My eye is on the clock. Waiting for the class to end. It’s the most boring class of the day, and I have something far more interesting that I could be doing.
Flying.
The professor says her closing words, and I grab my bag and dash out of the room. I have a meet up with friends in a few minutes, but I can take a break before that.
I head into the nearest bathroom, and close my eyes, muttering under my breath. I reopen my eyes, and suddenly I’m in the middle of a field. Time moves differently here. Here, a day will pass in a second back at home.
This place is a parallel world, identical to my home Earth, but different. The main difference is that it’s sparsely populated. The only people here are those who are born with the code to get in, and those who were given the code by friends. I am one of the former.
Another difference is that once you come to this world, your appearance and abilities are drastically different. In this world, I am no lowly human college student - I am a magnificent dragon. A small dragon, only about 8 feet tall, but a dragon still. I might be a bit pink and fluffy, but I am still a dragon.
Ok. I might not be a dragon. But I resemble a dragon and can fly. That’s the important bit. I can also breath electricity if I so choose. That’s pretty dragon-y.
I cringe, picturing myself having this argument with Maple. Maple is my friend. She left the boring Earth for good in favor of the empty and beautiful fantasy Earth.
She faked her death, and stays here permanently as a witch. Her own home, which she built herself, is some ways from where I have entered the world, but it is just a short flight away.
I take off from the field located where my classroom would be in the other world, and head North towards the witch’s hut.
I fly over thin forests and fields before landing in the field where the hut is centered. It’s the closest field to the swamp. Go a bit further North, and you reach the swamp. It’s huge. I’ve not been in it much, but I have flown over it.
“Ty!” my friend shouts.
“Jess!” I return the greeting.
She hugs me once I land, and starts rubbing my fur. I sigh, letting her pet me.
“Is this all I’m good for?” I lament. “To be a witch’s toy?”
“Oh don’t pretend you don’t like it.”
I involuntarily purr as she scratches under my chin.
She laughs, and doesn’t point out that I’d deliberately lowered my head for her to be able to reach.
“Would you like some tea?” she offers.
I nod, and follow her into her hut. She claims that she just likes it roomy in there, but I know that she modified her home so that I would be able to walk through it in this form.
I hadn’t needed much adjusting to crawling around on all fours, as when I’d first entered this realm, I was barely a toddler. Learning about this form at such a young age, flying was barely a hassle either. If anything, it was dealing with a measly 4 limbs in the boring Earth that was a struggle.
I sit on the floor next to the kitchen table, and wait as she pours hot water from a kettle into a cup and a bowl. She fetches teabags from the cabinet, and tosses one in her cup and 2 in my bowl. We wait, chatting idly as the flavor seeps in.
Finally, the witch snaps her fingers and the teabags disappear. I lap up my tea as she still waits for hers to cool.
“What are you doing after this?” She asks me.
“I’m going to be playing a game with some friends in the Boring World.” I explain.
“When?”
“A few minutes in Boring Time.” I don’t bother trying to convert the seconds into days. I never was good at math.
“Well that means we’ve got plenty of time here.” She smiles up at me, before taking a tentative sip of her tea.
Her aesthetic was far from witchy. She wore homemade clothes made up from animal pelts she’d caught herself. Sometimes she wore woven outfits from wool harvested from a nearby farm, but seemed overly dedicated to the hunter look. Even in summer, she often wore leather. And sadly, there was no witch’s hat atop her beautiful black hair.
We continued back and forth until all the tea was drunk before heading outside to the rolling fields. To the south, there were the sparse forests I’d flown over to get here. To the west, there was a distant village. To the east, there was a series of farms connected to a different village.
We sat not far from the hut, which sat upon a small hill, and watched the day go by.
“Oh!” Jess said, remembering something. “I have something for you.”
“What is it?” I asked as she reached into her pocket.
She pulled out a necklace with a twinkling diamond pendant. “This will allow you to return to the same location you were in the boring world no matter where you are in this world. You won’t have to fly back to where you were when you got here. When you say the words, you’ll just appear back wherever it was that you were. And when you come back here, you’ll appear wherever it was that you left off.”
“You finally found that.” I smiled. “I knew you were looking for something like that for a while. Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
I bowed my head to allow her to fasten it around my neck. It shined brighter briefly before disappearing.
“What shall we do now?” I asked, looking up at the beautiful clear evening sky.
“What do you mean?” She was repositioning herself so that she laid on her back to look up at the sky with me. “Can’t we just enjoy nature?”
“Of course.” I felt awkward. It appears I was implying something without meaning to.
“Was there anything in particular that was on your mind?” Jess asked.
“No.” I responded. Just whatever you wanted to do.
Time passed so quickly here. Though the aging process was massively slowed, the times I spent here were so brief from her perspective. Sometimes I debated staying here forever, but I still had a life back in the Boring World. I was getting an education. I had friends. Though I might be able to bring some of those friends here. Who knows?
It seemed like just seconds went by and the sky was already dark. Jess was curled up against me, softly snoring. I wrapped my tail around her to help keep her warm, and fell asleep as well.
I awoke to find myself inside the hut, light streaming in through the windows. Jess must’ve brought me in after waking up before me. She would’ve used magic, of course. Her tiny body wouldn’t be able to move me, especially without waking me.
“Are you going to stay, or are you going to go back? she asked.
[gonna do some retcon- one minute in boring world is one day in this world, not one second ok got it]
“I have to go back.” I say, feeling apologetic. “But I’ll be back in the evening.”
She sighed. “Go then. I’ll miss you, Ty.”
I nod, and mutter the words that bring me back to that bathroom. I head out, a bit wobbly on two feet, and soon arrive at the meeting place where I am to play a card game with my friends in the boring world.
I’m just going through the motions with them at this point. Don’t get me wrong, I love spending time with them, but it’s just not the same in this world. If only I could tell them.
The problem was that few people I told ever believed me. It’s something that is easy to prove, but few ever actually try to get there themselves. It’s then, when we are between games that I get an idea.
“Hey. You guys want to try something?” I suggest.
“Try what?” They question me.
“A tongue twister. It goes like this.” I say the code quickly, and immediately repeat it when I get back to the other world, so that I return before anyone even notices.
“Sounds boring.” Marie remarks.
“How about we all try to say it at the same time?” Rose suggests. “That might be fun.”
“I mean it’s not like it will take long.” Ryan says. “Let’s do it.”
“Fine,” says Marie.
Rose reaches out and grabs my hand and Ryan’s. Ryan gestures to Marie, and she reluctantly holds his hand.
“What is the point of this?” Marie asks.
“Fun.” Rose smiles. “Now on the count of three… one! Two! Three!”
We recite the code in near unison, and appear just above the ground in the other world.
