The Universe Parallel

by Traci Harding

  Once again Jahan found himself frustrated at not having assumed his immortal form as yet — if he had, he would have been able to teleport them out of the way.

  ‘Stay calm,’ Jazmay suggested, more for her own benefit, as she took a dive beneath the oncoming vessel and skimmed under it.

  ‘Oh no,’ Jahan muttered, foreseeing a disaster, for as the craft passed over them they were hit by the backblast of the engine and Jahan was ripped from Jazmay’s grasp and went plummeting back to Earth. Here it comes, he told himself as he tumbled towards the water below. ‘Ya-hoo!’ Jahan cried to avoid his fear as he crashed onto the ocean surface that shattered his body as efficiently as if he’d landed on cement.

  Left rolling in the air, Jazmay panicked as she was tumbling too fast to regain her balance and catch the wind beneath her wings. She was utterly petrified of landing in the water, and her fear of dying was equalled only by her guilt at allowing Jahan to drop to his death.

  He’s immortal! She shook off the shock that had a grip of her.

  She had seen the shadows that the huge sea creatures inhabiting the deeper ocean here on Kila cast upon the surface of the water, and if Jahan became a meal for one of them his immortality wouldn’t mean much.

  Jazmay came out of her fearful tuck and straightened up to see the surface of the ocean racing towards her. She began flapping her wings madly to slow her descent and prevent an impact, knowing that if she wet her wings she was as good as dead. Her dive slowed, but her wing muscles proved not so strong as to prevent her plunging into the water.

  Submerged in the unfamiliar substance Jazmay’s panic amplified, as her saturated wings weighed her down, despite her struggle to reach the surface. In a moment of clarity, she thought to resume her Phemorian form, but by the time she felt herself lighten, she was already starting to black out from holding her breath. She was determined not to breathe in, and with her last conscious thought Jazmay felt something grip her — she was dinner for a local predator, no doubt.

  Back on the beach, Jazmay awoke to find Jahan leaning over her. ‘I thought you said that you weren’t going to kill me?’ he jested, whereby Jazmay gasped with relief.

  ‘I am so sorry, I —’

  Jahan held up a hand to prevent her apology. ‘You’ve done me a favour,’ he assured, as Jazmay staggered up to stand.

  ‘You don’t need the communicator any more.’ She noted how well he spoke her lingo.

  ‘No.’ He smiled, pleased that she seemed pleased. ‘I understand you perfectly well.’

  As the moment seemed uncomfortably intimate, Jazmay looked away from Jahan; she knew she should be thanking him for saving her life but seeing Ibis’s girlfriend flying into the beach waylaid her. ‘Look.’ She diverted Jahan’s attentive gaze.

  ‘They took her!’ She came to land on the sand and continued running on foot, pointing off into the fair aquamarine yonder. ‘The Princess of Tarazean has been kidnapped!’

  ‘The rogue craft?’ Jahan clarified. ‘How did they take her in midair?’

  ‘They netted her like an animal!’ The girl collapsed in grief for her royal highness. ‘Please, you have to do something!’

  ‘It was the MSS.’ Jazmay had recognised the craft as she avoided it. ‘They may be backwards in many regards, but they excel at entrapment.’

  ‘Well, thanks to my recent demise, I can pursue them.’ Jahan tried to put some distance between Jazmay and himself.

  He’d never tried teleportation before today, but he’d been trained at university in how to employ the talent once his immortality had been assumed. Still, he was confident, as he had teleported Jazmay and himself from the ocean depths to the beach.

  ‘Not without me.’ Jazmay gave pursuit and took hold of his bare wrist and would not let go.

  ‘You’ve been subjected to enough from the MSS,’ Jahan declined her help, attempting to loosen her grasp on him. ‘And you’re not immortal!’

  ‘On Phemoria I was a Valourean, one of the Queen’s personal guard! I am a better warrior than you will ever dream of being, and I know how to fly that craft.’ She pointed up with her free hand.

  Jahan pulled away, with a look of apology for doing so forcefully — Jazmay’s grip was rather strong. ‘I’ve already saved your life a few times now —’

  ‘Then you must give me the chance to return the favour,’ she demanded, ‘so I am not indebted.’

  Jahan took offence. ‘I am not going to let you get yourself killed, just so you can appease some strange notion you have that you can’t be grateful for a man’s help! You don’t owe me anything for saving your life, a simple thank you would have sufficed,’ he said in disbelief. ‘But the truth is, it was my pleasure to save you, end of story.’

  ‘And what about the pleasure I might derive from knowing you have me covering your arse?’ Jazmay changed her tack suddenly, and her anger turned sultry.

  ‘The Princess!’ Ibis’s companion yelled, to remind them that there were greater perils unfolding at present.

  Due to the time restraints Jahan backed away, shaking his head.

  ‘I’ve touched your bare skin,’ Jazmay blurted out, ‘please don’t make me commit treason to follow you.’

  ‘Jazmay, tell me you didn’t steal my DNA blueprint!’ Jahan was disappointed by her tactics.

  ‘Let’s not find out,’ she suggested. ‘Just take me.’

  ‘Must I fly after my princess myself?’ Their company demanded immediate action and Jahan resentfully caved, and extended his hand to Jazmay, who took firm hold.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ she whispered as etheric light enclosed them, ‘I was bluffing.’

  When Jahan and Jazmay arrived in the rear cabin of the spacecraft, they found four MSS agents all huddled around their netted catch, ogling over her.

  Before the agents realised they were there, Jazmay had gripped onto the overhead handrails that ran the length of the aisle and, raising herself upwards, she did a split kick that knocked two of the agents unconscious. She grabbed two laser guns from her victims and aimed them at the remaining two agents.

  ‘Now let’s all calm down a second.’ Jahan positioned himself on the sideline between Jazmay and her targets, knowing a death could start a war. ‘We only kill if it cannot be avoided,’ he advised her of Kila’s policy.

  ‘Big mistake,’ said one of the remaining agents, as he pulled his weapon and fired. A laser blast tore through the air towards Jazmay but Jahan knocked her off balance and took the shot in the gut — Jazmay’s head collided with the wall and her weapons went flying out of her hands.

  Jahan saw Jazmay’s mortified expression as she lay on the floor beside him. ‘Jahan?’ she uttered, and then screamed as she was yanked to her feet by her hair.

  Ouch, Jahan protested the all-consuming pain of his injury, but now that he was immortal he recovered quickly.

  In front of him the cockpit door opened and another agent entered the rear cabin. ‘What the hell is going on here?’

  Jahan lay still on the floor.

  ‘Where the hell did he come from?’ He kicked Jahan a couple of times, but when he heard women’s cries from the back of the plane, he moved to investigate.

  Jahan rose quietly behind the agent and, noting the hatch in the floor to the cargo hold just ahead of the agent, he willed the hatch to open and was rather stunned by his own power when the metal hatch complied. Jahan grabbed hold of the overhead handrails and booted his target off balance and into the cargo hold.

  At the sound of tearing fabric, Jahan raced towards the remaining two agents at the rear of the cabin and ripped them one by one from their activity and, with a swift punch to their jaws, tossed them into the hold which he then locked shut.

  ‘Are you okay?’ he asked from his squatting position next to the hatch, too afraid to look and see for himself.

  ‘I am,’ Jazmay replied, sounding groggy but not as distressed as expected.

  Jahan, given leave, looked to Jazmay, to find her a little ruffled and bruised,
but otherwise intact.

  ‘It was this suit you gave me — they couldn’t tear it off, as it kept repairing itself.’ She burst into laughter, and then tears.

  Jahan scrambled quickly over to embrace her, but she held him off.

  ‘I’m good.’ She took a deep breath to hazard an uncomfortable yet sincere smile that held Jahan spellbound.

  ‘Jahan!’ Ibis squawked from her tangled filament restraint, to entreat some assistance.

  Once freed, the princess hugged Jahan tight. ‘Thank the universe you came, I’ve never been so scared.’

  ‘I got you.’ He embraced his friend tightly to reassure her. ‘You’re safe.’ He pulled back to get a nod from her.

  ‘But how did you get here?’ Ibis queried with concern, knowing there was only one answer. ‘You died?’

  Jahan knew what Ibis was thinking. ‘I wish it was as heroic as you think, but the truth is, we had a run-in with this craft also.’ He set the princess to balance on her own two feet. ‘I’d best go deal with the pilot, I guess?’ Jahan headed to the cockpit.

  ‘But you’ve saved my life,’ Ibis called after him. ‘I will see that you are justly rewarded.’

  ‘No need.’ He turned back to emphasise his frustration. ‘What is it with you women? Just a “thank you” is fine.’ Jahan left before he said something he’d regret.

  ‘He’s saved my life today too, twice,’ Jazmay muttered to Ibis on her way past, as the princess appeared bemused by Jahan’s hostility. ‘I find it difficult to express gratitude.’

  ‘That explains a lot,’ Ibis commented, after Jahan slipped inside the cockpit, and a scuffle was heard to erupt. ‘Can’t you just admit that you’re fond of him? Cause to me it’s as plain as day!’

  The Phemorian appeared affronted.

  ‘Come on.’ The princess did not back down. ‘Not even concern for me would compel you to confront these bastards again, so why did you do it?’ Ibis raised both brows in conclusion.

  ‘I owe him,’ Jazmay defended, ‘that’s why.’

  ‘Come on,’ Ibis appealed, ‘you’ve got to admit he’s a wonderful person.’

  ‘Then you date him,’ Jazmay whispered harshly.

  ‘I would.’ The princess flashed a cheeky grin. ‘But I’m not the one who saw him in a vision of my —’

  Jazmay cut her off. ‘You promised you’d never mention that.’

  ‘To another living soul.’ Ibis motioned to the empty cabin around them. ‘Just give him a chance, can’t you?’

  The Phemorian was still hesitant to comment, when the plane started to tilt downward.

  ‘Hey, Jazmay, a little help, please,’ Jahan yelled from the cockpit, and Jazmay used the excuse to escape.

  Once the morning’s stately responsibilities were out of the way, Rhun disappeared from his office to check whether Taren Lennox and Lucian Gervaise had come out of their comas.

  He arrived in the lake house lounge room to find the two people in question quietly absorbed in viewing some of the telepathically recorded accounts of the lives of the Chosen that were stored on hand-held orbs from Noah’s vast library of immortal history. Both Taren and Lucian were so absorbed in the telepathic transference that they remained completely oblivious to Rhun’s arrival.

  Noah was there to greet him, however, and led Rhun aside to a quiet corner, where they could talk without disturbing their guests.

  ‘Are you sure that’s a good idea?’ Rhun referred to the historical orbs being viewed by the pair.

  ‘They were curious,’ Noah defended with a shrug, ‘and I couldn’t think of a better way to familiarise them with the Chosen and Kila. And they do need to know everything if we are to solve the Maladaan crisis.’

  ‘You mean they don’t have the solution?’ Rhun was deflated. ‘But I thought that was the reason that the Grigori sent them to us?’

  ‘I am sure it was.’ Noah raised both brows. ‘But, cosmologically speaking, you should know by now that answers are never that simple to come by. I believe Taren still holds the key, we just haven’t discovered it yet. But we will,’ he added surely.

  Rhun nodded to accept that they had quite a bit of brainstorming ahead of them yet.

  ‘Taren informs me that she is precognitive,’ Noah said, ‘and I believe she saw you in a vision she had before she’d even left her own universe.’

  ‘Whoa, really?’ Rhun was fascinated and looked back to the young, brunette version of Tory Alexander. ‘That was something my mother had a talent for, too.’

  ‘Indeed,’ Noah gave a wee chuckle, ‘it’s all very interesting.’

  Rhun looked to the historian who was as happy as a clam, despite the imminent threat of war he had foreseen if they failed to come up with a brilliant plan. ‘You get more and more like Taliesin every day.’

  Noah found this flattering and laughed again. ‘How is our young friend, Telmo Dacre, doing?’

  ‘Very well,’ Rhun replied, ‘he’s remembering more every day.’

  ‘What does he have to do with all this, I wonder?’ Noah pondered, still grinning. ‘Surely it is no coincidence that his old soul has shown up at this dire time?’

  Rhun began to understand En Noah’s good mood; all he could see was the grand mystery of it all — one huge puzzle before them, to be solved. ‘We should get all the puzzle pieces together, do you think?’

  ‘One piece at a time,’ Noah suggested.

  ‘I don’t know how much time we have.’ Rhun was still anxious — that was his job. ‘The powers that be on Maladaan must be getting very restless and paranoid by now.’

  ‘Oh, my Goddess!’ Taren came out of her trance state and placed the orb she held on the table before her. ‘Who would have thought that horrid witch was me!’ she commented to herself with a laugh and looked up to En Noah as he approached her. ‘Or that that awful wizard was you!’

  ‘We must all experience the darkness as well as the light,’ he conceded with a smile.

  Taren looked past Noah and noted they had company. ‘You must be Rhun?’ She recognised him from the histories she’d been viewing, and even though he was not her son in this life, she was very honoured to make his acquaintance.

  ‘I am,’ he replied, with an awkward smile. ‘Noah tells me you have foreseen our meeting?’

  As Taren moved past Noah on her way to greet the man from her vision, she served the historian a smile, thankful to have been spared a long explanation. ‘I did,’ she confirmed, ‘and at the time I had no idea who you were …’ She paused to look at him and was unexpectedly overcome with emotion. ‘But now I do.’ Taren bypassed the hand he was holding out to her, flung her arms about him and hugged Rhun tight.

  After a second of startled surprise, Rhun hugged her back. ‘I missed you both, so much,’ he admitted quietly, obviously a little emotional himself. It took a second to pull his emotions into check, but when Rhun had, he withdrew to extend a more formal greeting. ‘Welcome back to Kila … Goddess knows, I really need you now.’

  Taren gasped as she witnessed the vision she had foreseen of Rhun unfold before her eyes. ‘You are the one I was destined to meet.’ Not that she’d doubted it, but now it couldn’t have been surer in her mind.

  ‘We’ve certainly landed amid friendly company,’ Lucian commented as he approached the governor and held out a hand to him to introduce himself. ‘Lucian Gervaise.’

  ‘I know.’ Rhun grasped his hand and shook it with both of his own. ‘Rhun Gwynedd.’

  ‘I know.’ Lucian referred back to the orb he’d been viewing. ‘That was a hell of a time on Earth, the Dark Ages,’ he commented, ‘makes me mighty glad to be here.’

  Rhun was amused by the comment. ‘I concur.’

  ‘I see many similarities between your Earth and our Maladaan, I can only thank the cosmos that my people never discovered religion!’ Lucian emphasised what a debacle that would have been, and made everyone chuckle with the comment.

  But the laughter ceased as Avery, wings flapping in panic, suddenly appea
red in the room. ‘There you are …’ He was looking at Rhun but was distracted by their guests. ‘You’re awake?’ His wings immediately dropped to a restful position against his back.

  ‘You have no idea,’ Taren commented, recognising the character as one of their other sons. ‘And you are the Lord of the Otherworld.’

  ‘Why yes, I am.’ Avery puffed out his chest, proud of the fact. ‘How did you guess?’

  Rhun rolled his eyes. ‘Well the wings and pixie features might have been a wee clue … our visitors have been viewing En Noah’s chronicles.’

  ‘Splendid, that does seem to save a lot of mucking about.’ Avery slapped his hands together, well pleased.

  ‘You aided the Grigori to save our planet …’ Taren added, having gleaned that information from En Noah and feeling that deserved a hug of thanks also, ‘… making you a legend in my eyes.’

  Avery too seemed overwhelmed by her energy, as he immediately began shedding tears. ‘Thank you, Mother —’ He pulled himself away to scold himself. ‘I did not say that!’ He looked to Taren to explain. ‘It’s just that your energy is like —’

  ‘Relax.’ Taren held up both hands to urge him to calm. ‘I know, and we are perfectly okay with it.’ She looked to Lucian to include him in the equation, but he did not look so sure.

  ‘Didn’t we know any women on this planet?’ The comment said it all to Taren, and she walked over and gave him a hug, as Avery chuckled.

  ‘Still as jealous as ever,’ Avery explained his amusement.

  ‘Avery.’ Rhun clicked his fingers to get his brother’s attention. ‘You were looking for me?’

  ‘Oh, yes, I was.’ He turned his mind to more serious affairs. ‘Jahan and Jazmay have captured an MSS craft they found speeding through our no-fly zone. The craft in question nearly kidnapped the Princess of Tarazean.’

  ‘What in the name of the universe are they playing at?’ Rhun was annoyed. ‘I told them I would consider any unannounced craft as an act of war!’

  ‘Oh no.’ Taren realised the situation between the two planets was already turning sour.