Jikanime Motori

Chapter 23

Author's Note: A lot happens in the following two chapters.

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~*Somewhere On An Unknown Planet - Approximately 500,000 Years Ago*~

"Oh, shit! Watershed," Theo replied to Jared's confession.

"Definitely," Arnold agreed.

"Well, I didn't grow up here, specifically. Jikanime is situated in an area with more water. But in the future, this planet is my home," Jared continued explaining.

"Oh, and I suppose it's called 'Earth Two,' then?'" Jack asked him.

"No way! That's stupid."

He stayed silent for a moment.

"We call it 'Terraduljjae.' Or, 'T-D' for short."

"'Tear-ha' what?" Morgan asked.

"'Terraduljjae.' Like the word 'tear,'" he brought his hands together, then apart, "but with more of an 'h' sound in the word, then 'ha', followed by 'dool' and 'jay'. Actually, 'two' in Korean is more of a 't' sound, but they changed the pronunciation."

"That's a bullshit name for a planet," Jack said.

"Tell it to the settlers who came here, I'm sure they'd love to speak with you."

"Sure, give me a time and place."

"Alright. You want 'Pre-cannibalism era,' or after?"

Jack's eyes went big and he stepped away from Jared.

"So, does everyone call the planet by that name?" Keegan asked Jared as he put his regular glasses on.

"Oh, come on, Keeg, don't star—"

"Other areas have their own names," he answered Keegan, interrupting Jack.

Liam looked up at the blue sky above, then brought his head down.

"For another planet, I sure expected it to be more..."

He pressed his lips together and brought up his hands as fists.

"Weird," he finished, opening his hands.

"Yeah, and don't even get me started on how we were supposedly able to travel to another planet three times now, and still remain alive and intact," Andre added.

"You ever see a movie where people travel through a portal to another dimension like it's nothing?" Jared asked him.

Before Andre could respond, the caw of another bird was heard.

They all looked up, and a swarm of birds had gathered above their heads in a circle.

"Uh, what are they doing?" Jack asked.

"Shit!" Jared yelled.

He looked back down as the others did the same.

"We need to run now," he warned them.

The swarm swooped down toward everyone.

"Go!" Jared said, pointing to the forest.

"Run! Run!"

They all took off running, the swarm of birds chasing after them.

"Ah!" Elias yelled, using his hand to brush away a bird that had gotten near him.

They kept running until the forest cleared up and a shallow body of water appeared before them.

They all stopped, except Jared who ran straight into the water, which went up halfway to his calves.