The second we entered the portal, we then emerged to another place in mid air falling so hard on a fire making a thud. Reece and I hurried to get away from the fire as we felt we were about to be turned into a barbecue.
Luckily while we were trying to kill the fire that was already burning on us, somebody helped to extinguish it with water. We sighed in relief before looking around us to see where we had landed.
"Reece!" The familiar voice of Reecer called out in excitement as she rattled her hocks to give her brother a bone breaker hug. "Hmmm! You're finally here and safe," she said cupping her brother's sweaty cheeks.
"Hey sis. It's so good to see your face," he uttered awkwardly and an awkward smile. He let out a growl when Reecer continued squeezing the hell out of him.
"Steven," I heard the big guy, Pashina, calling me. I was happy seeing him, all of them again. "You're still alive and brought Reece back," he said, his face written in total joy.
"I'm surprised as you are that I'm still living," I responded sarcastically.
"I'm so glad you are not dead! Bring it in my bro!" He exclaimed, asking for a hug. No way in hell I'd let him hug me. That's a dead trap. He would turn me into a folded cardboard. Later we ended up embracing.
"It's fine now Pashina. You can let me down now," I told him and he released me from the embrace.
"You jackhole," I suddenly heard Reecer holler . I turned to her direction seeing it was Reece she was scolding. The boy raised his hand up in defect.
"I know. I know. You guys are here all because of me. I'm sorry and I accept all the blames," he said with sincerity. I wonder what made the boy suddenly change from an insane dickhead into an easy going introvert.
Pashina cleared his throat softly to get everyone's attention, but it didn't work at first because nobody heard him not until he made a loud sound that was when everyone turned to him.
"Thanks," he muttered beneath his breath. "So, uhh... so how do we get out of here?" He asked blindly,if anyone knew. He then gazed at me and asked, "Steven, you still have those decayed fruits with you? The dwarfs took me away." I shrugged because I have my own story to tell.
"I'm sorry, No. I couldn't find mine either after waking up in the dungeon," I explained and Pashina's face dropped. He turned to Reecer but she scoffed and Pashina nodded knowing what it meant.
"So now I guess there's no way back."
"We just have to find another way," I said and started digging into my pocket to retrieve something. "Maybe this might help," I revealed the map. There was chattering and murmuring amongst us.
"Is that a map?" Inquired Ember (fire) out of curiosity and I responded by head nodding.
"We found it in a library. I hope it holds the escape proof," I paused for a moment before proceeding. "I'm not very good with geography stuff. So, does anyone here know about mapping?" I asked, waving my right hand. No one seemed to know it either when none refused to raise their hand. I sighed in disappointment before dropping my hand down. "In the absence of no one knowing or expert in map studying. I guess we all have to do it together then," I said looking at their faces and I can see they were good on that term. "But we can't do that with a single map unless we will be shoving our heads into each other," I explained when someone raised her hand from behind. I spotted her and nodded for her to talk.
"I might be of help with that... duplicating the map," she said in a low and timid voice I could barely hear her. Hearing she could duplicate the map, I was happy so I handed her the map and she did her trick.
BOOM!
We have the total required map for each and everyone of us.
Pashina swiftly, like the wind , approached her with his silly expression.
"So humm, what's your name young maiden." I heard him ask her. I swear I could see the lady was almost diminished with shyness and burst with blush.
"Hala, it's Hala," she responded, timid as a mouse.
"Oh!" Pashina mouth making a sharp 'O' shape.
"So, Hala. Can you duplicate people as well... maybe by a touch of any trick?" He asked curiously and the former blushed.
"No. No. I just do that to non living things, but it works on me alone," she answered. I couldn't shift my attention from the two of them while they chatter like a lost fowl.
"It would have been great if you nickname as Dupli-kate," I heard Pashina say and that's when I cut in.
"You know that they have copyrighted the shit name, right? Trust me you don't want to be sued." I said while they both looked at me like I was speaking in another dialogue.
I sat at one corner away from the others, watching all of them communicate and laugh. It was like they had totally forgotten the problem we have. I know thinking about this whole thing would drive someone nuts.
Sometimes I wish all of these were just a bad dream I want to wake up from. I wanted to have my normal life back - which in case wasn't totally normal but better than living in a trapped nightmares.
I unfold the map in my hands to gaze through it hoping to comprehend a thing or two. And after some moments of looking, I folded back again and kept it inside my secure pocket before laying on my back and watching the moons - one white and another blood red - as they seemed to be margin into each other. It's a beautiful site seeing all of the things. I might have watched movies about fantasy and some strange stuff, but experiencing them myself is totally on a different level.
Sooner or later, we would find our way out of here.