Gateway to Astria - Part 1

Chapter 3

  The soft hum of the car’s engine whirring filled my ears as we floated downtown. It was the one and only thing my mind could grasp onto. My eyes couldn’t hold on to anything it saw. My brain was working like a mass of gears all stuck together. I felt like I couldn’t think. I didn’t even feel it when the car stopped. It took a Resh a few shakes to snap me back to reality.

  “Hmm? What?” I blatantly mumbled. I looked up at the street signs that half destroyed on the ground, then at the card in my hand. It was an address we found in the pocket of one of the soldiers.

  “We’re here.” Resh’s gaze was locked with an aimless, pointless one – mine. He was trying to make sure I was ok.

  “Oh… Umm, Okay.” I slowly got up out of the car and nearly tripped on the curb and then over my own feet. My back slammed into a large concrete wall, my head whipping back and knocking into it as well. “Ow…” The throbbing pulse of pain creating a headache wasn’t helping my current state.

  “You ok?” Resh said, now by my side. I never estimated shock to be this… intense. I’ve always overlooked it as just a thing that happens in an moment. But it’s a bit… humbling.” I just stood there, examining my arms. When I noticed what was in front of them. The sidewalks were made out of outdated concrete. I glanced around me trying to take everything in. I only had to focus on my eyes and nose; I could only hear our breathing. I looked around, broken down homes that looked like shacks and not a person in sight.

  “Why would they want us to come here? It’s a terrible place for any sort of operation’s base.”

  Resh sighed. “Odd place, but maybe it’s just a meeting place, it’s under the radar and out of the way. And when you’re talking about a national level project that’s generally illegal, out of the way is usually on your side... You’re usually on that type of stuff.” He said, looking around the building.

  He was right, my mind always is able to see things, but now I’m just drawing blanks… I’m actually thinking normally. On one hand, I hated it. On the other, some tiny part of me felt relieved, I’m not sure why. I gently ran my fingers across the harsh concrete. The rough, scratchy, old, chipped away feel of the building was not something familiar to me. Now a day the goal of everything is to be a smooth as silk. The gray color, mixed with a green tint weren’t common colors. It was so… different. I took a deep inhale. The clear air smelled like my old home in Minnesota, out in the country. It wasn’t as clear here as it was there. But it brought back a memories from the past, but also memories, both good and bad. That’s when images plowed into my brain.

  Black, pure black. Red dripped from the pin of the needle onto the surface. Like a crackle of lighting, it spread through the black. As each twig of color branched forward, it felt like a needle punctured my brain. I could feel my head spinning, and ever second it grew more and more intense.

  My mind started to drift back and lock down as it went to the place I never wanted to go again. I felt like I was falling towards the images that flooded my head. The closer I got the more clear they got. My eyelids were glued shut, I couldn’t control my body, and all I could do was stand helplessly on the side walk. I couldn’t hear anything. Resh was gone. I was alone, just like I was then. In my mind, I saw myself walking towards a bright light. When I finally stopped, the light kept coming. As it got closer, I peered with squinted eyes into the center. An image was getting bigger. Every second it grew closer. Slowly I lowered my gaze to the ground in front of me. I was at an edge. It was like I was standing on air, and in front of me was the pure white sidewalk. I almost felt like I was there now, it was happening again. I started to take a step, about to walk into the past and experience it again, But just when I was about to set my foot down, I stopped. Something was bringing me back.

  My eyes closed, my legs started to tremble, my arms started to shake. The world started to spin around me, but I saw a hand – a hand reach through the spinning world. I reached out to grab it, and it pulled me out of the whirling world.

  I gasped for air as my eyes shot open. I was awake, actually awake. I felt warm, despite the air being a tad frigid. The soft touch of feathers and a cloud of white engulfed me. Glancing around, I met eyes with Resh’s; he was knelt down, beside me, letting me lean into his strong yet gentle arms as they cradled me and his wings wrapped around me. “Thank you, Resh.” I mumbled softly, for some reason, I felt safe with him. We both are there for each other. Resh a brother anyone would want.

  Resh was holding me in his arms, his chin gently rested on the top of my head. “No problem, I couldn’t let my sister have another episode like that, besides, we have an appointment.”

  Sister… Something about Resh calling me that made me feel all warm inside. I think “special” is the world I was looking for, a very seldom thing that I felt. Though we aren’t actually brother and sister, I guess we have a bond that real siblings would I imagine.

  “Are you ready? Can you stand?” Resh mumbled.

  I nodded before Resh helped me rise to my feet. After brushing myself off, I looked up to see Resh round the corner of the building. I quickly dashed after him; I wasn’t going to be left alone again – I don’t want to be left alone to fear. I unsheathed my pistol, the same one I’ve had with me every day for five years. I came around the corner to see Resh staring at two large doors. They stood twice as tall as him, and probably the same distance across. They were made out of thick metal. State of the art – fifty years ago.

  “Big door...” Resh mumbled as he examined the door. Walking up to it, taking the large metal ring and knocking it on the door. With hardly any force, it made a large bellow that you could hear echo through the building.

  My gaze swept the streets around us; my ears listened intently. Nothing tickled my senses.

  Nobody answered the door; Resh set his hands on it and pushed as hard as he could, his wings fluttering to give him an extra boost. I came over and helped him. Slowly but surely, the door inched open slowly.

  Darkness, the only thing my eyes could see. All that was before me was a vast black hole.

  Resh had better vision than I in the dark. He says everything he sees is brighter, much brighter. Even in the day it’s still brighter.

  As I stood in the darkness, I followed Resh by listening for the sounds of his footsteps and breathing. “What are you looking for?”

  “Light switch.” He replied as we both crept forward. It took only a few steps before my foot collided with something unexpectedly, sending me reeling to the ground. My hands landing planted in a pool of thick liquid. As I stood up and glanced at my hand, trying to tell what it was, the lights flashed on. I yelped in pain and shielded my eyes. “A bit of warning next time!?” I sassed to Resh.

  “Sorry.” He replied in a soft, a bit embarrassed tone.

  Slowly my eyes adjusted, though it took a few minutes. I had a few spots appear for a bit. When I finally focused, Resh was standing in front of me, staring.

  “What?” I asked, confused.

  “Umm…” I couldn’t tell what he was trying to say, but it had something to do with me. I glanced down. The front of my shirt was stained heavily with blood. Some was trickling down my arms. But it wasn’t mine. I didn’t feel anything. My gaze now on my shoes, I realized I was standing in a pool of blood. There were bodies everywhere, all wearing the same sort of uniform.

  “I think our appointment’s been canceled.”

  Nodding in agreement, I scanned the room, examining all the bodies. There were 5, scattered around the room, one looked like he was dragged, another, tortured probably. Others were just executed. It honestly wasn’t that hard to tell.

  Silence – the weapon of death – started to fill the room. It only gave way to the sound of the of my shoes hitting the floor as I walked. Resh stepped lightly enough, his wings gently fluttering. He silently floated over the bodies. Inching around with my gun drawn, I slipped around a corner only to stare down a long hallway of offices. Slowly I crept down, glancing into eac
h, all of them were empty. Each one was a mess, tables overturned, papers everywhere, paintings yanked off the wall. Whoever was here was looking for something.

  At the end of the hall, one office stood lit, the door open. A man sat in a chair, facing the wall opposite of me. It nearly startled me when I first saw him, and made a bit of a squeak, but he did nothing. He had dark gray hair, a black suit and pants, and a gray and blue striped tie.

  “S-Sir?” I said. With my sights aimed for him, I waited for him to turn around.

  He never moved. I repeated myself, but with more of a concern. “Sir?”

  That’s when I noticed three bullet holes in the back of the chair. I walked forward and kicked the chair, spinning it around. It was just as I thought. Blood stained the front of his otherwise perfect suit. I glanced at his hair, All of it was slicked back except one spot in the middle which was pulled back and straight up. It had to be the mysterious Mr. “Gold” that we talked to on the phone.

  I glanced around the room, looking for something that could help me piece together what happened. Resh came trotting into the room.

  “Well I didn’t expect this…” I mumbled.

  He raised an eyebrow at me but soon came back on task. “What do you think happened here?”

  I continued to glance around, trying to figure out exactly that. I swept my gaze across his desk, which was flipped on its side, to the items on the floor. There were pencils, a broken mug, and a bunch of papers that had been thrown from massive amounts of file bins he had in the wall. I look through the papers, nothing stood out to me. I shook my head in dismay.

  “Anything!?” he said. Clamoring for a response, Resh’s voice had a faltering tone

  I shrugged and glanced around the room. Nothing, we were too late. Sighing in frustration I leaned up against the door. Resh kicked the chair in anger. On wheels, it rolled across the room. There were a few moments of awkward silence before the air was filled with a yell of rage; Resh did something I didn’t expect.

  He grabbed the edge of the desk, and with a surge from his wings, he flipped the table through the glass wall that faced the hallway. A gust of wind from his wings blew my hair into a mess and the papers flew everywhere. When I brushed the hair out of my face Resh was sitting up against the wall, his knees pulled tight up against his body. His face was buried in his palms. I noticed something in his hand, a sheet of golden silk. That had to be what Resh was upset about.

  I sighed at Resh, thinking about what I should do. He probably doesn’t want anyone talking to him, I know I wouldn’t. But that never stopped him from comforting me… I thought about it for a few moments, but I couldn’t see any way I could really do anything to comfort him anyway, that kind of thing isn’t exactly my cup of tea. I’ve never been good at knowing what the right thing to say is.

  I took a glance around the office and noticed a cracked picture that had been torn off the wall. Walking over to the picture, I grasped it in my hands. It was a business picture of the man in the chair, I held it up next to him and compared. Something was different, I couldn’t tell. They were both wearing the same suit, same tie, same hair style, except for the messed up part in the middle. Then I found it, the “insignificant” little detail.

  “Resh…” I murmured.

  “What?” He said in a dismayed yet, still calm tone. He slowly rose to his feet and came over. Both of us glared at the picture. “Resh, Look for a blue pen.”

  “What? Why?”

  “I have no…“ I stopped in the middle of my thought. It clicked.

  “All the file cabinets, check inside theme, are there a ton of separators and folders in there?”

  He walked over and opened a few of the cabinets. “Yes, But what does that hav-“

  “Shh! Thinking!” I snapped.

  “Sorry.” Resh responded.

  I walked over and pressed the side of my face up against the side of the wall. Gently, I slipped my finger across it in two different places, and then examined it.

  “Resh, do you notice the faint difference in color on the wall?”

  “What?” Resh replied.

  “Look very, very closely. There is a slight layer of dirt and dust except for this square.”

  “So? He had pictures on his wall! Here, this one looks like it went there.” Resh grabbed a cracked image off the ground and hung it on the wall. “What’s so unique about that?”

  I set the office chair on the ground upright; it had been knocked over. Jumping into it, the chair spun a few times before I finally sat down and leaned back, examining it.

  “What are you-“

  “SHH!” Snapping at Resh as I got up, I walked over to the wall and ran my fingers across the edges of the frame where it met the wall.

  “He adjusted it constantly.”

  “Huh?”

  “The clean spot isn’t an actual square; He constantly moved the picture back and forth trying to get it perfectly balanced.

  “Okay? So he organized pictures obsessively. This is important, why?” It was clear Resh was confused.

  I got a sly smirk on my face. “He’s a perfectionist.”

  “Natalia, can you please start making sense?” He asked.

  “Oh, but I am!” I started to get antsy, I loved puzzles. If you looked in the trash bin at my house, you'd find forty-three Sudoku puzzles – all finished – inside. I walked over, grabbed the picture and held it up for Resh. “Look at this picture, in the front right pocket of his suit is a blue fountain pen. But on our body here…” I motioned to the chair where the body sat.

  “No pen…” Resh mumbled.

  “Exactly, you get what I’m getting at?”

  “Obviously...”

  Sure you do. I shot him the respective look. Rubbed my forehead, I sighed and continued on. “Obsessively adjusting pictures is a common thing for perfectionists.”

  “How do you know this?”

  “Cause’ I am one.”

  “What exactly is ‘perfectionism’? “

  Do I really have to explain this now? My thoughts groaned. To be honest though this was the best time to explain it, so I did. “Do you have any pet peeves, Resh?”

  “Like random things that bug me? Yea, you never rinse out your cereal bowls when you’re done with them.”

  “Do too!”

  “Moving on… Perfectionism?”

  “Right. Well just like you have a pet peeve or two, it’s the same way for me, cept’ more intense.”

  “How intense?”

  “Basically my life is pet peeve.”

  “Well then” Resh said. So, back to Mr. Gold here?

  “If he had a pen in his front pocket for a picture, that would be a normal that he has carrying around. A ‘style’ point if you would, something that compliments the look of professionalism.”

  “Ok, I still don’t see...“

  I cut him off again. “Why would someone like that ever not have it in his pocket?”

  Resh raised an eyebrow, thinking. I waited for the spark. “Only if he was using it?”

  “Thank you, slowpoke, now you get it.” I replied. Finally satisfied, I got down on the ground and started searching for the pen.

  “Aha… You know how likely that is right? I mean it could have been a one-time thing.” He responded.

  “Found it.” I stood up and whirled around, holding out the pen to him.

  “This is crazy.” I could barely hear him mumble.

  “Yes, I know.” Taking the pen, I made a scribble on a piece of paper and compared it to the other pens around. The ink of Kent’s pocket pen was a deep navy blue as compared to the black of the others. “Look around for some blue writing.” I mumbled.

  I walked over to the frame of what used to be a large glass wall before Resh flipped the desk through it. One of the drawers had broken out of the desk. It was tipped on its side, and sticking out was a newspaper.

  Trotting over, I picked up the newspaper, I threw pages over my shoulder once I got a glanc
e for any blue markings on them. One page after another was blank. Disappointment started to set in as it may have been a pointless find.

  “Think I found it.” Resh perked up.

  “Already?”

  “Yea.” He pointed; he was pointing to the back of the paper.

  I flipped it around and examined it, I noticed two things.

  “Dr. Xerxes working on proper cure for Ephialtes fever epidemic.” I read the title aloud.

  “What?” Resh said, walking over and joining me in reading. It wasn’t the story that caught our attention, but a large blue circle drawn in navy blue ink around the first “X” in “Xerxes”. A line jutted across through the text, meeting with a perpendicular line that shot up to the bottom of the paper to a circle. It wrapped around the letter “Y” in Wednesday, the date. “It’s a coordinate grid.”

  “Wow. Umm, okay? So how do we find the coordinates? There are no tick marks!”

  Sliding my fingers across the “X” line. “nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two!” The “X” line crosses twenty two letters.

  “And the ‘Y’? “

  It took a while to count them all, but we finally reached an even one-hundred and sixty.

  “Now we need a computer.” I mumbled.

  “If only we were in a hallway of offices… That would be nice wouldn’t it?” Resh responded and motioned down the hallway.

  I felt so stupid. I nodded with a quick “yea,” and dumped the rest of the papers on the ground and trotted down the room, looking for a computer that was still intact and hadn’t been ripped apart. Resh helped too. We checked them all, but I didn’t find one until I reached the very first office in the hallway, figures.

  “Found one!” I yelled. I opened it up. It was a laptop, not a modern light computer used today. But as long as it can connect to the internet, it works for me. A few keys were missing, but it turned on. Loading up, it connected to the internet right away. At least one thing was working out today. I quickly loaded up a browser started searching the coordinates.

  He nodded in response. “So X is 22 and Y is 160?”

  I shook my head. “-160. Lower left quadrant. Go back to Algebra.”

  “Never took it.”

  “What?” I exclaimed, shooting a questioning glance back at him. He looked innocently around the room. “Nevermind… later.”

  Resh nodded. “So where is it?”

  I opened up a coordinate search and typed in the coordinates. “This can’t be right… those coords are on Astria, But I thought we were after the earth cult. Not the Astrian one.”

  Resh sighed. “This is confusing…”

  I nodded slowly, agreeing completely. “Well, shall we go anyway? That’s the only lead we’ve got.”

  Both of us almost simultaneously looked out the window in the back of that office. It gave a straight view to Astria.

  Resh chimed in. “So, you ready to go to Astria?”

  “You mean are we ready?”

  “No – you.” Resh said back, staring me in the eyes. “I can’t go back.”

  “Right. You know, you never told me why, it’s been hard not asking.”

  “It’s not the time. Sometime! But not now.”

  “Why not!”

  “Natalia, do you trust me?”

  “Of course I do! You’re pretty much the only one…”

  “Then trust me when I say it’s not the time.”

  I glared at him for a few moments in silence before I finally – reluctantly – retorted “fine.”

  Both of us trotted out to the car and headed for the bridge. A long process, the bridge was built over the last 10 years as a way for both planets to access each other. From what I heard it just barely passed legislation, some say by a single vote. The other half was teetering towards violence. They were talked out of it – lucky for us – they decided to build this bridge, wide enough for 20 lanes, and built with the very best pieces of technology. They say as you slowly move up the curve and onto the bridge, you feel this stomach churning shift as you do so. I gained a sickening feeling as I started up. I've heard it is actually based on human emotions; the bridge is only as strong as the bond between the two planets. A few months ago it was as stable as it’s ever been. But now, I couldn't help but think it has been faltering. It's barely noticeable looking from a distance, but it has been creaking more, as if the bridge was groaning from the pain of the weight.

  This bridge, located on the beach coastline, and extends up to the large gate to Astria’s capitol, was where we were headed.

  I pulled over and stopped before I entered the bridge. Getting out, I stood in awe of the planet that was set before me. It was just this vast glowing city, the buildings made of smooth cream stone laced with gold and splotches of blue. The whole city even glows! Though I’ve seen it from the other side of town, I’ve never bothered to come this close. I glanced down at the small slit of water that had made its way in between the coastline and Astria. It had been forever since I have seen ocean as far as I can see, something about just gazing into the space with the soft glimmer of light of the water underlying your gaze gives this soothing sensation. My mother and I used to do it all the time. I miss it. I miss her.

  I took a deep sigh before I felt a hand on my shoulder, Resh’s strong yet, gentle hand. I gave a bit of a smirk. “You alright? Everything okay?”

  I nodded in response and turned to him, “Yea, I’m good. What do I do to get in?” I asked

  Resh shrugged. “Beats me, you’re smart, you’ll think of something.”

  I nodded hesitantly. “Wish me luck.” I said uninterested. Resh nodded. “Good luck.”

  Resh looked concerned – something that doesn't happen often to this degree. He didn't look worried. He looked scared. Not for me, but scared for himself, as if he wasn't supposed to even be this close to Astria.

  Once he drove off I turned and walked up the walkway of the bridge. The gravity shifted and attached me to it, the fluids inside my stomach swished and made me feel like they were about to come up and out. It felt weird being in slanted position I was in; you had this unnerving fear that you would just detach and send yourself reeling to the, bustle below. I didn’t dare turn around, so I kept on going. It took me about ten minutes to get to other side, during which I pondered the idea of what other applications the gravity changing technology. My train of thought was suddenly stopped when my body shifted onto the ground on Astria, making my stomach churn again. When I finally recovered, I looked up only to be amazed by the sight of the large gate that stood in front of me. It had to be at least five stories tall, and as long as a semi-truck. I don’t see how doors of that size could in anyway sustain opening and closing, yet somehow they did.

  Two large soldiers stood at the side, wearing thick blue metal plated armor, their spears towered five feet above their ten foot bodies. Do they actually fight with those?

  Approaching the door, there was a crowd of people. I had come at the right time. They were letting a group in, my guess is for the daily tours, they can cost a fortune for some. I quickly slipped into the crowd, it looked like each person had a card. Some kept it clipped to their shirt or had it in their pockets. I almost nearly reached the front of the line when I bumped into another woman.

  “Oh I’m sorry ma’am, are you alright?” I asked.

  “Oh, yes, thank you dearie.” She responded. I smiled and walked a few steps away from her. I took a glance at my hand, in it was one of the access cards; I swiped it from her back pocket. The lady finished her announcements, which I of course paid no attention to. I briskly walked up to the front and handed her the stolen card, and she accepted it without any question. “Enjoy your tour Veronica.”

  Veronica? I quickly realized that must have been the name of the person I swiped it from. I quickly responded. “Gracias” I muttered. It was Spanish for thank you. Though I did it in the best Spanish accent I could take, though it wasn’t very convincing. Thankfully the lady handed back my card
and smiled. She was Astrian. Like she would know about accents and that I didn’t look Spanish at all.

  I walked off, spinning the card in my fingers before sticking it in my pocket. Ignoring the voice of frantic murmuring from the lady I took the card from, I looked around for some sort of transportation. But there were no cars, no planes, and no vehicles of any sort. They couldn’t fly all around the planet.

  My gaze swept around me for any sight of something to take me long distance quickly. I thought maybe I’d try the big round obvious circle with beams spinning around it and a sign that read “Teleporter.” I was just about to start heading towards it when I realized the entire group was heading that way. Looks like the tour wasn’t starting here, perfect. We walked in, and the Astrian tour guide, a fiery orange-haired woman started punching into a small tablet hooked to the machine. As the machine came to life her expression as if she did not wish to be here grew all over her face. Thankfully she didn’t notice me changing the coordinates to the ones we found in the office. The machine whirred and we were away.