Since the beginning of time many ancient civilizations believe the existence of multiple worlds. Worlds that are connected to the one we inhabit now. According to legends, there exists people who are connected these worlds and blessed with special abilities. Abilities that allow them to interact with these other worlds. These abilities along with the help of rituals gives them the chance to create a gateway. This lets them potentially cross over through the use of dreams or reflections.
Zach was miserable and exhausted. It was all so menial. Wake up, work, rush home and rinse and repeat. Life just didn’t have the zest that others seemed to have. He hated going out with coworkers and had no friends that cared to check up on him when things were tough. “I need a change, I can’t just keep going on like this.” Zach mumbled to himself after getting home from yet another day of overtime that was sprung on him last minute. He had been especially exhausted as of late. Strange dreams visited him at night and he couldn’t make much sense of the things he had been seeing. Zach had just chalked it up to eating old take-out food too close before sleeping too late at night.
He looked at his reflection as he kicked his shoes off and hardly recognized himself. The area around the space under his eyes was dark and almost sunken in. His hair dull and almost lifeless. He just looked so washed out and weary. “Something’s gotta give I can’t do this anymore. I just wish I had people that cared about me.” But what could he do? He was nothing but a cog in the machine. Could he move away? Start anew? Money was tight and he could maybe get by for a couple months but it wouldn’t change anything. He’d fall into the same habits and would still be consumed by his loneliness. At this point he wasn’t even angry that his life had turned out like this. He just felt nothing and that seemed to be the part that frightened him the most.
After washing and rinsing off his lunch containers and dinner dishes, Zach suddenly heard a loud thump followed by a clatter near the door in the entryway. It didn’t sound like a knock at the front door, it was too late at night for any deliveries or anything of the sort. Zach wiped his hands off on a towel before leaving the kitchen to go see what the sound was. “Tsk, oh no the mirror…” The mirror near the front door seemed to fallen off it’s anchors on the wall. Bits of glass were covering the floor and Zach could tell it was completely shattered without even flipping it over. He turned it to face him and looked back at the fractured refection of himself the mirror showed him. “Ye-owch!” Zach grimaced. In the process of doing so he cut his finger on a shard and a few drops of blood dropped onto the mirror.
Suddenly the cracks in the mirror started to emit a cool blue glow that pulsed. Stunned, Zach watched as the glow started to grow stronger and the broken glass started to ripple. “I know I’m exhausted but I’m literally losing my mind, I must be.” He felt like he was getting pulled by an incredibly strong force until all of a sudden he was falling. Falling incredibly fast until he stopped and came to a thud.
“OOWWWWCH! My tail!” a voice screeched out. It took a few moments before Zach could shake off the stupor he found himself in and register the shrieking that came from below him. “It’s broken isn’t it!? Ohh it’s over for me, I’ll lose it! It’ll fall off won’t it” the voiced shrieked. Zach stared, completely dumbfounded by what he saw. A bird? No, a penguin that was pink was trying to clutch onto his short tail while a rabbit seemed to assess the situation. But these weren’t normal animals, they were huge and were wearing clothes?
“Calm down Puck, stop being such a baby!” the second voiced tried reasoning with the pink penguin. “Wait Bunny! Let me try wagging my tail, I’ve seen Lucky do that” Puck said before a sad attempt to wiggle his tail. “But you couldn’t wiggle your tail before that! Come on we’re wasting time, look he’s here already!” Both animals turned to look at Zach. “You’re probably feeling really scared right now but don’t be! The ritual was a success!” Bunny said happily. “I’m dreaming, I have to be dreaming, that’s all. I’ll wake up and I’ll be home.” Zach was trying to reason with himself. He started pinching himself in an effort to wake himself up. “This isn’t a dream, we followed the spell book Bunny found to summon someone who can help us.” Puck spoke up. “Didn’t you make a ritual for yourself? Isn’t that why you’re here?” Zach remembered the broken mirror. “Ritual? Are you talking about the mirror that fell?” Bunny nodded “Uh huh! And also the drops of blood! It’s supposed to open a portal between our worlds. We’ve been trying to summon someone to help us out” Both Puck and Bunny nodded before gesturing to the mirror they had used. “Portal….Summon….Wha-But I didn’t do that on purpose? The mirror broke by accident!” Zach couldn’t wrap his head around any of this.
“Look we summoned you because we needed help so we’re assuming that you opened the gateway because you needed our help.” Puck waddled over before pointing out towards above the tree. “Do you see that smoke? And the little bit of mountain poking out? There’s cave up there and we need your help to convince the dragon who lives up there to stop stealing our crops.” Bunny nodded “Yeah he’s a total meanie and sneaks into our village at night and makes a big mess out of everything. If he keeps this up we won’t have anything left to eat for winter. We’re gonna go up there together and talk to him!” Suddenly, everything boiled over for Zach. He felt overwhelmed with everything that happened and started to feel weak. His vision turned fuzzy before everything suddenly turned dark.
Zach started to stir awake, opening his eyes to realize that he seemed to be in a house now. He was laying on a bed, tucked under the covers with a cool cloth on his head. The penguin and bunny he met were nowhere to be seen. He sat up before trying to stand up, still feeling a bit unsteady on his feet. He took a few steps to the door and opened it. He saw a small kitchen area that had a little fireplace with a large pot with a fire lit underneath it. It seemed to be simmering something. Everything else around the home seemed normal, quaint even. A warm stream of light was pouring from the window near the front door. Zach opened the door in search of the two animals he had met.
“He’s finally awake! Took you long enough!” He saw the penguin and bunny sitting on a set of chairs, playing what seemed to be a card game; the symbols on the cards didn’t looks familiar. “H-how long was I out for?” The bunny smiled up at him “Two days! The trip must have taken a lot out of you? How are you feeling now?” Zach still couldn’t believe what he was seeing but answered. “Alright I guess…just really confused.” Bunny and puck set the cards down before pulling up a seat for Zach to sit. “We got off on a weird start so let’s start over again. I’m Bunny and this is Puck! We live on this island together with the other villagers.” Zach looked at them and decided to play along. “I’m Zach. I should also thank you for taking care of me while I rested…..What about the ‘dragon’ you guys were talking about?” Puck pointed out towards the area behind the house. “Look what that jerk did.” He looked over and saw parts of the land that seemed to be scorched. The plants there that remained looked torn apart and burnt. “That was from the last time the dragon attacked our village. He nearly burned our patch of wheat.”
“I still don’t understand what this has to do with me. Why am I here?” Puck and Bunny suddenly stood up before motioning Zach to follow them inside the house. They sat at the table as Puck pulled a book off the shelf before opening it and placing it on the table. It was written in letters that Zach didn’t recognize, they looked like runes. “Look at this picture, see the person? That’s you! According to this ancient text, legend says that our village will be saved by a traveller from another world. A traveller who has lost their way in their own world….” Zach froze. “Lost their way?” Puck and Bunny both nodded “Yup! But you don’t have to worry about anything that hurt you in your previous world, we’ll protect you from anything. Including the dragon.” Puck beamed fiercely. “After all, we’re friends!” Zach was shocked. “Friends?” “Yeah of course! We’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
This was new to Zach, feeling wanted, needed, feeling like he could help other. He was silent for a few moments and could feel himself holding back, almost as if he couldn’t believe the words he heard. “If it’s help you need….then I’ll do what I can….” Both Puck and Bunny erupted in loud cheers before hugging Zach. “Hurray! Then all we have to do is go up the mountain tomorrow and face the dragon.” Bunny bounced around the room excitedly. Puck started serving the stew that was in the pot into three bowls and set them on the table. “Let’s make sure to eat up and rest up for tomorrow! We’ll leave at dawn.”
“Okay we should be all set, everyone ready to go?” The trio stood at the base of the mountain, it was a steep climb but they could see the cave’s opening from where they were standing. “So what’s the plan exactly?” Zach asked the two animals. “Well we thought if we go over and ask super nicely, the dragon will stop.” Bunny said as they started their ascent up the mountain.
They eventually made it to opening of the cave. As they got closer they could hear loud snores coming from inside of the cave. They walked closer until the stood at the entrance. Bits of burnt plants scattered the area and in the center of the cave was the dragon, fast asleep. “Hellooooooo! Wakey wakey!” The snores continued on. In a moment of courage, Zach walked past Bunny and Puck towards the dragon. He walked right up to the dragon before tapping it. “Hey! Wake up!” The dragon started to stir before waking up. “Woah how’d you guys make it here? I’m supposed to be the only one who can make it up here.” The dragon let out a loud yawn that let out a few small flames from his mouth.
“We’re here because you keep stealing from the village and keep ruining crops in the process.” Zach said as Bunny and Puck moved in closer. “Yeah! Zach is right! You keep messing things up!” Bunny said as she stepped forward to guard her friends. “Wait I’m sorry I didn’t mean to burn those crops, I was just so hungry and every time I sneeze or cough, my fire slips out a little.” Puck looked frustrated “A little? A little?! You singed a whole section of our pumpkin patch the time before last.”
“Ok look I’m really sorry. I just live up here on my own…and I get so hungry. It gets so lonely up here sometimes…..I don’t know how to farm and nothing grows up here anyways. I really am sorry, I didn’t think you guys would notice if I helped myself.” Tears started spilling from the dragon’s eyes. Zach turned to Bunny and Puck before huddling and speaking in murmurs. “Ok we have an idea that’ll benefit everyone. What about if you move into the village and start helping out on the farms? This’ll only work if you promise to get your fire under control. You’ll get to help out with the crops in exchange for them. How does that sound?”
The dragon suddenly ran up to the trio before lifting them all up into a bear hug. “Yippeeeee! I Drago the Dragon promise to never ever let my fire burn any of the crops ever again!” He set them down and the others introduced themselves. “Well Drago, it sounds like you’ll have a lot to learn. I’ll teach you everything I know so be ready!” Puck said with a big smile on his face. “You’d really do that for me?” Drago asked. “Of course what are friends for?”
They began their descent down the mountain and back into the village. Back at the house Bunny and Puck were giving Drago the tour around and explained all the different parts of the village. That evening after dinner, Puck and Bunny started getting ready to perform the ritual to send Zach back. “We can’t thank you enough Zach. We thought it’d be a lot harder to convince Drago here to start taking better care of things around here.” Drago laughed sheepishly “Sorry about that guys.” Zach smiled and was surprised at himself too. The version of himself wouldn’t have even had the motivation to listen to any of the things Bunny and Puck had told him. Something about this world brought out a softer and happier side to him. “Ready to go? All you’ll have to do is walk through and you’ll be back in your world.” Zach stood and hesitantly looked around. Could he really go back to how things were back in his world? Always sad, alone and miserable. “Uhhh Zach?” Bunny called out. “We can’t keep the gate open for too long. Bugs will start crawling through and I haven’t gotten to the part of the butterfly effect in the ancient text yet.” Puck said.
“What if I didn’t have to go back? Couldn’t I just stay here? Being here….it was the most fun I’ve had in a really long time.” Zach never asked anyone for much in his original world, but here he found himself almost wanting to be a bit selfish for himself. “What I’m trying to say is….If it’s okay….I want to stay. I want to stay here with you guys.” Bunny and Puck both jumped up excitedly before going over to Zach, wrapping him in a big hug. “Of course you can!! I don’t see why not! You’re our friend!” Bunny said as the portal closed up. In all the excitement, Drago picked the three of them up as they hugged. "This can be your home now Zach!" Puck said happily “We can all stay together! It’ll be so much fun!” They all laughed and Zach couldn’t help but notice that for once, he felt excited to see what the next day would have in store for him.
Zach was miserable and exhausted. It was all so menial. Wake up, work, rush home and rinse and repeat. Life just didn’t have the zest that others seemed to have. He hated going out with coworkers and had no friends that cared to check up on him when things were tough. “I need a change, I can’t just keep going on like this.” Zach mumbled to himself after getting home from yet another day of overtime that was sprung on him last minute. He had been especially exhausted as of late. Strange dreams visited him at night and he couldn’t make much sense of the things he had been seeing. Zach had just chalked it up to eating old take-out food too close before sleeping too late at night.
He looked at his reflection as he kicked his shoes off and hardly recognized himself. The area around the space under his eyes was dark and almost sunken in. His hair dull and almost lifeless. He just looked so washed out and weary. “Something’s gotta give I can’t do this anymore. I just wish I had people that cared about me.” But what could he do? He was nothing but a cog in the machine. Could he move away? Start anew? Money was tight and he could maybe get by for a couple months but it wouldn’t change anything. He’d fall into the same habits and would still be consumed by his loneliness. At this point he wasn’t even angry that his life had turned out like this. He just felt nothing and that seemed to be the part that frightened him the most.
After washing and rinsing off his lunch containers and dinner dishes, Zach suddenly heard a loud thump followed by a clatter near the door in the entryway. It didn’t sound like a knock at the front door, it was too late at night for any deliveries or anything of the sort. Zach wiped his hands off on a towel before leaving the kitchen to go see what the sound was. “Tsk, oh no the mirror…” The mirror near the front door seemed to fallen off it’s anchors on the wall. Bits of glass were covering the floor and Zach could tell it was completely shattered without even flipping it over. He turned it to face him and looked back at the fractured refection of himself the mirror showed him. “Ye-owch!” Zach grimaced. In the process of doing so he cut his finger on a shard and a few drops of blood dropped onto the mirror.
Suddenly the cracks in the mirror started to emit a cool blue glow that pulsed. Stunned, Zach watched as the glow started to grow stronger and the broken glass started to ripple. “I know I’m exhausted but I’m literally losing my mind, I must be.” He felt like he was getting pulled by an incredibly strong force until all of a sudden he was falling. Falling incredibly fast until he stopped and came to a thud.
“OOWWWWCH! My tail!” a voice screeched out. It took a few moments before Zach could shake off the stupor he found himself in and register the shrieking that came from below him. “It’s broken isn’t it!? Ohh it’s over for me, I’ll lose it! It’ll fall off won’t it” the voiced shrieked. Zach stared, completely dumbfounded by what he saw. A bird? No, a penguin that was pink was trying to clutch onto his short tail while a rabbit seemed to assess the situation. But these weren’t normal animals, they were huge and were wearing clothes?
“Calm down Puck, stop being such a baby!” the second voiced tried reasoning with the pink penguin. “Wait Bunny! Let me try wagging my tail, I’ve seen Lucky do that” Puck said before a sad attempt to wiggle his tail. “But you couldn’t wiggle your tail before that! Come on we’re wasting time, look he’s here already!” Both animals turned to look at Zach. “You’re probably feeling really scared right now but don’t be! The ritual was a success!” Bunny said happily. “I’m dreaming, I have to be dreaming, that’s all. I’ll wake up and I’ll be home.” Zach was trying to reason with himself. He started pinching himself in an effort to wake himself up. “This isn’t a dream, we followed the spell book Bunny found to summon someone who can help us.” Puck spoke up. “Didn’t you make a ritual for yourself? Isn’t that why you’re here?” Zach remembered the broken mirror. “Ritual? Are you talking about the mirror that fell?” Bunny nodded “Uh huh! And also the drops of blood! It’s supposed to open a portal between our worlds. We’ve been trying to summon someone to help us out” Both Puck and Bunny nodded before gesturing to the mirror they had used. “Portal….Summon….Wha-But I didn’t do that on purpose? The mirror broke by accident!” Zach couldn’t wrap his head around any of this.
“Look we summoned you because we needed help so we’re assuming that you opened the gateway because you needed our help.” Puck waddled over before pointing out towards above the tree. “Do you see that smoke? And the little bit of mountain poking out? There’s cave up there and we need your help to convince the dragon who lives up there to stop stealing our crops.” Bunny nodded “Yeah he’s a total meanie and sneaks into our village at night and makes a big mess out of everything. If he keeps this up we won’t have anything left to eat for winter. We’re gonna go up there together and talk to him!” Suddenly, everything boiled over for Zach. He felt overwhelmed with everything that happened and started to feel weak. His vision turned fuzzy before everything suddenly turned dark.
Zach started to stir awake, opening his eyes to realize that he seemed to be in a house now. He was laying on a bed, tucked under the covers with a cool cloth on his head. The penguin and bunny he met were nowhere to be seen. He sat up before trying to stand up, still feeling a bit unsteady on his feet. He took a few steps to the door and opened it. He saw a small kitchen area that had a little fireplace with a large pot with a fire lit underneath it. It seemed to be simmering something. Everything else around the home seemed normal, quaint even. A warm stream of light was pouring from the window near the front door. Zach opened the door in search of the two animals he had met.
“He’s finally awake! Took you long enough!” He saw the penguin and bunny sitting on a set of chairs, playing what seemed to be a card game; the symbols on the cards didn’t looks familiar. “H-how long was I out for?” The bunny smiled up at him “Two days! The trip must have taken a lot out of you? How are you feeling now?” Zach still couldn’t believe what he was seeing but answered. “Alright I guess…just really confused.” Bunny and puck set the cards down before pulling up a seat for Zach to sit. “We got off on a weird start so let’s start over again. I’m Bunny and this is Puck! We live on this island together with the other villagers.” Zach looked at them and decided to play along. “I’m Zach. I should also thank you for taking care of me while I rested…..What about the ‘dragon’ you guys were talking about?” Puck pointed out towards the area behind the house. “Look what that jerk did.” He looked over and saw parts of the land that seemed to be scorched. The plants there that remained looked torn apart and burnt. “That was from the last time the dragon attacked our village. He nearly burned our patch of wheat.”
“I still don’t understand what this has to do with me. Why am I here?” Puck and Bunny suddenly stood up before motioning Zach to follow them inside the house. They sat at the table as Puck pulled a book off the shelf before opening it and placing it on the table. It was written in letters that Zach didn’t recognize, they looked like runes. “Look at this picture, see the person? That’s you! According to this ancient text, legend says that our village will be saved by a traveller from another world. A traveller who has lost their way in their own world….” Zach froze. “Lost their way?” Puck and Bunny both nodded “Yup! But you don’t have to worry about anything that hurt you in your previous world, we’ll protect you from anything. Including the dragon.” Puck beamed fiercely. “After all, we’re friends!” Zach was shocked. “Friends?” “Yeah of course! We’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
This was new to Zach, feeling wanted, needed, feeling like he could help other. He was silent for a few moments and could feel himself holding back, almost as if he couldn’t believe the words he heard. “If it’s help you need….then I’ll do what I can….” Both Puck and Bunny erupted in loud cheers before hugging Zach. “Hurray! Then all we have to do is go up the mountain tomorrow and face the dragon.” Bunny bounced around the room excitedly. Puck started serving the stew that was in the pot into three bowls and set them on the table. “Let’s make sure to eat up and rest up for tomorrow! We’ll leave at dawn.”
“Okay we should be all set, everyone ready to go?” The trio stood at the base of the mountain, it was a steep climb but they could see the cave’s opening from where they were standing. “So what’s the plan exactly?” Zach asked the two animals. “Well we thought if we go over and ask super nicely, the dragon will stop.” Bunny said as they started their ascent up the mountain.
They eventually made it to opening of the cave. As they got closer they could hear loud snores coming from inside of the cave. They walked closer until the stood at the entrance. Bits of burnt plants scattered the area and in the center of the cave was the dragon, fast asleep. “Hellooooooo! Wakey wakey!” The snores continued on. In a moment of courage, Zach walked past Bunny and Puck towards the dragon. He walked right up to the dragon before tapping it. “Hey! Wake up!” The dragon started to stir before waking up. “Woah how’d you guys make it here? I’m supposed to be the only one who can make it up here.” The dragon let out a loud yawn that let out a few small flames from his mouth.
“We’re here because you keep stealing from the village and keep ruining crops in the process.” Zach said as Bunny and Puck moved in closer. “Yeah! Zach is right! You keep messing things up!” Bunny said as she stepped forward to guard her friends. “Wait I’m sorry I didn’t mean to burn those crops, I was just so hungry and every time I sneeze or cough, my fire slips out a little.” Puck looked frustrated “A little? A little?! You singed a whole section of our pumpkin patch the time before last.”
“Ok look I’m really sorry. I just live up here on my own…and I get so hungry. It gets so lonely up here sometimes…..I don’t know how to farm and nothing grows up here anyways. I really am sorry, I didn’t think you guys would notice if I helped myself.” Tears started spilling from the dragon’s eyes. Zach turned to Bunny and Puck before huddling and speaking in murmurs. “Ok we have an idea that’ll benefit everyone. What about if you move into the village and start helping out on the farms? This’ll only work if you promise to get your fire under control. You’ll get to help out with the crops in exchange for them. How does that sound?”
The dragon suddenly ran up to the trio before lifting them all up into a bear hug. “Yippeeeee! I Drago the Dragon promise to never ever let my fire burn any of the crops ever again!” He set them down and the others introduced themselves. “Well Drago, it sounds like you’ll have a lot to learn. I’ll teach you everything I know so be ready!” Puck said with a big smile on his face. “You’d really do that for me?” Drago asked. “Of course what are friends for?”
They began their descent down the mountain and back into the village. Back at the house Bunny and Puck were giving Drago the tour around and explained all the different parts of the village. That evening after dinner, Puck and Bunny started getting ready to perform the ritual to send Zach back. “We can’t thank you enough Zach. We thought it’d be a lot harder to convince Drago here to start taking better care of things around here.” Drago laughed sheepishly “Sorry about that guys.” Zach smiled and was surprised at himself too. The version of himself wouldn’t have even had the motivation to listen to any of the things Bunny and Puck had told him. Something about this world brought out a softer and happier side to him. “Ready to go? All you’ll have to do is walk through and you’ll be back in your world.” Zach stood and hesitantly looked around. Could he really go back to how things were back in his world? Always sad, alone and miserable. “Uhhh Zach?” Bunny called out. “We can’t keep the gate open for too long. Bugs will start crawling through and I haven’t gotten to the part of the butterfly effect in the ancient text yet.” Puck said.
“What if I didn’t have to go back? Couldn’t I just stay here? Being here….it was the most fun I’ve had in a really long time.” Zach never asked anyone for much in his original world, but here he found himself almost wanting to be a bit selfish for himself. “What I’m trying to say is….If it’s okay….I want to stay. I want to stay here with you guys.” Bunny and Puck both jumped up excitedly before going over to Zach, wrapping him in a big hug. “Of course you can!! I don’t see why not! You’re our friend!” Bunny said as the portal closed up. In all the excitement, Drago picked the three of them up as they hugged. "This can be your home now Zach!" Puck said happily “We can all stay together! It’ll be so much fun!” They all laughed and Zach couldn’t help but notice that for once, he felt excited to see what the next day would have in store for him.
