Chapter Six

This interdimensional, fantasy, rocky virus will not end my adventure today. This bite caused me an 83% amount of stress and I’m planning to do something about it! So, lizards in general have the ability to regrow lost limbs. At least I think most of them do.

Ohmygosh, if you think about it my tail technically grew back.

I have a sudden rush of confidence at that thought and begin to look for a scalpel. I find some of those neon gems that had their lights snuffed out by the gun girl. They are almost translucent now, as they still have a hint of bright light on them. I luckily find one among the pile that is knife-shaped. A sharp edge hopefully capable of cutting through skin and bone.

“I have to chop off my arm.” I repeat as if I was reading a mantra.

I place the knife next to my shoulder and slide it down slightly drawing blood.

Oh hey, it’s red. :)

The rocks had completely overtaken my elbow and hand at this point, so I had a few minutes before my whole arm was overtaken by this aberration.

At the very least I’m right handed, so if this doesn’t work out, I’ll still have my dominant hand.

“I have to chop off my arm.” I blurb out, panicking at the immense pain I am about to self-inflict. It’s like receiving a vaccine shot when you are just a kid, but worse. The screaming I will do is self-justified.

The rocks overtake more of my arm’s surface and I am ready to retaliate.

“I’ve had enough body horror today to rival Cronenberg today, you know?”

I think back to my previous transformation and start slicing.

PLOP!

I don’t slice, I slash. But not voluntarily. My body feels spiritually connected to my mind and thoughts. A type of language that only my body speaks. An interaction of every cell in my body conversing with one another including the bird feathers.

My infected arm weakened, as in it was loose and relaxed, not from the rock disease, but from my body telling it to. My hand holding the sharp crystal sliced in one strike and amputated the deceased limb.

But still, PLOP? Maybe it was the sound of the lizard limb deattaching itself to prepare the emergence of the new limb. I would’ve preferred a slicing sound like what katanas make, but this was a makeshift knife. I’ll wait until I see a real sword to experience the sound of metal slashing the wind.

There isn’t a lot of blood dripping, and the wound has naturally closed. There is a small pulse and a strong smell around the severed area. There is an innate healing factor in place

There are a number of comic book characters that come to mind with self-regeneration, it is a bit exciting to be in the same category as them. I remember growing up in elementary school we had a whole section of comics and the book fair would always have comics of popular characters of animal-themed superheroes like Batman and Spider-Man. But my teachers would not allow comic books as qualified book report material even though there were over twenty-five books like that. A quarter of a hundred! Anyways, I remember thinking self-regeneration was the coolest superpower and even cooler when I saw it in a movie! All I’m missing now are the adamantium claws. All in all, I was forced to read chapter books and my reading speed improved tenfold!

Why am I getting another flashback of my school life? These memories I am recalling have lizard themes going on. First it was the petting zoo. And there were lizards and reptiles there. Is there a connection with my past that I’m not seeing yet?

There is no need to think about this mystery yet as I wander the cave in hopes of finding an exit. I pass through warbled water sources and empty monster nests. I run into two rock goblins that meet the fury of my kicks. They fall and perish faster than zombies. When they die, they melt and become one with the cave.

After a few more minutes of wandering my feathered tail glows and transforms back in the chameleon tail. I still have no idea what type of species I am.

That was not the only light that I saw then. Natural sunlight, peering into the cave right in front of me! I approach the exit in which I find a makeshift gate.

“Oh, an American.” A short man on the other side of the gate speaks to me. He has an impressive chocolate-colored beard that extends to the sandy ground.

“Huh? You can tell?” I ask. I am bewildered.

Am I on Earth? Is my gaijin phase coming back? He’s speaking English? Or is it the other fantasy language? I didn’t take enough linguistic courses to know. Multiple questions start forming in my mind.

“Not really, All I know is that I let one person in and two came out. You are sentient enough, so there was a high probability you were an American. On top of that you are a fighter.” He said pointing to my lacerated arm.

“One other person? Oh, the girl with the gun?”

“Gun? The long range weapon? I see, I had forgotten that weapon’s name.” He said scratching his beard.

What is going on? Is this Earth or a fantasy world? The mixture of both aspects is messing with my cognition and common sense.

“I’m sorry, this might be a dumb question, but what is this planet called?”

“Ah, I see. You are experiencing the blend. Welcome to Graff! This here is Slug Beach Town. I’m not much of a tour guide but we have a symbiotic relationship between our worlds. We share technology and culture.”

This sounds like a classic tale of world hopping. I say classic, but no examples come to mind. I’m sure there are notable movies or books, but my mind is caught up with the superhero stuff and my fish out of water situation.

“How and when did this all start?”

“Our worlds cross from time to time and people are pulled from both worlds into the other in their moment of death. It is a rare occurrence, but the process of rebirth is granted to those individuals. At least that’s the general gist from the stories I’ve heard in the local tavern.”

“Are there more Otherworlders here?”

“Aye, of course. You are not the first to cross over. I’ve met a couple of other Americans and they’ve talked about their experiences. In fact, two of them live in this very town.”

“Two others?” Where can I find them? Also, do you know where I could get a new arm?” I point towards the stump of my arm.