Dravincia
By Blake Severson
Book One of
The Dimensional Wars Series
Copyright © 2019. All Rights Reserved
To my Mom, the toughest woman I know. Keep fighting and do not give up, just as you have taught us.
Chapter 1
A Fool’s Bravery
Arthur yawned as he leaned back in his office chair. While his job paid well, it sure could be annoying. Engineering had never given him any glory or fame, but he still enjoyed it. Someone had to make sure that the buildings stayed standing. Wouldn’t do to have an eccentric rich guy’s mansion collapse because his aesthetic wishes didn’t include the idea of supporting columns and walls.
“I swear that the clock is broken and not moving. It has been 4:30 for over an hour.” He sighed. “Hey James, You have any plans for this evening?”
“Just going to be sitting at home with the wife and kids. I might try and watch a little TV when the kids go to bed. Do you have any plans, Arthur?” James said.
“Not really, do you want to go to the bar and get a drink tonight?”
“On a weeknight? My wife would kill me. She doesn’t want to have to deal with the kids by herself this evening.”
“Fine, if you don’t want to live a little, I cannot make you.”
“Not all of us can live the carefree life of a single man. When are you going to find you a good woman to settle down with?”
“I’ve had a few women try, but none of them felt like the right one to keep around.”
“Well, maybe one day you can find a nice woman to keep around,” James stated. “I am sure your Mom and Dad would be thrilled to have another woman around the family. When was the last time you talked to Eve and John anyway?”
Evelyn and Johnathan Sorrenson were not technically his Mother and Father, biologically at least, but they were in every other sense. He had been with them for as long as he could remember. They had adopted him when he was about two years old, and he did not remember anything before then.
“I called them a few days ago to check in on them. I try and check in with them every week at a minimum. I’m sure I’ll end up calling tonight to check in and see how they are doing.” I said.
Arthur’s Mom and Dad lived in Phoenix, AZ. His Mom was a legal assistant at a lawyer’s office, and his Dad worked as a general contractor. Arthur moved to Austin, TX ten years ago but would still go home and visit during some of the holidays when he wasn’t busy with a project. Other than his parents, Arthur didn’t have any strong ties to Phoenix. He had one serious relationship and thought it might be the one, but it crashed and burned. When that happened, Arthur decided to move away and start over. It allowed him to get his degree in engineering in Austin, and then he started working at his current job.
“Oh, finally time to wrap it up! I’ll see you tomorrow, James.” Arthur called to him as he saw the time on the clock.
Arthur grabbed his sketch pad off the desk and tossed it into his bag. He walked to the parking lot and jumped into his 1967 Chevrolet Camaro that he had collected a few years back. He found it pretty close to fully restored and put in the last bit of interior work to finish it himself. It was a deep blue with white racing stripes down the center. He guessed having extra money to work on a project like this was one of the benefits to his bachelor style life.
Luckily the office wasn’t in the middle of downtown, so he was not forced to slog his way through traffic and creep home. Within twenty minutes, he pulled into the driveway of the small house he had to myself. It was what would be considered a small farmhouse that had two bedrooms and two bathrooms, but the city had grown into this area already, so there was not much open land around it. At least he wasn’t trapped in an overcrowded neighborhood. The white house with dark gray shingles didn’t stand out in any way and was rather dull. It fit him perfectly fine how it was.
He made it into the house and threw his bag on the desk in his home office space and went to the kitchen. The refrigerator revealed nothing but some drinks and sandwich items. He couldn’t remember the last time he cooked something at the house. He made himself a quick sandwich and sat down in the recliner to watch some television.
He pulled out his phone and swiped his thumb across the screen to wake it up. Scrolling through the options, he selected his Mom’s number and hit the call button. His Mom picked up after only 2 rings.
“Hello, Arthur,” Mom said.
“Hi Mom, how are you and Dad doing?”
“Just working, as usual, not many changes. I do have a big case I am currently assisting with at the firm but nothing overly stressful. Your Dad is working on that house for the Baker family still. They were able to get the roof completed today, so progress is coming along just a bit ahead of schedule.”
“Well, that is good news. Anything else of interest going on around home?” I asked.
“Now that you mention it, there was one other bit of information I heard today. It appears that Joanne is getting married.” She said cautiously.
That one sentence hit him like a rock from a slingshot. He felt a bit queasy all of a sudden. Joanne was the one serious relationship he had that ended abruptly when high school was over. He had initially left Phoenix to get away from Joanne after their relationship had crashed and burned, but those feelings never seemed to completely fade.
“That is fantastic news! I am happy she found someone.” He said, almost a bit too forced.
“Any new women in your life I should know about?” she asked.
“No Mom, I haven’t met anyone new since I talked to you a few days ago. I don’t go out that often. Work has been relatively busy lately. This afternoon was slow though so maybe we are getting close to a little downtime at the office I could use to go back on the prowl. Either way, we have discussed this, and when it happens, it happens. I have plenty of time ahead of me to find the right woman for me.”
“I know, I know,” she responded. “I just don’t like the idea of you being alone out there.”
“I will be perfectly fine Mom, I have been getting along fine for a while now without a girlfriend.”
“Well, I love you, Arthur, and I hope you can come and visit us before too long.”
“I’ll see what I can arrange. I love you guys as well. Tell Dad I said hi.”
“Goodbye.”
Arthur looked at his phone and tapped the red end call button and put it back in his pocket. It never failed that his Mom would ask about a woman in his life. She had been hounding him for years about it and it just never seemed to be a priority to him. If it came along, he would be thrilled but he never really went out searching for it. He would instead relax at home and watch some TV or play a video game instead of wasting his time in bars and clubs.
He changed his mind about watching television and decided to get up and get a shower. He never really liked the idea of going to bed dirty, unless it was for the right reason, of course. He quickly undressed and tossed his clothes into the laundry basket as he walked by and headed for the bathroom. The bland slate tile in the bathroom pretty much described most of the house. All simple, no modern design tones anywhere in this place. Nothing was outdated, but it also wasn’t a contemporary style decor. It was all neutral colors with bare minimum style and no decorations to speak of.
He turned on the water and went to the mirror to inspect himself while waiting for the shower water to warm up. Naturally, he had to flex a bit here and there and check the different parts of his body, typical guy behavior he guessed. He was rather unassuming with dirty blond hair cut short on the top with sides shaved almost to the skin with a gradual fade. His eyes were always a little odd to him though, they were a rather dark brown, but he could swear from time to time they would flare with a bit of
red. He guessed it was just his overactive imagination. He was right at six feet tall and sat around two hundred and ten pounds. He wasn’t in bad shape but could use a little toning. He also had a rather broad torso and set of shoulders on him.
He finished adjusting the water when it warmed up and hopped in. A quick scrub down later and he was out and dried off. He walked over to his room and checked out his rather unassuming queen size bed with bland solid black sheets and a black and blue comforter. There were no signs of a woman’s touch anywhere in this house. He walked to the dresser and picked out a T-shirt and some mesh basketball shorts to lounge around in.
Walking back to the living room, he heard some commotion outside. It sounded like a man yelling, but it was hard to make out. He peered out the front window and looked down the road a little. He saw a man and a woman standing next to each other, and it was apparent the man was yelling at her. She had a pulled-back look as if she was nervous or scared of the man. Arthur wasn’t big on confrontation, but he’d be damned if he sat by and let a guy treat a woman like that for any reason. He grabbed his tennis shoes and slid them on as he was walking outside.
It was early fall, so still slightly warm here in Texas. Being a warm eighty degrees wasn’t unheard of at this time of the year, so with it currently hovering around seventy-eight, it felt perfectly fine outside with his limited clothing. The weatherman had mentioned a little bit of a cold front coming in later in the week, but it still wasn’t going to drop below sixty. As he got closer, he was able to hear part of the conversation.
“Did you think I wouldn’t find out you were sneaking over here, Dana? Do you take me for a fool?” the man said.
“I couldn’t bring myself to tell you, Roger. I have been miserable with you and all of your yelling. Nothing is ever good enough for you. I cook, clean, and take care of the kids all while still working at the local supermarket but I just can’t live up to the standards you want.” Dana said.
“Well if he is so much better than me you can just stay with him.” He huffed, “I don’t want to see you back in my house again.”
“Excuse me? I am rather sure that is OUR house, and I can come back in it if I want to.”
“If you don’t want your ass beaten I suggest you do not return.”
“Oh so now you are threatening me? Shouldn’t surprise me, you are nothing but an abusive piece of shit anyway, and you wonder why I would be with another man. If you insist on me leaving, I’ll make sure I get the house and the kids as well. It would be a good payment for the crap I have had to deal with from you.” She sneered.
He exploded with rage at that point and backhanded her hard across the face. Arthur took off at a run to him.
“Don’t you dare touch her again!” He yelled right before Roger kicked her while she lay on the ground, holding her cheek. He turned and looked at Arthur.
“Mind your own fucking business, or you can join her on the ground.” He replied.
That pissed Arthur off to no end.
“If you touch her again we are going to have serious problems. I have already called the cops, and they are on their way.” He bluffed. He was sure he wouldn’t know if that was true or not.
“You did what?” he yelled at Arthur. Roger took a step to Arthur as he was now within five feet of him and swung a right hook right at Arthur’s head. The attack wasn’t a complete surprise since he had just seen him hit a defenseless woman, but he still wasn’t expecting him to react that quickly. Regardless Arthur was able to keep his senses and ducked right under his hand. Arthur came back around with a right of his own and hit him directly on the left side of his jaw.
He took a small step backward to regain his balance, and his head had twisted a bit with the punch, but it didn’t seem to affect him too much. The man must be familiar with fighting to take a solid punch that well. Arthur wasn’t trained in hand to hand fighting in any way, but his size coupled with his naturally giant fists was a lot of weight to toss at someone.
He looked back at Arthur and had an evil gleam in his eye. This time Roger took a swing for his midsection, and Arthur wasn’t quick enough to get out of the way. The punch landed on his ribs on the left side of his body, and he immediately lost all the air he had in him. Doubling over and feeling like a fish out of water, Arthur tried to gulp some air back in but was not having any luck. Roger lifted his left leg and kicked Arthur straight backward, and he sprawled onto the concrete. The fall jarred Arthur’s awareness back to the overall picture here, and he was able to suck in a sharp breath that burned as it came back into his lungs.
Arthur kicked out while on the ground and hit the guy’s ankle. He let out a sharp yell and started to fall but caught himself with one hand. Arthur’s kick hadn’t done anything but infuriate him. He rolled to the side and was able to get back into a crouching position.
“Get out of here and go somewhere safe while you can!” Arthur yelled at Dana. She had just about made it back to her feet while the fight was unfolding and looked up at Arthur with tears in her eyes and gave him a quick nod before dashing off toward the closest house. He hoped it was her lover’s house so she could get help.
“Oh no, you don’t,” Roger said as he pulled a pistol from his the back of his waist and pointed it at Dana. Was this guy out of his mind? He looked like he was going to shoot her as she ran off and Arthur couldn’t stomach that idea. He jumped up and dove at Roger’s midsection, and they both went tumbling. During the fall, Arthur heard the sharp crack as the gun went off. Luckily it didn’t seem to hit anything. He couldn’t be sure since they were tangled on the ground, but he could still hear Dana running so he didn’t think she was hit.
He reached for the gun in Roger’s hands to try and wrestle it away from him and their hands both locked firmly on it. They were in a never-ending struggle to pull one way and the other. The only thing that genuinely bothered Arthur, aside from the fact there was a gun involved, was that the weapon was slowly starting to point in his direction.
“Well if you are going to be Mr. Hero and butt into someone’s business that doesn’t concern you then you shall reap the consequences. It looks like I have nothing left to lose anyway now.” He said with that evil gleam in his eyes.
Arthur heard another loud crack as the gun went off again. Only this time he felt a horrible pain in the left side of his chest, and all of his strength was immediately sapped from his body. He lay there on the ground, slowly growing cold without any energy to even move. Arthur could see the man had gotten to his feet and was staring at him.
“You can tell whatever God you pray to that Roger sent your wanna be hero ass to meet him,” Roger said. He dashed off down the street and out of sight.
As Arthur lay there, his life started to flash before his eyes. He could remember the birthdays, the Christmas celebrations with his parents, even Joanna. He felt tears coming to his eyes over all the missed opportunities. If only I could change things. He thought as the world faded to black.
Chapter 2
A Second Chance
Arthur awoke in a solid white chair. This is odd, I am pretty sure I died, Arthur thought to himself. Well, maybe not so strange as he looked around the room if you could call it that, to begin with. It was just white. He couldn’t describe it in any other way. There didn’t appear to be anything resembling walls as far as the eye could see. Just a vast empty ocean of white with Arthur sitting in a single white chair. He reached down and touched his chest only to find everything was intact. No blood or damage of any kind.
“It can be a little disorienting, can’t it?” A musical voice said.
“Umm, yeah and speaking of, where am I? Who are you? Where are you for that matter?” Arthur asked.
“Typical human, always impatient with endless streams of questions, although I guess it isn’t unexpected in this odd scenario. Your first question is both difficult and at the same time easy to answer. You are currently suspended between worlds in a dimensional space of my choosing. It isn’t as simple
as that, but that explanation should suffice. As for me, I am called Lianna, and I am a Goddess.” Lianna said.
“A Goddess? Is this some sort of elaborate prank? I do not know of any Goddesses, especially not in any of our religions. I know there were Goddesses in some of the older religions, but I don’t recall the name Lianna being used for any of them.”
“Regardless of whether you know my name or not, it doesn’t change your predicament. If you have not figured it out yet, you are for all intents and purposes, dead.”
Arthur’s jaw almost hit the floor. This couldn’t be right. If I was dead how could I be here breathing and talking to this floating voice….well maybe that was a little of a red flag but still. I did remember the argument and being shot, lying on the ground and wishing I could change things. That was all I could remember.
“I would imagine this comes as a bit of a shock to you. Let me come join you, and we can have a civilized discussion about why I brought you here.” She intoned.
Arthur spotted a flurry of sparkles ahead of him and to the right. Out of the shining mass walked the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. She stood close to six feet tall with perfectly flat strawberry blond hair that flowed to her lower back. The last foot of her hair was gently curled into bouncing rings. Her body was in perfect proportions with all of the curves in the right places. She walked with a regal grace that would make a runway model weep as she moved toward where he was sitting. She had a perfectly smooth face with skin the color of pale moonlight, but most striking of all were her eyes. They reflected the purest gold color he had ever seen. The irises were solid gold that seemed to sparkle from time to time, but that could have just been his imagination.
She motioned to the side, and another pure white chair identical to the one Arthur was seated on rose from the ground as if made by liquid and solidified not five feet in front of him. She walked up to the seat and very deliberately turned to look at Arthur as she slowly sat down in the chair. The pure sight of it made his breath catch in his throat.
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