Chapter 17

Three or four or five, depending on how you counted. Axorie was certainly a person, albeit an unconventional one not born of mortal man. Mr. Bigfoot was also along, and by all rights should be counted, he had a personality and presence equal to any. By my count, it was five adventurers, who left our world and entered into another, one where minutes and days flew past while only seconds ticked by in our own.

They arrived without anything material except for their forms, their wits, and their powers. Axorie didn't even have all that. She didn't know everything about this new world, she had no physical form, she only had her mind, her thoughts, and the habit of being. She was herself, and nothing else. She was, however, the only one of them who could remotely be described as being dressed. She had conceptualized her costume, and was wearing her clothes in the mind of any who she permitted to apprehend her existance.

As she had been invisible naked girl for so long in their last world, they all accepted her clothed role amongst them. Mr. Bigfoot had refused to be left behind, once he understood they were leaving, inspite of their explanations that they would only be gone for a few days. His experiences over the next few months would lead him to believe that they had lied to him anyway, and he would congragulate himself in his own catlike way for insisting on going along. They arrived in the darkness on a strange world, defenseless but not helpless. Hardcase sensed the vegetation, found some dead branches, and soon had several burning torches in their hands. Being able to see lowered the anxiety level by quite a bit. Obviously, Mr. Bigfoot had been able to observe their surroundings from the start, and had not detected anything threatening, although he had noted several small presumably tasty lifeforces in the area. Hardcase and Freaky soon had a dwelling constructed and camouflaged, a vine hidden earthen hut.