The Great change v. 1

For a few moments, Trevor could only blink.  He was stunned beyond his ability to move and a strange sensation kept his comprehension just beyond his reach.  As he stared at the bright blue sky above him, half his vision was filled with tiny snowflakes, slowly drifting down from high above and disappearing just before it connected with him.  Even with the snow's direct contact, the matching half of his body felt was filled with it's cold breath but his right half felt like it's had been sunbaked for hours.
He sat up quickly, trying to figure out what as going on.  He looked both ways, as far as he could only to find an endless blanket of snow filling one side and a green field of grass stretching forever towards a bright sun in the other.  He couldn't understand what made it impossible for snow to drift on to this field or what cause the snow to layer up a foot or two before suddenly reaching it's end.  Even the breeze seemed to be polarize, moving away from where this great divide had formed, but taking it's time with it's gentle speed.
On each side, a single tree stood, both equally distant from his location and straight into the side they were on.  Both were big trees with many branching limbs spreading out from the trunk embracing the season in which they lived.  The winter tree held no leaves, but it's branches were covered with snow and all bore icicles that hung on with their thick bases and continued down till they reached a fine point.  The other was lush with the leaves, radiant with the light they had absorbed.  He felt that there was something else about them that he was missing, but he couldn't quite place what it was.
He stood up and tried to decided which side he would go, finding this divided feeling a little eerie.  If even if he could choose his poison, he found himself unable to leave his position.  All through standing up and turning about, he found his own center locked on the line created by the sudden change of season.
"Welcome, Changer," a loud voice suddenly rung though his head.  Unsure where else to look, he looked up and again found the gentle snowflakes consuming half his vision and empty skies on the other half.  A small change in the corner of his vision caused him to look towards one tree and then towards the other.  Out of nowhere, 2 figures had appeared and were staring straight at him.  Both looked exactly alike and yet, something made each distinct.  Again a nagging feeling pulled at the back of his mind.
Both had a thick mess of mud brown hair and eyes that'd match if they weren't a shade too bright.  They were lanky late teens, possessing little mass but stretching it as far as it could go.  The winter clone sat in a tree and held a branch for support, gazing down at Trevor through the gentle snowfall.  The other had been standing near the summer tree but took a few steps closer, away from the only shadow that seemed to exist.  As they spoke, Summer moved it's hand to emphasize his meaning while winter never moved more than a glance at it's rival.
"2 choices stand before you, one choice must you make," Summer began.
"Summoned to a land that time and space have forsake'd," Winter continued as if they were one thought.
"See the way its people live, though they may be few."
"See the way the others live, and choose what you will do."
"Leave the lands and go back home, leave them to their own."
"Or modify the world to make your vision known."
"The choice is yours, oh changer, so make a wise one."
"The choice is ours, so make it, and we shall be done."
One question screamed through Trevor's mind.  The more they take, the create his desire rose to ask it.  Finally, the scene began to fade from existence, he made one final cry.
"Who are you?" He yelled at the sky, finding himself again on his back, looking at the sky.  The sky and taken an even effect, rejecting the split personality he had just experienced.  He was almost certain it was real, as he could feel the sudden temperature difference still affecting his skin.  A cool burn covered one half while an warm chill enveloped the other.
"You may call me furey." Trevor jolted up, having never heard this voice and had no knowledge of it's intentions.  Seeing only a dark shadow hiding under a tree, he pushed himself back a bit and looked around nervously.  He struggled with the decision to either introduce himself, interrogate it, or to get up and fight it.  "It's not safe to fall asleep in such an open location," it stated.
Trevor released a sigh of relief before he attempted to defend himself.  "I didn't fall asleep.  I was in a classroom till a few moments ago."  He stopped and thought about what he has just said as he scanned the skies in search of the sun.  At least, I think it was a few moments ago."
"I've been hear for a run and a half at least."
"A run?  Isn't that an action, not a unit of time?"
Trevor heard a restrained laugh before it declared with a matter-of-fact tone.  "Then you are a human.  You're not from here, are you?"
"No?" Trevor said slowly and without certainty.  "What's wrong with being human, aren't you human too?"
Another "humph" escaped as the figure pushed itself off the tree and walked into the light.  Trevor could only stare in disbelief as he observed the creature before him.
It was taller than probably any human was, but he could tell that before it displayed itself.  It appeared to be a woman that had grown a thick coat of hair over her entire body.  The mouth of her face extended into a fox-like muzzle with her nose being a small black triangle at it's tip.  Her ears stretched upward taking a long, pointed form and a long, lush tail gently brushed the ground.  Her fur had a mostly white coloring to it, with patches of red coving the tips of it's fingers, legs, tail, ears, and a sun shaped patch on her right shoulder.  In addition to the thin layer of fur, she also wore a tight sleeveless letter outfit, spreading from her shoulders to the ankles and wrists.  "I didn't say there was anything wrong with it," she said, gazing at trevor with bright red eyes. Trevor tried to comprehend what he was seeing as she continued, "It just means you're not from around here."
"What the hell are you; a were-wolf?" Trevor demanded withdrew a bit further.
"I have told you, I am furey."
Trevor's face contorted in confusion.  "I thought you said that was your name."
"No, I said you may call me that." Furey said with a matter of fact tone.  "There usually isn't many individuals of a single species in this world so we often go by the same name as what we are."
Trevor didn't reply for a while.  His face seemed to scrunch up in concentration as he made an attempt to roll his eyes into his head.  Concern took Furey as asked "Are you O.K.?"
"Yeah," He answered as he let his arms slide out and fell on his back.  He then pulled his arm up, immediately pointed at a creeping creature a short distance behind him, and asked, "Then what is he?"
The furey in front of Trevor looked up and slowly noticed another of her kind.  Her face then showed as much shock as the other furey she now saw.  As impossible she thought it was for her to run into another furey, she felt it was even more impossible for a weak human to have detected one of her kind sneaking up, much less turn and around an accurately point in less than a second.  She didn't allow herself much time to think about it though, fearing it's intentions.
Trevor witnessed his second wonder as he saw a pair of fireballs flew over his head.  The new figure barely had time to avoid the attack, wilting the dodge of some loose fur.  He cried out in surprise as he escaped to a tree and thrust his hand forward.  "Hey, fire flower!  You better calm down or the next thing you might hit is your new pet there."
Looking back down, Trevor found his recent acquaintance to have been engulfed by a cloud of darkness.  He knew she was within there and searching around with a combination of anger at this visual obstruction and worry that her actions might indeed harm him.  Trevor threw himself to his feet, took a defensive stance, and faced his opponent in the tree.
"No need to get excited and I apologize for sneaking up on you," the new creature said.  Trevor decided that regardless of his intentions, this, at least brief, peace would all him to get an examination of him and 3 other figures quick to follow.
Though the newly encountered was indeed similar to the first, Trevor quickly noted some differenced. Firstly, it's fur color consisted of brown with patches of black instead of the red on white of the other.  In place of the leather outfit, poofy, white, velvet pants with a black sash wrapped around the waist served as his only covering.  Subtly, Trevor noted that his body mass was leaner (possibly allowing him to make faster moments?)  Trevor then locked on to his eyes which seem to be one big opening to an abyss, lacking a sclera as much as an iris.  "You see, I also accompany a human and was wishing to make you acquaintance in my rather devious way.  As I'm sure she's has already said to you, you may call me furey."
The other figures who had been approaching finally became distinguishable and he examined each of them as they made their own comments.
"Furey!  You need to stop running ahead of us!" The largest of the new figures stated.  He was another human with a strong tough build to him.  His uniform instantly placed him in the football jock category.  He kept his light brown hair just long enough that the breeze could play with it, creating waves in the gentle breeze.  His dark blue eyes shifted to see what brown creature has found.
"Michael, look!  It's another Person!  Err, another human."  Beside the large jock, a little girl nearly half his height nearly clung to him.  She had a bright radiant smile though she was appeared to be around 8 years old.  She appearance presented a strange mixture of a delicate flower and a sturdy rock: rough and dirty around the edges but sweet and innocent at the core. She kept her hair back with bandana wrapped around her forehead and clothed herself in a tank top and scarred blue jeans.
"Intriguing, yet another human has entered into our world."  The third and final figure had a human-like quality but didn't present the feeling of being such.  A pale, white head that seemed to hover about 4 and a half feet off the ground.  Attached at the jowl of the head was a long, deep blue satin cloak extended to brush across the ground.  While it moves, it drifted behind it, spreading into a wide arc.
"Well, then since you're calmed down," the brown foxed declared as he waved his hand like one trying to bat away an odor.  Trevor turned to see the cloud of darkness vanish revealing the first being he encountered.
"I thought you said you were the only furey here," the jock declared.  "Or is that some other species of creature?"
"Nope, she told told me she was the only furey, too,"  Trevor replied.
"She's so pretty!" The little girl yelled as she began to clear the distance between them.  The darker furey muttered something but was indistinguishable even to those near him.
The robed figure stated, "That does present a problem.  We shall need a way to discern which we are talking to if we are to journey together."
"Who said we're traveling together?" the red and white vixen requested as she watched her soft fur become mangled in little hands.
"Well, he seeks the same thing we do," the jock declared.  It was only then that he thought to confirm the truth in that statement; "You are looking to return home, right?"
Trevor didn't answer immediately, reflecting on the new land he was in and comparing it to what he had previously called home.  "Yes," he stated in a daze tone.
The jock eyed him suspiciously, certain there was more to that answer than at it's surface but his furey responded enthusiastically.  "Then it's settled!  You 2 are going to join my rag-tag little group."
"Rag-tag?" the floating head said.  "I hardly perceive our party as that bad."
"Can we get along so we can go back to searching for a way to our homes again?" The jock declared.
"Right, we need a way so that the furey's will know who we're talking about when we call them."
"We'll just call me Alpha and her Beta," the tree-held furey stated.  Though "Beta" agreed with a short hesitation, it didn't sit right with.
"The First and Second letter of the greek alphabet?" the jock asked.  "That's kind of demeaning; like you're saying you're better than her."
"Even if I'm not, I'm still the elder of us 2, therefore, I came first so it still make some sense," "Alpha" stated.
After a short period of uncomfortable silence, Trevor declared, "I think we like it more if you were to take names like 'us humans' do."
"That does sound more fair to both individuals," the cloaked figure stated.
"Fine, then.  I'll be…" The brown anthropomorphic fox declared but was quickly interrupted by the jock.
"Uh uh uh!  Humans don't get to choose their own names so you don't get to choose yours."  This statement only received a shrug of interest from the elevated head.  "Let's see, you look like a…Trevor!"
"Taken," Trevor stated raise a hand.
After a few seconds, the jock gave a small laugh at the situation.  "I supposed we should introduce ourselves; my name is Michael Ransom, and the pipsqueak next to you is my sister Michelle."  Trevor Athos gave his full introduction, adding his last name to their knowledge.  "Well, if not Trevor, I suppose Harry could also work."
"Hey, this is fur, not hair."
"It doesn't have anything to do with your 'hair'," Michael assured.  "Do you have to be offended by everything?"  Harry's confirmation was met by the eye rolls of his namer.  "So, what are you going to name her?"
Trevor looked around to confirm that he was the target of that question.  "Why do I have to choose the name?"
"Because you're her bound." Michael stated as if it should have not been obvious.  "Or, have you not done that yet?  I'll take that look as a no."
"All living creatures contain an amount of energy," the unnamed furey explained.  "While all species of our world are fully aware of this energy and have an ability to use it in many different ways.  Humans, while possessing energy, tend to not even know of it's existence.  Because of this, humans tend to have a large storage capacity for energy but with no ability to use it.  Because of this, many creatures our world, Stolknovenia, will create a bond with humans allowing them to draw energy from the human for their use."
Trevor thought about what he had just been informed of.  "So, basically, you steal my power that I can't use.but if I did know how I'd probably be stronger than you."  the nameless furey confirmed that first part but said the later was only a possibility.  "So, how does this work?"
"A bond is initiated by a direct transfer of energy," the unnamed stated.  "After a small amount has been transferred, energy will be able to maintain a free flow until both ends mutually agree to end it."  Trevor began to speak in protest but he question had been anticipated.  "In the case of humans, since they don't know how to control their energy, Stolknovians are able to draw the energy out of them into their body.  As long as they willingly allow the energy to be taken, the bond will still form."
"So you supposed to bind to me?"
"We don't have to, but it would make things easier."
"Would you 2 get it over with so we can move on already?" Harry declared.
Trevor expressed assent and his bound-to-be approached.  She placed his hand on his chest and he observed the large span of her fingers.  He almost felt his heart pumping behind her palm as he felt a slight tug, as if there was a string extending out of his chest.  After experimenting with his ability to halt it, he let a steady stream flow.  Suddenly, the Stolknovian expressed a fair amount of confusion.  it pulled it's other hand around to grasp the first and Trevor felt her energy enter him, only it was the small trickle he was losing.
Trevor has done his best to remain still, not sure what he was supposed to do during this procedure.  He wasn't given instructions so he took that as an order to remain still.  As the energy rushed into him, he could no longer control himself.  He screamed out in pain as he clutches his chest and doubled over.
"Why didn't you tell me this was going to hurt?" Trevor seethed as he waited for the pain to dissipate.
"It's not supposed to," Harry informed Trevor.  "You're only supposed to do a small amount of energy; get a little carried away did we?"  Trevor's newly bound partner didn't respond but just stared at its hand with confusion?"
"It felt like the inside of my body suddenly caught fire," Trevor complained.  The unnamed muttered something but it was too quiet to be understood.  "What's cold?" Trevor asked as he stood back up but no answer was provided.
"Look, stop being a baby; it can't kill you," Harry declared.  "Now, name her so we can finally get back to looking for your way home."
Trevor sighed and requested to not have to but Harry said there was no way he was going to allow for that.  He even started to provide his own name but Michael decided that it was only proper for Trevor to be the one since they were to be sharing a bond.  "Unknown," Trevor stated calmly as the two began to fight over the situation.  A mixture of shock and confusion filled those around him.  "It'll be a reminder that I will never know everything about you."
With the matter finally settled, the gathering continued on it's way.  The topic eventually came up for naming the other Stolknovian.  Though [never did name the species] argued that his name was perfectly fine since there was no way they would encounter another of his kind, seeing as the "one in a million" event had already occurred once, it was deemed plausible for it to happen again.  After "Mr. Head" and "Magic Guy" were denied, though, Michael the naming process should be left out of her hands.  More arguing happened between he and Harry and it was finally decided that Wilson would become the new name of their 6th member.
It was only then that Trevor was informed that their path was made with no destination in mind.  In their world, as Harry explained, there was no physical location where humans lived.  This made it easy to determine that all humans came from "the other world or Earth, as you call it".  There was also no typical way to get to it.
"So there's not a Stolknovian that can just teleport us to Earth?" Trevor asked.
"None that are commonly known at least, but that hasn't prevented some from going there."
"So we just got to find some kind of space ship to take us there?"
"No, you've got it all wrong.  When I say world, I don't mean planet.  Stoknovenia and Earth are the same planet but they are different world.  They occupy the same space, but in different dimensions."
"Dimensions?  You mean like length, width and Depth?"
"Yes those are one kind of dimension but I mean dimensions like worlds, universes."
"Okay, I think I see what you means.  It's kind of like words in a book.  If you were to take 2 copies of the same book and look at the same page in the same place, they'd both say the same thing so while they're all the same words and in the same place, they're in different books."
Harry thought about it and decided declared it an accurate metaphor except for one part.  "Imagine that someone erased all the words and put in some new ones."
"But that would make them completely different books," Trevor decided.
"How about," came Michael suggestion, "a new publisher decided to reprint the story but censored out some parts they didn't like and changed the font and dimensions of the page.  It's still the same story but they're different even in meaning."
"There we go," Harry declared.  "The important thing is that you can't walk there; or fly or swim or any normal way of moving.  You have to find a gateway or portal there."
"So where do we find a portal?" Trevor asked.
"That's just it, no one knows where to find one.  Even if one had been found, mapped and recorded, they don't remain for very long.  Some have watched them disappear and then decided they'd sit there and wait till it comes back and try to record how long it was between it's appearances and disappearances but they usually wound up dying before it appeared again.  There's actually tale of a [goblin] that tried to get formula published but his whole equation boiled down to it was only there when someone wasn't looking at it."
"So the plan is just to wander around and hope we get lucky?"  Trevor's question received a mutual agreement from the others.
"We'll looks like we've ran into our first stop," Harry declared as he pointed ahead.
The group had come across a small fortress in the middle of a desert.  Hewn stone blocks clung together to form 50 foot high walls.  A massive door of oak consumed most of one flank, creating the only entrance into the building.  Stain glass windows displaying strange images dotted the other 2 but most were to high to get a good look at from outside.  As if by magic, the doors slowly swung open as the approached it, but only dust and darkness could be seen within.
When they came to the foot of the door, they became motionless.  Apprehension ceased them as they observed for any kind of life.  Deciding he had enough, Trevor stepped inside for a better look, curiosity becoming his primary emotion.  In turn, each would follow, each more nervous than the last.
"We should split up," Trevor declared as he examined the interior.
Nothing moved  and no figures stood prominent as they looked about the first room.  The room stretched across the entire 500 feet of the castles width with a ceiling that doubled as the castle's roof.  A wide stare case carpeted in red cloth and dust extended to the first floor with balconies for observes to look down from the third above.  From here, they could observe 3 basic path by which to resume their search.
"No we shouldn't," Wilson stated as he finally ventured across the building's threshold.  "What if there's savages in there waiting to ambush us?"
"I don't think there's anything in here waiting for us to appear,"  Trevor responded.  "Let's say that I have a sense for these things.  I'm going to try and find a way to the top.  Roof if possible but if not I'll just see what I can find on that floor.  Back here in about an hour."  Taking no other opinions into consideration, he started up the fast steps taking a slight lean so he would wind up on the left half when he reached it.
Trevor found no way to the roof and the 3rd floor wound up being complete empty.  3 long hallways spread the length of each wall with a number of bedrooms built on the exterior side of the the hallways.  The interior was filled with more balconies looking into a large room that consumed the center of the 2nd and 3rd floor.  The bedrooms possessed just a bed, a small nightstand, and a closet.
The room appeared to be a thrown room, further emphasized by an actual throne at the back of the room.  Steps descended a short distance to open to a wide area, occupied with just a single table  with 10 seats surrounding it.  The table and chairs were of a simple design and set so that no individual chair was closest to the throne.
As Trevor examined the set up, he noticed harry walk in from a 2nd story door.  He wasn't surprised that the creature had separated from it's partner; he had left Unknown behind as she examined the outfits filling the closet of one of the rooms.  As he turned to continue his exploration of the upstairs, he caught a glimpse of Harry approaching the throne for further inspection.
"Don't worry, I'll stay with you guys," Michael told his sister and Wilson shortly after Trevor began his expedition.  "Since Trevor's going to the top floor, we'll start on the bottom floor."
"Guess that leaves me to tackle the middle.  See ya," Harry responded as he walked up the steps.  He made note of the side Trevor went up and leaned towards the opposite.
"What?  Hey, I'm your partner!  Get back here!"  Michael yelled as he took off after Harry but he pretended to ignore him.  A short while later he remember his promise and turned back to the other two.  "Wait here, I'll be right back with him."
As her brother reached the middle of the steps, Michelle turned grabbed hold of Wilson's cloak and pulled him towards a door on the first floor.  "Come on!  Let's go!"
"But shouldn't we wait for your brother?"  Wilson protested.
"The church guy said we didn't have to worry and I think he's right so let's go!"  Michelle had been referring to the outfit Trevor was wearing.  She knew he wasn't really a part of the church but it was the same uniform as she would see a bunch of people at their church wearing.  She had already explained this to Wilson describing church as "a place daddy took us hen he wanted us to be quiet".
The bottom floor wound up being hold to a bunch of storage rooms, with each room holding something different.  One held lumber, saws, hammers, and nails.  The next had stone blocks that mimicked those of the walls of the place, and container of grout that perplexed Wilson with the fact it looked freshly made; He was barely able to stop his partner from sticking her hand in it and locking it in a concrete cast.  A third contained a vast quantity of colored glass shards; again, Michele embraced danger and reached for the rather sharp looking shards but was rescued by her weary partner.  It was only as they left the last room that wilson decided to took a good look at the window at the back of each room.
"Look at this," Harry said as Michael reached the top of the stairs with him.
Harry found something that appeared to be a perfectly normal human being at the top of the steps.  It sat with it's legs crossed and 4 hands clasped  as in repose in front of her.  Three shut eyes faced merged on an emotionless face.  The white silk robes that coated her body seemed to a have a chromatic shine created from the torchlight of the castle.  Harry had ventured so far as to touch it, declaring it a statue when it failed to react.
"If it's a statue, why did they put it in the middle of the hallway?" Michael wondered as he looked around for similar defects.  There was a couple suits of armor standing rigid with swords in front of them but they were against the walls and by each door of the floor they stood on.
"It feels real to," Harry stated as he tried to place his finger on her wrist in search of a pulse.  Finding it difficult in it's current position, he tried to manipulate the arms but had no success with the maneuver.  "I can't find a pulse, and it's limbs don't bend.  It has to be a statue; a well made statue but a statue none the less."
Losing interest, Harry decided to advance towards one of the doors.  Michael's attention was held by the statue for a short while before noticing his partner trailing off.
"Hey wait!  We need to go back to my sister.  I told her to wait while I got you."  Michael said as he used a thumb to motion towards the stairs.
Harry looked over a railing to the bottom of the steps.  "She didn't."  Michael turned to look down the steps himself and was shocked to see this truth.  He started to dash down the stairs but his partner called out, "Calm down.  She'll be fine.  I'm not sure if Trevor is right about there being nothing here but Wilson will take care of her if he's not.  You need to learn to trust others more."
Harry didn't wait for Michael's response before opening the door and taking a step within.  Michael stopped and looked back down.  He then started to take steps back up the steps the stairs.  As he reached the top, a thought started to occur to him. "If there's a possibility of him being wrong, then why does he keep leaving me?" he muttered to himself as he stormed after him.
Trevor opened a door to another ordinary looking bedroom.  Again, it was an ordinary bedroom with a well-made bed, an empty nightstand, and a closed closet.  He supposed there might be in the drawer but doubted it would be relevant.  As he started to close the door, he caught a glimpse of the window.
Like all the other window's, it was sealed shut with a sheet of stained glass.  Rather than being made from a mess of small pieces, it was created from a select number of large pieces cut with specific shapes.  This window featured a dark background that seemed to be simulating a sunset on a desert plain.  Two figures stood in the foreground with their backs to each other.  One was a tall, grey humanoid mass that it's detailed wire coils and joints gave a clear impression of being a robot.  The other was a human, cradled into a fetal position with his eyes shut.  It as wearing jagged clothing that Trevor was certain was supposed to be rags.  A mess of dark hair topped it's head, and shut eyes stared at the ground.  Trevor couldn't resist but to reach up and brush his fingers along the second image.
Trevor suddenly felt something strange outside the room, and pulled away.  He left the room, giving the picture one last look before he dashed towards the the source of the strange sensation.  A spiral staircase downward open to look directly down a hallway.  About halfway down the passage, hung a short tapestry that started just above head height and stretched to just a foot off the ground.  He checked his surroundings to confirm what he had detected and to see that he remained the opposite.
Before he even decided to move, you see a large brown hand grasp the edge of the tapestry from behind and pull it aside.  Within a second, Harry stepped out from behind tapestry, exiting a white mass of swirling energy.  He stood there for a second and looked to see if anyone else had seen him exit, or enter for that matter.  "Not yet," He told himself, just loud enough for the hidden trevor to hear.
Harry then moved the curtain back in place and gently placed a palm on it.  Some vapors escaped from the sides but Trevor caught on he had creates some shield of darkness.  It was strikingly obvious when he approached after Harry went elsewhere and pulled the fabric aside himself.  He could no longer see the glowing energy but, as he stuck his, He could feel a slight tingle from it's contact.
A short while later, Trevor had stepped through the gateway to the other side.  He found himself in the middle of some bizarre structure.  Looking back, he saw the same swirling energy he had seen before within what appeared to be a mirror frame.  He fooled around with the portal a bit before deciding to further investigate the area.
The place was filled with tables; 3 rows of 6 huge folding tables.  Each table was covered in junk.  That was the only word for the stuff as far as Trevor could tell: junk.  Some of it appeared to be fully functioning knickknacks and trinkets that might have worked to a questionable result while others were surely broken.  Regardless of valuelessness, Trevor could help but to pick some up and turning them in his hand.
"It's an automatic bottle opener!" A voice cried from the opposite side of the room.  Trevor turned to see a very shaggy face attached to a denim uniform approaching him with a fast, wide stride.  "Or at least it used to be.  Some of the springs got broken in the battery compartment and I think a couple gears are loose, but it'll still make it easier to open bottle's.  Here, watch!"
From a pocket, he produced a bottle of off-brand cola.  He placed a hole in the device over the cap of the bottle, pulled a sting to tighten it to the bottle's size and, with a twist and a jerk, the cap was off.  He took a big gulp of his drink before popping the cap out and putting it back on.
"Ah!" the man said in pleasurable relief.  He then offered the device back to Trevor and continued.  "Sorry, I was a bit thirsty.  You interested in…"  The moment He looked at Trevor's face a look of shock came over him.  Trevor didn't know what to do or say, desiring to just leave back out the portal and get this ordeal over with.  "TRISTAN?!?"  the man screamed before Trevor could put any plans into motion, again causing him to lock up in surprise.  He clapped both hands on Trevor's face.  "Oh my god, it is you!  I thought you died when we left!  That bastard told us he preformed his experiments and let you go but I knew he was lying."  The man had moved his hand from holding his face to picking him up with a big hug.
Trevor forced the arms to open up and pushed himself away from the "deranged" man.  "I'm not Tristan.  My name is Trevor."
The man looked as shocked as when his "realization" came over him only this shock was tinged with depression instead of joy.  "Oh," Was all he could say as his eyes drifted to the ground.  He noticed the drink slowly pouring on to the ground around the bottle opener he had used to open it.  He apologized as he picked it back up, saying that he looked just like him, or what he'd assumed he'd look like.  He took a quick look at the bottle opener and set it back down in it's original place, mentally acknowledging it was going to get sticky but not caring enough to fix it.  He examined his half empty drink and decided he'd finish it off.  "Well, tell me if…" he said as he started to turn and walk towards the back.  He was about to say something but stopped as his vision locked onto something behind Trevor.  "You didn't come out of there, did you?"  He asked as he took a slow step forward.  Trevor also glanced back at it and took a step that way himself.  "You don't want to go back!  There was 6 of us when I was and I was the only one who made it back!"
"There's 2 others, and if I don't go back they might get trapped."  Trevor responded.
The man stood motionless for a moment.  Trevor started to get nervous and took another step back.  The man turned his head and began to look at a table beside him.  "You ever play Zelda?"  Trevor shook his head as an arm was stretched  to the opposite side of the table and pulled out a sword.  "Then you won't get this, but: 'It's dangerous to go alone.  Take this!'"  He then gave the sword a strong underhand toss.  It was an expert toss, giving it just the right amount of distance and spin.  Trevor stuck out his and easily caught the blade with little effort.
"You did better than the other kid.  He jumped out of the way and looked at me like I was crazy.  And should you happen to see Tristan, tell him…tell him Nathaniel says he's sorry."  Trevor quickly stepped back and walked through the portal.  The man stared at the empty portal for a while.  He shook his head as he approached it.  "I can't let them come here.  I don't want to see any of that ever again."  He felt the side for a switch he had tried to hide.  With a quick flip, the energy faded to reveal a normal mirror.
A mysterious figure roamed the dessert outside the castle.  He noticed the castle but didn't pay it much attention till he noticed a darkening figured in one of the windows.  It was just a hand, but it meant life, and that meant there were other's to defeat and take energy from.
It was only now Trevor discovered the issue with his present.  Though questionably sharp and deadly, he had received the blade without a sheath or anything else with which to carry it.  He contemplated how he was to go about carrying the weapon, he sensed a chaos of motion happening in another room and rushed to find it, but not but noted that the portal back to their world had closed with a look over his shoulder.
Trevor rushed to the entrance of the building.  On the floor below, Harry was fighting with another new creature.  This creature possessed a total of five limbs that extended directly from the bulbous figure making up it's head.  The limbs had no distinct position, switching places as the creature Desired them to.  Each limb ended in three stubby cylinders that served as fingers, flat on one end but not on the other.  His head only possessed 2 features: little black circles that certainly served as eyes.  It appeared to have no bones, allowing it's limbs to bend and roll as they desired but they appeared it still appeared to have a strong force behind them as the battle with Harry was revealing.
Trevor barely had time to take note of the creature's appearance before a shroud of darkness covered most of it's body.  Harry grinned as he jumped down from the second floor and approached it.  It struck out at him with a long staff in it's possession, landing a blow on his upper arm.
Harry hissed as he jumped back.  "Be blinded," He ordered.
The other creature chuckled.  "I may be now, but I would have to be completely deaf in order to not hear you!"
Harry growled at the insult.  He rushed forward and scarcely dodged another swing of the staff. He reached forward and grasped where the limbs the new creature attached to its head.  With a hold around it's neck, he hoisted the creature in the air and tossed him at an opposing wall.  It quickly wound it's limbs around it's head forming a protective cage around it's head.  It hit the wall with a solid impacts, then hit the ground and rolled across it a bit.  It then uncurled and placed it's legs on the ground, standing on all 5.
"Is that all you've got?" the creature asked with a mocking tone.  Harry growled as he thought about what he'd try next.  Before he could respond, another being interred the fray.  What appeared to be a teenage human leapt from a nearby railing and landed itself upon the 5 limbed creature.  It's eyes moved up it's scull to look into the gut of its winded assailant.  As the rampant teen began to recover and speak, a hand extend up and grasped him around the collar, hoisting him into plain view for all to see.
With the better view, Trevor estimated that he wasn't quite a teen yet; probably 11 or 12.  He would likely stand around 4 feet tall from the bottom of his heavy boots to the top of his head.  He appeared to be a blonde but his roots showed a light brown.  The creature held him up by a bright green sweater that matched a popular video game character when combined with the rest of his outfit.
Harry decided to charge in for an attack.  The creature quickly rotated it's arms so that the 4 empty ones formed as wheel with its head and the arm holding Jason sticking out either end of the axis.  It then rotated its body allowing it to "roll" till it was out of Harry's way and then resumed it's previous stance.
"I don't care if you are the bad guy or not; that was freaking awesome!" the unknown human declared.  By this time, his previous cries had brought the other humans and Stolknovians into the room to observe the rest of the events as they unfolded.
"What species are you?" the creature asked.
"I am a human, which means I'm destined to be your king so you!  All the movies say so!"
"Movies aren't real!" Michael called from across the room to Trevor.  "You might want to watch it because you're currently in the hands of one of your 'subjects'."
"Michael, look!  That thing has 5 arms!" Michelle declared from the level below.  Trevor could barely hear Wilson muttering something about 5 feet.  A short while later, he heard 2 quiet thuds as the pads of Unknown's jumped down from a balcony and landed next to him.
The new creature looked around and examined everybody that had entered the room.  Harry looked ready to continue his fight and was pissed that it appeared to have reached an unfinished end.  "I apologize.  I did not realized humans were here."  He then promptly dropped the child he had been holding and began to roll away.
"Hey, wait!  Where are you going?"  Michael asked.
The creature stopped and pointed out the door.  "That way"
"Well, if you're not trying to go anywhere in particular," Michael responded, "Why don't you travel with us?  As humans say, 'The more the merrier'."
"I have no desired to travel with humans," the creature explained.  "I see little reason to create a bond to supplement my energy withdrawal as I am already capable of removing it from any source and I don't use enough to need a stable source."
"Well, you could help us get home." Michael stated.  "Then you won't have to worry about running into us again."
The creature gave Michael a confused but interested look.  "You mean that humans have only wanted to return to their homes."
"Well, we have since we've gotten here." Michael stated.  "Not that this isn't a great place, but I'm pretty sure our dad is really worried about us."
"Who cares what your dad thinks?" the new human asked.  "Parents just get in the way and cause problems."
"You were right when you said that this place isn't great," the creature stated, ignoring the other comment.  "And worse for you because everything here fears you.  I will accompany you to help your journey's safety."
The new human revealed his name to be Jason and boldly stated that he wasn't going back home.  He had declared that if that was their goal then he would simply go his own way but was soon swayed when it was pointed out that he may be attacked by less friendly Stolknovians.  While Trevor had yet to be in one, Michael and Michelle both stated they had been attacked before by some creatures Michael compared to goblins.
"They were tall as people but built like houses," Michael described them.  "They're incredibly strong enough to pick up boulders almost the same size as them.  They stood with a bit of a hunch and had sickly green skin, covering themselves in only a small loincloth.  Harry had told us that they were called Hansha."
Jason's query on who Harry was lead to a long line of introductions ending with Unknown, the name itself causing problems with Jason.  Michael empathized for a moment before putting the new creatures name on the line.  The moment Jason heard that he was supposed to name him, he immediately declared his decision.  Michael, who was the one that declared it was Jason's task to name "it", was with the others against his choice in name.  Jason retaliated stating, "Unknown is an even weirder name and you let him call her that!".  Thus, the new creature took the name Robin as his own, having never possessed a name before.
With their exploration of the castle completed, they began to head off for their next destination.  Jason started to just march off but Michael explained that if we didn't set some kind of landmark as a target, we'd only wind up wandering in circles.  Jason call "BS", but Michael said that it was scientifically proven fact from our world.  Michael declared that we should keep moving towards that mountain that was their goal in the first place.  Harry insisted they had come in from a different direction.  An argument ensued between how they had been walking before they turned to approach the fortress and what their target had been.  With little care for who was correct, Trevor started towards the mountains without having said a word.  Seeing him heading off, the other's soon followed.
Their trip across the desert was boring, filled with discussions on everything from their lives in the human world to what they had found in the castle.  Trevor and Unknown provided literally no input, refusing to speak even when prodded.  Jason was quite the opposite, always finding a way to draw the discussion back to his "horrible" life.  The other's soon joined Trevor in his silence, hoping it would bring a end to the pre-teens long rant, aided with questions from a naive 7 year-old and an inquisitive wheel of arms.  Find their silence fruitless, they decided inject some distance, minimizing the noise their ears picked up while still holding the form of being together.
Jason declared himself a tortured youth, constantly torn from his personal activities so that he could perform menial tasks repeatedly.  His school was horrible and all the teachers were jerks, giving him unending piles of homework but always gave him poor grades so he would doubt his genius.  All the kids at his schools were jerks that were only allowed to be their because their parents paid extra money so they wouldn't be kicked out.  The only person he knew that wasn't evil was some loser he had met online but he only talked with him so he could make fun of him.
As the sun was approaching the horizon when they came by an oasis and decided to stop there till tomorrow.  Jason complained of how uncivilized this was and demanded at least a sleeping bag to rest in but all ignored his demands.  As the rest attempted to sleep, Trevor decided to climb on of the tree's surrounding the life-giving pond.  He climbed on top of the wide leaves that topped the tree and closed his eyes, feeling the desert that surrounded them.
The next day, they continued towards their marked mountain.  Again, Harry insisted that it was not the direction they had been heading, claiming that had came into the oasis from a slightly different angle but no discussion resulted as Trevor took a lead towards it.  Hours passed with nothing but winds and sand to encounter them.  Michael quietly talked with his bound about different things as Jason again took to his storytelling with Robin and Michelle.  Wilson passed his time by muttering to himself incoherently.