“So, what?” asked Janus. “What makes you think that the only differences between parallel universes would involve our planets? Do you believe that Earth and Mearth are at the center of the universe? Perhaps you still think that the sun revolves around us too?”
“You’re right, Janus,” sighed Stavius. “It was stupid, but somehow I felt closer to home when I thought that the only things that had changed were here and that the rest of the universe was the same. But it makes complete sense that this,” as he swept his arms across the grasslands, “is just one of many differences between our two realities.”
“Boys, the sun is almost up, and we’d better get going before it gets too hot,” boomed Bernice’s voice from down the hill. The boys rose to their feet and followed her into the veld.
It is hard to convey what it was like to travel through those grasslands. The grasses rose seven or more feet tall and were far too dense to see beyond a few feet on either side of the narrow trail they were following. There was a narrow strip of blue sky and searing sun overhead, a brownish-greenish blur to their left and right, and a thin, endless path forward and back. You would think that it would be silent, but the noise of millions of grasshoppers and trillions of long blades of grass rubbing together in the steady winds blowing across the plain was deafening.
The first hour of unchanging views felt like a day, the second felt like a week, and when they saw a widening of the path up ahead at midday, they almost cheered. Their joy turned to horror when they reached the clearing, however. The grasses had been trampled in an area about fifty feet wide, and everything was covered in blood and flies. This was probably where the growling and screams came from last night, and it made them realize that they were traveling along a significant game trail weaving through the grassland.
The fellowship hurried onward for another quarter mile before pausing for a drink of water. No one suggested that the group extend their respite into a meal and they moved on after a quick sip. Their minds were now filling the dark, unseen spaces in the grasses on either side of the trail with every predator imaginable and all three of them were eager to be out of the prairie.
As scared as Stavius felt, he knew that Janus was far more terrified. He began talking to Janus about magic and anything else he could think of to keep their minds off of what was lurking behind the grass curtains surrounding them. Eventually, he asked something he had been wondering for a while.
“So, Janus, how powerful of a magician were you before you merged?”
“Just as strong as I am today,” Janus replied.
“But if merging didn’t enhance your powers, what did it do?” asked Stavius.
“Well, to be honest, it hasn’t done anything,” admitted Janus. “You see, my visitor and I haven’t merged.”
“What?” exclaimed Stavius!
“Keep it down, you clowns,” hissed Bernice over her shoulder. “Are you trying to get us eaten?”
“Sorry,” mumbled Stavius. “But Janus, why not? We need all the help we can get and who knows what you’ll be able to do once you’re merged.”
“Hey, don’t tell me. Tell my visitor,” grumbled Janus. “I’ve shared every secret and opened myself up to the guy, but he won’t let go. He’s pretty quiet, to begin with, and there is some sort of secret that he either can’t or won’t share with me. It makes no sense, but there’s no convincing him to open up, so we’re stuck here together but separate.”
Their conversation quickly came to an end when Bernice pointed at the silhouette of a tree in the gap between the grasses in front of them. The trio ran toward it and felt the ground begin to rise beneath their feet. Within ten minutes they were standing in a copse of trees on the top of a small hill. The grassland laid behind them and a series of lightly-forested hills rose in front. They paused for a quick meal, which turned into a two-hour break as they realized how their hunger, exhaustion, and pent-up anxiety had drained them. Bernice finally insisted that they press forward to get to the magical spring she had in mind before dusk. Twenty minutes later they were staring across a river cutting a broad swath through the land.
Neither Stavius nor Janus could imagine how they would be able to climb down the cliff to the river much less cross it, but Bernice was unfazed. She led them down a well-worn trail to the west which turned into a switchback and brought them to the valley floor alongside the river. She then led them below the rim where they had stood earlier until they reached a broad, shallow set of rapids in the river. The water was fast-moving but shallow enough for a muscular centaur to cross.
The boys clambered onto Bernice’s back, and she cautiously entered the river. The rocks were round and slippery, and Bernice almost lost her footing several times. She even had to backtrack once when the water became too deep. Centaurs, like cows, do not like to walk backward and it took all of Stavius’ and Janus’ persuasion and gentle coaxing to get her back into the shallow water and onto another course. They collapsed in exhaustion when they finally reached the other side an hour before dusk. That exhaustion and their relief from the long day’s stressful journey finally being over were probably the reasons why Bernice made her crucial mistake. Whatever the cause, though, disaster struck less than an hour later.
The weary trio walked south along the river until the ravine eased into a more manageable slope. The incline of the trail was still steep, and it took most of the next hour to climb out of the river valley. The three travelers were exhausted, hungry, and nearly out of magical energy by the time they reached the gently-rolling hills at the top of their climb. Fortunately, the magic spring Bernice had been daydreaming about was nearby, and she led them straight to it.
The boys were learning that magic springs formed in all sorts of shapes and sizes. The one around Septumcolis was roughly circular and ten or twelve miles across. The one surrounding their training camp was only a quarter mile in diameter and the secret one surrounded by poison ivy was pear-shaped and only twenty-five feet at its widest point.
These springs also had, what Stavius termed, flow and depth. They didn’t have any real depth like a pool of water, but it felt similar because some contained a sizeable reservoir of magical energy while others only contained the tiniest of quantities which dissipated like an evaporating puddle when touched. Stavius’ term for the flow was highly accurate though. Some magical pools refill with energy as soon as they deplete while others require hours or days to refill.
Bernice led them to a kidney-shaped magical pool which was thirty feet long on one axis and only about ten feet wide along the other. The shape could be discerned by the presence of small, glowing sprites along its rim, which stood out against the dull, non-magical surroundings. The pool was deep with magical energy but had very little flow, so that a single, large, thirsty magical creature would nearly deplete it for days.
A full and unoccupied pool at dusk, which is the most popular time of day at watering holes, should have signaled danger but Bernice was so starved for magical energy that she didn’t pay any attention, and the boys didn’t realize the risk. Bernice plunged into the center and closed her eyes as she absorbed the life essence. Stavius and Janus stood at the edge with their feet in the pool relishing in the relaxing energy.
It is difficult to describe the sensation of absorbing magical energy when you are that depleted but it is similar to drinking a large, cold glass of water on a hot summer afternoon. It doesn’t just feel like it is going into your stomach. Your body seems to sense the cold liquid flowing through your veins as it spreads throughout your body. The sensation was so sudden, tranquil and refreshing that all three of them felt utterly disconnected from the outside world for a few seconds, which was when the predators attacked.
Three large, powerful and hairy creatures with fierce fangs and claws leaped onto Bernice’s back, and she let out a bloodcurdling scream. Two more were preparing to attack when they spotted Stavius and Janus. They changed targets and crept towards the boys.
Stavius had never seen creatu
res like these, but he knew what they were. These were the terrifying monsters who lived in ghost stories and in every child’s worst nightmares. These were werewolves.
Werewolves in Mearth are half human, and half wolf but they are not like the legends on Earth. They don’t transform from men to wolves, and their bites won’t turn someone into a werewolf. Their bites, claws and powerful bodies maim and kill.
Mearth werewolves have the legs, tail, back, and head of wolves and the torso, chest, and arms of a human. They are shrewd, powerful predators who hunt in packs and are at the top of the food chain in the wild country. Few people or animals who meet them live to describe the encounter and this pack had been lying in wait for some prime victims to arrive for dusk feeding at the watering hole.
Two werewolves simultaneously leaped at Stavius who drew his sword and slashed a large gash across one of their thighs. Their attack was a rare case of miscommunication between highly social pack hunters and they collided with each other as they leaped. The two creatures tumbled past Stavius as the injured one howled in pain.
Stavius stole a glance toward Bernice and saw the large centaur deliver a massive punch to one of her attackers and throw another twenty feet through the air. She was bleeding profusely, though, and the third werewolf was clinging to her back preparing to clamp its powerful jaws onto her neck. Bernice wasn’t going to live long now that the werewolves who had attacked Stavius silently agreed on a more effective strategy.
Stavius was still standing in the pool and, almost without thinking, swung his sword up in an arc through the air and thrust its tip deep into the ground inside the pool with both hands. He closed his eyes and concentrated with all his abilities as the blade pierced the magical field.
Five arcs of plasma energy sprang from his hands as they wrapped around the hilt of the sword. Five blue bolts of lightning struck each member of the pack of werewolves. Five of Mearth’s most terrifying creatures shrieked in pain as their fur erupted in fire. Five flaming animals ran off in different directions howling into the twilight. One young man, nearly depleted of magical energy collapsed onto the ground above a now-empty magic spring.
Janus ran to Stavius and caught him as he fell to the ground.
“Are you all right, man?” he asked as he guided his friend to a seat on the ground.
“Yeah,” Stavius hoarsely replied. He managed to chuckle when he saw a werewolf running away on his hind legs slapping his flaming butt with his front paws. However, the fact that the werewolves’ flaming tails were setting the forest on fire as they ran was not nearly so funny.
“How’s Bernice?” he asked.
Janus checked on the centaur and said that she didn’t look good. He drew from his own, limited magical reserves and managed to staunch her bleeding, but she was not going to live long. Stavius joined him at Bernice’s side and insisted that Janus had to find a way to save her.
“I can’t do it, man,” said Janus. “I’m good, but there is too much damage. I don’t have the skills, and I don’t have the energy.”
Stavius reached in the backpacks and pulled out the two dragon stones.
“Here’s your energy, Janus,” he sternly said. “Now fix Bernice.”
“We’ll never be able to carry enough food and water to survive if those packs rescale,” Janus cried. “And besides, you don’t get it. I don’t have the magical skills to do this kind of surgery!”
“Janus, we’re going to die out here anyway since Bernice is the only one of us who knows how to get to Septumcolis and where to find springs along the way. We’ll never even survive until morning without her,” said Stavius.
“Then what’s the point?” cried Janus.
“The point is that maybe she can make it. Just because we don’t stand a chance doesn’t mean that she shouldn’t get one. If you can heal her, perhaps at least she’ll get out of here alive. It’s the only decent thing we can do, and we have nothing to lose,” lamented Stavius.
Janus looked at Stavius and realized he was probably right. The packaged and scaled meals were already growing and starting to ooze out of the backpacks, and he didn’t think he could walk another hundred feet, much less hike for several days.
“You’re right, Stavius,” he said, “but it doesn’t matter. I don’t have the ability. I can’t save Bernice, even though I’d like to.”
“You have to merge, Janus,” answered Stavius. “It’s the only way.”
“My visitor wouldn’t merge before. What makes you think he’ll merge now?” yelled Janus in frustration. It seemed as though Stavius wasn’t paying attention.
“Because I know who your visitor is on Earth,” answered Stavius. “And I know your visitor cares about animals and loves horses.”
“First, Bernice is partially cow, not partially horse. Second, how do you know who my visitor is?” asked Janus.
“I’ll tell you how I know your visitor when we get out of this,” said Stavius. “But you need to merge now, and your visitor knows that it doesn’t matter whether Bernice is bovine or equine, she can’t be allowed to die. Share your stupid secret and merge so you can save her! And do it quickly because Bernice doesn’t have long to live!”
Janus proceeded to pace around in circles banging his hands against his head and muttering to himself. He finally sat down and stared off into space. Stavius thought the boy had given up and was sitting there crying when Janus let loose a blood-curdling scream. He jumped up, stared into Stavius’ eyes, and yelled, “Oh, man. Oh man. Oh man. Now I understand.”
Stavius slapped him hard across the face and said, “That’s great because it must mean that you’ve finally merged, but I don’t care. Go fix Bernice!”
Janus grabbed the two dragon stones and knelt beside Bernice. Stavius didn’t know what the boy was doing and had never seen anything like it. Bernice’s torso was writhing and moving unnaturally and sickeningly. It looked as though her organs were shifting around inside her and about to pop out of her body. The air between Janus and Bernice shimmered, and a burning, smoky smell began to waft through the air. Janus was holding his hands over her body, and they seemed to be fading in and out of existence as he worked.
“I’ve done all I can, but I don’t think she has enough energy to make it,” he whispered.
Stavius hung his head in defeat, then looked up to see the orange flames of fire in several directions. He realized that the flaming werewolves had set the forest on fire and sighed a resigned laugh. He limped over to Bernice, put his hands on the centaur’s shoulders and began willing his energy over to her. Stavius felt a strong surge as Bernice forcefully drew it out of him. His last thought before passing out was a silent prayer that she would survive and escape.
Chapter 12
Awakening
AUGUST 26, EARTH
I woke up before my alarm went off or anybody began screaming my name up the stairs, which had to be a first. I loved to sleep, and it was kind of nice to just comfortably lie there with my eyes closed and rest for a few minutes before getting up. A moment ago, I was collapsing on the ground on a distant world with a forest fire raging around me while trying to save a centaur who had been attacked by werewolves. You would think that the sudden shift in the environment would be the most confusing aspect of shifting between the two worlds, but it wasn’t. The most challenging part of the transition was physical. I had been in severe pain, coughing on smoke, terrified that I was going to die, with my heart racing a mile a minute and, within seconds, I was calmly waking up in my bed, under crisp, clean sheets, smelling antiseptic…
“Yaaaaaaah!” I screamed as I sat up in bed and painfully yanked the needle out of my arm. I wasn’t in my room. I was in a gurney with needles in my arm and machines hooked up to me. Aliens abducted me!
“Mom!” I yelled as I looked around the room in a panic. It was just like I’d expect a dissection lab to look. It was softly lit, painted a bland grayish-white color, and had lots of scopes and medical-looking devices around the walls. I had to fig
ure out a way to escape and regretted my scream when I saw the door open and an alien dashing in. It was covered with a mask so that I couldn’t tell its species, but it didn’t seem too much bigger than me. Perhaps I could take it with my martial arts skills if I could get out of this bed quick enough. Then it ripped off its mask, and I saw its face. It was Tyler’s mom.
“Mrs. Price, you’re an alien!” I shouted.
“Calm down, Mark, you gave us quite a scare,” said Mrs. Price as she gently pushed me back in the bed. “You’re in the hospital.”
I began looking around again and decided that perhaps this was a hospital room and not a dissection lab on a spaceship. I wasn’t sure whether I was freaking out over nothing or if this was all just a trick to make me think I wasn’t on a spaceship. I mean, that’s what they’d do if they’d assumed the form of my best friend’s mom, right?
“I’m sorry Mrs. Price, um, I mean Dr. Price. What am I doing here?” I asked. The more I spoke, the more I began to hope aliens had abducted me. If word of my reaction got out, the embarrassment would be worse than any experiments an alien could perform on me.
“There is nothing to worry about, dear,” she reassured me. “You just had a little trouble waking up, and your parents were concerned and brought you here.”
OK, the panic set in again. These weren’t aliens. I was back on Earth, and I’d been in a coma.
“I’ve been in a coma? How long was I out? What time is it? What year is it?” I shouted!
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