The faint sound of white noise crackling from his walkie talkie signalled the arrival of 10pm. Eric's eyes bolted open with excitement but couldn't see a shred of light, luckily however he knew his bedroom like the back of his hand. Craning his arm over the bedside table he gave the radio two sharp squeezes, mimicking the signal that had woke him. He pinched the corner of his duvet cover and peeled it across his bed, freeing himself. He was already fully clothed, in fact all he had left to do was put on his trainers which had been placed on the floor next to his bed. He glided slowly over to the window being cautious not to disrupt any creaky floorboards, bent down, extended his arm underneath his desk and swung a rucksack up to his shoulder. At the window his hand searched momentarily for the pull tab holding the blackout blind closed, after gripping the side of the blind he gave it a short tug and it shot upwards to its stationary position. He took a second before opening the window to listen for any movement around him, directed his ears towards the door and held this position briefly, nothing however caught his attention, with that he slid the pane up and locked it in place so he could lift himself out over the sill onto the mossy tiles below. Always ensuring his tracks were well hidden he shut the window behind him, taking care not to let it slam. Eric looked down at his feet, he'd crossed this roof countless times before and been successful, but he still needed to be extremely switched on, after all it was the middle of the night and pitch black, there was no room for complacency. After he took a few reassuring breathes he moved his foot slowly out towards the gutter, only sliding one at a time praying the tiles would yet again bare his weight. He bent down and perchped himself on the edge of the roof, his legs suspended beneath him, ran his hand towards the ajoined drain pipe that descended to the grass below and began sliding soundlessly until his foot touched the lawn, there he crouched to a knee and assessed his progress so far.

The acre of land that was Erics' back garden surrounded the entire house, every possible space had been filled after years and years of his parents hard work and devotion. Together they had created an absolutely incredible home, multiple lawns, always freshly cut were encased with flowerbeds, shrubs, plants and exotic trees, aged wooden carvings protruded from the shadows along with gnome and elf sculptures that sat and posed blissfully on a number of ponds and fountains adding a comforting magical atmosphere. The perimeter of the garden shared a border with a dark, mighty forest, endless in size, home to pure beauty and from his Dads mouth, dangerous to underestimate.

He stood up, looked forward and began walking slowly over the lawn keeping his eyes focused on his entry point into the forest which was a small clearing behind a large white weathered bird house his Dad had carved by hand two summers ago. When he got there he turned his attention towards the house once more and scanned every last nook and cranny to make absolutely sure there wasn't any last minute disturbances, his night vision slowly improving. Once certain the house laid dormant he turned on his heel and entered the woodland before him, the light from the glowing night sky drained to darkness as it was increasingly concealed by the ever thickening canopy above, until he was walking almost by memory. He had made this trip so many times in the past that his body moved by simply reacting, he swayed and ducked further and further into the foliage, the undergrowth had been carved into a maze sketching out his route like a map before him.

Eric had been treading carefully for five minutes now and knew that any noise conducted from this point wouldn't be heard, so he doubled into a jog. His eyesight was superb now and after another five minutes of navigating through the dense woodland he came to a halt and immediately ducked behind a large boulder, he closed his eyes, tilted his head towards the ground and listened.

Maybe twenty meters in front of him was the familiar reference point he'd been running towards tirelessly, the time was now 10:29pm, but he didn't have to check his watch because he knew exactly what it was by the sound of grace and peacefulness. Before him, unlike the thick, dark undergrowth of the woods was a tiny patch of tall grass lit elegantly by a single beam of moonlight filtering down through a small clearing in the canopy. It was no more than ten feet wide with a pile of small rocks in the center, and to one side of these rocks protruding from the ground was an old weather-washed wooden plank, 4 foot in height with a bright blue ribbon tied around the top which was fluorescent in the darkness. 

"CRACK."

Eric lifted his head in silence and scouted the area. The glowing light floating down from the roof of the forest affected his vision somewhat making the surrounding trees seem much darker, he was forced to look indirectly at objects beyond the ribbon in an attempt to focus more accurately. He looked at his watch, a dial with glowing hands reading 10:30pm, he closed his eyes again. 

"CRACK, CRACK."

He raised his head once more this time stretching a grin across his face. 

'One day that's going to get you into a lot of trouble.' He said boldly into the darkness as he slowly edged closer to the ribbon.

'Well you'd know all about getting into trouble wouldn't you Eric.' A boy walked into the moonlight and beamed up at him like as if about to jump up with excitement. 

'True,...' Eric laughed. '...but I'm not the one who can't move without giving away his position, am I Oli.'

Oliver Pryde was eleven years old, one year younger, and like Eric, shared scruffy brown hair, blue eyes, an athletic build and his own rucksack. They'd been best friends from the day they met nine years ago when Oliver's parents relocated to the area, and quite literally haven't left each other's sides since, Oli was much shorter but still held the fierce drive and motivation that filled their veins, they were equals and trusted each other above anyone else. 

Oli shrugged his shoulders with a look of guilt and replied, 'Okay good point. Now, let's get on with it because I was almost late as it is, my Dad was clambering around the house until late, I didn't think he'd go to bed let alone be able to leave unnoticed.'

'Well, I think it's obvious we should go back to Pebble Stone Pond, we were so close last night, the conditions were great and I had the biggest gut feeling and goose bumps everywhere, we can't ignore that.'

 'That's true, there wasn't much more ground to cover anyway so i'm sure it won't take long but let's make sure we do this perfectly, it's been a while since we've been this close and the last thing we want to do is miss anything, so lets take it ultra slow and hopefully it'll pay off.'

'Absolutely, lets just do what we do. Do you want to lead tonight or shall I?'

'Of course I do, I'll get us there again, It isn't far, just keep up with me.' Oli looked briefly at the ribbon, got his bearings then looked at Eric. 'Okay, let's do this, follow me and try to be quiet this time.'

And after an short laugh Eric replied. 'You know you have to be quiet now right?'

An hour had passed almost to the minute when Oli stopped dead in his tracks. He and Eric had spent almost a decade in each other's company so verbal communication was rarely required when they were out on their mini adventures, they simply acted in perfect harmony as if controlled by a single mind, so as soon as Oli took cover behind a fallen tree trunk Eric instantly found himself lying in long grass at the base of a bush waiting for a plan of action.

'Hear that?' Whispered Oli.

'Water.' Eric replied. 'This is it.'

Pebble Stone pond was located within a large clearing in the trees, a stunning scene in light of day, multiple beds of rock positioned around the waters edge held miniature waterfalls that splashed into the still ponds surface which was covered with thousands of giant lily pads each of which dressed with a single purple flower that glistened in the moonlight. Dragonflies, frogs, newts, among other numerous aquatic pond life as well as water insects called it home, and dotted around the perimeter were dozens of burrows that most likely homed rabbits, hares and moles. It really was a place not worth forgetting, beautifully stunning in all aspects and the scents given off by the flowers and plant life was mesmerizing. However there was barely anything to admire in the middle of the night, so the boys had to rely on their sharp hearing to guide them. 

Oli turned around and walked over to Eric, took a knee beside him and whispered.

'Perfectly!'

Eric confirmed with a nod, they directed themselves towards sound of trickling water, re-positioned onto their hands and knees and began to crawl hand over hand in absolute silence towards the Pond. As the volume of the pond began to rise Oli, with Eric by his side slowed their pace immensely until they were literally edging forwards using their fingertips to read the contours of the ground like a Braille inscription. They continued on their course for some time but it was soon clear that this particular area had nothing to offer.

'Split.' said Eric softly.

Oli nodded and the two of them forked away from each other to cover more ground and increase their chances.

Eric began crawling at a snails pace towards the pond, rummaging his fingers through the grass as he went, he felt his way over small pebbles, roots, flowers, dead wood and a large number of mushrooms, he knew they must be close, the conditions were almost too  perfect.

Maybe twenty minutes later Eric, who was now quite a distance from Oli clicked his mouth as if summoning a horse grabbing his attention, the click Oli knew could be the news they'd been waiting for. Without a sound he made his way around the water, knelt next to Eric and slid his finger tips to the ground. After a moment of scouring Oli felt it, a root-like texture no wider than a pencil barely emerged from the dirt, but unlike the wild roots of the forest that stretch from trunk to tip in a continuous whip formation, this featured a perfectly round spherical knot resembling a tiny marble, it was warm to the touch like an over used battery. Together they started pressing their fingers into the ground loosening the soil around it, eventually unearthing the odd root, and to their satisfaction revealing another knot, and another, until they had a handful all linked in a small network, all connected. 

'Fourteen pods.' Said Oli replacing the previous whispers with a low voice as he inspected them carefully.

'Brilliant!' Eric followed. 'Let's see where we are now.' With that he removed his rucksack placing it on the floor beside him. 

'This might be the night we've been waiting for, hang on a sec.' He pulled the zip around the seam of his bag, instantly emitting a bright blue flickering glow of light from within, it was by no means blinding but their surroundings glowed also. Oli watched closely as Eric dipped his hands into the bag and removed a glass jar which was filled with hundreds of tiny particles each of them floating around gracefully whilst giving off a tint of energy. With the jar set next to the root-like strands the boys used the light to harvest the pods by detaching the knots, snapping away the unwanted material until the warm balls were all piled in Eric's palm. He rolled them against one another for a few minutes until their muddy skins began to crack and loosen, afterwards they were peeled completely one by one, incredibly small and so incredibly fiddly.

'Right, that's the last pod skinned.' Said Eric holding out his hand a short while later. 

A pod is the spherical capsule that encases a node, a completely transparent tiny ball almost impossible to penetrate, unless you know how. 

Fortunately these boys had been foraging nodes for years, it started on a family camping trip when their Fathers narrated a tale of magical creatures, unexplored worlds and unimaginable lost secrets. Of course it began as a harmless myth and since the day they discovered their first pod they were hooked.

'Okay, open the lid Oli.'

He unhitched a silver clip on the side of the jar revealing a partition inside made by a type of elastic mesh, inside however was a single thorn about an inch in length, bright orange in colour with tiny purple veins and slightly curved like a talon. It had been harvested from a rare plant called Tristalia and held a poison which had the affect of disintegrating the roots of all neighboring life, however when injected into a pod the skin simply vanished. Oli took hold of it, and as Eric passed him the Pod's one at a time he forced the tip of the thorn against them and the transparent capsules disappeared, the small blue nodes floated elegantly in the air above Oli's hand, he raised the jar, scooped them carefully inside, then packed away the Tristalia thorn, fastened the lid and placed it back into Erics rucksack.

'I can't believe it ...' Eric began. '...I told you didn't I, that I had such a good feeling about this place, I knew it!'

'Fourteen nodes to add to our jar, we might have enough to try it out, what do you think? Shall we give it a shot? We have nothing to loose do we?' Said Oli. 

'Might as well, give me a minute though because I need to wash this dirt from under my nails.' Eric flared his hands in front of Oli. 'I'll give them a quick dip in the pond before we head off.'

'Yea me too.'

The boys made their way side by side to one of the small waterfalls and began scrubbing their hands in turn, freeing the loose clumps of soil clinging to their skin. The Moonlight penetrating the canopy was as bright as it had been all night, illuminating the insects buzzing from rock to rock, and the still reflection on the water, the woodlands tree-line surrounding the pond as if it had been painted by an artist, as if time had frozen.

Oli looked closely at his hands as he rubbed them together, trying to feel the clean palms in the low light. 'Perfect.' He said.

'I won’t be long now, last finger.' Eric replied.

And with that Oli began to shuffle his feet around Eric waiting patiently, he checked his watch, 01:00am, "That didn't take too long." He thought to himself.

'Damn!'

Oli turned on the spot to see Eric with his head hovering millimeters above the surface of the water, backside in the air, it looked like some sort of odd meditation position.

'What's wrong?' Said Oli sharply.

'My ring slipped off, the one my Dad gave me for my birthday.' He held up his bare hand, no ring.

‘Okay okay well it's not deep so it can't of gone too far, lets try un-stacking the rocks around it.'

He started moving rocks two or three at a time onto the grass beside him, hoping for a glint of gold.

'I can't see anything Eric, it's too dark over here we need more light.'

'Let me help.' Eric knelt next to Oli and searched through the rocks with him. All the rocks near the boys had been removed after a few more minutes, the water was now slightly murky and visibility was worsening but they knelt and waited none the less. When the bottom of the pond was again crystal clear they both bent over and swayed their heads lightly left and right, scanning the depths for the gold ring. 

‘What the...Eric look!’ Whispered Oli in pure shock. 

Eric directed his attention suddenly to a bright green glow situated at the bed of the pond. Unable to blink the boys watched as the green light cracked its way slowly up though the mud and rocks, continuing up through the water.

‘I have never....!’ Oli tried to comment but before he could say another word the mysterious object broke the surface and the boys instinctively got to their feet and began to edge themselves away, their eyes fixated with astonishment, they couldn’t look anywhere else. As they tried to comprehend what was happening they watched the object rise out of the pond and into the air as it floated higher and higher, but the green light impaired there vision to the point they had to squint. Eric still moving backwards came to a halt as his back made contact with a tree and couldn’t move a muscle, naturally Oli stopped too. They now watched the object slowly float towards them, closer and closer when finally it stopped dead in mid air a meter or so from their faces. The light began to dim gradually over a couple of seconds until they could make out a small green box. Still stunned in silence the two boys gazed at the box so deeply, none of them had seen anything quite like it. Then without warning it shot up into the air with a blinding light and the force of a shooting star, within seconds it was hundreds of meters above them, the boys used their arms to cover their eyes as they struggled to look at it directly,  suddenly the box began falling towards them again at high speed until it finally landed in the pond with such power that every liter of water was forced high into the air and surrounding areas. 

Eric and Oli were drenched, but not one of them said a word. They were completely and utterly silent in shock trying to comprehend what had just happened. They took a quick look at each other and then ran to the pond to see what had caused this astonishing experience, however as they looked down into the smoking crater it was clear to see that nothing was yet to blame. The point of impact was huge, deep and dark but all they could think was what had just happened.

Finally Oli broke into speech. 'What was that? I have never, never seen anything like that before, ever. Have you?'

'Nope, no idea at all.' Said Eric as he began rubbing his head in deep thought. 'It happened so fast, I could make out the box shape when it was close but...I mean...' He couldn't even put it into words. 

Oli sat down and started undoing his shoe laces, removed them and poured out the water slushing around inside, seeing this Eric did the same. As they put their shoes back on Oli said, 'I need to go to sleep, this was a lot to take in, we've been up all day and I just need to sleep on it. I can't begin to put all of this together, tonight we sleep and tomorrow we can try and figure all of this out.'

Eric nodded and added, 'Yea okay, good idea. My brain is going to be working overtime tomorrow' He pulled his wet sleeve back revealing his watch. '01:45am.' He announced. 

For the entire journey home the boys remained near silent, neither talking or joking, but ran in their soggy clothes trying to go over every detail in their heads. They reached the plank with the ribbon before they separated for the night and both headed to their houses where they slipped soundlessly back into their bedrooms and into bed. Eric finally managed to rest his head on his pillow, he was only there two minutes when his walkie talkie crackled once, the sound that singled Olis safe return, he sent one squeeze of the button back and rolled over, in less than 5 minutes he was sound asleep. 

The following morning Erics alarm sounded,  after a minute or two he fought the tiredness, stood up and took time to stretch and yawn. He walked to his bathroom like a zombie and started brushing his teeth while he sat on the edge of the bath rubbing the sleep from his eyes. As he began to rinse his mouth out with water he focused on his reflection in the mirror above the sink, and that's when it hit him. 

'Oh wow.' He said with a fresh morning smile. 

He remembered what had happened to them last night, his head started to fill with everything that had taken place, the pods, the nodes, his ring and the mysterious box, it all came rushing back to him. At least now he was awake and able to think clearly, he got dressed and was welcomed to breakfast by his parents who had made him an omelette. 

'Morning.' His Mum said.

'Morning.' Eric replied excitedly. 

He couldn't wait to see Oli and just wanted to skip breakfast altogether and sprint down the street to his house, but he knew he had to hide this urge as his Mum and Dad had no idea he'd ever left the house so to save himself from any trouble he began to eat. 

'Dad can you pass the ketchup please.' he asked. 

'Can indeed, here you are.' His father slid it across the table. 

'Thanks.' Eric cut off the end of his omelette and shouted 'Becks!' 

Their dog, a 6 month old Husky pup came galloping across the room, his paws skidding all over the tiled floor and under the table to Erics eggy treat, he took it from his hand and curled up on the floor wagging his tail with excitement.

'So Eric....' said his Mum, 'Can you tell me why I found a pile of wet clothes this morning thrown across you're bedroom floor?' 

'Ah come on Laura, give the lad a chance to eat his food will you, he can't be late for school.' Replied his Father, he met Erics eyes and smirked to himself. 

'Well I'm only asking Brian, after all it's me who washes our clothes, it's me who irons and folds them and puts them back into our wardrobes, I'm the one who makes sure we're all nice and organised, and I'd like to know how he got wet between bedtime and breakfast because I can't figure it out.'

'He's just a boy, let him be. Anyway, before I leave today I need to know what dress you wanted me to return because I can drive into town during my lunch break today.'

'Great, it's upstairs hanging on the back of our bedroom door, if you could take it to....'

Eric had zoned out of their conversation knowing his Dad had saved the need for a last minute excuse, it dawned on him that he was leaving for school any second as he finished his food and rinsed his plate in the sink.

'Bye.' He said to his parents who were now upstairs, who knows if they heard him. 

Once he was outside he began to walk towards Olis house which was only two streets away, still thinking about the night before. The sign for Olis road came into view, "Farstead Avenue", as he turned the corner he saw Oli sat on his garden wall, also keen to start the day. 

As Eric approached him he said 'How did you sleep last night?'

Oli replied 'I don't think I slept a lot if at all, I couldn't stop thinking about everything, I mean, there we were on a pod roll which isn't unusual and just as we reach the amount of nodes we were aiming for a box appeared from exactly where we were standing, now that can't be a coincidence.' 

'I still haven't had time to think but when you say it like that it does sound like there's something we are obviously missing. The box came from the exact spot my ring fell into the pond which does not happen plain and simple, but I have no idea why.'

'Well I've been going over it all morning and must insist on going back tonight to try and retrace our steps, it might help us to have a look around and try to find evidence that points to a solution.'

'I agree.' Eric replied. 'We can have a good search around the area, maybe we'll be able think more clearly, who knows.'

'Good, lets just get on with the day and worry about it later.'

'Sounds good. We can plan everything after school.' 

They began to walk and continued to discuss the matter between lessons, breaks, any spare time they had was not wasted, even in the toilets they had a chat; speculating or guessing what could have been responsible, nothing more than theories. The bell signaled the end of another school day, the boys met next to the bike racks and began to make their way home at a snails pace, they must have set a record for the slowest walk home, but they couldn't care less as they were deep in conversation for the entire journey.

Eric walked through his front door to hear silence, his parents didn't finish work until 5pm so he shot up the stairs and changed out of his uniform before grabbing his walkie talkie and rucksack from under his desk, threw it over his shoulder and ran out to the bird house and sat down in the sun. No wind, blue sky, a perfect Wednesday afternoon. 

'Oli.' He mouthed into his radio. 'Oli, are you there?'

Eric removed the glass jar full of nodes and placed them on the grass, turning it above his face staring at them as they floated around randomly, trying to imagine how such a tiny force could cause such destruction. There was no glow in the daylight, but they still presented a rare therapeutic essence, he was so thankful that even though last night unveiled a surprise, they eventually managed to track down what could be the last nodes they required. 

'Eric. You there?' Oli inquired.

Eric launched himself at his radio. ''Yes of course I'm here.'

'Okay, what's the plan?'

'Do you want to come over? I'm in my garden.'

'Yea I can come, I'll be five minutes.'

'Cool, see you in a bit.'

Eric laid on his lawn and waited patiently, he watched the sky, flocks of birds following one another, clouds slowly passing over his head, the sun beaming down on him, he thought about how busy the parks must be right now in this weather. Then he heard the patter of trainers running across his lawn, Oli had arrived. 

'Here.' Oli said.

Eric grinned and gestured Oli to sit down. They talked about what they had witnessed step by step like watching a slow motion replay, about certain things possibly being connected to others,they began planning out their revisit to the pond and eventually left each others company and headed back to their houses. As Eric entered through his back door he heard the sound of his parents talking upstairs, it didn't take long to conclude his Father had forgotten his Mums dress this morning, so started laughing to himself as he placed his rucksack next to the stairs and sat at the table. He shouted for Becks who came running down the stairs and began pawing at his lap. Minutes later his Dad came down. 

'Hi, Eric, good day at school?'

'Yea it was okay thank you.'

'Do you have any homework I can help you with tonight?'

Then his Mum appeared from the doorway. 'Well if he has maybe I should help him Brian, I mean if you can't even exchange one dress, ONE DRESS, or for that matter remember to take it with you when you head off to work five minutes after I asked you to do it then how on earth will you remember school work?' She said laughing, which in turn set off Eric too.

'Fair enough, fair enough.' He replied smiling himself. 'You can help him tonight and I'll concentrate on the dress, in fact I'll put it in my car right now to be on the safe side shall I.'

'Fantastic Idea.' Said Laura, as she searched the kitchen cupboards for dinner ideas. 'That way you might actually remember tomorrow.' Still laughing hard.

'I don't have any today actually so there's no need to worry.' Eric interrupted.

'Good job too because your father isn't on his game today, are you sweetie.' She said rubbing Brians stubbly chin. 

Brian laughed it off and sat down opposite Eric. 

While Laura rushed around the kitchen preparing their food, Brian caught Erics eyes and mouthed, 'The shed.' 

Eric, utterly confused, whispered back 'What?'

'Shhhh.' Brian held his head low to the table and checked over his shoulders, then moved his head closer to Eric so obviously that he copied. 'The Shed.' He repeated.

This time he understood it perfectly, so he got up and made his way out to the shed as requested, though he had no idea what his Dad was up to. Brian arrived and unlocked the door, Eric hadn't been inside here for years, "what was happening?" He thought to himself.

Once inside Brian started fumbling around, moving bits and bobs and un-stacking boxes, searching the shelves repeatedly without saying a word.

'So whats happening Dad?' Asked Eric.

'I'm just going to cut to the chase, I've been following you for a while now Son, I know where you've been travelling to and from, I certainly know what you've been scavenging and hunting for and for how long.’

'But...? I mean, what?!' Said Eric now completely shocked. 'What do you mean you know what I've been looking for?'

'Look, any minute now your Mother will be calling us in for dinner, so listen, I know you've been trying to find nodes, and I know this because that's exactly what my friends and I used to spend our childhoods doing, we loved every second we spent in those mighty forests although I very much doubt we ever found as many as you have.’

'But, how? How do you know about it?, I had always assumed that the stories you always told us were legends and myths that you believed to be fantasy, Oli and I had only confirmed that nodes actually exist when Oli dropped his house key in the woods, after that day we researched and searched everywhere until we finally began to improve our skills of locating them, after that we were hooked, we have done nothing else since.'

'Well now you know, my friends and I would search that mighty forest tirelessly day and night, I know that Pebble Stone Pond is the only source of water around here for miles, so I lets just say I had a hunch as to how you ended up getting wet yesterday.' 

Brian turned to Eric now clutching an old wooden box covered with dozens of engravings, he handed it to Eric and he opened the lid. 'Inside this box is everything I needed to find nodes and all my notes on anything connected with them in anyway.' 

Eric examined the container and noticed a large jar similar to his own, a few dozen Tristalia thorns held together neatly with a rubber band, nail brushes, pencils, notepads, ointments, a selection of various leaves and more. Eric couldn't believe his eyes, he looked up at his Father but couldn't think of anything to say. 

'When I met your Mother she had no idea these myths were factual, I mean no-one did unless they had experienced for themselves,  she used to tell all sorts of tales to you all of course but she never knew the truth. Anyway once I knew I loved her and started planning our life together I knew I'd have to leave this in the past. So I did.'

'Wow. Dad I...well I can't believe you managed to keep that locked up for so long. Did Mum ever find out? Did she ever give you the impression that she knew anything?'

'No she didn't. Well, I mean not yet anyway, but there's still plenty of time for her to suspect something with you running around out there at all hours isn't there.' He chuckled. 'Just keep doing what you're doing and I'll try my best to cover for you if your Mum gets suspicious, Okay?'

'That's a deal.' Eric replied.

When they exited the shed Brian stopped for a moment and took a deep breath, a long look at the forest and gazed into the distance, as if reminiscing into his past or reliving great memories.

'DINNER BOYS.' They heard from the house. 

Eric began to make his way across the lawn looking across at the horizon where the sky had turned a deep shade of orange, the trees now silhouetted into a perfectly black transition and the flower-heads began to droop to the soil, in preparation for the dark night ahead.

Brian turned to Eric and said, 'Just out of curiosity...' Eric turned back and faced him. '...how many nodes do you actually have now?'

'Oh I think we have enough Dad. More than enough.' And he walked into the house leaving Brian with a stunned look on his face. 'Oh My' He said to himself as he walked in for dinner. 'Oh my.'

A little later at the dinner table Eric had finished his food, his plate was collected by his Mother who had already started washing the dishes. His Father however hadn't, in fact all Brian had done since they began their meal was stare into space and twizzel his fork on the table cloth, Eric knew exactly what he was doing, for a few seconds he imagined what he could be thinking about, how all the memories and experiences from his youth came flooding back and that  his head just couldn't cope with the colossal amount of information to sieve through. Laura then turned towards Brian intending to finish clearing the table, until she saw his plate, untouched.

'Brian why haven't you started eating?' She said. 

But he didn't acknowledge her at all. She took a glance at Eric who simply took a second to think, shrugged his shoulders as if he didn't have a clue, then she placed her hands on the table and lowered her body closer to Brian.

'OI!' She shouted.

Brian jumped out of his skin and shot a look at Laura and Eric who were both looking at him as if he had an orange face.

'Sorry about that.' He answered finally. 'I must of been daydreaming for a while.'

'Why don't you tell us something we don't know.' She said as she started laughing, Eric as usual in hysterics too. 'I don't know what to do with you sometimes Brian, I mean sometimes you really do have me wondering. Now would you like me to reheat your food for you?' She was struggling to get her words out as she found it so funny.

'Yes, yes that would be great.' He replied.

Then the doorbell rang, Laura sprang to her feet. 'I'll get it, it's probably Susan, she said she would return the book I lent her, Eric could you be a darling and reheat your fathers food?'

So Eric put his Dads plate in the microwave and excused himself form the table, his Dad was still in deep thought now rolling a peach between his hands. Eric made his way to his room and looked straight at his clock, it was 06:30pm, he then sat down at his desk and sent a squeeze of his radio to Oli who responded immediately. They decided to meet for a little while in Erics garden and talk about the night ahead, trying to plan the unplannable. Each of them made a number of suggestions as to how and why it had happened, and as they sat on one of the many lawns they came to realise that they didn't have a single plausible idea as to the unfolding events. At 08:00pm they decided to retreat to their houses and prepare themselves for their little adventure. 

'Okay, see you at 10:00pm.' Was the last thing said by Oli as he began walking back to his house. 

A few minutes later Eric was walking up the stairs to his room, he dropped off his rucksack and headed to the bathroom where he took a shower and got into his pyjamas. He then began brushing his teeth while again looking in the mirror as his Dad walked past, he came straight back when he noticed Eric and popped his head in the door. 

'Hey buddy...' He said, then he looked over both shoulders. 'All ready for bed I see?' 

'Yep.' Eric replied, 'You know me.' Now with the biggest grins on their faces.

'Maybe tonight, any wet clothes can be put in my shed' Said Brian as he placed his key next to the sink.

'Cheers Dad, I will.' Brian winked and left, he made his way downstairs to watch TV with Laura. 

Once in his room again Eric placed the key into the front pocket of his bag and placed it yet again under his desk, he then turned off his light and got dressed underneath his duvet as he always did, and fell to sleep.

Erics eyes opened at the sound of the walkie talkie, he emerged from his bed and put on his shoes, in the pitch black he gave the radio signal back to Oli and stood up. His arm craned over to grab his rucksack, but there was nothing to grab, he tried again, still nothing. He bent down rummaging around everywhere but couldn't make contact with anything. He started searching again on his hands and knees feeling around his desk, but when he still couldn't locate it he began to panic. He never puts it anywhere else.

'What...But I...Eh.' I put it right here.' he whispered to himself. 

He attempted to locate the bag for a few minutes more when he began to notice a soft banging outside, he put his radio in his pocket and moved to the window and began scanning his garden below but saw no explanation. Still hearing the noise he opened the window and climbed silently down to the lawn and ducked to the ground, "It's coming form this direction." he thought to himself as he slowly started walking in the general direction, the noise got stronger as he moved closer but there was still nothing obvious to aim at. Continuing to follow he turned a corner and all of a sudden he heard it clearly. 

'The shed.' He said softly, as he made his way even closer, the racket was much louder to him now so he kept looking up at the house for any sign of movement or disturbance. He finally saw it a few meters in front of him, although his vision in the darkness wasn't the best at the moment he could make out a smallish dark figure banging at the door to the shed, he bent down and inched toward it in hope of a better look. 

'Becks?' He said instinctively thinking of the only think that came to him that was close to the same shape and size. 

Finally Eric got close enough to bravely extend an arm and gripped the object, 'It's my bag!' he said in utter amazement, he lifted it up to his level, but the bag fought back and tugged his arm to the door, Eric lost his grip and dropped it. 

He crouched for a few minutes trying to figure this out, then he had an idea. He unzipped his bag and removed the key his Dad had given him and unlocked the shed, the rucksack rocketed inside knocking over anything and everything in it's way, tools, boxes, bikes. Eric closed the door to prevent waking anyone and then focused on the bag again, bouncing against the walls like it was possessed. He tried once more to stop the craziness by piling himself on top of the bag but he was thrown across the shed without hesitation, he had absolutely no idea what was going on. Then the bag began to jump on the spot under the shelves, after a second or two it suddenly appeared obvious to Eric that it was attracted to his Fathers box, he removed it from the shelf and just like that the bag stopped jumping and moved directly under his hand. Eric stretched out his left hand and the bag followed, then the right, then the left, he now knew what this was after. He bent down and the bag came close and turned around.

'Oh I see.' Said Eric. He unzipped the rucksack and carefully placed the old box inside, but as soon as he let go the bag shot through the shed door back out into the garden entangling his foot in the straps. It didn't stop or slow down, instead it zoomed across the lawn towards the bird house with Eric dragging helplessly behind it, and continued into the mighty forest, however unlike the paths created by Erics multiple journeys, the bag powered along in a straight line, at first Eric tried to stretch out and grab tree trunks, roots, anything he could trying to stop the speeding bag but was unsuccessful. He was dragged through bushes and banged against the woodland having to protect his face with his arms, there was nothing he could do but wait and see what the outcome would be. 

Oli looked down at his watch which read 10:38pm, he was perched behind a large boulder next to the florescent Ribbon clearing waiting for Eric. He couldn't help but wonder what had happened to him as in all the years they had been heading out on their journeys he couldn't remember any of them being this late. He had to sit down a while ago because his legs were going numb. "I mean I can't stay here all night obviously but I can imagine there are plenty of reasons he could be late." Oli thought to himself as he tried to work out his options. "He did actually give me a radio signal signal so I know he's awake and started to get ready, but I can't check on him using the radio because it could get him into trouble if he's still inside for some reason, I'll just have to give it another 5 or 10 minutes and if he's still not here I'll look at a plan of action." So he made himself comfortable and past the time by twisting pieces of grass in his fingers. No more than 2 minutes later Olis head shot up when he began to hear a rumbling in the distance, and although it was too far away to fixate on an exact direction he kept his ears up and listened intently. 

'What the...' 

He had never heard this sound before in the forest and couldn't identify it on the spot, all he knew was the sound was getting loud and fast, and the louder it got the more accurate the direction became, it was like a stampede of some sort, he kept listening in shock until he was sure it was close enough to confront and then stood up behind the boulder and glared over the top. The object burst out of the dark forest opposite Oli with a crash and raced right passed the florescent plank ripping up the turf behind it with no regard for obstacles at such a force that he had instinctively felt the need to protect himself behind the boulder, it shot past so fast that there was barely any time to absorb what it was, he thought the moment was over until he heard 'OLIIIIII!.........' '..........OLI HELP!'

'Eric?!?!' Oli questioned.

'ERIC! ERIC WAIT! ERIC!' Shouted Oli as he started sprinting after Eric as fast as he could, he could barely keep up because of the speed he was going with no idea about where or how far, there was absolutely no time for thought, he just ran and kept on running trying his best to focus on the sound of Erics Screams for help in his ears hoping that he had the strength to make it.

After roughly an hour of being trampled through the rough forest floor the rucksack finally came to a halt, Eric was overwhelmed by this and didn't have the energy to roll over let alone get up or take a look around, so he just laid on his back took some deep breaths and acknowledged the fact that it was over. His clothes were ripped and torn, he could feel his limbs beginning to bruise up and pulsate, his heart was racing at a fierce speed and his body felt like a punch bag, he literally could not move. It was obvious he needed a moment to take it all in and rest, minutes later he somehow found the energy to sit up and started wiping all the dirt and leaves off of himself. 

'Eric!' Shouted Oli who was running straight for him from the foliage of the forest, Eric was so pleased to see him but couldn't quite generate the energy to wave or say a thing.

'Eric...What was...' Oli was just as shattered as Eric, he sat next to him and also began to breath, wiping the sweat from his face and tilting his head up to the night sky. 

They sat there for a good three or four minutes before they broke the silence.

'Are you okay?' Said Oli.

'I think so yea.' 

'What happened? What just happened?'

Eric shrugged his head forward towards the ground and then up to the sky still trying to catch his breath. 

'It's a long story.’ He replied, he started to giggle to himself uncontrollably. 

'Well I think we've got the time, we aren't moving for a while.' Oli chuckled back.

You’re never going to believe what just happened.  I can't even bring myself to believe it and I was there!' So Eric began to explain starting when he woke up. 'And then I tried scrambling around on the floor but I couldn't find it anywhere, so...' 

But at that second they were interrupted once again, they hadn't yet had a chance to look around after the bag had stopped, so they had no idea where they were, however they both heard a high pitched whizzing noise coming from behind them, they helped each other to their feet and started to walk with extreme caution. They had no particular recollection of their location, all they could do was keep going, the noise was getting louder as they moved towards it. 

'There. See it?' Whispered Oli.

Erics eyes spotted it quickly after. 'I see it yea, what is it this time? It's...it's not moving...is it?'

'I don't think so, it looks very still to me.'

As they approached they were fascinated to discover that the item, which was still unknown was hovering and spinning extremely fast over the same spot, the whizzing noise started to make sense, although the eventful night had yet to be explained. They now stopped in their tracks as they struggled to find the confidence to get any closer, instead they held their position and stared in disbelief at the rotating item, looking for some explanation as to what had cause such a display. Then as if a switch had been triggered the object released a blinding blue light that caused them to turn away in unison, it was so bright that their arms were held up to shadow their faces in order to get any chance of a glimpse. 

Eric took a long look and then asked Oli, 'Is that...Is that our jar of nodes?' 

Oli then scanned the item carefully and concluded with 'Oh my god, it is. It is! How did it get there?' He asked, but Eric knew he hadn't had time to tell Oli what happened to him and it didn't look like he had time now. 'I'll explain later.' He replied.

The jar, still whizzing around with a magnificent glow hadn't moved for a while when Oli said 'Eric, I've only just realized, take a look around.' 

So Eric covered his face with his arms and tried to get a peak of the place, he took a moment as if double and triple checking his decision, however there was no doubt in his mind. 

'Pebble Stone Pond!' He said.

Since their arrival they hadn't heard or seen anything familiar, and for the vast years they had journeyed to the pond they had always relied on hearing the sound of running water, waterfalls and streams, however that wasn't the case now, because as they slowly started to remember, on their visit the pond the night before the entire supply of water was lifted into the air. 

'What are we supposed to do?' Said Eric 'I don't know what's  going to happen but we can't stay here too long or we'll get into trouble, what's the time?' 

'12:20am.'

'Right, any plans? What should we do Oli?'

But again they were knocked out of conversation, the jar, still spinning began to rise slowly into the air, the boys looked at each other and then back to the phenomenon, the blue light then shot up into the sky as the mystery box did the night before, but this time as it gained height the ground began to shake violently, leaves were shaking, branches began to break, trees were uprooted and tumbled all around them, then before their eyes thousands of nodes burst out of the ground in an instant, glowing in turn hovering above the forest floor. Without warning the jar, now extremely high over the canopy  turned back towards them at an alarming rate, as it fell the nodes began to rotate in a huge circle around the boys increasing in speed like a merry go round, as the tornado swirled around them they were eventually lifted off their feet and forced into the air with no chance of fighting it, the unknown force span them as they rose higher. All they could do was watch, they were levitated and spun high up into the air and all of a sudden they shot straight down towards the dry pond and were smashed right into the center of it.

Hours had past while the boys laid unconscious on the forest floor. Clouds of smoke from charred ground were moving slowly with a gentle breeze. Not one thing was where it was supposed to be. Trees had been uprooted and thrown impressive distances landing on and ruining all the plants, bushes and flowers. There was no sign of any wildlife at all, no rodents or even a single insect, the upturned dust was so thick it blocked out the moonlight, there was debris everywhere. What was once a beautiful and thriving forest was now completely and utterly ruined.

Olis eyes shot open, he realised immediately that it was difficult  to move, he battled through the pain and sat up. He began looking around and was hit with disbelief, Eric wasn’t moving, everything was black and flattened, he struggled to stand but forced it. He started towards Eric, coughing hard on the way. He knelt down next to him and tried giving Eric a tap on the hands and called his name, but there was no response, then he grabbed his shoulders and shook him a little, still nothing. He noticed that he was breathing as his chest was moving, Oli stood up again and looked at all the damage, it looked like a storm had passed through. As he was turning on the spot trying to scout the situation he snapped down to Eric turning his head back and forth, ‘Eric, can you hear me?’

Eric opened his eyes and looked straight at Oli ‘How long was I out?’ He asked.

Oli grabbed his hands and helped him up onto his feet. ‘I don’t know exactly but I only woke up about ten minutes ago myself.’

‘Really, you too?’ Eric span Oli around and removed soil from the back of his shirt.

‘Yea, this place has been messed up pretty bad. Are you feeling okay? Any pain? I could barely stand up. ‘  

‘Well I don’t think I have any serious injuries, I am winded though but Ill be okay.’

Oli was glad to hear that. 

‘OH NO’ Oli cried suddenly. ‘What time is it?’

Eric getting the point of the question instantly checked his now smashed up watch, it was working.

‘It’s 2:48am.’

Oli placed his hands on his head and looked straight up into the canopy when he heard.

‘Okay look we need to go this second!’ He said while he checked his Bag which was still in one piece, he placed it on on his back and started jogging, Eric did the same. ‘I know, our parents would kill is if they found out we were sneaking out at night let alone being here until this time. I mean I can’t even begin to imagine how many chores it’ll take to make it up to them. Let’s go.’

With that the boys ran faster than they had in their lives, ducking and diving through everything and anything. They were running so hard due to pure adrenaline that their bodies didnt get tired at all.

‘Eric…Stop!!’ Oli shouts after a long journey. ‘Is it just me or should we be at the ribbon by now?

Eric took a look around as he panted. ‘We must of missed it, we have been running ridiculously fast, let’s split and get home. ‘

Oli nodded ‘Yea definitely, I need to rest so my body can heal. See you tomorrow morning. ‘

‘Okay. Night.’

The boys headed for their houses to get their heads down. The night had been insane and they were both in dying need of some sleep.  

After a short while. ‘Oli!!!.’

‘Eric.’

‘Oli…I’m over here…can you hear me?!?!’

Finally they heard each other, they kept shouting directions and ran towards one another until they made contact, they both looked petrified. ‘Does this mean it happened to you too?’ Eric said to Oli.

‘Yep, I’m pretty sure it’s the same thing. How on earth did this happen? It’s impossible!’

Not one one of them had managed to locate their house, but beyond that they couldn’t even find their town. Not one shred of evidence that it even existed. The thriving homestead they knew was now just part of the forest, it had vanished!

‘Oli began to panic ‘Oh no,  oh no. How… This doesn’t make any sense.’

Eric had a thought ‘Oli you have to calm down, it won’t do us any good to get ourselves worried. All we need to do is think, and if I had to guess it would be the nodes. I don’t know exactly but I’m sure they’re involved.’

‘That’s why I’m worried.’ Said Oli all sweaty and trembling a little. ‘Don’t you remember the stories your dad used to tell us about nodes? About what happens if you get enough of them?’

Of course, I just didn’t think for one that our homes would’ve gone missing ?! And you’re right Oli I do,  a portal to a magical realm. ‘

The two were gobsmacked and stood there with their mouths wide open, Eric had now started trembling too, they were mortified at the fact that this bed time story may now be true, not only that but they were both thinking how long it would be, if at all before they made it home again. Those thoughts were horrifying, and somewhat possible. ‘Okay okay.’ said Oli ‘we need to stick together and as you said, stay calm because now we have a task of finding a way to get back to our family and friends.’

‘I agree, but what are we going to do this second? This has never happened and we have nowhere to sleep.’

’Oli turned around ‘I think we just need to start walking in a direction and hope there’s something out there, but what way do we….’

‘Look.’ Eric whispered, behind you.’

Oli swung around again ‘What?’

‘At the foot of that tree, by the mushrooms.’

‘A node.’ Oli replied in disbelief.

After a couple of seconds the node began to move back into the forest, Eric waved his arm at Oli to follow but said nothing. They tailed it and not long into their walk the node stopped and then it’s glow went dark and it disappeared.

‘Oh that’s just great!’ Shouted Oli. ‘That’s perfect, what was the point in taking us here.’

 Suddenly out of nowhere there was a huge thud. The boys grabbed each other and held still. The thud bellowed once again, this time they knew where to look, they both turned there heads and watched as they had stumbled across a big stone cottage, the noise had stopped, at least for now.

‘Wow, good effort node.’ Eric smirked as Oli said this. They both looked at each other and smiled at the sight of this home, they had no idea who it belonged to but they were both way too tired to care. They walked right up to the front door, looked at each other once again, and then knocked.

The door was black and looked heavy. Eric and Oli noticed a lot of huge cuts and tears on the whole thing, they looked like claw marks but that would be obserd because they were way too big. Suddenly a metal hatch slid up with a metallic clang and inside was a big green eye, it looked all around including at the boys, then the hatch slammed shut. As soon as it did the pair noticed a light flickering through cracks in the wooden shutters covering the windows, it glided past the windows on the second floor then down towards the door. It eased open a fraction, a wand thrusted out and hit Olis’ chest, draped over it a purple sleeve.

‘Who is it? Who dares take a knock to my domain while I sleep?!’

‘We’re lost’ Eric replied.

‘The wand retracted and a head cloaked in purple appeared from the side of the door. ‘Why my door?’

‘Please, we didn’t mean too, our homes disappeared, we really had no choice. We just need to rest, we promise.’

The door closed.

‘I’m Gwental.’ She said into the back of their heads.

‘AHHHHHHH!!’ Eric and Oli turned in a split second, lost their balance and fell over in shock. 

 ‘Oh my how embarrassing!’ She said trying not to chuckle.

‘Hey it’s not fair, we didn’t know you were going to do that did we?’ Said Eric. ‘Hey was that a wand you had just now?’ Asked Oli. Gwental removed it once again from under her robes and displayed it out in front of their faces.  

‘Of course it is, it’s made from Owlpine. Do you have yours with you?’

As soon as she answered Eric and Oli were face to face. Oli said ‘You were right Oli , we are in a different realm or something, this is happening.’

‘I know! That’s a real wand right there, she just used it to transport herself behind us.’

Gwental interrupted their conversation. ‘I’m so sorry but I swore I just overheard you two talking about being dropped into a different realm, is this true?’

‘It is, we haven’t exactly had the best couple of days.’ Said Eric.

‘Does that mean you’ve never practiced magic at all?’

‘Yes it does.’

‘In that case the least I can do is give you a place to rest, and quite frankly you wouldn’t last a day here with no protection or knowledge. So who do we have here exactly, I’ve caught Olis name, which is you of course,’ She stated touching his shoulder. ‘So that makes you?’

‘Oh I’m sorry, we’ve been nothing but distracted, I’m Eric. ‘

’Okay fabulous, and now we have been introduced please follow me.’ Gwental turned on her heel and opened the door. ‘Okay you guys wait just inside, I’ll only be a second.’ She popped her head out of the door like before and took some time to scour the area, looking around in great detail, the boys could tell already that this must happen regularly but for what purpose. ‘I believe it’s safe tonight, thank god, I like quiet nights like this.’ She muttered to herself. She tapped her wand on the metal hatch and the eye reappeared, the protector.

‘Excuse me Gwental, but…what did you mean by a quiet night?’ Oli questioned.

‘Oh my of course of course. I’m so sorry my dears I really am, I had forgotten you two are non- magical folk, to be completely honest with you its actually my very first time meeting any.’ She gestured them to follow as she picked up the lantern . ‘As you know already you’ve somehow ended up in this realm, now this place, this world is magical, it’s the only life I’ve known but as a witch myself I and the wider magical community know all too well about realms and the other worlds and the dark lands. But you two on the other hand have not. If you want to survive here long enough for you to figure out a way back to your homes then you need to learn and fast, otherwise you’ll be killed plain and simple. I’m not going to go into any detail because it’s late and I don’t want you worrying, especially on your first night here. However, the answer to your question is that in the woods right outside my house here are a few Murkles, these are essentially a pain in a lot of ways, they are basically a creature with four legs, furry and fluffy and they are grazers, they eat whatever they want really. Plants, animals, flowers, you name it, they tend to chew on my window shutters and a lot of my things out there. Now, the downside to having Murkles in my gardens is that when they sleep they snore, and the reality is that the sound they make attracts beast called a Gremyler, people here just call them Grems, big in size, fast and ferocious I’m sure you noticed the claw marks on my door, the Murkles sleep outside, the Grems hunt down and tear apart the Murkles, and over the years there has been one Grem that let’s just say knows I exist. Does that answer your question Oli?’

Oli, now looking astounded nodded  almost violently at Gwental and said ‘Yes it does thanks.’

‘Okay then, it’s seems you have learned something on your first day, good effort, you’ll need it I’m sure. Anyway the good news is that it’s time to get some rest, from the sound of it you two have been looking forward to it.’ The boys had been led into a spare room with three beds, there was nothing spectacular in it just everything they’d need for the night. Wooden shack walls, a few paintings, and a bathroom across the hall.  

‘Just before I leave you to it, feel free to leave any dirty clothing outside your door and I’ll make sure I get it cleaned for you in the morning, I have breakfast at 7:30, you’re more than welcome to join me but I wouldn’t blame you for wanting to sleep longer after the day you’ve had so please don’t worry, and if you get thirsty or hungry feel free to use the kitchen which we walked past downstairs, first door to the left.

‘Thanks.’ They said at the same time. ‘We won’t forget this Gwental.’