Light Speed

by Arkadie, Z. L.

  “Hey,” he breathes with his lips so close to mine. “Will you ever have to go back to this place called Enu, and…” He pauses. “…be done with me?”

  I sigh gravely and now it’s time for the truth. “I have a choice,” I admit. “You’re not my bond, which means that you cannot enter the universe of my mother…” I hesitate because I’m not sure my words are true; after all, he was able to enter the portal. “But, I choose you, Chex,” I finally admit.

  “I choose you too Ad’ru,” he earnestly declares.

  And now I’m being lifted off my feet. The Selell in him is carting me off back to the room with the bed in it. I taste the ci’cha in his mouth. Its juices combined with his juices are sufficient enough to reinvigorate me.

  ***

  Navi

  The three Ugu Mags get out of the elevator with us. Mag Star stays a step ahead of me and they follow behind us as we walk through a gray tunnel with a line of recessed lighting streaking down the middle of the ceiling. I’m still concerned about what she last said to me. What does she think I’m hiding? How does she know that I’m hiding it? But what is agitating more than that is the fact that I don’t like being followed so closely by strangers, especially since I have no idea what’s really going on here.

  “Is this a trap?” I blurt out when we get to another door with one of those yellow glass strips next to it. I figure I’d ask and assess how she answers it. Yes, it was a stupid question. I’ve asked it before and no one has ever come out and verbally said, “Yes, it’s a trap!” But in a fragment of a second, if I watch very closely, I can see the truth right before they lie.

  “It’s not a trap,” Mag Star says as she puts two fingers on the glass.

  I thumb over my shoulder. “Then why in the hell are they following us?”

  “They’re simply going home, Navi.”

  The steel door slides up and we all walk through and onto what resembles a white, sleek, block-shaped polyurethane platform. This is a transport station of some sort. There are road rails to both sides of us with one razor thin track running through the middle of them. This is certainly not a train or bus station or an airport. And there’s no roof above us, only billions of kets and the vibrant moon of night.

  “What is this?” I ask, taking it in with my mouth parted in awe.

  “This is the transition liaison.”

  “And where are we transitioning to…?”

  The three humans in scrubs have already walked past us. Mag Star directs my attention toward them as they step into another elevator; but instead of the door closing, the cube whips around and just like that they’re gone.

  “Where did they go?” I ask, flustered by their sudden disappearance.

  I follow Mag Star’s answering gaze to the landing strip to my left where one by one the humans of this universe fly past us, completely naked and lying back down on top of a white mattress pad in an egg-shaped ball made of glass, which glides past us on the single-blade track.

  “Are we next?” I ask, amazed by the amount of fear that floods me. It’s the not knowing. The last time I ventured to the unknown, a tree ended up feeding on my blood. “And do I need to call Adore? I don’t want to be separated from her for too long.” My voice doesn’t mask how nervous I am.

  “She’ll be able to use the portal in the House of Benel to arrive at where we’re going.” She turns to face me and her expression is filled with sincerity. “Don’t be afraid Navi. I know what you’ve been through. I’m not deceiving you.” She makes sure we have eye contact and lowers her voice to say, “What you have, you’ll need to use it for more than what you know.”

  I feel my eyes blinking hard. “The medallion?” I ask to test whether she really knows what I’ve been hiding.

  “The medallion,” she confirms.

  I am dazed and can hardly hear when she tells me to prepare to descend.

  The ground gives out beneath my feet and for the third time since I arrived in Dag, the forces of gravity carry me downward. My heart pounds inside of my chest. I’m so disturbed at the thought of Mag Star having the emblem that I’m barely able to process that there isn’t one light shining in the landscape below. What I can discern in the darkness is that it holds mostly hills, woods, and lakes that are glistened by the lights of night. I make a gentle landing on my feet, at the knees of the loblolly pine trees that grow here. This is certainly a forest and the air smells sweet, like recent rainfall.

  “This way,” Mag Star says.

  We trek up a trail on an incline. I’m used to walking in the dark; the dangers of doing it have sharpened my instincts. In my experience, something grisly is always lurking in the brush. But not here, not now.

  “This is a big difference from where we left,” I say to interrupt the sound of our footsteps.

  “This is Candunk, the fragrant forest.”

  “Ah,” I breathe now more enlightened. “A concoction of sassafras and rain. You grow Earth plants here.”

  “Oh yes,” she says delightfully, “Our universe is the spitting image of Earth. The only difference is that we take special measures to preserve the sanctity of our lands, seas, and skies.”

  “But you’ve built cities in the sky - that can’t be too safe.”

  “But the city is safe,” she replies to the contrary. “The materials we build with are not manufactured. They are mended from natural resources. And our energy is lunar and solar, and we only use it for what’s essential in life.”

  “Is that how you came to know about my medallion, by using your energies for the essentials of life?”

  She glances over her shoulder to momentarily set a cold glare on me. Well, that’s refreshing to know: the Ugu Mag can feel anger.

  The slope we’re climbing tables off. “Stand there,” Mag Star directs me, pointing to one of two white circles that hover above the ground.

  I climb up on one and she steps up on the other. The circles glow and next we’re taking a plunge.

  Down we go, dropping through the confines of a raw limestone cave. The circles’ innovative use of gravity keeps us from splashing into the pool of rainwater rippling beneath us. Instead we stop in front of an entrance to another vertical, nature-made cave.

  “This is the hub,” Mag Star says as I follow her into the fissure. We walk into the middle of a chamber that’s surrounded by empty, cloudy space.

  “The hub of what?” I ask, openly mocking what I see as a little of nothing.

  She struts confidently away from me and goes to a platform. As soon as she touches it, tiny wires snake up and attach to her temples; two curl over her head and attach to the nape of her neck and two more to the top of her skull.

  Suddenly, actual parts of Manhattan, Chan’kel on Ir, the Tree of Life on Jari, and The Forest of Naught on Enu become visible in the emptiness. Other universes that I’m familiar with also appear—even the sticks of Deadget in Siffeo. That’s where I stole it, the medallion that’s the size of my palm, coated with pure gold from the core of the ruby mountain which the Ritkeo prance around worshiping non-stop. It takes the gold from the ruby mountains to contain the power on the inside of it.

  “Do you have it?” she asks me.

  I dig deep into my pocket to retrieve it. I can’t feel it, so I search harder. “It’s not here!” I cry.

  “You’re looking for this?” Mag Star unfolds her balled up hand and there it is, sitting on top of her palm.

  “How the did you get that?” I shout at her. I’m tempted to snatch it out of her hand and run. But I don’t want to put Adore’s life in jeopardy and I remember what she said—with the medallion she can help us get what we want.

  “It’s made of evil. I retrieved it before you entered Dag.” She curls her fingers back around the object. “I know why you need this,” she says.

  I’m studying the look on her face, searching for truth. How could she know?

  “Why?” I ask challenging her.

  “This.”

  A red haze mixes w
ith a dust storm and up high, like a bright dot, there’s the sun. Humans sit in large groups, huddled close, balled up tightly and trying to protect themselves from the grains of sand that the wind uses to whip them. I can’t begin to guess where this place is or who those people are. I indicate this by shrugging at Mag Star.

  “It’s Tetra,” she says.

  I flinch, taken aback. “That cannot be Tetra. Tetra doesn’t have a sun, or people!” And just to be sure of this my eyes find the sun again.

  “It does now. And those are not people—they’re vampires.”

  I frown, extremely confused. “Then what happened to the souls? They can’t survive in the sun.”

  The view changes again. Pitch-blackness surrounds us.

  “I’m puzzled,” I admit, riddled by anxiety.

  “She’s there,” Mag Star says. “I can’t see her either, not with my eyes, but she’s there.”

  I swallow the lump in my throat. “Are you referring to Gia Scoralini?” I ask cautiously.

  She slowly turns to face me. After a long moment, she narrows her eyes and mutters, “Yes.”

  “Then you know,” I point to the medallion in her hand, “that I need that to get her out of there?”

  “Yes,” she replies.

  “And you know that I’ve been lying to my sister.”

  “Yes,” she answers, sounding more satisfied by my admission. “If you had told her the truth, do think you’d be here, at this place, at this moment?”

  I sigh, exasperated. The truth is I don’t know, but surely it is time to find out. “You said there’s a portal?”

  Mag Star nods and returns to her post. I close my eyes and call for Adore.

  ***

  Adore

  “I love to hear you moan, Baby,” Chex whispers with his tongue sliding around the edge of my clitoris.

  “Wait?” I feebly protest. His arms are wrapped around my thighs. He’s holding me so tightly that I can’t scoot away from his mouth. “Na’ta needs me,” I barely say.

  But oh my, it’s coming—the sensation will soon explode. He’s gazing up at me.

  “Do it, Baby,” he demands while his tongue continues its assault on my very sensitive spot.

  I’m driven to pinch the back of my head on the pillow and grab two handfuls of the linens to brace myself for the eruption. He must know what I’m feeling because his tongue doesn’t stray from that microscopic yet very sensitive spot on the right, edge of the clitoris.

  I inhale sharply and bellow a long-winded, intense moan because each time we engage in this act, it gets more pleasurable.

  But he’s not done. His man part is inside of me and he’s slowly, thrusting into me, sliding in and out of me, relishing the feeling.

  “What…” (he releases a breath) “…did you say?” he asks, retrospectively.

  Momentarily, I’m confused about what he’s referring to. He’s so close like this. I love bearing his weight on top of me. I wish he could sink through my skin. I want us to become one. He awakens my sensuality. I lose myself, push my teeth against his neck and give my tongue permission to taste his skin. I nibble and taste all the way up his chin to his mouth. He moans.

  “Oh damn,” he breathes as he chews on my lower lip, avoiding piercing my skin with his now visible fangs. The stroke of his hips is slower and more directed. “This is all for you,” he sighs warmly as his lips, tongue, and then teeth graze my ear. “Feel it?”

  I do feel it.

  “Do you feel it?” he asks again, persistently seeking my answer.

  “I do,” I whimper.

  He stays inside of me, pushing against the pleasure spot inside of me. “I’m (he grunts) not going… until you first,” he whispers in broken words.

  The orgasm strikes me deep inside. I hear myself crying out and so does he.

  His face is buried in my neck. It’s silent. “We have to stop. Na’ta needs me,” I sigh.

  Chex reluctantly slips out of me and subsequently pulls me to my feet. We’re standing face to face. Chex smirks at me. His thoughts are reflected in the expression on his face and I’m quite sure we’re both invigorated by the same feelings. Like me, he is amazed and happy that we have come this far together. I wonder if he fears whether we will be able to sustain our love. I’m afraid of my bond, the evil Lario Exgesis, and how my heart constricts when I think about bringing him to Mtknv justice and his eventual death. I cannot let him die. I simply cannot.

  Follow the light, Na’ta urges me.

  I reluctantly take my eyes off of Chex’s masculine face and when I turn, green light is shimmering in the hallway. We dress ourselves. At the door we kiss, softly, passionately, one more time before walking through the portal.

  Chapter 9

  The Rescue

  Na’ta is glaring at me. “Adore, for real?” she huffs. “Why didn’t you come as soon as Mag Star opened the portal for you?” she now whines.

  Chex has just followed me into a wide-open chamber. I’m too mesmerized by the sight of thousands upon thousands of fleshless beings lurking in the darkness to respond to her. My feet move of their own volition and bring me forward. Before I can reach the edge of the floor, Chex is behind me and has me by the waist, intending to keep me from getting any closer.

  I can hear Na’ta blow an exaggerated sigh.

  “Is this Tetra?” I ask anyone who may know the answer. “The abyss of those who were once Selells?”

  “Can you take your hands off of her already?” Na’ta blurts out unable to contain her agitation.

  “What’s your problem?” Chex roars back and plants his hands tighter on my waist, refusing to abide by her wishes.

  “Yes,” Magnificent Star says loudly in order to claim all of our attention.

  I whip my face around to see her standing behind a pillar with wires streaming out of her head. It takes me a moment to realize that she’s not hurt and is somehow manipulating the environment beyond the floor.

  The wires withdraw from her head and she walks toward me carrying something in her hand. Na’ta sees the object and tenses up.

  “You’re going to need this.” She takes my hand and presses a round, flat piece of gold against my palm. I run a finger across it. I’m stung by the power of evil that’s inside of it. “Navi, do you want to tell her what it does?” she asks Na’ta.

  Na’ta swallows hard. She pulls her mouth tightly to gnaw on her bottom and then top lips. She does that only when she’s extremely nervous—which is hardly ever. Immediately I know she never intended for me to find out about the object in my hand.

  I focus on her face as I take a step out of Chex’s arms. We know each other very well, my sister and I. She knows that I’m not going to look away or let the matter drop until she tells me the truth.

  “We can revive one soul in Tetra with that,” she says, pointing toward my hand.

  “You mean take a vampire out of hell?” Chex’s voice booms so loudly that it echoes throughout this cave.

  Na’ta vacillates. Her first instinct is to ignore him because she dislikes him for loving me, but she owes me the truth. She sighs hard and says, “One vampire. Gia Scoralini.”

  “Gia Scoralini, my ass!” Chex shouts even louder than before. “You’ll keep that witch in hell if you know what’s good for -” He smashes his lips together, refusing to say it. “You’ll take her out of there over my dead body.”

  “Fine,” Na’ta hisses with a snarl, challenging him.

  “I’m afraid he’s right Adore,” Magnificent Star states calmly. “She’s a siren. She bewitches and devours men, and vampires, for sport, especially the sons of Gogulon.” She sets her gaze on Na’ta in a forceful way. “Telman didn’t go into Siffeo with you, did he?”

  Na’ta shuts her eyes tightly and shakes her head. “Sorry, Adore. I didn’t mean to lie to you,” she whispers in shame.

  “But why did you feel as if you had to lie to me?” She looks so pathetic that I reach down to take her hands into mine, filling her with c
omfort. “You never have to lie to me Na’ta.”

  She’s nodding frenetically. “Yes, I did because this Gia craves the love of our Selells and she won’t rest until she has one for herself.”

  “Exactly,” Chex blurts out. “She’s the reason Ze Feldis and Finn Elo still hate each other. She wants them all, but out of all them Ze Feldis is the one she’ll kill to claim.”

  “But Chex,” Magnificent Star says, “You still haven’t figured out that the blood of Gogulon is pumping through your heart? You should be able to pick up the scent now that you are no longer cursed.”

  His eyebrows furrow. He appears genuinely bothered by the revelation.

  Na’ta and I look at each other. I think we both have been wondering how he was able to enter the portal and survive. Now we know.

  “Magic,” he finally mutters and then his expression expands as he’s struck by illumination. “Those fucking Shams?” he growls.

  Although I’m rattled by the new revelation about Chex, I still have questions regarding Na’ta’s motives. Surely she’s not seeking to release the Selell Gia for the thrill of it. “But,” I start, “Na’ta where is Telman?”

  She sighs as if the answer is causing her much stress. “Exgesis has taken him and has hidden him so deep that I can’t find him. I’m out of options.”

  “You were not out of options,” I snap. “As Father says—you’re not an island. You could’ve come to me and I would have directed you to the other sisters.”

  She just raises her hands with a sigh, a gesture of hers that I’ve seen time and time again. And, as usual, she’s right; quoting her, would’ve, should’ve, could’ve, but there’s no way of going back and changing it now. But still my heart swells with empathy. I finally understand why she would set out on such a dangerous mission to rescue Telman.

  “Well, Exgesis can’t hide him from the hub,” Magnificent Star boasts. “I know the general location of where he’s being kept and I’ll tell you where that is once you have the Scepter of Gant in your possession. However, the medallion I gave you is a blessing and a curse. It will allow you to go through Tetra and into Ol, which is the fastest and safest way. The curse is: you’ll be unable to keep Gia from following you into Ol, which will free her to return to the Earth if she chooses.”