Exhaustion does… strange things. Lukas was so tired from hatching that he didn’t know when he fell asleep.

There was a natural fear, a sensation that made his hackles rise. The mercury hatchling natively had his tail tucked between his legs. It wasn’t some normal dream. He was aware. Aware and thoroughly spooked.

Lukas looked around, the whole of the area around him a dense forest of many strange colors. It oozed energy. He didn’t know how to fly, yet, obviously, so he was stuck on the ground. A six-inch tasty snack as far as he was concerned! All it would take was a large bird or a fox or something and he’d be gone.

He was meandering cautiously, not wanting to expose himself to any of the myriad of concerns something of his size would actually have in a forest. He still wasn't sure why he was in a forest, because he was pretty sure not two seconds ago he was in Lady Sar's hands.

The only reasonable thing he could think was happening was that he was in a dream, and it was a starkly realistic one, at least in how it felt. Even though Lukas was creative and interested in things like meditation, he'd never figured out lucid dreams. He was doubtful he would manage it by accident when his mind was so disturbed. This was easily the least comfortable dream he’d ever had, too. There was no logic telling him his presence here made sense. He didn’t belong and he knew it.

Lukas also had the feeling of being watched. When he looked around he couldn't tell where this feeling was emanating from. Almost as if it came from everywhere. Every plant and breeze and sound whispered of the presence of another. Warned him that he was being hunted. There was nothing to do about it but continue and hope he made it through, though.

As he wandered on, ever trepidatious of what lay ahead, there was a small village that appeared from within the trees. They were literally partly made of the trees themselves. Despite the dwellings being right in front of him, no one was in sight. Still, even without evidence, he could feel their presence, despite having no idea what they were.

The small dragon couldn't tell if it was a feeling that he had, or if it was something being made that obvious on purpose. It seemed like his sense of smell had improved for sure, though. He was smelling a wide variety of things that he had no name for, had been even before he was pulled into this strange dream.

Something about the phrase “pulled in” made him shudder from snout to tail-tip; this was as much a dream as a drug trip. He had the sense that while yes, he had technically fallen asleep, this was not his mind’s doing. Someone, something, had put him here… had plucked his consciousness from his sleeping form and thrust it here. Realizing this left a deep, nagging worry as if he’d just been roofied.

Atop one of the tree branches off in the distance, unbeknownst to Young Lukas, sat an entity. This individual was of a mysterious gender. He or she was neither one nor the other. They lacked breasts or anything like them, but still had the curves and body form that gave off a feminine air. While they had no beard and their hair was long, the look in their eyes belied masculinity despite the body - at least of the earthen kind.

Lukas could not see this individual. They simply didn't want him to see them, and so he didn’t. That was the sort of power that this individual held. They were not an otherworldly being. They were as “worldly” as nature gets, tied closely to the land and lording over it.

He knew nothing of the Fae and therefore did not make any sort of connections between them and the strange small tree dwellings. They were small houses but compared to the six-inch-long by three-inch-tall Lukas, they were still massive. Around five feet from top to bottom as best as he could tell. All he could think of was some strange movie from the Mighty Mouse, like Thumbelina. Hopefully with less kidnapping.

At least his dark humor kept him company here.

For fleeting moments Lukas caught sight of a pale blue-skinned creature. They looked to be humanoid in shape, but for their eyes. They were pure black from the sclera to the pupil. There was no color, no whites to their eyes. It was creepy, like some stereotypical demon in trashy fiction. They also had four slate gray butterfly wings, allowing them to dance through the air with incredible grace before disappearing behind another house.

Lukas was uncertain about such a strange creature, but he felt an urge inside of himself to chase the moving object. Like some sort of dog with a car. He compromised with this feeling and move forward with the same sort of cautiousness that he had held so far. Crouched low to the ground in amongst the leaf litter on the forest floor, he edged closer to the side of the building where the creature had disappeared to.

He turned the corner, and there was nothing. Of course, there was nothing. Why would there be anything? Was he just going crazy? Had he been holed up in that egg for so long he couldn't tell reality from fiction? He really needed a therapist later, especially if he was questioning these sorts of things. Rarely did anything good come from questioning your sanity.

That doubt was answered in short order.

The creature, small for most but towering over the tiny Lukas, spoke from around a tree. It stared at him, a spindly finger resembling a twig beckoning him closer. He crouched once again, looking at the oddly shaped man with wings. Or what he could see of him anyway. It reminded him of an inky butterfly. He did not trust them, but there was nothing else to do with this seemingly abandoned village. It wasn't like he was going to wander out into the woods. Who knew where he would end up if he did something like that? Not to mention the danger to someone his scale

So he followed.

There was a pause as the creature realized Lukas had taken up the offer and was inching closer. The strange being grinned, a bit intimidating with its canid-like, predatory teeth. And so too did the creature in the trees. Watching his responses, the Lord was quite entertained.

The gnome-sized gray humanoid marched off into the woods with a purpose. It knew where it was going, there was no question about it. Lukas didn't think it could get lost even if it wanted to. That sense of security brought him some comfort, despite the fact that he was following a stranger into dark woods. He tended to be a good judge of character, and he felt that the gray individual wasn't a threat. Idly he followed, his thoughts trailing off.

He thought about his sister, about where she must be right about now, and how worried she must have been for his safety. Hopefully she had heard the tale of an outsider in an egg. Then she might learn of that Outsider’s name and know that Lukas was there inside.

As he trailed behind this gray entity he noticed more about its form. For instance, its legs were wiry and thin, reminding him of twigs. It wore some semblance of clothes, made of leaves, vines, and similar materials. There was no true cloth in sight.

As much as Lukas was nervous, this strange grey entity seemed friendly. They did not seem nor feel like the type of friends one could rely on and trust, but the sort that would not intentionally wrong you if you didn’t wrong them. And that was more than he could ask for, considering he was expecting a fox to jump out of the nearby bush any moment and snatch him up. He would take half a friend over that any day.

The grayling, which he had taken to calling it at least in his head, had stopped. It has ceased all movements in front of the largest tree he’d ever seen, like something out of a documentary about the giant sequoia trees in the colonial era of the United States. It was large enough that it felt as though it would tower over buildings, hell it even seemed tall enough to tower over monuments. He couldn’t tell from this angle, but it seemed to go into the clouds. It felt like a sacred place he wasn't supposed to be. It felt like he was going to insult someone just by being there. He didn't want to fight. He was unarmed, save for tiny kitten-like claws and equally needle-like itsy bitsy teeth. Even a frog would barely take damage when struck by its teeth or claws.