GATEWAY TO ASTRIA
By Isaiah Gray
Gateway to Astria
Copyright 2014 © Isaiah Douglas Gray
Published: January 1st, 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author.
This is a work of fiction. Any names or characters, businesses or places, events or incidents, are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
~To Glorianna~
For without whom
This book would never have come to be
My words to you: You are amazingly outstanding
~To Katie~
For without whom
This book would never have been finished
My words to you: You are amazingly talented
~To the reader~
For without whom
This book would never have a purpose
My words to you: If it is past 12AM, You are up late – go to bed
Table of Contents:
GATEWAY TO ASTRIA 1
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Hell continues 114
Chapter 1
The moon’s gentle light glimmered off the grass, the green blades bending beneath the will of the wind. It was the first night this winter to be cold in Minnesota. In all of my 16 years I never experienced a warmer winter here. The brisk air and gentle slow fall of snowflakes sent chills up my spine as they landed on my arms.
Natalia… Wearing a T-shirt and jeans was not a good idea to go for a walk in.
Looking back at the house behind me, I felt tempted to turn back to the warm cozy abode that was now mine after what happened over a year ago, but the walk calmed my nerves. It made me forget the worries, fears and the dread sorrow of loneliness up here.
I looked up into the sky and closed my eyes letting the wind blow through my hair. The harder the wind blew, the more it blew my troubles away. I kept my eyes closed, and I listened.
There are two types of noise: Noise that helps, and noise that harms. Harmful noise is the hustle and bustle of the day. People going about their lives, the honks of cars, the sounds of sidetracked people rambling on and on, sounds like those led my family and me to move away from the city, out to farmland and wide open space, all because I couldn’t handle the noise. The noise here is soothing. A cricket’s serenade on its night of travels, the wind raking up the fallen leaves to keep mother nature’s face clean, the emotional train wrecks of the sky, I took all of these in as I sat. I’ve heard them all before, and held them all close to my heart.
But today, I heard something new…
It was some sort of rumble. Listening, I tried to figure out what it could be, but I could not make it out. Confused, I opened my eyes to see my shadow extending from my body, a bright warm light surrounding it. The light coming from behind me grew and grew in intensity. It was as if a piece of the sun had just landed behind me. I could feel the searing heat on my back, the sound of something similar to rolling thunder shaking the ground and my spine itself. What could it be? It felt like I should turn around and look at whatever was causing it, but something kept me as the rumbles kept just getting louder and louder. The wind abruptly picked up, hitting me as if I had just run into a wall. The as my hair whipped around as the ground slipped from under my feet. I tried to feel around for the ground to cushion my fall, but I found nothing of the sort. Then my shoulder buckled, crushed under the sudden revelation of the ground I was trying so hard to find. A pain dug and embedded itself in my ears as a soft yet constant high pitched ringing filled my head. I tried to shake it, but it felt like my brain was spinning in my skull. My head throbbed, a pulse of pain spreading like a lightning bolt shot through my forehead. I gripped my forehead, only to have it meet a thick red substance. Pulling my hand away, I examined the black stains and white crystalline water mixing to mud on my arm with a red tint smeared across with it. My arm shook as I tried to focus my eyes on it, but it faded between states of those like an ancient oil painting and a poorly focused camera.
I tried to clear my head, and it took a few good minutes on my knees to do so. I rubbed my eyes violently, I’m not sure if it actually helped, but nonetheless I could see again when I finally opened my eyes. As I did so, my eyes were filled with a smokey haze. Coughing, I peer forward into what might have caused this. I got up and crept closer. Inch by inch I made way through the fog; The closer I got, the more tears filled my eyes. As the intensity of the smoke only continued to grow, the pain in my eyes was the only way I could know I was getting closer to the source. I coughed again as more smoke filled my lungs. Collapsing on my knees, I could feel the smoke starting to thin. I slowly eased down to the ground and waited. After several minutes of waiting, I finally was able to see enough to make out a small crater. My fingers started to shake, and soon my hands shook as well. I tried to hold it still, but that just sent a tense sensation through my entire body. I was waiting for something, but I wasn't sure what it was going to be. I immediately thought “small green ugly alien.” As I waited, nothing arose from the smoking crater. A part of me wanted to look over the edge; the other was trying to pull me away. It only took a few seconds before my mind was made up for me. A silhouette of a person revealed itself as it climbed up out of the crater.
My breathing started to quicken as the figure got taller. Standing up slowly, it rose to be taller than me. I tried to reach to my side expecting to find the cold sensation of my weapon beside me, but there was nothing. I looked frantically. Out of the corner of my eye a tiny glint of moonlight flashed across something. It was my handgun lying only a few yards away. The figure was stumbling closer. Something went off in my head, I got up and ran for the weapon. I couldn't see the weapon itself, just the moon's glint. My gaze, while locked on the handgun, didn't see a rock. My foot hit the stony obstacle, the wind leaving my lungs in a jolt. The impact with the ground rendered me immobile for a few seconds. It was in those few seconds that I started to panic. The figure was hobbling it's way towards me. My arms started to tremble as I laid helpless. The air finally came back to me in a rush; I could function again. I started to crawl, but the faster I crawled, the closer the figure got. I reached for the gun; I got a slight grip on it and pulled it towards me into my shaky grasp.
Rolling over I tried to aim. My vision became a blur as everything looked like it did before. The blurry barrel of my gun in front of me was all I could attempt to focus on as my hands shook in fear so much the gun rattled. Then the sound that was music to my ears filled the air, the sound of a gunshot. The body, now only a few feet in front of me, fell limp to the ground. Smoke gently rose from the barrel of my pistol. Tear’s welled up in my eyes. It wasn't from the fact I just shot someone, I’ve done that a hundred times over, it was the relief. I looked around, nobody else in sight.
Slowly, I rose to my feet. I walked over to the body, my hands shaking uncontrollably in front of me with my gun still raised. The moonlight shifted; it revealed a
young man, about my age. My eyes widened when I finally got a good look at him. He looked just like any other person on earth, with one distinct difference: Wings, huge angelic wings gently spread from his back like they came from nowhere. I stood in awe; they were like nothing I had ever seen. For several seconds, I stood just gazing at his soiled, blood stained wings, which fluttered just the slightest bit every time he tried to move.
I heard a groan, something I didn't expect: the thing was still alive. The sound snapped me out of my trance to see that his wings weren't the only noticeable things. His attire resembled those of robes – gold and purple in color. They gave off a sort of majestic impression, though it was hard to tell, as now they were torn and dirt stained. Upon further examination, it seemed that most of the tears and gashes were the result of the lashes of a whip. Deep red blood oozed from several reopened cuts. The wounds from blades and my gunshot soiled his once-was-exotic clothing.
The sounds of violent coughing filled my ears as I looked at the boy’s face. He was barely moving, blinking ever so slowly, coughing up blood and moaning in pain. The next thing the young man saw was the image of the barrel of my gun and me towering over him. My whole arm started to shake once again. This time I had enough sense to question it. Why am I shaking? Am I afraid? No, I’m never afraid; it’s the trauma from being launched. Yes, that’s it. I debated with myself. Regardless, I no longer could keep a firm grip on my gun. More violent coughing, and a few more groans were given off before I finally decided to speak up. “W-Who? What are you? Where the heck did you come from!?” I yelled at him.
He only coughed more.
“Answer me!!!”
“I-is this always how you treat people?” The young man asked.
“Yes.”
He coughed again. “Well then.”
“W-What are you? I asked again
“Why should I tell you anything? You just…” He winced in pain and gripped his shoulder. “You just shot me…”
“Why did you come here? Did your ship malfunction or something?” I said, trying to think of the most logical reason that someone would crash land.
“Ship?” He replied.
This confused me. “Yes, what you came here in…”
“What-” He coughed yet again, this time more violently than ever. “What ship?”
What was he talking about? My arm lowered as I looked at the man. His clothes were torn, he was bruised, bleeding, and charred. His arms were blackened in some spots. Taking a glance behind me, I looked into the crater that he crawled out of. Nothing, just tossed up dirt.
“You…” I couldn’t finish my sentence, that couldn’t have happened, there was just no way. “You crashed! Not actually in something, you – you yourself – crashed! H-how did that happen?
“Heh,” The boy replied, “They do like to be cruel.”
“Who!?”
“The-” The boy winced in pain. He started choking up, slipping into unconsciousness; I looked around his body to see him lying in a pool of blood. He wasn’t dead yet, but he would be soon.
What do I do? Do I just leave him here to die? Why was he here?
Normally, I wouldn’t care, but something made me curious. I love puzzles, and puzzles love me. Curiosity is insanity: asking “why” when you don't know why it even matters. This “insanity” was the something urged me to take him back to the house. I wanted answers and I figured the alien could give them to me. So I decided I would drag him all the way back to my house. I walked over and stood behind him, slipping my arms under his shoulders and started to back up, pulling him along. Every minute or so, his weight would get lighter, as if he was trying to make it easier for me, but then a sudden jolt of weight would burden me. It was another minute before he moved again. This time he only barely moved his head.
I wondered if I was doing the right thing. Something was telling me that it was a mistake – that I wasn’t doing myself any favors while he was here. Still, he intrigued me, and that doesn't happen often. My thoughts halted when I backed up into the door. So deep in thought, I forgot to open it. I grunted and opened the door and dragged the boy inside. When I set him down, I realized that there was blood all over my arms. Blood from his back had oozed through his clothes and down his arms onto mine. There was blood on my legs, arms, and a big smear across the floor.
The cold winter bite had slithered its way into the house, my head stinging from all the temperature changes. I slowly made my way over to start a fire to try and become stable. My shaky hands made it impossible to adjust the switch for a little while, but when I finally got it to come on, blue flames flickered in the hearth. Gently waving my hands through it, the cool flame danced in between my fingers. There was just warmth, not even the slightest feeling of burning on my palm, just warmth. The heat that filled the room brought color back to my skin. After a few precious minutes by the fire, I returned to the winged man. Not really caring to be gentle, I dragged him over to a bed in the guest room. Honestly this was the first time I’ve used it in ages. I don’t have any one to occupy it. Any friend I make. I seemed to drive away.
I got up and locked the windows, then walked over to the wall and bent down to, putting my face about an inch from a metallic device on the wall. A circle popped open to reveal a blue light that projected onto my eye and scanned it. It closed and a light blue screen, semi-transparent, appeared in front of me. I scrolled through the designs, settings and presets for the security system and selected the strongest, thickest ones. Hitting enter and turning around, the doors and windows of the room barred themselves at least three times over. I also selected automated bindings around his wrists and ankles and an electronic barrier around the bed. I unlocked the now reinforced doors. It took me about 30 seconds to get all the locks undone. There was an old key lock, finger print scan, and a code. When I got out of the room I shut the heavy door behind me and re-locked it from the other side.
Now I figured after what he has been through, I need to keep him alive, but just barely, just enough to where he won’t be any trouble. I got up and walked into the kitchen to get something to help him. The cold outside didn’t help his lungs as we had walked, but the warmth of house was helping. I prepared some chili, nothing really special, but a I added a few things to help clean his lungs. I got up and put a bowl of it in a small white cube and closed the lid and set a temperature. In about ten seconds it was at the perfect temperature to eat, not too hot, not too cold. I tried it myself; It wasn’t all that bad considering what I added.
I grabbed a few other things that would be necessary, some equipment to remove the bullet if necessary and to stitch him up to prevent him from bleeding to death. But with everything I grabbed, a voice inside of me screamed to take my gun and just kill him while he was out, close the risk of him getting me involved in anything I didn’t want to.
I walked over to the guest room with a tray, on it the tools to fix up my “guest” and the chili. I managed to unlock the door with one hand and not lose grip with the other and spill everything. Opening the door I saw him lying on the bed. He was awake and examining his bindings. To my surprise, he was not fighting them. I set the tray down on a small table and looked towards what some people might have mistaken as my prisoner – though to be honest he was.
“What’d you bring me?” He perked up.
“Chili” I replied. “What is your name?”
“Would you believe me if I said my name was chili?” He said with a hopeful look in his eyes.
“No.”
“Good, 'Cause it isn’t. It’s Resh.”
“Alrighty, My name is Natalia, and I need a few answers.” I undid his binds and turned off the barrier before I moved to hand him the chili. Stopping just before I was about to give it to him, I pulled it back. His hopes for the food got crushed as a disheartened look loomed over his face.
“Can I just eat it now? I promise I’ll tell you whatever you want! People always think better full than on an empty stomach, right?”
Caution welled up inside me. He could just eat the soup then shut his mouth, but something about him made me not worry as much as I usually would.
“Alright, I guess you’re right.” I sat with an arguably concerned expression, then handed him the bowl.
Much to my surprise, he pulled out the spoon and threw it, along with the chili on it onto my tray of medical utensils I was going to use to stitch him up.
I glanced down at it. “What are you doing?” I looked back up in time to see him dip a finger in and lick it to taste it.
“Hmm.” Resh said before he started searching through his pockets. Then he did something I really didn’t expect. He sat up and he walked out the door with the chili.
“Hey!” I yelled. Getting up, upholstering my handgun, I followed him out to find him searching in my cupboards. “What are you doing?”
“This chili is bland.”
“No it isn’t, tastes fine to me.
“Guess you’ve never had good food then.” He said, pulling out various bottles of spices, smelling trying, smelling and examining different ones. Some he put a dash in, some the whole bottle, others he threw over his shoulder into my garbage can. He tasted the chili again, nodded and then put the bowl to his lips and drank it as if it was a soup. It only took him a few seconds. “Ah, better! Where should I put this?” He asked me, motioning to the bowl.
“Gimme that!” I said swiping the bowl from him. “Go back in the room.”
My aim followed him as he walked back into the room, his wings barely squeezing through the thin doorway. I glanced down at the bowl and swiped up some of the remnant chili and tasted it. My head started to spin; as it did so, I gripped my forehead in pain. It wasn’t like anything I ever tasted, but yet somehow it was. Images flashed through my mind, blurry, unfocused ones. I tried to figure out what they were, but they were too foggy for me to interpret well
I could make out I was sitting in front of an restaurant, and sitting at a table, and there was definitely a gentleman across from me of me, my hands lovingly cradled in his. It must have been a memory. I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t move, the only thing I could hear was the thumping of my heart. It was… relaxing. My muscles all at once seemed to say “Ahhhh….” Even my insides felt warm and at peace, it was peaceful. Then suddenly, the picture shifted. My entire body tried to call for it back; I didn’t want it to go away, but the image slowly slipped out of my grasp.
Soon I was upright, but wasn’t standing very tall; maybe I was on my knees. A large figure carrying a weapon walked over to me. I still couldn’t make it out. He raised it and started to swing it at me, “Stop!” I heard someone’s muffled voice call out. My mind looked for the person who said it. There was an older gentleman there, I could only tell by the whiskers protruding from his chin. I heard my name. But it wasn’t the man’s voice, I knew it wasn’t, I’m not sure why.
“Natalia... Natalia!”
I realized it Resh calling me in real life. I snapped back to reality with a jolt.
What just happened? What did I just see? I couldn’t put together any thoughts in my head about what it might have been, or why it happened.
“Why don’t you ever smile?” Resh asked.
Was he talking to me? I thought, though I quickly realized I was the only other person there.
“Hmm?” I responded.
“Do you ever smile? You know like: Happy face, grin, et cetera?”
“Yes.”
“Well you don’t often.”
“Yes, I don’t.”
“Why?”
I sighed, I knew the answer, and it wasn’t all that pleasant. Resh just sat there on the bed for a few quiet seconds and stared at me before continuing. “Why?”
“Because I don’t have anything to smile about.”
Resh nodded hesitantly. “Sad.”
I turned my head for just the slightest to grab a skin healer. The peculiar little device was always fun to use. It was designed recently to be able to mend cuts back together properly. When I turned back, the cuts, bruises, and burns had all mended themselves. “What?” I said, dropping the little device that looked very similar to a pen.
“Oh, Yea, I’m good. The chili gave me enough strength to heal myself.”
“H-How did you do that?”
“Hmm? Oh yea right. Astrian’s have two types of blood, one a similar red colored type similar to humans, and a thick gold substance contained within our wings. It has a tiny bit of regenerative abilities.” A large grin shined on his face. “Cool huh?”
I nodded back to him in agreement, even slipping a little smirk; Even with all the technology we have, we haven’t been able to create anything to make us self-sustainable like that.
“So you said you were from Austria?”
“Astria.” Resh responded.
“Right, and where is that?” I asked.
“It-“ He was cut off by a gentle hum and tone, my phone. I tapped my pocket and motioned for Resh to hold on a moment. I ran quick to the bathroom, turned the water on and quickly washed off the blood and dirt stains the best I could and then drying myself with a towel.
“Answer” I said.
Immediately, blue screens whirred in front of me, following me as I walked out to the living room.
The screens formed together to make a single, large one. An image of a man popped up. He had a cute, boyish smile, that’s about the best way I could describe it, brown hair that was gelled to spikes, only about an inch long, the tips of his hair bleached golden. He had a misty brown color that wandered in his pupils, and a smile, a broad, joyous smile that revealed the snow white wall of teeth it masked. His name was Nathan.
Nathan was pretty much my only friend; he’s the only one who I felt comfortable to just be me around. No fear of judgment or risking my safety. He was kind and gentle. He was a bit snippy at times, his temper having a hair trigger. Thankfully, he somehow managed to subdue it with me generally. We did a few jobs together, assigned by chance, but we kept getting assigned together, and eventually as partners. I swear he must have talked our boss into it. But regardless, my last teammate didn’t exactly agree with me, in several ways at that. Nathan and I worked well together, the only one I’ve ever met who could put up with me.
It made me smile when his picture had come up.
“Hey Nathan.” My grin widened. I was smiling, something I haven’t done for a while. The picture dissolved to a live feed. It was a video call.
“Natalia!” He replied. “How you doin?”
“I’m doing fine, A bit of a harsh day, but fine nonetheless.”
“Been having more blackouts?”
“They’re flashbacks, not blackouts.” I responded
“Heh!” he chuckled. “Well, whatever you want to call it. Have they been getting more frequent?”
I nodded. He pursed his lips and nodded back.
Should I tell him about Resh? I thought, looking back at the door to the bedroom. “Where did you say you were again?”
“In the cities, fixing up a few things at my new place. I smiled and gave a soft chuckle. “Well, when are you coming back?” I responded
Nathan chuckled. “Soon, I’ll be on my way back by the end of the day… patience, my client was being... difficult. I’ll probably stop by your place tomorrow night.”
I smiled. “Okay, hurry. I miss you…”
“I miss you too. Love you.”
“Love you too…”
The phone hung up, and as soon as it did I let out a huge sigh. Why didn’t I tell him about Resh?
I sighed and headed to the room Resh was in. I just barely stepped inside to see him fast asleep on the bed. I decided to head to my own room. Stopping in the bathroom, I turned around and closed the door, and washed my face with warm water. I stood there for a few good seconds after, staring at my reflection. High cheek bones, and the slightest oval shape of my face stood out first. There were a few freckles here and there, parted long soft brown hair, one
side going back behind my ear, the other, forward near the left side of my deep blue eyes. I hated looking at my own reflection. I hated admiring myself, adorning myself. I never got my ears pierced or wore jewelry. It just makes it easier to believe what I don’t want to accept. I hate how I look. I look pretty, and it’s caused me more trouble than it's worth...
Walking into my bedroom, I pressed the switch on the wall and the lights dimmed out. The rim of my bed lit blue as it floated in the corner. I threw my phone, wallet and the ring that was supposed to be my 16th birthday present from my father into an upside-down hat, a habit my dad used to do. I slipped into bed and pulled the sheets up over me, leaving the blanket at my feet as I was already warm enough. As the house fell silent, the crackling of the blue fire was the only sound in the air as my eyes slowly fluttered shut. It’s faint glow seeping through my open door was the perfect source of light as I finally drifted off into sleep