You enter the garden through an ornate white gate. It had been midday when you were outside, but the sky is now twilight, and you can see the moon. In the garden there are flowers of every variety, everything from roses to pansies. Anywhere else, the worst thing you would have to fear from these plants would be pricking your finger on a roses’ thorn. But here even the smallest flowers are much worse.

You walk along thin, winding path. It is made of dirt with stones lining the edge. Eventually, the path lead you to a gazebo. It is the same shade of white as the gate. Around the edge of the gazebo, between each of the pillars, there are benches facing out towards the garden. Your companion sits down on one of the benches, motioning for you to sit beside him. A sandwich appears in his hand and he offers it to you. You weren’t hungry, but you accept the sandwich regardless.

After you eat, you move away from the gazebo and continue along the winding path. As you walk, it feels like the flowers are getting closer to you, like the path is narrowing. This makes you feel uneasy because you know the flowers are dangerous. You aren’t exactly sure what makes them dangerous, just that they are. Your companion told you. You have no way of confirming his warning, but he speaks with easy confidence, so you believe him without question.

You glance at a patch of dandelions. Simple, innocent little flowers, most places. But of course in this garden, that’s not the case. These simple little flowers are some of the most dangerous in the garden. With just a single touch of their petals, you’d be dead. That was the example of the flowers’ various abilities your companion had given you. When he had first told you how dangerous the flowers were, especially when I came to these little ones, you hadn’t believed him. He had dared you to test it yourself, but you weren’t quite willing to risk your life over this. So you would just have to take his word for it.

You walk along the path for another few minutes and eventually, it leads you to a brick wall. The wall is covered in bloody smudges, some of which resemble handprints. A hint of fear settles in your mind as you notice your companion take out his knife. You can’t see the knife clearly right now, but you’ve seen enough times before to know what it looks like. The blade is a deep crimson, the color of blood. The black handle is etched with vines that are made to look like they’re wrapping around it.

Your companion winces slightly as he uses his knife to make a cut across his own palm. He presses his hand against the wall, adding another handprint to the collection. You wonder how many of the handprints are his. The wall slides down into the ground, taking only a moment for it to disappear completely.

You and your companion quickly make your way past where the wall used to be. Just moments after you pass, the wall rises back up. Now that you’re past the wall, you can see vines everywhere.

You also begin to notice the murals. Sprinkled throughout the garden at random are walls. They randomly start and stop, not actually blocking anything off. Painted on the walls are murals. Many feature a forest and many others feature a cliff. A few of the walls are just completely blank white. It’s a bright white almost blindingly so. On some of the walls, you can see it depiction of your companion. Sometimes he’s with a boy who looks almost exactly like him. You assume this is the twin brother he has mentioned a few times before. The last thing that you see repeatedly throughout the murals is an eye. You keep walking along the path, glancing at the scattered murals as you go.

Your companion stops in front of a fountain. Your companion tells you a bit about the fountain as you sit on the edge. He says that when touching the water you can see visions of the past. He says they’re like memories, but they aren’t yours, they belong to someone else. Your hand reaches towards the fountain driven by your curiosity. Your companion warns you away from the fountain, telling you that it’s easy to get lost in the past, and if you stay too long, you won’t be able to find your way back.

Your companion stands up and starts walking along the path again. You follow. This whole time that you’ve been walking ever since you passed the brick wall, you’ve noticed that the vines were moving. At first, it hadn’t been very noticeable. They might reach out in your general direction, but they wouldn’t actually make it far enough to touch you. The further you walk, they get a bit more active and a bit more quick.

One tendril reaches out and wraps around your wrist. You start to panic, but your companion seems perfectly calm, so you calm down a bit too. That is until you remember that nothing ever seems to faze him. Your panic returns. Another tendril wraps loosely around your companion’s neck, but he just laughs.

Note: the title was too short to include it, but the full title would’ve been: The Garden (Of Chaos and Order - Unreal Places) Part 1. At some point I’ll continue The Garden story, and I’ll also continue the Unreal Places, which will include the Forest, the Cliff, and maybe some other places. But the Garden is my favorite, so we’re starting here.