Chapter Three- Crossing the Universe

 

We all stood in the darkness, staring at this stunning blue light radiating from the portal, it was so mesmerizing. Ethan then heard this voice calling me again, but this time it’s was much clearer.

“Take-My-Hand-Ethan-Gray-of-Earth... Take-My-Hand-Ethan-Gray-of-Earth….”

“What a sweet sounding voice, like Sirens calling to lost sailors lost at sea.” he thought, as he moved closer to the portal, being drawn like a moth to a flame.

Just then, he felt something touch his hand again, but this time he allow himself to be pulled into the light. It seemed his will to resist had vanished… Suddenly a blinding flash, and then a warm feeling came over him… Ethan felt an inner peace like never before, and then he found himself on the floor in a strange room. He was dizzy, his sight was somewhat blurry, he could barely keep his head up, but something was supporting him. He gazed up; seeing this fogy figure walking towards him…. It came from out of nowhere, it looked female. However, he had a hard time adjusting his sight, just as if he had woke up with a bad hangover, it felt so very strange....

“Is he’s ok?” asked Kyna gently, as she rushed towards him. 

“Hello, can you hear me; can you understand me Ethan Gray of Earth?”

At this point, he wasn’t sure if he could even understand himself, let alone anyone else. “I’m never taking that trip again,” he thought.

“Yes, I can hear you,” he said slowly, feeling like a fish out of the water.

“We’re glad you came to meet with us, you can call me Athena Neala of Sora.”

“What are you…? Where am I…? Hell I can’t even tell which way is up?”

“All your questions will be answered soon enough, but for the time being, rest… and let the heavens be part of you.”

“We need to let him sleep,” said Kyna, moving back around the desk to turn the portal off. “I have a bed in the back room where he can sleep it off.”

Ethan still can’t make out the creature he was talking to, but at the same time, he felt so drained. “I just need to get some sleep.”

They helped him to a bed in another room, where he laid down, and quickly passed out.

“I think it would be a good idea if he walked to Neala when he recovers, I can’t think of a better way for him to experience our environment,” said Athena softly.

“Good thinking Athena, then I’ll leave it in your hands,” said Kyna. “I have to go to the Arch for the rest of the day, and I won’t be back until late tomorrow morning.”

“I’ll meet him at the city gates tomorrow morning,” said Athena.

“I’ll put out an order keeping everyone off the roads and out of sight,” said Kyna.

Ethan slept like never before. His dreams had somehow connected me to the world he was in. They were so real; he remembered having a conversation with a woman. “Mira, did I do well?” “You did fine Ethan… we are all so very proud of you, and of the things you will accomplish in the future, but for now you must sleep, and I shall see you again soon.”

 

Back on Earth just after Ethan went through the portal and the flash that had rendered them blind cleared. “Where did he go Mark?” asked Dave, as he’s looking all over the lab.

Mark starts yelling, “Ethan… Ethan… Ethan…” He runs out into the hallway, and down the stairways. “Ethan… Ethan…” then back to the lab. “Dave, I can’t find him… he’s gone!”

“Look, the lens is burned out and the plates are melted, everything’s a mess in here.”

They looked at each other and in unison said, “The computer lab.”

They both took off running down to the first floor, and as they enter the room. “Thank the Gods, everything seems to be fine here,” said Mark. “I’m calling Jason.”

           

“… Ring, ring …”  

“Yes?”

“Jason, are you all right up there?”

“What the hell happened? I saw this bright flash that knocked me off my feet, I just came to when you called.”

“Is Ethan up there with you?” asked Mark.

“No, I thought he was with you two?”

“When our sight came back, he was gone. How are things in the Computer Lab?”

“Everything seems to be ok here.”

“Good, I’ll call you later.”

“… Click …”

 

            “If he went into the light, I fear it was a one way trip. We need to figure what happen here and what happened to Ethan.” said Mark as he starts checking the computers logs.

“If it’s the last thing we do, I’m with you bro…” said Dave intently.

 

Back on Sora Ethan is just waking with a sense of euphoria, like on the day this all started. Things were much clearer now, as his eyes open in shock as it reviled the strange surroundings he was in. He was in a small room, void of anything, but one way out, a door. “I’m not feeling very secure at this point,” he thought, peeking out the doorway, and seeing a type of laboratory, unlike one he’s ever seen before, but there was no one there. Ethan slowly stepped out, he felt like a rat in a maze at this point.

“Hello, any one there…?” he asked in a low voice, hoping no one would hear me.

“Nothing… it appears as if silence is my only companion, in a world of so much wonder,” he thought. Glancing around Ethan sees a glass door, leading outside.

He felt it was best to exit the building. He found himself surrounded by an alien environment; it lent no familiar land marks that might help guide his way. “All sense of time has eluded me.”

Ethan left the building and proceeded to walk down a path that leaded to a vacant road; he had confidence that he was headed in the right direction. As he looked around, he saw these beautiful fields of wheat on rolling hills, and a forest off in the distance. The trees where unlike anything he had ever seen before, they had large leaves of bright fall colors. Then it hit him, his past dreams were of this world, but how could that be? In some way, he was connected to this world. Ethan felt that if he kept walking, he would run into something… or someone soon, and that the walk would give him time to think of questions he might pose to whomever he ran into.

After walking for a time, he could see in the distance what appeared as structures, a wall surrounding several tall buildings.

 Their beauty surpasses any building he has ever seen before. Ethan started walking faster in anticipation of what he might find. When he approached the front gate, it starts to open up…. He could see inside the city, a city unlike any other, with strange looking people going back and forth, getting in these funny looking cars, walking down streets made of a material he has never seen before. All around are these glowing orbs in different colors, white, blue, brown, green, red, yellow and clear mounted on the buildings…? The city stretched for as far as he could see.

Out of the corner of my eye, a figure that was not so clear before is now. He turned and became petrified, frozen in his tracks, unable to move or speak, he could see her now. “She is truly the most attractive woman I have ever seen…!” said Ethan.

 With bright yellow eyes, and long yellow tinted blonde hair that hung down to her hips, and her skin looked of silk. “We on earth think that we know true beauty, she makes the rest of us look downright ugly…!” he thought.

“Hello, your name is Ethan Gray of Earth, is that correct?  Can you understand my words?” asked Athena concerningly.

“Y-Y-Yes… I-I’m… E-Eth-an!”

“Are you alright?” asked Athena kindly, as she placed her hand on his shoulder. Great, she sounds as good as she looked. He had to close his eyes for a second to get his bearings… After a minute, he was able to push the words out of his mouth the right way.

“Yes, I can understand you… how is this possible? I have so many questions.”

He then found himself moving closer to her; she made him feel secure, and comfortable; she was his only friend in this unknown world.

“All of your question will be answered in time, Ethan, I trust you rested well?”

“Yes, I did, and the dreams I had were indescribably real.”

“Come with me, and I will try to answer as many of your questions as I can.”

She reached out to take his hand. Just as our finger tips touched he got this rush… that ran throughout his whole body, unlike anything he has ever experienced before, as if we were one. Ethan pulled his hand away in fear he would lose himself in her charm.

Athena moved closer to him. “You do not need to fear me, Ethan, don’t you remember me?” she asked. “I’m Athena Neala of Sora.”

“You were the one that pulled me from the robotic lab and into the portal.”

“That’s correct… There are many things you will learn here,” she said, looking at him, and smiled as she took his hand, this time he was confident nothing would happen.

“But first I need to know what happened to Sue?” he asked firmly.

“She is with us, all around us, what you would call her essence, is now a part of everything here.”

“You mean… she’s dead…?”  He asked, looking down saddened by the news, shaking his head thinking “I was her downfall.”

“Dead …? What’s dead?” asked Athena, stepping back with a look of confusion. “That’s a term I’ve not encountered before.”

“When you’re no longer able to communicate or interact with any one, your life has ended.”

“Oh you’re referring to what we call… The one true darkness.” said Athena gently. “Sue is not, de-a-d we can still communicate with her.”

“What…!? How…!?” he asked in amazement of the words that just entered his ears.

“Come with me and I will show you.”

She led him down a street, he could see others of her race, and they looked at him as if he were one of them… nothing new… it made him feel at ease in a way. She lead him to a building and entered in through a large room with a number of round sunken couches in the floor, spurned all over like holes in Swiss cheese; she walked him to an unoccupied one. In the center was this clear orb about two feet off the ground and a foot in diameter. It had a shine to it like mother of pearl, no… more like a soap bubble. 

“Come and sit here… place your hands on the orb, close your eyes and think of Sue.”

Ethan was very hesitant to do so, but out of sheer curiosity, he reached out and touched the orb. His mind went blank for a minute… then a blue sky appeared, he found himself looking up at it. When he lowered his head, his vision filled with the sight of beautiful, rolling hills. Ethan could feel a warm breeze blowing in his direction, and saw trees that lined the sides of the hills. They were the same as the ones he had seen walking to the city that morning. Then from within the forest, a figure came into view… it was Sue. She walked up to him, with a pleased look on her face. He then felt something holding his hand, and turned to look… it was Athena; everything seems to be happening in a kind of slow motion, as if he was in a lucid dream.

“Sue, are you ok?” he asked, with a look of astonishment on his face. His comprehension of her standing before him was hard to bare.

“Everything is fine, Ethan… I’m good,” said Sue, turning and smiling at me.

Ethan gasped for air as if I could not breathe. “How is this possible? I saw you vanish before my very eyes?”

“Sue, he does not comprehend our world, or our ways thus far,” said Athena sadly.

Athena looked at him, and then reached down and slowly picked a very delicate and beautiful flower. She then lifted it up and lightly kisses it with all the gentleness of an angel, holding it out for all to see. It was absolutely astounding; he could see multiple color petals blending before his eyes. She looked at us and in a soft and concerning voice said.

“With such beauty and grace… comes great responsibility… and great accountability!”

She releases the flower and it gracefully fell to the ground… withers and dies… A tear appeared in her eye… and tumbled down her cheek in sadness of what she had done.

Ethan could feel her pain for this simple flower that died.

“Sue, Ethan has such deep concerns for you.”

“Ethan, I’m so at peace with everything, and I’m pleased you’re here,” said Sue contently.

“I’m so happy to see you again Sue!” he said reaching pout and holding her hand, now being able to feel her true feeling for him.

“I’ve missed you also Ethan.”

“Wow, this is so weird, I understand now what you meant before, in the drive room, and your right, you’re at peace. I can feel your emotions just if they were my own.”

“Ethan, we will talk again later, there something I must do… as always Athena.”

“Good bye Sue,” said Athena.” Ethan, it’s time for us to continue on our journey.”

Sue kisses him and Athena good-bye, turns and fades away, as if she were a ghost. Ethan removed his hands from the orb, looked at Athena, and nodded his head in acknowledgment that Sue is fine.

“I never thought something so little, could have such a big impact on me, as the flower did… Athena.”

“Ethan, I have so much to show you. In our world, you see, we believe that we are one with everything, not just seeing, touching, or smelling, but literally being one with everything all the time… The only exception is the one true darkness, what you call death. Normally, when we can no longer maintain this form, we become part of everything else, a joining of everything and our essence resides in our color orb.”

“That’s truly astonishing… but where is here? We detected that the portal is an alternate dimensional shift in space and time, but we could not ascertain where the portal originated from.”

“We are on the far side of the universe; the name of our planet is Sora and our sister planet is Cyra. There is something more important that I must tell you, time is a little different here then on Earth; a year on your world, depending on our position, could be as much as a hundred years here on Sora.”