Zenora

“Heads down! Both of you!” Dennis yelled and suddenly began to drive as fast as the truck could.

After listening to his command, the left side of the car was hit by something massive that I couldn’t see. It had felt like we were hit by another truck or something big like that. The airbags jumped into our faces and the truck tilted to the side but fortunately fell back on its four wheels again. The engine had broken down and the truck came to a stop. I got my head up and looked to where the attack came from.

To my amazement, I saw a big strange-looking rhino with armour on its back and a green man, much bigger than any normal human, sitting on top of the beast. They were turning around and getting ready to charge again towards our truck. Then a massive roar, followed by what sounded like a rolling thunder was heard.

“Get out!” Dennis yelled and Anna opened the truck and we tried to get out as soon as possible. “I thought we had more time! This doesn’t make sense!” Anna yelled to Dennis.

I stumbled halfway out of the truck, but I was too late. The big rhino stampeded our way and hit the truck once more, tilting it to the side. The hit had swung me headfirst out of the truck and smashed my head onto a big rock. Completely confused and with a throbbing pain in my head it all turned black. I closed my eyes knowing I was knocked out cold.

I woke up, lying on the cold hard ground, tucked in a sleeping bag. My head hurt like it had been split in two, and while reaching for it, I found out that it was wrapped in bandages. I tried sitting up and tried to adjust my eyes to look clearly at my surroundings.

It was evening and a fire was set in front of me. The truck was a bit behind me, trashed, and Dennis and Anna were nowhere to be seen. Luckily, Miles and Dolly were there, hugging me with their big bodies, trying to keep me warm with their furs against my sleeping bag. I was really happy to see them unharmed. I guess they jumped out of the truck when it got hit, so they didn’t get hurt.

They noticed I woke up and as if they understood where I was hurt, they licked my head to comfort me. I had trained my dogs very well but sometimes they felt the urge to be happy and ignore my commands. For now, I only had to raise my hand and immediately they sat on their buts looking at me contently, waiting for the next command. I simply said “hold” and they sat still.

As I was about to yell for Dennis and Anna, they came walking into the campsite.

“Oh, you’re awake, finally!” Said Anna relieved.

“How does your head feel like?” Dennis asked and I grunted rather sarcastically, giving him the acknowledgement that the pain was far from pleasurable. “Here, drink this, you will feel much better after.”

I drank the strange-smelling tea Dennis made and indeed most of the pain in my head dulled over. Finally, I was able to look clear out of my eyes and suddenly saw that Miles had a wound on the left side of his back, only just visible because he turned himself around.

And then it struck me...

“What happened to the big green guy?! Are you guys alright? Is Miles alright? Tell me!”

“Take it easy, kid. We are okay. The Orc is dead and the wound on Miles’ back is healed already, it’s just his fur now that is still dirty.” Dennis said calmly.

Take it easy? And the wound already healed? How long was I out then? Must have been several days then for it to heal. But the biggest question was about that green giant, an Orc? Dennis must be kidding, right?

My head spun with all the questions in my head and then I remembered the fact that Anna said something strange as well when we were attacked. Something about not having enough time? What was that about?

My head felt dizzy and suddenly I became really tired.

“What was in that tea?” I asked no one in particular.

“Just sleep for now and we will explain tomorrow morning.” The soft voice of Dennis faded away as I fell asleep, again...

The next morning I woke up strangely feeling really well. No headache and I am not tired anymore. I could even admit to feeling refreshed and full of energy.

But I still felt very confused though and wanted all my questions answered, but I noticed that Anna and Dennis were still asleep, so I couldn’t ask those questions right now. But as I looked at them sleeping, I noticed that they were lying next to each other with not much room in between them. They were lying in their own sleeping bags but they were very close to each other, just a few inches apart. Hmm… alright.

I woke Miles up quietly and told him to wake Dennis up. He walked to him stealthily and licked him right in the face. Dennis sat up straight away, yelling at Miles to get lost. I laughed out loud, because Miles just wouldn’t stop and now Dennis’ head was covered in drool.

Anna woke up from the noise and thought we were being attacked again, so she sprung up and stood immediately in some sort of battle stance.

“Order Miles away, he won’t listen to me!” Dennis yelled at me, so with a quick whistle Miles was directly at my side.

“You’re no fun!” I said to Dennis. But why wouldn’t they listen to him? I mean the dogs were always in the house when I went to school so they listen to Dennis as well. But before I could ask…

“From now on, your animals won’t listen to me anymore and that could be dangerous! I’ll explain to you why, but first I have to clean up and get some breakfast.” He said groaning.

Several more questions started to rise as he said that, but knowing the strict guy Dennis was, he wouldn’t answer any questions if I had asked them now. So, I ate my breakfast very fast, excitedly waiting for him to start talking.

“Okay ask away, but only one question at a time please.” He said after finishing his sandwich.

But as he said that, I couldn’t come up with the first question to ask. Normally when I have questions I line them up in order of importance, but right now, everything was important! “I don’t know where to start asking! I was hoping for you to start talking actually.” I replied quickly.

Dennis sighed and thought over for a moment where to start.

“Okay, let me tell you where you came from first, I will get to the Orc and your dogs soon after.” Dennis started.

I went to sit up straight, focusing on listening. Is he finally going to tell me something about my past?

“Earth is not the only world in existence, in fact there are several. The one where Anna, you and I came from is called ‘Zenora’.”