Arrival

Betony has just stepped through the stag stone to an island called Arrival. After a largely-drab life up until now, she finds herself somewhere strange.
I suppose most of us have thought about being dropped somewhere utterly strange and wondered what we'd do. Betony, having little interesting reality to hark back to for context, thinks about things she's read, but she also notices the ambiance of the place, thinking back, and forth and then focusing on the present.

She stared around, but it was every bit as dark as it had been at the Stag Stone.

She never thought, for a moment, she was still there. The shift in temperature was too marked. Then there were the sounds, the smells, and the feel of something shifting under her feet.

“Is that sand?” she said in wonder. She rested her hand on a dark rock and found that, too, was warm.

There was no answer, so she looked at the driver to see what he had to say for himself.  He wasn’t there.

“Hello?” Betony turned on her heels, which sank into the presumed sand with a faint crunch. Had he darted behind the rocks?

She spent some time searching and then gave up.

She was alone. She knew it. She was alone on a stretch of sand in a warm place, lit only by a few faint stars. The rhythmic sounds and the perfume in the air told her this was a tropical beach. The glinting movement out to one side must be the ocean and behind her were obvious trees.

So, my time of my life experience is a desert island holiday.

She frowned, wondering, as she often had as a child, why they were called desert islands. The ones she’d read about were never deserts. On the contrary, they teemed with life.

Especially the one in the Lost Island series.

She hadn’t read that series as a child, and just as well!

She put her hands to her face and explored her temples. If this was Virtual Reality it was extraordinarily realistic.

No headset. Not VR. 

Well.

She had two options—Meltdown or Immersion.

Betony turned again, hearing the slithering crunch of sand under her boots. A playful breeze ruffled her hair, and she tasted salt on her lips. More stars glittered into view.

Oh!

Immersion was the obvious choice.

Betony Buys Adventure