Xanum

Chapter Five

For another fifteen seconds or so, I stood next to Tony in the light until it faded completely. I didn't understand what was happening anymore, especially what this man wanted us to do or how we were supposed to learn magic or anything else. Life before was confusing, but this was a million times worse. Was this a really complicated dream? I had messed around with alcohol but never any hallucinogens. I wasn't tripping, I was standing in a forest. Snow fell lightly down from above, painting everything in sight with its cold beauty. The trees themselves were deep brown, with dark green moss covering most of the bark. The moss blanketed the trees all the way down to the gnarled roots that anchored them to the ground. There were hundreds of trees, all of them were much too large for Tony and I to wrap our arms around, even if we held hands and tried to use both of our bodies. They were massive. The forest was beautiful, but the air smelled strange and something felt different.

This was not Earth. I was certain. These trees seemed more alive, ancient, and more awake than anything I'd ever seen on Earth. I got the feeling that they were watching me. I shivered. I was freezing; and it was snowing. I should have brought a bigger coat, though I likely would have if I hadn't been whipped away onto another planet without a moment's notice. Speaking of which, how did we know that the air here wasn't filled with some strange contagion that would kill us in moments? I shook the thought from my head. If I was going to die from poisoned air, I'd die soon enough. Otherwise, it would probably be best not to worry about it. I turned to see where Tony was.

He was about six feet away from me, facing my back. He had his arms wrapped around himself. Where had his jacket gone? Did he leave it in that lab, when Jon took the sphere? An idea popped into my head. "Hey, where's that sphere at?" I asked him. Tony looked around at the snowy ground for the strange object. I did the same, and in a few moments I spotted it on the ground to my right.

I bent down to pick it up and almost started pressing buttons, until I realized that this thing was capable of more than creating a small blaze, it could put me on different planets. So experimenting with it wasn't an option. We were at an impasse. We could send ourselves to another galaxy or something if we made a wrong move.

Instead of pressing random buttons and possibly killing us, I tossed it to Tony. "Catch." I said. He caught it with one hand and placed it in his back pocket. I shivered again, I couldn't keep myself from shaking. We needed to find something to warm us up. I tried to remember which button caused the sphere to spit out flame. "You know, could you give that thing back? Maybe I could get it to start a fire for us." I said to him. With a sigh, he took it out of his pocket and threw it to me.

"You stupid or something?" He snapped, "If you want it then take it and don't ask for it if you just want to take it back." He then proceeded to grumble about how he missed his games, and how his mom would be worried. I wondered about my mom as I caught the sphere, I thought about how she probably would be trying to wake me up in a few hours, just to realize I wasn't home.

I looked over the runes, trying to remember the specific one that we needed. The sphere seemed to vibrate ever so slightly within my hand. My fingers traced over the ball until I spotted one of the buttons that looked familiar. I pressed it and a small door opened up below my finger. Then fire spat out of it and the hole closed. The strange sphere continued to surprise me. It was powerful and seemed to draw its power out of nowhere. I remembered the button and kept my finger on it, just in case. "Tony, help me look for sticks to burn or something," I said.

I started to walk away and I heard Tony do the same. We were headed in opposite directions but that was okay. If we needed to find one another, we could just call out. I continued to walk, and as I did, I found a few sticks, but not enough to burn for more than five minutes. I turned back to find Tony, and to see if he had found anything. I walked for a while with no thoughts, until I heard voices. One of them belonged to Tony, and the other belonged to another man. I sprinted towards the voices, not knowing what was happening. This planet was habitable after all, maybe that Jon guy wasn't as insane as he seemed. The voice was yelling at Tony. "How did you get these markings?" The voice shouted.