by D. N. Leo
He walked toward Gale.
“Oh no, what are you going to do?” Jaxper rushed over to stand in front of the stone bench where Gale lay helpless.
“He’s the weak link, then and now. With him around, Lyla and Michael cannot complete their mission. And if they can’t complete their mission, not a single witch will be freed. You will not be freed. I have to take this opportunity to terminate him.”
“But I promised Michael and Lyla I’d take care of him. He’s Lyla’s friend. And what does he have to do with the witches’ freedom?”
“I told you, he’s the weak link.”
“I’m afraid that doesn’t make sense to me, my god. I don’t know any business in the multiverse—or even in the magical world. I’m only a mountain witch who’s hoping to free my clan from an evil spell cast on us. Being free is a wish which may or may not come true—but still, we have to live life now in whatever form we have it. Every day we make friends—and enemies. But when we make good friends, we keep them. I failed Lyla once. I won’t do it again. I promised her to look after Gale.”
Cole smiled. “You are acting against me. If, because of that, I don’t choose to free your clan, that means you let your personal friendship jeopardize the chance to gain freedom for your entire clan.”
“I am nothing without being a just individual, my god. I don’t deserve to lead my clan if I can’t keep a simple promise to my friend. In which case, I wouldn’t be their leader, and their freedom, then, wouldn’t be my life mission.”
“You would trade your own freedom for a friend?”
“Freedom is in the mind, and it can be elusive. A friend is real. For me at least.”
Cole chuckled. “You’re very clearheaded, Jaxper. But do you think you can fight me?” he said and approached Gale.
Jaxper blocked his way. The top of her head only reached his chest, so she had to look up to see his face and his eyes. “No, I wouldn’t stand a chance fighting you. But you will have to kill me to get to Gale. I do believe killing a witch is against your immortal rules.”
“I obey no rules. I don’t even have to protect a witch.” He advanced.
Jaxper stepped forward so that their bodies touched. “But there is a witch you want to protect. And if you kill any of us, do you think she’d approve?”
Then Jaxper began to choke as invisible hands grabbed her throat. Her body was lifted off the ground. Cole didn’t even have to lift a finger. His eyes reddened, and she could see that rage had enveloped him. She was paralyzed, but not by fear. Her magic didn’t work against Cole. Never would. In a second, she knew she’d be dead.
But suddenly, he threw her to the ground and exited through the cave entrance as quickly as he had entered.
She was still shaken. Sweat ran down her forehead. That was close, she thought. Of the endless amount of lessons, tips, and advice her mother had given her, the last was a life saver. Cole did have a weakness—there was a witch he actually loved. “Sorry, Mother,” she muttered to herself, realizing she had never taken her mother’s advice seriously.
She walked toward the bench to check on Gale. “I stuck my neck out for you, Gale. So when you wake up, you owe me one. You hear me?”
In the dim light, she saw his eyes flutter.
“Oh no, no, I was just kidding. Take it easy. Keep sleeping.”
Lyla had told her he wouldn’t wake before she returned. She had turned his system off because she wasn’t sure what Gale would be like if he woke before she could stabilize him. Lyla didn’t know what kind of creature he would be if she wasn’t in control of his system’s program , and she didn’t know how many of his human and robotic parts would be working.
If Lyla didn’t know, how could she? Would she be able to cast a sleeping spell on a robot?
Jaxper stared at Gale as he fluttered his eyelids, and she waited.
Chapter 9
Lyla scrambled to her feet as soon as she felt Michael shaking her shoulders. “Are you okay, Michael?”
“I should ask you that question,” he said. “I’m fine.”
She did a quick inventory of her body. “I’m okay, too. So the gateway didn’t do us any harm.” She switched on her internal microcomputer system. “Let’s see what sort of gateway we’ve just gone through.”
She saw nothing but a blank screen.
Michael didn’t need to ask anything—he could read her face. He pulled out his gun and looked at it. “There’s no way we can test to see if this still works without shooting at something. Just to be safe, let’s use the most primitive weapon at hand.” He pulled out a small knife and gave it to her. “Hopefully you don’t have to use it.”
When she saw the look on his face, she knew she shouldn’t object. She took the knife and tucked it into her boot.
Lyla looked around. The scenery was similar to where they had been last. The ground, the trees, the hills, and the mountains around them had a similar structure and layout. But something had changed. Something was different. She didn’t know how to explain it. Or perhaps she didn’t have enough Earth experience to explain it.
“Do you think we’re in the same place or somewhere nearby?”
“It looks like the same place,” Michael said, pacing around and surveying his surroundings. “But I’m sure it’s a different time.”
“Do the trees look different to you?”
Michael chuckled. “All trees look the same to me, but I’m not a tree expert. The landscape and vegetation might have changed, and maybe the roads and architecture changed. Do you see that little stretch of red dirt there?”
She looked at what seemed to be a small path winding through the trees.
“That wasn’t there before, and it looks like it’s been well used. We were in a forest in the Vietnam of modern times, a time when people lived in urban areas called cities. Now we’re in the same place, but there are well-used dirt roads in the forest. I’m guessing we traveled back in time to the same space.”
Lyla nodded. “So that was a time dimension gateway. I was wondering why my computer stopped working. It might be more than the time dimension that we jumped.”
“Maybe it has something to do with magic? The woman who forced us to jump sounded magical. Maybe she has something to do with the witches. A witch from hell?”
“It’s very plausible. If we jump through cross dimensions between magical and material worlds, things can get really confusing. That would explain why my computer stopped working.”
Michael chuckled. “We can work without technology. Let’s get out of here.”
“How? I can’t even get the map from my computer.”
“We have our magical map.” Michael winked at her and pointed to the top of a tall tree where the blue bird perched and cooed. The bird looked at Michael and Lyla, and then it flapped its wings and departed.
Michael wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Let’s go get some old ashes.”
“This wasn’t part of the deal. Cole didn’t mention a different dimension of time,” she muttered.
“If he had, you probably wouldn’t have agreed to it. I told you, he’s not to be trusted.” Lyla looked at Michael. He raised his hands, seeking a truce. “All right, all right. I won’t mention anything about not trusting Cole for the duration of this trip.” He then headed toward the small dirt road. Lyla followed him. Without her technology, she knew her ability to navigate here was comparable to that of a child.
It didn’t take them long to get to the end of the dirt road. Lyla recognized the layout of the land—it was very similar to the neck of the woods from which they had come in modern times. She could see a village of small straw huts that snaked around the edge of the forest and then expanded into a more crowded area.
Michael pointed at the rows and rows of temporary wooden stalls, straw huts, and wooden benches with merchandise piled on top. “I think that’s what they call a market.”
People here looked similar to those they had seen in the time they’d come from. However
, they all had long hair, and their clothing was very different. Lyla didn’t know what to make of it. There was signage, but she had no clue what the signs said.
“I didn’t think we were in China,” Michael said.
“Why do you say that? Is it because of the language on the signs?”
Michael nodded. “They’re using the Vietnam alphabet. But these are Chinese symbols.”
Lyla shook her head. “I’ve seen Chinese texts. This is similar, but I’m quite sure they’re not Chinese.”
People walked past Michael and Lyla, going about their business. Some had cattle with them. Some carried goods around in small carts and baskets. Everyone who walked past turned their head to look at them. She knew their physical appearance was very different from the locals. But she wasn’t sure what they thought of the differences.
The locals seemed friendly. They smiled and nodded politely. Again, without the technology she usually relied on, she was unsure of what to do. To her surprise, Michael looked relaxed. He walked leisurely along the stalls where the village people sold goods that she didn’t recognize, let alone know how to use.
“What are we doing here, Michael? At the very least, we need to navigate ourselves to a spot where I can find the portal to get us back to modern time.”
“Aren’t we supposed to find the jar for Cole?”
“Yes, but I’m worried about getting back to the right time. The blue bird is gone.”
Michael looked up. “Oh, of course it left before finishing the job. I hope it didn’t get paid,” he joked. “Let’s just walk around a bit and ask people for directions.”
“Do you speak their language?”
“No, but I’ll find a way to communicate…” Michael looked toward a stall on the right and shouted, “Hey!” He darted over and grabbed the hand of a man who was holding onto a pouch he had just snatched from a woman. Other people in the market caught sight of the thief. They gathered, shouting insults and throwing things at the poor man. Michael dragged the thief away from the attacking crowd.
“All right, that’s enough. Let him go,” Michael said.
Lyla was sure nobody understood what he said, but they could read his body language. Michael pushed the thief away. The thief staggered back, bowed to Michael, and then ran away. Michael turned around and returned the pouch to the woman.
Lyla could tell she didn’t belong to the group of common people in the market. Her dress was made of a nicer material, and her manner was different—more elegant and refined. She bowed to Michael and accepted the pouch. She poured the contents out onto her palm, revealing things that looked like small silver and golden peanuts. Lyla guessed that was the currency used at this time.
The woman gave half to Michael.
“Oh, no, don’t do that,” Michael said, pushing the reward away.
But the woman insisted. Without a common language, she didn’t know what else to do but grab Michael’s hand and place the money in his palm.
“Michael, you better accept it. Holding your hands in public is very difficult for her. People are staring…” Lyla said quickly.
Michael took the money and bowed in return. “Thank you.”
The woman gave him a small red card that looked like the ID card that was stolen from the hotel in Ho Chi Minh city. Then she turned and walked away.
“How did you know the man was about to steal the pouch from that woman?”
He winked at her. “The guy was clumsy. That’s my expert opinion.”
Lyla raised an eyebrow. “Expert opinion?”
“After my mother died, if I didn’t pick enough pockets, my stepfather wouldn’t feed me. He’d beat me and wouldn’t let me sleep inside the house. So thievery was my profession, and I was forced to be good at it.”
Lyla nodded. Feeling a tear threatening to escape the corner of her eye, she looked away. She felt uncomfortable. By sending Michael on this trip with her, Father had proven he knew her weaknesses too well. She was uneasy about the cruelty that had occurred in Michael’s childhood. Lyla could handle matters of life and death, but she couldn’t handle seeing or hearing about a child being abused, especially when she cared about the person.
Her whole life, she had prepared for important matters. Strategies, leadership, negotiation, combat techniques. She was ready for it all—both psychologically and physically. But her experience had been acquired artificially in a simulated virtual environment that her father had created.
She wasn’t prepared for the small but disturbing facts of daily life. If she saw things like this in the hologames, she would consider them negligible and wouldn’t pay them any attention. But if her real adversaries used this weakness against her, it could be fatal.
“Lyla!”
“Yes, Michael.”
“What’s up?”
“Nothing. Why do you ask?”
“You looked a little lost for a moment… Are you hungry?”
Unable to find a good answer, she nodded.
“Now that we have some money, let’s find some food for you.”
“Aren’t we supposed to be asking for directions?”
“Yes, but in all cultures on Earth, food is a universal language, a chance to make friends and ask for information.” He headed toward a walled hut with a few tables in front. Lyla had no choice but to follow obediently. She had never felt out of her element like this before.
They sat down at a table. A man brought out a large wooden sign with symbols on it. Michael pointed to some of the words, and the man walked away with the sign. Then a woman emerged from the hut, hurling dozens of small birds to the ground. They ran around on the ground.
Lyla thought they were beautiful. She picked one up and patted its back. The bird cooed in her arm. “These are gorgeous birds,” she said to Michael.
“They’re not birds…well, sort of…but here, they call them chickens. And they have to run. It’s exercise, you know,” Michael said when the woman grabbed the chicken from Lyla and tossed it around the back of the hut.
A few moments later, Lyla heard a squawk and then a sizzling sound from inside the hut.
“Michael, what’s that sound?”
“Uh…I don’t know.”
She stood and headed toward the hut. Michael pulled at her elbow. “There’s no point, Lyla. That’s what people do here.”
“What do you mean? Did I just get that chicken killed?”
“No, no, it’s not you, it’s me. I must have ordered a chicken dish.”
“I gave that chicken a death sentence!”
“No, Lyla. Humans are at the top of the food chain on Earth. Men and women have to eat. If we didn’t order that chicken dish, someone else would have.”
She waved her arms in the air in frustration. “I don’t eat animals,” she said and walked away.
“Hey!” Michael trailed behind her, muttering something she was sure was profanity.
In front of them, the crowd parted, revealing a group of soldiers holding swords and shields. At the front stood a tall man in his thirties. His long dark hair was tied back. He carried no weapon, and he was smiling.
Michael grabbed Lyla by the elbow and pushed her behind him. “Who are you, and what do you want?” Michael asked the man.
The man nodded a greeting and spoke in clear English. “I would normally send my people to fetch you. But I was told you are from the West, and nobody on my staff can speak your language.”
Michael chuckled. “Fetch us? Are you a prince?”
“Indeed, I am.”
Chapter 10
Cross-world Zone—The Multiverse—10 years ago
It was bitterly cold. Cole raced against the waves of the water, strange objects, creatures, and gusts of wind. He was sure his feet were on the ground—or what appeared to be the ground. But there had been several times he had been blown off his footing and thrown around like a rag doll in a tornado.
He stood his ground as much as he could, whenever he could. Damn him if he would let Mai di
sappear from his life again. He had found a trace of her, a glimpse of hope after years of searching. He followed her here—to the Cross-world Zone.
Coming here without a pass was an act of self-destruction—it was worse than death.
He was immortal now, whether he liked it or not. Self-destruction—the state of floating in between life and death and being nothing—was the worst thing an immortal could do to himself. But maybe he deserved it. He couldn’t liberate the witches he had helped to create. He would have to let them live on the line between self-destruction and eternal oblivion. And that was a thin line.
But he no longer cared.
He needed to get to Mai.
He found a rock nearby. As soon as he had a hold of it, he hung on as tight as he could. He closed his eyes, ignoring the storm bashing his body. Nothing was as bad as the suffering he had endured after the plane crash. He had lain in the woods for days, waiting to die as an ordinary human would. Nothing was as comforting as being rescued and cared for after that. He had never forgotten the comfort Mai and her people had given him in his immortal life when he needed them most.
For a while, the wind subsided. He knew about this phenomenon. He had survived the storm at the gate of the Cross-world Zone and had now been accepted. He lay still to regain his strength—he didn’t know for how long, but it felt like an eternity. In the end, he gathered his body and his thoughts and stood up. He had survived.
He glanced around. It was pitch black. Then there was a flash of light in the distance. He rushed in that direction.
In front of him, a gigantic light beam shining from above encircled a vast area. Inside the beam, three teenagers and a creature in the shape of a dragon were fighting.
Cole knew he was witnessing a multiverse hologame. He knew of them but had never seen one. He wasn’t supposed to see one if he had nothing to do with it. Indeed, to his knowledge, he was not involved in any way with the game or the people inside it now.
The games were very rarely played in the Cross-world Zone unless one of the players had crossed worlds. That made this current game extremely dangerous for the players. They couldn’t see outside the game because when they were playing, the outside world was irrelevant. They were contained within their game world.