9 Tales From Elsewhere 7

by 9 Tales From Elsewhere

  “They have kept that secret well. But the rebels are surelyArek.” Bert seemed lost in thought for a moment, then a bit nervous. “Perhaps a new battle in an old war - the sons of the high priest fighting for his power?”

  This didn’t surprise me. I choose the high priest partly on merit and loyalty, but, unfortunately, politics played a role. I couldn't pick Bert because he was poor – no Arek would listen to a man with so few Arek trees.

  In Kearth time, decades have passed since my arrival. Goblins were born and died knowing only my reign. But I usually wasn’t there to during the transition of power. One of my high priests had been swallowed whole by a rampaging kinglizard. I once came to my temple to find his infant son before an adoring court drooling all over the holy robes.

  The Arek tribe strived constantly for authority - it was the basis of their culture. They wanted to ensure they would rule the island if I ever decided to stay home forever.

  A thought entered my mind, uninvited, but welcome. “Bert, has there been any sign of the metal stolen at my western temple?”

  “My spies mentioned nothing.”

  “Send them back out. Your most trusted.” He nodded, fingering one of his many beaded necklaces.

  “How are our troops? Could they withstand a force armed with metal?”

  “They will defend your house against anything, Kev.”

  “Spare me the lizard shit, Bert.”

  He looked to his feet. “They can hold the temple, but that alone.”

  I recognized his discomfort. Being the bearer of bad news weighed upon him mightily. “What else did I miss?”

  Bert fidgeted for a moment. “The Coral tribe stirs. Militias carve war canoes.”

  Again, I was not surprised, but suspected a diversion. I dispatched the army to smash their boats, the rebel Areks then march right in unopposed? " Could the rebels and the Coral tribe be working together?"

  Bert’s jaw hung open, showing teeth filed like diamonds. “Impossible!” He spat on the floor, then hastily wiped it up with his sleeve. “Please forgive me Kev. As an Arek the thought is…" he shivered. "Disgusting."

  “Well I’m not counting it out.” I dismissed him. If he survived this uprising, great rewards were in order. The rebels were up to something big, and they had a tool which genuinely frightened me. I needed non-goblin help.

  I came home to earth determined to find the only other human that could help. Lidia had come with me on three separate occasions. But she's the one who dumped me last time I sacrificed my real life to play God. The breakup was bad. Though she changed her phone number, I knew where she worked, a coffee shop that she partly owned. I may have walked by it a few times, and may have craned my neck to see her in the window, but I never had the nerve to go in. Twice I had made it up to the obnoxiously chimed door, only to turn back and loiter in the alley. Would she call the cops? Would she ignore me altogether, like we’ve never met? I would drop dead on the spot.

  I set out to meet my fate, feeling naked without my power, my feet slapping the ground as if I forgot how to walk. Upon entering the café I was startled by the chimes I knew were there. I wanted to see her before she noticed me, but when I finally found her I caught her widening eyes. She immediately bent down to her work behind the counter, mouth slightly agape. As I struggled to form a coherent word, she blurted “What?” quick but quiet.

  A buzz started in my right ear. I felt like her and I were alone on the moon. “Can we talk?”

  She looked over my shoulder at another customer. “Are you going to order?”

  I could barely read the menu, so I don’t remember what I ordered. She served two customers before delivering the hot mystery beverage. Her expression had softened considerably.

  “I get a break at 7:00. But don’t wait in here, it’s weird.”

  I walked around the neighborhood, getting increasingly wired on caffeine. I returned at 7:00 on the dot. Sure enough she emerged, short with wavy brown hair styled differently by the day. Petite frame, with runner's legs, though she never ran.

  Right off the bat she notified me of her boyfriend and how well it was going. She didn’t give me much to base it on, but he sounded like an asshole.

  “I’m not here for that. Promise. It’s about Kearth.”

  “You still do that, huh.” The motions of lips told a thousand words.

  “Yeah. Look. I know it completely disqualifies me as a mate. I would have been happy to hide it, but I let you in because I thought I would spend the rest of my life with you. I guess it was a bold assumption.”

  “I was 23. I wanted a real life.”

  “I know, I get that. But my fake life is falling apart, and only you can help.”

  She tapped the tip of her left flat against the tile floor. When she looked back to me her eyes were glassy. “Promise me you won’t jump to the conclusion that I want you back. I am happy with Charles.”

  “Of course. I mean, thank you. You won’t believe what’s been going on.”

  7

  Lidia was cautious all the way back at my place, but once inside she displayed her typical tenacity. She wanted to get right into it, which worked for me. We crossed over together, like we did in the old days. Upon landing I was mortified- how could I forget that the mirror doesn’t bring your clothes with you! She just laughed, drawing pleasure from my real discomfort at her imaginary discomfort. She looked great, covering her things like a grinning Eve. With my hand on my own parts (which was not necessary in retrospect), I quickly found her an extra robe.

  To my great pleasure, nothing was on fire, though it was blazing hot outside. There had been no more violence since the Great Scourge, as my divine storm was now called. I evacuated the temple to briefly show off the improvements. When I first arrived in Kearth, the mirror had dropped me into an oval of sunken dolmens, worn and mossy like a forgotten stone henge. By the time I started bringing Lidia, I had upgraded the landing place to a quartzite platform surrounded by tall, proud dolmens of pale green soapstone, and a simple hall with a private room for my stuff. Since Lidia left me, I had walled in the landing place, then added the altar room, the tower and the fane of the High Priest.

  She seemed genuinely impressed. “You’re much more powerful now.”

  I nearly choked. “I wish. I'm weaker than ever. We used to think of them as children, but they’ve grown up. Now they’re teenage jerks.”

  "So what would a god need with me?"

  I didn't respond until we ascended my tower. From three stories up, the desolation looked worse than I remembered. At least they had hauled away the dead. I explained the situation as best I could.

  "I didn’t plan it this way, but there is something that only you can do, even after all these years." Just follow my lead. I conjured up a thick fog to cover up our path out of the capitol. We passed through an Arek forest, then a forest of giant bamboo that whispered in the wind. Past a narrow, but very deep cleft with a noisy river invisible below, were a range of dry and chalky mountains. But for an occasional carnivorous bush, we could have been hiking in Colorado. At first glance the mountains looked pristine, but a careful observer could find mounds of tailings, altered water courses and other signs of mining.

  A few paces ahead of us, what we thought was pile of rocks suddenly stood erect – a gray-skinned goblin. It hailed. Not to me, but to her, with a look of shocked devotion.

  The tribe was grey even if you washed off the dusty chalk. They were miners, the best in all of Kearth, and the only smelters. I taught them a few things, but they taught me some too. The grays were my favorite – they lacked the duplicity of the Arek Tribe, but I couldn't force they would never live with me in the humid lowland plain.

  The goblin escorted us through a narrow cleft of the mountain, visible only to those who knew where to look. Others peeled their heads out of invisible hideaways in the surrounding cliffs, first a few, then dozens. From thin slivers of rock high above, they watched our march, humming a wordless chant that I certainly di
dn’t teach them.

  On the other side of a tall ridge was the hidden redoubt of the gray goblins, a steep-sided bowl valley with a mesa in the center as wide as a basketball court and about four stories tall. The top was flat, and walls carved with cells like a honey comb. In its hollow heart was a domed cavern. Holes in the white stone let shafts of soft light in its core. At the far end a smooth curtain of water fell about ten feet from a holy spring that I tapped for them, into a gently rippling pool.

  As one great chorus the tribe chanted a final mantra, then fell to their knees in silent veneration. With an air of solemn ceremony, the high priestess placed a wedge-shaped stone at the top of the waterfall, parting the screen of water down the middle. What we saw in the water curtain's gap made me grin like a fool, but Lidia shot me a very familiar look of distrust/disappointment. It was a statue of herself, roughly life-sized, and crafted with a hand that would challenge Michelangelo. The milky white stone glowed and pulsed like a captured aurora.

  No-one else here spoke English, so I could be candid. “Look, Lidia, every religion has a goddess. You’re the only female human they’ve ever known.” She was not appeased. “Who did you expect me to use, my mom?” She turned to throw me another expression that meant that I am a fool of unfathomable proportions. Then, to my disbelief, she started barking commands in halting, but passable goblin. Though it was a simple tongue, her memory astounded me.

  The grays snapped to attention. Powered by their worship, her voice boomed and her eyes blazed. I swear at one point she hovered six inches off the ground. Under her command they rounded up the militia, unsealed the armory, and packed up supplies like a Roman Legion. We marched to the capital with a troop of well-armed soldiers capable of holding back the puny Arek rebels, no matter what they wielded.

  With my temple secure, we returned to the landing chamber. No small talk. No big talk. I performed the act of will that started the journey home. I returned to earth a few minutes after her, and found her laid out on my Cheeto-infested couch, playing with her phone. “I can’t believe I’m lying to Charles for you,” she grumbled. “And get me a blanket, you slob.” I followed her command immediately, without a second thought.

  8

  Grateful that I had something to keep my mind off of the proximity of Lidia, I played a hypothetical three-way chess match with the Coral Tribe and the Arek rebels. I have to be one step ahead. I have to be omnipotent. But here I was human. I fell asleep with a map in my hand.

  My foes struck first, and quickly, while I slept soundly in my earthside bed. They did more than just call – with their unholy rites they pulled me into Kearth! I came to, shaken deeply and idled with fear, into the darkest time of night. I was desperate to be alert, but the passage left me groggy and idled. Slowly I recognized my surroundings: the central plaza of the Coral Tribe village. Before me was the longhouse, behind me a tall pillar of fire burning blue and white. Dozens of goblins, too many to count, surrounded me, performing some shamanistic rite that couldn't be more different from the practices of my cult.

  By the heatless blue light I soon realized that the Coral tribe was not complicit in this kidnapping. Their elders didn't dance or chant, and each was flanked by well armed Areks. I was looking at the rebels.

  A young and athletic goblin, shrouded in what looked like goblin skin, danced about the flame to the beat of slit log drums. I saw their toothy maws chanting but my ears were ringing. Yet in my head I clearly heard their awful prayer. An unthinkable command: destroy the longhouse, set it aflame!

  An earthquake, a flood, a fissure in the earth – so many ways I would have punished them had I the power. But when I tried to concentrate my will, they yanked my attention toward the repetitive, driving prayer.

  With my greater size and burning rage, I could have physically swatted them about like bratty younger brothers, but my limbs were leaden. My own thoughts were like daggers in my brain. Only listening to the onslaught of the prayer delivered relief. I rose to my feet, which was easy once it was no longer my idea. A step toward the longhouse unleashed a exquisite surge of raw power. I knew my own senses were untrustworthy, but I couldn’t resist forever. I just couldn't.

  It seemed like the easiest and hardest thing to do at the same time. I succumbed to their will. While the Coral tribe looked on, wailing, I kicked in the wall of the longhouse. With Godzilla blows I pounded down their sacred shrine, crunching their sacred ancestors beneath my feet. With a snap of my fingers, I set it ablaze, a proper wrathful god, delivering wrath.

  Reveling in their success, the rebels flagged in their chanting. I exerted the little force I had left, and shouted a command to release them. They oblige thankfully. Worshipfully. The rebels fled into the forest, whooping and whistling and dancing in glee.

  The Coral Tribe literally rolled around in grief, too shocked to pursue. I longed to ask for forgiveness, but it wouldn’t have helped. They wouldn't believe me. Like the Coral Tribe, I’d have to settle for revenge.

  9

  Lidia slept through my whole ordeal. I crawled out of my bedroom dying of thirst, incapable of speech. I would have enjoyed her reviving me if I wasn’t scared to death that I could actually die from this. She promised to run out to get some coffee from her shop. I begged her not to leave, not because of the rebels, but because I was afraid she wouldn’t come back. She did, though. Brave Lidia.

  We pounded some coffee and plunged back in…right into a pitched battle. Naturally the Coral Tribe blamed me. I couldn’t fault them for that- I did it. They came in force. It may have been every member of the tribe that could walk or row. And the tricky devils had the metal weapons after all!

  The Arek High Priest had retreated into the forest, taking most of my priesthood and about half of my loyal warriors. I should have known the old ass-kisser was in on it. He declared himself the first of a dynasty of my holy representatives, rulers of all of Kearth!

  My temple was still held by the stalwart grays. With metal weapons of their own and the love of the goddess in their hearts, they repulsed waves and waves of Coral Tribe zealots.

  But it wasn’t long before the rebel shamans caught wind of my arrival. Like a rabbit punch they started their terrible rites. Due to their evil prayers, I was capable of only quick feats and minor miracles. I healed a few wounded soldiers and collapsed the roof to seal off the rear doors of the temple.

  From our altar room command center, Lidia led the grays, who fought with unimaginable ferocity. We secured the temple, but the town was brimming with Coral Tribe warriors waiting for their chance to fight to the death for their revered ancestors.

  Yet the rebels remained the bigger threat. If only I could find them physically I would bash some skulls. But I was stuck in the temple, surrounded by rabid foes, and unable to use by greatest weapons. Did they plan this masterstroke, or were the filthy little bastards lucky?

  It was time to take the battle to the true enemy. All Goblins are selfish and self-preserving. I need to hurt some of them so badly that the others lose heart. I needed to be the cruel god that they had created in the Coral Tribe village.

  So I retraced the mental bridge that they created to enter the mind of a single rebel goblin. It was new ground, so I figured it out as I went along. I entered a simpler, foreign, hateful psyche. And twisted. I got a reaction. Redoubling my effort, I felt the horror of a goblin panic before the connection broke. The pressure slackened, but not for long, as if another took his place.

  As I worked on another rebel mind invader, a group of grays, bloodied and shrieking in pain, spilled into the altar room, followed by a surge of frenzied Coral Tribe zealots. With a renewed burst of fervor, the grays held the ground before their goddess. The zealots were repulsed, but not before they unleashed a volley of coral-tipped arrows. With a sharp scream, Lidia dropped onto her bottom; an arrow bounced off of the wall just a foot from her head.

  Fighting off the rebel prayer, I helped her up and dragged her to the safety of the landing place.

&
nbsp; “Go back. I'll follow soon.”

  After a final plea to her subjects to stay mighty for her, she tearfully obliged. After she disappeared, I sat on the alabaster throne, but I wasn’t going anywhere. I dove back into my mental assault, better at it after my first victory. One by one I projected force until they broke away in agony. Quivering with the pressure of my feat, my armrest began to crumble into gravel under my clenched fist. I felt momentum - the battle turning.

  I was barely cognizant of the goblins hacking each other to pieces just steps away from me, until a dollop of warm blood splattered my face. They were right on top of me! Ferocious, bloodied Coral Tribe goblins, crude weapons raised to strike the god of their realm!

  Something pulled me in a third direction, and the temple started to spin. Faster, faster, then suddenly I came to in my secret dark room, still fighting off goblins with trashing limbs. A foot or a fist must have caught the mirror's frame. The sound of shattering glass snapped me fully, shockingly into the present. The pathway to my world, my creation, my vacation, my heart, was broken into tiny slivers of glass. Lidia sobbed beside me, curled up into a ball. My guts turned to mush, I cried beside her until she stopped, then a little bit longer.