赤裸裸的滑稽故事

She was surrounded by blue light. Her body was propelled forward, and though she couldn't see anything beyond the light, she knew somehow that there was something amazing beyond it. Her skin tingled. She was filled with warmth and comfort that felt foreign to her.

'Lily?' she whispered.

'Yes?' Lily replied.

'What is this?' Ashleigh asked.

'You are traveling between physical locations, by moving outside of your world and through the ley line,' Lily said. 'The feeling is natural. We were all once a part of the ley line. It is comforting to feel it so near.'

Ashleigh wanted to know more. But she could see something changing up ahead.

'What is that?' she asked.

'Our stop.'

Suddenly the warmth is gone. Left behind is an empty coldness. Her stomach lurched, and the weight of her entire body felt as though it had suddenly tripled.

Ashleigh crumpled to her knees, gasping to catch her breath as the weight of her chest was unbearably heavy.

'You'll be fine,' Lily whispered. 'Focus on what you should feel like. On gravity, weight, your body. Remember how to be solid.'

After another minute, just as Lily said, everything returned to her, and she felt fine. As she got her bearings, Ashleigh stood up straight and looked around. She recognized this place from the tour she had taken when she first came to Summer. She was in the western mountains.

She turned and looked at the mountain face behind her. It looked like a typical mountain, but she could see the circle etched into it.

Ashleigh looked up at the sky above her. It was evening. She furrowed her brows in confusion. It had been early in the morning when she had entered the portal.

"Why is it so late?" she asked aloud.

'It was your first time through the gate, and I have not used one in a thousand years,' Lily sighed. 'Honestly, we are lucky we didn't end up lost in the ley line.'

"I thought it was a straight connection between Summer and Winter?" Ashleigh replied.

'Nothing is ever that simple with the ley lines,' Lily replied. 'If you know where you are going and how to maintain the passage, it is a connection that takes moments to cross through. But as I said, I have not used one in a long time. And without a body of my own… I wasn't prepared for it.'

"Oh," Ashleigh said, feeling guilty. "Thank you, I really appreciate you getting us here."

Lily didn't respond.

Ashleigh could feel that Lily needed a little time on her own. So she shifted into her wolf and immediately headed for the compound.

As she approached, she heard alarms, she saw people running back and forth, and in the distance, she heard the scream of the hybrid.

She hurried inside, making her way to the command center.

"The gate is holding, but the shield is down another two percent."

"Sentries are still inaccessible."

"Tower three also shows damage, and power levels are crashing."

The voices were all talking over each other, each shouting their report.

"Damn it!" Fiona shouted angrily.

"Fiona!" Ashleigh called out.

Fiona turned with surprise to see her.

"Ashleigh!" she shouted, running and hugging her tightly. "Corrine said that you were still unconscious!"

"When?" Ashleigh asked as they pulled away. "Are communications back?"

Fiona sighed and pulled Ashleigh away to a corner where they could talk.

"No," Fiona shook her head. "They have been down since last night. I talked to your mom a few hours before they went down. She said you returned from Spring but were exhausted and wouldn't be up for a few more days."

"She was right," Ashleigh replied. "I'm only here now because Bell helped me along, and then I… sort of… took the way gate to get here."

Fiona's eyes widened.

"The way…gate…" she whispered. "I thought you were destroying them, not using them."

"I am, but destroying the gate on Winter's side would have caused damage to the Safe Zone, so I need to do it from this side. But then I heard that there was a problem in Summer. So I needed to make sure everyone was ok."

Fiona smiled and hugged Ashleigh once again.

"It is good to see you," she said. "But we are far from ok."

"I can see that," Ashleigh smiled. "Tell me what is going on."

Fiona took Ashleigh back into the room, where people continued to shout over each other about what was happening all over Summer.

Fiona told her that even before they lost communication with Winter and Broken Crag, they had already lost contact with the scouts and soldiers all over the territories. When they sent a team to check the communications towers, they discovered that feral wolves had attacked and killed the men monitoring and defending it.

The team had tried to perform repairs, but they, too, were killed in the process. Unfortunately, the team sent had been wearing cameras, and the entire command center watched as they were torn apart.

Only a few hours after, the feral wolves and hybrids had begun their assault on the gates of Summer.

"Bad news! Such bad news! We thought it was one, then it was two, then it was back to one, and then we just didn't know what the heck was happening, but it is bad, very bad!"

Ashleigh looked up to see Clara walking into the control room, carrying an armload of diagrams and schematics. She was shaking her head as she spoke, not paying attention. Then, finally, she tripped on one of the steps and fell forward.

Letting out a scream and closing her eyes as she dropped her papers, Clara prepared to feel the impact of the floor. She was instead surprised to feel a soft, warm touch around her.

Clara opened her eyes, shocked to see a familiar pair of hazel eyes looking back at her.

"Ashleigh?" she whispered, and then she shouted with a bright smile and a squeal. "Ashleigh!"