"I got you all the information I needed. When do I get my due?" Dyana sprawled herself out on the bed, unzipping her top slowly like a high class stripper.
"One word. Implants." Jacob whispered. "I don't know why you insist on torturing me like this."
She sat up, zipped back up, crossed her arms and her legs and gave the necromancer the nastiest stare she could muster"Can you explain this to me one more time then? I would like an excuse to why I am helping you in the first place.''
"One. More. Time. Corona Nigromantia, simplied to Nekros Axis. It is a simple yet powerful procedure that encases all ungrounded souls to a single location, me. Once it has expanded to capacity, something I am still waiting on, many variables can be manipulated within the axis."
"Yes, I get that. And in your world..."
"There would be too many people aware of the growth of power. Here, the minds are dulled to it. I did not lie when I said the people here are too busy for their own good."
"Fine fine. If I help you maintain this Nekros Axis, I hope you remember what I get in return."
"I'll give you the key to spreading disease outside of the Axis.''
"Perfect. I'll become an international sensation, charging high prices for curing the deadliest diseases and becoming an international superstar. I will be a goddess! People will come and kiss my feet and be in awe at my glory. I could not imagine a more perfect situation. You can be by my side of course, and trust me, once you get a taste of fame, you will not be able to-" she stopped and saw that Jacob had already left.
"...get away from it. Because I'm going to put a leash on your tight ass."
Coming in through the storm's pounding rain, an older woman dressed in grays and blues forces her way into the inn and shuts the door against the howling winds. In contrast to her age, she had very long, very well kept flowing black hair, that was dyed gray at the end purposely to give a sense of mystery. Tired and drenched, she waves a hand to the barkeep and heads immediately to one of the rooms on the corner. A tarantula crawled from under her loose hanging, tattered shirt, up to her shoulder, and she petted it with her free hand as the other one held onto her wood-carved cane with a golden printed grip.
"Where is Travoria?" she hissed. Her eyes darted to a few of the other rooms, and walked to the room on the left. She opened the door. Gregory was asleep in a chair across the room from Luna's bed, and Luna lay tossing and turning in a feverful slumber.
"Travoria!" the woman yelled.
Gregory woke up and fell out of his chair. "Oww..." he rubbed his elbow and slowly made his way to his feet. "Lady you could've just knocked."
"Do you want my help or not? This will cost you many..."
"I have the money. You are supposed to be the most in touch with any ailment, physical or magical. I know you cannot cure it, but can you at least see what's wrong with her?" He sat back in his chair and folded his hands, looking at the cranky woman with a weary expression.
"I MIGHT not be able to do anything, but if I do, it will cost you extra. And I know what you are thinking, boy, and I look nothing like that old bat that this girl called mother.."
"O-okay. You are a s-"
"I am many things, but do not insult me by limiting me to such a pathetic level." She shook her cane at Gregory, and then scanned the ailing girl. She ran her bony hand across her cheek, her nose, her elongated teeth, down to her neck and to her shoulders. She muttered a tongue that Gregory could not follow and with a snap of her fingers, a sly smile crossed her face.
"She is having an unholy connection."
"What do you mean by that?"
"An unholy connection. She is one soul with one in another world, which I cannot tell. This other One has uncontrolled power within her, a very dangerous and dark power, and because it is not controlled it flows freely to her soul and sickens her with disease."
"So you are saying someone is making her this way?"
"They do not even know they do it, they are not aware of their Other soul. I can do my best to hold it at bay, but if the power is not controlled soon the Other one might eliminate her soul within this world."
Biting his lip, Gregory walked to Luna's bedside and held her hand. With his other hand, he tapped against the wall nervously. "My brother will make sure I walk with a limp again if we don't find a way to stop this. I'm paying you a lot of money lady, don't you have anything else to say?"
"I thought I said enough!" The woman smacked Gregory with her cane and he fell over. "Did you not hear what I just said? It is up to the Other one to decide Travoria's fate. Once this is mastered the flow will stop and the disease will dissapate. I will not repeat myself again."
''So we have to wait on someone who doesn't know what she is doing to stop doing it? Is there any way we can contact her?"
The woman scratched her chin thoughtfully, and plucked a hair from it.
Gregory's face twisted up. "Eww.."
"An idea, lad, that may be possible. It is quite possible to open up a link to the Other. But this is no illusion spell, nor something else trivial. It will take preparation, and time. Perhaps in the late hours of this night, at the earliest, at the latest...a week."
Gregory cringed at the last estimate, and began to pace the room. "Will she live for a week more??"
"I do not know."
"Its your job to know."
"It is also my job to hit you if ya keep disrespecting me. I tought your mother much, do not disgrace her with your childish impatience."
" I am not a child. Just do what you have to do, okay? I'm going to go check on someone." He slipped into the next room.
"Travoria, I have every right to kill you. Your mother disgraced my family, time and time again, with her selfish and wicked ways. She not only cheated us out of every last coin, but she also had the nerve to laugh in our face about it. Anyone remotely connected to that bloodline should have the same fate as your mother. Even seeing your face makes me ill, and not even poison would dull the pain you have caused me. Be glad I have a job to do, because if I did not..." she raised her cane in anger, aiming it directly at Luna's face.
Gregory walked in just in time and pushed the old woman away, grabbing her cane. "What were you planning to do, you old hag?" He gasped for air and made sure to keep distance between the woman and Luna.
"Nothing. So you do not trust me now?"
"I heard what you said. If you have those sort of feelings about something she had nothing to do with, maybe you should leave."
"I was given a job and I will complete it." She twisted his hand and thrusted him to the floor. Smacking him again for good measure, she twisted this time the grip on her cane, releasing a blade from its bottom. With a sturdy hand, she slit Luna's cheek and it flowed with blood of an odd dark tint. Seeing this pleased her, and she knelt down in ritualistic prayer.
"I'd bet that this is all unecessary you are just.."
SMACK!
"Ow!" Gregory held his ankle and fell over again. "Stop hitting me with that thing."
SMACK!
"Stop it!"
SMACK!
"What am I doing?"
"Shut up before you have to spend even more time healing yourself" The woman continued her prayer, and poor Gregory took the time to heal his hurt ankle. Soon after that, two arms wrapped around his shoulders and he looked up to see Pam smiling at him.
"Shh.." he whispered to her, "You better be quiet, or the witch Cassarah will smack you with that stupid cane."
She nodded and pulled him into the other room where she had been sleeping to talk. "You invited Cassarah here? If any of the townspeople found out about that, we could be driven out of town."
"I know that. Luna was just getting worse and worse, nothing we were doing was helping any. I had to try her."
She sat down on the bed and patted the seat beside her. "Are you sure there was no one else?"
"Not that I know of, and I didn't want to have to take the time to research it. When I heard Cassarah was in the area I offered her a great sum to come see Luna and figure out what was going on. It's our responsibilty to take care of Luna until Dominic gets back."
"Luna was so worried about him," Pam took off her cap and set it in her lap, and took his hand in hers. "We all thought it was the stress at first, but if it is beyond that, I hope Cassarah can help. I just wish I could've done something."
"You did what you could."
"It never makes me feel any better when I'm powerless to help."
A bad thought came to mind, and Gregory stood up. "I feel bad for leaving Luna alone with that witch, Pam. She hates the Travoria family, obviously Luna's stupid mother crossed her path in the past and for a moment I thought she was going to kill her. She's a good friend of mine, I can't let anything happen. Still, the witch claimed over and over again that she was given a job to do and that she intends to do it, her love for monetary gain luckily outweighs the need for revenge this time."
The nurse made an odd face, then a relieved one. "Did she say anything about Luna's condition?"
"Well she.."
"QUIET IN THERE!" The witch crowed loud enough for the whole inn to here.
He scrunched up his face, leaned over and kissed Pam's ear. "Yes, and you will soon see for yourself," he whispered.
With one stubborn case of insomnia, Lina streched herself out on the sofa and attempted to empty the last of the ice cream from the carton. Bored, she watched the late night talk shows and came to the assumption they made the same dirty jokes over and over.
"Need to put this away." She yawned, grabbing the carton and the ice cream spoon and dragging herself over to the kitchen to rinse them out. She saw one of her kitchen knives out on the table, and when she reached for it, she let out a piercing scream.
"DOMINIC! HELP ME!"
Right in the middle of 'help' and 'me' Dominic fell off the couch startled, got rolled into the covers like a burrito, and had to fight his way out and run to the kitchen to see what was wrong. Lina was holding her hand, now dripping with blood.
"Dominic the knife cut me! I saw- I saw it out, so I was going to put it away. I reached for it, but before I even touched it it shot up, cut my hand and fell!"
He grabbed some paper towels to stop the bleeding, but froze in his tracks when he got a good look at her hand. "There is something about that wound.."
"Dominic?"
"What is it?"
"Dominic its you!"
"Yes its me, what are you talking about Li- Lina?" He put his hands on her shoulders and stared into baby-blue eyes. They were a unique shade, that belonged to one person and one person alone.
"Luna?"
"Yes. What's going on? Where am I?" She spun around, and immediately noticed her clothes. "What am I wearing?" The voice was now distinctly that of Luna's, and all the seer could do now was stare with his mouth half open.
"I thought you were dead!" She pulled him into her embrace, crying her eyes out on his shoulder. "You disappeared so long ago! You were right there, not a foot away from me! I knew you wouldn't have abandoned me, so I thought something must've killed you! I was so afraid! Dominic, I love you!" She choked on her own tears, "I love you, don't do that!"
Tears came to his eyes. He wrapped his arms tightly around his beloved, and remained silent. He was her shoulder to cry on. He would always be there for her, that was a promise he made to himself a long time ago. With an extra squeeze, he gave the effort to prevent himself from crying more, but wasn't sure if he could hold back much longer.
"I wasn't sure if I would ever see you again either, Luna.." he finally spoke, keeping his firm hold on her, "But now I realize why I was brought here. Jacob somehow got to this strange world, and he is going to do something horrible if I don't stop him. "
"But how did he get here? What is here?"
"Another world parallel to ours. Its technology dependent, Luna, you wouldn't believe some of the things that I have seen here."
"Are the people any smarter?"
"People just aren't smart, Luna." He rubbed her back softly, rocking her back and forth gently.
"I'm not going to let you go now. You have to stay with me."
He released her to wipe his own tears, and lifted her cheek with his chin. "I can't right now."
"Dominic something is wrong with me and I know I need you there. I'm afraid if you don't come back now I might die."
His heart sank to the bottom of his stomach, and a sickly feeling overcame him. "No, no you won't."
"Then come back!"
"Luna.."
She sat down on the floor and held onto her legs. "I know you have to do what you have to do, but there are so many people worried for you on the other side. Gregory is doing his best to try to take care of me, but there is no replacing you. We NEED you. I need you."
With a kiss place softly on her lips, Dominic remainded only a breath away from her as he spoke"You have to pull yourself together, I want to see that brilliant girl I fell in love with. No more tears okay"
"I'm not crying.." Luna touched her face, and saw the tears flowing. "Strange. Its like I'm not doing it."
"Lina. Lina are you in there somewhere?"
"Who is Lina?" She stood up again.
"Ah, Well I.." This must be it. The cat named Spark, the fact that Lina looked identical to Luna as a child, even the dental problems. This must be her other self. They switched places somehow, but I am not sure who initiated it. That is what worries me.
"Dominic?"
"Lina is a friend of mine. I believe she is another version of you."
"I'm not following you."
"Remember our studies on dimensional theory. I could have another self here for all I know, or I could not. In order for another world to come into existence their must be at least one link to one that previously existed. There could be a parallel from everyone back home to everyone here, or there could just be the one, you. It varies depending on where you are."
"Right! Of course! So my other self is named Lina."
"Yes."
"Is she prettier than I am?"
"No no, of course not. You are the only one I'd ever look at."
Luna nodded. "Thank you for saying that."
Dominic did his best to keep a positive expression, but it became harder with each passing moment. Lina's pain was evident, but to ignore that he concentrated on Luna's joy. He figured the best way to do that was to get back to business. "Who opened this channel, Luna?"
"I think, a witch. Yes, I heard the witch speak to me. Cassarah."
That demon! What possible good could she be doing? She would sell someone out for a bowl of soup! "Why did you trust her, Luna, why is she helping you?"
"It was not my choice to call her."
"So it was my brother. I know neither of my parents would be so bold." Why does Gregory have faith in those he knows can't be trusted? When I get back home I owe him a couple of smacks in the head.
"She is speaking now, the old witch." Luna shut her eyes, " She says I will return later. I love you, Dominic."
"Luna." He shut his eyes and gave her another passionate kiss. Her eyes shot open again and the baby blue color returned to an earthy brown. Dominic was still well preoccupied with the kiss, but Lina was so stunned with the sensation of it all she was afraid to move. She wanted this kiss so badly, but she could not betray Dominic now, not when his faith in her was so little after the necromancer discovery. She tapped his shoulder.
He opened her eyes and noted the change. "Were you, when I..was umm..."
She nodded slightly.
"I'm sorry."
"It was scary in there. Everything was black, and I felt so sick and helpless. At the same time though I could hear you both talking, I could see you in a sense, as faded images against the blackness. I saw you kiss, I heard you declare your love for each other, everything."
He shut his eyes again.
"Dominic?" Lina sounded eerily like Luna for a moment, but it was her own, timid, and shaky voice this time.
He embraced her. "You are my friend. Luna has a place in my life but so do you, just like my brother and all my friends back home. I'm never going to forget you, even when I go back home."
"Perfect way to let down a girl, huh?"
"Don't look at it that way. Concentrate on what you do have, and not on what you don't."
"Okay brother-dearest," Lina gave her lighthearted laugh that Dominic had also fallen for, and then she leaned against the fridge legs crossed. "Remind me, did I ever completely get your scarf out of that vacuum?"
"I don't think so."
"Do I still have to do it?"
"Yes."
"Luna. Luuunnaa. Luna" Gregory poked her twice in the arm.
She opened her eyes and looked around the room she was in.
"You scared us to death Luna!" Pam hugged her gently, and Luna graciously returned the hug.
"I'm fine, you guys. I know where Dominic is. He is trapped in a parallel to this world, and he said something about stopping his brother. It soothes me to know that he is alive and well"
"Thats what the witch told us too. I'm just glad you are better now. But, did Dominic tell you about the darkness within this other person too?"
The witch got up from her seat, tired of observing, and waved her cane crankily at Luna, "I told him that the Other had power within her that she couldn't control, and that is why you are so sick."
"I see.."
"So you better hope Dominic can teach that girl or show that girl what for, or this temperary healing will be just that. Temporary. Now that that is settled, I will be taking my pay and leaving.."
Gregory sprang up and shut the door before the old woman could leave."Wait, witch. I will pay you more if you stay around and keep the illness at bay for a while."
"How much more?" She asked calmly.
"Whatever it takes." He looked sadly at Pam. Pam nodded, "Yes, I'll give you a loan."
"Fine. I'll stay around a bit. I hope you know your tongue and throat will belong to me if you lack a single unity of currency."
With a glare from Pam, Gregory smiled nervously at the witch. "We will have your money paid."
"Good. For You." The youngest Deegan sneered.