Unfathomable Chance

by K T Munson

  Diana picked him up. “Couldn’t help yourself, could you?” he said grumpily.

  “Oh hush,” she retorted with a smile, petting him gently as she carried him to the kitchen area.

  Kal Zed contented himself by purring loudly and setting his paws on her shoulder as he laid his head down. Diana carried him through the ship, ignoring the nervous glances she received from some of the crew members. It wouldn’t be long before they would enter the Helion System, which, according to Maura, was only a day away from the Kravis system.

  Inspecting her wrist she wondered if she would ever be rid of the bracelet. It was a heavy burden to bear, and she wondered why the universal system had been created this way. She couldn’t believe she was the first Bearer to want the infernal thing gone.

  The kitchen had emptied out after she had arrived, leaving her and Kal Zed alone. “Who bore this last?” she asked softly.

  “Who ruled last you mean?” Kal Zed clarified. “She was a Dracoon, an older woman who had already borne three children before becoming Empress. She ruled for two hundred years with her second husband, an Armanian, until her sudden death.”

  “A Dracoon? What happened to her?” Diana asked, leaning forward.

  “When Dracoons are nearing the end of their lives, they jump out into the expanse of space and give themselves to the universe. Their bodies are later collected and deposited into a star,” the cat informed her soberly. “For all their knowledge and brilliance, their death ritual is rather barbaric. Despite the fact that she became an Armanian when she chose her husband, she kept to the Dracoons’ tradition.”

  “Is that why the House of Lith was looking for me?” she asked, remembering Maura’s words. “Was she related to them somehow?”

  “I imagine it is. The woman had married into that house before the bracelet chose her,” Kal Zed said. “Though why is hard to determine. They are a long-lived race and one of the most prominent of the Houses on Dracoon, but they have never had an Emperor chosen from their blood. Only Empresses, like Empress Katali.”

  “Bearer,” Nihal said respectfully as he walked into the room, “we are preparing to connect to the space station above Matzil.”

  “Thank you, Nihal,” Diana said, standing slowly.

  Diana could hear a mechanical clicking noise. The ship rocked a bit before there was a hissing sound and they settled into place. Kal Zed jumped down when they settled and made a strange little sound. She gave him a look of amusement as he strode out in front of her. She followed him and Grim as Nihal brought up the rear.

  Maura was waiting at the door, her purple hair framing her face. Sora was leaning against the wall, and when he saw Diana his eyes narrowed. When Maura saw Diana and her entourage, she reached across and pulled the latch near the door. There was a sound of pressure releasing, and then the door swung open.

  Maura stepped out and led them down a narrow hall. They emerged in a large domed area with people moving around leisurely. The stars twinkled at them, and she wondered what the planet looked like. Tearing her gaze from the dome, she took in her surroundings. It looked like a park square with plants straight out of any fantasy movie. The vegetation was of every shape and size and color; one even had orange and black stripes like a tiger. With excitement, she recognized an alien or two from the marketplace on Kritorium, but the rest were all new to her.

  Maura fell into step beside her. “Matzili’s only allows their own people and special invited guests on the surface of the planet. It is sacred to them, but I am sure they will make an exception for you. We can go to the far end of the station where the transport area is. It is how you will get to the surface.”

  “Will you be safe while I am on the surface?” Diana asked, worrying about the risk she was placing Maura and her crew in.

  “You should be worried. They may not let you leave,” Maura reminded her but then smiled. “Don’t worry about us. We are under your protection.”

  “How could I forget?” she responded as they ducked into a narrow alleyway before coming out into the street in front of a huge building.

  The building was made of a material Diana had never seen; it certainly didn’t exist on Earth. It was difficult to describe since her eyes couldn’t take in the spectrum and texture like a Matzili likely could. Instead she saw a strange green building that reminded her of marble glass though it moved like liquid. As she crossed under the archway and into the building, it suddenly changed. It seemed to shine with all the colors of the universe.

  Diana felt panic rise in her throat as she looked up at the interior. All around her, Matzili stopped and looked up. Then their eyes turned to their small group, and Diana felt herself take a cautious step back.

  “Bearer?” a small woman said, coming forward. She had black hair drawn up around her head like a cobra’s hood while the rest lay down her back. Her skin looked like bark that had been painted over with golden paint and it was impossible not to notice how eerily long her arms and neck were.

  Diana and Maura glanced at each other while Diana hesitated to answer. Everyone was turning to them, and a crowd was beginning to form. All the hairs on her arms were on end as her gaze swept the room.

  “I am Omiriant. Don’t be afraid,” the woman said, glancing at Diana’s wrist. “It has been so long since a Bearer has been to Matzil.”

  “But you serve them, don’t you? Why would they not come here?” Diana asked, curiosity getting the best of her.

  “Their rightful place is at the center of our known multiverse,” the old woman enlightened her. “Yet you are here.”

  “Yes,” Diana said as the old woman with skin like old bark took her hands. “I was looking for the personal servant of the previous empress.”

  “Empress Katali was served by Slavinatilia,” Omiriant informed her. “But she is preparing to pass the last of her life force into her granddaughter.”

  “I only wish to speak to her for a moment,” Diana insisted.

  “I will send word to the surface,” the old woman said, glancing over her shoulder at a young man.

  The young man didn’t look much older than Diana, and his eyes were a bright green. His skin looked like the bark of a new tree. The only things that were very strange about him was the fact that his eyes were further from his nose, and there was a strange tattoo-like marking on his throat.

  “I will go and see her, but these people are under my protection,” Diana informed her, indicating to Maura. “They are not to be harmed.”

  “You should have no worries in that regard,” Omiriant said, turning her towards the back of the building. “My offspring will take you to the surface and see that you have a moment with Slavinatilia.”

  “Thank you,” Diana managed as the boy appeared and watched her with an unwavering stare.

  “It is our honor,” she said as she helped Diana into the helicopter sized pod.

  Diana turned back and waved at the group. The Matzili man joined her as she sat back. It didn’t take long for the door to close and the little pod to disconnect from the main space station. She smirked because she had just thought the phrase “space station” as though it were perfectly normal. Her life just kept getting weirder and weirder.

  Chapter 14

  When they were nearly to the surface, Diana practically pressed her face against the glass and gasped. “The water is green!?”

  The boy gave her strange glance before turning back to the little spaceship’s console. Diana frowned and out of spite made a funny face at him. Then she settled back in the too comfortable chair, crossing her arms. She watched as they descended into a mostly green world and remembered reading somewhere that the human eye sees more shades of green than any other color. Perhaps there was much on this planet she couldn’t actually see.

  “What color do you see?” Diana wondered aloud, uncomfortable in the silence.

  Again he didn’t say anything as they finally landed among other pods. Diana wasn’t amused by his lack of conversation. When he stood up
to exit, she stood as well and caught his elbow. “What’s your deal?”

  He pointed at his throat. “I can’t.”

  Diana jumped and covered her ears. Those two words had been shouted, and the boy was shocked himself. Diana shot him an angry glare and watched as he opened his mouth to speak again and braced herself. Nothing came out though. The boy put a hand to his neck and tried again, but only silence filled the air between them.

  Diana dropped her hands back to her sides. “What are you doing?”

  He reached out and took hold of her hand. “It’s you.”

  This time his voice was normal; in fact it was almost a whisper. Diana was so startled that she froze. Searching her face, he looked as though he was about to cry. He leaned forward and put his other hand on her face, and she felt a blush rise up her neck and into her cheeks.

  “Amazing,” he said, and again his voice was too loud.

  “Lower the volume!” Diana snapped, jerking away.

  “I had heard stories about the Heart of the Cosmos and its Empress,” he said, seeming to be under strain, “but your power is so much greater.”

  “What do you mean?” Diana said, backing up into the chair.

  “Matzili are born without use of their voices until their one hundredth birthday because they are so powerful,” he explained to her, seemingly overwhelmed. His voice was again almost too loud for her ears. “I am only sixty-eight.”

  “You look pretty young for a sixty-eight-year-old,” Diana said, laughing, and then remembered the four-hundred-year-old hottie who didn’t look a day over twenty five. “Then again, your kind lives to be like four hundred years old, so that would make you about seventeen.”

  Gross! She was slightly attracted to a seventeen-year-old. He seemed to come to his senses and backed away. Diana felt a blush rush to her cheeks as she rested her free hand on her chest.

  “Forgive me,” he said, letting go of her other hand, and turned to walk out of the pod.

  Clearing her throat uncomfortably she marched past him. She stopped her hurried march once she spotted the small, old woman waiting. She was no bigger than a young child. The houses behind her were round balls the size of houses on Earth and resembled their space ships. They reminded her of a carton of eggs where only the top halves were showing. The woman had tired eyes.

  “Slavinatilia?” Diana asked, coming forward.

  “To see one more empress before my death is truly a blessing,” the old, small woman said.

  Slavinatilia turned around and waddled back into the house. Diana took hold of the boy’s wrist. “Why is she so small?” she asked him.

  “We all slowly begin to lose our light when our time is near,” he explained, seeming to strain to keep his voice a reasonable volume. “It literally escapes until we are left with only the strongest of light, which we pass to our offspring.”

  Diana nodded and let him go. “Wait here for me.”

  Diana walked into the house without waiting for a response. The child-sized woman was making her way across the floor of her little house. Inside strange crystals hovered and provided a soft green tinted light. This planet seemed to have a strange affinity for green, or perhaps it really was all she could see.

  “Omiriant said you wished to converse with me?” she said, turning to clip some strange purple plants with pruners that sat on a table by a porthole-like window.

  “I was told by the Archive that you might be able to tell me how to get rid of this thing.” Diana said, holding up her arm.

  She paused and gaped up at her, obviously surprised. “You wish to remove the bracelet?”

  “It made a mistake and picked a human,” Diana declared, her hysteria rising to the surface at the thought of never getting it off. “Have you even heard of my species?”

  “No,” the Slavinatilia countered, “yet everything the bracelet has done is not normal.”

  “What do you mean?” Diana probed.

  “It has never hidden itself away before nor attached itself to such a primal species,” the little woman clarified, looking up at her; she hardly came up to Diana’s waist. “It chose you for a reason. It always does.”

  She knew it already had protected her and that it seemed to be very intelligent, but there was so much she didn’t know. “Can it make me fall in love?” she whispered, terrified to know the truth.

  “No, it cannot influence the matters of the heart,” she reassured Diana. “That decision must be yours and yours alone.”

  “Then there is no way to remove it?” Diana asked, disheartened—she had a feeling she already knew the answer.

  “Either death or the bracelet leaves you willingly,” she said and smiled. “That is only way.”

  “The bracelet can choose to leave?” Diana asked hopefully, startled by that development.

  “It must choose. You cannot make it,” she replied, suddenly looking very tired. “It is nearly my time. It is best you go.”

  “I still know so little, but I know now what I cannot do. Thank you,” Diana said with a mystified tone. How could she convince an almighty being to do what she wanted? Her mind whirled and came up with exactly zero immediate answers.

  “Long live the Empress,” she said as Diana exited her home.

  The boy walked up to her and tilted his head curiously. Sighing she practically snapped. “No, I didn’t find what I was looking for.”

  He was startled at her retort as she stalked back to the ship. He hurried after her as her thoughts swirled. The bracelet had chosen her at age twelve but had stayed hidden for another ten years. It had picked a planet with a species that couldn’t really travel in space and didn’t even really have much of a NASA anymore. It was as though it was hiding and had chosen to keep her in the dark while being on her wrist all that time. She couldn’t even really remember how she had ended up with the cosmos riding shotgun on her wrist, but it had started on that trip to England with her family.

  He took hold of her wrist. “Wait!” he cried.

  Diana jumped and covered her ears as she glared at him. “Really?!” she yelled. “Keep the volume under control!”

  “I did not mean to harm you,” he said again, struggling to keep his voice in check, “but you look distressed.”

  “I am distressed,” she all but shouted. Shaking her head, she realized it wasn’t his fault. “I’m yelling at you, and I don’t even know your name. I’m sorry, it’s been a stressful day.”

  “Adom,” he said, letting go of her wrist to open the door.

  “That is a short name,” Diana said, entering the pod. “Why do the rest of them have to be so complicated?” She touched his shoulder so that he could answer.

  “The longer the name, the more honor they have by serving the Star Throne. The males of our species are secondary to the females here, just as the Empress is supreme.”

  “Interesting,” Diana commented as she sat down with a huff. “I am ready to return now.”

  He nodded as Diana leaned back and closed her eyes. She felt the pod move as she contemplated what to do. Perhaps she should take the Cosmos Gem’s idea and hide.

  <>

  When she stepped off of the pod, Omiriant was waiting. Diana and Adom agreed they would both keep his ability to speak when Diana was touching him to themselves. Even though she hadn’t known him long, she was going to miss him.

  “We would be happy to escort you to the center of the multiverse now,” Omiriant told her hopefully.

  Diana smiled, even though all she wanted to do was run. “That won’t be necessary.”

  “It would honor us,” Omiriant insisted.

  “It won’t be necessary because I’m not going,” Diana explained.

  She looked horrified. “Why ever not?”

  “Have you forgotten your place, Matzili?” A voice boomed suddenly, and she felt her breath catch in her throat when she recognized it.

  She turned her head and raised her eyes to his face since he stood right behind her. The handsome Dracoon
gave her a smug smile that said “You told me to come and get you and I have.” She couldn’t deny that he made her heart race and her knees weak.

  “Dracoon,” the Matzili said harshly. “You honor us with your presence.” Her voice, however, implied otherwise.

  “You know what is wrong with you, Matzili?” he said. “You worry too much about honor and duty.”

  “And you worry too much about power,” Omiriant retorted. “Why are you here?”

  His eyes darted over to her as he seethed sexual pheromones all over Diana. For a moment she wondered if they were contaigious. “She called for me.”

  Diana opened her mouth. “I did?”

  “You asked for my help and here I am,” he purred. Diana was having trouble concentrating.

  Then it came to her. It must have been during the fight. She remembered thinking of him and having a deep desire for someone to help her right before she had gone all “Future Empress of the Universe” on those other Dracoons. Twice the bracelet had called him to her rescue across space—maybe even light years away. Why was the Dracoon the one to protect her?

  “She is not yours,” Omiriant countered, bringing Diana back out of her thoughts. “She needs to take her place.”

  “She has clearly stated what she wants,” he retorted, his voice going cold.

  During the conversation her eyes had ping-ponged back and forth between them. By that point she was pretty sure steam was coming out of her ears. Diana had had quite enough of their antics.

  “I am not a possession you can argue about,” Diana finally yelled, absolutely fed up the pair of them. “I am a living thing capable of independent thought.”

  “It is thinking for itself,” the Dracoon gasped mockingly. “Scary.”

  “Knock it off, spaceman,” she snapped. She could be sarcastic, too.

  “Bearer, forgive our impertinence,” Omiriant said graciously.

  “You are forgiven, but he is right,” Diana said, lifting her chin. “I am leaving.”

  “The multiverse needs you,” she insisted.

  “It needs a ruler, not a subpar primal creature such as myself,” Diana said. “There are things I must see to.”