by Peter Hartz
But their clothing was not what caused the guards to stare at them, open-mouthed in astonishment. They clearly weren’t human, with a pale green-tinged skin, and gentle points that swept back from the tops of their ears, in a graceful, almost aerodynamic way that one guard thought reminded him of a bird of prey in the wind. Still, the two male guards, with their short hair and muscular builds, and the four female guards, with their more slender but still lean muscular forms and long hair braided down one side of their head and back over one shoulder, could still be mistaken, in form at least, as something close to human.
The next being through the gate, though, defied relation to the species of which humans readily identified themselves. Karonashkk had to stoop low to step through the gate, so the guardsmen only saw the top of his steer-horned, red-haired head as he stepped into their world, but the three of them gasped out loud this time as he looked around, then stood back up completely to his eight and a half foot height as he stepped forward once more. He bowed to the guards at the desk, then his eyes widened as he looked around and up at the huge lobby.
“Giltreas, my old friend, your human friends are amazing builders. This palace is incredible. What royal being calls this his home?” The words came out in clear English, in the deep, rich bass to be expected of such a huge form. “And will we get to present ourselves to them in respect?”
Giltreas smiled up at Karonashkk. “This is the building that David and Michelle have their business in. It is not a palace, although from our view, it is grand, is it not? These humans in this country do not have nobles or royalty.”
“Truly? I would be amazed to see what they call a palace then. Wait, no nobility? How do they not descend into anarchy?”
Anything Giltreas might have said was lost in the sudden sound of more people coming through the gate. Two more Elven kind came through, these in formal, richly appointed robes, followed by an Elven woman wearing a small, elaborately wrought crown with a single blue jewel set in it, and in an even more richly appointed robe. Then two short men with a long beard and robes to match their shorter stature appeared, and they gawked at the sights in front of him as they tried to look everywhere at once.
Giltreas walked over to where the Dwarven engineer stood, and pulled him gently by the arm away from the front of the gate. The dwarf looked up at Giltreas, an angry look on his face that was betrayed by the humor in his eyes. “You are a capricious one, youngster. I have never seen the like of this building before. But, I see only three floors. Were you, perhaps, unsure of what you were seeing?”
“I tell you truly, I was not. Come, see what is to be seen.” Giltreas directed the shorter being over to the windows that were ‘behind’ the gate, where the engineer hadn’t looked yet.
His eyes got very wide as he took in the huge, three story wall of windows, but his mouth fell open as he saw what was on the other side. The downtown skyscraper stretched up only thirty floors or so, but from the restricted viewing angle imposed by the ceiling, one couldn’t see more than several floors of windows on the building across the street. As the dwarf got closer and closer to the windows and doors that made up the grand front entrance of the foyer, and his eyes traveled further up the silver and glass expanse of the building out the windows, his eyes and his mouth got wider and wider. Giltreas led him through a door nearly tall enough for Karonashkk to walk through and out into the street, where the diminutive builder could at last look up and see just how far the building went up.
“Maker’s Blood! By the stones of my ancestors! Oh, that building is so tall, it makes my balls hurt! How did they make it? And, how did they cover it in metal and glass that way?” The dwarf’s voice was hoarse as the impossible sight in front of him took his breath away.
“Come, my friend. I promise we shall learn as much as we may when there is time. But for now, we must return to the Queen and others.” Giltreas led the way back through the huge metal and glass doors, another impossible sight that the dwarf didn’t see before when he was focused on the impossible building across the street.
Giltreas pulled the dwarven engineer back to the gate, where the last of the group, the queen’s seneschal, had come through.
He looked around at the vast, grand foyer, far larger than what he had ever seen for an indoor space, and his eyes were huge and round as he tried to process what he was seeing. Then he turned to look at Giltreas, who was doing an admirable job of looking innocent as he took in the expressions on the faces of those from his home plane.
Delara worked hard to keep a straight face as she took in what she was seeing, and then she turned as Giltreas led the amazed dwarf backwards by one arm back to where his mother stood.
She reached out and yanked her son towards her by one arm, the sudden move startled him into letting go of the dwarf, who simply stopped where he was, continuing to stare out the front wall of windows at the building across the street. Outside, the people continued to walk by as if nothing was out of the ordinary, and the vehicles of all size, color, and configuration seemed to amble past.
“My son, you have not lost your prankish ways, have you? You were clever, now that I think through what you said this morning. Everything was true, wasn’t it?” He nodded, clearly fighting a losing battle to keep a smile from breaking out, as she continued. “And yet, none of it was really the full story, was it?” He shook his head, and the smile came out completely as he lost the fight.
“No, my mother.”
She waited for him to say more, then sighed. “These humans are so much more than what you said, are they not? I can understand why you did what you did. You wanted us to see for ourselves what they are like. The truth would have been hard for us to swallow, I am guessing.”
He simply nodded, without saying a word. Then Anaradelle stepped through the gate.
The powerful Mid-God, who was the Goddess of Children, Fertility, and Nature stopped short once she was clear of the gate, and took in the sights. Even her ancient eyes were wide in shock as she took in the foyer, the upper two floors, and the glass walls that separated the outer area from the inner, secure portion of the grand foyer that was tucked under the overhanging upper floors. She turned to her left, and saw the rock climbing wall, her mouth opening into an “O” of surprise, then closing. She continued turning, stepped around the obscuring presence of the Gate Giltreas had called to bring them to this location, and took in the sights of the downtown area, including the view across the street at the buildings there.
The security guards manning the front desk were somewhat overwhelmed by the presence of the ancient and powerful Deity that had suddenly stepped from the gate and into their midst. She glowed with an internal light that seemed to chase the shadows away from the corners of the room. While they didn’t know exactly what she was, the clues were sufficient for them to realize that she was not something, or someone, they had ever encountered before.
A ringing sound was heard coming from something on the desk, but they couldn’t, or wouldn’t, hear it, and it continued to ring as David looked over at the desk and frowned. He recognized sound as the phone for the drive-up access door to the parking area, and walked over to the revolving access door, flashing his badge at the card reader then pressed the pad of his index finger into the scanner. With a beep indicating he was granted access, the door started to rotate, and he walked through, opening the back door to the security desk. He stepped over to the ringing phone, looked down at the monitor, and picked up the handset.
“Come in, Moira. Don’t worry about your pin. You’re fine.” He pressed the access button, which lifted the crossing arm and opened the door to the parking area. He hung up the phone, then turned back to the guards behind the desk and clapped his hands once to get their attention.
Ian blushed before apologizing. He started moving around behind the desk again, and the others started moving again as well, but still continued to try to sneak peeks at the incredible beings standing in their lobby.
Anaradelle made her w
ay to the outer walls where the double set of glass doors allowed access in and out of the building, her eyes travelling up the side of the brown and glass building across the street. Michelle had followed her to the doors, waiting slightly behind as her new Sister goddess took in the sights and sounds of the downtown business district of the city.
Anaradelle watched the vehicles pass in several moments of contemplation, and the occasional pedestrian walk by before she turned to Michelle.
“This is your world, isn’t it, sister? Not just that you are from here, but this is the world you know. A place of huge buildings, and hard ground, and sights that no one not from here could ever contemplate. This is what you know.”
“Yes. This is what I know my world to be.”
“I wish to see more. Can we go to the top of that building and look out at this place, so I might learn more of it?” The goddess spoke quietly, but there was a yearning in her voice that Michelle didn’t understand. She thought for a moment, and then turned to David, who was still behind the desk.
“Hey Dave, do you think William is in his office?” she called across the lobby.
David thought about it for a few moments then nodded, clearly catching the thought behind the question.
“Yeah, he usually works Saturdays these days. Want me to see if he is up for some visitors?” David grinned at the thought of dragging the queen, her elven guards and seneschal, the massive Minotaur, the dwarf, and the Goddess up the elevators to the forty-seventh floor of one of the tallest buildings in Minneapolis tickled his sense of the absurd. Michelle nodded. “Let me give him a ring,” he said, pulling out his cell phone.
Karonashkk walked over to the security desk, and half-bowed to the two men and one woman behind the desk, his massive war hammer slung over his head and shoulder on a leather strap that was a good three inches wide.
“I am Karonashkk, body guard to the Queen of the Elven Throne when she travels. I am honored to meet you, guards of Michelle and David’s company.” The voice came out in the deepest bass tones the three humans had ever heard, and their faces showed their shock as the massive, red-skinned and bull-headed being dressed in a leather kilt that came down to his knees and solid leather sandals, spoke in flawless English to them.
“Uhhnn, yeah, I am honored to meet you as well,” Sarah, the guard supervisor spoke back, stuttering briefly before getting her mental feet back under her. “I am Sarah, and this is Bill and Ian.”
“Sarah, Bill, and Mark. It is my honor to greet you in my Queen’s name.” He bowed once more, then turned back to see where his charge had gotten to. Then he walked over to stand around five behind her.
Delara had walked to the glass wall, and put her hands on it as she leaned in to look outside that the amazing sights. She heard the heavy footsteps of her bodyguard, and turned to him. “Come look at this place, Karonashkk. See what your friend and my son has discovered.”
A young man with very dark skin was walking by at that moment, and saw the strange woman with pointed ears and greenish skin looking out at him from the inside of one of those business buildings downtown. He wasn’t sure what he was seeing at first, because the glass distorted color and vision in the afternoon light of the fall day. He slowed, then stopped as she turned away, and looked up at something behind her, her lips moving as she talked to someone. Everything he had seen so far could have just been his imagination, so nothing out of the ordinary was happening. He could tell she was exceptionally beautiful, though.
All thoughts of the beautiful young woman with her hands on the glass went away, along with every other thought, as she turned back to the outside, and someone else stepped up to the glass as well.
“Holy fu---!! What the hell!?!” He whipped out his smart phone and started the camera app to record video. “Gerard ain’t gonna believe this! Nobody is gonna believe this. I gotta… got it. Smile for the camera!” He held up the phone and waved to the people (to use the term loosely for these beings) inside the glass.
Karonashkk looked down at the human outside, and smiled, waving back with one massive hand. He had seen Allison’s smart phone, so he knew what the young man was doing, but prudence required him to check into it further, to protect his Queen.
DeShay watched as the massive red-skinned dude with the bull head and horns turned and spoke to someone else inside, then looked towards the door to his right. He turned back to DeShay and motioned for him to come to the door, then turned and walked back into the building.
Moments later, DeShay had stepped closer to the entrance to the building, when the huge being stepped out of the door, and turned towards him.
“No way! What are you, dude?”
“I am a Minotaur. I am Karonashkk, Bodyguard to Delara, Queen of the Elven Throne. I am pleased to meet you, human. But I must ask, are you a danger to my Queen?”
DeShay suddenly saw the massive war hammer slung over the Minotaur’s back, and shivered for a moment.
“No, man, I ain’t no threat. No way. We good, dude. It’s all good.”
“Then I am pleased to meet you. What do you call yourself?”
“I’m DeShay. DeShay Stallings. Where did you come from?”
“We are from a different plane. I must return to my Queen. Be well, DeShay Stallings.”
“Yeah, you too, Minotaur dude. Kairnash.” He didn’t quite get the name right, but it was close enough, and the Minotaur smiled, then ducked back into the building, the secure door latching behind him.
“Man, I got to post that to my Facebook page.” He stopped the recording and brought up his Facebook app, and started to upload the file.
David called but got no answer from William’s cell phone. He hung up when it went to voicemail, without leaving a message.
“Nothing, Michelle. Not sure where he is. He didn’t answer his cell. What do you want to do?”
“I want to go shopping,” Allison piped up. “How about the mall?”
“Which one?” Michelle asked.
“Ridgedale is fine, or M-O-A. That might be more interesting. Besides, I haven’t had any ice cream in a while. There is that shop in the Food Court I like, remember?”
David thought about it, but couldn’t really come up with a reason why not. Well, maybe the appearance of the guests, but that won’t be too much of an issue, right? Besides, Karonashkk is a really nice guy, unless you tick him off.
“Sure, why not. What could possibly go wrong, with this crowd?”
Anaradelle hid a smile as she contemplated the success of the spell she had just cast on the humans from this world. It wasn’t something she would have tried on Michelle; a Goddess would detect it, even a Deity as newly ascended as Michelle, and she would most likely resist it by her very nature without knowing. But it seemed to have worked on David and Allison. The spell clouded their mind slightly, and let her influence their decisions, while convincing them that her ideas were harmless. She wanted to see more of this world, and had no desire to explain her reasons to any mortal. They would best be served letting her do what she willed. It was in their best interests, after all. That was her role since time immemorial, and she had always done her best to make sure mortals were directed appropriately.
This plane, and what she sensed from the beings here, was the best example of why she was needed. Pain, strife, discord; all these things she would prevent from this point forward, by giving them something else to focus on and strive for. It was her responsibility to these mortals. They needed her to do this for them, just as the humans of all other planes benefitted from her efforts. All those countless other human mortals lived lives of happiness, simplicity, and peace, because of her. She was proud of her accomplishments with them. And she felt that part of her inside rising to the challenge of what was to come back here. She knew she would succeed. No other option ever occurred to her.
◆◆◆
The Food Courts at the Mall of America are big places. With hundreds of tables, they are the place for hungry shoppers, certainly on a
Saturday afternoon in late October, to take a break from walking through the huge mall, and get a bite to eat or something to drink. There are two food courts, both of which overlook the theme park in the center of the immense shopping mall, where rides and games entertained children and adults for hours on end.
Now, a gate opened in the table area. It shimmered and hummed in midair, and stretched up over six feet tall. The bottom didn’t touch the tile floor, but hovered just a few inches above. The edge glowed in pale colors, oscillating between blue, yellow, and red, which caused the colors to change to greens, oranges, and other tints as it cycled through the color spectrum. The edge was rounded, and maybe a half inch thick, wavering slightly in place as it rippled as if made from water.
The humming sounds from the magical apparition caused people seated nearby to gasp and begin to move away in shock. But before they could get very far, a plain-looking man in a blue jacket, jeans, and tennis shoes stepped through, followed by several more. They all looked completely normal, and fully human.
While some small percentage of the people in the food court had seen news reports about recent viral videos, or had even seen the videos themselves, most had not. And while the broadcasts, and the videos they had brought to light, had been the talk of water coolers everywhere around the country for days (“Was that unicorn real? No way! Well, maybe?”), nothing in any of the videos had prepared them to witness the gate shimmering into existence in the food court of the huge shopping mall, right in front of them, or to have people come out of it. Or what came next.
Karonashkk stepped through the gate, once again bowing down somewhat to fit his height through, before straightening up slowly while he angled his head to look up to make sure he wouldn’t hit his head on the ceiling of the human building. He needn’t have bothered. The ceiling of the massive building stretched scores of feet above him, and he gawked much more than he had at the amazing, grand building to which he had come when he first entered this plane. He was only three feet in front of the gate when the next person came through, only to hear some people screaming at the obviously impossible size and appearance of the massive Minotaur.