by Karl Morgan
“I thought it might be important. By the way, what were you doing?”
The man gasped for breath and sat up straight. “What happened? Where am I?” he said between coughs and gasps. “The enforcers! I have to warn everyone!” He struggled to get up but Faith held him down, smiling warmly at him. “Who are you?”
“It’s okay, you are well, but I am sorry to say that your village did not fare well against the attack of the demons. Most of your neighbors are dead,” Faith said as she hugged him to her. When he relaxed somewhat, she said, “My name is Faith.”
“You are truly an angel of the one true god!” the man said.
“What is your name, friend?”
“I am known as Devon of Raven Wood, missy. Thank you for sparing my miserable life, dear lady, although it might have been better to let me perish.”
“Devon of Raven Wood, you must know that while there is life, there is hope?” she countered.
He chuckled under his breath and replied, “Missy is not from this world; that much is evident. There is hope for no man or woman here.” He glanced around and saw Bill squatting near the fire with the book at his feet. “Who is your friend, missy?”
Bill waved tentatively and said, “I’m Bill Watson. It’s nice to meet you, Devon of Raven Wood.”
“Well met, Bill of Watson. Is Watson a forest or glen nearby here?”
“What?” Bill asked.
“Devon, why did you say it would have been better to let you die?” Faith asked.
“Those fiends came yesterday in the middle of the afternoon. They killed my wife and stole my daughter Cassie. Without his family, what value does a man have left?” As Devon spoke, Faith noticed that Bill had changed his focus to the book. “My beautiful daughter, what have they done to her? By now, she must be one of a thousand concubines for one of the masters. She was as sweet as honey and pure as autumn snow, and now all of that is lost forever.” Faith saw Bill sitting cross-legged with his head in his hands and rocking back and forth. “Missy, as an angel, you must be able to smite them for this, right?”
Faith kissed his forehead and Devon fell asleep. She held him as he fell back into unconsciousness. When he began to snore, she turned her attention to Bill. “What is wrong with you, Bill? Can’t you focus on what’s important?” Bill looked at her and his face showed total desperation.
He could not speak, but held the book cover so she could see it. It read Paradise Lost by John Milton. She jumped to her feet, took the book from him and opened the cover. She glanced at a few pages and then sat again with a thump.
“What’s going on here, Bill?” she cried. “Are we back on Earth? Did time change somehow?”
Bill stood and began to pace around. “I’m sorry, Faith. I was too focused on the book to pay attention to that poor man. Maybe I saw the title out of the corner of my eye or whatever. When I held it in my hands, it became painfully obvious!”
“Well, don’t keep it to yourself Bill. Spit it out!”
He sat down next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. “You should know that the universe is much more magical and mysterious that any of us can imagine. I think this is a parallel dimension and this is Earth, but an Earth with different choices.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’m not a scientist, but I think this is an exact duplicate of Earth, except some people made different choices. Somehow, and don’t ask me how, those choices led to aliens coming to this Earth and enslaving it, but prior to that, most of history played out the same as on my home world. Somewhere along the line, something changed.”
“But my father and uncle would never allow that to happen! There has to be another explanation!” Without their noticing, Devon was awake again and watching their argument.
“Faith, honestly, don’t you think either Dom or Lou ever considered letting their disagreements overwhelm them? Okay, I get it. My father is Satan and my uncle is God. In my reality, they get this opportunity to work together and they take it. That’s fantastic! I think that in this reality, something made them choose differently. One thing leads to the next and suddenly evil wins. Now this version of reality bumped into ours, and wants to extend its hegemony over us.”
“He’s right you know,” Devon said. Faith and Bill looked at him in shock.
“Bill, that’s crazy talk! I mean I know what you’re saying, but that implies there is more than one God. That isn’t possible. You have to admit that isn’t possible.”
“Actually, I don’t think he said that,” Devon interjected and Faith frowned angrily at him. “I’m just saying. . .”
Bill hugged Faith tightly and stroked her hair. He pulled back and said, “My darling aunt and cousin, you have to know that I love you.” She nodded and wiped a tear from her cheek. “I never said there was more than one God. Something caused this odd schism to appear. Now it is our job, yours, mine, J.C.’s and Mary’s to fix it.”
She shook her head and asked, “But there could be an infinite number of other realities and limitless other worlds where more crazy shit is going on right now!”
“One at a time is all a man can handle,” Devon noted.
“Our new friend is right, my darling Faith,” Bill concurred.
“But what do we do now?” she asked.
“Let’s take our new friend somewhere safe. Then we should get some sleep and hopefully the next steps will be clearer tomorrow. God willing, along the way we can rescue Devon’s daughter along with our friends.” They returned to the doorway in the tree, and sent Devon through where he could be protected by Jonas and his brothers. Then they returned to the village and scouted around for a perfect hiding place.
Chapter 7
Bill Watson woke with the voice of Jonas talking in his head. “Bill, we were attacked an hour ago, but we still control the doors.”
“What happened? Is Devon okay?” Bill thought.
“Yea, he’s fine. We sent him to your uncle’s place so he would be far away from the action. A while ago, we noticed someone or something pushing on the metal plate. It began to buckle while Simon was holding it in place. He sounded the alarm and the rest of us gathered for the fight. When the plate burst, thousands of those hideous things began to surge through. Two of my brothers and I kept control of the door so it wouldn’t slam shut, while the rest fought off the beasts. Fortunately, they were no match for us. We kept attacking them and slicing them to pieces and more came. Finally, the few left alive went back through the opening and we were able to put a heavier object in place of the plate.”
“Was anyone hurt?”
“No. Those things are just mortal beasts of some kind so they could not do any real damage, but you know what this means.”
“Yea, they’ll go through unguarded doors and cause mayhem, trying to draw you away from the doors we control.”
“But we won’t let that happen, so don’t worry. We have lots more friends to join the fight. We’ve even started to get help from human armies. They know what’s at risk and will fight to the death to protect their home. By the way, have you found Mary and J.C. yet?”
“No, but I have a feeling they’re not too far away. Thanks for the update, Jonas!”
“Take care, Bill. We’re all counting on you.”
Bill sat up as best he could. Faith had constructed a shelter that looked like other large cocoons hanging from other trees around them. Faith slept above him, separated by a transparent membrane. The cocoon was ten feet long and three feet in diameter and hung from a long filament twenty feet over their heads. The ground was fifty feet below them. Unlike a real cocoon, this one was opaque from the outside, but almost transparent from his vantage point. He wondered what kind of monster would pupate in such a large structure. The village where they rescued Devon was only a hundred yards away, so they could not be dangerous creatures. In his mind, he envisioned a giant butterfly with fifty foot wings in dozens of iridescent shades and smiled.
“You look happy today,” Fait
h said as she looked down on him through the gauzy sheet above him.
“Good morning. I was just wondering what kind of butterflies are in those cocoons.”
“That’s an interesting question. They have to be big, that’s for sure.”
“By the way, Jonas just told me more of those things attacked them, but they were able to push them back.”
“So, what’s the plan of action for today?”
“I think we should head for that big city. Remember what I told you last night. I think J.C. and Mary are there.”
Faith closed her eyes and the long filament holding the cocoon to the tree branch began to stretch, lowering them toward the forest floor. When it touched the leaf litter on the ground, Bill ripped through the material and crawled out, followed quickly by Faith. The cocoon then rose back into the tree. They moved off in the direction of the city, careful to avoid the winding path that pointed the way.
After eating a small breakfast in their cell, Cassie and Mary were told to take off all their clothing except their bras and panties and wait to be summoned. Ten minutes later, one of the guards opened their cell, chained them together and led them out of the cellblock. In the large central chamber, their chains were added to the end of a chain holding a long line of similarly dressed women, and were then led toward a small ornate door. Groups of five women were led through the door at a time, still chained together but now separated from the group. Mary glanced toward the door, but when it opened, she could only see a second door ten feet down a narrow corridor. “What’s happening?” she whispered to Cassie.
“We’re about to be sold, missy,” she replied without looking back.
“Quiet, everybody!” a guard shouted.
An hour later, Mary and Cassie were almost at the door. They were the end of the last group of five. The door opened and the women walked into the narrow corridor and the door closed behind them. Soft music began to play and they could feel a fine mist of perfume being sprayed upon them. A mechanical voice spoke in a soft and sweet voice, “Do not be afraid. You are not going to be harmed. This is the first day of the rest of your lives as you join one of the imperial families. Be good and work hard and your efforts will be rewarded. Laziness and dishonestly will be treated very harshly. But do not think of that. Think only of the magical adventure that awaits you.” The front door opened and brilliant light filled the corridor. A gronk in a fine tuxedo appeared and offered his hand to the lead prisoner and led them out onto a large stage. The gronk hurried to the end of the group and took the end of the chain and clipped it onto a wall. Then he went to the center of the stage where there were two microphone stands. On the opposite side of the stage, another door opened and five men were led out wearing only their briefs. The light was intense, but Mary thought she saw J.C. among the group of men. They were chained to the wall as well, and the other gronk joined the first in the center of the stage. The crowd applauded softly and they bowed. The crowd could not be seen due to the bright stage lights as Mary looked into total darkness.
The first gronk said, “Ladies and gentlemen, I give you lot nineteen, our last lot of the day.” The crowd applauded again. He took a microphone from its stand and began to walk back toward the women, still smiling at his audience. When he stood in front of them, he held the microphone behind his back and softly said, “I’m going to ask you each for your name so the masters can hear your voices. Say your name and the name of your clan only. Speak of anything else and you will be punished.” He turned his head back to the audience, put the microphone to his lips and said, “Aren’t they a bevy of beauties? And look, not one has any ownership markings. These are fresh, young and wild human females for your herds.” The audience applauded again. He stood next to the first woman while his fellow made the same announcement about the five men. When the other had finished, he said, “Please clearly state your name and clan, missy.” He pointed the microphone at her.
She smiled and said, “Astrid of New Lake,” and curtsied slightly.
He and the other gronk took turns asking the new slaves for their names. After the third woman was asked, a pounding sound arose from the crowd. The two announcers turned to the audience and fell to their knees and prostrated themselves. A single spotlight illuminated a man standing alone with a long staff in his left hand. As Cassie had noted, he was very tall with gray skin and large eyes. He smiled broadly and said, “I am Lord Montrose, first minister to our beloved Emperor, Gaius Claudius Caesar. Through his Divine Grace, he has decided to accept this entire lot.” The crowd roared in hoots, cheers, and applause. The house lights came on, showing at least a thousand attendees, half of whom were grays like Lord Montrose and wore long robes. The rest were humans wearing tunics and togas.
The two announcers climbed back to their feet and applauded happily, knowing their commission for an imperial sale would feed their families for a long time. When the applause quieted, the audience began to file out and the announcers led the slaves to a third door, where more guards in fine armor and shining helmets led them away.
After walking for two hours, Bill and Faith began to approach another clearing, but this one was totally different. Instead of simple cottages, there was a large mound in the center. Even from this distance, the surface seemed very odd, almost as though it was moving. They separated by about twenty feet, crouched down and moved forward very slowly, stopping every few feet to hide behind the next tree. Now they could hear a low grumbling sound coming from the mound. Bill wondered if it could be covered with spiders or some other kind of insects. He glanced around the tree, but still could not make out what he was looking at. He turned to check on Faith and saw her starting to climb the tree where she stopped. She flew up the branches like a monkey desperate to escape a lion. After a few seconds, she had disappeared into the canopy of the tree. With no other ideas, he crouched down and hurried toward the next tree. Just as he reached it, his foot broke a small branch and it made a loud cracking sound. He stood panting with the clearing on the other side of the tree. The grumbling sound had stopped. He wanted to look around the trunk, but was terrified by the absolute quiet.
Suddenly, ten of the monsters that had invaded Earth jumped on him. He fought and tried to toss them off, but in a moment, they held him fast. He recognized one of them as the enforcer named Neck he had seen in the other clearing, ripping pages out of the book. Neck smiled at his brothers and said, “It would seem breakfast has been served.” They carried him toward the clearing. Bill twisted his head to look toward the opening, only ten feet away. Now he could see a small berm instead of the mound. The mound itself was a mass of thousands of the monsters, eager to consume his flesh. He screamed as his carriers tossed him into the mass of squirming beasts, all reaching out to rip off pieces of his body. He had slipped down through several layers of creatures and they were now packed closely around him. Their stench was overwhelming and he began to gag. He knew his fate and his anger began to swell within him.
The entire nest of enforcers was instantly filled with intense white light. The creatures screeched in pain and moved to get away. He saw a spot of open ground to his right and began to crawl over the moving bodies toward it. As he approached it, he saw a brilliantly lit woman’s leg. He pushed his way out of the nest and now lay at Faith’s feet. Somehow, she was now at least ten feet tall and wore a white uniform with a silver breastplate and helmet. She held a long sword over her head, which was the source of the illumination. She smiled at him and then jumped into the swarm of enforcers and began to swing her blade.
Bill jumped to his feet and realized he had become the beast again. He too attacked the mass of creatures desperately trying to escape her sword. The creatures jumped on him and bit him, but their mortal teeth could not dent his flesh. He grabbed one after another, throwing them against trees and smashing their heads together and against the berm. In less than five seconds, it was over. Most of the enforcers had retreated into hidden doors and escaped. Hundreds of dead bodies surrounded them. He
and Faith were back to normal again, standing in the midst of the carnage.
“So, this was the nest they were talking about last night,” Faith surmised.
Bill kissed her cheek and said, “Thanks for saving me, cousin.”
She put her hand on his shoulder and said, “Bill, you are new at this, but you will learn to summon your other form more quickly. You were in little danger. If one of them would have bitten you, you would have transformed very fast. I guess we should get going. It’s still a long way to the city.”
“Faith, doesn’t it strike you as odd that they would have their nest here in the forest?”
“How do you mean? With that smell, I’m sure most neighbors would complain anywhere else.”
“These things are not from this planet. This is still Earth, and there have never been any monsters like that. Last night, the one named Track complained about the cold. Why would they put their nest in a place that gets cold anyway? I’m sure their overlords could have given them a heated building somewhere in that city.”
“Do you think this place might be something more than their nest?”
He looked around at the clearing and the low wall and dead creatures. “I’m probably just imagining things. And the smell is getting worse now. Let’s go.” He started to push his way across the center of the pit toward the forest again and Faith followed. After a couple more steps, something creaked under his foot, and they stopped and looked at each other. They both bent down and began tossing aside the bodies and the dirt, leaves, and filth on the ground until a small wooden door became visible. It was roughly two feet square with a single iron ring as a pull. Bill bent down further, grabbed the pull and yanked it open. Opening the door turned on a number of lights, showing a long metal ladder leading twenty feet down into what looked like a concrete tunnel. “Wow! I guess I was right.”