Copula Chronicles: The Complete Collection: Origin, Descend, Ascend, Legacy

by Venessa Kimball

  I release another small breath of life from my lungs before reaching for the iron doors in front of me. I pull them, expecting to be rejected, but instead they open. The hallway is dark and unkempt like the others, but I feel like this is the one that is going to take me out of this fucking place. The level ground begins to rise in elevation and the urge to breathe out a little more tears at my psyche. Don’t fucking panic! Stay strong! My sight is in and out, blurring and distorting, but not before I see two corroded iron doors barred with a long metal pipe. This has to be it.

  Pumping my legs, I rush to the doors, hitting them with my body and lifting up on the long metal pipe at the same time. The metal pipe gives, but it takes every ounce of energy and I can’t hold in my breath any longer.

  I release it all, and then breathe in the toxicity, aware of the poison, but blindly hoping I can overcome the death expectant of it. My throat immediately constricts, then spasms, denying my false confidence.

  The metal pipe suddenly gives and I’m freed into an empty alley. My body slides down the wall just outside of the door as I keep my eyes focused on the asphalt pulling in and out of my sight. Glancing up, I look for signs of life; no people, no cars passing, nothing. My heart is pumping hard, working on little fuel now, but I have enough energy to yell, I think.

  “Help!”

  My call comes out weak and it’s likely no one heard it. I try again, projecting my voice. “Help!”

  The volume in my voice cuts off this time, mid plea, which equates to no oxygen, no breath, no voice. I stop sliding against the wall of the alley and stare at the alley opening, waiting for someone to cross the narrow pathway between the buildings. I’m done, this is it. I let my eyes fall closed and slide down the wall of the alley to the ground, taking a deep breath and glutting my body with the poison air. Feeling death approaching, I wonder, is this the world my father Jaeger Sanderson pictured?

  Just as the Onoch’s had a legacy to protect this meek and dependent world, my family had a legacy driven to expand and make this ordinary world superior. Opening my eyes again, maybe the last time, I try to take in a glimpse of what the world has become as the pound of my heart begins to slow. I think of the beings that have descended beyond the veil and into our world. Our legacy, the one my forefathers had forged, promised salvation from the beings beyond the veil––salvation for our fellowship if we allowed their passage. Why is this legacy not saving me now? Among the sound of my slowing heart, my ragged, wheezing gasps, I hear a low, patterned hum that is quickly rising and getting closer. I try to concentrate on the patterned sound to ignore the sharp, toxic breaths I’m still taking. Unable to hold my eyes open any longer, I let them shut and listen to the humming sound.

  The feeling of cold metal on my back wakes me again. I swallow and breathe, expecting the pain, but it doesn’t rise in my throat like before. A mask covers my face. Seemingly more alert, I reach for it to pull it away, but before I can a strong hand covers mine keeping me from removing it. “You don’t want to do that. Leave it.”

  My eyes open to a man hovering over me. I try to sit up, but once again, the man’s strong hold locks me down. I meet his almond-shaped eyes as he says, “Just breathe.”

  I inhale the oxygen pumping through the mask deeply and feel his arms release mine. He trusts that I won’t try to escape now that I’m breathing air. Another man comes to stand on the other side of me. He looks familiar. Were they Sondians? Dobrians? How are they able to breathe the tainted air that suffocates me? “Who are you?” I ask through the plastic mask.

  The man with the crossed arms speaks first. “Michi.”

  He nods to the man across from him, hovering over me, and says, “This is Katsuro.”

  Katsuro speaks in native Japanese through his gruff sigh then chides me in English, “Where are Sam and Corinna?”

  How does this man know Sam and Corinna and what makes him think I know them? Seemingly reading my questioning thought he asks, “You don’t remember me, do you?”

  I shake my head slowly, trying to think back to my connections in Japan, but my mind is scrambled. I can’t pinpoint where I know him from. Katsuro looks up at Michi and scoffs, “So much for servitude. Bastard.”

  Michi’s eyes leave Katsuro’s and glare back at me. “It is ironic to see you in this predicament, Michael. You see, I’m a Dobrian. You do not know me. But, Katsuro, he was one of your major Sondian connections here in Japan. Used to aid in mass abductions and enforce Sondian implantations.”

  The abductions. I remember enforcing them through handlers. I look at Katsuro and try to remember his face. My mind is so cluttered all of a sudden. “I can’t remember,” I mumble.

  Katsuro chimes in sarcastically, “Side effect of the air you breathe now in our redesigned world.”

  He moves in closer to me. “You had Sam Crest and Corinna Cain working my club to recruit the rich and powerful. Last I heard, you were murdered by a Dobrian girl.”

  He begins to rant in Japanese, when Michi growls and hisses words at him in their native tongue, forcing him to clam up immediately.

  I cough and metallic tasting phlegm clears as I begin to remember something. “I passed through the wormhole during the intersection, undetected.”

  Strangely, that memory unleashed the rest. “A pact was made with the beings beyond the veil of our universe long ago. I granted them passage as long as they protected me.” I quickly correct myself, “Us. I mean us.”

  Katsuro’s face reddens as he yells, “Idiot!”

  Michi places his hand on Katsuro’s chest, a warning to back off. Katsuro backs away and begins to pace, mumbling in Japanese again.

  Michi looks back down at me as he says to Katsuro, “Doing that would make us just as bad as him. We need to give him the choice.”

  Confused by his words I ask, “Choice for what?”

  Michi says flatly, “To be implanted.”

  “I’m already implanted,” I say, correcting them.

  Michi shakes his head. “Not with the modified Copula.”

  Modified? What does he mean modified?

  Michi continues to speak, “The intersection has altered our climate and shifted the amounts of trace elements in our world. The air we breathe is no longer as oxygenated as our bodies need.”

  He points to the mask on my face. “There is only a small supply left of that. Not enough for us to survive.”

  I look at Katsuro, standing there stoically watching me breathe in this Dobrian oxygen, and can only wonder why he caved to the Dobrian fellowship. I hiss at him, “Traitor.”

  Katsuro lunges forward takes hold of my shirt and pulls me upright. He yells lividly, “Traitor? You have betrayed your race, you son of a bitch!” He releases me hard to the gurney and snickers, “You believed they would be loyal to you, respect our race? They aren’t going to grant you safety, you stupid man. No one is safe! Not even you!”

  Michi holds his composure as he says evenly, “Those beings that you granted passage, they have not come to our world to cohabitate as your fucking ancestors had expected. They have been taking humans and consuming them, killing the other life forms that have tried to seek shelter in our world during the intersection. They are making us slaves to use as assassins wired to destroy man. Sondians, Dobrians, they don’t discriminate. After the first wave of the climate shift, then trace element shift, lines between our two fellowships ended.”

  Michi pauses, letting me work through the logic of how our world, our environment had evolved, and then dissolved the lines between the warring fellowships.

  He continues, “The shutdown of every government run entity in the world was occurring. We needed to step in to try and save as many as we could.”

  I continued to listen to Michi relayed details of how our world has changed, evolved, how the beings from beyond the veil have invaded us, how a new modified Copula via the Dobrian fellowship
has saved the majority of the humans on the Earth by implanting the civilians and re-implanting the fallen Sondians. I ask about Gabriel Griffin, wondering if he has accepted re-implantation.

  Katsuro replies, “He killed himself after the first climate and element shift. When he was gone, the government took that as a sign that there was no hope.”

  Katsuro looks at Michi. “Death began claiming all of us faster. Michi and a team came to us offered us asylum. They told us about the modified Copula and the need of implantation to adapt to the changes and alterations of our world’s environment. From that moment on, we were no longer divided by opposing fellowships. We became a united race on a mission to save as many human lives as possible.”

  My eyes drop from Katsuro and I rest my gaze on a small, metal tray to my right.

  Michi says, “We are offering you life, Michael. You won’t survive beyond today if you are not implanted with the new Copula.”

  Michi explains how the device will work intravenously, adjusting the elements within my body quickly. As he explains, I think back to conversations my father had with me on his deathbed, still training me to take the reins of our legacy and stop the Onochs from concealing the universe beyond ours.

  “Don’t be deceived, Michael. The Onochs will try to stop you, tell you that you are wrong, that what lies beyond our known universe mustn’t be tampered with. They will claim our salvation rests with them, but it does not. We know the truth. They have made contact repeatedly with our world. Every time it fell on deaf ears, until they touched our family. All those decades ago, we listened. Now, the salvation of our world is in your hands. You must seek them out beyond our universe and grant them passage.”

  I feel warm fluid seep from my eye, roll down my cheekbone, and pool on the rim of the oxygen mask. Have I done what you wanted, Father? I have ushered in an infestation on our species! Our whole legacy was a deception, tainted just like the air our race is forced to breathe now.

  “I do not deserve it,” I whisper as I close my eyes.

  I ignore Michi and Katsuro’s rampant onset of questions and breathe in a deep, long, breath. I pull the mask from my face and release it to the ground. The yells commanding me to stop fades like the rest of the room.

  ***

  The familiar bellow of Michi snaps me out of the memory I’ve escaped to. I’m huddled in the corner of a storage room, surrounded by supplies and the yells and gunfire are exploding in my head just on the other side of the door. The small amount of oxygen I was given is expiring quickly with every release of breath.

  “Run! Go, go, go!” Michi says and suddenly the door begins to shake. He’s trying to get in.

  “Michael! Let me save you! It’s not too late!” hisses Michi.

  Before I can respond, I hear Michi release the most excruciating scream I have ever heard from a man. It only lasts for a second, and then it breaks sharply, along with the sound of a thud. I assume it’s his body dropping to the ground, casualty of the beings attacking us. Well, attacking them. I still hold onto the element that the beings will know my essence, my bloodline, and remember the pact. As the shadow beneath the doorframe takes its stand in front of the door, I clumsily turn the handle, fall back against the wall as it slowly pushes open, and wait for my fate.

  CHAPTER 13: TRAPPINGS

  Xander

  The captain, Jason Briggs, breaks the silence that has overcast our team of guardians and soldiers. “We have about an hour until dawn. Head up to ground level and give Lieutenant Decker the thumbs up to send the caravan team down.”

  I figure this is the team that will be accompanying us on our journey to Georgia.

  Briggs looks at each of us. “I suggest you grab a bite to eat before we leave. It may be a while before we get a chance again. We’ll meet back at the trucks in T-minus fifty minutes.”

  Briggs and his men quickly file out of the room, but all the guardians remain motionless. Doesn’t seem like anyone was eager to get food. After our discussion, my appetite was non-existent. Daniel clears his throat. “I don’t want to eat either, but we have to keep up our strength.”

  He looks down at the ground and wrings his hands together anxiously as he leaves the room. One at a time, Nick then Luke makes their way out of the room. Elicia is followed by Jake and Siobhan. The rest of us stay behind.

  I lower my head and think about the guardians having similar images and sounds in their dreams over the past few days. Sebastian revealed his reoccurring premonition from childhood. Daniel told us about his premonitions. Piece by piece, through our visions, our connection to this legacy is becoming more and undeniable.

  I look up again and spot Jesca talking quietly with Ezra. Her brow furrows and her eyes brighten a lighter green as she becomes obviously agitated by something he has said to her. She pulls her hair off her neck and into a low ponytail. I cross my arms as I continue to watch her mannerisms, the way she moves her lips, the way her head tilts as she listens to Ezra speak. Ezra places his hand on her shoulder just then. She closes her eyes in response to his touch and simply nods. When Ezra releases her shoulder, he leaves the room and Jes is left standing there a few feet away from me. I guess she can feel me watching her because she opens her eyes and looks right at me. In that moment, her eyes glow the brightest olive green I have seen yet. The brightest green I have seen since my vision after returning from beyond the veil.

  Instantly, my thoughts lapse to that dream––the beautiful girl dressed like a Native American princess, her hair framing her face and falling below her shoulders, the glow within her olive eyes from the fiery pit in front of her. It is the same glow that is evident in the eyes of the woman standing just feet away from me now. This captivating woman who makes my heart soar and break in the same breath. The woman I’d do anything for.

  She must sense the intensity of my thoughts even though she can’t read me, because she nervously makes a beeline to the door to leave the room. My attention is drawn from her by the sound of shuffling feet. Sam, Corinna, and the others are slowly leaving the room. As I turn to leave myself, I see Nate, his body half shaded in darkness at the far corner of the room, staring at the ground. His back is hunched oddly and his arms are tightly crossed in front of his body. His disposition is kind of freaking me out.

  “Hey,” I call to him, just to get him to snap out of his trance, but he doesn’t as he continues to watch the ground, forehead wrinkled and his head tilted to the side now.

  I move toward him, making sure to walk around the spot he is staring at, not wanting to disturb his seemingly catatonic state. Standing closer now, I notice his eyes immediately. They are darkened to a murky blue again. Just like they were when Jesca and I approached him when we first got here. I’m drawn to his mouth as it quivers fervently, mumbling something incoherently.

  Hearing the slightest hushed unintelligible whisper release from his mouth, I lean in closer to try to decode his apparent solo conversation. I’m unable to make out the words, so I pull away from him slowly and continue to watch this hyper-focused behavior. What the fuck is going on with him? Is he sick? I mean, I suspect people can still get sick in this new world. But not normal sick and this isn’t fucking normal by any means. Still, the more I watch him, thoughts of Sam when we were beyond the veil come to mind. The way Sam acted, the mumbling, the maniacal look in his eyes. It isn’t exactly like it, but I sense the familiarity and it scares the shit out of me. Has something gotten to him? No, no, he is fine, he’s just exhausted, we all are!

  My nerves worked, I snap at him, “Hey, Nate. Man, we’ve got to go.”

  No response.

  He snapped out of this state quickly the last time it happened. As I look at him stare at the same spot, uninterrupted by my presence, it is evident this is fucking different. I look around me, making sure Jesca hasn’t returned to look for us. If she sees him like this, she’ll freak out. I need to bring him back from whe
rever he is. Slowly I move my hand to his shoulder, not ready to touch him yet. If I have to shake the hell out of him, I will, but I’m hoping just touching his arm will work.

  CHAPTER 14: FOSTER

  Nate and Xander

  Nate

  I’m standing in an open area surrounded by small huts and thatched roofs, a public square or something. Movement out of the corner of my eye draws my attention to people walking in and out of the huts. Some are tan skinned and half clothed while others are fully dressed in animal skin. The tan-skinned women huddle their children close to them and the men carry weapons by their side. A man wearing deerskin and war paint on his face comes to stand next to me. I’m taken aback by his presence, but he doesn’t bat an eye at mine. It’s like he expects me to be there next to him. Where am I?

  I look behind me and see other men gathering next to me with their weapons drawn. I look down at myself and see that I’m dressed unlike them. I’m wearing a uniform; blue pants, white button-down shirt, and riding-type boots. In my hands, I hold the cold metal of a rifle.

  Then, it clicks. Sebastian’s vision with the Native American Indians, the tribe, the battle. I’m in a vision!

  All at once, I hear a loud call, a warning.

  All the natives around us rush back into their houses. The children’s faces are filled with fear as they cry out for their family. My searching gaze lands on a white man emerging from a hut with a native woman following closely behind him. His uniform; he is dressed like me, but older, mature. Following behind both of them is a beautiful girl. The girl Sebastian and Xander mentioned in their visions. She looks like a princess. The white man rests his mouth on the woman’s forehead, then takes a hold of the girl’s hand and the three of them walk quickly away from the hut. I follow them with my eyes as they walk toward the largest mound beyond the line of huts.