Zora: The World Of The Dead

Chapter 2: The Uninvited

Jerry was scared out of his wits. How could he injure himself while he was asleep? He pondered over the fact and finally came to a conclusion that he fell off his bed and injured his nose.

Jerry switched on the light, washed his face and sat down on his bed with his book. His mind was not on the book though. The hooded man was haunting his mind. He shuddered at the thought of the dragon like creature pounding on his chest.

As he lay drowned in these thoughts, Jerry heard the rusle of leaves near his window. It was not the usual sound of wind brushing past. It distinctly sounded like someone was walking over them. Jerry sat up on his bed. He strained his ears. He knew someone was walking just outside his window. He had a special way of deducing things, courtesy, the huge number of Sherlock Holmes stories that he has read. The 'sound' made its way upto the next window and halted. Jerry was too scared to go near the  window and investigate after the harrowing dream he just had.

"Who is that? "

He heard the 'sound' move away from the window in a hurry. Just when he thought it was gone, the 'sound' reappeared visually.

A girl stood at the window. She looked like she must be around 15 or 16. She was very pretty, with long dark hair and she wore a strange dress which more or less, looked like a gown.

What is a pretty girl doing in my room at 4:00 am in the morning? Jerry wondered. He lost his fear as soon as he saw her.

"Who are you? "

"Hello Jerry..my name is Rachel. My greetings to you. Sorry to have disturbed you from your sleep Master Jerry. I apologise."

Rachel bowed down her head before Jerry.

Jerry stared at her in utter confusion. A sense of fear came over him too. How does she know my name? But then, he calmed down again on seeing her face as she gazed earnestly into Jerry's eyes. That was when Jerry noticed that Rachel had bright blue eyes, just like him.

"Hey...you have my same eyes. Wow! I am meeting someone with eyes similar to mine, for the first time. And boy! Am I glad. I thought I was the only one."

"You are one of millions with blue eyes master. But yet you are unique."

"Oh come on! Quit calling me master..My name is Jeremy..you can call me Jerry. By the way, did you say millions? "

"Yes Jerry. I have been assigned to take you somewhere..you are not safe here."

"I am not safe here? What do you mean? I am at my own house right now. I can't just leave my house and come with you..How can I even trust you?"

"The hooded man you encountered yesterday in your dream. He is a golloth. He managed to actually hurt you. They have come too close. We have to protect you."

"God almighty! How did you know about my dream? That is virtually impossible. Oh God! I must be dreaming again I guess!"

Jerry pinched himself on his arm. He rushed to the bathroom and poured a mug of water all over his face. He turned around, only to find Rachel staring back at him and smiling.

"We have been monitoring every single move of yours ever since you were born. But what you went through today, was not a dream. In fact nothing you went through was a dream. What is really a dream, is this. Now. The present. You and me talking. This is a dream. And when you wake up from that dream, you get a taste of reality."

"What are you talking about? I have no idea"

"Okay..I will explain the whole thing to you. But first, get ready. We are losing time. We need to reach the portal before the sun rises. Hurry up"

Jerry grabbed his jeans and was about to change when he realised that a girl was in his room. He blushed a little bit and at that moment, his eyes shone brightly. He rushed to the bathroom and changed from his pajamas to his jeans, grabbed a shirt and stood in front of Rachel. She stared into his eyes for a moment and then suddenly, caught hold of his hand and pulled him along.

"Ok Rachel. Time to start firing up. Tell me everything. How am I in danger? "

"Well..hope you are prepared for something big. Jerry...you are no ordinary person. But most important of all, you must know about our world first and how its related to yours. You must have always heard about people dying. Haven't you wondered where these people go once they die? The body is just a shell. How can a soul, a life with so much memories in them, just fade away? This is something which no human knows. Well..but now you are going to be the first to know. Once a living thing dies, it come on to our world, and the world you are living in is just a dream. Real life begins after death. It is hard to believe. I know, but that is just the plain truth. Now I know something is lingering in your mind. I will answer that right away. Yes..this is applicable to all living organisms. Not just human beings. So all those animals, birds, plants, trees, and micro organisms, which has disappeared from the phase of this current world, now exists in our world.

Dinosaurs, dragons, many birds and animals including sabertooth exists in our world Jerry. Hard to believe again, but true."

"But why can't we see you people then? Is this world in some other planet? Are you guys like aliens or something? "

"Jerry Jerry! How can we be aliens. I was a little girl once too. I got killed in a hunting accident. I remember being gored by a mammoth. The next thing I remember is waking up in a forest. It took me a long time to get to know where I was and what had happened.

Humans do sense us at times though. That's what these humans have named as Deja Vu. They feel like they have been to some new place which they are visiting for the first time, or they feel like they have seen something somewhere before even though they are seeing it for the first time. The reason is that they have already seen those places in their dream in the other world."

Jerry listened to all what Rachel said with rapt attention. He didn't know how to react.

"But then, you said you have been monitoring me since my birth..right. How is that possible? Or is it that you guys are invincible or immortal? You guys live on forever or never get old? "

"Good question Jerry. But we do grow old. The only difference is that we have a different perception of time. Confused? Let me explain. Time is a mysterious thing. It has many dimensions. People in your world live only in one particular dimension. Ok wait! I know I am confusing you more. Ok..try this..Five years in your world is like One day in our world. But to us, time passes by at a normal pace, but it  seems slow to you because you live in a different dimension. Oh God! I better stop now. Hope you understood my point Jerry."

"Uh huh! I guess so. So how old are you anyways? "

"I was 14 years old when I was killed. I have lived for around 6000 your world years after that. That is like 1200 days in my world. So naturally, I have been monitoring you since your birth."

"Ok..that makes sense...God! What have I got into...Anyways Rachel, tell me at least now, where are we going? "

Rachel looked at me, her eyes glowing a fiery blue.

"We are headed for Zora! The land of the Dead! "