CYOA Wednesday 2025 #8 [Beyond the Woods 8]

This fantasy CYOA story continues today. Synopsis below:

When Derek, Jade, and Clara go camping, they stumble upon a portal to another dimension filled with strange creatures and sexy seductresses.

Clara, Derek, and Jade communicate with the shapeshifter and discover that the world they’re in is not what it seems. Now what? You decide.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/122661990

Read the eighth segment below:

8 – Communication

“That can’t be her, right?” Jade muttered. “What the hell is going on?”

Derek stood transfixed, his eyes wide with disbelief. The woman who resembled Sofia certainly looked like her – the same tangle of curly hair, the same expressive eyes, the same birthmark above her right eyebrow. Yet something about her demeanor, the set of her jaw and tilt of her chin, was profoundly different from Derek’s memory of their friend.

“I’m not sure but yeah, that’s not her. At least, Clara seems to be fine, though.”

“But is she really?”

“There’s only one way to find out.”

Derek took a cautious step forward, his eyes fixed on the woman who looked so much like Sofia. Jade followed closely behind, her hand resting on his shoulder, as if ready to pull him back at the first sign of danger. The crystalline trees glowed around them, The air was filled with a melodic hum.

Clara, who had been standing still, facing the woman, suddenly turned her head. Her eyes widened as she saw Derek and Jade approaching. A sob escaped her lips, and she took off running toward them, her feet bare and dirty, her clothes torn at the hem. “You’re here!” she exclaimed, her voice trembling with relief. “You’re here!”

Derek opened his arms, and Clara flung herself into them, burying her face in his chest. He held her tightly, relief washing over him. “We’re here,” he said softly. “We’ve got you.”

Jade placed a hand on Clara’s shoulder, her expression a mix of relief and wariness. “Are you okay?” she asked.

Clara nodded, pulling back to wipe her tears. “I’m fine. I was so scared. I thought… God, I thought I would never see you again.”

“We wouldn’t leave you behind,” Derek said, his voice firm. “We’re here.”

Clara sniffled and looked past them at the woman who still stood in the center of the clearing. The woman hadn’t moved, hadn’t reacted to their arrival. Her gaze remained fixed on some point beyond them, her expression unreadable.

“Who is that with you?” Jade asked. following Clara’s gaze.

“An inhabitant of this place,” Clara replied. “She… it… can change its appearance at will. It scanned my thoughts to find a form I would be comfortable with her and it settled on Sofia. It’s pretty wild stuff, isn’t it?”

“It’s fucking bonkers!” Derek exclaimed. “Then again, we just traveled God-knows-where through a hole in reality, so… Can it talk?” he asked, his gaze fixed on the shapeshifter.

Jade’s hand tightened on Derek’s shoulder, her fingers digging slightly into his flesh. “Let’s not rush into this,” she whispered, her voice laced with caution. Clara, still sniffling, nodded in agreement, her eyes darting between the strange creature and her friends.

The shapeshifter, still in Sofia’s form, turned her gaze toward Derek and Jade. Her expression was calm, almost serene, but there was something unsettling about her demeanor. Her smile was too perfect, her eyes too knowing. “I can communicate,” she said, her voice smooth and melodic, like the hum of the trees. “I have been waiting for you.”

Derek’s eyes narrowed. “Waiting for us? How did you even know we were coming?” He took another step forward, his hands resting on his hips.

The shapeshifter tilted her head slightly, her gaze never leaving Derek. She was scanning his thoughts, too. “This world… it knows. It senses. And I am a part of it.” Her voice was calm, almost hypnotic, but there was an undercurrent of something else, something that made the hairs on the back of Jade’s neck stand on end. “You’re wary of me and that’s understandable, but you needn’t be. I’ve been helping your friend. I’ll help you too.”

Jade’s grip on Derek’s shoulder tightened. “And why would you do that?” she asked, her tone sharp. “What’s in it for you?”

The shapeshifter’s smile widened, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I mean no harm. I am simply… curious. Your world is so different from this one. So full of… emotion. Conflict. It is fascinating.”

Derek snorted. “Fascinating? You think our world is fascinating? Lady, you have no idea! So, what do you want from us?”

The shapeshifter’s gaze shifted to Derek, and for a moment, there was a flicker of something in her eyes, something that looked almost like sadness. “You want to go home, don’t you? So do I. This place isn’t kind to outsiders. It’s unlikely you’ll survive for long without help.”

“You said you want to go home ?” Jade muttered. “Does that mean you…?”

“Yes. I came through The Ripple too. Not by choice, though. I was stolen from my planet and dumped here, and I wasn’t the only one. Many of the lifeforms you’ve already encountered suffered the same fate. That’s what they do.”

“Who’s they?” Clara asked. “Who are you talking about?”

“Trust me, you don’t want to know.”

The shapeshifter’s words hung in the air like a challenge and Clara took the bait.

“Who are they? Tell us!”

“They are collectors, traders of worlds. They take what they want, leaving destruction in their wake. You would not want to meet them.”

Derek snorted, his skepticism clear. “So, you’re saying we’re stuck here because of some cosmic thieves? Great! Just what we needed.”

The shapeshifter’s expression remained calm, but there was a subtle tension in her posture. “You are not stuck. There is a way back, but it is not simple. The Ripple is unstable, and navigating it requires… care. One person alone will never succeed but together…”

Jade’s eyes sharpened. “And you can help us navigate it?”

The shapeshifter nodded, a small, enigmatic smile playing on her lips. “I can guide you. But first, you must see. You must understand what you are dealing with.”

Derek exchanged a glance with Jade, then with Clara. “See what?” he asked, his tone wary.

The shapeshifter turned, her movements fluid and almost ethereal. “Follow me.”

She began to walk, her form shifting subtly as she moved. One moment she was Sofia, the next, she was something else—taller, broader, her features blurring and sharpening in ways that defied logic. The trio hesitated, their hearts pounding in unison. Then, with a shared nod, they followed her into the depths of the forest.

As they walked, everything began to change. The crystal trees twisted, their trunks gnarled and blackened. Jade stumbled, catching herself on a low-hanging branch. Derek reached out to steady her, his touch reassuring. The sky above grew even darker, the stars twinkling in patterns that none of them recognized. “Where are you taking us?” Clara asked.

“To the edge.”

Derek frowned. “The edge of what?”

“The edge of reality,” she replied, her gaze sweeping across the distorted landscape. “Here, the boundaries are thin. Here, you can see.”

Suddenly, she stopped, pointing forward, and everything they thought they knew changed again.

To decide what happens next, head over to my Patreon (you can join for free), and vote on the poll there until next Sunday. 

If you’re new to these CYOA stories, here are the basic rules:

1) You can only choose one option;

2) If there’s a tie at the end of the poll, and the competing options can be combined somehow, I’ll do that. If not, I get the deciding vote to keep the tale going.

3) The process continues every Wednesday until the story runs its natural course.

Have fun.