“Son…
Wake up.” “Dad?” Zak sat up, confused.
The voice seemed to come from everywhere.
“Where are you?” the echo repeated.
He opened his eyes.
There was only void.
Total darkness.
No ground, no sky, not a single point of light.
“Wake up…” the echo sounded through the whole place.
“What?” Out of nowhere he felt his body relax as if something was about to happen to finally…
A low moan came from Zak as he pulled himself up from his little nap.
He still didn’t understand how he could sleep being in a dimension they didn’t even know, worse still on an islet that seemed like it was going to fall apart from waves sadly.
What was that?
Did his father talk to him?
He didn’t understand why.
It had never happened before.
“Hello?” Zak said.
To one side Anna was sitting on a rock, looking at the floor.
When she saw him wake up, she turned her head toward him.
“Are you better now?” she asked.
“Yes…
I am now” he answered.
“Well, then it’s time to go.” Anna got up and looked in the direction of the young men who were watching the sea.
“It’s time!” Anna shouted.
The two young men turned around and ran toward them.
Anna turned to Zak again.
“Alright, now we’ll try to make you open another crack, okay?” “Yes…” Zak stood up while handing his coat to Anna.
“Thanks, by the way” Zak added.
“You’re welcome.
Now let’s focus” she answered.
Zak watched the islet while feeling the wind hit his face and how the sunset, almost invisible, began to make its appearance.
He positioned himself facing one direction while thinking about how he would do it if he still didn’t know how his ability worked, if you could even call it that.
“Focus.
Think whatever you need to think, nothing else.
Breathe, and if you see that you can’t, let me know” Anna commented while moving away slightly, giving Zak space.
Zak took a deep breath, closed his eyes and concentrated, watching a fixed point.
“I want to get out of here.
I want to get out of here.
Get me out of here.” He thought while feeling a small warm sensation run through the place where the symbol was.
Anna and the young men watched Zak concentrating.
The wind kept blowing and everything stayed the same…
This story has been stolen from Royal Road.
If you read it on Amazon, please report it Out of nowhere, a crack began to open little by little.
“You di-” before the young man could celebrate, Anna stopped him.
“Don’t shout, let him concentrate” she said in a low voice.
“Okay…” the young man agreed.
The crack opened little by little.
Zak felt a pull behind his eyes.
A strange heat ran through the symbol on his missing arm.
When the portal reached human size, his knees gave out.
Zak opened his eyes while holding his head because of the sensation.
His body defeated him and he started falling backward.
But immediately Anna caught him.
“Well done, Zak.
Now stand up, you can’t faint now.” “I understand” he answered while getting up, though with difficulty.
The four looked at the crack with curiosity.
“Do you know where it leads?” one of the young men asked.
“No, but it’s not like we have another option” Anna added.
Without more, first Anna entered while sighing and her hands trembling slightly.
Then Zak and the others.
The sound of the tides disappeared and the smell of salt was replaced by pine and wet earth.
Anna opened her eyes and looked at the new environment.
They were in a dense forest.
The sunlight didn’t hit them directly due to the large number of trees.
Before continuing to observe, she remembered something and turned around, looking at Zak, who despite the tiredness that opening cracks caused him, was still standing leaning on a tree.
“Can you walk or do you want to rest?” she asked.
“I’m fine…
yes I can walk…” he answered in a low voice.
“Now we’re in a forest, as far as I can see” one of the young men commented while also getting up from the trip.
“Yes…
I don’t want to think what I want to think, but if it’s what I’m thinking, we’re not safe here” the other one added.
“What do you think, no beating around the bush” Anna ordered.
“Seeing how the place is structured and everything…
it looks like one of those dense forests taken from anime.” “What makes you confirm that, Mike?” the young man asked.
Mike didn’t say anything and just pointed in one direction.
Under a fallen tree trunk there was a light green slime.
The slime moved without bones, without eyes, only with a mouth.
And it was eating a stone like it was candy.
“Shit” Anna let out.
“It’s not a dream.” “They’re not the only ones, there are more like wolves, goblins, an-” before he kept talking, Anna silenced him with a finger gesture.
“Don’t say more, I already understood where we are” she answered.
“We need to find a way to get through the night.
I’m not saying it for us, I’m saying it more for Zak.
Look at him” Mike pointed at Zak, who had already fainted.
“Shit, how didn’t I notice” Anna ran toward Zak and held him.
“He’s tired” Anna said holding him.
“Two cracks in a row.
Normal that he collapses.” “But hadn’t he rested?” Mike asked.
“Thirty minutes are nothing when you tear your head apart from the inside.” “I understand…” he answered.
“Well, then we’ll have to carry him” the young man commented.
“You carry him, Dave.
I’m too weak” Mike commented.
“Mmmm, okay…
I’ll do my best” he answered.
Anna handed Zak to Dave, who carried him from shoulder to shoulder, while Anna watched the forest.
“We move now.
Before what ate that stone decides it wants fresh meat” she commented.
Both young men looked at each other and nodded while getting ready.
They advanced a good while without a clear direction through the dense forest, ignoring the slimes that crossed their path.
“This forest seems endless” Mike said.
“It’s your imagination” Anna answered, who was in front.
After a while they reached a path that had footprints that seemed to be tracks.
Clearly someone had passed by recently.
“Finally” Dave sighed while kneeling on one knee on the floor to rest after having carried Zak.
“Want help?” Mike asked.
“Weren’t you weak?” he answered.
“Yes…
but I can be useful for a moment at least.” “Okay.” Both switched positions while Mike flexed his back from having carried Zak, who was still asleep.
“Okay, the tracks point that way” Anna directed her gaze toward where the tracks seemed to go most.
“Let’s go then” Mike commented, who was already ready.
The four advanced along the path while the sun hit them, but they, despite that, kept advancing.
Gallops began to be heard behind them.
“Something is coming…” Mike said stopping to look.
Dave also stopped, who took advantage of that moment to rest a moment.
Anna didn’t flinch and kept going forward without stopping while ordering: “Don’t stop.
This isn’t one of your anime stories.
Be real.
Who knows what’s coming, whether it’s good or bad.” Both young men looked at each other and sighed at Anna’s undeniable logic.
But before they kept walking, something stopped.
The sound of a horse snort was heard.
“Hey, adventurers!
What’s up?
Do you need help with your friend?
Let me give you a ride!” an animated voice sounded.
Mike turned and answered kindly: “Forgive me, good man, but we don’t have money to pay with.” The man stared at the boy with strange clothing and antennas on his head for a good while.
He sighed, assuming it had to be some new race that decided to leave their native lands to explore the world.
“I understand.
Well, it was a pleasure” the man commented.
Mike also stared at him for a moment.
This man seemed to be just like Zak, since he didn’t have antennas.
When Zak was resting, Anna explained to them that Zak’s ears were a birth defect.
But now…
did this man also have a defect?
Dave turned to hurry Mike and saw the man with peasant clothes and a leather breastplate, just like in anime…
But what caught his attention most was that he didn’t have antennas.
What was happening?
Anna, noticing that the young men were lingering, finally turned and looked at both of them with a serious expression.
“Keep moving, we’re wasting time here!” she ordered.
The young men looked at her and got ready to keep going, but…
From the wagon, the man thought: “Who is this beauty?” He didn’t see someone like that in the middle of the forest every day.
She had antennas, but that didn’t matter…
The man seemed to have been captivated by Anna’s beauty, who in itself was very pretty.
It’s just that Zak, being paranoid, hadn’t had time to look at her in detail.
The man sighed and spoke again: “Hey!
I changed my mind.
I’ll take you for free, you know, to help you with your friend.” “What?
If a moment ago you said no” Anna replied without turning.
“Uhm, yes, but let’s say my conscience hit me and I said it wouldn’t be fair to leave you in the middle of the forest with your friend fainted.” “Sounds good, Anna” Mike said approaching her while whispering to her: “This way we can get to a village and look for an inn so Zak can rest.
Besides, we don’t know how long it’ll take us to get to a place.” “Are you stupid?
A moment ago he told you no and out of nowhere he changed his mind because supposedly he felt sorry, which he didn’t have a moment ago.
Clearly he wants something” she replied.
“I know…
But Zak really seems to need a proper place to rest.” Anna directed her gaze toward Zak, who was still asleep, and sighed.
“Okay, tell him we’re going.” “Great” Mike said while looking back at the man, who seemed impatient.
“Alright, we’ll accept your help” he answered.
“That’s what I’m talking about” the man said, animated.
Anna just thought this was too weird and the only thing she could think was: “I don’t like this at all.”