A Metal Hoop

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Gary opened the box. Inside was what looked like a thin silver balloon. He caught a glimpse of his reflection on its silver surface. He was decidedly average in height and build. Only his hawkish nose and glasses would distinguish him in a crowd.

Intrigued by the odd silver material, he pulled it out. It unfolded into a perfectly circular hoop. Perplexed, Gary tried to fold it back, only it was completely solid and as sturdy as metal.

Gary immediately brought to the cashier, it was a puzzle he simply had to solve. He drove home in hurry and practically jumped out of his car,

He held up the hoop. “What magical place are you from?”

He placed the hoop on the grass and stepped into the center. He stepped back out. On a whim he jumped into the center.

The ground beneath him disappeared. He felt like he was falling through a kaleidoscope. It was incredibly disorienting.

With a loud thump he landed on a cobblestone street. The once metal hoop, now more of a silver ribbon fell into his lap.

It took a few minutes for the world to stop spinning. He looked around, thoroughly confused.

The grass was green. This ordinarily wouldn’t be surprising, but it was the most uniform bright green he’d ever seen. The sky was cloudless and a beautiful baby blue. A rainbow arched over a nearby hill. Grazing at the top of the hill was what could only be described as a unicorn.

Gary paused. He could think of only two explanations, the hoop was coated with some kind of psychoactive **** or it was a portal to another world. He decided it was probably a psychoactive ****.

He looked to his right and saw a white haired, old man in a powder blue suit sitting on a wrought iron bench. He was tossing bread crumbs to what looked like ducks with extra large eyes and smiling faces.

He took a step toward the man. His shoes stuck to the cobblestones making a unique squick noise as he lifted his foot. With each step his shoes stuck to the cobblestone. It was irritating.

“Excuse me, sir, can you tell me where I am?”

“Well, you’re certainly not from around here. Here people don’t go out in pajamas. This is Azordia, finest kingdom in the seven lands.”

“Ok, these aren’t pajamas, they're sweatpants and a t-shirt. Where the hell is the seven lands? How the hell did I get here? Why is this road so sticky?”

“You sure have a lot of questions. The road is sticky because of them.” He pointed at the unicorn on the hill. “You do know they poop cotton candy?”

Gary’s jaw dropped. If this was a hallucination he wondered what crazy part of his brain had come up with it.

“No. I did not know that. Any idea where I can find some sort of civilization?”

“That’s an easy one just follow the road that way. If you get lost just ask a maiden. These days you can’t throw a stone without hitting a maiden. It’s from all those damn unicorns.”

“Thank you sir.”

Gary walked away down the road. A few hundred feet later he saw a young woman in a gray, pleated, skirt and white button down shirt. On the other side of the road was a man in a pastel yellow suit.

The woman had tousled brown hair with ringlets that fell to her shoulders. Her eyes were big and brown. She was thin with modest breasts. She seemed quite intent studying some nearby flowers.

The man was nondescript, but about Gary’s age, with similar dirty blonde hair. His suit bore an unfamiliar crest.