Nurend 03, 258: Entering The Gate

I was out playing with my sister, Anise. She had this idea to see if we could talk to the spirits of the forest and maybe have some tea with them. I though, "that'll be fun, yeah, let's do it..."
We gathered up the gross things kids gather up when they're out playing...we had bugs, sticks, mud, rocks, I found feathers, a dead squirrel, and we brought some old food that mom hadn't thrown out yet as well.
We wandered in the forest for some time until we found a stump with a flat enough surface. We built the gate around this stump, there's a diagram in the back in case anyone finds this. Anise said we need to include things important to us as a "trade."
We set the meal down, brewed some tea out of sticks, mud, leaves, and some water from the stream nearby. I had a bit of chamomile on me from the house that I added to the brew, and Anise said a "spell" over it.
"Walk, fly swim, climb...however you get here.
Come on over, we'll have a nice time."
We poured some tea for the spirits first, poured some for ourselves after that...it was vile. Anise said it was "Authentic" which I guess is a big word for gross. We played for a bit and eventually some spirits really did come to enjoy our meal with us. The "Gate" we put together for them lit up now and then and we ran about, playing with them for awhile.
Anise followed them through the gate....I ran after her, excited. She wasn't there though.
When I entered clouds filled the sky with different hues of pink, red, light browns and greys.
The sun was up somewhere, but you couln't see the sky, and I couldn't see Anise anywhere. I asked around, but no one had seen her either.
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Update
I was standing, alone, on a long and winding path. Petals of all different colors, sizes, shapes decorated this path and shrubs full of vibrant flowers lined both sides. To either side of me I saw forests, and behind me was a cliff overlooking clouds and nothingness. I was scared, lonely....I pressed forward, better than the scary forest, after all.
In the trees I would see lights gently illluminating, and sometimes I would see wolves, bats, all manner of thing peaking out of the dark. This path seems the only safe place.
The smell of flowers, the sound of birds, and far up ahead I could hear echoing through this land: the faintest sound of an axe, chopping away at some wood. Slow and rhythmic.
I was so scared, but I knew I needed to find her before I could go home. I was prepared though...Anise made me pack. I have a list towards the back for anyone curious...I hope she's okay.
should've brought more rope...
As I walked I saw wisps floating about, not a care in the world...I must have been distracted. There's no way she just snuck up on me.
She called herself "Tympi" she claimed the forest I kept glancing at belongs to her. I'm looking at her right now, as I write this, and as she prepares me tea. Anytime I try to draw her it come sout looking wrong. She's got antennae, pointy ears like the elves my dad would invite over sometimes, and she was dressed in thsi material that looked like scales shaped like leaves. She kinda reminds of a moth...cool wings too....
She claimed she's the only one of her kind in "The Gates" as she called it. Apparently it's the "central hub" of the Spirit World. Lots of traffic, 'tourists', and locals try to call it home.
"We're all outcasts, forgotten, alone...we call The Gates home cause no where else will do."
She says the other mothlings died long ago... I'll likely stay the night here. She says she'll help look for Anise in the morning.

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Supplemental
Looking back on this. I can understand why she would claim she's the last one...but later on she would introduce me to many other mothlings, and we would grow to be close friends. Most of them love outsiders, but some can be a bit...hostile towards them.

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