by Leela Ash
She tried to recall anything about the night before and found herself frustrated at the blankness of it all. What had happened? Did she walk home alone? She couldn’t remember driving her car, it was probably still in the parking lot at the bar. She silently cursed Marcia for forcing her to go out with her that night. She would have been happy to stay inside and practice her guitar.
Unfortunately, she had succumbed to the social pressure that her friend had put on her and had no other option than to accept that she would feel better knowing her friend wasn’t alone in meeting her crush. Fortunately, she hadn’t make plans and was able to accompany Marcia, even though she would have preferred to stay in. Sometimes, her friend had the worst taste in people, and she was always worried whenever she said that she had an interest in some man or another.
Trying to recall the night before, all that she could remember was the dream that she had been having. A man with blazing green eyes had appeared out of nowhere, and turned into a gigantic beast. It was the most intense dream that she had had in a long time, and for some reason, it made her feel nostalgic, as if she was meeting an old friend. She would have expected to feel terrified, but that wasn’t how she felt at all.
Suddenly, memories of the night before began to flood her. She felt as if she were dreaming, and yet, it felt real, as if it were a memory. The men who had attacked her in the alleyway had run away screaming as the giant beast threatened to attack them. The huge beast had stood over her protectively and flared his nostrils, producing sparks that could have ignited a gigantic fire from the dumpster in the alleyway.
She vaguely remembered the feeling of weightlessness as she was lifted, cool air rushing over her body. She remembered a deep rumbling voice. Someone so masculine that he invoked a thrill in her body that aroused her even as she was holding on tightly to her consciousness. Her body responded deeply to the intoxicating smell of the woods on him. Her mind lingered on the man’s long black hair; it gave her the impression of someone exotic and mysterious. And yet he felt familiar, as if they had somehow already met.
Krista stood up and realized that she found it difficult to maintain her balance. Whatever injuries she had sustained had left her dizzy and made it difficult for her to properly enjoy the morning. She stumbled into her bathroom and stared into the reflection in the mirror. Her light blue eyes looked gaunt and sunken, as if she had been punched in the face. She wasn’t bruised up or anything, but she was definitely very tired. Her long, flowing blonde hair was messed up, and she found herself feeling very annoyed that she couldn’t recall the events from the night before.
What in the world had those men been thinking? Why had they wanted to attack her? As far as she knew, she hadn’t done anything wrong. So why was it that she was being targeted? Nothing about it made sense, especially not the part where the stranger mysteriously came and saved her.
Maybe that had all been just a dream, some kind of silly fantasy that she had entered into when she was going unconscious. That would make some kind of sense, it seemed more logical that she was slightly crazy than it did for dragons to exist, particularly in this day and age. Not only that, but it would explain how she had begun to dream about the man who had turned into a dragon. It must have been some kind of strange and fanciful thing that her mind had concocted to help her cope with the inexplicable events of the night before.
But she knew that sometimes even the most absurd events didn’t have a good enough explanation. Sometimes innocent people were targeted and there was no rhyme or reason to it. That part was out of her power. But what she could do was attempt to find a way to get those bastards in trouble for the problems that they had caused her and do her best to piece together the events of the night before.
She had a pounding headache, and felt annoyed. She hadn’t even gotten drunk the night before, and yet, she seemed to be suffering from the same kind of symptoms that she would have had from a hangover. She figured that the least she could have done was get drunk out of it. But it was too late for that.
She stripped slowly, examining her body for any sign of injury. She had a bruise on her left leg, and one on her arm, but other than that, she seemed all right. It was lucky that she was, but still, she didn’t feel like going into work that day. After she showered, she sat back down in her bed and reached for the phone. She was going to call her boss, and ask for an opportunity to use one of her vacation days and pretend that none of the misery she had endured had happened at all.
Suddenly, she heard a noise outside the window and jumped, startled nearly out of her skin. The phone slipped out of her hand and dropped to the floor, and she stood up quickly, heading toward the window to find the cause of the noise. There was construction happening down below, and she shuddered as she retrieved the phone.
The world no longer felt safe to her, and she was feeling rather uncomfortable with the fact that she had been attacked just hours before. What had those men wanted? They had seemed like they had a purpose. If that was the case, would they be back? Did they know where she lived? Somebody must have, because there she was. She didn’t remember putting herself to bed, and she couldn’t remember anything else that had happened. It was truly spooky, and she stared at the phone for a moment, contemplating whether or not she truly wanted to stay at home by herself and get startled by every little creak that she heard.
Ultimately, Krista decided that she would not call off work, and she would do her best to fulfill her obligations in her job. She would feel safer being around other people rather than just hanging around her apartment like a sitting duck, waiting for something terrible to happen. Maybe instead of going to work, however, she should go and file a report to the police. Maybe that would be more constructive than filing paperwork and shelve books all day long.
Her mind drifted back to the man who had saved her. Why had he felt so familiar? He might have been a figment of her imagination, but she didn’t think so. If he had, then she would have been much worse off than she was now. Who knew what those men would have done to her if the handsome stranger hadn’t saved her just in the nick of time? She wouldn’t be worried about making it to work; rather, she would have been stolen into the night. Maybe even killed.
She did call her boss then, and explained what had happened to her the night before. Her boss was horrified and insisted that she take the afternoon to talk to the police. If she felt like coming in, she could do so after she filed her report. But not a moment sooner.
Krista was grateful for her boss’s support and dressed quickly, realizing that the apartment that she lived in suddenly felt far too big for someone who might or might not be the target of a malicious group of strange and angry men at any given moment.
CHAPTER FIVE
A few hours later, Krista was talking to a kind policewoman about her terrible experience. The woman nodded seriously whenever she asked Krista a question and Krista answered it.
“I have to say, I haven’t heard about anybody else being attacked lately. If it was gang activity, you would think that we would’ve heard something else about it by now. Many people are generally targeted around the bars, but it has been a slow month. Unfortunately, it seems like you are one of the first to report any violence of this nature for quite a while. That’s good for the city as a whole, but that means that we don’t have any leads or suspects at the time. Could you try to describe your attackers and their apparel for me? That would really help us to try and make a distinction when we are coming down on the perpetrator.”
Krista tried to think back to what the men had been wearing. She frowned, thinking that the policewoman might not believe her. It seemed too unusual to be true, and to be honest, she wasn’t exactly trusting her own memories either. Not after she believed that she had seen the man who saved her turn into a dragon. That was just too out of this world to accept. So naturally, she kept that part to herself and only mentioned that a dark-haired man appeared to be the one who had saved her. But from there, she couldn’t remember anythin
g else that had happened.
The policewoman nodded and told her that a lapse in memory was normal after a traumatic event like that. But it would be very helpful if she was able to explain what kind of outfits the attackers were wearing.
“It was like they were wearing robes or something,” Krista said reluctantly.
She didn’t want the policewoman to look at her as if she were crazy, but the woman’s piercing blue eyes fixed on her for a moment, her eyebrow raising almost unnoticeably. Krista was perceptive, though, and knew that she would have to tread lightly in order to stay on the policewoman’s good side. Otherwise, she may no longer be receptive to Krista’s experience.
“What kind of robes?” the policewoman said, scribbling a note down and not taking her eyes off of Krista.
“Not the kind of robes that you normally see or think of,” Krista said with a sigh. “It was more like the types of robes that the monks in the medieval times would have worn. I’m not saying that they were running around wearing bathrobes or anything. That would be weird. But this is also weird. It was almost like they were a cult of some sort.”
“That is quite strange,” the policewoman said with a nod. “Do you remember anything else distinguishing about their appearances? I will have to do my best to go through the city’s records and find out if there is any organization that might have that type of wardrobe.”
“Well, they were wearing trench coats over the robes, so they blended in. The trench coats were black, and they were wearing sandals. They seemed mean and dirty, and they attacked me out of nowhere. I don’t understand why they would do something like that.”
Krista waited for the policewoman to reply, but she was too busy scribbling down her notes.
“Were they carrying weapons of any sort?” the policewoman asked her.
“Yes, actually, they were. They had these weird type of guns that I had never seen before, but they weren’t using them on me. They pulled them on the man who came out to rescue me, though. I don’t know where he went. I wish he was around so that I could maybe have some help with filling out this report and finding out what’s going on.”
“You’re doing fine,” the policewoman said with a short nod. “Now, just tell me anything else that you remember about that night, and we will get this submitted and try and find the perpetrators as soon as possible.”
“Thank you,” Krista said, and set to work remembering every little detail that she possibly could. It would be nice to get herself a small amount of justice. Still, she knew that it wouldn’t be enough. She wouldn’t have any peace until she understood exactly what happened that night.
CHAPTER SIX
Clayton growled to himself as he rushed through the forest, his mind completely on Krista. She had seen him, that much was certain, but he didn’t know how much she could remember. He had lain her on her bed, covering her up and tending to her head wound as briefly and gently as he could. He knew that she would probably be very upset if she knew that he was there, and so he had left as quickly as possible and headed back to his underground lair with the rest of his clan.
They had all been curious about what had transpired that night, because it was very out of character for Clayton to be out of sorts in any way. They were used to him being cool and composed in every situation, and the fact that he was flustered seemed to spark a red flag that brought him a lot of attention from the members of his clan. The dragon-born people were very astute with perceiving emotions, and they knew that he was in distress.
“What in the world has happened to you Clayton?” they asked him, bringing him cups of water and plates of food. “Where on Earth have you been all night long? We know that the human-born does not stay out this late, she likes to go to sleep early. Something must be wrong.”
“She was attacked by the Guardians,” Clayton said, his face darkening. Hearing the words out loud only served to make him even angrier. The poor woman had no idea about her lineage, and she would not be as helpful to the Guardians as they seemed to think she would. It had taken them a long time to track her down, but now that they finally had, the Kersh clan would no longer be able to take a break from protecting her.
The dragon-born stared at Clayton, their eyes wide in disbelief and fear. They didn’t want anything to happen to him or to the woman who could potentially be the savior of their clan. This was terrible news, and they began to whisper amongst themselves, spreading a quiet panic.
“Please be quiet,” Clayton said, putting his hand to his temples. “We don’t know what will happen, but I do think that we should do our best to watch Krista and make sure that she is not in any more danger. We will have to take shifts for patrols from now on, instead of assuming that she will be okay for a few hours without any supervision. You know what the Guardians will do if they are able to catch her.
And they are not going to give up after failing just once. It’s definite that they will come back and strike again and again. I can only hope that they have not been able to trace her apartment yet. They found her seemingly by mistake in the alleyway, as they hoped to do, by posting men outside the doors of popular and crowded areas. Somehow, this inefficient strategy managed to work for them and she found herself an unlucky victim of circumstance. It was really fortunate that I was there to stop them.”
The people around him listened intently, nodding in understanding of the dire situation. They did not want to let Krista fall subject to the Guardians. They were terrible people. Many of the Lonis had been subject to immense torture by the Guardians. The Guardians came from a long ago established order of men who had discovered that the fabrics between the dimensions were torn, sometimes allowing mystical creatures and beings to fall through, giving them no choice but to make themselves comfortable on Earth.
These fundamentalists believed that it was no laughing matter and that the earth was not there for sharing. The earth was, in fact, for human beings and human beings alone, and if they were threatened by the invasion of another species, it meant that human beings might not be the top of the food chain. This is something that they could not settle for, and had quickly begun to learn as much as possible about the paranormal order of things. They clearly didn’t know as much as they hoped they did, or as much as they pretended to. This gaping hole in their knowledge brought them a profound sense of fear and panic.
They did not seem to care or understand that the beings who found themselves on Earth had no choice in the matter. In fact, they were victims of unfortunate circumstance who had found themselves lost in a world that they did not recognize, teeming with bitterness and fear. Without the Guardian’s knowledge and compassion toward the displaced peoples of other dimensions, they were subtly and slowly creating a hostile environment that was capable of procuring a devastating war; one that might transcend through the fabrics of time and space.
Clayton was familiar with the acts of the Guardians. The Lonis and the Kersh clan were not the only paranormal beings that had been able to cross through the portholes in the sky. He had traveled for a long way with his predecessor; the leader of the clan, and also his father. Together, they had seen other tears in the fabric of the Earth’s atmosphere. He was told that other beings, fairies and other mystical hidden creatures, had been thrown through the dimensions and lost on Earth.
“But how is that possible?” Clayton had asked. “What happens in these worlds that makes the creatures susceptible to being thrown into another world?”
“Just as the Guardians speculate, all I can tell you is what the previous leader told me. Your question is one the Guardians are hoping to answer. They want to safeguard this world from such invasion. They think of us all as monsters. Unfortunately, for both the people on Earth, who don’t want us here, and for us, who wouldn’t be here if given a choice, it’s impossible to change the rips in the fabric or to keep innocent creatures from falling through. Frankly, none of us truly wanted to end up on Earth, and the fact remains that many of us are more miserable here than we would
be in our homeland.
“However, there seems to be nothing that we can do to prevent these occurrences. Every so often, there is a heavy vibration that pulses through the universe. Everything in creation is affected by this. For a long time, the fabrics between the dimensions had been able to hold up against the strain, but because of the corruption on Earth, and the poor intentions of the people who lived there, it has made the atmosphere very toxic and thin. It is easy for things to fall right through or be lost outside of it. There are holes all over the place that should not be there and do not exist in other places and worlds.”
Clayton had listened sullenly to his father, and his heart panged painfully at the memory. His father had died long ago, and ever since, it had been up to him to lead the clan into prosperity. But they were running out of options, and now he knew that Krista was the only one who could save them.
“Where is the girl now? I can go and look after her,” one of the dragon-born women said dutifully, standing up and preparing to launch herself out of the entrance of the underground tunnel.
“I’m not sure, I stayed and watched over her house all night, but when she left, I knew I had to come back here. It’s impossible for me to keep my eyes open any longer. It was a very long night. I’m sure she’s going to work at the library, and if not, she is going to be filing a report against the people who attacked her. It shouldn’t be too difficult for you to find her at the police station or at her work place. Just listen for the subtle vibration. She sings when she walks. She has a Loni song and it is a sound that resonates with our kind. You will not mistake it, no matter where you are. It might be loud and prominent enough that you could find it even now. I wish I could try, but I’m afraid I’m too tired.”
