Puck strides through the Portal. The light flowing through the opening flares as the Libertine touches the surface tension of the dream. He feels the slick, oily surface of the dream's membranous surface; there is a feeling of slick resistance and then a sensation of being sucked - or drawn - through the barrier and into the dream proper. Once the process begins, the Acanthus finds he cannot stop it - he is drawn like a fly in amber into the dream - and light flashes around him.
Phoenyx and, moment's later, Crystal also experience the same event when they pass through the Portal and into the dream.
There is a flash of light...
And they are sucked into a heady, turgid, atmosphere of heat and humidity. The force of the heavy, still and water-leaden air crushes them like an iron fist.
The air is thick, vaporous, and still. They stand in a forest of strange trees - pines, palms, or some kind of giant ferns - and unusual, succulent, ground dwelling plants. The earth is a rich brown. The trees and plants are all shades of green: green upon green. Even the shadows and the half light filtering through the canopy are tinged with green. The forest surrounds them. The trees press in close and the ground based foliage curls thickly around their feet and legs - not thickly enough to block their movement but enough to be a noticeable presence. The dim, closely packed forest, collapses distance and disorients them.
After a few moments the sounds begin: the chirp of angry insects droning in the heat; the flap of leathery wings as a little, lithe, winged reptile swoops overhead and snatches an massive dragonfly out of the air before vanishing into the gloom; a booming honk of some large animal rumbles through the forest from somewhere in front of the group.
Xander Xadun Aeolus