“So beautiful,” she whispered as her breath was taken away. “I can’t believe it…”
She had never seen anything like it before, and just when she didn’t think the scene above her could get any more incredible, all of a sudden the shooting stars began to turn in circles and Chantel found herself blinking and rubbing her eyes, as if her vision was blurred and she was seeing things.
But what she was seeing was real. The stars above her head began to spin in a circle, hundreds of them, forming a tight conical spiral which seemed to be reaching down towards her. Chantel gripped onto the bench, her heart pounding… what was happening?
In a flash of light and the sensation that she had just been pulled up from the bottom of the ocean, weightless and free, the stars flew past her and she was suddenly in orbit. She could see the house disappearing below her and as her heart thudded louder in her chest it became the only thing she could hear apart from the deafening ring of silence.
She was being taken. Taken far away from Earth and from everything she knew.
5.
The light was so bright she couldn’t open her eyes without feeling as if she was being slapped in the face. She tried to lift her hand to shield them, but she realized that her arms were secured down by her side. She was lying flat on a hard surface and all she could hear was a dull buzz running all around her.
She geared herself up and finally opened her eyes ever so slightly. Bit by bit, white light pierced her vision and as she let her eyes become accustomed to it, she realized that the room she was in was completely empty apart from her. She was raised up, on what could only be a flat, white, hard bed. The rest of the room was white and empty. It was eerie in a way but she felt nothing but calm. She felt as if she belonged there.
She smiled and looked up at the ceiling. Spotlights shone down on her and as she looked down at her own body she realized that her red dress had gone and she was now wearing a pair of tight white leggings and a white smock. She closed her eyes again and tried to remember what had happened.
She had been at the party of a man they didn’t know and had been drinking vodka and lime with Sarah. They had gone to use the restroom. Sarah had been intent on making the host hers. Chantel had gone in to use the restroom and then she had left and spotted Ben. Ben with another woman. Ben entwined with someone else. The disappointment as she relived it thumped through her and she felt the tears well up behind her eyes again, but she couldn’t cry. It was as if whatever force was in the room with her wouldn’t let her be sad. She was being carried along on a wave of happiness. After she had seen Ben she had gone out into the garden, she had watched the stars. And then… That’s when it all went blank.
Something happened to me out in that yard, she thought. Did I pass out? Were Sarah and I drugged?
She cast her mind back to several news reports she had read only months before about girls all over the country being slipped roofies and waking up in compromising positions. Whilst this certainly wasn’t a usual thing to happen to Chantel, and even though she was waking up in a strange, brightly lit room in different clothes, she couldn’t help but feel as if everything was fine. She wasn’t afraid and she didn’t feel violated. She knew that whoever had brought her there wasn’t going to harm her.
She let the warm sensation rising up from the bed below her fill her entire body and she closed her eyes and smiled. She was so relaxed and content, she never wanted to move. She was just about to drift off into a welcomed sleep when she heard a noise at what had to be a door. It sounded as if a key was turning and slowly a black crack began to appear down the center of the stark white wall ahead of her. She raised her head and shoulders up as much as she could so she could get a clear view and watched as a man walked into the room with her. She could tell immediately that he was familiar and with a jolt of recognition it dawned on her that he was the host from the party.
“Hello?” she asked. “What’s happening?”
The man turned and looked at her and smiled. He really was very handsome, but there was something different about him there in that room. She couldn’t put her finger on what it was, but she could tell that he wasn’t the same person.
“Hello Chantel,” he said softly. “Welcome.”
She smiled back and wriggled her wrists.
“Would you be able to untie me please?” she asked with a giggle. She didn’t know how to act, the whole situation was so bizarre, but oddly, she was really enjoying it. It felt exciting and also very right. She was more than comfortable there and the fact that she was in the company of a man she didn’t know wasn’t bothering her at all.
“Of course,” he smiled as he approached the edge of the bed and with what felt like nothing, seemed to remove the restraints so they evaporated into thin air.
Chantel sat upright and swung her legs over the side of the bed. The man stood in front of her and they stared at each other. There was something about him that was making her want to reach out and touch him, but she didn’t dare, for some reason she knew she had to hold back.
“During your stay with us, this will be your room,” he told her. “Make yourself at home, relax, and get your rest. We’re very excited to have you here.”
Chantel wanted to ask him what he meant, but instead she just nodded and smiled obligingly. At the back of her mind she knew it was wrong, but on the surface it all felt okay and she didn’t want to upset the happy rhythm and the calm feeling she had washing all over her.
“One of my colleagues will be with you shortly to start the process,” he said. “In the meantime, it would be best if you just relaxed and enjoyed your time here.”
Chantel nodded and watched him leave the room.
The black crack of the door sealed up behind him and the line of the entrance completely disappeared. It was as if it had never even been there. She was in so much white light that she felt the beginnings of a headache, and now that the man had gone, she felt a sense of dread creeping up on her.
None of this makes any sense, she thought. He was just like the man from the party, and yet I know that it wasn’t him. He says I have to stay here? But where am I? And what did he mean by process?
She thought on his words and although she knew deep down that she should have more questions and be determined to get the answers, she also wanted to do exactly what he had told her and to lie down and get some sleep.
She kicked her feet back up and lay down on the hard, solid bed. Even though there was no comfort in it, she had never felt more at home and she felt as if it had been made just for her. She closed her eyes and somehow managed to block out the blinding glare of the lights beaming down on her. Within moments she was asleep.
6.
The light was still blaring but this time it wasn’t silent and calm, there was commotion all around her. Chantel opened her eyes and sat bolt upright, her palms sweating and her heart pounding.
She could see the black crack had appeared again on the wall and a doorway was open. Somewhere, out in the hall, there was banging and crashing and the sounds of a struggle. She climbed off the bed slowly and although she didn’t even know where she was, she knew she had to look.
As she approached the doorway and went to push it open she was stopped by a hand appearing around the frame and pushing her back inside. She screamed as she tumbled backwards but a man came heaving through the door ahead of her and closed it behind him, the line of the doorway completely disappearing again as if it had never even been there.
He panted and tried to regain his breath as he bent down and put a big hand on Chantel’s shoulder.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
Chantel was trembling, and she hadn’t even dared look at him, but as her eyes travelled up his rippling rock hard torso, she was instantly aware that he wasn’t the man from the party or the one who could have been his twin that had visited her earlier. This man in front of her now was tall and blonde with ice blue eyes that were so intense they made her gasp. He was so handsome, lik
e nothing she had ever seen before. When they had walked into the party earlier that night she had thought that the host was other-worldly and attractive, but this man now was so much more. He was like another entity altogether and she couldn’t stop herself from staring at him. She was completely lost for words.
“Are you okay?” he asked again as he took hold of her other shoulder and shook her slightly.
“Yes,” she gasped. “But I don’t know what is happening.”
He smiled with a warm, open look and then sighed.
“Well, it just so happens it’s your lucky day.”
Chantel watched as he got to his feet and lifted his wrist to his lips. He whispered something into what looked like a watch, in a language she didn’t recognize, before he held out his hand and helped her to her feet.
Outside in the hallway the commotion started up again. It sounded as if a group of people were trying to break their way in. The calmness that had been flowing through her had now completely disappeared and she was on high alert.
“Who are they?” she asked with panic. “And who are you?”
The man looked at her and smiled before he took hold of her hand and said, “My name’s Eli, and I’m here to save your life.”
Her heart began to race and even though he was smiling, the noise out in the hallway was causing her anxiety. There was someone trying to break in, and now this Eli was saying he was going to save her life! What was happening!
“Who are they?” she screamed.
“They’re bad news,” Eli said as he gripped her hand and looked down at his wrist. “But don’t worry, as I said, today is your lucky day.”
She noticed the black line of the doorway forming again in the center of the wall and she screamed as she buried her head into Eli’s chest and begged him to get them out of there. He smiled at her and ran a hand through her hair before suddenly and without warning her whole body felt as if it was burning up and there was a gigantic crack of white light all around them.
She woke up on the floor, sprawled out and bewildered as to what had just happened. When she opened her eyes and looked around she thought she was in the same room as she had been in before, but as her eyes focused she realized it was different.
As she looked at the walls she saw color begin to form on them and scenes of a forest took shape before her eyes. Her mouth gaped open as all around her she could hear the sounds of running water and birds singing, it was as if she was in the middle of a beautiful clearing, watching a river flow ahead of her as salmon jumped up the rocky waterfalls.
“Is this better?” Eli’s voice came from behind her and she jumped.
“What the hell?” she asked with complete shock. “What is this place?”
Eli smiled as if he was letting her in on a secret and then he took a step towards her.
“This is the middle of the universe,” he grinned. “The very center… the core of everything.”
Chantel took a step back and shook her head.
None of this made any sense. But she had the overwhelming feeling that every word was true.
7.
“The middle of the universe?” she asked in disbelief. “What does that even mean?”
“What you would think it meant,” Eli laughed. “I know it’s overwhelming, that’s one of the reasons I thought the forest would be a nice scene… something you’re used to.”
“Okay…” Chantel trailed off, unsure of what to say next.
“Not many people have been here. You’re one of the very privileged few.” He smiled as he rubbed his hands together.
“And what about those other guys? The man from the party?”
Eli sucked in a lung full of air and exhaled loudly.
“You really don’t want to know.” he scratched the back of his white blonde hair.
“No really, I do,” she said defiantly. “I want to know what the hell is going on, not just all of this cryptic stuff you keep telling me!”
“Okay,” Eli smiled as he sat down on a plush green chair and patted the space next to him.
Chantel crossed over reluctantly and sat down. Her feet were aching and she was suddenly very tired. Even after all of the rest she had had, she was exhausted. It was as if her body had been put through its paces with the travelling from dimension to dimension.
“The place where we’ve just been, it’s a very dark place indeed,” Eli sighed. “The man who had visited you in the room where you were held, he is an Alien Lord from the planet X-11… a slave planet.”
“What… the…?” Chantel’s head was spinning.
Alien Lord?
Slave Planet?
None of this made any sense to her.
“You were taken there so they could extract your eggs or use you for breeding. Humans make an ideal slave race for creatures like the ones who inhabit X-11,” Eli said it almost as if it was an apology.
“Creatures?” she asked with confusion. “But they look so… so normal…?”
“They do on the outside,” he smiled. “But inside, nothing is the same.”
“And the guy from the party?” she asked. “He looked exactly like the man back at the white room. Who is he? Is he in on it?”
Eli nodded.
“Yes, the host from the house you were taken from, he is a humanoid from X-11. His role is to group together a large number of fertile women, ready to be taken and collected. The finest are usually chosen and the other’s discarded.”
“Discarded?” Chantel felt her chest tighten.
“Yes,” Eli dropped his gaze. “Those women are usually killed.”
“Would I have been killed?” she asked with wide eyes.
“Eventually,” he said with a sigh. “You were one of the chosen ones… fertile, beautiful, strong genes… but eventually once they had used you, you would have been discarded like the others.”
Chantel felt tears well up behind her eyes. She had nearly been used for breeding by an alien race wanting to grow a planet of slaves. Earlier that day she had just been a student and a waitress and now she was travelling through time and space with the most attractive man she had ever seen, and whilst none of it made any sense, she was the happiest and felt the most alive than she had ever been.
“I don’t know what to say.” she said.
Eli nodded slowly and got to his feet. “This is a lot to take in,” he said. “If we hadn’t been intercepted during my attempt to rescue you I would have kept you in a state of sleep until I had returned you back to Earth. That way it would have felt like none of this had really ever happened.”
“Like a bad dream?” she laughed.
“Something like that,” Eli smiled.
“And you?” she asked. “Who are you, Eli?”
“I’m from a very advanced race of humans. We live here, at the center of the Universe, and recently one of our major campaigns has been to stop planets like X-11 from exploiting the human race for their own gain. We heard about what was happening… the abductions, the breeding programs, the brutality… and we have been intercepting as many abductions as we can ever since.”
“So… I was… abducted?” she asked with fear.
“Oh yes,” Eli said. “From what I saw in your case, you were gathered to a point where X-11 knew plenty of suitable women would be available, and then once the meteor shower began, they used it as a cover to spirit you away.”
“Wow.” Chantel whispered as she cast her mind back to being out in the yard alone. How she had felt so in awe of the stars above her and what she was witnessing. It had been magic, but now she knew she would never be able to look up into the night sky in the same way ever again. She had learned so much in such a short space of time, and now she knew secrets of the universe. She knew that Earth was not alone, and that people were visited and taken by aliens for experiments and breeding programs.
“Are you alright?” Eli rested a strong hand on her shoulder and she turned to him and smiled.
“I’m just trying to get m
y head around all of this,” she admitted. “It all seems too farfetched, but at the same time I know it’s all real.”
“As I said before, not many have been privileged as you have been, use the information wisely,”
“What do you mean?” she sat up straight and looked deep into his eyes.
“I mean, don’t return to earth and regret what you say about your experience.”
Chantel knew without asking him what he meant. She had read articles in newspapers and seen things online, men and women who claimed they had been taken by alien beings. Everyone just thought they were crazy, no one truly believed that aliens existed.
“I won’t be telling a soul,” she said.
“Not only that,” Eli smiled. “But you have a chance to be a part of something incredible.”
“I do?” she asked as she looked deep into his crystal blue eyes yet again. He smiled at her and nodded and she felt something inside of her click into place. Eli was someone she had been destined to meet, she could tell just by the way they looked at one and other.
“You must be tired,” he said, breaking her gaze and the subject. “Take the bed in the corner,” he turned and pointed to a fluffy circular bed which looked out over the mountain forest scene. “I’ll be back for you,” he said as he took her hand and led her over to the bed.
“Where are you going?” she suddenly didn’t want him to leave her. He was the only person she trusted in this crazy situation.
“I’ll be right outside,” he assured her.
Chantel climbed into the soft, warm covers and as Eli waited by the door the lights went low and the sounds of nature quietened into a comforting hum.
She watched Eli disappear through a doorway and she was once again alone. Her eyelids were heavy and it wasn’t long before yet again she was fast asleep.
8.
The trickling water seemed to be running all around her, and when she opened her eyes and stretched her arms high above her head she felt more rested than she ever had. The room was waking up at the same time she was. The scenes on the walls of the mountains and forest were coming to life before her very eyes. The sun was rising and the birds began to sing. She looked out at it all and couldn’t help but smile. Earth really was beautiful. She had never really appreciated it so much before, but she knew now that she was lucky to have such an incredible planet.
[Runes of Argyl 01.0] The Runes of Argyl Trilogy Page 79