James let his muscles relax as he sat on the smooth stone floor and listened to the darkness. The air pulsed around him with a deep thrum, creating a soft drumbeat as though the room expanded and contracted. James’ breathing soon followed the same pattern. In, hold, out, hold.
James closed his eyes as he let go of all thoughts as he’d been taught to in the yoga class he’d begun attending at Omegaphil’s park each Saturday. Clear, empty, let go of all negativity. James became one with the room, his heartbeat thrumming to the same rhythm as his breathing, as the breath of the room. The darkness buoyed him up and he floated content on the waves of warm air.
A scraping noise brought James back to center. He opened his eyes but could see nothing but a distant glow that may have been imagined. The electrical smell grew as the scraping noise came closer. He saw flashes of movement as something circled him in an ever tightening spiral. It would be on top of him very soon.
Despite the predatory movement, James remained calm. I am not afraid. James felt that this scraping, unknown entity danced toward him rather than stalked. Ever closer the scraping sounds came, louder and faster. James beat time on his thighs with the movement, faster and faster.
The scraping stopped, replaced by a heavy, rhythmic flow of air back and forth over James’ head. James reached out, his hand steady as it touched something warm and smooth, like glazed pottery. His eyes strained against the darkness, trying to pierce the shadows and discern what he touched. He ran his hand along the object, feeling the slick texture, as though covered in oil, but his fingers remained dry. He felt a ridge and followed the curve of it down and back up.
The flow of air shifted, breaking the rhythm. James pulled his hand away and folded his arms, expectant, though he did not know what he expected.
The dark one came for you, but you repelled him. You are as strong as we hoped, but we have grown impatient. Why do you not come to us?
James’ calm slipped somewhat as confusion took its place. Dark one? Come to you? Who are you?
You know me. You have always known me. You are my creator, my father, my friend.
What?
The room exploded in dazzling light as fire exploded from the dark and billowed along stone walls, lighting torches set there. He could feel the heat, and afterimages clung to his sight when the fire dissipated.
The voice filled James’ mind once more. Ah, of course you do not recognize me. I apologize, master. My mind has grown feeble. I once understood all you asked of me, but ages have passed and I have lost my way. This I remember. I must show you some of what must be done.
The last words echoed in James’ skull and with them came images, strange shapes covered with letters. The shapes twisted and morphed and then were gone.
The colored afterimages blocking James’ vision cleared, and he stared into large green eyes that blinked back at him. The air shifted and once more the room filled with fire.
James awoke and rubbed his eyes, removing grit with his fingernail. He’d been having the same dream for several days now, ever since Angie had told him to get started on his special project. He slid open a holo-notebook with barely a thought, created a stylus, and scribbled down the patterns and letters he remembered.
The dreams weren’t too unusual for him. Any time he fixated on one idea for too long he’d always had strange dreams. They helped him tap into insights he never found while awake. His book had filled his nights with genetic code, but even those had not been this vivid.
I need to get back in the BOCS and get to work right away, deadly simsuits or not.
Angie said he could take all the time he needed, but he wasn’t going to be able to keep himself away much longer. His dreams would only get more insistent.
The thorough report carried an undertone of sniveling whine, everything Angie had come to expect from Dr. Stephens. She pushed it away, satisfied with the soft hiss of real paper on her desk. She’d read it and pushed it away half a dozen times already, but kept coming back to it.
She had a hard time believing that Tim Fuller would hurt anyone, especially while in the BOCS. He loved the programming behind it too much. Yes, he’d been upset about not being pulled to work in Section Nine where the servers were rumored to be. Yes, he’d been passed up for promotion several times. Yes, the virus leads straight back to Fuller. Yes, Stephens had immediately fired the guy. But something still felt wrong. She just couldn’t place it.
Fuller had the access and knowhow to pull it off. No one knows the BOCS’ programming like him. Angie shuddered as the image of the suit stabbing James went through her mind for the millionth time since the accident.
The other programmers had neutralized the virus and taught the AI system to detect and avoid any such problems in the future. New safeguards had been initialized, tested, and retested, yet Angie didn’t feel safe and couldn’t get the visions of James surrounded by blood out of her head.
What if it’d been his heart? Or a thousand stab wounds at once? James wouldn’t be joking his way out of that one. And he’s so eager to get back in there. Angie glanced at the report again. All clear, all safe. What am I holding out for? Am I worried about myself or James? I guess it doesn’t really matter.
She knew better than to defy Vander’s will when it had been voiced so clearly. Omegaphil wasn’t exactly the open-door come to us with any complaint and we’ll do our best type of company. She had no choice.
She would open the BOCS in the morning. The request forms stacked neatly next to the report served only as polite commands, not suggestions, her signature just a formality. And I know it. You gotta love Omegaphil. Angie picked up her pen, flipping off the cap in the same motion, and signed. Well, here we go. Back to work, ready or not.
Chapter 13: A New World
Kaden looked down at the girl he’d just stepped on. Her scream had been short lived before she’d closed her eyes and gone limp.
“Aren? But…how…?”
She looked worse than pale, like when she’d had the seizure. He bent down and touched her neck, checking her pulse as he’d seen on tv. He didn’t find it right away, and his own heart did a flip-flop before he noticed her chest moving up and down. Alive, but cold.
“Aren. Aren, you have to wake up. I don’t know how safe we are here. Bad things happen within minutes. Aren, wake up!” He tried tapping her face. He couldn’t bring himself to slap her. Her eyelids fluttered. “Oh, thank heaven! Aren, are you okay, Aren?”
She opened her eyes and focused those gray storms on Kaden. She blinked several times before she spoke. “Kaden? What happened? Where am I?” Her eyes darted around, taking in the forest, the grass, the desk that sat in the middle of the clearing and then her eyes returned to his.
A frown formed and creases appeared on her forehead as memories flooded back into her. “What did you do to me? Where am I?” Anger mixed with fear in her voice.
She sat up and scrambled backward away from him. She made it about two or three feet before she stopped moving, groaned, and put her hands on the sides of her head as if to hold her skull together.
Kaden knelt by her with his mouth open, but nothing came out. He’d imagined sharing his secret with someone a thousand times, but now he couldn’t dream what to say. Say something, anything!
“Um…okay…this is going to sound more than a little crazy. We, um, traveled through a wormhole to another dimension. You and I are no longer on Earth.”
Aren groaned again and pushed against him with a weak hand. “So loud.”
Kaden smiled with pity. “The headache is normal, I think. I’ve only done this a few times and never for very long. It should go away soon…” He tried to sound confident and comforting, but felt awkward, nerdy, and more afraid than he’d been since the accident. Gotta get her out of here.
She peeked out at him from behind squinted eyelids. “Yeah…sure…wormhole. What did you do? Drug me or something? And, seriously, where are we? Behind the school?” She tried to look around, but closed her eyes a
gain within seconds.
He sighed. “Drug you? Of course not. I know it’s crazy, but you have to believe me. Just look at the sky. I swear we’re not on Earth anymore.” He pointed up at the deep blue sky where a very normal yellow sun hung beside what appeared to be a soft red scar that ran from one horizon to the other. It was beautiful, and Kaden couldn’t help but think that it must be breathtaking at night.
Her eyes followed his gesture and she gasped. “What is that?”
He shrugged. “My guess, a nebula, close enough to be seen, but far enough away not to engulf us in superhot gasses. Yes, I’m a nerd. It doesn’t matter really. We’re not staying. We need to get you home before too much happens. I don’t even know how you managed to follow me in the first place.”
He moved closer to her. “How you feeling? It’s a bit of a shock the first time, I know.” He glanced around. “But at least there aren’t any tigers, bloodthirsty shadows, or scorpion things…yet.”
She shook her head, and then doubled over as the motion appeared to set off new fireworks in her brain and stomach. She groaned again, louder. “What tigers?”
“Long story, one I’ll share when we get back home.” Kaden put his hand on hers. The touch sent shivers up his arm as he felt her cool, soft skin beneath his warm hand. She smelled like blackberries. He could almost taste the sweet, purple fruit as he breathed. She’s so close and real. Still very glad to have clothes.
He wrenched his attention away from Aren. We really need to go. He looked around, searching for anything out of the ordinary. Monster tigers the size of minivans, poisonous red fireflies, man-eating primates. Aren has no idea how scary these worlds can be.
He thought he saw a flash of movement to his left. A stick snapped in the forest to his right. Kaden’s fear deepened. “I haven’t been counting, but I’m pretty sure we’re close to five minutes. That’ll be a record, but we really have to go now. Come on, Aren, get up.”
“What is it?” She looked around at the foreign world. “I’m still not entirely ready to believe your story, red slash in the sky or not. Can’t we wait until my head doesn’t feel like its inside out though?”
“No. I don’t think we can. We aren’t safe. We need to get back. I’ll explain everything when we get there. Just do whatever you did before. Do you remember any of that?” He had a momentary panic that she might have no idea what she’d done and they’d be stuck here until they figured it out.
She looked up at him, fear evident on her face, but her voice sounded confident. “Yeah, I think so. Pretty much just go through the swirly, scary doorway of death after you?” She managed a thin smile, and Kaden couldn’t help but smile back.
“Exactly!” He grabbed her hand tightly. “Don’t let go. I’ve never taken anyone with me before…well, until just barely.”
Kaden reached out to his tether home, like he had when the tiger chased him, and nothing happened. “What?” He flipped open his Egg and found dozens of images instead of just the usual lone picture of home. “That’s new too. What did you do?”
He felt her shrug next to him as he flipped through the images, found a hazy one of the classroom, and reached out to it. He held Aren closer and whispered, “Here we go. Hope this works.”
Aren had been trying to focus on the shimmering image that Kaden reached out to, but something distracted her. Past the image she saw a small, bearded man rise out of the ground as though on an escalator.
Swirling fur that resembled tattoos covered every inch of the man’s exposed skin. He blinked in the sunlight and then fixed large, dark eyes on her and Kaden. Aren looked into those animalistic eyes and saw her curiosity reflected back. She smiled as the familiar knowing sensation took over. Apparently this thing of mine works here too. Who knew?
The little man’s memories rushed to the surface, and Aren didn’t have to look too deep to see he was friendly and extremely loyal. He could be passionate and even fierce, but preferred to understand a conflict before joining one. She also saw and felt things that were beyond her grasp.
Dancing fireflies turned stone into dust. Songs built huge structures out of metal and glass. Aren found herself lost in the unfamiliar images and ideas, so enthralled that she didn’t notice when the pressure on her hand disappeared at first.
Aren smiled at the man-like creature, unafraid as she knew she had nothing to fear unless she threatened him. She turned to tell Kaden that he had nothing to fear as well, but Kaden was gone.
Kaden saw none of these things as the image of home engulfed him and he spiraled away once more, but as the darkness closed in he had a feeling that Aren’s hand was no longer in his.
He reached out to her in the black. Aren? Aren, are you with me? Nothing but the swirling darkness as he slid back to Earth. Maybe she just can’t hear me in this terrible place. Maybe…
Evandrel pushed himself faster. Someone else drew near to the two humans. Evandrel reached out as he ran, sniffing the newcomer with his mind. It must be a Dwaro.
Evandrel’s father had spoken of Dwaros and their amazing powers over stone and metal, but Evandrel himself had never seen one. He knew with a certainty that the Dwaro would beat him to the humans. He could feel the animals moving in the soft dirt as vibrations from below startled them, the death of roots torn by claws, and the hum of life within the Dwaro.
Evandrel’s father had told him that a Dwaro felt like a thousand beehives contained in one small body, but the comparison barely resembled the surge of life and movement that emanated from the being that moved toward Evandrel’s prey.
The world around him blurred as he pushed past his limits of speed and strength, hoping to arrive at least moments after the Dwaro. His calloused feet cushioned each step, springing him forward as he made his bones stronger and his muscles larger to help compensate for the strain. Branches and roots moved from his path and then closed back behind him. He ran faster than he’d ever dared before. Any misstep could result in disaster, even death, but he whispered words of power to increase his speed even more.
If the Dwaro took them, he could not follow. The Dwaros and the Keitane had treaties and Evandrel would not trespass in their caverns uninvited. Oh, to see the Singing Crystal Caverns, the Petro Gates, the underground Waterfalls of Trent, or the Forrest of Stone Thorns. Evandrel grinned. It would be like something out of a childhood story. Only the Elders have seen so much.
Evandrel felt the moment the Dwaro touched air with senses more finely attuned than he’d achieved even after weeks of meditation. The humans stood together to confront the surprising threat. Then, the male human disappeared. Evandrel skidded in shock and nearly tripped, but his altered muscles moved at blinding speeds to keep him upright.
Has the Dwaro killed him? They have no reason to love humans. The stories of the Elders spoke of the warrior spirit of the Dwaros, but not of this kind of violence.
Evandrel reached out with his mind and found no evidence of death while he verified that the female remained. The other had gone as he had appeared, no movement, just gone. Why would he leave his female? Evandrel picked up speed once more, his face a death-grimace of concentration as the air whipped past.
Aren whirled, looking for Kaden, though deep down she knew exactly where he was. He left me. Will he come back? Can he come back? A million thoughts raced through her head as she realized she was all alone on some distant world. That thought brought her back to the present. No, I’m not alone.
She turned to see the furry man walking toward her, his face lit up with excitement and enthusiasm as he glanced all around the clearing. His eyes flitted from trees to grass to sky and back to trees. The large, dark eyes watered in the sunlight, blinking tears of pain and obvious joy.
Aren had looked in those eager eyes and seen that this was the first time he’d seen the sun. She’d also seen the strength, wisdom, and friendship he was capable of. He’s a good little person, even if he barely resembles a person.
His eyes were much larger than normal and almost al
l pupil. She could barely see a thin line of yellow-green at the edge, just before being covered by the eyelids. Thick, furry hair buried his face, covering everything except his eyes and large, round nose. As he drew closer, Aren could see that a thin layer of fur covered even that. Longer hair sprouted from where the eyebrows would be and curled down around his face to meet up with his beard.
His clothes surprised her with their simplicity and exoticness. He wore a practical blue shirt or tunic that looked spotless and a dull brown kilt that shimmered with dazzling color when the light caught it right.
He held a hand out to one side as though steadying himself. The arm swirled with furry designs and writing she didn’t know. His palm, dark brown with pink splotches, remained the only part of him that she could see free from fur. Each finger ended in a black claw, slightly rounded from use, but completely clean despite his rise from the dirt below.
His short, stocky body rippled with strength and solidarity that she’d only seen in olympic athletes back home. He also carried a small sword, the hilt sticking out above his left shoulder. This thing is half my size, but much stronger. Look at the way it walks.
Aren’s emotions warred inside her. Her gift told her she could stay and this creature wouldn’t harm her, but all her regular human instincts told her to run.
The furry man drew ever closer with his eager expression while Aren thought of all the horror stories her mom had used to scare her away from men. The result of instinct, gift, and her mother’s fear mongering, a paralyzing dread that kept her from reacting. His eyes flickered toward her and her heart froze, but then he focused behind her.
The Crystal Bridge (The Lost Shards Book 1) Page 10