Zero to Infinity

“So how do we get home?”

“We fly”

“Yessss!” Jenny said was such excitement. By far, flying was her most favorite thing to shift for. It gave her the sense of freedom. And she was going to take it, to as she flew into whatever the future would hold.

“Well how are we going to fly there anyway, you’re all glitchy and everything.”

“You’re going to fly there. And I’m going to ride.”

“Are you kidding me? You think I’m going to carry you?”

“I don’t think, I know.”

“Well then you don’t know very much. Cause that won’t be happening today.”

“You’re going to need to shift into a Griffin. That’s the easiest way you can carry us both.”

“A Griffin”? Not even sure if it was... like a small bird or some gigantic animal that she had never heard of. But she was not in the least bit interested in shifting into a griffin.

“How abbboouuutt....” She began to trail off her words.

“This is not a game.”

“I know that. But I at least like to shift into something that’s presentable. I mean a Griffin?”

“Is it because you don’t know what it is?”

“Who cares if I do or don’t know what it is. It doesn’t even sound nice.”

“Okay”, Zero said, starting to hate the job that he had. A bit annoyed that he was in charge of retrieving Jenny, he moaned, “what about a Pegasus.”

“A Pegasus... Now that sounds cute. And I might even know what that is.”

“Are you sure you don’t need me to describe it to you”, Zero mumbled. He spoke with Jenny as if she was a child. She was the epitome of a high school girl on Earth. This was not what he had expected at all.

“I might be young but I’m not an airhead. Isn’t that the friend of Hercules?”

“Yes, it’s a horse with wings. Now hurry up and make yourself into one so we can go.”

“Ugh, no rushing. I have to get in the mood.”

“Mood? Ugh, I’m in no mood for this.”

Jenny went above and beyond to irritate the mess out of Zero. Hey, if his name was going to be annoying then she was going to show him how annoying she could be.

“Okay Zero”, sarcastically said, “check this out.”

Jenny did an extra special wiggle. Nothing that had to do anything with her ability to shift. And everything to do with annoying and bothering the hell out of Zero. She wiggled her arms and kick their legs out. She did a full body shake as if they were something tickling her back. And she flicked her arms out again. But with ease, and honestly with no true dismay, Jenny shifted into a Pegasus.

“Hop on, master of none.”

Zero jumped on her back and began guiding her towards the clouds. And it felt amazing. She loved every second of being above the clouds. With the wind in her hair, or should we say mane, and a warm sunny day ahead, Jenny took this opportunity to fly carelessly and leisurely. A few swirls and a couple up and downs she flew. Causing Zero to have to grab a hold of her neck, she giggled and kept the fun going.

“Knock it off, stop being a brat and fly right.”

“There’s no wrong way to fly”, Jenny insisted.

Mumbling under his breath, he said “Why did it have to be me. Why did it have to be me”.

It began to feel as though they had been flying for hours when of in the distance, Jenny could see what looked like a giant mansion. A floating mansion. It seemed to stand on its own mountaintop. With nothing under and nothing above, no other landforms around, Jenny was mesmerize at the sight before her. She didn’t need Zero to tell her that was their destination. So she flew straight towards it. As she got closer, that mansion became a castle, and soon after, an estate. It was beautiful. Waterfalls falling from different crevices onto lakes and waters surrounding this massive place.

Animals. Our animals surrounding the estate. In the sky, on the ground, and a few hanging off of the trees. Once moreover, Jenny had no idea if those are animals or humans who had shifted into animals.

“So what’s the name of this place”, Jenny asked as she bounced Zero off of her back.

“Mount pioneer”

“Mount pioneer? Really with the names. Gosh for this to be an adventure, it’s not sounding quite like one anymore. Not in the least.”

“And whoooo lives on Mount pioneer?”

“We do”, he said with confidence.

“We?”

“Yes, what your people call shapeshifters. We are Theorians!”

“Ok. NOW THAT’S what I’m talking about... But with a name like Theorians, why wouldn’t you guys call this Mount Theory?”

“I don’t know. It’s just called Mount pioneer. I don’t think too many people think too much into it. We’re Theorians who live on Mount pioneer. And that’s it.”

Zero was beyond annoyed with Jenny. Every word she stated, every question she asked, it dug him deeper into annoyance. For someone to be 28 years old and have such experience on Earth, she sure seemed immature.

“Because the life of a Theorian is so long, it typically takes years before maturity is learned. So our people decided to send us to Earth early on. This would allow us to begin maturing before needing to come home. Took away a lot of need for rules because once on earth, the rules made so much more sense”.

Jenny listened to Zero as he continued to describe where they were and what was going on.

“A 28-year-old on earth is almost like a 48-year-old here on Mount pioneer.”

“Ewww, I’m old”

“Yeah well, the way you’ve been acting, I think you’ll be just fine.”

“What are you trying to say”

“I’m trying to say you’re immature Jenny”

“I am not immature. I just have my own way of thinking about things”, Jenny insisted.

“You most certainly are immature. I’ll be glad when I hand you over. This is been the most annoying reclaim that I’ve ever had to do!”

“And you’re the most annoying person with the name Zero.”

Rolling her eyes, Jenny heard herself speak. Oh my, she thought maybe she really is a bit immature.

“So what’s this thing about reclaiming. Who’s supposed to claim me?”, she said with a bit of annoyance in her voice.

“I’ll bring you back to the elders and that’s all I know. I don’t really deal with anything else.” Zero was tired of Jenny. He knew a lot more than he was sharing. He just didn’t want to share them with her.

“How long ago were you reclaimed?”

“Never.”

“Never?”

“Nope. Never. I was born here”. A hint of pride swelled over Zero’s face.

“Well then... How old are you”

“I am 52 years old”

“Gosh Grandpa. So what’s that in human years like 30.”

“More like 32.”

“Gross. I can’t believe I actually thought you were cute”

“Yeah, well. The math doesn’t actually add up right. So it’s an estimate. But either way, it doesn’t matter. You don’t need to think anything else about me”

Slightly grinning, Zero realized she had given him a compliment. And with such an attitude, she couldn’t even see it. Because his name was Zero and he was 52.