up something so ethereal and magical like these. Just no way! 

Alright, moving on. 

Second step, she needed to get out of this forest and find a human, civilization, or anyone who breathed just like her.

She looked around and observed her surroundings once again. 

After she had passed the initial shock and successfully controlled her jaw-dropping expression, she tried to find clues to help her move out of this forest. 

She slanted her eyes and saw the end of the forest. There was a slightly yellow glow radiating behind the big oak trees. 

Her hope instantly revived, and she prayed it was a way to find a village. She must encounter someone and get help. 

Selene walked barefoot toward the lights. The crisp moss sound under her stepped feet was her focus and her grip on reality to break her lonely journey. 

But after several steps, she halted because she heard something. 

She heard a rumbling from the distance. 

It was faint at first, but not long after that, she felt the ground trembling, and that rumbling voice was closer and closer as the trembling under her feet grew bigger and finally shook her body. 

Before she could act based on her instinct and hide, big looming creatures surrounded her. 

Their dark eyes glinted, focusing solely on her. She saw their sharp fangs. Selene heard huffing and puffing with occasional growls from one creature to another. 

Are... those... the pack of wolves? 

***