Chapter 1

Larry

It was the first day at my new school. 

Little did I know that it would end up much different than any other first day.

I woke up this morning and saw the sun peeking through the small holes in the curtain. I stretched my back and got out of bed.

I picked up my awesome gold sweater that I got for my fifteenth birthday. And I noticed a food stain here, a bit of dirt there . . . .  It’s dirty. Guess I’ll have to go with the plain gray one. Oh well. 

Down in the kitchen, Mom was cooking my favorite breakfast. I could smell the spices in the eggs and the butter on the toast. Mmm-mmm! 

Maybe today I’ll actually eat it!!

I came down the stairs and gleefully cheered, exclaiming, “Mom! Dad! Harriet! Henry! Let’s eat!” 

I sat in a chair and so did Dad, Harriet and Henry. Mom served breakfast. Everybody got their favorite breakfast—except me. My breakfast went to my bratty little brother Henry.  I guess today is going to be one of those days.

I mean, like this seems to soon! A few weeks ago Harriet and Henry ripped my curtains! And for the past month or so I haven’t had any good breakfast!!

You see, ever since I had a stomach ache, my parents think I have this nonexistent stomach problem they call, “stomach-itis.” So, I had to eat bread and milk because Mom says it’s gen-tle. Cue the sigh. 

At least Dad isn’t a doctor, or he’d be poking and prodding. But thankfully my parents don’t know much about disease, as you probably can see after the “stomach-itis” incident. So neither of them, thankfully, would actually get into medical school!

School. Not my favorite. Especially when it’s your first day. 

And any sense of  “casual misery” shouldn’t be there. I just am kind of cheery!

I walked into the classroom, unhappily. 

I definitely felt better after I saw Mr. King sitting on the desk like a cool teacher. 

“Wassup!” he exclaimed happily.

Finally! A cool teacher!

We learned the standard biology stuff. 

Not as boring as I expected! 

Mr. King’s science class was pretty good! It was fun. Guess today won’t be such a bummer!

Also, there was this girl! 

I thought, Michelle. How am I gonna impress her?

She had this radiance, almost like a glow. that I had never seen on anybody before. I thought I saw her eyes show a flicker of turquoise light.

She sat only two desks over, but I wasn’t ready to talk yet.

Hmmm…. How? Humor? Style? 

Way back when, when I was at my old school, I was popular among the boys, not what they call, “a ladies’ man,” so this was new for me. I wanted to practice before  

I just hoped for the best. 

Heh, heh.

* * *

The next day, I got dressed, thinking of ways to impress Michelle. Now that my AWESOME gold sweater was clean, I wore it, and I decided that I would try to use both humor and style! And just small talk, which I thought would help me gain popularity and that kinda stuff.

Harriet and Henry were fiddling with my clothes. They put in and took out pins to make holes, peeking through the button holes, and other weird games in my wardrobe. I didn’t know what was going on, which led me to just ignoring them, not knowing it would create a big change in my life.

I got to school, and Mr. King’s class was the perfect way to get some humor. He’s a funny guy, so maybe I could exploit that. 

In the middle of class, when Michelle was about to turn in her paper, she asked, “If he’s sitting on the desk, where’s he gonna put our papers?”

I was about to use a punch line, but some childish kid thought of something.

“Under his butt, of course! Hahahahaha!” he happily shouted.

But thanks to my quick thinking, I was able to still use my punch line!

I declared, “He’s wrong! Mr. King’s gonna put it in the chair, of course!” 

Everyone giggled.

Later, in recess, Michelle and I conversed.

Just a bunch of small talk that went something like:

“What’s your favorite food?” I asked.

“I like tacos!”

“Me too!” I said.

Or something like that. *chuckles*

When I got home, I got a text from Michelle. We had exchanged phone numbers during recess. The text message said,

“Heya! Come over to a dinner at Antonio’s bar and grill 8pm today!”

I simply had no choice but to agree. I answered,

“Sure! I’ll be at Antonio’s bar and grill at 8pm tonight.”

At 8pm, I was wearing a fancier shirt and blazer, not noticing anything wrong about it.

But when we were eating and talking, Michelle noticed I had a hole in my blazer, which was probably from what happened earlier this morning. 

So, she dumped me by saying, “Eww! I’m leaving. I don’t want to see you anymore!”

But when I grabbed her shoulder to try to get her to come back, she took a large mirror with fancy gold dragons breathing ruby flames, bronze knights with diamond swords, and silver eagles and steeds, imbued with emeralds. The mirror looked almost fluid. It seemed as though she was trying to whack me with it, but I passed through it. I fell in a rainforest, with a green frog-like furry creature sitting on a banana leaf, watching me. I couldn’t understand.

I looked around myself, seeing little bugs scurrying around, and families of that same little froggy furry creature. The one watching me hugged me, and I knew it thought I was its mother. I rashly decided to keep it as a pet, naming it Furrog.

As I looked around, and saw that same mirror, I finally realized what was going on.

The mirror was a portal. 

And I was in an unknown realm.

Chapter Two

Arla

It was a normal day. I woke up with my friends, and had a small breakfast of oatmeal and eggs. It’s hard being poor. At least I have friends to keep me company.

I once was royalty, but I was banished. 

How it happened is a long story.

Basically, I was the old ruler Ialstoy’s granddaughter, a middle child of Duffaren and Helenara, prince and princess of Bordziland. They didn’t like me, because my twin brother and I were against Ialstoy’s villanous ways.

I conversed with my two best friends: Gorina, a ninja, and Angros, who is descended from the great Korlos clan. He’s only poor like me because the Korlos clan were enemies of Helenara, my mother.

I had few friends until I was 16. Well, I knew my twin brother, Tirino, before we were banished at the age of eleven. We were the best of the best of friends. But, sadly, we were banished to opposite corners of Bordziland, threatened to be pushed into the void that surrounds Bordziland, a diverse floating island. 

After Tirino and I separated, I was lost. I only met Gorina and Angros when I was sixteen, and in between eleven and sixteen, I was friendless. 

Those five years were not the happiest. I lived alone in the grassland between the ages 11 and 13, then I joined the army, led by Crayton. It was boring. I wasn’t in any intellectual position, nor in a major war of wizardry position. Eventually, Crayton and Ialstoy both lost and both Crayton’s residence and Ialstoy’s castle were destroyed. No one knows what became of them. Then, I met Gorina and Angros in the army, and the three of us have been friends ever since.

We went into the rainforest to find food, as it is resource rich. We found wild berries and hunted some rabbits. We sat in a clearing to eat our snack.

Angros collected firewood, and Gorina and I got the food. We started a fire and cooked the rabbits and ate the wildberries. We then ate the rabbits. 

“Let’s have a treat!” Gorina said. 

“Bananas! Let’s go to the big banana tree,” I exclaimed.

So we went, and along the way we heard some speech. 

Angros was the first to hear it. He told us, “That sound sounds like speech. If we’re ever gonna follow in the footsteps of Crayton, then we might as well see if the wild man who made that sound could be the first member of your army, Arla.”

I thought it was a good idea.

We walked into the clearing, looking for a wild man, something like Angros, as he was our only reference. 

But when we saw the boy, he didn’t look anything like Angros.

Instead of shorts or a loincloth, he had navy blue fancy woven pants, instead of a fur or a hide, he had a suit that noble men would wear to a ball, and instead of a bone or stone necklace, he had a sort of four-sided striped thing that was tied around his neck.

“Uhhh.  .  .  .   Hi,” we all said in unison, confusedly.

We would soon know that this boy was not from Bordziland, but from somewhere called Erth. Or is it Earth? I can never get it right. 

*sigh* 

Chapter Three

Larry

The girl that stood in front of me was . . . interesting.

In the forest, I was kind of curious. I wanted to know who this girl was.

“Who are you?” I asked her.

“I’m Arla, and uhh who are YOU?” she said to me, in a serious way, as though she was readying her axe.

Yeah, she had an axe, which was . . uhh  . . concerning. If I angered her, she could destroy me in an instant, because she, well, had an AXE and I was unarmed, and she had huge muscles. 

She also had a yellow beak, brown and tan feathers, and large wings.

She was an eagle girl.

“I’m Larry,” I answered politely.

I needed to be polite, ‘cause this Arla girl had two friends, one of which was a ninja with all black clothing and mask, and the other one was HUGE.

He looked like a bodybuilder, and he was really tall, muscles rippling.

He was super intimidating, because he also had a big sword in its sheath.

“So why are you in the FOREST?” Big Sword bellowed.

“You look like some sort of royalty,” the ninja said, confused.

Royalty? Royalty!? Why would I be royalty? I’m not ROYALTY!!! I thought.

But then, these people are wearing LOIN CLOTHS.

“Maybe you’re from where the void ends!” Arla suggested.

“What’s the void?!” I asked. 

“Ah, you don’t know what the void is.” Arla explained, “Bordziland is a floating island, and the rest is the void.”

“I’m from Earth. I need to go back home!! And I’m not royalty,” I shouted. 

They readied their weapons, holding shuriken, swords, and axes. I was scared to death.

Sometimes my anger or worry becomes more powerful than my cheeriness. I hope I don’t anger them too much.

“Sorry, just, dude, I need help.” My cheeriness came back. They put back their weapons. Phew!

“Look, we trust you because we’re almost sure that you are a good person. Our ninja friend is also a sorceress. She used spells to detect it, and we think we can trust you. Plus we’re confident that we could beat you if you tried to rebel.”

Arla said.

 “But what’s Erth? I’ve never heard of it.”

So I’m in Bordziland, and I don’t know how to get out. I’m kinda cooked, I thought. 

“Seems like you need help,” Arla began. “We need help fixing our kingdom. My grandfather broke it.”

I didn’t want to ask whether her grandpa was a villain, but she told me he was.

Arla continued, “If you’re not royalty, then your kingdom ‘Erth’ must be really rich. We need help fixing our kingdom, and if we can make contact between Erth and Bordziland, that would be great. Also, the forest is dangerous. Let’s talk at my house.”

“And also,” I began, “Earth could use some help with famine and war and hunger and stuff like that.”

* * *

Arla’s house wasn’t a house. 

It was a tent. 

Although only made from animal skin and tree trunks, it was spacious, but not too cozy.

I was honestly scared that the tent would collapse, and I would be injured.

But, it seemed as though Arla and her friends were happy here.

Guess I’ll be living here for a while. 

“So we need to find a way to make contact between Earth and Bordziland.” I confirmed. “It will help both of us.”

“Sure. How do we do that?” Arla asked.

“I don’t know. Wait. How are you speaking English?” I wondered out loud. “And why are you doing this?” I asked.

I wasn’t sure if I should trust Arla, but I didn’t have another choice.

“You know why. We are desperate to fix our kingdom. Looks like this Erth has some problems too. We could really help each other.”

“Ok. But really, how are you speaking English?”

“What do you mean? I’m only speaking what I have spoken my whole life.”

“I only speak English, but we can understand each other. How is it possible that you are speaking English?”

“I don’t know.”

Life with her was okay.

Most of the time we were just trying to brainstorm ways to find how to make contact with Earth and Bordziland. It didn’t really work.

I was just trying to get home!!!

I was starting to freak out. 

How am I going to get home?!

Chapter Four

Arla

I felt bad.

The situation I am in right now and have been is not good. At all.

I was getting really desperate.  

I really wanted a closer friend. I mean, Angros and Gorina were friends, but nothing like Tirino. 

Larry was almost like Tirino.

This is why I truly wanted to be with him. It’s not because of any sort of magic of detecting evil or something like that, but because I wanted, and almost needed, a friend like Tirino. Or even something more.

I smiled as I thought this.

And then I frowned looking at how poorly I was living.

Life went on for days, Larry and I growing closer each minute.

Life was pretty happy, but he needed to get back home, and we needed to make contact between Earth and Bordziland.

And then our life changed.

Ialstoy and his army were at our door.

“How is this possible!!! I thought Crayton defeated you!” I screamed.

“Ah, but I have found my way out of wandering! I must take vengeance upon you, Crayton’s successor! Then I shall take Bordziland, which is rightfully mine!” Ialstoy declared.

“Is this your grandfather?!” Larry called out.

“Yeah. Why?” I quickly asked, making sure to be ready for Ialstoy and his army.

I rashly thought to go and attack, my over-confidence getting to the better of me.

“He looks young!” Larry answered.

“It’s because of restoration abilities!” I told him.

“Magic is real?”

“No! Magic is what everyone uses to explain what they don’t know! What he does is he spends his power for restoration, which makes me think we can beat him!!!”

“Yeah, I guess!”

Larry seemed surprised. Maybe you can’t spend power for restoration on this Erth that he’s from.

Ialstoy came up to us.

“Charge!!” he and his army shouted. 

“I need a weapon!!” Larry told me. I threw him a bow and arrow.

The battle was about to begin.

Larry seemed confused. I learned from him that he never used a weapon.

“How do I use this???” he asked, confused.

“Use the bow to put the arrow in the other guy!” I told him.

He tried to use it, but he seemed stressed because we were outnumbered.

However, Ialstoy’s army was not too big.

He couldn’t make an army too big. Turns out it’s only 100 evil, weak men. I thought.

He wanted to flee.

I started to not like him as much, because he apparently was not brave.

Chapter Five

Larry

I tried to flee to the woods, and use the technique that the Americans in the Revolution used:

Hide and Attack.

Arla ran after me.

“What are you doing? Why are you being so cowardly?!” she asked me.

“I’m not trying to be cowardly!” I exclaimed, “I’m just being smart.”

“What do you mean?” Arla asked me.

Ialstoy ran towards Angros and Gorina. I shot his armor, hurting him slightly. Not the best aim, but it did the job of showing Arla what I mean. I then walked to a different part of the woods.

“You are smart! That’s a good idea!!” said Arla, in almost an admiring tone.

Now I think I definitely want to be “something more with Arla.”

We continued it and defeated Ialstoy’s army.

I couldn’t help asking Ialstoy, “Why did you become bad? Why couldn’t you have faced your greed and be free? Yes, my world Earth has problems, but some of us worked together. Even I’m not rich, but I am able to have fancy clothes and good food.”

“Ah, but you might be lying!” Ialstoy countered.

He tried to attack us, but Angros immediately threw him down.

“Trust me, I’m not rich. Again, I can still have nice clothes and—”

Ialstoy looked at me happily. He said, “I shall reform.”

I felt happy.

I walked down and Gorina tried to let Ialstoy heal. Angros made sure to attack Ialstoy if he were to try to fight us.

But later that day, Arla called to me, “Someone wants to see you.”

We opened the flap of animal skin that was our door.

“Michelle?!” I screamed, surprised, but Arla angrily screamed, “Mother?! Father?!”

I readied my bow, and Arla readied her axe. 

“Lower your weapons. Arla, I am indeed Helenara, your mother, and I am indeed Michelle. But Duffaren and I are not Bordzilandite royalty, but we are primordial sorcerers, some of the first sentient beings.” She handed us big green emeralds.

“Use these,” she commanded us, “and heal Bordziland and Earth once and for all.”

She gave us a portal, that same butterfly-net-like portal, and we stepped in. But once we were on Earth, the emeralds began to release some sort of  . . . thing. 

It shot me and I went unconscious.

…to be continued.