The sound of a crack giving way to the new dimension echoed through the great barn, where Zak now stood focused and calmer after two days of rest, just as Kragg had taught him.
“That’s it,” Zak announced.
Anna looked at the portal, then turned to Romina and walked over to her.
“Thank you,” she said.
The cow simply moved her head slightly before finally speaking: “No need, just be careful.
You’ll rarely find dimensions like this,” she admitted.
“I know, but now that we’ve rested we’ll be… hopefully more than ready for whatever comes next,” Anna replied.
The cow let out a clearly satisfied snort, but opened her mouth once more: “By the way… Take this, use it when you think it’s necessary,” she said.
Right after that, the cow made an oval-shaped stone levitate with what looked like telekinesis, and it fell into Zak’s hands.
“Thanks,” Anna said.
Without another word, the young ones entered the rift so it could finally close.
The moment they crossed the portal, the feeling of calm vanished, returning them to their empty moods and personalities again.
“Shit… I would’ve rather stayed,” Mike muttered.
“Don’t be a whiner,” Anna replied.
They opened their eyes to see their new surroundings, this time a more realistic one.
They were in a desolate wasteland with a thick blanket of dense fog.
“Sometimes I wonder why we can’t end up in a dimension like the first one I reached, I mean, yours,” Zak commented with a resigned sigh.
“It’s not like you control where the rifts take you,” Anna shot back.
“Well, let’s find a safe place.” “Right,” Zak murmured.
Somehow, Zak started to miss the Anna from the day before, but what could be done, that was what was left.
The four of them began walking through the dense fog while the wind blew hard.
“It’s freezing…” Dave said as he hugged himself.
“Don’t think you’re the only one,” Mike said while doing the same.
After another long walk, they still hadn’t found a place to rest.
Anna growled bitterly: “I still can’t see anything…” “Damn fog!” Mike said, clearly angry as he felt his hands reddening from the cold.
“It’s unbelievable that this simple fog with its shitty wind is freezing us like we’re in Antarctica,” Dave said.
“Let’s remember we’re in another dimension and we don’t know how things really work in each one,” Zak replied.
While the three argued, Anna managed to spot a rocky structure in the distance.
“I see something!” Anna announced, pointing.
The guys who were arguing turned to see where Anna was pointing.
“Let’s go, there’s no time to waste!” Anna ordered as she quickened her pace.
“Wait!” Mike demanded as the group had already moved ahead quickly.
Once at the rocky structure, it was perfect to rest temporarily.
It looked like a poorly formed cave with one opening or another that let the wind in.
“It’s what we’ve got,” Anna said as she sat on a rock.
“Do you think the night will be safe here?” Zak asked.
“I don’t know, but if it isn’t…” Anna paused as she held her sword firmly, the one she still carried with her.
“Then we’ll have to be ready.” Zak understood perfectly, though he still doubted and trembled slightly from the cold, despite having a coat.
“We should find a way to start a fire, otherwise we’ll end up dying from the cold,” Anna said.
Zak nodded, then shifted his gaze to a Dave shaking from the cold: “Hey, Dave, can you start a fire?” he asked.
“Yes… but there’s nothing to use,” he replied.
Anna looked around and growled bitterly.
Dave was right.
“It’s not like we can start a fire with just any kind of stone,” Dave added.
Zak, who was looking at the floor, immediately grabbed two stones and struck them together for a while, hoping something would happen, and nothing.
He only managed to hit his finger with one of the stones.
“Dammit!” he exclaimed as he dropped the stones to grab his injured finger.
“How naive, did you think this dimension would start a fire for you just like that out of pure luck?” Anna asked sarcastically.
“Well, it doesn’t hurt to try, right?” Zak replied.
Before they could keep talking, a tremor shook the cave.
“Shit, what now?!” Mike shouted as he poked his head out of the cave, then immediately turned pale as a corpse.
Anna, who noticed Mike’s sudden change, walked over to him.
“Hey, are you okay?” she asked as she also leaned out and got stunned for a moment before yanking Mike back into the cave.
“What did you see?!” Zak asked.
“Gia… nts…” Mike stammered.
“What?” Zak shot back.
“Giants, goddammit!
Are you that deaf?” Anna finished.
Anna sighed, clearly relieved after seeing what she feared most.
Shit… Anna’s sweating and Mike looks like a corpse, like someone stole his soul… No way, just when things were going okay… Anna noticed how pale Mike was and slapped him, snapping him back to the moment.
“Ow!” Mike exclaimed as he rubbed his red cheeks but was still clearly sweating from what he’d seen.
“Did the giants see you?” Zak asked.
“No, but I doubt this place is safe now,” Anna replied.
“And why not?” he asked again.
“Don’t mess with me, Zak, they’re colossal, like skyscraper size.
One step and we’re dead,” she explained.
“Shit… that sounds horrible,” Zak thought as he started thinking.
“Maybe if I use my ability I can get us out of here, but it’ll probably leave me hurt.
But it’s worse to die crushed, plus everyone there isn’t…” Slap A slap landed on Zak while he was thinking, from Anna.
“Stop slapping me!” Zak demanded, clearly irritated.
“What did I tell you about thinking!
You were definitely thinking about using your ability again.
You can die if you do that and then we’re all screwed!” Anna snapped.
“Don’t argue, guys.
We need to find a better way out of here…” Mike said, still pale but conscious.
“I don’t like this at all…” Dave murmured as he hugged himself.
Mike sighed bitterly.
“Me neither, but what can you do…” But before they could keep talking, another tremor shook them all once and again and again, forcing them out of the cave.
“Run!” Anna ordered.
When they left the cave, none of them wanted to turn their head to confirm what Anna and Mike had seen.
But Dave, as always, shifted his gaze to the side.
“Holy shit!” he yelled as he felt his blood freeze.
Anna growled bitterly at seeing Dave disobey her.
“I told you not to look, idiot!” Zak finally also shifted his gaze due to curiosity about why his companions’ reaction was so exaggerated.
His instinct was screaming at him not to turn, but he did it anyway.
In front of him he could only see how a damn figure rose up to the sky while its foot threatened to crush them.
The pressure seemed to drop on him at the moment; all his senses froze.
No way… One step and we’re dead… my body… isn’t reacting… Move!
Move, dammit!
Right after that, Zak kept running despite the fear.
The tremors shook the group harder each time.
The wind blew against them and with every step the giants took, the group tensed more.
“Which way are we going?!” Mike questioned between gasps.
“I don’t know, just run if you don’t want to end up smashed to pieces!” Zak replied.
But in the middle of it all, a crack opened in the floor.
It wasn’t dimensional, it was from the tremors.
Anna stopped dead in her tracks just like Zak.
More huge cracks started showing up in the wasteland, ripping the ground open violently.
Mike turned his gaze to a clearly scared Dave.
“I don’t get what’s happening… shit… I fell way behind…” he thought as he felt his head spinning and started seeing blurry with distorted colors like he was drunk.
“Dave!” “Dave!” “Dave, jump!” Mike yelled.
Dave, frozen, hadn’t realized his companions had been yelling at him to jump.
“What?” he murmured.
He lowered his head to see what he feared most: a huge crack leading to who knows where right in his path, between him and his friends.
He had to jump.
But how would he do it?
No way, I can’t jump that.
If I jump and that drop has a bottom, I’ll most likely splatter against the ground.
Dave was sweating from the moment as his legs started failing him from the cold.
He looked at his hands and they’d already turned purple.
The tremors in the background didn’t seem like they wanted to stop.
“Shit, it’s not responding,” Dave said.
Zak, who’d been analyzing the situation despite all the chaos, managed to see that on the left side, which was farther away, the wasteland hadn’t completely split apart yet.
“Dave!” Zak yelled.
Dave, who was paralyzed, shifted his gaze to Zak who wouldn’t stop pointing to his left.
“Head for where there’s still ground, over there!” Zak yelled as he pointed desperately with his only arm.
Anna noticed and she started doing the same, then Mike too.
Dave, who understood the signal, slapped himself and despite wanting to sit down, started running.
Along the way he noticed how the whole wasteland had now become like the Grand Canyon, except this one didn’t seem like it wanted to stop.
The sun seemed to disappear because of the huge walking figures.
“Shit…” Dave thought without stopping, sweat still beating down on his forehead.
“Run!” Mike yelled, also running in his direction to help him if needed.
Dave was already close, but before crossing to the other side the crack expanded more, though not enough that he couldn’t make it with a jump.
Still, it wasn’t safe now.
“Jump!” Anna ordered while Mike was already ready in case he jumped.
How the hell do I jump this?
Looks like a damn jump of like two meters long.
I’m not a superhuman to pull off something that crazy.
Once again the tremors intensified more on Dave’s side, forcing him back.
“Jump!” their companions’ voices kept insisting.
Dave took a deep breath as he felt the world fade and stepped back a few paces.
He started running trying to get as much momentum as possible.
There’s no other way.
If I stay I die and if I don’t jump I’ll never know if I could’ve survived… Dave thought, pressing his teeth together firmly.
He finally jumped.
Shit… everything looks so slow and feels like a dream… no way, is this what those philosophers kept mentioning before dying?
That feeling… But in that instant he felt someone grab his hand.
“Hold on tight!” Mike ordered, already holding his hand while Anna pulled him from behind.
Zak was just about to watch since he was missing an arm and pulling him like that meant both would fall.
But right away Zak got close and helped despite it being dangerous.
“What the hell are you doing?!” Dave asked.
“Helping, idiot!
And push off fast, I won’t hold on!” Zak ordered.
Zak is helping… but why?
I can’t be like this or else I’ll die with him.
Without another word, Dave pushed off and thanks to everyone managed to cross to the other side where he ended up collapsing from everything he’d gone through.
Everyone was breathing hard while the giants’ figures faded on the other side.
“Are we safe?” “No,” Anna replied curtly as she looked to the side.
The guys shifted their gazes to see how a huge yellow storm was approaching…