Different Worlds

Too Much Information

I tried opening my eyes, but for some reason I was finding it extremely hard.  It felt like there was something keeping my eyes welded shut.  I tried again but was unsuccessful.  It suddenly occurred to me that my eyes weren't the only things that wouldn't work.  I was also finding it next to impossible to even lift an arm or move a leg.  I opened my mouth - thankful that at least one thing worked on command - and tried to call out, but a moan was about the best that I could do.  As soon as I had uttered a sound I heard movement.  Footsteps came rushing in my direction.  Next I felt a hand on my forehead and a cold compress being wiped over my face.  I tried again with a stubborn determination to open my eyes.  It took a good four or five more tries but I was finally able to pry them open.  Everything was blurry to being with, and it took a few moments for everything to swim into focus for me.

The first thing that I saw was the face of an elderly man hovering over me.  He looked down at me with a kindly expression as he continued to wipe the compress over my forehead.

"It's okay," he assured me as soon as he saw me watching him.  "I'm not going to hurt you."  I guess he thought that I would probably be scared to death.  But in truth I wasn't.  I know I should have been, but watching this old man take care of me I felt safe and comforted.  Until I remembered I couldn't move my legs and arms.

"You must have taken quite a fall,"  the old man went on.  "I've never seen so many cuts and bruises on one body before."  He gave me another smile.

I cleared my throat and tried to speak.  My throat felt all dry and raspy.  "My legs?"

"Uh yes.  You fell through a chasm into this world.  The effects of the chasm will wear off soon.  You'll regain control of your arms and legs in a few more hours."  He shook his head at me in disapproval.  "But what did you think you were doing?  Jumping into a hole when you had no idea what would happen!  Really!  You're lucky that you survived."

I looked away as I remembered the reason why I had let myself fall through.  "I didn't really have much of a choice,"  I muttered so low he wouldn't have heard.

"You're just lucky that my grandson found you.  If anyone else had and realized what you were ... "  He trailed off and I turned to look at him again, curious.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're human, aren't you?"

"So?"

"We haven't had any humans alive here for about six hundred years.  If anyone else had found you and realized what you are, you would probably be waking up in a zoo right now."

I frowned.  I wanted to sit up but my body still wasn't cooperating.  Everything that he was saying was finally beginning to sink in - beginning with 'falling into a chasm into this world.'

"Back up for a second.  What do you mean by this world?"

"Just what I said.  You fell through a chasm which brought you into another world - this one.  And as I just said, humans haven't been in this world for a good six hundred years.  This world is not a safe place for creatures as fragile as humans are."

I felt like I had just stepped inside a movie.  I was so confused it felt like my head was spinning.  "I don't understand.  There is only one world."  I faltered on the last word as I looked into his serious face.  "Isn't there?"

He let out a chuckle and sat there shaking his head.  I watched as his white hair swished from side to side.  "Just like a human.  So naive."  He looked back at me and became serious once again, though a sparkle still remained in his eye.  "There are many different worlds out there, all incredibly different from each other.  You just happened to fall into a world that can be an extremely savage place."  The sparkle went out of his eye.  "I'll be surprised if you manage to survive long enough to find a way back."

I looked at this kindly old man and began to feel sick.  What made me feel the sickest was because I had just realized that I believed every word that had come out of his mouth.  It was crazy!  I couldn't believe that something like this had happened to me.  I turned back to the old man and eyed him carefully.

"You look like a human though."

He chuckled again.  "That's just because you can only see my face at the moment.  Shall I stand up for you?"  He didn't wait for my reply as he demonstrated why he couldn't be classed as a human.  I could pretty much feel my jaw hit the floor as I watched him rise to his feet.  No, there was no way that he could be classified as a human.

"You're - you're a - a,"  I gulped.  I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"A centaur."  He filled in the word I couldn't say with ease.  "It's okay.  I know that all of this can be hard for a human to believe."

As I lay there in the bed trying to remember how to close my mouth, the door to the room we were in opened and a young man - of about twenty-five maybe? - walked in.  My brain registered for half a second that he was absolutely to-die-for gorgeous, but the first thought I had was that he looked more than human to me.  Before I could stop myself I nodded at him.

"What about him?  He looks human to me."

The old man laughed.  "That's my grandson Devon.  Our line is the only line in the whole of Nardema that has human blood in it.  Every so often one in our line is born without the equine genetics.  Devon is the first in eight generations, but he is not human - at least not fully.  As am I."

I closed my eyes as I tried to come to grips with everything that he was telling me.  I was beginning to wonder whether I should have just taken my chances with the creepy guy that I had been trying to escape.  I was in an alien world that was filled with fantasy creatures.  I was in a world where I was an endangered species.  Suddenly I felt like I was going to throw up.