In my childhood I had always liked reading comic books that featured cross-dimensional topics like time travels or the quest to seek a mysterious lost city hidden deep in the jungle. I would have loved to visit some of the legendary historical places like the pyramids. I longed to push or touch the walls of those historical structures, imagining that I would be the first person to discover a secret passage or solve one of the many mysteries of the ancient pharaohs. That would have been so exciting.

At that moment, however, I could not accept that I was lost in time and space. I was scared, and I desperately wanted to be reunited with my friends and get back to where I had been before.

“Welcome,” a voice suddenly said from the back of one of the stones.

“Who’s there?” I asked. That voice was not Sun, nor Orin, nor that of our guide, and certainly not Kate’s, since it was a deep male voice.

I walked slowly and carefully to the source of that voice, which seemed to be coming from one of the stones.

“Please don’t be scared,” the voice continued.

I inched forward and cautiously peeked around the stone to see the owner of that voice, silently praying that he wouldn’t turn out to be a frightening character with a pulpy bloody face and bulging eyes.

To my surprise, I saw a good-looking, tall young man with fair skin and a strong body. He was dressed in a kind of artistically hand-woven fabric, his pants long enough to cover his knees. He carried a long knife in a wooden sheath tucked in his sash, which was secured by a rope belt, and he wore a narrow headband. He looked quite handsome with his jet-black hair, his high nose and bushy eyebrows above the deep sharp eyes, which made him look like a westerner.

“I’m sorry to have scared you,” he said apologetically, and I immediately felt relaxed when I saw him.

“Uhh, who are you? Where are we? And have you seen my friends? There were five of us here,” I rapidly fired off three questions and pointed to the area where we had had lunch.

“Actually, I’ve been waiting for you for a while,” said the stranger.

“You mean, you have been watching me for some time?” I asked suspiciously.

“Yes, I watched you when you sat with your head bent down and your hands covering your eyes, and when you rolled on the ground,” the man said, confirming that he had indeed been watching me for a while.

“But why didn’t I see you?” I asked.

“I was behind this stone while you were over there,” he explained.

“You’re not a ghost, are you?” I asked, as I was convinced that only ghosts could mysteriously appear or disappear.

“No, I’m not a ghost, and I didn’t mysteriously appear,” he replied. I was very surprised that he had also answered the other question in my mind which I hadn’t even spoken out.

“Oh yes, I can hear the questions that you have in your thoughts; it’s called soul language. In fact, both of us can speak with each other without actually talking to each other,” he responded to my question before I had even finished my thought.

“Soul language?” I asked suspiciously.

“It means talking to each other using telepathy. But it’s not perfect yet, whenever I think of something, you cannot hear it, but I, on the other hand, can hear whatever you think. Therefore, we cannot fully communicate in soul language with each other. So, I have to speak out aloud to adjust to what you are familiar with, hence, please give me some time as it has been a while since I last used my vocal cords,” he tried to explain.

“May I introduce myself? You can call me ‘Meen’ which is quite close to how my real name sounds. Actually, I can hardly remember how my name is pronounced,” he went on.

“I’m the portal keeper and my responsibilities are to tend to the trees and clean the area, as you can see. My other job is to welcome the newcomers who pass through this portal,” he said, seemingly trying to lessen my fear, but actually worsening it.

“The portal …? Which portal?” I asked immediately.

“Please take it easy. I’ll gradually explain it to you, one step at a time. I can assure you that you will finally understand everything,” Meen said.