Panicking, Link stepped backward and tripped over his own feet. He kicked up snow as he tumbled down the mountain. Something solid broke his momentum, knocking the wind out of his lungs: a tree. Using one of its branches as leverage, he pulled himself up, clutching his throbbing ribs.
Link was so high up the mountain he could see all the verdant pine trees, ridges, and sunken valleys that surrounded him. That’s when he noticed two things: His arm resting on the tree wasn’t broken anymore and his hand was covered in a familiar woollen glove. A shiver ran down his spine. Glancing down, he found he was wearing Deonis’ fur-lined cloak again and carried his sword, his backpack, pouches, everything.
Not this again! he thought. Wasn’t this all just a dream? But wait, if I’m back in Nocera, does that mean . . .
Link whirled around and immediately spotted her a few feet behind him. Only Alex wasn’t moving. She was completely still, her face expressionless, leaning on a thick branch to support her injured calf. She was wearing all Taytora’s clothes and weapons again.
“Alex, can you hear me?” he shouted. “Alex!”
Still no answer.
Something above caught his eye. Thousands of shimmering snowflakes were hanging in mid-air. And that’s when he realized there was no wind. He was halfway up a mountain, and there wasn’t so much as a breeze.
Then, without warning, it hit him. A burning sensation like someone had just lit his hair on fire. Visions flickered before his eyes.
Alex was waking up from her sleep in the cave. She was hesitantly chewing on a piece of bread. When she finished, she wiped the breadcrumbs from her gloved hands and attempted to move the gorlac jamming the entrance. Another pair of hands came into view, helping her shift the hefty beast.
Wait; are those Deonis’ woollen gloves? My gloves?
Link’s head was searing, getting hotter and hotter. Yes, it must have been him. He could tell by his boots and the battered handle of the longsword jutting from his waist.
Alex and what-must-have-been-him managed to shift the gorlac a few inches, enough for him to wriggle out. While she stayed in the cave, Link scoped out the area in search of any dangers. Then when the coast was clear outside, they both departed.
The visions showed them traveling aimlessly through the snowy ranges, trying to use the sun as a compass like Deonis and Taytora did in the book. But a sea of dark grey clouds obscured their view, and they ended up more lost than ever. Link came up with the idea to scale a small mountain, as its high positioning could grant them a 360-degree view of the range. And so they commenced traveling up the gentlest side, hoping to reach the summit before sunset. And then with one last agonizing burn, the visions stopped.
Except now they weren’t just visions, somehow they were Link’s memories. Somehow that had all happened to him. He could remember it clearly now, like he was there the whole time, watching it through his own eyes: the effort it took to push the gorlac from the entrance, the taste of the hard bread they had for breakfast, even the conversations with Alex along the way.
Snowflakes settled on Link’s sleeve. A steady wind rolled through, rippling through his garments and bringing with it a scent of bark, moist earth and fresh snow. The world had suddenly come to life again.
“Why are we stopping?” Alex’s voice rang out from behind him. “Are we having a break already? Good, coz I’m starving.”
Relief flooded Link’s body when he turned to find her hobbling towards him, moving once more. But the feeling quickly faded.
“How did we get here?” he demanded.
Alex regarded him with a baffled expression. “What do you mean?”
“Right here. How did we get here?”
“Umm, we walked.” She tilted her head to the side. “Why, what’s wrong?”
“I swear I was just in a hospital room,” Link said, running his fingers through his hair.
“A hospital room?” Alex asked, raising her eyebrows. “What are you talking about?”
“Impossible,” he muttered to himself.
Link scrunched his eyes shut, trying to clear his mind and form at least one rational thought. He knew full well he didn’t travel up this mountain, yet his memories and Alex were telling him otherwise. It was like he had just closed his eyes in the hospital room and had been transported here.
“Tell me exactly what happened, right from when we woke up this morning,” he ordered.
“Is this a joke or something? Cause it’s not funny. You’ve been with me this whole time why would I—”
“Alex, tell me what happened,” Link said slowly. “This is serious.”
She looked at him warily, unsure of whether he was playing a trick on her or not. “Umm, we had breakfast, moved the fat heifer from the entrance, you got us lost, and we’ve been floundering up this mountain all afternoon. That’s pretty much it. You feeling all right?”
How she recounted it was the same in his visions—minus her snide commentary. But how could he have been in the book and in the real world at the same time? How could he possess memories from the hospital and simultaneously possess memories from Nocera, when he knew for a fact he wasn’t there?
Link rubbed his eyes, trying his best to regain his composure. Being two places at once . . . the feeling was so bizarre. He could clearly recall Dr Mansell telling him his injuries from the car crash, talking to Mom and Dad about . . . and then it hit him. Alex was in a coma, and now she was here, awake, staring straight at him. A mix of conflicting emotions surged through his body. He grabbed her rosy cheeks and started kissing her forehead repeatedly.
“You’re awake,” he said, wrapping his arms around her and squeezing.
“Awake?” she mumbled, her head pressed against his chest. “What do you mean awake? Ow, you’re hurting me!”
Link released her, eying her up and down, still not believing this was real. In the hospital room, he felt physically sick knowing he might not see her awake again. And yet here she was: her pale face, dainty little nose, her sparkling sapphire eyes. If this was a dream, it was one of realest he’d ever had, and he was going to cherish every last bit of it with her.
“Why are you looking at me weird?” Alex asked.
“I’m just glad you’re here,” he said, smiling from ear to ear.
She shielded her eyes from an oncoming gust of wind. “Glad I’m here? What in the world are you going on about?”
Link attempted to hug her once more, but she recoiled.
“What’s gotten into you?” she asked, pushing off his chest with surprising force. “Stop with the hugging. And wipe that creepy grin off your face.”
“Sorry,” he said, but the grin remained. He was that overwhelmed with joy he could’ve cried.
“This mountain air must be getting to you,” Alex said. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
“I’m perfectly fine.”
“Link, I know when you’re lying to me,” she said, her nose wrinkling as she frowned. “Tell me what’s going on.”
For a moment Link hesitated, mulling over whether he should tell her or not. But he quickly banished the thought: “Hey Alex, we were in a car crash and now you’re in a coma; you might never wake up again.” How could he?
Besides, he wasn’t even sure any of that was real. Reality and dreams were merging into one for him. His mind was so scrambled it was a struggle to form a coherent thought. So, at that stage, he thought it was best he kept his mouth shut until he figured out just what was really happening.
“Forget about it,” he said. “You were right, must be the mountain air.”
Alex didn’t believe him. He could tell by the way she was watching him intently, trying to read his facial expressions. Luckily, Link had his poker face on.
“Let’s get a move on,” he said, trying to sound authoritative. “We’ve wasted enough time already.”
“Correction: you’ve wasted enough time,” she said as she limped past him. “Weirdo.”
****
Link patiently waited for Alex, watching his breaths form in the cold air in front of him. He was starting to doubt whether climbing this mountain was a good idea. Even though he couldn’t quite remember coming up with the idea. They had been stumbling up the oversized hill for what felt like the better part of the day, but for all it was worth, they might as well have been moving at the pace of snails.
To make matters worse, the faint sun was already beginning its descent. It was a race against the clock. If they didn’t make it to the summit before sundown, then their view of the mountain range would be gloomy, and this would have all been for nothing. Not to mention they’d have to spend the night up there. Link doubted they’d get a wink of sleep with the fierce winds and ominous-looking snow storm on the way.
A harsh wind tugged at Link’s cloak as he wheeled around to face Alex. She was a small figure in the distance, barely visible through the heavy snowflakes and thick mist. As he watched her try to catch snowflakes on her tongue, his mind was working in overdrive.
Link knew there had to be some trigger. Some reason why he was being thrown to and from reality and Nocera. At first, he thought it could’ve been a vivid hallucination from the painkillers the nurse gave him last night. But he dismissed the idea as quick as it popped up. Common side effects were light-headedness, an upset stomach or nausea, not finding yourself stuck in a fantasy land you wrote with your sister. He knew there had to be something else causing this, but what?
Alex trudged laboriously towards him, her boots sinking into the thick snow. One hand held her walking stick, the other rubbed her weary eyes as she yawned. That was when it came to him: Sleep. Every time he’d slept in the real world, he had ended up in Nocera. When he went under anaesthesia after the car crash, he had woken up near the cave in Nocera. And just before, when he’d gone to sleep in the hospital room, he’d woken up on the mountain.
Could it be that simple though? Could sleep have been the trigger taking him from reality to Nocera? His theory would need testing back in the real world—if he ever did make it back.
It was a risky decision, considering as nightfall was nearing and the summit was still far off, but when Alex caught up, Link decided to call for a short break. He chose the most level part of the mountain he could find, concealed by a thick stand of snow-covered maple trees.
When they finished putting down their backpacks and weapons, Link unwrapped Alex’s pelt and reapplied the Herbs of Namayka. The wound looked better than yesterday, and there were no signs of infection—from what he could tell anyway. But despite how good he was at the board game Operation, he was no doctor. When he finished, he re-wrapped Alex’s leg and smeared some of the herbs on his elbow. He had cut it upon tumbling down the mountain.
Alex sat across from him, legs crossed in the snow, scrummaging through her backpack. She eventually pulled out her waterskin and pressed it to her lips, chugging it down like she’d never tasted water before. Then, as if she could feel Link’s eyes on her, she stopped and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “What? I’m thirsty.”
“Sip it,” he said. “We need to limit it as much as possible.”
Alex’s shoulders slumped forwards and she stuffed the waterskin back into her backpack. “OK.”
Of course, their characters never faced this water rationing problem in the book. Taytora and Deonis were what the people of Nocera referred to as “Gifted.” The name applied to those that could access the mystical force that bound the world together called “The Eternal Source.” And only the Gifted, much to the envy of the rest of the land, could unlock their Gate to The Source and become a vessel through which the magical energy flowed.
Alex’s character, Taytora, just so happened to be extraordinary at using a branch of magic called Waterwielding. During her journey through the mountains, she could draw moisture from the air and refill the waterskins whenever need be. They, on the other hand, didn’t have that luxury. Once the water was gone, they were gone. Although they had their characters’ clothes on, Link knew they were as opposite to one another as lions were to domestic cats.
He threw Alex a piece of dried meat and then began chewing one himself. There were no words that could fill the dreary silence between them. They both knew their chances of surviving these ranges were as slim as their malnourished Uncle Randy. They were without their heroes’ magic, battle prowess, and even their vast knowledge of Nocera. Link and Alex had created the world, yes, but they had only lived in it for less than two days. Taytora and Deonis had lived in these lands their entire lives.
They didn’t stop for long. After they ate their fill of bread, they continued their treacherous journey up the mountain. They had to keep moving if they wanted to reach the summit before nightfall. Link just prayed they could get a birds-eye view of the entire range from the top, or at least see a familiar sight that was in the book. As much as he hated the idea of climbing this mountain, it had to be better than wandering aimlessly through these ranges. There’s no worse feeling than realizing you’ve been walking in circles.
In a perfect world, Link would have climbed to the top of the mountain and they would have spied Oakstone Road. It was the main road Taytora and Deonis had taken to get out of Galbraz Mountains. Traders and merchants who were bold enough to travel to Orban used it. But even so, they would often journey with a squadron of mages or skilled sellswords, for fear of becoming a gorlac’s chew toy.
Even with the hood of his cloak pulled down, snowflakes managed to swirl onto Link’s face like annoying, ice cold flies. His legs burned from exertion, and his bones felt like they were about to crack from the cold as they continued their trek. When the way ahead was too steep to walk, Link figured they’d travelled far enough, so he veered towards a ledge, creeping only as close as he dared.
The sun shone vaguely through a cluster of grey clouds as he looked down at the mountain range. Through the silver mist, a blockade of lofty mountains stretched as far as the horizon. For a few minutes, he stood, trying to devise potential routes as the wind ripped his cloak across his body. But with every route he formulated, the gargantuan mountains cut them off.
Link clenched his jaw to stop himself from crying out in frustration. Had they climbed this mountain for nothing? A cold blast of wind knocked him off balance. Panicking, he took a step back, his heart nearly leaping out of his chest and into the jagged depths below.
Link turned to face Alex. She was sitting on a rock, her branch lying beside her in the snow. Her head was between her knees as she tried to catch her breath. He was pleased to see there were no signs of blood seeping through her wrappings.
“Good work,” he said, patting her on the shoulder. “We’ve covered a lot of ground today.”
Her head pricked up when he had touched her, a veil of snow clinging to her eyelashes. “See anything?”
“Mountains, mountains, and more mountains.”
“So, this has been a complete waste of time?” she asked, groaning.
“Not exactly,” Link said. “We’ll have a little break and then circle to the other side to see if we’ve missed anything. I reckon we’ve got another hour—”
“Whatever.” Alex scooped up her branch and then sat up, walking towards the ledge, shuffling her boots forwards inch by inch.
“Careful,” he warned.
Alex waved a hand at him as if to say she had it under control, then she shielded her eyes as she scouted the mountain range.
“C’mon, let's get a move on,” Link said, after several minutes. “We don’t have much time.” But the truth was she was making him nervous standing up there.
“I found it!” Alex exclaimed, turning to him with both dimples showing. “You seriously need to get your eyes checked!”
“Found what?” he asked, joining her on the ledge.
“Mount Hargul,” she said, pointing to something in the distance. “Wasn’t that what you were looking for?”
Link followed her finger and spotted it instantly. How could he have missed it? It was a giant mountain shaped like a crooked wizards’ hat. In their book, the heroes had used it to find true north. If they headed for that mountain, they were bound to come across their ticket out of here: Oakstone Road.
“I could kiss you right now, Alex,” he said, grinning stupidly.
“I’d punch you if you did,” she warned.
As Link started to say something witty back, the mountains spun around him. He tried to grab Alex for support, but his sister was circling him so fast she became nothing but a blur. For a split second, he was invaded by complete and utter darkness. Then the light hit his eyes like a solar flare.
“Sorry, pal, didn’t mean to wake you,” a nurse said. “Just checking your vitals.” He smiled at Link with a set of unnatural, pearly white teeth.
Link blinked a few times, trying to adjust his eyes to the blinding light. There was a pressure cuff wrapped firmly around one arm, making his blood pound, and an all-too-familiar plastered cast encased his other. His throat constricted. He was back in the hospital.
“Breakfast should be ready soon,” the nurse with the blinding teeth said. “Let me know if you need anything else.” He undid the cuff, snapped open the curtain and then disappeared, only leaving the smell of his wood and leather scented cologne behind.
Link struggled to breathe, like someone had just stacked cinder blocks on his chest. Everything was happening so quickly that his mind struggled to adjust. He was just with Alex at the top of that mountain, then, in literally the blink of an eye, he was transported back into the hospital room, bedridden and wrapped snuggly underneath a blanket.
He waited for a camera crew to emerge from behind the curtains then, to tell him he wasn’t insane and this had all just been an elaborate prank set up by his best friend Kenji. But the only person who came through the curtains was the nurse with the fluorescent teeth.
“Are you OK?” he asked, frowning at the heart monitor. Link figured he must have heard the beeping.
“Fine,” he said, short of breath. “I’m perfectly fine.”
“Are you sure?” the nurse asked, arms folded in front of his chest. “Your monitor is telling a different story. Can you take some deep breaths for me please?”
He waited patiently by Link’s bedside as he breathed in and out, but the beeping barely slowed. His mind was still trying to piece together what had just happened. How was it even possible? Being thrown to and from both worlds against his will? Was Nocera even real, or was it all just a dream? Then a thought hit him that made the hairs on the back of his neck prickle: What if he was dreaming right now?
“Bad nightmare or something?” the nurse asked, his eyes still locked onto the machine.
Link exhaled forcefully through his nose. “Yeah, you could say that.”
“It’s beginning to slow now,” the nurse said, blinding him with another smile.
Colgate needs this guy as the face of their brand, Link thought.
He pointed to a button on the side of Link’s hospital bed. “If you need anything, press this button, OK?”
He nodded obediently. “OK, thanks.”
“Maybe you should lay off reading this,” the nurse said, pointing to the gory cover of the book Mom had bought him. “One versus One Thousand. Could be the cause of your nightmares.”
Link smiled at him politely, only relaxing his face when he finally left the room.
It’s not One versus One Thousand that’s giving me problems, he thought. It’s an entirely different book altogether.
Link wasn’t allowed much peace and quiet after the nurse left. It wasn’t long before Mom’s voice rang out in the distance, her high heels clonking across the hospital's linoleum floor. Link forced himself to take some steadying breaths before she entered.
Mom’s head emerged through the curtain like a curious meerkat. “Oh good, you’re awake.”
“How can anyone sleep with those high heels of yours?” Dad's voice grumbled. “You’ve probably woken up all the patients on this ward.”
“Oh, don’t you start, Robert,” Mom hissed. “I’ve had just about enough of you this morning.” She entered the room and Dad soon followed, a glum expression on his face due to the scolding.
Mom flattened out the foldable chair and sat down beside Link, smoothing the creases out of her frilly skirt. Dad stood awkwardly to Mom’s right as she had the only chair in the room.
“And how are you feeling this morning, Mr.?” Mom asked him conversationally.
“Excellent,” Link lied, even managing to force a smile.
“You look pale,” Mom said before she turned to Dad. “Doesn’t he look pale?”
Dad studied Link’s complexion then shrugged. “He’s fine; stop overreacting.” He had one hand tucked into the pocket of his mocha-coloured shorts, the other flicking absentmindedly through Link’s ninja book on the bedside table.
“Stop overreacting?” Mom repeated disdainfully. “He looks like he’s just seen a ghost.” She turned back to Link. “You need some breakfast; that’s what it is. A bit of food in your belly. You haven’t had much to eat since your surgery.” She glanced at her wristwatch and then bit her lip. “They said they’d be serving breakfast at eight, didn’t they, Rob?”
Dad nodded automatically, his attention still on One Versus One Thousand.
“Well, it’s six minutes past eight now.”
“Oh, gee, I wonder what’s taking them so long,” Dad teased.
Before Mom could snap at him, he closed the book and rounded on Link. “So how was your sleep?”
Sleep. The meaning of the word seemed lost to him. Because for the past day, it felt as if he hadn’t slept at all. Although he did feel groggy like he had just awoken, he knew full well he’d been journeying up a mountain for the better part of the day.
As much as he wanted to, Link couldn’t tell them that though: the vivid dreams he’d been having whenever he went to sleep; waking up in their heroes’ clothes; getting chased by the gorlacs; Alex’s injury. Because there was no way he could express himself without sounding like a complete nutcase. No way would they take him seriously, no matter how believable of a story he told.
“Why haven’t the nurses treated this?” Dad asked, frowning as he lifted Link’s unbroken arm.
“Treated what?” he responded, twisting his arm around so he could see his elbow. Panic washed over him like a tidal wave. On his arm was the same wound he had received from Nocera. The one he’d cut when he tumbled down the mountain and hit the tree.
Could this explain why all the dreams he’d been having had felt so real? Because, somehow, they were real? Link glanced down at his elbow and knew there was no denying it. The wound was one in a million: the shape of the continent Australia, or so Alex had described it.
Mom and Dad still gawked at him, waiting for a response.
“Must’ve got it from the crash,” he lied.
Dad’s bushy eyebrows furrowed, eyes fixated on the wound. “You sure? I don’t recall you having that yesterday.”
“Yeah, I did,” Link said, forcing a chuckle. “Maybe you need glasses, Dad.”
“Not just me,” he grunted as he massaged his salt-and-pepper goatee, “Apparently, the nurses do as well.” He rounded on Mom. “Did you see this last night?”
She shook her head. “Maybe he bumped it on the edge of his bed mid-sleep?”
They both continued to talk about what could’ve caused Link’s injury, but he had tuned out by that point. A thought suddenly struck him, sending a jolt of fear throughout his body. If he had this injury from tumbling down the mountain, did that mean that…
“Does Alex have two gashes on her left calf?” Link blurted without thinking how strange the question sounded.
Mom and Dad stopped mid-conversation and exchanged worried glances.
Dad rubbed the bald part of his head as if to re-jog his memory. “Yeah, I think so. But—But wait; how did you know that?”
Link’s stomach lurched with nerves as he drew the conclusion. If his hunch was correct, and the two worlds were somehow interconnected, then if he and Alex died in Nocera, they would die in real life. There was no avoiding it now. He knew he had to tell his parents.
“Because I keep having these strange dreams about being in my book,” he begun. “But the weird thing is . . . they aren’t just dreams. They feel real—no, they are real. They’re so vivid; Li-Like I’m actually there.”
“Really?” Mom asked, her eyebrows raised worriedly. “Odd. How long have you been having them?”
“Ever since the car crash,” he replied. “Every time I go to sleep. The first time it happened I was under anaesthesia and we were being chased by gorlacs.”
“A gor-what now?” asked Dad, a bemused look on his face.
“One of the monsters in his fantasy book,” Mom said irritably, her eyes never leaving Link’s. “Keep going, darling.”
“When I went to sleep last night,” Link continued, “the whole thing happened again. I was transported back into Nocera, and then Alex and I were scaling a mountain for most of the day. And then when the nurse woke me up just before, I was suddenly snapped out of the book again.” He paused, suddenly aware of how crazy this all sounded. Now he was listening to himself speak even he thought he was insane. “I don’t know why this is all happening, and I know it sounds crazy but they actually feel real, and I know they aren’t just dreams.”
Mom nodded understandingly, even though there was no way she could have comprehended him. Then, she clasped her hands in his warm one. “You’ve been through a lot these past few days, Link. But just know we’ll always be by your side to help. They were probably just bad nightm—”
“They’re not nightmares, Mom,” he said irritably. “Listen, I didn’t injure my elbow from the crash or the hospital bed. I got it from tumbling down a mountain in Nocera. And before that, a gorlac slashed Alex’s calf as we were jumping into a cave. That’s how I knew about her injury.” He took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds, trying to relieve the tightness in his chest. Then he exhaled. “I’m not making this up. Believe me, I of all people know how ridiculous this all sounds, but I’m telling the truth.”
Mom fiddled with the locket of her gold necklace, the necklace Dad had bought her on their first anniversary. “Link, Alex got that injury from the car crash. Maybe . . . I don’t know. Maybe you saw it before you became unconscious?”
Mom glanced at Dad. He nodded slowly in agreement. The truth was Link had expected this reaction from them. Why would they believe him when he barely even believed himself? If the shoe was on the other foot, and they were trying to explain this to him, he’d have laughed it off as a joke. But still, knowing that didn’t make it hurt any less. If his own parents didn’t even believe him, would anyone?
Mom pursed her lips. “You OK, darling?”
“Yeah,” Link said, shaking his head and exaggerating a sigh. “Sorry, I’m just all over the place at the moment. I think I need some more rest. Is that OK?”
“Of course, of course,” Mom said a little too quickly. She stood up and clutched Dad by the arm. “C’mon, Rob, let’s go. We’ll come back at around lunch time.” She turned back to Link. “Is that all right with you?”
“Yeah, that’s fine,” he responded, faking a smile.
Just as Mom was about to reach for the curtain, she stopped and turned. “Are you sure you’re OK, darling?”
“Yeah,” he said, putting on an exaggerated yawn. “I just need a little rest. I’m fine. Honestly, Mom, I’m fine.”
“OK, well, if you get bored, I quickly popped home this morning and brought you some things.” She pointed to his laptop and a stack of books by his bedside table. “Don’t know if I picked any good ones, though. It’s hard to tell which ones are yours or Alex’s.”
“Anything will be better than this, Mom,” he said, pointing to the book One Versus One Thousand.
“I don’t know, Link. I had a bit of skim read and it was pretty riveting,” Dad said, causing Mom to whack him on the shoulder.
Link’s head collapsed back into his pillow when they both left. But he wasn’t the least bit tired. He was truthful when he said he needed some alone time, though. He needed to try and pinpoint what was causing this whole Nocera thing to happen. So far, he had figured out sleep might be the trigger between both worlds. But what good was that knowledge when he still didn’t know what was causing it to happen?
This all had started happening ever since the car crash. But why? Did his brain get so rattled in the accident it started creating vivid hallucinations of Nocera? Did someone slip him some hardcore drugs when he wasn’t paying attention? What was happening to him defeated logic on so many different levels.
Link pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a sigh. Someone admit me to