Mallory & Oliver - Part 3

So maybe, just maybe, Oliver and I did not make a good team. Clearly neither of us had the good sense to stop and think through grabbing strange keys to other worlds, because we'd just done it again!

Although this time there was no white light before I passed out. And none when I opened my eyes. Instead, there was an eerie kind of glow as if a green light was on but muted. It was kind of hard to see.

Two groans sounded off at the same time, pulling my attention to the left. Wait, why were there two groans?

Despite the weird green haze, I could see the outline of two distinct figures. Oliver and...Tae. He must have hitched a ride when he grabbed my arm. Huh, I'd file that gem away for later as I needed to focus on where we ended up. I doubted luck would be on our side twice.

"Wow, we really need to stop doing that," Oliver mumbled as he swiped his hand down the front of his face, moving to sit up.

"Yeah, we really do," I agreed. "And this time we brought a straggler."

Oliver startled, just now realizing that Tae was with us. Geez, sometimes he was a little slow on the uptake.

Tae had already climbed to his feet and was brushing himself off. I guess we had landed in a dusty kind of pit. Or cave? The lighting was really messing with my brain.

"Tae, do you have any idea where we are?" I was really hoping his answer was yes.

"I do," he replied calmly. "It seems we've arrived in the Forsaken Realm."

Well that sounded promising.

"I don't want to startle you, but I plan to change into my fox form. I can get a better sense of our surroundings that way. I also need to disrobe so that I have clothes to change into later."

I just stared at Tae, trying very hard not to think of him naked. I swallowed hard. Bad Mallory.

Clearing his throat loudly, Oliver grabbed my arm and turned me around, "We'll just give you some privacy then." He gave me a death glare, clearly seeing where my thoughts had gone. My cheeks heated at the reprimand in his voice.

You may turn back now.

Tae's voice in my head had me spinning around to face him. His fox form truly was magnificent.

I'm going to scout around a bit. You two should probably remain hidden here for now. Especially since Amanie's eyes are still glowing. She stands out too much.

And with that, he took off.

"Do you think he's coming back?" Oliver huffed out, seeming genuinely unsure of the answer.

"Well, Tae hasn't given us any reason to doubt him so far, has he?" I snapped back, then immediately cringed. "Sorry, that was a little harsh."

I'd been making too many rash decisions in the last day and feeling unlike myself. That coupled with the fantastical situation we found ourselves in was making me feel off balance and defensive.

Oliver caught the strain in my voice and turned to look at me. His eyes searching mine, but for what I wasn't sure. He moved closer until his breathe fanned against my face. My heartbeat picked up at his proximity. He wasn't going to try to kiss me again, was he? I automatically stiffened as his palm came up to rest on my cheek. Did I want him to kiss me?

Before I could wrestle through that answer, he leaned forward and kissed my forehead then released me altogether.

"Uh, what was that for?" I said a little breathlessly.

"Oh, just showing you a little kindness," Oliver replied. "I know I'm not the only one having a hard day, and I'm sorry if I've been extra difficult. I figured I'd try to unearth those rich-boy manners like someone suggested." His cheeky grin lit up his face.

Wow. He was quite handsome when he wasn't insulting me. And now I was remembering our kiss again.

First, I couldn't stop drooling over Tae and now I was noticing Oliver. My libido needed a cold shower. I was on some key-grabbing, world-hopping adventure and didn't have time to go boy crazy!

I needed to regain control of this situation and that started with finding out some answers.

"So, do you think we're just in a different area of the same world or in a new one altogether?" I mused out loud.

Oliver seemed to seriously consider this for a moment before shrugging his shoulders and replying, "I think we're in the same world, but a different area."

"Yeah, I think so too," I agreed, turning around in a slow circle, taking in all that I could with the limited lighting.

Unfortunately, there really wasn't much to see. The green hazy light reached every part of the cave-like room we were in, but it only revealed dark, rock walls. Other than the narrow pathway Tae left from, there were no other exits. No plants, animals, water. Nothing.

Why would that key bring us here?

I wonder if–

Oliver's cry of alarm and grunt of pain had me spinning back around and crouching low. I was conditioned to being on the defensive and getting myself out of tight jams, but what I saw stunned me into inaction. I just froze.

Three insanely large wolves had slunk in undetected. Two of them were now holding Oliver on the ground, face down. Their large paws tipped with wicked claws digging into his skin. Blood dripped from his forehead where he must have taken the brunt of the fall.

The remaining wolf was slowly making its way over to me, herding me back against the wall. I knew I couldn't let that happen. My eyes darted around, trying desperately to find a way out of this mess.

Be calm, Amanie. His voice echoed in my head with a slight snarl, snapping my attention back to him.

"You're holding my friend down. Why would I be calm?" I gritted out. Then the realization of what he just called me sunk in, "Wait, you know me?"

We all know of you.

"How?"

His wolf grinned. The look was seriously creepy.

Stand down, Braun. No one needs your drama today.

All eyes swung to the massive fox frame looming in the entrance of the tunnel.

Tae was back.

Hopefully he could diffuse this situation with all of their heads remaining in place.

Well, well, if it isn't Thee 'self-righteous' Akatae. Slumming it here in the Forsaken Realm, aren't we? Braun sneered. I'm surprised you were allowed free entry and not detained after your last trip here.

Tae looked slightly embarrassed at that assessment and said nothing for a solid, awkward minute. What the hell?

Seemingly emboldened by Tae's lack of response, Braun stalked over to stand right in front of him. His posturing looked like a challenge. This was getting interesting.

Nothing to say, then? No condescending bits of wisdom, hmmm? Braun continued to needle.

Enough! Tae roared, startling us all with the force of it, my brain rattling a little.

Wow, this must've been a really sensitive subject for him. I definitely wanted to know all about it now. He constantly seemed so poised and collected.

What skeletons did Tae have in his closet?

Unfortunately I'd become too caught up in this dramafest and apparently so had Braun's two companions as my eye caught on Oliver sneaking away down the tunnel and disappearing from sight.

He was leaving us? Or me specifically as Tae could take care of this mess himself. He was such an ass!

I couldn't let him sneak away though. Who knew what kind of trouble he could get into out there. Oliver was my responsibility regardless of his personality.

I started slowly edging my way around to the tunnel exit while trying to keep my eye on the rapidly escalating situation between Tae and the wolves.

I was only a few feet away from making my getaway when raised voices stopped me. Well, it was loud in my head at least. Otherwise, the cave was just full of heavy breathing.

Weird.

But I did not have time to dwell on all the crazy crap I'd encountered since we grabbed that first key.

A quick glance assured me that the male macho showdown was still going on, so I turned back to the tunnel and hurried after rich boy.

The tunnel system was surprisingly easy to navigate, and I quickly found myself dumped out into an utterly shocking landscape. I froze, unable to look away. It took me a moment to even process what I was seeing.

Well, huh. The green glow made a lot more sense now.

The scene before me was such a mind-scramble that I had already caught up to Oliver, who was standing two feet in front of the entrance with his mouth gaping open, eyes like saucers. So much for a sneaky get-away.

As I silently snuck up next to my world-jumping sidekick, he finally noticed me and leapt away in fright, squealing at a deafening pitch. His momentum threw him backwards causing his feet to stumble on the rocky terrain and fall directly into a deep pool of mud.

At his expression of sheer horror, I threw my head back and laughed until tears streamed down my face. My giggles soon turned to hiccups, and I had to bend down with my hands on my knees to try to calm myself. Okay, deep breaths.

As much as that cleared up some of the tension in me, it was time to get serious and figure out where in the name of all things holy that we'd landed. I arched my back and stood slowly, then shook out my arms and bounced on my toes a little.

Done with my little self pep talk, I glanced back over to see how Oliver was faring. He was still in the same spot and staring right at me, clearly not amused.

With brown goop clinging to half his body, Oliver clenched his teeth and gritted out, "If you are quite done laughing at me and giving yourself a pep talk, maybe you could help me out of this mess?"

The embarrassment etched into his bright red face almost had me breaking down into giggles again, but I put my big-girl pants on, wiped the last of my tears, and bent down to offer him my hand. I was so mature.

He grabbed hold of me with a surprisingly sure grip, and pulled himself up while I did my best to brace myself. The mud reluctantly gave him up, little by little, squelching and clinging to his large frame. It was as if the mud hole was trying to eat him.

I pulled with all my might while Oliver frantically tried to yank himself free, until he finally released with a loud POP.

Yay for small victories–too bad it had him flying right at me. With no time to move, his body slammed into mine, and we landed with a hard thud.

I guess this was payback for laughing at his expense just minutes before as now his muddy leg was smeared up all over my face, and his crotch was just inches from my left eye.

And to make my humiliation umpteen times worse, Tae and the wolves arrived on the scene just at that moment. I was sorely tempted to crawl over to that mud hole and let it swallow me up.

When he made no move to get off of me, Tae cleared his foxy throat, and I punched Oliver in the ass cheek.

Hey, it was all I could reach. He hastily scrambled to get away from me, and I sighed in relief at the weight off my chest–he was kind of heavy.

Oliver, you can have my clothing for now as I don't plan on changing back into my other form anytime soon, Tae offered.

Well, that was sweet of him.

Braun scoffed loudly, Of course you brought clothing with you, you uptight prude. We don't have any reason to be shy around here. And with that, Braun transformed into his human looking form. And so did the other two wolves.

Apparently I was a bit of a prude, and the sight of all that man flesh had me quickly slapping my hands over my eyes.

Ow! I slapped a little too hard.

Though no amount of self-inflicted harm was going to erase those tantalizing images I caught a glimpse of–a girl can dream.

A few miles of walking in the desolate, hellish landscape had a way of sucking all the joy out of the little bit of fun I'd just had. Although Tae had convinced Braun, Territ and Vink–yeah, his name rhymed with fink and I couldn't stop cracking a smile whenever anyone said it–to put the clothes on they had stashed outside the cave entrance.

I think they proved their point of not caring about modesty, and couldn't justify walking around this wasteland naked, so it didn't take much to get them dressed.

Tae had given his clothing to Oliver as promised, so he was still in fox form.

I glanced down at the muddy sludge smeared across my shirt, and sighed. I really liked this top. It had been in one of my storage locker clean-outs a few months ago, and I hadn't been able to part with it even though I would have made good money from the sale. It was some designer label, and now it was ruined.

But dwelling on it wasn't going to change anything. I needed to focus. Tae had told Oliver and I that we would travel to the nearest village to get something to eat and rest. I needed to just keep on going until we made it there.

It was such ugly and depressing scenery that time passed slowly, unlike the trek that took us to Tae's home. Where there had been so much light and color and beauty, here there was gray or muddy brown dust and rocks every direction with a green tint to the constantly overcast sky. It was how I imagined Earth would look after a nuclear fallout.

Everyone had fallen silent as we trudged along in a single file line. The area we were in now had a small path that cut through a field of never-ending rocks and boulders.

I was so close to whining, How much further? but managed to clamp my mouth shut. Small victories.

After another hour or so, we finally crossed over a rocky ridge to come out upon a dry, dusty clearing. Straight ahead was what appeared to be the village? Town? It was hard to tell from this distance as the green overcast glow was starting to dim making it more difficult to see.

I turned to Oliver on my left, about to check in with him, when Tae's voice in my head stopped me short.

Amanie, when did you get a new blouse?

Huh?

Looking down at my ruined shirt, I realized it was no longer muddy. In fact, it looked better than when I found it in the first place. Maybe I was in a coma or something. Nothing here made sense.

You are so dense. She must have Synthesized it. Her eyes have been glowing since you first arrived, Braun said, rolling his eyes like everything he was saying was so obvious.

Yes, of course. You must be starting to manifest your powers, Tae responded. You're a Synthesizer just like your mother.

"A Synthesizer, like a keyboard from the '80's?" I deadpanned.

Oliver chuckled a little, but I think it was just to humor me. My amazing wit was lost on this foreign audience.

Uh, I'm not sure what that is exactly, but it means that you can fabricate or synthesize clothing. You simply need to imagine it, and you can will it into reality, Tae helpfully clarified.

I can make....clothes, and shoes, and purses and, "Wait, can I only make them for myself? And what about shoes and accessories?" These were all very important questions that I needed the answers to immediately.

"Oh, and will these powers go back with me to Earth?" That might have been the most important question of all.

All of the men had stopped and were staring at me as if I'd grown three heads.

I guess I was bouncing up and down on my toes and clasping my hands like a kid waiting for candy. Whatever.

The wolves shuffled their feet and looked away, clearly not wanting to answer. Tae looked noticeably tense.

"So..." I said with much less enthusiasm, letting my voice trail off. Something wasn't right.

Uh, so, it seems that we haven't gotten to that conversation yet. Um, you see... And Tae just stopped talking.

What the what?

I looked over at Oliver to see if he had any clue what was going on. He was no where in sight.

How did he keep disappearing?

I didn't have a chance to go after him because my head snapped back to Tae as he uttered the words that would change everything.

You can't return to Earth again, Amanie. Your place is here now.

My heart stalled, and my ears started ringing. Was he saying what I think he was saying? I couldn't process his words.

Noticing my distress, Tae moved closer and nuzzled my side.

I'm sorry, but you and Oliver are here to stay.

My breath whooshed out and all I could think to say was, "Oh," before passing out cold.

Stay tuned for part 4!