“Damn, he got away from me again. But I landed an arrow right in his chest, he won’t get far.”

She put away her bow and prepared her dagger in pursuit of the wolf she’d been hunting. Beth turned her nose to the wind and caught the scent of blood heading deeper into the woods. She was a natural hunter, tall and in touch with the land, she could out-survive even the hardiest creatures and her muscular form gave her the advantage when it came time to land the killing blow. The village didn’t have many hunters left as most of them had moved to bigger and better things, but Beth was too proud to leave. She brushed her flowing red hair out of her face and set out for the woods.

The wood got thicker as she made her way through the forest. While she knew the layout very well, this was a part of the forest she rarely went to anymore. It was deep and isolated, without many clearings. If the wolf got the jump on her, there would be no easy way to create distance between them. Her senses were sharp however, and right now she sensed no danger. Another minute passed. It was almost odd, the lack of bloodlust she felt in the air. A wolf was its most dangerous when it felt cornered after all.

As Beth rounded a particularly large tree near the middle of the forest, she was shocked to see the wolf she’d been hunting dead on the forest ground. She hadn’t hit anything vital, and the wolf was able to get away quickly enough. She looked around and saw no other hunters or even other animals in the area. Cautiously, she approached the body. At first, she didn’t see any other visible wounds on the beast, but running her fingers over its neck revealed numerous tiny holes, as if someone had stabbed it with needles. It wasn’t like any wound an animal could have inflicted, and the only hunters who could have done this would be mages, but they had much more effective means at their disposal. Blood was still trickling slowly out of the tiny pricks, whatever had happened to the wolf happened recently.

She searched the surrounding area but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. As much as it pained her honor to take the spoils of another’s kill, if no one could claim the wolf she would. As she prepared to bag it, she caught a small movement out of the corner of her eye and swung around, dagger by her face to defend herself. The leaves of a nearby bush had rustled, but there was no wind. She took a closer look and gasped when she saw what looked like a tiny human, who ran as soon as he’d been spotted.

“Hold on! Who are you?” she asked. Realizing she might be intimidating to someone less than half an inch tall, she reassured him, “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Despite her words, the man continued to run further back into the woods. Unable to control her curiosity, she easily caught up to him and blocked his path forward with her foot.

“Please don’t run,” she said, crouching down to get a closer look, “I’ve just never seen someone so small. You are a human, right?”

The man’s eyes darted, and he saw a way through if he could just run between her legs. Before he had a chance to get going, Beth’s hand reached down and lay flat on the ground, inviting him up. Before Beth could explain, the man pulled out a pistol and shot her closest finger, her thumb. Recoiling back, Beth looked at her hand and saw the same tiny pricks that she’d found on the wolf’s body, bleeding.

“Ouch! Are you the one who killed the wolf back there? That’s a strange weapon you have, what is it?”

The man tried to run past her, but Beth was too quick. She reached down with her other hand and picked the man up. Holding him between her fingers, she carefully took the pistol away from him and threw it on the ground.

“That stung, and I’m in no mood to play games with you. I mean you no harm, but I can’t let you hurt me either.”

The man finally spoke, though it was more of a scream, “Please don’t kill me! I’m sorry!”

Flustered, Beth tried to reassure him, “I already told you, I don’t want to hurt you. I just have some questions.”

The man squirmed around more, but it was no use against Beth’s iron grip. When he had exhausted himself, he looked back up at his captor and relented.

“You’re the first human any of us has seen since we got here. So it’s not just the animals and the plants that are huge I guess.”

“Who are you? Where are you from? You said ‘any of us’, there are more of you?”

“I used to be a taxi driver in New York, but that was a long time ago, before this nightmare started. Now, I hunt, me and a few others do. We don’t have to do it often, since getting just one animal from these woods is enough to last us a while. I was out with my group when we saw the wolf approaching. Normally we wouldn’t bother, a wolf is too difficult to take down. But this one was already wounded, and it would get us enough meat to last a year so my captain decided to take the risk. We were just about to start carting it back when you got here and started poking around.”

Beth listened intently, but she didn’t understand most of what the man told her. “What’s a taxi? I’ve never heard of New York, is it far away?”

Noticing the bow on her back, the man asked Beth, “are you the one who wounded the wolf? Are you some kind of hunter?”

“Yes, I hunt for my village. It’s not far from here, just outside of these woods.”

“Hey, you seem nice so let’s make a deal. If you can help bring the wolf back to my home, I’ll show you where it is and answer more of your questions.”

Her village had plenty of meat already, and she had to concede that it would go a lot farther with people the size of this tiny hunter. She agreed to carry the wolf for them and set him down on the ground, “Lead the way then.”

The two walked slowly, with the tiny hunter taking the lead.

“Where did your companions go?”, Beth asked, “You said you hunt in a group but why did I only find you?”

“They took off as soon as they saw you. I guess they were scared.”

“I would be too if someone so much bigger than me was around. Why didn’t you run?”

“To tell you the truth, I tried to. I was so paralyzed though, my legs wouldn’t work. So I tried to hide instead, but when I saw you were about to take the wolf, I couldn’t let you get away with something so valuable.”

They walked a while longer, until the man spoke up again.

“It’s just through here, through these bushes.”

Beth moved the shrubs aside with her hand and saw what had to be the most shocking thing she’d seen that day. Obscured by moss and leaves on the outside, the tiny hunter had led her to an entire tiny city. It was unlike any city she’d seen before, the buildings were gray and they sprawled out in every direction, the tallest ones only coming up to Beth’s chin. Narrow roads went between the buildings in a grid, and even though the buildings were densely packed, the city didn’t seem that large, even for the size of the hunter’s people.

“How many of you are there?”, Beth asked.

“I would guess a few hundred are left. Hold on, I need to tell my leaders what’s going on.”

Reaching into his pocket, the tiny hunter pulled out a radio and began talking into it.

“Please listen to me, I have brought an outsider to the city. She is going to give us the wolf she’s carrying on her back. You have no reason to be afraid, she was only curious about us and she’s willing to help us.”

After a minute of silence, Beth noticed someone walking out of a central building, carrying a large weapon on his shoulder. He spoke into his radio, “Intruder, set the wolf down and leave before we are forced to fire. We have hundreds of guns trained on you right now and if you make any sudden moves we will open fire.”

Beth turned to the tiny hunter, confused.

“What’s a gun? They’ve asked me to leave, did you explain who I am to them?”

“A gun is the thing I used on you earlier, but these guys have guns that are a lot stronger than that. They just don’t know you yet, let me talk to them.”

Beth stood as still as she could, not wanting the people to fear her. The hunter had left to go talk to the leader directly. After what felt like a long time, the hunter and an old man emerged on a nearby rooftop.

“Were you the one who killed this wolf, miss?”, the old man asked.

“I only wounded it, it was your brave hunters who finished the job.” she replied.

“And you have brought it here just to feed us?”

“In exchange for information, yes, you can have all of it.”

The old man thought about it for a minute, then said “Alright, ask your questions. But you must promise not to tell anyone about what you saw here.”

“I promise”, Beth said, setting down the wolf on the outskirts of the city, careful not to damage any buildings. “You’re all wearing such strange clothes, and you carry such strange devices. Even if you weren’t so small, I would be curious. How did you get here?”

“Our city is called New York. Or at least, a small part of it”, the old man replied, “About five years ago, a great storm hit our city. Many lives were lost. The winds carried the ground out from underneath us, and a portion of the city was carried right into the air. We were trapped on that floating island in the sky, we could do nothing but look down as we drifted away from the rest of the city. The air got thinner as the powerful winds carried us away, and when we regained consciousness we found ourselves here, in this great forest. None of us knew what happened, but we knew we had to figure out where we were. The forest seemed to go on forever, but it wasn’t long before we made a horrifying discovery. Within the first week that we were here, a grasshopper had killed all but one member of an exploration team. We had somehow wound up in a forest, far away from our home, barely larger than ants. Since then, many of us have died. But we have found a way to make life go on. We didn’t know there were still humans of your size before today.”

Everyone knows these woods are dangerous, that’s why no one’s discovered you. Beth thought to herself. She felt so overwhelmed, these people were so vulnerable out here in the woods and yet they’d managed to get their own food and survive for five years. She admired that.

She carefully considered her words before she spoke again. Their story had touched her, and she wanted to help them any way she could.

“I brought you the wolf today, but these woods have many dangerous creatures. You may not be able to hunt all of them. I hunt around here often, and I would like to earn your trust. It would be much safer for your men if I could hunt. I wouldn’t even have to go very far out of my way to drop some food off here every once in a while.”

“You make a kind offer, but we are skilled hunters in our own right. We may come from different places, but all of us have learned how to survive here.”

The hunter turned to his leader.

“Is it really so bad if we don’t have to risk our lives out there gathering food? Beth can really help us out, think of how much more useful we can be if we aren’t constantly out hunting or getting patched up by the doctors.”

Beth was glad to have the hunter on her side, “Yes it really isn’t any trouble for me. And besides, I feel terrible about scaring your people, please let me help.”

The old man knew the hunters risked their lives every time they went out, and if a better solution was presenting itself he might come under fire if he didn’t take it. Reluctantly, he agreed to let Beth bring them food from her hunts.

--------

Hours passed as Beth sat among the leader, the hunter, and the few others brave enough to approach her. They sat laughing and sharing stories, Beth about her village and the tiny city about their previous life.

“You have such wonderful technology”, Beth admired, “in my village, the mages are the only ones who can hold such power, but you make it available to anyone.”

“It’d be even more effective if we were your size, these beasts wouldn’t stand a chance!”, replied the hunter.

“Well, it’s beginning to get dark, so I must get back to my village. I will see you all soon.”

Beth gathered her things and left the city. On her way home, the words of the leader stuck in her head. What kind of storm could lift a city out of the ground and transport it somewhere so alien to them?