“Earth-10041994 is most definitely the most boring of all the earth’s, don’t you think, Gio?” Zenni said, while feeling the weight of monotony pressing upon her. As she laid on the checkerboard picnic blanket made up of cyan and sea moss hues.

Zenni’s husband, Gio, dove on top of her, covering her mouth. “Zenni quiet,” Gio said. “Be mindful of your speech here. We don’t want to draw any suspicion,” he continued.

“Suspicion?” Zenni’s voice mumbled underneath Gio’s sweaty palms. Zenni pushed her lanky husband off of her. Her rebellious spirit ignited along with her eyes. She stood up and shouted at the top of her lungs, “I can travel the multiverse, and my husband can time travel forward or backwards thirteen billion years!”. A symphony of rebellion and truth reverberated through the verdant expanse of the park.

Gio’s face went blank in horror. Zenni had just let everyone know their powers. Gio calculated the duration required for the surrounding people to contact the local authorities.  The two would have to jump to the next dimension. Or jump back in time before Zenni’s slip up. Gio over-thought to himself. In this moment Gio did not realize how everyone kept to themselves and enjoyed their own family and friend picnic affairs.

Zenni watched Gio slip into his miniature anxiety attack. She refrained from interrupting and let it play out. Gio positioned himself into a huddle pose. She stepped in with a mix of affection and lightheartedness. Delivered playful slaps onto his shoulder. “Stop being dramatic,” she said, while trying to add a touch of levity.  

Monotony gained more weight onto both of them as they rested on the checkerboard blanket. The two watched the sky crawl against itself at a snail’s pace. A legion of cumulus clouds hovered over them. Varying in sizes and shapes. The clouds cast a shade from the otherwise scorching sun that terrorized the other park goers.

“Gio, no one cares about us on this earth. They are all absorbed by their everyday lives. What’s the point of being married if we care about other peoples' opinions about us?” Zenni said.

Gio sat up, reaching for their picnic basket. Wine would relieve the tension building up for a while between the two since their vows for eternity dried upon their lips. Gio pulled out a midnight tinted bottle with elegant gold cursive written over the aged labeling. Anyone who wasn’t a connoisseur could ascertain the age of the bottle.

“The wine seller sold me this after I explained we were on our honeymoon”. Gio said. He popped the bottle open and poured two glasses of the currant elixir that glistened with dark tones of ruby and garnet. Zenni sat up, taking the glass from Gio. Zenni leaned into Gio and kissed him. “You fell for the just for you sellers tactic, my love,” Zenni said. She swirled the elixir with gentleness, then took a generous sip. Gio savored the wine with a small sip. He let the dark cherry notes linger on his tongue.

“Zenni, where do you really want to go for our honeymoon?” Gio asked. Zenni drank the rest of her cup before answering. “Love, you said you wanted something peaceful, and it’s only been a day. Don’t tell me you’re already bored.” Zenni pushed out her empty glass, waving it around Gio’s face. 

Gio poured another glass for his wife. “Peace is boring but I don’t want to ruin our honeymoon because…” Gio said. Zenni looked at him, her face full of warmth, and interjected with, “Because of our previous recklessness, the whole reason we got married is because of the last time.” Zenni took the restored glass and said “I understand, love” then she drank once again. 

Gio hated himself at this moment. He always found the hard conversation, despite his attempts to find an angle to avoid it. Zenni could see his little mental workshop tinker with ways to respond. To love a man whose biggest weakness is his over preparation is a hard task. Gio’s self-perception led him to pursue flawlessness in his first try. Zenni always found it strange that a man with the ability to go back in time refused to try things unless he deemed it perfect.

“You know smoke comes out of your ears when your little tinker shop is in session? It’s pretty adorable!” Zenni said with an enormous smile. “Love, I can just replace you with another version of you if you die on our next trip. She gushed and giggled, saying, “Maybe someone who’s more adventurous.”

“You wouldn’t dare!” Gio beamed back at her, grabbing her cheeks, and letting his wine glass spill on the picnic blanket. “Take it back or face two months in the cretaceous period!” Zenni tried to respond, but couldn’t bring herself to make a coherent sentence through her uncontrollable laughter.

“You can’t send me to time periods I can’t spell! I thought we agreed on that,” Zenni said. She snorted before covering her mouth and laughed again with snorts in between the laughs.

Gio looked at her, pushing his fingers on his nose and made pig noises. 

“Oh god you’re embarrassing me,” Zenni said. Gio continued his little pig routine. “I should’ve eaten more before we dove into this liquor,” Zenni said. Each sip of the wine dissolved away the tension and stress of the past several weeks.

Gio rustled within the basket he brought for the two of them. Pulling out a wooden board and began preparing a charcuterie board for Zenni.

He started by placing cheese that absorbed the sun’s rays, causing its color to bloom golden. Cured meat with lustrous imperial red with creamy ivory veins lined through each slice. Emerald jeweled grapes held up by tawny perennial vines. A pair of baguettes that crackled more than an open fire surrounded by winter winds when touched.

“You never answered my question, Zen,” Gio said. He cut into the baguette, making slices for the two of them.

“Does it really matter, love? We can go anytime in the future,” Zenni responded. 

Gio expressed, “It holds significance for me. We both experience the same amount of joy. My happiness stems from the delight I bring to your life.”

Zenni snatched several pieces from the charcuterie board, nibbling each piece to help jog her thoughts.
Contemplating their next escapade. She pondered on a destination that would diverge from their previous ventures. The chosen place had to possess enough dissimilarity to ensure their survival;. But they needed to have fun on the trip. Zenni remembered there was a location where every human on Earth possessed extraordinary abilities. They could gain more superpowers. A new ability would make them an unstoppable power duo. It would be a great wedding present for Gio.

She then considered a place where kings and queens still ruled and used robots to establish their dominant rule. That option poses more ethical issues Gio would not appreciate. If they initiated a revolution in that dimension, it would make for a great honeymoon story. Gio’s passion lived in the allure of historical moments. He would revel in the diverse paths the universe would forge because of them. 

The next dimension she considered existed in a world filled with angels and demons. Two primordial forces trying to defeat a small group of humans revolting against god. Apocalypse and popcorn would make for a fun time. They could take some pictures of the battles. It could be the start of a scrapbook project for Zenni.

“Zen, whatever places you think about, let’s visit all of them!” Gio said, interrupting her marathon of thoughts. Zenni tilted her head in disbelief. 

Zenni, with morsels of bread and cheese being savored in each bite, queried, “What if I said about a hundred of them?” If she knew her husband as well as she thought she did he would say “No”

“Let’s visit all of them and one more I have in mind,” Gio suggested. Zenni choked on the chewed morsels of food that remained in her mouth. Gio grabbed a backpack that laid near the picnic basket. He then pulled out a book titled Lost Echos of Civilizations. Gio pointed to the image cover of the several ancient civilizations compacted together to make a utopia metropolis. 

“Does a place exist in another dimension where a world is similar to this one?” Gio asked while showing off different parts of the book.  After Zenni regained access to her ability to breathe. Zenni grabbed the book and flipped through the pages. Gio waited for her response. Zenni pushed out her arm, signaling the refill needed. Gio poured a full cup  once again for Zenni. 

Zenni jumped page to page, examining the contents of the book. A brief silence fell between the two. Gio gobbled up on the impressive spread. Mixing and matching the cheeses and meats to find new flavor combinations.

“Where did you find this book? It’s not like you to read the fantasy genre,” Zenni questioned Gio. 

“Remember that one place we visited where you tried to negotiate with an alien race that took over earth for cheaper coffee prices since we were low on cash?” Gio said, refilling his own glass. “In the coffee shop, there was a collection of books sitting on a table. I stole one because they didn’t give us a discount,” Gio said in a devious fashion.

Zenni exclaimed, a mix of astonishment and amusement in her voice, “Stealing? And being adventurous? This wine must be causing me to mishear the words escaping my husband’s lips.”

“You know what this sounds like? Someone stalling, unable to execute their powers. It’s often said that writers are the true dimension travelers. Envisioning a realm inaccessible to others. Then transcribing their journeys through the power of words.” Gio remarked, his tone laced with a hint of skepticism.

“Amateurs,’’ Zenni scoffed at Gio’s comment. Zenni flung the book with the precision of an olympian discus thrower. She sat in a full lotus pose then held her hands together in front of herself. Zenni’s iris flooded with a raven ink color and her pupils shifted from their normal green to a ghost white dilated. 

The sky darkened, and the cloud above the two swirled. A heavy wind blew and the crawling sky sped up above them. The gravity around the two weakened. The picnic basket floated upwards. So did the remaining pieces of food and even the wooden board. The remaining wine danced around all the floating objects.

“Zenni, not in public!” Gio shouted. He tried to jump to stop her, the weakened gravity pulled him upwards and away from her.

“Still caring about what others think, love,” Zenni said. Her body drifted upwards. She grabbed one of the floating wine glasses and caught the dancing liquid with her glass sanctuary. She then looked at Gio. 

“For when we arrive,” Zenni said, then toasted her husband. Both of them flew into a rift that opened up within the cloud.

A Dimension jump can be fun for some and terrible for others. For Zenni, it’s experienced as a lucid dream within a lucid dream surrounded by gothic stained mirrors refracting upon each other. In which she hovers around until she reaches her destination. For her unlucky husband Gio, it’s a severe nightmare. Rather than floating, a collection of horror movie monsters chases him. That all originate from a collection Zenni forced him to watch one day. Gio always outpaces them. He never desires to discover the consequences of being caught.

After two hours, the rift opened up, causing the two lovers to fall onto the ground, accompanied by their crashed picnic setup. Zenni’s wine glass shattered, spilling the last of the elixir she had. Gio brushed himself off and attempted to regain his composure. He glanced over and noticed Zenni staring at the broken glass and spilled wine.

“Zenni, don’t think about licking the floor,” Gio said.

“But love, that was the last of the wine. Perhaps the guy who sold it was right after all; it was special,” she said with a tearful inflection in her voice. She stuck her tongue out to lick the beige tile floor.

“Zenni, stop that,” Gio shouted, halting Zenni in her tracks. Gio seized her.

“Unhand me, Wench!” Zenni said as she threw her hands up.

Gio pulled her away from the puddle of wine and glass fragments. He placed his hand over it. An aureolin color radiated from Gio’s’ hand. Which surrounded each fragment of glass, along with each drop of wine with his ethereal aura. Gio retracted his hand back. The glass and wine followed. Reforming itself into a cup filled with the original elixir that it contained back on Earth-10041994. He handed the cup to Zenni and kissed her on the forehead.

Gio surveyed the room, noticing an array of clocks adorning the walls, ranging from atomic to analog timepieces. His gaze then settled upon a sizable window. Boasting a crafted wooden frame. A mesmerizing network of intersecting lines with glass nestled within its empty spaces. Gio approached the window and grasped the handle, launching it open.

As Gio peered downward, he gazed at an expanse of boundless blue sky. His eyes widened as he beheld a surreal scene of castle-like structures below and an endless sky stretching out before him. Curiosity piqued, Gio adjusted his body to take in the captivating sight. Just above him, another window beckoned, hinting at further mysteries. In the distance, he could discern faint muffled sounds of distant voices resonating from the level above. As if responding to his presence, the windows swung open, ushering in a rush of crisp air and amplifying the distant clamor.

“No, please don’t do this! I can get your...” a desperate male voice pleaded, ceased as someone pushed him out of the window. The sentence remained unfinished, silenced by the horrifying reality that awaited him. His anguished screams pierced the air. A haunting prelude to his imminent and tragic demise.

From above, a muscular man with a war-torn face and thick beard entered, leaned over the edge of the window. His presence commanded attention and emanated a raw strength. Then that man looked down and spotted Gio.

“Hey! You there! What are you doing in the clock room?” the commanding voice of the large man boomed before he stormed off, leaving Gio perplexed. Gio returned his focus back inside the room, walking over to his wife.

“Zenni, my dear, my love, my very drunk wife,” Gio addressed her. Gio took a deep breath and a moment to compose himself. “Where have you sent us?” he inquired, striving to maintain the new found composure. Zenni, finishing the last sips of her wine, replied, “Not too sure I don’t typically drink and jump. But let’s try to have fun while we are here”.