Mama always told me not to go into the forest. "It's a strange place, filled with even stranger things," she'd say. "I don't ever wanna see you go in there." The only issue was that I didn't do much of what Mama told me to do, and I didn't see nothin' wrong with those trees. It just looked like a regular old tiny forest, for Pete's sake. So, of course, I went in there.

Just like how I assumed it was, the forest was just a normal forest. But the thing was, I was so busy gloating in the fact that I was right as I walked, that I didn't notice the treetops getting thicker and everything around me getting darker. I only noticed when I came across some sort of shiny, silvery material, that just sort of sat there as a wall, despite the fact that the stuff looked liquid. Whatever it was, I decided to try to go through.

There was an odd, shivery feeling as I went through the stuff, but a second later, I was on the other side. And that place was... well, I dunno how to describe it. To imagine this place, imagine your craziest, weirdest dream or thought. Now, multiply it by 'bout a gajillion. I'm asking you to do this because it was at this point that I knew I wasn't truly on Earth anymore. The first hints were the giant goldfish swimmin' through the sky. And when I say huge, I mean like blue whale huge. I dunno how they got up there and stayed there, but they did. The second tip-off was the colorful trees, being every color except brown and green. Oh, not to mention the creepy-yet-friendly-lookin' critter scuttling along the ground in front of me. I was rudely interrupted from my thoughts when I heard a loud crash then saw a boy 'round my age fall through the treetops and land on the ground with an "OOF!"

The boy began to stand up. "Who are you?" he asked, dusting himself off and shaking his wings. Yes, I did say wings. At first, I couldn't believe my eyes, but then I figured that if that pig flapping away behind him could fly, then so could he. I also happened to notice that his legs bent in odd ways and that his bare feet looked like paws. Roundish, furry, animal-like ears were poking out of his dark, curly hair, too. This train of thought was cut short when he repeated, "Who are you? Do you even speak Hsilgne? Hey, why are you staring at me?"

I answered his questions in order. "I'm Pattie, I guess I speak whatever language you just said, and I'm not staring at you, just observing your very strange features."

The boy's eyes narrowed slightly at what must have been an insult, but he still greeted me politely. "Pleasure to meet you, Pattie. My name is Dave." Then, he seemed to realize something. "Oh, you're from beyond," he exclaimed, then he grinned and took my hand in his.

"Hey! Just what d'ya think you're doing?" I shouted at him as he took off running through the woods, dragging me behind him. Now, keep in mind that with his animal legs, he could run much faster than me, and ended up nearly dragging me between the rainbow trees.

"Just follow me," he answered, his smile still plastered on his face. We continued running for a while longer, then we reached the edge of the forest. We stopped, and he let go of my hand and let loose a loud, shrill whistle. A moment later, the whistle was returned as over the hills flew a large, beautiful... thing. I mean, how do you explain a creature that looks like it's changing shape constantly? Eventually, it reached us and the shifting stopped. I guess it was a griffin of some sort, with an eagle's head and a lion's body. Its feathers were white with all sorts of fancy red designs on them, and its eyes were bluer than anything I had ever seen before. It head-butted Dave affectionately, the blue ornaments attached to its head jingling as it did so. "Well, what are you waiting for?" he asked me as I marveled at the griffin's creamish-white body. "Get on him." With a bit of difficulty I climbed on the griffin, and then we were soaring over their world.

Once again, I need you to imagine your craziest dream, then put that on steroids. I saw schools of birds hopping out of the sea before submerging again. I saw a large group of octopi crawling through the plains. There was a herd of horses with massive, dolphin-like tails thundering across a beach, chasing what I guessed to be their small prey into the sea. The griffin followed Dave as he soared through a flock of feathered dragons that whose wings made up nearly all of their bodies. We flew straight into a thundercloud, and at its center was an enormous shark with electricity crackling off of its skin. We then watched as, above us, a flying wooden ship fished for all the other creatures that surrounded the shark, feeding off of its electricity. After a good long while of seeing all these strange mysteries, I finally drew up the courage to ask the question that had been bouncing around my head the entire time.

"What even is this place?" I hollered at him over the roaring wind.

"This place is essentially a place where people's dreams come to life," Dave explained. "Since it is located in a forest in your world, I guess you could call it the Forest of Dreams."

I don't know how much longer we flew around for, but what I do know is that it was the best time of my life. But, as with everything, all good things must come to an end. We landed outside the same forest that we came from. As we walked back into the trees, the griffin, now having no rider, flew away, changing and shifting as it did so. It was a while before we reached the shiny stuff from which I had come into this place. I was just about to walk back to our world when I stopped and spoke one last time.

"Why bring me here? Why did you show me your world?"

"Because I can, and I thought you would like to see it. But this will not be the last you see of it. You'll visit it in your dreams, just like the rest of the people on Earth do." With that, we said goodbye, and I went through the stuff back to the real world.

When I got out of the woods, I noticed no time had passed. I honestly didn't know what I was going to do with all this stuff I saw, but I decided I'd write it down, if only because I'd forget it by myself. Yeah, yeah, I know this is a weak conclusion, but how am I supposed to match this amazing story with an okay ending? So, here is my story about how I once visited the Forest of Dreams.