The white in the sky is now painfully bright, and there are ripples of red and pink spreading out along the sky from the white. The semi-twilight of before is now long gone and I belatedly realize that Raylen’s probably been up for awhile.

“She’s going to kill me.” I mutter to Sir Flies. “I’m going to die. Sir Flies, save yourself.” I say to him as he continues to follow me. I’m pretty certain I’m heading in the right direction to get back to our shed but I’m not too certain. I think I’ve passed that spot before I think as I examine a particular patch of amethyst stones, I’d noticed them before simply because of how bright and glowy they were. Behind the patch of amethyst is a large expanse of rocks that look like large hunks of silver and gold. I wonder if we could take some of this back, we’d be rich. Is that allowed? Can you move things from one world to another, that’s never covered in the books. I’m admiring the rocks when I come face to face with a pair of red eyes.

The petal basket drops, flower bits rolling over the fuzz as I back off from the creature that’s about twenty feet away from me, hanging off the side of a tree and just… watching me. It’s moving its mouth as if muttering to itself. We have a stare off. The creature wins. I look away to catch Sir Flies is still hovering nearby, guess he isn’t worried. The creature advances.

I’ve heard stories of people that meet bears and how they describe the cold chill of panic as it sets in. How they froze at first. They wanted to run but their legs had turned to stone. Then survival instinct struck and they somehow defended themselves, lived to tell the story.

That’s how I feel but I’m waiting for the instinct to kick in. My mind is screaming run. But my body is stuck. I feel goose bumps prickling my skin and the hair on the back of my necks shoots up. Sir Flies butts into me from the side, humming at me. This is it, I think, this is how I die. But instead of that cliché of your life flashing through your eyes I’m suddenly thinking of all the things I still want to do, and man do I suddenly have the intense urge to pee now.

But this isn’t a bear. It’s…alright I don’t know what it is. It’s at least six feet tall, with four arms and a giant spiked tail swiping through the air behind it and even from here I can’t seem to look past the red slitted eyes sunk into it’s head, short spikes above his eyes and rimming his forehead. A forked tongue flicks out and the eyes swivel around before landing back on me. It’s the size of a large bear, standing on slightly bent knees. It’s scales a soft gold with tinges of mossy green at the edges. It’s standing like a man but that’s the only vaguely human resemblance it has. The best I can guess, is some sort of giant lizard.

Now I’m not too certain about the order of the food chain in this world but I’m assuming a giant lizard will probably eat me. The lizard is now close enough for me to see the individual scales of it’s skin and how the gold turns into a reddish brown at the tips of it’s tail, and green at the tip of his clawed hands, at least I think you call them hands, and it’s red eyes are ringed in white.

It gets close enough for me to see it’s pupils dilating. It’s eyes are less red than I first thought, they’re molten gold with threads of red spreading out from the pupil. Cold seeps through my limbs, adrenaline coursing through like a river breaking a dam.

I turn.

I run.

I make it about ten feet when something slams into me from behind and I’m not entirely sure if we are wrestling or if I’m being hugged, but I’m trying to get away as fast as I can. Sir Flies bumps into the creature from behind. I bite into one of the lizards arms and he hisses and drops me. I spit the salt tast from my mouth, scrambling back and watching the creature warily. He doesn’t move but his entire body is tensed, ready to spring. We lock eyes.

Sir Flies bumps into the back of his head again and he waves him away muttering something about being too old for this. Speech. I latch on to that. It talks! And strangely it’s teeth aren’t pointed like I’d thought they’d be…in fact they look almost…human.

My mouth begins moving before my mind. I’ve always been fairly convincing. I won five different debate tournaments before I quit debate team to be in the science club since they met at the same time and the science club was going to have a field trip to a nature preserve in the next state.

“Please Mr. Lizard don’t eat me. I’m not going to be tasty and I probably could poison you because I’m not really from this world and you seem like you could be a nice guy. And it’s not really nice to eat people you know and I’m trying to get back to my friend. You can’t eat me because I’m obligated to help her find her way home…and you can’t eat her either,” Ok I’m babbling but debate training doesn’t really cover trying to convince a lizard man not to eat you.

“But I have some flower fruit and seeds and stuff…at least I think it’s fruit, it’s from the flowers. It tastes good at least and…please…don’t eat me…” I trail off as the creature starts laughing. It’s laugh isn’t raspy like I might have expected but a deep masculine chuckle.

“What in stars name are you talking about child? I don’t eat anything that can talk to me and I certainly do not eat meat as I assume you are filled with.”

“But you’re a giant lizard? Shouldn’t you be a carnivore?” In the back of my mind I can hear a voice that sounds strangely like Raylen saying, ‘don’t try to convince the giant lizard to eat you, idiot.’ But the lizard just laughs and swats away Sir Flies as he butts into him again with a loud hum.

“I can tell you aren’t from our world. You’re a…ah I remember studying about your kind. Haven’t ever seen one though. What were they called again?” He scratches his head with one of his hands and the gesture is so human that my heads spinning. “Ah right the Huburts…wait that’s not right…it was something with an H. Darn Matilde always making me cram too many facts before a…” He trails off and stares at me. “Um child could you tell me what you are?”

“A human?” I say almost as if I’m not sure. He chuckles again and nods. He reaches over to a nearby plant with one of the arms and pulls a spike from it, he places the spike in his mouth like one might a toothpick.

“That’s right. Humans. The Huburts were far less substantial. Strange beings, those. They tend to have issue with maintaining the same form.” He says around his spike. He starts to pick the fruit from the ground and replace them in the basket. Using all of his arms. It’s only then that I realize I’m still lying on the ground. At least it’s soft. “Oh dear, you went by the roses? You didn’t touch their thorns did you?”

I stand up dusting the sand off my clothes as he hands me the basket. I take a wary step back. “You really aren’t going to eat me?”

He sighs. “Why is it always the same reaction? Even with the others here…they always assume a kowit can’t be an herbivore.” He starts muttering something under his breath too fast for me to understand. And then he seems to remember that I’m still there. “Ah yes your hands human child,” before I can respond he reaches out and curses at the sight of the welts. He begins mussing around in a satchel at his side, this is the first I’ve noticed of it.

“You said something about not being from here. Right humans,” he says more to himself than me, “come from the water filled planet. Can’t for the life of me remember the name. Speaking of names. Child you got one or should I just call you human? You gotta excuse me, I haven’t used my diplomacy skills in quite awhile.” I nod. My instincts are uncertain now. Especially since he’s applying some kind of minty smelling salve on my hands and wrapping them with cloth, my fingers tingle but the pain is gone.

“Why were you chasing me?” he scratches at his chin and mutters something that sounds similar to German. Possibly some sort of a swear word. Finished with his administrations he begins packing up his belongings.

“Can’t quite say why. You were running. And I guess I was a little insulted that you ran form me. I don’t think I look that hideous. I recently polished my scales you know.” I start laughing a little at the absurdity of it all and the creature doesn’t seem to mind.

“Aether. My names Aether.” The creature gives his version of a smile. It’s a little disconcerting.

“Sabyne.” He reaches out with one of his hands and I notice that while clawed they don’t seem as deadly when you’re shaking them just like you would another human. “Now Human Aether, it is rather…strange… to see your kind here. Why we haven’t had humans…” He trails off staring at me. “It’s been possibly close to a thousand years. Although since you last saw our kind the time is significantly shorter, that’s how it goes—“

“Wait you mean you’ve been to Earth?”

“Oh goodness no, not me in particular, although I know of some that have been, my wife for one loved the place although the hospitality was a tad lacking, but perhaps it’s changed in the time she’d visited. Does your kind still have those infernal witch hunts?” Witch hunts? Is he talking about the Salem Witch trials. “Oh goodness I’m overdoing it again…”

He trails off and for some reason the only thing that blurts from my mouth is, “you have a wife?”

He looks at me as if he’s insulted but then chuckles again. “Though sometimes I feel that she’s more trouble than she’s worth, what with all her hair-brained schemes.” Now letting out a sigh, “But I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t part of why I love her. I wouldn’t dissolve our bond even if I could.”

“You lost me again. So dissolve…like divorce?”

“What is divorce?” And so with pleasantries out of the way I began to learn about lizard marriage bonds.