The Problems of Another World

Some Other Place

Izzi was standing in the middle of a vast open space, a kind of mossy grass covered the ground, vines climbed up and stretched out almost forever, as if forming the hull of a massive vessel. She reached out and touched it. It was rigid like metal. On the other side the vast emptiness of space. She let out a sigh as she turned around. All around her was an intricate lattice-work of vines and hardened sap. This place would come to be known as 'Home'. She began to get a glimpse of the enormity of the vessel she was inside of, when she looked behind her and saw three roads leading to various places from where she was standing. The path to the left of the mountain led to a forest and path to the right leading to a lake. The lake was calling to her but the forest had a voice all its own. There were structures all around the three geographical features. Each seeming to come from a different alien race. Some in better shape than others. Some were just built better than others.

"what are you doing?" Izzi asked apostrophe. Who had leaped out of her pocket and climbed the nearby vine and grabbed a piece of fruit. Tossing it down to Izzi who caught it. Apostrophe came back to her shoulder. She looked at it closely. It looked like several shelled walnuts grown together at the top of the stem like cherries. The shell however peeled away easily as it was quite soft the bit underneath looked incredibly appetizing to Izzi "No.." She exclaimed flutily at Apostrophe as it excitedly buried it's tiny snout into the deep red juicy fruit she had uncovered.

He was fine after a minute so Izzi tossed some of the fruit into her shoulder pocket for apostrophe to crawl after. Then tried a few pieces for herself. She found the fruit to be quite sweet until she hit a seed in the center. Unlike most fruits the seed crunched in her teeth unleashing a burst sweet cherry peach flavor. Her eyes grew big, "Otto would love this!" she explained to the distracted little snacking creature in her pocket.

She looked back out to the open plains at the structures. All of them were still standing. She began walking to the nearest structure, though when she blinked, she was standing before it. Hannah's worry began to grow entangled with Izzi's, like a nagging feeling that something is wrong, only to be beaten by Izzi's powerful curiosity.

But the worry quickly took back over when she heard a faint yet familiar "h...e...l...p... m...e..." It came from the forest but she was so unreasonably far away that it felt like a 2-day walk. She began walking toward the forest and before she knew it, she was at the edge of the forest whose trees towered over her at a gut-wrenching height. The voice didn't let up. "Help me...."

It sounded like a dying being trying desperately to get some help before it's too late. Had Izzi not hit the button today, the being may not have survived. After what seemed like only a few minutes she came upon the sound. It was emanating from a small creek where it was being blocked by rather large fallen tree. Izzi reasoned that if she could remove the log that it might be the help that is being asked for. As if in agreement the river babbled "help... remove". Izzi grabbed a length of sturdy vine wrapped it around the part of the log in the mouth of the river. Then threw the vine over a nearby tree branch and hoisted it up until it flipped out of the mouth of the river. A rush of sound that is only ever been heard in the depths of this distant isolated forest, came alive.

Then the babbling really began. Whole words coming out like the splashes of river rocks. Some loud and thunderous others barely registering to the human ear. It began babbling loudly about the mountain cave missing a certain stone to allow its propulsion. And quickly and quietly about the impurities in the lake that can be cleaned by a certain plant in the forest. It spoke of exact quantities and exotic locations. Through all the noise Izzi heard one that caught her attention. It was the part about a Pan-cultural, Ultra-dimensional, communication apparatus designated "ZYG". So, she spoke "help me find ZYG." Izzi openly pleaded to a stream that responded with a near unanimous "In a cave at the base of the mountain and at the bottom to the lake the levers must be pulled simultaneously." while quiet babbling repeated important information like "In the cave of marble to the right is the lever." and "By the entertaining choral swim fast for it approaches slowly."