In many ways, the stories carried great similarities to Janus and his friends’ recent experiences. He was incredibly relieved to see that they all appeared to come from the same town that he and his friends did.
He knew exactly where the grassy, tree-dotted haven that the woman had spoken of was, situated along one side of the student center at the University of Lexington. He knew the road by the mall that the dark-haired man and his friend had taken, when they had become immersed in the strange mist.
There was little doubt that they all shared some common origins. If they were to be believed, then the others were in the very same predicament as Janus, Derek, and Kent. The two pairs had come together randomly in the middle of the forest, just as Janus was meeting them now.
It did not take Janus long at all to recognize that a group of seven would have a much better chance of success within this foreign territory than one group of three, and another of four. The temptation of increased numbers put a tremendous pressure on Janus to accept their story at its face value.
He carefully regarded them as various thoughts and emotions pulled inside of him.
At last, he stated, “Here’s my own situation.”
The other four listened attentively as he spoke of his own ordeal. He detailed the boat trip, coming to the shore in the fog, and the recent visit of the old man.
When he had finished, the woman among the quartet, a tall beauty with flowing black hair and expressive dark eyes, said, “Maybe that old man you talked about did know something. Maybe he was speaking about us specifically.
“But I know one thing for certain, I think that we had all better stick together, for our own sakes at the least. I think that it is pretty clear by now that this isn’t a place that any of us are familiar with. Maybe not even our world, the more I see of it. None of us can argue that by now. And if we are to go much further, then we’d better get introductions taken care of.”
Janus paused for an extended moment, held back by some last vestiges of extreme caution. He looked into each of their eyes, one by one.
“Agreed,” Janus finally answered, trusting to his impulses. He offered them a smile. “My name is Janus Roland.”
Janus shook each of their hands, as each of them gave him their names in turn.
The attractive woman’s name was Erika Laesig, and the dark-haired man with the austere countenance was called Logan Danner. The stoutly built male was Antonio Guerrero. The shorter, lean male with a darker complexion, who looked to be of Middle Eastern descent, was named Mershad Shahab.
“I need to go back to my friends, as they need to know of this right away. They won’t exactly be expecting this, so you might as well come along with me,” Janus indicated, as they finished their introductions with each other.
The quartet of new acquaintances followed behind, keeping a little distance between themselves and Janus. Seeing their own caution was a reassurance to Janus as he settled into a brisk stride, leading them back out of the forest and into the open.
Janus called out, waving to get Derek and Kent’s attention as soon as they emerged from the cover of the woods.
Derek and Kent saw them right away, standing quietly and awaiting their approach. Both looked very attentive, sizing up the four individuals coming in Janus’ wake. After watching them approach for a few moments, Derek started forward, breaking into a jog as he moved away from Kent to intercept the others.
“Janus!” he called, his eyes fixed upon the other four. “What’s up?”
Janus replied, as he slowed down to meet Derek’s approach. “The old man appears to have been right. These people with me are all from Lexington, and have been through the same kind of thing as us, with the fog and everything else. They’re in the same mess as we are.”
Derek’s eyes looked over the foursome that was now drawing close, resting his evaluating gaze upon each one of them. The careful, appraising look in his eye gave away the fact that he was even less inclined towards trust than Janus had been.
Janus could tell that his friend was fully on his guard, watching very alertly for any sudden moves or other troubling indications.
Janus turned to look at the others, as they drew to within a few paces of him and came to a stop themselves.
“This is my friend Derek Decker, and over there is Kent McNeeley,” Janus told them.
He then proceeded to introduce the four to Derek, who still kept his own distance from them. Kent had strolled over in the interim, and was now standing by Derek’s side.
Janus found that he was even more convinced about the other four at that moment. In his mind, he knew that if they bore any ill will towards Janus and his friends, it was definitely not to their advantage to allow the three men to come together in a group.
“Probably best if you tell your story in your own words to them,” Janus said to the quartet.
“I understand,” Erika replied with a nod, glancing towards Derek and Kent.
The stories were then shared again, which helped to break the tension a little with Derek. He asked them a few pointed questions regarding some elements of what they had seen in the forest, clearly looking to gather useful insights about their new environment.
Following the retelling of the stories, they all came to agreement that they would remain together from that point onward. With the light around them continuing to ebb towards their first night in this region, it was abundantly clear that some kind of plans had to be made.
The group of seven slowly made their way back to the edge of the forest. Dividing tasks up, they set about to building a shelter for the night, as well as looking around for any source of food that they could find.
The shelter that they erected was crude, but would likely suffice even if some rain fell during the night. It was arranged as a rough, semi-circular lean-to around the massive diameter of an ancient oak tree. Gathered brush and foliage were arranged to form layers atop a lattice of thin branches harvested from the nearby trees.
Only a few sour tasting berries were turned up in the search for food, unripe versions of a wild berry that Derek was familiar with. To help offset the worsening hunger pangs, all of the group members had to settle for drinking copious amounts of cool water from a stream that was located near to the site of the shelter.
The most obvious concerns were gradually voiced by more than one member of the newly formed group. Very soon, unless they uncovered a few naturally growing, edible sources, they would have to turn to other options for food. It would likely mean trying to hunt some of the local fauna, or perhaps figure out a workable method for fishing in the streams.
Of their group, only Derek and Kent had hunted before, but even that was not a full assurance of success. Their hunting had been done with guns, and the group currently had no firearms with them, or even bows.
Just as the shelter was finished, the night finally settled in around them with a sharp drop in temperature. As cooler winds coursed throughout the trees around them, bringing a steady rustling to the teeming leaves, Janus’ eyes were attracted to every break in the branch canopy overhead.
The glittering spectacle that was unfolding in the skies above them was an experience that he would not soon forget. It was yet another piece of evidence that they were indeed in a strange new world, but it was nonetheless incredible to behold.
There were a great many more stars visible in the deep sky above than there ever were in the skies of Janus’ own world. They were also arranged into unfamiliar patterns, a bevy of new and strange constellations.
Similar to his world, a circular orb rose resolutely up into the sky as the night marched forward. Nearly a full circle, its light provided a fair amount of illumination as it reached down to break up the deep shadows beneath the trees.