Authors: Alyssa Ezra
Chapter 3: The Call of Destiny
This time Simone did not resist as Storm Kar gestured for her to follow him back inside the building. Going back down the triangular corridor, Storm Kar paused by a smooth amber panel that Simone had missed first time around. He touched a small white switch next to the panel and it slid open.
“This way,” he said, mustering a gentle tone, or as much of a gentle tone that a scary ass alien could muster, Simone reflected. Now that she had seen for herself that she was not in the nature reserve, or, as Storm Kar asserted, not even on planet Earth itself, she had no other choice but to go along with this insanity.
She followed him down this second corridor and they came to a small chamber made of a smooth, dark reddish wood. A circular table was in the centre of this chamber and an older woman in a buckskin dress was setting out two wooden bowls. The woman looked up and made eye contact with Simone.
Simone couldn’t help but stare back, noting that though she had a similar distinctive Native American look as Storm Kar possessed, her face was not fierce or beast like. She appeared to look a lot like humans.
“Ah, Grazing Elk Woman, you are preparing some refreshment for our guest. I knew I could rely on you,” Storm Kar said. He shot a hopeful look back at Simone. “When you have eaten something, you will feel better.”
“I doubt it,” Simone said sullenly. “For some reason, I’ve lost my appetite. It must be the fact I’ve been kidnapped by a crazy monster and taken to some freaky ass planet!”
Grazing Elk Woman paused in laying the table and speared Simone with her mica bright eyes. It was the same look Simone’s mom gave her when she was being a stroppy little bitch. The look had the same effect, and Simone cowered inside.
“He is not a monster!” the old woman snapped in a flint hard voice.
Simone flinched at the severity of Grazing Elk Woman’s tone and felt suitably cowed.
“Come, tempers are frayed. There is no need for hostility,” Storm Kar said giving his partner in crime a meaningful look. “Let us sit and we can talk properly.”
He gestured with his hand and two comfortable looking easy chairs glided seamlessly up out of the floor on either end of the table.
Despite her instinctive need to show defiance, the chairs looked really inviting and after what she’d just seen, Simone could do with sitting down for a little while. She didn’t resist when Storm Kar beckoned her to sit down while he settled down in the chair opposite.
With a steely expression on her face, Grazing Elk Woman finished off putting out wooden spoons before heading over to what looked like a squat iron stove where a cooking pot was resting. Bringing the pot over to the table, Simone caught a whiff of something delicious before she began ladled out what looked like thick orange colored soup.
Simone’s mouth started to water and her stomach moaned from lack of food. Despite her craving to eat though, she remained motionless as the soup was presented to her. A thought crossed her mind and she shot Storm Kar a reproachful look.
“Are you not going to help her out with the food?” she asked, arching an eyebrow, “or are the men on this planet just as chauvinistic as they are on Earth?”
“Ha! I’ll not have this one cluttering up my kitchen!” Grazing Elk Woman interjected. “I need no foolish man to slow me down, now eat your soup.”
Simone smirked, beginning to like this formidable woman. Doing as she was told, she took a spoonful of soup. It was the tastiest thing she’d ever eaten in her life and she took several more spoonfuls feeling her belly fill up. Grazing Elk Woman looked on approvingly.
“This one has a good appetite,” she said to Storm Kar. “Maybe you did not make such a bad choice after all.”
Simone looked up from her bowl. “What does she mean? What choice? What is she talking about?”
Storm Kar shifted uncomfortably in his chair and glowered at Grazing Elk Woman with his crimson eyes. “Thank you, you can leave us now,” he said in a clipped tone.
The old woman barely hid her sneer, but bowed her head. She shook her head in despair as she left the chamber.
Simone was suddenly alone with Storm Kar again, and the tension returned. His eyes came back to rest on her. He left his bowl untouched.
“I think I deserve an explanation,” Simone said, trying not to let him make her feel intimidated.
“Yes,” he said, sighing heavily. “You do.”
When he didn’t say anymore, she started digging. “You called this place the Vision Land,” she said. “Is this really another planet?”
Storm Kar nodded. “We are precisely eighty million light years away from Earth, on the edge of the Celestial Raven Galaxy.”
Simone tried to take in what he was telling her. “We’re that far away from Earth?” she exclaimed. “How long did it take us to get here?”
“Actually, it only took a few seconds,” Storm Kar replied. “The portal I invented to bring you here allows us to travel across vast distances of space and time in the blink of an eye. It took a long time to develop the technology of course, but the results were worth it.”
He looked at her meaningfully and a shiver ran down her spine. Despite his demonic eyes and ruined face, he exuded a dark attractiveness, a strength and intellect that she responded to on a purely emotional level. She pushed aside those feelings as hard she possibly could. She was in no mood to let her hormones make all her decisions.
“That brings us to the million-dollar question then,” she drawled. “Why have you brought me all this way without my consent?”
He flinched at her words and dipped his eyes, seeming to be ashamed of what he had done. “If I had come to you directly, like I am, and asked, would you have been willing and ready to come with me? Like you said before, I am a crazy monster.”
She tasted the bitterness in his tone and suddenly felt guilty for tearing into him like that. Though he had kidnapped her, he hadn’t harmed her in any way, and in fact was being rather hospitable. That didn’t chance the hard truth that he had kidnapped her.
“But why?” she pressed, making an attempt to be more diplomatic. “I just don’t understand any of this?”
“Isn’t it obvious,” he said giving her a hooded look. “I brought you to my world because . . . I love you.”
The words were like a bowling ball straight in her stomach. For several moments, she couldn’t think of anything to say. The only other man to tell her he loved her was Dean.
It felt strange to hear the words being said by somebody else, especially from a . . . creature like him. A surge of anger went through her. “How can you say that? We don’t even know each other?” she demanded roughly.
Storm Kar kept his eyes on the table, his face closed and grim. “I do know you,” he said in a muted tone, “at least I know that you are my destined mate. Please, you must believe that this is meant to be.”
“What are you talking about, destined mate?” Simone demanded. “Meant to be? How is that possible?”
“You were shown to me by the Great Spirits,” Storm Kar replied, his own voice rising. “I will try to explain as best as I can. I am the Chief Shaman Scientist among my people. It is an important role and when I was of an age, it was time for me to find a mate. Unfortunately, there was nobody compatible either on a physical or intellectual level for me, and no female amongst my tribe really attracted me, or, as you can imagine, vice-versa.”
Simone could well imagine that. She felt a pang of recrimination for judging him on his looks. It was extremely shallow of her, she knew that, but she just couldn’t help herself.
“I became greatly despondent,” Storm Kar went on. “Though I am committed to my work, I also feel loneliness and crave companionship. Confused and miserable, I did what all my people do when they need answers. I entered a dream trance to commune with the Great Spirits who guide the destiny of the Vision Land.”
Simone narrowed her eyes. “I don’t fully understand all that, but it sounds suspiciously like you got high.”
Storm Kar pursed his mouth. “There are many ways to open the mind to the higher frequencies, but it is true I used certain herbs to bring about this state. When I had ascended to the realm of spirit, I called out to them and asked if there was anyone for me in my life path. They answered by showing me your planet along with an image of you. I knew in my heart there and then that you were the one meant for me.”
“That’s sweet, but don’t I get a say in all this?” Simone said in a snarky voice.
Storm Kar looked pained. “Of course, but you are so defensive, so closed off from happiness, you do not seem to want to accept the will of the Spirits.”
Simone bridled at his words. He sounded just like mom when she kept nagging her to move on from Dean. This jerk had snatched her from her world and was giving her a guilt trip for not being grateful.
“Okay, I get that you were inspired by a vision,” she said. “So what happened then? You opened your little portal to Earth and here I am?”
“If only it had been that easy,” Storm Kar replied wistfully. “It took many of your Earth months to even locate your planet and much longer to find a means to create the portal to bring you here. You cannot imagine the sacrifices that were made to bring all this about.”
Storm Kar fell silent, and his burning eyes became unfocused. Simone felt a deep sadness radiating from him, and she was curious as to what kind of trials he’d gone through, but she remained steadfast.
He might have had a mystic vision telling him that she was his one true love but she was still to be convinced. He might feel in his heart he’d found his one true love, but she knew in her heart she’d already found her own true love and he had died four years ago.
“Your people, what are they called?” she asked; now needing to break the oppressive silence that had fallen on them.
“We are the Mystic Folk, that is the name of our tribe,” Storm Kar said, rousing from his quiet brooding. “We share this world with other . . . peoples, collectively we are known as the Noble Kin, but the details are of no concern right now.”
“Okay, and that Grazing Elk Woman, is she your mom, or housekeeper or something?”
Storm Kar barked a laugh. “Don’t let her hear you say that,” he said chuckling.
“Grazing Elk Woman is the Chieftess of my tribe.”
Simone didn’t hide her surprise very well because he laughed again. It was like rolling thunder and made her shrink in her seat. “And you accuse me of chauvinism,” he drawled. “In my culture, the females act as our leaders.”
Simone nodded. “I’m beginning to like the sound of your tribe.” She shot Storm Kar a covert look. “From the way you talked, I’m guessing you are not exactly like the rest of your people.”
“If you mean they are not all hideous monsters, then the answer is yes,” Storm Kar said sardonically. “My people look more like Grazing Elk Woman, and by that I mean, they are humanoid in appearance rather than being a race of grouchy old females.”
Simone smiled wryly. “I get it. Sorry if I offended you.”
Storm Kar’s fiery eyes met her gaze and a chill went through her. “You could never offend me,” he said, his voice heavy with meaning.
Simone started to feel uncomfortable again. She didn’t like where this was going or how she was going to get back to Earth. If, as he claimed, the portal worked in only a matter of seconds that might prove her only viable means of escape. All she had to do was find it and figure out how to use it.
As she turned over ideas in her mind, she absently reached up to touch the skin behind her ear. In fact, behind both ears, she had been feeling a strange tingling sensation for a while now, though she’d been too preoccupied to think much about it. When she touched her skin now though, she felt a small rough bump.
“What the hell!” she exclaimed and reached up to check behind her other ear, finding a similar swelling.
Storm Kar looked like he wanted the world to open up and swallow him. He looked down at his bowl and studied the uneaten soup there. Simone knew men well enough to know that this had something to do with him.
“What are these things behind my ears?” she thundered.
“Before you get angry, you must be aware that it was necessary,” Storm Kar replied in a gruff voice. “The genetic modifications were necessary for you to be able to breathe my planet’s atmosphere and understand our language.”
Simone rose to her feet, fury swirling like a vortex inside her. “Genetic modification!”
“Do not become emotional,” Storm Kar countered. “The process is reversible.”
“Show me!” she almost bellowed.
Scowling, the alien went over to a cabinet set into the nearby wall and took out a small crystal pyramid with reflective surfaces. She snatched it from his hand with a ferocity that made him take a step back, and using it as a regular mirror, managed to examine the small red bumps merged to her skin.
Okay, they weren’t as grotesque or as obtrusive as she feared, she was still fuming. She thrust the mirrored pyramid back at Storm Kar.