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Author's Chapter Notes:
This is based on a story I wrote long ago, but I’m editing and adding to it.
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Chapter One: Arrival on Dakadania

In a cobblestone courtyard an energy field appeared, and a 13-year-old girl materialized. Like clockwork, an older girl showed up to meet with the new girl who had just arrived.

"Hi, my name is Audrey Filchner, I will be your mentor! Welcome to Dakadania!"

"Dakadania?" the girl asked.

"Dakadania is a refuge for runaway kids, where we stay and get tutored until we're eighteen, then we return to the planet Thanatar! What's your name?"

"Caitlin! Caitlin Snare!"

"When I first arrived here, I was greeted by a mentor who tutored me and taught me the ways of Dakadania, and I will do the same for you!"

"Cool!" said Caitlin.

Caitlin and Audrey walked toward a table and chairs where they could sit down. A sudden noise caught their attention, a buzzing sound. When they turned to look in the direction of the noise, they saw an energy field touching the cobblestones of the courtyard. The energy field was about six inches high and three inches wide.

"What's that?" Caitlin asked.

Audrey turned her attention to the energy field. "Maybe it's tiny people!"

"Oh, there's tiny people here, too?" Caitlin asked.

"Yes!" said Audrey. "But we have to catch them first!"

Both of the giant girls ran toward the light, which from their perspective was only twenty feet away.

A man stepped through the energy portal, and he stood an inch tall from the perspective of the two girls. Caitlin and Audrey saw him, and raced to intercept him. The two teenage girls simultaneously grabbed the tiny man at the same time.

"According to the rules of Dakadania, he belongs to both of us!" said Audrey. "When we get him registered, we will be co-owners. You can hold them if you want."

Caitlin was excited to have captured a tiny person from Earth.

"Who are you, little man?" Caitlin asked.

"I'm Nick Bowman," the tiny man responded.

"How did you get here?" Caitlin asked.

"I'm a comic book artist," Nick replied, "and the world you live in is a graphic novel I created back on Earth!"

"Can you give us more information?" Audrey asked.

"Earlier today, I was at my home overlooking a cliff near the beach in Bullet Bay, California. I was being visited by my best friend, and African-American named James Roberts, and his wife Simone. My wife Stephanie had an envelope that she held up to show everyone.

"This is a notice that Tony got in the mail earlier today," Stephanie excitedly announced, "Nick's graphic novel 'Dakadania' has gone into a second printing because it was so successful, and this is a royalty check to prove it!"

"Nick, that's fantastic!" said James. "Ever since we were in high school I knew you were going places in the comics industry!"

Nick grabbed a bottle of champagne as his wife Stephanie handed out champagne glasses to the other three. Just as Nick popped the cork and began pouring champagne into the glasses of the eagerly awaiting celebrants, the doorbell rang. Stephanie walked to the door and opened it, and a beautiful young woman with a tan complexion, long light brown hair, and hazel eyes stood at the door.

"Can I help you?" Stephanie asked.

"My name is Nirvana. I came from a great distance. I would speak with your husband Nick Bowman."

"Nick, do you know this chick?" Stephanie asked, as Nick, James, and Simone tried to get a good look at her.

"No, but let her in! She can celebrate with us!" said Nick.

Stephanie ushered her in, and Nirvana approached Nick.

"Congratulations on your victory!" said Nirvana. "Having a graphic novel go into a second printing is no small task."

"How did you know about that?" Nick asked. "I only found out myself today!"

"There are many things I know about you!" Nirvana replied.

"Like what?" Nick replied. "And how?"

"I know that you and your wife eloped in Mexico when she was eighteen, but you had a formal wedding six months later where your family attended."

"How could she possibly know that?" Stephanie asked. "Nick, are you involved with this woman?"

"I've never seen her before in my life, I swear!" Nick said. "Nirvana, how did you know that? Not even our closest family or friends knows about that!"

"What I am about to tell you will be difficult for you to believe."

"Try me!" said Nick.

"I am a time traveler from fifty thousand years in the future. I am a college student at a university where I am majoring in sociology and psychology. I have chosen you to take part in my experiment because according to history, you disappeared on or around today and never returned."

"Hey," said James, "That's what happened to Bobby, the main protagonist of Nick's graphic novel!"

Nirvana continued: "I have a way out for you, Nick. I possess a device that can take you anywhere in the universe, or to parallel universes. Wherever you go, I will monitor you and document your actions, but I will be forbidden to interfere."

Nick picked up a copy of his graphic novel. "Could I travel to Dakadania? The world of my graphic novel?"

"Yes, but it would be dangerous there," said Nirvana. "I can not guarantee your safety."

"Those giant children in Nick's graphic novel never killed anyone," said James. "They're not dangerous, they just keep people our size as captives."

"That may be true, " Nirvana replied, "But there's a possibility that you could get accidentally digested or drown in their chyme if one of them swallows you."

"That's true, Nick," said his wife Stephanie. "Those thunder children always swallow people in your graphic novel."

"How do you know this lady isn't a fraud?" Simone said. "You should ask her for proof, Nick!"

"Do you have proof?" Nick asked.

Nirvana opened the front door, and her time pod was levitating three feet above the front yard. "Is that proof enough?" Nirvana asked.

"It looks legit!" Nick replied.

"We must hurry, I don't want others from your time period to see my time pod."

Stephanie took Nick by the arm. "Honey, why would you travel to Dakadania?"

"I want to meet Alicia and Christine, the two main giantess characters! And then I could meet up with Bobby and Troy, and join the resistance! I could start rescuing Earth people from the giant children!"

Nirvana pulled out what appeared to be a translucent cube, "Now that I've piqued your curiosity, let me open the dimensional portal!" Nirvana activated the cube, and a dimensional portal appeared.

Stephanie embraced Nick more tightly. "Honey, take me with you!"

"No!" Nick replied, I have to go alone. I would've disappeared any way, according to Nirvana."

Nirvana pulled out some large pills that looked like laundry pods. "If you consume one of these, you will never be able to die of old age!"

Nick took one, James grabbed the other three and took one for himself, and gave the other two to Stephanie and Simone.

"You must step through the portal now, Nick Bowman!" said Nirvana.

"What happens if I refuse to participate in your little experiment?" said Nick.

"Then you will disappear! Nothing you do can prevent your disappearance! I offer you salvation! You can journey to a place of your choosing!"

"She's got a point," said James. "You've got nothing to lose!"

"But if I journey to Dakadania and never return, it would be because of your involvement!" said Nick. "You're personally tampering with history!"

"The laws of society in my era are different than yours, and don't protect you from being forced into a situation like this." said Nirvana. "I can't be prosecuted for causing your disappearance."

"Well, if you put it that way, it looks like I have no choice!" said Nick, picking up the lamp. "I guess I can journey to Dakadania! If I die there, it will be among characters and a society I forged!"

Stephanie grabbed Nick around the shoulders. "Oh, Nick! Take me with you if you go!"

"I can't!" said Nick. "It's too dangerous, Stephanie!"

"He's right!" said Phillip. "Dakadania is a society populated by giant teenagers who exist at a scale 72 times bigger than we are! A six foot tall man from our world would stand exactly an inch tall from the perspective of the giants, And they like to swallow people our size who end up there and puke them back up over and over again! They refer to people of our stature as tummy toys!"

"Yes I know, James, I've read the graphic novel!" said Stephanie. " Nick would print out each page as he finished it, and I would be the first person to read it!"

"I love you, Stephanie," said Nick, as he kissed her for the last time and gave her a hug before stepping through the dimensional portal.

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"You should've brought your wife," said Audrey, "Couples are worth more money than single captives."

"I love my wife," said Nick, "and I would never expose her to an environment like this."

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Meanwhile, back at Nick's house, James was watching everything that was happening to Nick on a tablet device provided by Nirvana.

"I'd like to go rescue Nick from those giant girls," said James. "Are the same events in Nick's graphic novel going to occur in that reality he went to?"

"The version of Dakadania I've sent Nick to is a hybrid of the world he created," said Nirvana. "Nick became part of the story, and so will you if you journey there."

"Can you send me to a location where I meet up with the resistance?" James asked.

"That occurs later in the story," Nirvana replied, "but yes, I could send you there."

"So I can meet up with Bobby and Troy, the original protagonists of Nick's graphic novel?" James asked.

"Yes, I'll open the portal now," said Nirvana, and she activated the cube again, and the portal opened.

"I'd ask you to come with me, Simone, but it's just too dangerous!" said James.

"I've got no intention of traveling to Dakadania," said Simone. "But good luck!" Simone kissed James, and he jumped into the portal without her.

"This is a newspaper from six months in the future," said Nirvana. Both Nick Bowman and James Roberts are still missing!"

"So that's it?" said Stephanie. "Our husbands are gone to some whacked out land of giants and we're stuck here on Earth without them for the rest of our lives?"

"That about sums it up!" said Nirvana. "I apologize if that inconveniences you, but this project is my junior thesis, and my whole college career is riding on the outcome of this social experiment!"

Nirvana turned to leave.

"Wait a minute!"" said Simone, James's wife. "Can't you leave that viewer, so we can observe them?"

"Would that be breaking the rules?" Stephanie asked.

Nirvana handed the electronic tablet to Simone. "You can observe them with this! If and when they perish, I'll return to take it back from you. I'm not supposed to be doing this, I'm doing it as a personal favor."

"Thank you so much!" said Simone.

"This tablet belongs to both of you, so don't fight over it, share it!" said Nirvana, as she turned and left through the front door.

Stephanie and Simone watched as Nirvana's time pod ascended up over the beach, and disappeared into the sky.

To Be Continued!
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