Silverwood

Things to be known.

"Human, you are so lucky. We got the right book, the right chapter, at the right time."

"What is it?" I am curious. 

"The book says whenever a comet passes through the human world, its light tears the atmosphere, and a portal between both the world opens. The portal is anonymous. It can open anywhere. You were unlucky that you entered the portal, kid. Now when another comet will pass, then you can go home." He said with a smile. 

"When another comet will pass? And when it will be? And how would I know?"

"Sorry kid, the book says that a comet's light can only create a portal. No light, no portal. Only by the time, it is visible to humans it will work. Sorry, but we can not help you, kid." The other guy says.

"You can stay here. This place is very good. You can stay in our valley. No problem at all." Gyan says.

"I can't believe I can go back. I will be stuck in here forever." I mumble. 

This place doesn't have that comfort I was having back there. I had everything. Now I have nothing. This comet and it's light. Though it saved me but trapped me too. It will trap many more in its twenty days. Wait. 

"What the book says?" I ask.

"The comet light tears the atmosphere that creates a portal between this world and the human world. The portal can be created anywhere until the light is there. That means..." 

I interrupted Gyan.

"That means, till it is visible from the earth."

"Yes." He nodes.

"Perfect. If, a comet passing by is visible to a total of twenty days, then?" 

"Then the portal will be open for that twenty days too."

"So that means, she has twenty days to get back to her world?" The other guy asks.

"Yes, haha.. For that. For that!" Gyan is so excited that he is hopping around. That is making me scared. The tree on which we are now, looks old. Is it good to hop like that? He is turning the pages of that book.

"Human, you are indeed lucky." Gyan is full of energy.

He used to smile a lot. Laugh in the middle of his conversation. Jolly king of nature, he has.

"So, all you need is to find the portal which is open in this world. And go to the other side. Simple." 

"So, where will I find the portal?"

"Hmmm, that is something tricky. In this world, portals don't get open so easily. We have to create it. So to create it there is a summoner device. This world has only two of them. One is in the lord's castle. I prefer you not to visit that at all. Another is.... somewhere but not clear, where."

"How can I know where to find it?"

"I know about the legend. The legend of the summoner. It is said that people can misuse it, so our ancestors had hidden it in a remote place. Nobody knows where. But the only one who has the true desire and a wise intention to find it can actually get it with the help of this."

Gyan brought a cubic puzzle and a big gem. The cubic puzzle has alphabets in the square faces.  

"This gem will help you to activate the summoner. Hope you get back safely. Haha, after getting back, don't forget us." 

"If you can not go back then also don't forget us. You can come here and live a peaceful life." The other guy says.

"Thank you for everything. I don't think I have much time."

Time. If I look at the time, then I really don't have much. Our world has twenty-four hours, and this world has thirty-six. Book says that till the time comet light is there, the portal is there. So is I calculate I have thirteen days. From that, I have wasted three. So all I have is only ten days left. 

"Be more cautious. That summoner is your only hope. And if you couldn't make it till the deadline, no summoner can help you. You have to wait till another portal opens there and the summoner can open one here as well. The summoner will open the portal for a short span. No ordinary crystal can be used to activate it. Only a gem like this can activate it. But the size of the gem will determine the time of the portal opening. Be careful while using it. One wrong move and you can not get the desired result."

I nodded. These giants are so sweet. They packed many snacks for me. Gave money to me too. So I am on a quest to find the portal summoner to get back to my real world. The world I truly belong to. 

I am looking at the birds kept in the cage. They are indeed different. They have horns. Unlike the reptile and mammals, these birds don't have only one color. Like the tortoise was in the deepest shade of green that looked almost black. And the Komodo dragons were of moss green color. Like that plum changes to different animals also changes its shades of orange. But the birds were different. 

After making me ready for the quest, both the giant came to see off me. They told me to use another way to get out of the valley. It was a bridge that was visible to me. At the end of the bridge, there will be a slope to get down. I began to walk on my way. And the two went to the other guy's house. I turned around to look at them for the last time. But they were gone. 

I sigh. Oh, there is a cage outside his library. It is at the edge. It can fall at any time. The bird inside it will fall with it too. What should I do? The cage is in such a position that it is impossible to lift it up. To save the bird I have to open the cage. If the cage is not opened, then the bird will die. The height is too much and falling from this height can kill the bird. Both giants left the place. 

The bird is so beautiful. I can not let the bird die like that. I reached out to it. Lean down, trying to fetch the hook. If I can reach the hook and pull it out, the bird will be free. I am trying hard. Plum helped me to get a bit lower. Finally, I reached out to the hook. Pulled it out. s**t. It is not flying. Why it is not flying. I try to have a better look. Its wings are injured. Now what. 

I lean a bit more. I am hanging at the edge. 

"Come on get out," I call out loud.

The bird hopped and get at the gate of the cage. It saw my hand in front of the open gate. It climbed up on my hand. Fortunately. Because the cage falls down soon after it grabbed my hand.

I pulled myself up. 

"Wow. You are so beautiful. I have never seen such a beautiful shiny white owl before. Can you turn into a parrot so that I can talk to you?"  

"We don't change our shapes."

"Aaahhhh" I screamed and threw that bird on the ground. I am startled. 

"Ouch!"

"You can talk?" 

"Yes, I can." The owl says.

"Okay. Good."

I took out the first aid kit. Treated the owl's wings, and I stood up to get going. 

"Thank you so much. I owe you human." The owl says.

What is that? 

"How do you know?" I ask.

"I am the slave of the giant. Stayed at the library. I know everything."

"You know everything?"

"Yes. My name is Vidya, which means knowledge. I have all kinds of knowledge. I have read each and every book in the library. You saved my life. I owe you my life. Please take me with you. I will help you. As you are not familiar with this world, I can help you with that." 

Hmmm. What she is saying makes sense. I know nothing about this world and she knows everything about don't know how many worlds. It is no harm to take her with me. Her wings are injured too. And she is a slave. If she stays here, she can't fly, and she has to be the giant's slave again. 

"Okay, you can come with me." 

I lifted her up and made her sit on my shoulder. 

"Thank you so much. Your highness."

"Oh no. Don't call me that." I say.

"What should I call you?"

"Call me Devi."

"Devi. Nice name. It means divine."

"Hmm."

We walked towards the end of the bridge. 

"So tell me do this world have dragons?"

"A dragon is a large, serpentine, legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many human cultures. No, they do not exist here."

Asking her a question is like asking a google assistant something. She is giving the answer like that only.

"Okay then. Does this world have a unicorn?"

"Unicorn a mythological animal resembling a horse or a goat with a single horn on its forehead. No, they don't exist here as well."

"Okay... boring. Why do you birds don't change?"

"Birds don't change and fishes too. That's why they can be the food."

"Okay. Why the witches wear the robe."

"Witches don't wear robes. Wizards do."

"Sorry? Wizards are male, and witches are female of the same kind, right?"

"In the human world, it is. Here it is not. Wizards are both male and female here. Wizards are good sorcerers. But witches are only female and a bad ones. Witches are one of a kind. They leave together and reproduce to the witch only. But the wizards reproduce to both male and female sorcerers."

"So you mean witches are lesbians?"

"You can say that. They are each other's mate."

"What a weird world."

"Nothing is weird if you try to see it in our perceptions."

"Do trolls eat humans?"

"Trolls the ugly creatures. Yes, they eat humans too. They love to eat fresh human's dishes."

I gulp my saliva. I should stop. I can not handle it at all. Witch, wizard, lizard, I can't understand any of the logic. The more I'll ask, the more I'll get confused. It's better to ask when needed. 

We walked for a while. Now I am tired. But I am keep going till the slope. Soon plum runs faster. I guess he saw the slope. 

"Wait for me."

It is not what I had expected. It is a slide. When I was small, my mother used to take me to the children's park. And the slide was the one I was afraid of. My sister used to help me there. But now she is not here. 

I took a deep breath. I am ready to slide down now. I get down. We passed through a huge web. Disgusting. 

"Was it a spider web?" I ask.

"Yes, it was a giant spider web. It has some toxic ability. Like paralyzing a person for some fraction of minutes."

"What?"

I can't even scream properly. My tongue goes numb. Soon my legs, then the hands. Soon full body goes paralyzed. I see that plum is not moving either. His eyes are nothing but not the other parts of the body. 

Below there is another web. Our speed was faster before so we passed through it. But now we are getting slow. I doubt at this rate we can pass it or stuck on the web. There are two huge spiders at that crawling on the web. I want to scream, but I can't. If we get stuck there we are doomed. No one can help us except a miracle. 

I am trying to move. But it is of no use. We are getting close. Plum is ahead of me. He gets close and got stuck in there. Now it's my time.