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My sister and I paused in the doorway, breathing heavily. I wiped away the drip of sweat that fell down my face as I looked around.
We were in a cavern and the air in here wasn’t stale or musty. In fact, there was a mild breeze flowing around the space that had to be coming in from somewhere outside.
I inhaled, filling my lungs before exhaling, coughing up what seemed like tons of grit. Spitting it from my mouth, I took in several more breaths.
Fresh air. Hopefully clean, drinkable water. A place easy to defend from predators. For tonight, the rest wouldn't matter. Not until we got some sleep.
Light flared up in the middle of the room, illuminating the man. He grunted and pointed at multiple points around the room we now were in.
I regarded a small trickle of liquid that led to a smaller indentation in the back of the room. The green glean from the rocks around it told me it wasn't safe to drink. It flowed into an crevice in the wall which had a low-lying ceiling. As long as we stayed upstream of that point, it would be a good place to use as a latrine.
I glanced over at the old man once again, realizing that numerous boulders with flat surfaces were positioned around what appeared to be a well-used fire pit.
We stumbled in and sank down next to one of the boulders, shrugging off our backpacks. I placed mine behind my back, using it as padding for the rock I leaned against.
The man looked up to check on us while feeding some kind of thin grasses into the spark, creating a tiny blaze. He placed larger twigs in a pile near it, using them to build up the flame. After putting some larger logs around the outside of the fire, he moved over to the side of the cave and got out a wire grid. He brought it over and carefully balanced it over the heat to use as a cooking rack.
I realized this was a rustic but functional setup he had. I had a small stove that I could use, but I was too tired to look for it. Besides, I didn’t want to use technology that might be beyond what he knew. That was a huge no-no when visiting worlds that might not be as advance as Earth.
He put on a pot and poured some liquid into it before holding up the pouch he used. “Water?”
Lexi nodded, reaching out with one hand. He gave it to her, and she fumbled to find her cup, pouring some into it. I did the same and took a sip. It was both odorless and without flavor, so I suspected it didn't contain anything that might make us sick. We had pills for that, but I didn't want to use up our resources on the first day.
I raised an eyebrow, gazing at my sister. “Time?” I kept my voice low, hoping the man wouldn't hear.
She studied her watch, the seconds ticking down on her timer she had set for this journey. “We have been here only four hours. We have a long time to go here, Soren. If we were on Earth, it would still be about fifty-six more.”
I groaned.
The man glanced up, the intelligence in his eyes clear. “Why?”
And… We hadn't been quiet enough. I inhaled, wondering how much to tell the man. Lexi took the decision out of my hands.
“We are trying to even the stakes. You see, our mates are older than us by five years. Right now, both of us are too young to fully mate with them, even though they are our true mates. By the time we return from here, we should be the same age as them, since five years here translates to only a few days on our planet.”
The man gave her a sharp nod of understanding, pushing back away from the fire. He dug through some pieces of cloth before pulling out an enormous book.
It was old and weathered, much larger than most books we had seen. Well, except for some within the coven’s library. The man opened it, flipping through the pages. He finally stopped, finding what he was searching for. Reading the page for a minute, he then looked up at us.
“Earth?”
We nodded.
“My anhtrai,” He made hopping movements with two fingers. “Earth.”
I frowned. “Someone hopped there?”
He rolled his eyes. “Anhtrai.” He patted his chest over his heart.
Lexi started throwing out names, pausing between each one to wait for a response. “Mother? Father? Sister? Brother?”
The man pointed at her, his head bobbing up and down.
“Your brother went to Earth?”
He nodded again before pointing at himself. “Universa.”
I gave him an uncertain look. “Your name is Universa?”
