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Consciousness was subtle.

There was no pain. A pale green light hovered above the man. The man felt his hand twitch and saw the hand lift. All motions were slow, the movements fluid and fluid. The man felt warmth on his face, as well as a soft breeze.

The man opened his eyes one by one. His vision was first fuzzy. He could see that his hands were tied.

The man could see the light of day, but no sun. It was bright, it was not day. He could feel something sticky on his hands, but could not see anything to wipe it off.

The man awoke slowly to the smell morning glory and mint. This was a sign of a great life, fresh croissants at breakfast.

The man realized that the unicorn was gone, but he assumed it had gotten bored of looking at his scabs. The unicorn was very tactile. Perhaps it was just considering the man a friend, not just a villager to be avoided.

The man sat up and surveyed the outside world. He looked down at his hands and saw bandages covering his knuckles.

This was not a normal world. There was magic at work.

Some of the bandages were faded, but the man did not recognize his own hands. He was not going to over think what that meant. Some things should not be complicated by logical inference.

The door opened, and a young girl stepped through. She was not an immortal.

She had long curly brown hair, not too greasy. She wore a green skirt and a white sweater. There was a candy on her left ear.

Her eyes were brown and green. Her eyes reminded the man of spring grass. Her nose was thin. He could smell the minty elderberry coming from her mouth.

"Good morning, it's a lovely day to start making jewellery, isn't it?" She said.

"I'll take your word for it," said the man.

She stretched and smiled. She did not have fangs. He assumed she was not a goblin.

"My name is Emerald Strawberry. Welcome to the land of Aura," she said. She extended a hand and pulled him to his feet. "This is my friend Chocolatte."

Chocolatte stuck his tail out and made the man jump. The man laughed, and Chocolatte joined in.

"I'm going to check on the unicorn. You can go help them if you want. The unicorn seems to know what it's doing," Emerald Strawberry said.

The man followed Emerald Strawberry down a path of white stones ending in a clearing. The unicorn was circling a dead tree, snorting at the trunk. The unicorn stopped when it saw the man and Chocolatte.

"What's wrong, Dragon?" The unicorn said.

"Nothing, Baby," the man said. The unicorn lowered her head and appeared to be distracted by the bandage on the man's knuckles. "You don't have to be so nice about it," the man said.

"Shh, this is a treasure we're looking for," said Emerald Strawberry. "It's called a golden necklace, and we're afraid it might be in here," she said while she poked a hole in the tree.

"Finally," said the unicorn. Chocolatte mimed chasing a rabbit with his tail.

"Stay here and keep watch," said Emerald Strawberry, patting the unicorn on the head. While Chocolatte and the unicorn distracted each other, Emerald Strawberry poked and pried with her hands. The man sat on a large rock with the unicorn staring at him. He wondered what magical creature he would come across next.

"Here we go," said Emerald Strawberry, reaching into the hollow tree and pulling out an object. "May I have your assistance?" she said, turning away from the man to face the unicorn and Chocolatte.

The unicorn poked at the wooden object. "So, what's the verdict, guys?" the unicorn said.

"It's a necklace," said the unicorn.

"Really?" said the man. "It's not shiny," he said.

"It's made of gold," said Chocolatte.

"It's got jewels on it," said the unicorn.

"I don't know," said Chocolatte. "I think this is what he claimed it was. Golden."

"You don't think I'm just an understatement? Sheesh," said the unicorn. She then poked at the necklace again and said, "Wow, that's heavy. Can you move it, Chocolatte?"

"No," Chocolatte said. "Not without being crushed."

"Why didn't you say so in the first place? Stupid man," said the unicorn.

The ground started to shake. "Birds," said Chocolatte. "Be careful."

A large flock of birds flew across the sky. They were black with fiery red wings.

The unicorn lifted the necklace from the tree and tossed it to Emerald Strawberry. "Here, let me carry this," she said, "I'll be more careful. You go ahead and check on the boys."

Emerald Strawberry walked away and the man turned to leave.

"Hey, wait," the unicorn said. The man turned and saw the unicorn staring at the sky.

"We have to leave. The weather will change. Something bad is coming," she said.

"Bad?" the man said.

"Something worse than ravenous birds, that's for sure," said the unicorn. "Go and let them know. Hurry!"

The man ran to find Emerald Strawberry and Chocolatte. He said that the unicorn wanted to leave soon.

The man ran to the path and tripped over the stone. The other stones could not seem to decide what to do. Under them he could see a large crack, and the earth seemed to be pulling apart. He realized that there was a tree that split in half below him. The ground around him cracked and shook, and he felt the earth give way beneath him.

He heard whispers in the trees, and he heard a horn play. The sky was full of black with flaming red bands. The man looked at the trees and saw the blossoms/fruits dropping to the ground. There was a second seed pod dropped and it opened up, a seed pod girl spread her white wings and flew.