Gwendolyn walked slowly through the dream world. Her feet made a slight squishing noise and against the purple, blue and green giant mushroom pads. Fog hung low and the sky was black. She heard a deep, booming laugh and spun around. No one or thing was there. She studied her surroundings. She slowly walked faster, trying to find a clearing in the fog. She knew she shouldn't have come to the dream world. Grayson had told her not to come back, but of course she came back, looking for him.
She hurried on further, trying to find the Steel Tree. The Gold Tree was that of wealth, the Silver Tree one of knowledge, but the Steel Tree was that of love, where she had always met Grayson. The Steel Tree was love because no matter how hard you tried to bend or break it, love was strong as steel. Every night she had met Grayson right here, at this tree, but the tree was gone, and Grayson was nowhere in sight. Gwen turned in circles, looking for a way out of the fog, trying to escape this awful feeling of dread she had acquired ever since she had stepped foot into the misty dream world.
She heard a loud squish behind her, from a mushroom pad being stomped on. She flew forward, running as fast as she could. Whatever it was, it was following her, and fast. She ran, her heart pounding in her chest, her feet flying so fast she was almost soaring, trying to escape whatever hideous being was following her. She heard it coming closer, and closer, and closer. It grabbed a hold of the back of her dress and stopped, while she kept running, tearing her own dress off. It was close behind her again, she could hear, smell, sense it. It grabbed her by her underwear and she was forced to stop. Gwendolyn trembled, waiting. It let go.
Gwen slowly stood up and turned around. It was only a chooka, a mix between plant and animal. A small face, growing out leaves and vines, with two human legs and two human arms, all completely cerulean blue. The chooka squeaked and grabbed Gwen's hands to walk with her. Chookas happened to be very protective of humans. Gwendolyn felt much safe with the chooka leading her, keeping her from harm's way. Gwen heard that noise again though, of something behind her, stomping on the mushroom pads, twigs and branches snapping. Gwen slowly turned around.