Otherland

by Almondie Shampine

“Where you going now?”

  “To find Dwayne and end this.”

  He swiped his hand and shut the door she was trying to open. “Jacob, let . me . out,” she struggled with the door.

  “All work and no play doesn’t keep the evil possessed Doctor’s at bay. From here on out, we need to stay together. It’s all part of the Prophecy that you refuse to listen to. I can sense darkness. You cannot.”

  “That’s why I’m just choosing to not trust anyone. Do you know what I had to go through to get back here? My car was dismantled. A possessed cab driver tried getting me to get in the car with him. Then I was run off the road, where yet another possessed driver tried to get me in his car. Then police officers came and were going to handcuff me and place me in the back of their vehicle. They’re everywhere now, Jacob. No where is safe anymore.”

  “All the more reason for us to stick together. Did you get the stone piece you were looking for?”

  She inhaled sharply, “How did you know about that?”

  “Because I’m the one that had to convince the elders it was not in your possession. You were such a feisty teenager. Nothing but trouble. Caused me so much grief.”

  “So you lied?”

  “No, it wasn’t in your possession, was it? You’d hidden it. I wouldn’t call that a lie.”

  “An omission of significant information. Why’d you let me keep it if you knew I’d taken it?”

  “My duty above all things has been to protect you. You didn’t take it to pawn it for some quick cash. Everything you’ve done has already been prewritten. All this time you’ve been fulfilling a destiny you knew nothing about. I am absolutely amazed by you, Aliyah, always have been. I admire you. Sometimes we have to do things on the surface that seem wrong, but if it’s for a greater good, then the reason behind the action is measured more strongly than the action itself. May I see it?”

  Carefully, she wielded the knife, placing it on the blanket. “Don’t touch it. I don’t know what it will do to you.”

  “The blade is embalmed in white light. It cannot harm me.”

  “But the stone handle might. It’s constructed from the very stone meant to imprison, keep in, or keep out, both human and spiritual forms. Then the blue emerald from the Lightness, preservation -.”

  “Purification,” he finished.

  “Exactly.”

  Unexpectedly, he kissed her full on the mouth. “It has been the greatest honor knowing you and my greatest duty to being a part of the fulfilling of your destiny.”

  “Hmmm, past tense. Why are you talking like I’m not going to see you again?” she said alarmed.

  “Did it sound like that? Sorry, the – uh – kiss disturbed my senses. Let me serve you tonight, Aliyah.” He maneuvered around her and began rubbing her back.

  “No, you’re injured.”

  “I’m fine,” he said.

  “Then in that case, we have work to do,” she stood.

  “I can’t. I’m injured.”

  “Well which is it, Jacob? Are you injured or aren’t you?” She stood with her hand at her hip.

  “I’m too injured to get into one of the largest spiritual battles I’ve probably ever before confronted, but I’m not too injured to spend the evening pampering you. The worlds will still be falling apart tomorrow. Simply ridding of Dwayne is not going to fix everything. It will just eliminate the one problem of his being your worst fear.”

  “People are dying, Jacob.” She resisted the glass of wine he tried to hand her and began pacing the floors.

  “And people will still be dying, Aliyah. You need food, replenishment, nourishment, a good night’s rest. You need to recover your strength … and your objectivity.”

  “What do you mean my objectivity?” she sat again.

  “Remember what I just said about how the reasons behind our actions are measured more strongly than our actions? If you go after Dwayne with vengeance, anger, hate, those strong emotions will disrupt your other senses. The reason for why he has failed over and over and over again is because he’s not being objective. He’s letting emotion fire him up, and he has serious, serious anger issues.”

  “Believe me, I know,” she said.

  “If you go after him in the same way, you will fail, because your reasons would be no better than his own. You have to be in the right state of mind, body, and soul, to succeed. It’s the only way.”

  “So I’m supposed to just relax and enjoy myself to the background noise of people screaming and suffering?”

  He flicked his hand and the radio turned on. Delilah. 98.7. “No, you’re supposed to relax and enjoy yourself to the background noise of a beautiful soul that inspires the world with hope, faith, and love. They’ve been running her shows 24/7 since this calamity started, broadcasting it everywhere. “Now please, drink. Take the edge off. You’re killing your body and your strength with all your anxieties.”

  Finally, she took the glass of wine. He walked to the door, placing the ‘Do Not Disturb’ paper over the door knob.

  She chuckled, “And I’m the one that doesn’t have pure intentions?”

  “It’s just to keep my lovely servants away.”

  “You do realize that a possessed human isn’t going to read the sign and be like, ‘Okay, I’ll just come back later,’” she joked.

  “Help me move this dresser. My spiritual energies can only handle up to 50 pounds.”

  “You better keep working out then,” she said, lifting the hand that wasn’t holding the wine to maneuver the dresser in front of the door.

  “What you did with Dwayne’s possessed body amazed me. The guy had to have been 300-350 lbs and you flung him around like he weighed no more than a feather. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

  “I didn’t either, but I figured it was worth the try, which, by the way, was fueled by anger, so it apparently allowed me to be more powerful.”

  “So you can just leave your body at will?”

  Aliyah put the wine glass down, and her body instantly dropped. “Over here,” she said, and he saw her shimmering by the bathroom door.

  “How are you able to do that?” he said in awe, while she returned to her body.

  “I learned how to do it when I was a kid. I would wait, and if I heard the footsteps, I would leave my body and stand across the room.”

  “You would watch?” he said tightly in pain.

  “If I didn’t, then I would not have been able to remember it, so I would not have been able to prepare myself for the next time.”

  “Do you believe that bad things happen to good people for a good reason?”

  “Well I certainly wouldn’t have caused so much distress in Otherland if not for those things happening. I feel like my entire life has been a consequence of those bad things.” She sighed heavily. “I’m ready to hear about this Prophecy you’ve been trying so hard to tell me about.”

  She poured herself another glass of wine.

  “You need to eat something. I’ve, unfortunately, had very little time to spend with you in the human world, so I do not know those simple things, like, what your favorite food is? Your favorite song. Your favorite color. What movie you’ve watched more than any other. I’d like to spend this evening learning everything I can about you. The kitchen was very generous for supplying one of everything on the menu.”

  “Pizza would have sufficed. That is the one food you can never go wrong with. Everyone in this world loves pizza.”

  “I didn’t just order one of everything for you. I, myself, have had very little time to experience this world as human. I do not recall any bed time stories, or the parents that I once had that brought me into this world. I do not know what music I like, or what food I like best.

  “I could say my favorite color is white, but that is too simplified, as it doesn’t excite me the way looking into your eyes, and all its swirling beautiful blues and greens does. Or the rosy pink of your lips. Or the brown speckles on your nose and beneath your eyes that seem to have b
een painted perfectly to accentuate the peach of your face. I love the golden color of your hair, and it always amused me when every time I saw you when you were a teenager, your fingernails would always be different colors.”

  “Then you began putting different colors on your face, purple on your eyelids, pink on your lips, always and ever-changing.”

  Lydia began feeling a bit warm. “How many glasses of wine have you had?” she inquired testily.

  “One. Why?”

  “Alcohol, like morphine, impairs your senses and makes you say and do things you wouldn’t ordinarily say or do. I think one glass is plenty enough for you, as you probably have the tolerance of a 13-year-old.”

  “Have you recognized that every time I’m trying to say something nice to you or tell you how I feel that you come up with one excuse or another as to why I’m not legitimate?”

  “Yes, I have. It just makes me uncomfortable to hear those things.”

  “Why? Once upon a time you wanted nothing more than for me to love you. Now, you’re averse to it when I’m trying to give it to you.”

  “I didn’t just want you to love me. I wanted you to choose to stay with me in the human world. This is the longest you’ve ever been in the human world at one time, and I think it’s having major impacts with that human mentality thing.”

  “You mean that I’m finally feeling what humans feel,” he stated.

  “Yes,” she murmured.

  “Perhaps I would have made different decisions if I had known then what I know now,” he whispered.

  Lydia jumped up nervously and began pacing again. “Why now are you refusing to tell me the Prophecy? For all your attempts before, and now you’re changing the subject and doing everything you can to get me to forget about it so you won’t have to tell me, even though it is your duty to do so.”

  “It’s also my choice to choose the right timing, and right now is not the right timing. My purpose now is to get you to calm down and feel good so you can be ready for another day tomorrow. Providing you this information, and possibly getting all your anxieties going again, would be counterproductive at the moment.”

  “You didn’t care about the timing before.”

  “Aliyah, just because I’m a Light knight doesn’t mean I don’t make mistakes or don’t misjudge situations or timing. I don’t know if you noticed, but I am human, like you, which means I’m both fallible and mistaken. Now please eat more than the two bites you’ve had. You’re making me feel like a pig.”

  “Ha ha, welcome to being a human male. Pig just about sums it up,” she played.

  “It warms my soul to hear you laugh and see you smile, Aliyah.”

  “Yeah, it does feel good. I missed it. Thank you, Jacob.”

  And just as her concerned eyes directed toward the bundled babe, he stirred. Jacob could physically see the relief in her face and body. “I’ll take care of him,” he said.

  “But I thought you said your duty wasn’t to be a babysitter?” she said lightly.

  “This world is full of many pleasant surprises. I’ve grown quite fond of Jasper, even if his poo could kill an army of Dark souls just with its stench.”

  Against her advice to Jacob to only drink one glass, Aliyah wound up drinking the bottle, filling her cheeks with a contented rosiness he was happy to have witnessed. She’d eaten. They’d played in the Jacuzzi, where he felt the release of tension in muscles he didn’t even know he had.

  She’d taught him card games, War, and Rummy, and laughed more than he’d ever heard her laugh when she taught him Slapjack, and it’d taken him a good five sharp slaps to his hand before he understood the objective of the game. She’d even taught him how to play 52 card pick-up, and laughed long and hard while she used her spiritual energy to sprawl the 52 cards all throughout the room, even placing an Ace of Hearts in the toilet.

  He’d tickled her, brushed her hair lovingly, kissed her. Long after she was snoring into the night, quite loudly, he might add, for someone so small, he stared at her with all the brilliant love pouring out of his heart for her, while also feeling a pain so harsh, so devastating, that he wanted to cry out and scream how unfair it all was. Now that he had her, he didn’t want to lose her, not ever, ever again.

  He was filled with the harsh regret of all the decisions he’d made years past. Just as the High master had chosen the right time for her to know the Prophecy, so he’d done the same for the Light knight. Telling him, after all the decisions in his life-cycle had already been made, with no way to turn back time and choose differently. When Jasper woke up in the middle of the night, he curled the three of them into the bed, and held both of them. His Family. His heart. His home.

  So instead of crying out all the pain he felt inside, he sent up a gracious prayer for having had the privilege to be loved by the greatest warrior princess there ever was, and to finally have the chance, the most precious moment in eternity, to be able to love her too.

  Chapter 35

  Aliyah woke up, never remembering feeling so wonderful, but the Light knight was somber. “What is it? What’s wrong?” she said while devouring their breakfast.

  “Don’t you think it’s a bit odd that we’ve been here for 12 hours, yet not once have we been accosted by a Dark soul or a possessed body?”

  “Perhaps your lightness shields me from detection,” she said in wondering. “No reason to be a crabby pants about it. I know I definitely enjoyed the reprieve. I haven’t gotten restful sleep like that since as long as I can remember. It’s amazing what a well-rested body feels like. I feel like I can do anything. I’m ready to battle the world, or the worlds, rather. Now, about that prophecy.”

  “Wouldn’t you like to freshen up, do what girl’s do -?”

  “Jacob?” she eyed him with the raised eyebrow that said there’d be no more stalling.

  So much for his appetite. “The Prophecy says that a child would be born and raised into both light and dark. She would come to be called Aliyah.”

  “You’re shittin’ me,” she exclaimed.

  “What? No, I’m not – Do you mind watching your language around the baby? We still don’t know if he maintained a 12 year-old’s mind, and I don’t want that to be his first word.”

  “Yes, Daddy,” she said playfully.

  “There would come a time when the Dark would rival against the Light, and that the two worlds would mix, versus staying separate, opening a passageway where humans and spirits would freely roam amongst the two worlds. This child, Aliyah, would maintain powers that none other before her had every possessed. She would walk both lands and contain the abilities of both humans and spirits alike, while also being able to travel to both the Lightness and the Darkness, walk the Forbidden, and conquer the Nothingness.”

  “So that’s why you didn’t want me to reveal my name,” she said.

  He rolled his eyes, “Not that you’ve ever listened. Revealing your name revealed who you were, threatening the Darkness and those within it. Since revealing your name, so long ago, your destruction has been sought for ever since. This is not a personal battle between you and Dwayne, though that is how he sees it. He used his ability to be able to track you to gain passage here, but you are the biggest threat to the Darkness. Just as the Prophecy foretold, the Dark rebelled against the Light, because the Light was doing everything to keep you safe and alive while They had completely different intentions for you.”

  “My and the Lights’ job ever since have been to keep you alive and safe. When you no longer were aware that you were Aliyah, you couldn’t be tracked. I planned to return your memories to you when the time came, but you innocently wandered back into Otherland; they figured out who you were and what your new name was, so you were no longer safe, which is why I was returned here. The Prophecy says that if Aliyah dies -.” He left out the part of her going dark. “ – then all would be lost and an eternity would come to pass of a Darkness one has never known.”

  “Where are you in this prophecy?”

&nb
sp; She was too astute.

  “I’m not,” he lied and felt guilty about it.

  “When did you learn of it?”

  “Not too long ago.”

  “So that’s why you’re all lovin’ up on me, now. You want to go down in history,” she teased.

  “Your mind is too distrusting for your own good,” he said, not humored.

  “So, does it say if I’m going to be successful or not, or how I’m supposed to accomplish all this stuff?”

  He shook his head. “It only says what will happen if you fail.”

  “No pressure, right?” she smiled unsteadily. “So you’re all depressed because you’re afraid I’ll fail?”

  “No, I know you won’t fail.”

  “Then you should be happy … unless there is something you’re not telling me.”

  He hesitated. “It won’t be easy. Your will will be tested beyond anything you’ve ever endured before. There will be sacrifices that will threaten your ability to stay Light and will attempt to get you to turn Dark.”

  “Why would I want to turn into the very thing that has done nothing but hurt me my entire life?”

  “That’s what you have to remember.”

  For the first time that morning, her high spirits fell momentarily, “What … kind of sacrifices?”

  “I cannot tell you anymore than what I’ve already told you,” he said testily.

  And then her high spirits fell completely. “Because you don’t know anymore, or because you won’t?” she stared at him with heated eyes.

  “You’re testing my patients, Aliyah.”

  “Sorry to inconvenience you, your Light knightedness. I’m part of a Prophecy that says I’m responsible for all of this, and you’re getting impatient with me? You tell me there are going to be sacrifices that will test my will, like I haven’t already sacrificed enough. What am I supposed to sacrifice now? There are only two things I have left, and it’s you and my son, and I’m not willing to sacrifice either one of you.”

  “You have more than that. I think it’s time you see your parents – your real parents – so that you can understand where you come from, where you started,” he said hurriedly.