Yazen (Ponith)

by Nicole Sloan

  “Hey, guys, come here. I found it, this is it. Get ready and grab your bags. As soon as I activate it, we’ll have 10 seconds to enter the portal. Is everyone ready?” I ask while getting the gem out of my bag.

  “Zac, that looks pretty real. I really didn’t think that this would exist,” Alex says while grabbing his bag. He walks next to me, ready to go.

  “Cool, I’m ready to go,” Jenn says while dragging Brad over to us.

  “Now this I have to see,” Brad says in a smug voice. He slowly backs away from us.

  “I have no guarantees on what is going to happen, Brad. We’ll just stick together for now and all head in at the same time,” I try to say nicely.

  Once I see that everyone is ready, I take the rainbow-colored gem and place it in the oval opening that opened on the tree. We all take a step back once the ground starts shaking like a subtle earthquake. The roots of the trees start to pull out of the ground, acting as if driven by an invisible force. The branches act like arms and start to reach for the tree next to them. They start to intertwine branches and merge into each other. It looks like you can walk under the trees now.

  The gem begins to light up and starts to glow, brighter than it did when it was in my hands, reflecting light of all colors of the rainbow around us. The glowing now starts to enter the middle of the trees until it looks like clear water rippling vertically in front of us. It almost looks like a water mirror. The wind has kicked up, and its gusty. It’s blowing our hair all around and the leaves from the ground are swirling around us. It’s time for us to go; the portal is activated and ready to go.

  “It’s time. Everyone needs to enter the portal now. Let’s go. We have to hurry because we only have 10 seconds,” I shout. I grab the gem and put it back in my pocket. I remember reading in the journal to make sure I grab it from the tree and bring it with me.

  Alex is the first one to go. He starts to walk to the portal and he puts his hand out first. Next thing I know he’s sucked into the portal, and he disappears. Jenn and Brad are holding hands going toward the portal. Jenn mimics Alex and puts her hand out first. The portal gradually pulls her in. Next thing I know, Brad lets go of Jenn’s hand, and I see Jenn turn her head around and begin to scream. Jenn is gone. Now it’s just Brad and I, and we only have a few seconds left.

  “Hurry, Brad, go before it closes,” I yell while running toward the portal.

  “I can’t do it, Zac. There’s no way I’m going in there. I’m sorry but I’m staying here. Please bring Jenn back here; we don’t even know what this portal is!” Brad yells with a scared look on his face. I didn’t realize how upset he really is. I don’t have time to coax him to go. I’m running out of time.

  “We’ll be back, Brad. Make it home safe,” I yell while jumping into the portal. It’s the weirdest feeling I’ve ever experienced. I feel like I’m on a roller coaster, the air rushing is so fast against my body. It almost feels like I’m free falling from a plane. I finally enter through the other side of the portal, being ejected into some grass next to Alex and Jenn.

  I try to stand up and everything is spinning. I sit for a second to catch my balance. Then I realize Alex and Jenn are still watching the portal, waiting for Brad.

  “He’s not coming. He said he was didn’t want to go through. I couldn’t wait for him any longer otherwise I wouldn’t have made it. I’m sorry, Jenn,” I say, trying to be respectful.

  Jenn starts to tear up and she sits back down in shock. She looks back at the portal, waiting. I try to comfort her to let her know that everything will be okay and after a minute she begins to compose herself. Her make-up is running down her face ever so slightly.

  As I turn around I finally get to take in where we are. The stars above us are incredibly bright. Thousands if not millions of them, all around us. I get dizzy just staring upward as I take it all in. The ground here is rough, cut apart in places with the floor jutting up in places. We’re now on a half hollow asteroid called Ponith. I remember reading about this asteroid in the journal. This tiny asteroid holds all of the portals to each planet.

  We are encapsulated in brown walls, like a crater. A dome covers the top, almost crystal clear, taking me a while to notice it. When you look up, you can see space, the stars, and five bright planets. It’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. The planets look so detailed; standing so close to them, it makes me wish I had read more about them. There’s a walkway made of dirt that makes a circle around a small, white, wooden building in the middle of the asteroid. The walkway has individual paths to each portal. In between the dirt paths are patches of green grass and a few flowers spread out over the rocky plain.

  We begin to explore and walk over to the building, and it’s empty. There are long benches, neatly set in the middle of the building with no doors or windows. It reminds me of a baseball dugout.

  Each portal looks similar to the one that we just entered. There are old, brown wooden signs next to each portal with the name of the planet that portal goes to. All of the portals are turned off, except Yazen’s and Earth’s. They’re the only two that are active.

  Jenn starts to read all of the signs out loud, “Earth, Crendus, Yazen, Volux, Qysan, and Bredin.”

  “Which one do we go to? It looks like only one is active besides Earth’s,” Alex says while rubbing his head. He had landed on his head when he came out of the portal.

  “We’re going to Yazen. That’s the one my grandpa told us to go to but I guess that’s our only choice,” I tell him.

  “I guess so,” Jenn says while looking at the portal with the brown Yazen sign. We start to make our way over to the portal but she keeps glancing back at the portal we came from.

  “Okay, is everyone ready for this? It should hopefully be the same as the last one that we just went through,” I tell them.

  This time we all decide to walk through it together at the same time, so no one gets left behind.

  It feels exactly the same, like air rushing against you at full speed. It’s a bit of a thrill, similar to a ride, and I start to smile before I know it.

  We all get thrown out of the portal at the same time and end up landing on top of each other. We all sit up and look at each other, making sure no one is hurt. Alex, again, took the worst of it. It sounds like the portal is winding down, so we all turn back to look at it.

  The portal’s glow has now diminished, and the trees begin to untwine back to their normal state. They look very similar to the trees we found in Tongass National Forest.

  We stand together and look around; we definitely are not on Earth anymore. The colors on this planet are so bright and vibrant. It’s so mesmerizing. The sky is vibrant blue, cloudless. The tree lines to each side of the portal are incredibly green, so beautiful, I lose focus for a minute while taking it all in. Alex takes out a roll of black tape, and he puts the tape around the tree we just came from so we will know where the portal was.

  “So, what do we do first?” Alex asks while putting his tape away.

  “Let’s walk around for a little bit to check the surrounding area,” I say to them.

  We head northeast for a few miles and end up stopping in the middle of the woods. We haven’t come across any threats or any signs of life.

  “It’s already starting to get dark. Are we staying here overnight?” Jenn asks while looking up at the sky.

  “I think we should try to set up camp and eat some dinner. We can start our exploring tomorrow when it’s light out,” I tell them. I begin to take my tent out—it’s a small one—and begin to set it up. Alex does the same. He brought the one that he uses when we go camping. I notice Jenn is pacing back and forth.

  “Are you okay, Jenn?” I ask her. I stop setting the tent up and walk over to her. She turns to face me, her face flush and concerned.

  “Not really. I’m worried that Brad’s not going to make it back home safe. I really didn’t think that we would actually be going to another planet, so I really didn’t pack the right stuff for our tr
ip. I don’t have a tent or sleeping bag. I didn’t pack food. I only have an extra pair of clothes and some make-up,” she says while tears start to appear at the corners of her eyes.

  “It’s okay, Jenn. I’m sure Brad will make it back safe. He’s not that far from home; he’ll be okay. As for food, I brought a lot with me so you can have some of mine. Plus, you can sleep in my tent with me. I promised Brad that I would get you back home. Everything will be fine,” I tell her, while giving her a hug.

  “I need to set this up before it gets too dark,” I tell her. She nods her head and sits down on the ground.

  I finish putting my tent up and then help Alex set his up. We roll our sleeping bags out and put them in our tents. Now we need to set up a campfire to keep us warm and cook some food. I’m starting to get hungry and I wish I hadn’t given away my extra sandwich to Brad.

  All three of us split up and look for some tinder on the grounds nearby our camp. Alex comes back with a handful, and so does Jenn. I can’t find too many lying around. I decide to walk a little further and still have no luck.

  Then I see a dead branch a bit of a ways away that’s hanging toward the ground from a tree, so I decide to go over to it and break it off so we can use it.

  “OUCH, who dares to break my branch?” the tree roars at me. It sounds like a woman’s voice. Then I notice a woman’s figure in the tree and it begins to move its side branches in a swaying motion to throw pinecones at me. I’m so shocked and surprised I can’t help but run away from it and back over to our campsite. I keep looking over my shoulder as I run for my life. What in the world was that?

  I run as fast as I can until I’m wheezing and out of breath. Once I make it back to Alex and Jenn, I realize the woman or tree did not follow me, but she’s still in the distance, yelling.

  “What is that?” Jenn screams. Alex is getting his rifle loaded and ready.

  “I have no idea. That tree’s alive or there’s a woman inside of that tree. I tried to break a branch off of it and she yelled at me. She started to throw pinecones at me. I just made a b-line back here,” I tell them.

  “Zac, you keep watch while I start this fire and cook us some dinner. I don’t think we should go much further than our tents tonight. We don’t know what is out there,” Alex says while piling up the branches.

  I grab my matches out of my bag to give to Alex so he can start the fire, while Jenn throws a few leaves and some grass on top of the branches. Alex hands me his rifle to use for protection. I walk back and forth around our tents, watching to see if anything is coming our way.

  After a few attempts of trying to start the fire, Alex gets the flames going nicely. The three of us sit around the fire quietly, trying to stay warm. I take out some of the meals I brought and share them. We decide to have some of the beef stew.

  The girl in the tree got quiet after about ten minutes or so. I don’t think I’m going to be able to sleep tonight. What is she? Why didn’t she chase after me?

  We finish eating and then clean up our mess, putting our trash in a bag. I begin to notice that Jenn is starting to get a bit antsy.

  “Hey, Zac, where do I go to the bathroom at?” Jenn asks me. I open my bag to grab some toilet paper out and hand it to her. I point to a bush near us.

  “Can I just go behind the tent? I’m scared to go in those bushes by myself,” Jenn says.

  “That’s fine,” I say to her. I don’t blame her; I wouldn’t trust any trees or bushes here after the pinecone-throwing lady in a tree.

  Alex and I both decide to go into our tents. A few minutes later Jenn comes into the tent. I give her the sleeping bag that I brought and I just lay next to her on the hard ground.

  “Good night, Alex, see you in the morning. If you need us for any reason, wake us up,” I yell out to him in the other tent.

  “I will. Good night,” he responds. It’s quite chilly tonight. I really wish I had brought another sleeping bag. I’ll be okay, though. I’d rather Jenn be warm than me.

  “Thank you, Zac, for taking care of me. Are you sure you are going to be warm enough?” she asks me.

  “I’ll be okay. You keep warm and try to get some sleep. We don’t know what’s in store for tomorrow,” I tell her. She lies on her side, facing me, and closes her eyes. Within a few minutes her breathing slows down and she’s passed out.

  As I look at her, I realize that even though she’s dating Brad, I can’t stay mad at her. She’s my friend and yes, she’s beautiful. I force myself to close my eyes and go to sleep. I know tomorrow is going to be an adventure.

  Chapter Five

  “Zac, wake up.” Jenn shakes me vigorously until I sit up and look at her, while trying to comprehend what she’s saying.

  “What’s the matter, Jenn?” I ask her while rubbing my eyes. I can hear birds chirping outside, so it must be morning.

  “I think I heard something outside. I tried calling out to Alex to see if it was him but no one answered,” she says in a panic.

  “Alex, are you awake? Alex, answer me,” I yell to him. Then I hear him rustling around in his tent.

  “What’s the matter? Is everyone okay?” Alex grumbles while trying to wake up himself.

  “We’re fine. Jenn says she heard something outside and thought it was you. Then she called out to you but you didn’t answer. Have you heard anything unusual?” I ask him.

  “No, I was sound asleep. How about we go out together and check it out?” he asks.

  “That sounds good to me. I’m ready when you are. Just let me know when,” I respond.

  “Okay, let’s go now,” he says. I unzip the zipper on our tent and step outside, with Jenn following behind me. It’s extremely bright outside, brighter than it seems on Earth. The fire that we built last night has died out, and Alex comes over to us. Nothing seems to be around that we can see.

  I go back into the tent and grab some breakfast out of my bag for everyone.

  “Here are some breakfast bars for everyone,” I say while passing them out. “After we eat, we need to pack our tents and put them away.” I want to keep them with us. We look around us as we eat. It looks like everything will be okay, except we have to be careful. I didn’t forget about the tree incident last night.

  We pack up our sleeping bags and tents and I pull out the journal, compass, and watch that my grandpa gave me.

  “What are those for?” Jenn asks me while I’m still searching my bag.

  “Well, this is a compass my grandpa gave me. He says that this compass will only point to the direction of the Yazen gem. We’re going to have to find this gem to be able to activate this portal to go back home,” I tell them, while opening the compass up. The arrow is pointing in the northeastern direction. Luckily that is the direction that we are already heading.

  “We can’t just go back home anytime we want? We have to find this gem? Why didn’t you tell us this before we went?!” Alex asks, sounding nervous, dropping his bag on the ground.

  “Yes, I’m sorry Alex, the gem that I have now is the Earth’s gem so it will only work on Earth. We can find the other gem, though, so that’s not a problem. We have to follow this compass to the Yazen gem so we can put it in the tree and activate the portal again,” I tell them.

  “What time is it?” Alex asks me while he sees me put on the watch. I look at it, and it doesn’t have a time on it. I forgot my grandpa told me that this watch will only show me where the portal is.

  “I’m not sure; it’s not a normal watch. See what happens when I push this button,” I tell them while pushing the side button on the watch. A small holographic map shows up on the face of the watch, and it has a big X behind us.

  “What is that X for? It almost looks like it’s where the portal was,” Jenn says, pointing behind, the direction we came from last night.

  “You’re right, Jenn, this will show us our way back to the portal after we find the Yazen gem. That way we never get lost,” I say to her, smiling, “You can turn any which way and it will let you or
ient yourself toward the portal again.”

  “That’s pretty sweet, Zac. I think we’re actually going to have a good time,” Alex says while looking at the holographic map.

  “What other cool items do you have in that bag?” Jenn asks curiously.

  “That’s about it besides the journal I have. It has notes about the worlds from my grandpa’s trip,” I tell them while holding the journal in my hand.

  “Do our cell phones work here?” Jenn asks while pulling hers out of her book bag. I honestly forgot to bring mine; I figured it wouldn’t work anyway, being that far away from our towers. I see Alex pull his phone out as well.

  “Mine doesn’t work. Does yours work, Jenn?” Alex asks Jenn. I’m happy to see them getting along for once just a bit.

  “No, mine doesn’t work either. Oh well, it was worth a try,” Jenn says while putting it back in her bag.

  I’m really curious about the girl in the tree from last night. I don’t see anyone around. “Can we go check out that tree from last night?”

  Alex and Jenn look at me in silence. I can tell they are nervous to go over there. I notice Alex checking his rifle to make sure it’s loaded.

  "Do we have to?" Jenn asks.

  "Just stay behind us. I have my rifle ready, in case we need it," Alex says while aiming his gun at the trees.