Page 118 of The Wishing Game

"Great," I mumble.

In less than a minute, Ze makes his appearance in the room carrying a stack of books. He drops them onto the kitchen table with a thud.

"I took everything that might be of help to us. Maps, botany books, and some history tomes."

"There's just one issue," I point out as I pick up one of the books. "We don't speak this... language."

The letters look like hieroglyphs. The maps, too, are not designed in the way a map would be in my world. Everything is foreign and strange, and tears of frustration stab at the back of my eyes.

My hands tremble as I put the book down, and with a startling realization, I note that I may be close to my boiling point.

From the start of the game, everything has happened so fast, I've barely had time to grasp all the strange events leading up to this. But this goes beyond just the game. It all started with the accident, after which I became semi-numb to reality. Maybe if I weren't so desperate for any modicum of hope, I would have never entertained the thought that other worlds might exist—that there might be other species out there.

But because I was so devastated by Nikki's loss, I was able to push aside the rational part of my brain and give in to theirrational.

Yet now that it's slowly catching up with me, I can't help but wonder.

What the hell did I get myself into?

From demons, fox people, gods, and other strange beings to toxic worlds and other hellish dimensions, I've barely had a moment to catch my breath. And now? If we don't get these plants in time, I'm going to die.

I swallow hard, closing my eyes as I try to get a hold of myself.

Inhale. Exhale.

My heart is pounding in my chest, my anxiety poking its head at the most inopportune moment. Reality dims until all I can hear is my erratic pulse.

"You may not, but Cerenios and I do," Ze replies with a huff.

I take a deep breath, holding onto his voice as I attempt to hold onto my sanity.

"It's part of their military training," Thea whispers.

My eyes flare up with renewed hope just as I succeed in calming myself.

"You do?" I squeak, all but jumping out of my chair. "Then what should we do first? Where to?"

I don't say, however, what I'm really thinking—we have todosomething before I become a slave to my emotions and dangerous thoughts again.I force a smile on my face so they don't see the turmoil inside of me. The less time I have to overthink, the better.

Cer spreads out a map on the table, pressing the palms of his hands onto the edges to hold it in place. The illustration is nothing like the high-resolution maps you can find in my world. The design is more antiquated, with mountains depicted by raised peaks, water by wavy lines, and other elements in a basic composition that reminds me of ancient parchment maps.

"We're here." Cer points to a spot on the far right of the map. There are drawings of trees all around, indicating a large forest.

"The host said P'davi is an intermediary realm. What exactly is that?"

"It is a buffer zone between worlds. These realms were specifically created to avoid conflicts," Ze replies. "It is why their atmosphere is poisonous for all who trespass, so that it would prevent the imperialistic ambitions of certain worlds."

"But how come there were other species inmyworld? Like the foxes? Or the other furred people?" And how the hell do humans not know about their existence? How are we coexisting with such different species without realizing it?

Ze's lips flatten in displeasure.

"There was a Great Migration some thousands of years ago when the intermediary realms were weakened. Worlds meshed together and people were separated from their families. Back then, the inhabitants of Alopea, the fox realm, originally could only maintain their humanoid form for a brief period of time. But after the Great Migration, they adapted to living longer in their humanoid skins in order to avoid detection by humans. It is the same for other species that made Anthropa—your world—their home as well. They can pass as human, but they arenothuman. You will notice that others prefer their non-humanoid form in this game, and that is because they are endemic to a different world," Ze explains.

"That's a lot to take in," I swallow.

"There is more to it that I will not get into at the moment, but the aim of intermediary realms is to keep individual worlds at peace and independent. The only beings who can traipse freely are deities."

"What about demons, then? They are able to move between worlds too, are they not?"

---