The air is crisp and clear and a little bit cold. There is a fresh, clean smell like that of pine trees or around a waterfall.

The land appears untouched by humans, but in the distance, there is a castle of some kind – Standing out like a needle in a haystack. I need to get closer to see it, but it appears hundreds of kilometers away.

The trees and flowers look the same as if they were on our home, but there’s something weird about them. They suit the scenery and all, but while they look like “Earth” flowers, I don’t think I’ve seen these exact species before. I haven’t travelled to many places yet, but I know we don’t have as many different flowers as they did before people started destroying the environment – Ah! That’s another story!

What else is it like? Hmm, well in this place I can hear a variety of exotic bird and animal cries. It’s a little scary to hear all these things and not know what they looked like. I haven’t encountered any creatures yet.

My name is Sophie. I’m 11 years old. I love to read books, and I love animals. I think I might become a writer one day.

Well, today was quite an extraordinary day. I’ve seen glimpses of it before in my dreams, but today was the very first day I could actually visit this world.

I don’t know where it is, or what it’s called – Maybe the inhabitants will tell me? All I know is that it was like one of those beautiful forests you hear about in fairytales and fantasy novels. There was even a kingdom too. But the kingdom wasn’t like a fairytale one. I could only see it from a distance, but it wasn’t like a typical medieval castle.

In the forest I saw an animal statue similar to this one. (This is a photo from a history archive [stock photography] morguefile.com)