“What is your real name?” I asked him as the green guy matched my pace. He hadn’t let up even as I walked away, and after a moment of silence, I decided to give in and talk to him.

“Orrin!” the green guy answered.

I squinted my eyes and looked at him. It sounded like a name, but I couldn’t be sure he wasn’t trying to joke again.

“That’s really my name; my master gave it to me when I first got here!” he explained further as the grey woods passed behind him.

“Your master?” I asked.

“Yes! He lived here before I came, took me in, and retaught me all the language and stuff I needed to know! He even threw in some fighting techniques as well!” The green guy replied.

“Was?” I asked.

“He passed away a couple of years ago,” Orrin said. A hint of sadness in his voice contrasted with the chipper tone he presented since I met him. Orrin quickly flipped to a new subject. “Well, we need to figure out where you belong!” he said.

It seemed he wanted to send me to some world. I suppose I agreed with him. Any sight was better than here, but without knowing where I came from, there was an issue.

I stopped walking and turned to the short green man. We had come up to a clearing from the grey forest, and a shining blue lake glowed beside us. I think it was different from one of the two I had seen before, but I wasn’t familiar enough to be sure.

“I don’t care where; just send me to a peaceful world,” I said firmly. I don’t know where the desire came from, but I knew it would be best to be somewhere calm, even with my memory loss. Something innate was pulling me in that direction.

“Are you sure? It would be a one-way trip,” Orrin replied as he looked directly into my eyes. “Without your memory, you might be in a lot of trouble. After all, not many people believe a story about coming from another world.”

He had a point. At the very least, this stranger could understand what was going on if I told him. I didn’t want to concede that point, however.

“It doesn’t matter where I go, as long as it is peaceful. I reiterated. Orrin shook his head.

“You haven’t lost all your memories, but you aren’t a blank slate either. That might be the worst case for just tossing you into a world,” he explained.

I questioned the use of ‘tossing’; it sounded like he might throw me into one of the lakes. I let the thought pass and replied.

“I don’t see your reasoning; why couldn’t I just go into that world?”? I pointed to the lake beside us.

“Oh, you don’t want to go there… too many… wires….” Orrin said with a disturbed tone and a twisted face. I decided to take his words at face value, given the contrast to his typical attitude. However, I wasn’t sure what he meant.

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“Fine, then what do you recommend?”

Orrin rubbed his chin.

“Well, I would personally think waiting a couple of days to see if your memory returns would be best. After which, we can revisit the discussion. By then, we should know you a little better, and we would be more confident in recommending a world that would fit as well!” Orrin explained.

For some reason, I felt as if agreeing with him was conceding to a loss of some sort. Nevertheless, I found no counterpoints. I could bear a couple of days in this strange world, and maybe something would stir a memory or two. I still didn’t want to surrender to his argument verbally and simply nodded. We stared in silence a moment before he spoke up.

“Great! Now, why don’t we go to my base! My other friends are waiting there.” He gestured in what I assume was the direction of the so-called base. I silently nodded to show my agreement. This green person was strange enough; I didn’t want to think how odd these friends he talked about were.

Orrin smiled and began to walk in the direction he had just gestured to. I matched his pace and walked alongside him through the grey scene.

“Well, since we have a newcomer, I think we’ll bust out the good food tonight!” Orrin said chipperly.

“Is there good food in this place?” I asked.

“Well, not here per se, but we can go into a world and get the supplies from time to time!”

“I thought you said it was a one-way trip?” I asked while turning to him. Orrin’s face seemed to keep a constant smile as he talked.

“For you, it would be; I actually have the unique ability to travel between worlds freely!” His tone indicated a sort of pride.

“How did you realize that?” I asked. Such an ability would not be something easily discovered after all.

“I accidentally fell into a world one day! It was quite scary; I think an apocalypse was going on or something… anyway; I wanted to leave so badly that I hopped right out! After that, there was some trial and error.” Orrin told the story like it was a comedy—laughing while he spoke.

We broke out of the trees and stood next to a riverbank—a grey wooden bridge arced above the bright blue waterway. The green guy happily began to walk over, and I followed along.

“So, do you visit worlds often?” I asked.

“From time to time, it helps keep the head clear, plus we can make supply runs! I can imagine the others get homesick from time to time, so we make it a point to visit their worlds on occasion.”

I recall Orrin stating he had amnesia as well. Referring to homesickness stuck in my mind.

“Do the others remember their worlds?” I asked.

“Oh yeah, they’re always going on and on about them too! Resh this and Hauteur that; it never ends! That’s the one nice thing about having amnesia; there’s no home to be sick for!”

I glossed over the odd words I didn’t recognize and focused on Orrin. The smile never left his face, but it felt like a pain lined his words. Perhaps I was projecting my own feelings onto him.

“Can the others be trusted?” I asked. I didn’t know how many were here. Could I be walking into an ambush? Was this all an elaborate scheme to attack me? The thoughts began to gnaw at me. I was only 50/50 on Orrin to start with. My hands moved up my side and rested on the hilts of my sheathed daggers. I found the position oddly comfortable as if I was used to it.

“Of course! We argue, but we’re all friends here! If anything, they’ll be happy to have a new friend!”

“Who’s that?” I asked while tilting my head.

“You are, of course! Now that we’re friends, I’ll introduce you to everyone else!” The smile never left Orrin’s face as we finished crossing the bridge and continued to wander through the grey trees.

“We’re friends?” I asked. Orrin looked at me like I had stabbed him. “When did that happen?” I added for clarity.

“Just now, when we were talking!” Orrin insisted as he quickly switched to a smile with a confused expression.

“I don’t think it is that easy….” I said. The short green guy laughed.

“Don’t think about it too hard! Friendship is odd like that!” he said with a smile.

I stopped for a moment as Orrin kept walking. He got a couple of paces ahead of me before turning back.

“Well, don’t stop now! The daylight is burning!” he shouted back. I couldn’t help but look up at the empty grey sky. Daylight?

With a shake of my head, I walked forward. My apparent new friend happily led me the rest of the way.