A Great Loss, A Great Gain

" Hurry! Blow it up! Now Cody!" my mother shouts to me. That hit Professor Yordamir gave me knocked me up bad. I could feel several bones broken. I painfully crawled to my mom who lay broken under the machine.

" Son! Hurry!" my father shouts as he, too, is broken on the ground. Suddenly, a sharp piece of metal sticks into his back. As I watched him slowly die, my eyes and body filled with rage!

" Dad!" I scream.

" So you thought you'd stop me from my plans? You're just a boy!" Professor Yordamir says standing over my father's body with a huge grin on his face, " Let me show you what happens to those who dare interfere!"
He throws me father's body and raises his hands into the air. Then, he turns his mechanical hands and arms into flame throwing cannons.

" Lets see what you think of this, boy!" he says as he roars viciously and torches my family right in front of me.

" NO!" I scream, trying to move, " I'll kill you! YOU MONSTER!"
At that moment my mom spoke to me, " Son, you-have-to blow-it up. I-love-you my amazing-son," then she falls silent.

" Mom! No! Don't leave me alone!" I shout and holding her tight. With tears in my eyes, and his laughter ringing in my ears, I was filling more and more up with rage. I tried to move but I could hardly hold back the pain.

" Give it up boy! You've lost! The world is MINE!" Prof. Yordamir says aiming his cannons at me. I suddenly found the strength to reach the detonator button. At the same time, someone activated the machine.

" No! you won't get away from me!' Prof. Yordamir jumps at us, but my Uncle Mike knocks him away and grabs me and my mom. The machine opened a portal, and we could see another world on the other side.

" I love you Cody, protect your mother for me, I'm proud of you!" he says as he throws us into the portal. I then pressed the detonator button and could see the blasts behind my uncle. Travelling through the portal, I watched the door close and could no longer see my uncle. On the other side, the new world stares in amazement at this portal in their sky.

" Kaiser! Look!" says a young boy. Kaiser looks up in awe.

" What's going on?" he says looking through his telescope at the portal. Half way through, I lost my grip on mom and we got split.

" No! MOM!" I shout in horror, and suddenly came falling out of the portal.

" What the?!" Kaiser says. He rushes down to his car and speeds off.

" Computer! Calculate the object from the portal's coordinated landing!" he says, " That was a person! What the heck is going on here?!"

While I was falling, my mind was replaying my family's horrific death. And I finally passed out from the severe pain of my injuries. As Kaiser is about to reach my coordinated landing zone, he was just ten seconds too late. I hit the ground, causing a big dust wave to stir.

" No! Crap!" he says as he jumps out of his car and rushes to me. When he seen me he could not believe his eyes.

" H-How is that possible?!" he says, as I am still alive and breathing, but only barely. He picks me up gently and puts me in the back seat of his car. He rushes off to the hospital at full speed. Only a minute passed when fighter jets and helicopters came flying above us to my landing zone.

" I got to get you out of here! If they find you who knows what they'll do to you!" he says and punches it. At the hospital, he followed them up to the operation room. He didn't know what to do or expect. Trying to make sense of it all, he calls his parents and explains everything to them. When they arrive, a nurse hands them my wallet. Kaiser's father takes it and looks at my I.D. card.

" What?!" they stare at me intensely, " So, He's a Dean."

Two hours in, they have finished with my operations and moved me to the top floor and put me in room 759.

" Kaiser watch over him while I return home," Kaiser's father says as he leaves. He sits next to my bed, and begins to wonder about me.

" Where did you come from?"

As the hours went by, his mother comes in with a cup of coffee at 0330 hours, as they have stayed up all night watching me. Kaiser
smiles and sips on the coffee slowly.

" How is he?" asks his mother. He looks at me as I mumble in my sleep.

" He's recovering rather quickly. The doctors are impressed, they've never seen anyone with that much damage recover this fast. He'll be released in two days or so," he replies. His mother walks over to my bed, and listens to me talk in my sleep. She becomes horrified at what she hears me say. She rubs the top of my head and shakes a little.

" I can't imagine what's going through his head, but it sounds like he's been through hell where ever it is he is from. Once he recovers we'll have to take him in. He is a Dean after all," she says. She turns to Kaiser with a straight, and serious, face, " Kaiser dean, eldest son of the Korean Dean Family Clan, you are to watch over him and look after him as one of your brothers!"

She looks at me with tears in her eyes. He looks at me, " I shall mother," he replies. As they were about to speak again, Kaiser's father came in.

" Remi, I have returned. How is he holding up?" he asks quietly and calmly.

" He is doing well, Yorai," Remi replies. He wipes her tears away.

" What's the matter?" he asks.

" He has been through so much pain. He will be mentally scarred when he wakes up,' she says giving him a hug trying not to cry.

That moment, the rest of their family was there. In my room there was ten people. the parents, and eight children. Of the eight children, three were boys and five were girls. As they gather around me, they watch me closely, and listen as I continue to talk in my sleep. The next morning, the doctor doing my check-ups was speechless.

" That's incredible!" he shouts. Kaiser comes running in, " What is it?"

" He is fully healed!" the doctor says. Kaiser looks at me in shock.

" How is that possible?" He asks.

" I do not know, but that boy is a miracle!" replies the doctor as he leaves. Kaiser walks over to me, and as he looks at me curiously, he tries to figure me. He shakes his head, and walks over to the window. He opens the blinds, " time to get up, its 0630 hours, brother."

1130 hours, lunch time, Kaiser's brother Gordon, second oldest child and son, has left school early to come see him.

" Kaiser, I brought you lunch,' he says coming into my room.

" Thank you, what are you doing out of school?" Kaiser asks opening the box Gordon gave him. As he takes out a sandwich, I mumble. They both look at me, and then, I open my eyes.

" Hey! Call the doctor!" Kaiser says jumping up.

" M-Mom..." I say quietly. The doctor checks my pulse and flashes my eyes with that stupid light they use.

" Amazing! Glad you pulled through young man!" says the doctor. Kaiser and Gordon come stand to the left of me.

" Where am I?" I ask.

" You're in Yeosu Hospital. You were brought here by this young man who said you had a nasty fall," says the doctor pointing to
Kaiser. I look at Kaiser and Gordon. A flash back of my family burning caused me to jump, and I held my head as it was aching horribly.

" You have improved greatly, better than any other patient I have ever known. You shall be released tomorrow, free to go!" the doctor says with a smile, then leaves. I didn't quite understand why as I had no where to go. But I got saved thankfully.

" You'll come home with us. There is a lot we would like to discuss if that's ok with you," Kaiser says as he sits next to me. I still did not know what was going on, but I did not feel threatened either. So I agreed to talk with them. For several hours we told each other about our worlds. They were almost similar, except the fact of them being 60 years ahead of us. Funny thing was we were more technologically advanced. They were still a generation or two behind us. Yet, from the looks of the hospital they had advanced technology. We just had more advanced technology as we learned how to travel between dimensions. After I told them what happened to my world and family, they shook in fear. I could not get those horrific images out of my head. I was filled with anger and sadness, I had lost everything. By the next morning, my release day, I was up walking with no trace of injury. They had washed and given back my clothes I was wearing the day Kaiser found me, only they were torn in some spots. The drive to their house took about an hour. It was up in the Yeosu Mountains, they owned a lot of land that stretched from the beach to ten miles up into the mountains. Upon reaching their house, they had a gate that read, " Korean Dean Family Clan," and I assumed they were a traditions family. I was wrong.

" Welcome to our home," says Gordon. Their house was huge. They had guards up on a wall that went all the way around the house. It was like a castle, but built in a modern day mansion style. Very odd, but very cool. It had fifteen towers, all were rooms. My impression on these people was quite obvious, that they were very wealthy. The inside was cool, too. To the left was the entertainment room, that had a fish tank circling it half way, and in the middle of that a huge television! To the right was the kitchen, which was more futuristic looking than anything else.

" Wow..." was all I could say.

" Kaiser, show him to his room. Tower 9. I'm sure he wants to have a nice long look at his new home and world," Yorai says with a big smile. Kaiser nods, " Follow me, Cody."

Up in my tower, or room, I could see the city of Yeosu and the ocean. There was even a balkanee that went all the way around the tower.

" If you need anything, call any of us using this," he says pointing to a small screen by the door, " For anyone in a tower, press the TOWER button and the number to which tower you wish to call. It's pretty self explanatory. I'm sure you'll do fine," he says as he pats me on the head and leaves. I go stand out on the balkanee to get fresh air immediately. I did not understand what was going on, or why these people were helping me. I know we have the same last name, but they know nothing of me and I know nothing of them. I was not use to this hospitality. being up high where the wind blows harder than down on the ground, I felt at home, but I worried for my mom. I had to find her.

Just as I was about to cry, a knock on my door echoed in my room.

" Come in!" I say, and a young girl comes in, with blue hair and green eyes. As I looked at her, I forgot all about my pains and sorrows.

" Hello," she says, " I was told to bring you this meal since you haven't ate yet."
She sets a plate on a table that is on the balkanee, " We hope you like it," she says as she sits my drink down. It had fruits and vegetables with fish. It was quite good, and I couldn't help stuffing myself. I couldn't say thank you so I chugged my drink and ended up choking a little. How embarrassing!

" My name is Raiah, eldest daughter of the Korean Dean Family Clan. Please to meet you," she says bowing. I look at her and pander rather I should talk or not. I look back up into the sky.

" I understand,' she says, then turns to leave. Before she opens the door, I decided to talk.

" Cody,' I say, and she turns around, " my name is Cody.'

She smiles and leaves. She had blue hair, and her hair style we would call an "emo" hair style, but in this world, they call it "next generation" hair style. her eyes were green, bright green.

" Raiah," I whisper.

Two weeks later, on a Saturday, around 1400 hours, I went down stairs to take some dishes I had brought up with down to the kitchen. Upon reaching the kitchen, I noticed everyone gathered in the entertainment room. It wasn't hard to guess that they were talking about me. Raiah seen me and excused herself from everyone to come see me, or rather, see what I was doing.

" How you feeling today?" she asks with a big smile.

" Thank you for the meal," I reply. She points to the sink, so I go put my dishes in the left side.

" Want to go explore your new world? I can show you around if you like/ You been cooped up in this house for two weeks now," she asks. She was leaning against the wall with a worried face I was going to say no. I wanted to go, but I couldn't stop thinking about my mom.

" I need to go find my mom, she was badly hurt when we got separated," I say to her. She looks down disappointed, Remi, the mistress of the house, comes walking in. She must have heard us talking.

" We have already have people looking for her. You need to go rest and relax, get your bearings mentally," she says to me.

" I can track her location," I reply.

" How?" Remi asks curiously.

" With my watch. It's special. It fits my entire fore arm and is a highly advanced technological super computer," I say. I was becoming sick to my stomach thinking about my mom. If I hadn't been weak I would have never lost her. I felt guilty, I could not even save my family from burning right in front of me. I clinched my fists hard, and then I felt Remi's hand on my shoulder.

" Don't blame yourself, we will get her back here safe and sound," she says. She seemed to know what I was feeling and thinking, A mother's intuition perhaps. Looking at my situation, I knew I couldn't do anything right now. So, I hesitantly decided to let them look.
Remi convinced me to go out and explore, see how their world differs from my mine. There were definitely a lot of differences, but there were a lot of similarities as well. For instance, the teenagers of this world were just as bad as ours. But America shared world power with Korea, Russia, and China. They had an alliance called The Supremacy Treaty.

At least they're all getting along. I have never seen these countries fighting beside each other, combating terrorism together. I found this out from the news. Fox News was world #1 and broadcasted globally. Back in my world, Korea was split in two, China was trying to hack us, and Russia was trying to show us supremacy. But here, they work together, holding the War on Terrorism down. Walking around the downtown part of Yeosu City, near the ocean, there was music playing everywhere. People were dancing everywhere, too! And the smell of the food was amazing! It was very lively.

" There is a shack that has really good sea food. Want to go?" Raiah asks all cute and innocent. Looking out at sea, I felt warm, and a peculiar thought ran through my head.

" Cody? You all right?" she asks concerned. I let out a sigh and turn to address her.

' Yes, just looking around," I tell her.

" Great! Let's go eat!" she grabs my hand and takes off down the board walk to the shack. She orders two boxes that had every kind of fish you could think of in it, including octopus, squid, clams, and oysters. She then dragged me to a bench that faced the sea. She was having so much fun, I didn't realize what was actually happing at the time. I was just glad to be out and about. I was starting to relax, too, and I was quite happy where I was. No war to worry about, I was beginning to forget everything.

Are you enjoying the fish?" she asks. She had a big smile every time I looked at her, that should've been a given but went right over my head.

" Yes it's very good tha-" I'm interrupted by the sound and bright flashes of fire works going off. Suddenly, a flash back of the war hit me hard. I ended up dropping my food as I stood up holding my head. Raiah reacted immediately, too. She took off her jacket and threw it over my head and held me tight in her arms.

" It's ok, I have you. You're safe now," she says. I did not move, I froze in place. I was not sure as to what was going on, but it was very strange, and again the give away went over my head.

" What are you doing, Raiah?" I ask.

" Back at the hospital and at home, you talk in your sleep quite vividly about the war you were in back in your world. We believe you might have PTSD, and this is just one way for us to help you fight it. Because we don't like to see you suffer," she replies, now rubbing the back of my head.

She managed to guide me away from the crowd and into her car.

" Let's get you home, now," she says. coming through the door, the hologram clock read 1720 hours. the house was quiet, it made me uneasy.

" Guys! We're home!" Raiah shouts. No answers, she tries to turn on the lights but they would not come on, " That's odd?"
Immediately I went offensive, but being I could see in the dark clearly, what I saw made me calm down.

" Raiah come here please," I say.

" Uhh-ok!" she slowly makes her way to me through the dark.

" I can see all of you," I say, then the house lights turn on and everyone comes out clapping.

" Impressive! It appears you possess eye sight far greater than anyone I have ever met," Yorai says.

" Yes that was most amazing!" Remi says with a huge smile. I turned to go up stairs to my room.
Ally, the youngest child and daughter, stood in my way.

" Where you going?" she asks with big sad eyes. I hate it when she does that.

" To my room, but since you're in my way I guess I have to stay," I tell her slicking her nose. She giggles and takes my hand. She walks me to the entertainment room. there, on the coffee table, was an object covered in cloth. She points to it and sat down by the coffee table.

" What is it?" I ask her, kneeling. She smiles and shakes her head.

" I see, going to make me look anyway, huh?" I say, She laughs, I let out a sigh and run the top of her head. I remove the cloth and find a board that said, " Cody, third eldest child and son of the Korean Dean Family Clan. Be proud of who you are, you're never alone."
I just stared at it. I didn't know what to say. They were calling me son and brother.

" Why are you all doing this?" I ask. I had mixed emotions running wild.

" We wanted you to feel at ease, to let you know you are excepted here, " Yorai says.

" But why? You don't know anything about me. You don't know if I'm good or bad or in between. I don't even know how to respond to this, it's happening really fast," I say standing up, facing away from them. I had no idea what to do.

" Yes, we could have waited a little while longer to give you that, and we apologize, and you're right. All we know of you is based off what you have told us and what we have heard you talk about in your sleep. But the love you show Ally and the others isn't bad, we can see that's genuine love," Remi says walking over to stand behind me.

" Yes, and it doesn't matter how much we know about you. We are pleased to have another son. We are not here to replace the family you lost, we are your family gained from the ashes of your sadness. And we will bring your mother home, too, when we find her," Yorai adds.

" I understand, but you'll have to forgive me. Last time I had this much hospitality it ended badly," I reply. I remembered the last family who called me son and brother. They used me to get close to our engineers who were working on a new technology. They nearly killed me and destroyed the entire compound.

" You are right to be cautious, but you shouldn't push people away without giving them a chance, Cody," Yorai says as he puts his hand on my shoulder. I grip the board tight in my arms. I was terrified of having another family.

" My last family died...because of me," I began to say shaking hard," I was too weak to protect them. That was my job back in my world, a guard for our company. And I couldn't even protect my family from burning right in front of me!"
At this point, I had tears coming out. I shook hard and flash backs of my family laughing and then burning kept coming back and forth.

" I'm afraid to have another family. My whole world was destroyed when I lost them all. I have no one anymore," I say trying to keep it together.

" Wrong!" came a sharp, deep voice. I turned around to see Kaiser walking to me.

" You have us now! And your mother is somewhere on this planet! She is alive because you can feel it!" he says. he hands me my watch.

" You said you can track her with this. Now let us help you. We are your family, and will never leave your side. We will not ever leave you alone, and we will revenge your family's death someday. For now, give us a chance, and be part of our lives, brother," he puts his hands on my shoulders. I could feel his commitment to his family raging inside of him. They all were genuine in their word.

" Alright," I say wiping my tears away and smiling," Let's go find my mom!"
I turn on the locator, and a beacon appears.