Yazen (Ponith) (6 page)

“It’s time. Everyone needs to enter the portal
now. Let’s go. We have to hurry because we only have 10 seconds,” I shout. I grab the gem and put it back in my pocket. I remember reading in the journal to make sure I grab it from the tree and bring it with me.

Alex
is the first one to go. He starts to walk to the portal and he puts his hand out first. Next thing I know he’s sucked into the portal, and he disappears. Jenn and Brad are holding hands going toward the portal. Jenn mimics Alex and puts her hand out first. The portal gradually pulls her in. Next thing I know, Brad lets go of Jenn’s hand, and I see Jenn turn her head around and begin to scream. Jenn is gone. Now it’s just Brad and I, and we only have a few seconds left.

“Hurry, Brad, go before it closes,” I yell while running toward the portal.

“I can’t do it, Zac. There’s no way I’m going in there. I’m sorry but I’m staying here. Please bring Jenn back here; we don’t even know what this portal is!” Brad yells with a scared look on his face. I didn’t realize how upset he really is. I don’t have time to coax him to go. I’m running out of time.

“
We’ll be back, Brad. Make it home safe,” I yell while jumping into the portal. It’s the weirdest feeling I’ve ever experienced. I feel like I’m on a roller coaster, the air rushing is so fast against my body. It almost feels like I’m free falling from a plane. I finally enter through the other side of the portal, being ejected into some grass next to Alex and Jenn.

I try to stand up and everything is spinning. I sit for a second to catch my balance. Then I realize
Alex and Jenn are still watching the portal, waiting for Brad.

“He’s not coming. H
e said he was didn’t want to go through. I couldn’t wait for him any longer otherwise I wouldn’t have made it. I’m sorry, Jenn,” I say, trying to be respectful.

Jenn starts to
tear up and she sits back down in shock. She looks back at the portal, waiting. I try to comfort her to let her know that everything will be okay and after a minute she begins to compose herself. Her make-up is running down her face ever so slightly.

As I turn around I finally get to take in where we are. The stars above us are incredibly bright. Thousands if not millions of them, all around us. I get dizzy just staring upward as I take it all in. The ground here is rough,
cut apart in places with the floor jutting up in places. We’re now on a half hollow asteroid called Ponith. I remember reading about this asteroid in the journal. This tiny asteroid holds all of the portals to each planet.

We are encapsulated in brown walls, like a crater.
A dome covers the top, almost crystal clear, taking me a while to notice it. When you look up, you can see space, the stars, and five bright planets. It’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. The planets look so detailed; standing so close to them, it makes me wish I had read more about them. There’s a walkway made of dirt that makes a circle around a small, white, wooden building in the middle of the asteroid. The walkway has individual paths to each portal. In between the dirt paths are patches of green grass and a few flowers spread out over the rocky plain.

We
begin to explore and walk over to the building, and it’s empty. There are long benches, neatly set in the middle of the building with no doors or windows. It reminds me of a baseball dugout.

Each portal looks similar to the one that we just entered. There are
old, brown wooden signs next to each portal with the name of the planet that portal goes to. All of the portals are turned off, except Yazen’s and Earth’s. They’re the only two that are active.

Jenn starts to read all of the signs out loud, “Earth, Crendus, Yazen, Volux, Qysan, and Bredin.”

“Which one do we go to? It looks like only one is active besides Earth’s,” Alex says while rubbing his head. He had landed on his head when he came out of the portal.

“We’re going to Yazen. That’s the one my grandpa
told us to go to but I guess that’s our only choice,” I tell him.

“
I guess so,” Jenn says while looking at the portal with the brown Yazen sign. We start to make our way over to the portal but she keeps glancing back at the portal we came from.

“Okay, is everyone ready for this? It should hopefully be the same as the last one that we just went through,” I tell them.

This time we all decide to walk through it together at the same time, so no one gets left behind.

It feels exactly the same, like air rushing against you at full speed.
It’s a bit of a thrill, similar to a ride, and I start to smile before I know it.

We all get thrown out of the portal at the same time and end up landing on top of each other. We all sit up and look at each other, making sure no one is hurt.
Alex, again, took the worst of it. It sounds like the portal is winding down, so we all turn back to look at it.

The portal’s glow has now diminished, and the trees begin to untwine back to their normal state.
They look very similar to the trees we found in Tongass National Forest.

We stand together and look around; we definitely are not on Earth anymore. The colors on this planet are so bright and vibrant. It’s so mesmerizing.
The sky is vibrant blue, cloudless. The tree lines to each side of the portal are incredibly green, so beautiful, I lose focus for a minute while taking it all in. Alex takes out a roll of black tape, and he puts the tape around the tree we just came from so we will know where the portal was.

“So, what do we do first?”
Alex asks while putting his tape away.

“Let
’s walk around for a little bit to check the surrounding area,” I say to them.

We head northeast for a few miles and end up stopping in the middle of the woods. We haven’t come across any threats or any signs of life.

“It’s already starting to get dark. Are we staying here overnight?” Jenn asks while looking up at the sky.

“I think we should try to set up camp and eat some dinner. We can start our exploring tomorrow when it’s light out,” I tell th
em. I begin to take my tent out—it’s a small one—and begin to set it up. Alex does the same. He brought the one that he uses when we go camping. I notice Jenn is pacing back and forth.

“Are you okay
, Jenn?” I ask her. I stop setting the tent up and walk over to her. She turns to face me, her face flush and concerned.

“Not really. I’m worried that Brad’s not going to make it back home safe. I really didn’t think that we would actually be going to another planet, so I really didn’t pack the right stuff for our trip. I don’t have a tent or sleeping bag. I didn’t pack food. I only have an extra pair of clothes and some make-up,” she says while tears start to
appear at the corners of her eyes.

“It’s okay, Jenn.
I’m sure Brad will make it back safe. He’s not that far from home; he’ll be okay. As for food, I brought a lot with me so you can have some of mine. Plus, you can sleep in my tent with me. I promised Brad that I would get you back home. Everything will be fine,” I tell her, while giving her a hug.

“I need to set this up before it gets too dark,” I tell her. She nods her head and sits down on the ground.

I finish putting my tent up and then help Alex set his up. We roll our sleeping bags out and put them in our tents. Now we need to set up a campfire to keep us warm and cook some food. I’m starting to get hungry and I wish I hadn’t given away my extra sandwich to Brad.

All three of us split up and look for
some tinder on the grounds nearby our camp. Alex comes back with a handful, and so does Jenn. I can’t find too many lying around. I decide to walk a little further and still have no luck.

Then I see a
dead branch a bit of a ways away that’s hanging toward the ground from a tree, so I decide to go over to it and break it off so we can use it.

“OUCH, who dares to break my branch?” the tree roars at me. It sounds like a woman’s voice. Then I notice a woman’s figure in the tree and
it begins to move its side branches in a swaying motion to throw pinecones at me. I’m so shocked and surprised I can’t help but run away from it and back over to our campsite. I keep looking over my shoulder as I run for my life. What in the world was that?

I run as fast as I can
until I’m wheezing and out of breath. Once I make it back to Alex and Jenn, I realize the woman or tree did not follow me, but she’s still in the distance, yelling.

“What is that?” Jenn screams.
Alex is getting his rifle loaded and ready.

“I have no idea. That tree’s alive or there’s a woman inside of that tree. I tried to break a branch off of it and she yelled at me. She started to throw
pinecones at me. I just made a b-line back here,” I tell them.

“Zac, you keep watch while I start this fire and cook us some dinner. I don’t think we should go much further than our tents tonight. We don’t know what is out there,”
Alex says while piling up the branches.

I grab my matches out of my bag to give to
Alex so he can start the fire, while Jenn throws a few leaves and some grass on top of the branches. Alex hands me his rifle to use for protection. I walk back and forth around our tents, watching to see if anything is coming our way.

After a few attempts of trying to start the fire,
Alex gets the flames going nicely. The three of us sit around the fire quietly, trying to stay warm. I take out some of the meals I brought and share them. We decide to have some of the beef stew.

The girl in the tree got quiet after
about ten minutes or so. I don’t think I’m going to be able to sleep tonight. What is she? Why didn’t she chase after me?

We finish eating and then clean up our mess, putting our trash in a bag. I begin to notice that Jenn is starting to
get a bit antsy.

“Hey, Zac, where do I go to the bathroom at?” Jenn asks me. I open my bag to grab some toilet paper out and hand it to her. I point to a bush near us.

“Can I just go behind the tent? I’m scared to go in those bushes by myself,” Jenn says.

“That’s fine,” I say to her. I don’t blame her
; I wouldn’t trust any trees or bushes here after the pinecone-throwing lady in a tree.

Alex
and I both decide to go into our tents. A few minutes later Jenn comes into the tent. I give her the sleeping bag that I brought and I just lay next to her on the hard ground.

“Good night
, Alex, see you in the morning. If you need us for any reason, wake us up,” I yell out to him in the other tent.

“I will. Good night,” he responds. It’s quite chilly tonight. I really wish I had brought another sleeping bag. I’ll be okay, though. I’d rather Jenn be warm than me.

“Thank you, Zac, for taking care of me. Are you sure you are going to be warm enough?” she asks me.

“I’ll be okay. You keep warm and try to get some sleep. We
don’t know what’s in store for tomorrow,” I tell her. She lies on her side, facing me, and closes her eyes. Within a few minutes her breathing slows down and she’s passed out.

As I look at her, I realize that even though she’s dating Brad, I can’t stay mad at her. She’s my friend and yes, she’s beautiful. I force myself to close my eyes and go to sleep. I know tomorrow is going to be an adventure.

“Zac, wake up.” Jenn shakes me vigorously until I sit up and look at her, while trying to comprehend what she’s saying.

“What’s the
matter, Jenn?” I ask her while rubbing my eyes. I can hear birds chirping outside, so it must be morning.

“I think I heard something outside. I tried calling out to
Alex to see if it was him but no one answered,” she says in a panic.

“
Alex, are you awake? Alex, answer me,” I yell to him. Then I hear him rustling around in his tent.

“What’s the
matter? Is everyone okay?” Alex grumbles while trying to wake up himself.

“We’re fine. Jenn says she heard something outside and thought it was you. Then she called out to you but you didn’t answer. Have you heard anything unusual?” I ask him.

“No, I was sound asleep. How about we go out together and check it out?” he asks.

“That sounds good to me. I’m ready when you are. Just let me know when,” I respond.

“Okay, let’s go now,” he says. I unzip the zipper on our tent and step outside, with Jenn following behind me. It’s extremely bright outside, brighter than it seems on Earth. The fire that we built last night has died out, and Alex comes over to us. Nothing seems to be around that we can see.

I go back into the tent and grab some breakfast out of my bag for everyone.

“Here are some breakfast bars for everyone,” I say while passing them out. “After we eat, we need to pack our tents and put them away.” I want to keep them with us. We look around us as we eat. It looks like everything will be okay, except we have to be careful. I didn’t forget about the tree incident last night. 

We pack up our sleeping bags and tents
and I pull out the journal, compass, and watch that my grandpa gave me.

“What are those for?” Jenn asks me while I’m still searching my bag.

“Well, this is a compass my grandpa gave me. He says that this compass will only point to the direction of the Yazen gem. We’re going to have to find this gem to be able to activate this portal to go back home,” I tell them, while opening the compass up. The arrow is pointing in the northeastern direction. Luckily that is the direction that we are already heading.

“We can’t just go back home anytime we want? We have to find this gem?
Why didn’t you tell us this before we went?!” Alex asks, sounding nervous, dropping his bag on the ground.

“Yes
, I’m sorry Alex, the gem that I have now is the Earth’s gem so it will only work on Earth. We can find the other gem, though, so that’s not a problem. We have to follow this compass to the Yazen gem so we can put it in the tree and activate the portal again,” I tell them.

“What time is it?”
Alex asks me while he sees me put on the watch. I look at it, and it doesn’t have a time on it. I forgot my grandpa told me that this watch will only show me where the portal is.

“I’m not sure
; it’s not a normal watch. See what happens when I push this button,” I tell them while pushing the side button on the watch. A small holographic map shows up on the face of the watch, and it has a big X behind us.

“What is that X for? It almost looks like it’s where the portal was
,” Jenn says, pointing behind, the direction we came from last night.

“You
’re right, Jenn, this will show us our way back to the portal after we find the Yazen gem. That way we never get lost,” I say to her, smiling, “You can turn any which way and it will let you orient yourself toward the portal again.”

“That’s pretty sweet, Zac. I think we’re actually going to have a good time,”
Alex says while looking at the holographic map.

“What other cool items do you have in that bag?” Jenn asks curiously.

“That’s about it besides the journal I have. It has notes about the worlds from my grandpa’s trip,” I tell them while holding the journal in my hand.

“Do our cell phones work here?” Jenn asks while pulling hers out of her book bag.
I honestly forgot to bring mine; I figured it wouldn’t work anyway, being that far away from our towers. I see Alex pull his phone out as well.

“Mine doesn’t work. Does yours work, Jenn?”
Alex asks Jenn. I’m happy to see them getting along for once just a bit.

“No, mine doesn’t work either. Oh well, it was worth a try,” Jenn says while putting it back in her bag.

I’m really curious about the girl in the tree from last night. I don’t see anyone around. “Can we go check out that tree from last night?”

Alex
and Jenn look at me in silence. I can tell they are nervous to go over there. I notice Alex checking his rifle to make sure it’s loaded.

"Do we have to?" Jenn asks.

"Just stay behind us. I have my rifle ready, in case we need it," Alex says while aiming his gun at the trees.

"I'll lead the way," I say while heading back to the tree from last night. We quietly sneak up on the tree, but it seems normal. This type of tree is a weeping willow,
and normally they grow near lakes or ponds. It has lots of branches that hang low to the ground. I don't see the woman anywhere; maybe she left.

I shrug my shoulders at
Alex, "I don't know, maybe she ran away."

"Who goes there?" the woman's voice yells.
Alex and I jump back from the tree, Jenn is holding on to my shirt. The tree doesn't seem to be moving, I don't see the woman either. I can hear someone sniffling and crying, however.

"My name is Zac, and these are my friends. Where are you? Are you okay
? I can hear you crying," I yell out. My eyes are scanning the surrounding area, looking for any movement. Alex is scanning around frantically with his rifle, looking for any threats.

"Please come around to the other sid
e of the tree," says the woman.

We slowly circle around the tree to find a woman embedded into the tree.
She looks like an older woman that has a lot of scars. Her hair is made from long, dangling twigs. She has dark green eyes and long, sharp bark nails. Her body is not revealed much. She’s completely covered in bark. Her arms are free to move around, but they are made of bark as well.

“Hi, I’m Zac. These are my friends, Jenn and
Alex. We’re just passing through and trying to find the Yazen gem so we can go back home,” I try to say with a steady voice, although I’m not sure how I managed it.

The woman stops crying and turns to me, "Are you the one that hurt me last night?" She looks very sad. I feel bad that I was the one that hurt her. I didn't realize that she was a living
tree at the time.

"
Err, well … It was my fault, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were here," I apologize to her. Alex lowers his gun and Jenn finally lets go of my shirt.

"Are you still crying from last night?" Jenn asks her.

"No, I cry all of the time. I'm stuck here by myself, and unable to leave from this spot. I have to wait for someone to bring me water, to keep me refreshed. I had a spell put on me that has changed me into this horrible creature," she says.

"
A spell? What's your name? What exactly are you?" Alex asks her. He sits his bag and rifle on the ground.

"My name is Beldis. I'm now a Weeping W
illow Dryad, but I used to be a Wood Elf. I miss my freedom so much and I wish I could go back to normal, but I’ve been like this for a while. Where are you all from?" she asks us.

"We're from Earth. We're just traveling through
; my grandpa told me about Yazen and said we should visit here, so we decided to come. Now we have to find the Yazen gem to help us get back home," I explain to her.

Beldis begins to weep again, this time louder.
I exchange confused glances with Alex and he meets my eyes and shrugs. I turn back to Beldis, frowning. I wonder what I said?

"
Did I say something wrong? Why are you crying now, Beldis?" I ask her.

"I'm crying because now you are trapped here with us
; you can't leave Yazen. The Dark Lords have taken the Yazen gem and they have a small army of Dark Elves protecting them," she explains to us.

Jenn and
Alex look at me nervously as soon as she says that we are trapped here. I felt my heart drop in my chest at the same time.

"What do you mean that we are trapped here?"
Alex asks here as politely as he can. He's looking around, as if he's expecting someone to come after us.

"The Dark Lords are very powerful Dark Elves
; they’re considered high mages to them. They’re almost impossible to defeat in combat. They have taken over our planet, trying to claim Yazen as one of their home planets," she says as she's wiping her nose.

"Did they put this curse on you?" I ask her. These creatures sound evil,
and if they have the gem we need how are we supposed to get back home?

"Yes, they did this to me as a
punishment. I’ll tell it to you if you’d like to hear it,” she offers.

“Of course
; we have to know what we’re up against,” I tell her. She nods and looks past us for a second before closing her eyes.

“There was a time when I wasn’t in th
is form, when I used to be free and live with my family and with my friends. I fell in love … but it wasn’t an ordinary love. You see, several years ago I met a stranger to Yazen, much like you; he was one of the Dark Elves. But unlike the ones here now, he was different. He was sweet and caring, laughed, cried, and shared my love for nature. The other wood elves, although distrustful at first, finally took note of his nature and took him for one of their own.” Beldis pauses for a second, letting out a sigh, finally looking back to us.

“As time went on, as things usually go, we fell in love and ended up getting married. We had
a son together, he and I. From what he told me, he ran away from his planet when he was younger. He was different, considered an outcast because he didn't want to be trained in the Arts for the dark nature of his race. Chance would have it, he found a way somehow and slipped away, coming to Yazen instead.”

“
Well, although we enjoyed a few years together, his kin eventually found out somehow that he was on Yazen and later found out that we were married and had a child. They were furious and saw him as an abomination. As part of his punishment they cast this spell on me, turning me into this tree. I'm not like the other Dryads that are free to move around as they will; I'm cursed to stay here to serve as a warning. My husband and son either got away or met a worse fate then I. I have not seen or heard from them since so many years ago. I have hope but I honestly don't even know if they're still alive," she says.

I’m left without words. That was
the most gripping tale I've ever heard. I feel horrible for Beldis. I thought my grandpa told me this place was safe?

Out of no
where I hear someone screaming from behind us. Jenn jumps a little and Alex tightens his grip on his rifle as he turns around. “Intruders, intruders, help, there are Dark Elf intruders here!” someone shouts from a distance. We start to look around to see who is yelling.

“Who was that?” I ask while
looking back from where we came, until I see a slight movement ahead of us.

“There in front of us, there is something moving,”
Alex says while pointing to the creature.

It almost looks like a Faun. I’ve learned about them from a fantasy book that I’ve read back home. I didn’t know that they actually existed
, but it’s a striking resemblance to what I read about them.

“It’s a Faun
. I think. Look, it’s half human and half goat. It has a goat’s head, a human’s torso and arms, and goat legs ... It stands like a human does and I guess it talks like a human too," I say.

Alex
begins to pick up his rifle for protection. And Jenn walks over behind Beldis, her eyes wide.

"
No need to worry you three; it's okay. It's only Kolin, a friend of mine," she says to us. Speaking up, she yells out, "Kolin, it's okay, they’re humans from Earth and they're friendly. Come over here!"

The Faun stops yelling
after hearing Beldis and eventually peeks around a tree at us. He slowly starts to walk toward us.

We stand as still as we can and let the Faun come to us. We don’t want to startle him. He’s tall, about two feet taller than me. He has a pair of long, curly horns on his head with hair on his cheeks, and long, hairy legs with hooves. His arms are human and he has muscular tone to his chest and abs, with his bare chest showing.

"Kolin, it’s okay, this is Zac, Jenn, and Alex," she says to him.

“I'm Kolin
. Wow, amazing, I didn’t think you Humans still existed. I’ve read about your species," the Faun says while slowly walking closer to us. I notice he has bright green eyes and a small goatee. That’s what you would call a goat with a small beard, right?

“It’s nice to meet you
, Kolin," I say to him, while still looking him over.