As we fell, I felt tired as if I was just feeling the weight of the journey. It felt as if I was reliving the journey, but I felt tired and scared, as if I was reliving the journey through someone else. Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder, I looked over and on my right, and it was Sunny. She seemed scared, though it was hard to tell since it was almost pitch black.

“Forrest? Is that you?” She questioned, her voice filled with obvious panic.

“Yeah, it’s me, Sunny.” I assured and she breathed a sigh of relief, then I could see her head move, searching.

“Where’s Devin and Thepis?” she asked, then I looked around, I couldn’t see either of their outlines. We began yelling out for them when we hit the ground, but it wasn’t the ground, it was pillows. I climbed out of the pillowy pit of doom and spat out a feather.

“What is this place?” I asked and looked around, then saw Birch, Ashter, Cove, Mercedes, Devin, and Thepis gathered around a large purple, glowing gem in the center of the room.

“Forr! You’re alive!” Cove exclaimed as she ran over and helped me out of the pillow pit, and Devin helped Sunny out.

“We thought you were dead!” Cove exclaimed and before I could protest, she gave me a bear hug.

“I missed you too! But I need air!” I said with a chuckle and Cove let go as she smiled.

“What happened?” she asked and I scratched my head.

“Long story. But for now, I’m gonna greet everyone.” I said and Cove nodded before she walked towards the others. As I looked towards the others, I saw Mercedes continuously trying to touch the gem, and Thepis stopping her each time.

“But I wanna t-”

“No!”

That was the continuous conversation between Thepis and Mercedes. When I looked towards Birch and Ashter, they were talking about something, but it was in a hushed voice so I couldn’t hear it. Devin was checking Sunny for any injuries and I’d never seen him so worried about anything. Suddenly, Birch looked over as if he’d just realized I was here.

“Forr!” He exclaimed as ran up and hugged me. Honestly, two is too many hugs for me.

“I missed you! Where were you? Are you hurt? YOU SCARED ME!” He reminded me of a scolding mom right now.. It would’ve been funny if I didn’t need to breathe.

“I missed you too Birch, but I need oxygen!” I said with a chuckle.

“Oh, right. Sorry.” He said with a slightly nervous chuckle and let go before he walked towards Thepis as I followed.

“Thepis was showing us this gem that is supposedly how you travel through the universes.” Birch explained as I looked at the gem, it seemed more and more familiar the closer I got, but I couldn’t tell. Thepis sighed and dragged Mercedes away to the gem and towards us.

“Keep this one under control please.” Thepis said with a sigh as Mercedes fell on the floor in a criss cross sitting position and huffed like an angry kindergartener.

“Sorry Thepis, she’s….”

“A four year old?” Cove suggested.

“Yeah, let’s go with four-year-old.” I said with a slight laugh. That was pretty accurate. Thepis looked confused for a moment, but his face quickly returned to a smile.

“Anyways, shall I assign you the tasks and you leave for the universe?” He asked and I looked at the others as they nodded.

“Yeah, we’re ready.” I said and pulled the satchel up a bit to reposition it more comfortably.

“Wonderful! I’ll send you to…’’ Thepis muttered as he touched the gem and his eye shone a lavender purple, a bit lighter than the gem.

“Ah-ha!” He exclaimed and took his hand off of the gem, then seven smaller gems appeared, he handed each of us a gem.

“The tasks for this universe are simple. Task one, bring the gem the freshest water. Task two, slay the golden stag. Task three, the final task, retrieve the Oculus Oceani gem.’’ He said with a smile and Devin and Sunny gave each other nervous looks when he finished.

“Uhm, do the tasks have to be completed in order?” Devin asked.

“No, why do you ask?” Thepis asked as Devin pulled out a glowing blue gem with silver carvings like waves and shells, it was in a spherical shape. It reminded me of the ocean, various blue shades and the silver reminded me of wave crests.

“Where did you find this!?” Thepis exclaimed as he held the gem in his hand, his eye wide open with shock. Devin looked at Sunny.

“Uhm, we used to work in a gem mine…” Devin muttered, looking extremely uncomfortable. ‘LIES’ I covered my ears as the voice rang out, Sunny and Devin did the same.

“Where did you get the gem?” Thepis repeated and glared at Devin as he backed up nervously. Sunny put her hand on Devins shoulder and he muttered, “Yayisisipho esivela kubazali bethu.”

“He means, it was a gift.” Sunny translated in a quiet voice.

“From who?” Thepis questioned and walked towards them slowly. “Answer me, who gave you this?”

“O-Our parents..” Devin managed to stutter.

“What are your last names?” Thepis asked and he seemed to grow taller as he walked towards Sunny and Devin.

“Ditka. Sunny and Devin Ditka…” Sunny said as she stood between Devin and Thepis, she looked a bit scared, but she did it anyways.

“That’s where you got it.” Thepis scowled and turned away, the kind tone he’d had was gone. “I should’ve known from your ears.”

“What do you mean?” Cove questioned and stood next to me, so just behind Devin.

“Dikta is the name of two of the most infamous thieves in the universes.” Thepis explained and glared at Devin and Sunny, who looked ashamed, but also like they knew something he didn’t.

“Hey, it’s not their fault!” Birch said in defense and stepped forward. I shot him a warning look telling him to be careful with his words. Thepis glared at our group and I realized something, Thepis had bad experiences with the empire, as did Sunny and Devin. Maybe, if we figured out what it was, we could use it to our advantage. I signed, ‘Thepis had a bad experience with the empire, we could use that to our advantage if we find out what it is’ Well, again, that was the rough translation, and luckily the others got it and Cove, Birch, and Ashter nodded in unison.

“What are you doing with your hands?” Thepis questioned as he looked towards us, the gem still in his hands.

“Uhm…” I mumbled and just as I was about to say something, I looked past Thepis towards the gem and saw Mercedes.

“Mercedes! Don’t!” Cove exclaimed and we all ran up, leaving Thepis confused behind us, but we weren’t fast enough and Mercedes touched the gem, sending us all, except Thepis, who was staring shocked, into the gem.

—

A blur. That’s all it was. Ya know in those space movies where when you travel at the speed of light, light turns into streaks? That’s sorta what it was, but the streaks were faces, memories. Memories I didn’t want to relive. Then, thud, we hit the ground, grass, it looked like a park. It was night, there was a person jogging, another was walking their dog. There were moths circling street lamps, casting shadows on the sidewalk.

“Where are we?” Cove asked as stood up, rubbing her head.

“It looks like a city.” Birch replied as he helped Ashter up and looked around. I heard a soft crying sound and looked around to see Sunny curled up on the ground, head in her knees, with Devin next to her comforting her.

“I-I didn’t want to-” She mumbled.

“Shh, it’s ok Sunny, it’s ok.” Devin assured quietly, gently rubbing Sunny's back.

I remembered when we were in the maze, the way Sunny had curled up. That’s what it reminded me of. I remembered the small hut they lived in, they lived alone. Something must’ve happened because Devin was always saying the worst things about the empire. How bad was their experience?

“We have to get going.” Devin said as he helped Sunny up and she wiped her tears with a nod.

“We need to figure out where to go though…” Cove said. She had sat down on a bench near where we’d fallen. I looked across the street and saw a small cafe.

“Maybe that cafe?” I suggested and everyone agreed so we began walking towards the shop. When we got there, we walked inside to see a teenage girl with platinum blonde hair that had silver streaks. She had REALLY light skin, like she’d never seen the sun. Her eyes were a cloudy gray and she was wearing a dark gray skirt with a crescent moon design that fell a bit below her knees, a black shirt, and different bracelets on her arm, but it struck me that everything she was wearing was in a moon design. When we walked in, the bell near the door rang and she looked towards us.

“Welcome!” She said in a cheery tone, then she seemed to notice the mess we were, grass in our hair, torn clothes, the tear streaks on Sunny’s cheeks, and how tired we must’ve looked.

“What happened to you guys?” She asked, concern clear as day in her voice and we looked at each other.

“Long story.” I said after a long silence and she nodded.

“How long?” She questioned.

“2 days?” I asked and looked at Cove for confirmation and she shrugged.

“My phone died when we got zapped by that weird elf guy.”

“And who knows how long we were in the temple, maze, thing.” Birch added.

“We could ask for the date.” Ashter suggested.

“We’re in a different universe, Ashter, it won’t do any good.” Cove replied with a sigh.

“Wait, did you just say, different universe?” The women asked and we looked at each other nervously. “You did.”

I sighed and nodded, the others shifting nervously.

“Follow me.” She said and she walked towards the door.