Young Writers Society

He was silent for a minute. It was a question that required long answer, one that he wasn't that keen on giving. But if it sated the other man's curiosity and gained his trust, he knew he had to give some sort of response. "Because of what I am, I'm always in service to other people. My current master gave me the order of exploring a new area without revealing my true identity. I was unsure if I was there or somewhere else when I awoke here, so I used an alias."

Then he gave a small smile. "And, yes, I'm thousands of years old. It's...complicated, but that would be a good approximation of my age."

"Master," repeated Seung softly, his forehead wrinkling at the word. But the expression was quickly gone and he said, "It really is cool, that you're thousands of years old. You hardly look like it. T-This is interesting because I'm a medic, don't take it the wrong way." He coughed, wincing at his increasingly sore throat. Shouldn't have talked so much.

He wasn't used to people taking such an innocent interest in him, and, for a moment, he wasn't quite sure how to respond to what Seung had said. But he eventually decided to give him a warm smile, because that would always make up for what he lacked in words. "My biology is different than yours," he said. "Which is why I can live for a longer period of time."

"No joke," Tasha snorts, the sarcasm plainly directed at Maahes and not meant to be nice.

James hadn't been sure how Maahes would be received. Even he was a little unsure by how much thousands of years would've changed Maahes from the boy he knew from before... but he wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. He felt like... he owed it to him.

At Tasha's sarcasm, he only looked at her, a silent disapproval hidden on his face.

"Well. Now that you're all acquainted, we can get moving again. And as for you Maahes, you're welcome to join us if you'd like. My goal is to try and find a way to get all of these folks back to their worlds. So if you want to return to your own," he gestured to the group. "Come along."

He gave Tasha a brief look before nodding. "If you are all trying to find your way back to your worlds, I think it would be wise for me to join you." He gave Tasha a second look, then joined James at his side. Even though many years had passed since they had last met and he was now an adult, there was just something comforting about being so close to him. It was a feeling that he hadn't truly felt before.

James nodded. "Alright, then." He walked over to his horse, giving it a small pat on the side. "Let's get going," he said as he began to lead the horse through the forest.

Tasha takes her own horse's reins and follows close behind him, making a subtle point of putting herself between Maahes and James.

As he went to follow them, he tried to come up with something to say. The silence was suffocating. Some of James' companions clearly trust or like him, and the silence was perhaps the best indicator of that. James was the only one who he knew valued his company. If he wanted to make things less uncomfortable, he would have to talk to him.

"So, Mark, what do you call your world?" he asked, easily bridging the distance between him and James. "You might have told me years ago, but I admit I didn't pay that much attention back then."

“A lot of time has passed for you. I don’t blame you,” James replied simply, keeping his gaze ahead on the forest around them. “Our world we call the Land of Nye. Though it’s scarce that anyone here would be aware of other worlds existing apart from our own. I’m... an oddity, in that respect.”

"That's interesting," he said. He thought for a moment, then added, "For as long as I've been around, I've known that other worlds exist. Not in the sense that I think most of you here believe, but in the sense that I can visit the worlds surrounding the stars. It was a hard feat to do as a kid. But I always knew that there was more out there for me to discover, and my life right now - though it's far from enjoyable - at least allows me to visit new places in the universe."

"Universe. I don't believe I'm familiar with that term," James replied.

He gestured up at the sky above them. "When you see the stars in the night sky, what you're looking at is the universe. Not all of it, but still the universe in one of its many parts. Your planet - Nye - revolves around a star of its own - the sun. There are other planets that likely do the same, but you can't clearly see them because of the distance between Nye and the other planets. That's called a solar system. When you have multiple solar systems together, you have a galaxy. And when you have multiple galaxies together, you have the universe."

James had to pay close attention to Maahes's explanation, and it took him a solid moment to piece it together. He wasn't sure what a planet was but from the context of what Maahes was describing, it sounded like he was describing the world. He didn't have a grid for what the world looked like from the perspective of space, but he was able to grasp even the vaguest concept of what Maahes meant.

He nodded. "Hmm. So perhaps, in simpler terms - or just, more along the lines of my own understanding - a universe is essentially, space, full of many worlds and stars."

Seung nodded. "They don't teach us much about space anymore in school, but I read a book about our solar system and galaxy and stars . . . Well, and a whole lot more interesting things out there."