Across Time and Worlds

Chapter Six

"How did we get here?" I asked, peeking under my deep blue traveling robe to see the world around me. SC had his hood over his face so he could only see the ground in front of him and King's hood was completely off. "I thought it would be days until we reached a village."

King held up his staff. "Unlimited elytra."

"Ah."

A wagon creaked by. I watched it, trying to figure out how something so flat could still move and balance normally. A silver stick figure sat on the seat like it was normal. The cow caught my glance and mooed. I laughed.

"How can you be so carefree in a place that breaks all laws of physics?" Second asked me.

"It's too cool to not like," I countered. 

King chuckled. "Orange here is trying to stay in his world."

"This place freaks me out!"

"I think it's intriguing."

He snorted. "Anything that rubs me wrong, of course you would like it."

King did not answer, but I caught his smile just before he turned his head away.

"So, we need some special items from six chests?" I asked, walking with a slight bounce. My chest no longer hurt at all and after that traumatic memory in the cave, I was feeling light and refreshed.

"Yep. I am sure we will find out what they are once we get to them," SC said.

"Can I see the map?"

He handed the paper to me and King scoffed. "Seriously? I am literally a walking map right now and you want to rely on an out-of-date paper."

"This was made yesterday," I told him. "Besides, you wanted one earlier too."

"Right. But it uses landmarks of the past. And I wanted one because I expected it to have everything in the correct place."

I opened my mouth to ask how he knew the map was wrong, but realized that he would never be able to explain it in a way that would make sense so I closed it. Besides, they could pesk me about how I know the rough locations of the chests and I would never have been able to give them a satisfying answer.

The forest was probably the thing that tripped me the most. Walking down the trail, they looked full and alive, but when you looked at them from the side, they were about an inch in width. I reached out my arm to touch the tree. The bark felt rough, but moist, scratchy like a regular tree.

I looked down at the ground and scuffled my feet, kicking up a brown cloud. It floated like regular dust, apparently too small to look 2D.

"Did you bring the bag of food?" I asked.

Second whirled around. "You would eat it?"

"Obviously!"

He eyed me as he slowly turned around. "No, we didn't."

"Bummer. I would have loved to try that." I stuck my hands into the coat.

"The only reason I had it was because it was free. We do not have the money that they do."

"Can't we just copy their currency?"

"Sure, we could," King started, "but that would require an enchantment spell."

"How did you heal me? With one of them?"

"Yes, but I knew the right words. I do not know the one for mimicry."

"Hmm," I answered, staring out at the forest again.

Birds chirped up a song while we walked. The sun radiated a caressing heat that mingled with folds of a cold drift, so sometimes you would feel toasty and sometimes you shiver.

"So, King, why did a policeman come up to the house anyway?" SC asked, startling the quiet.

"Well, you have a donut for a head, I am taller than everybody else here, plus I was carrying an injured stickman . . . Yeah, I have no idea."

Second exhaled. I felt the flush of heat and heard the woosh of something. Whirling around, I gasped, watching in horror as the green aura floated around him like a fire. "SC! Stop!"

Second's green eyes flashed at me and I took a few steps back. "Just stay out of this."

I glanced at King desperately. His chin was up, his staff was cocked, and he regarded SC with cold eyes.

Looking between the two, I knew that no words were going to penetrate into their brains. Their breathing was fast and their legs slightly bent.

Seriously? They had to fight now? Only action was going to snap them out of this disagreement. And since SC was more than a little dangerous, I turned to King.

Watching as Second balled a fist, I sprang, stretching my arms out and collided with King's torso. We both fell to the ground, King cursing.

"What was that for?" he hissed, pushing me off him. I grabbed his arm and jerked him toward me just as a beam of SC's fire flashed over his head.

"Do you want to die?" I asked him in return.

Flashing a glare, he ripped himself away from me.

"Stop!" I pleaded, getting up only to bounce back to the ground. King jerked the staff back and a faint block of red guarded my path. I narrowed my eyes at it and growled, knocking it with my fists.

I really should start carrying an ax.

"King!"

He ignored me and raised the staff. Diamond armor started appearing on him, landing him in a bright glow when he walked into the sunlight.

I looked at SC. Both of his fists were clenched and glowed even brighter than the rest of him.

I took a few steps away and slowly started to inhale.

And then I screamed.

King and Second both whirled around, and when I was sure I had their attention, I stopped. "Will you two stop trying to kill each other?! I am tired of screaming!"

Mango glowered but Orange hesitated. I pounced on this action. "Second, you are really powerful. We need King. He is more valuable than a piece of paper. He knows things that neither of us know, and if he is right about the map, then he knows more than most of these people."

"DON'T talk me out of this, Purple," he warned.

"If you guys fight now, then you will be fighting for the rest of this game too. Always at each other's throats. Can you stop acting and think for once? King, I thought you were good at that?" I snorted.

A fire that had not been in his eyes before now sprang up and he moved the staff. The force field that kept be back disappeared. "Correction, I am good at that."

With that, he whirled around and stormed off, stepping on all the loose branches on the path and killing them with a satisfying snap. I nodded. "Good."

Second sneered at me and swept ahead, his glow starting to slowly disappear.

"Your welcome," I muttered, following.

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All right! Sorry this chapter took forever to post, but I have been working on an animation and I got caught up in it. Also, I am currently working on another story, but I may not post it here, I just wanted to say that it will be taking up some of my time so I will not be writing much in here. ;)