Storymania - The Masters Of The Arches by Mandil

The Masters Of The Arches
Mandil

Chapter 1

Money had always been the main preoccupation in Vincent Manning’s life. How to earn money, how to make more money and of course how to keep it, which is sometime more difficult than making it.

Ever since he was young, every thing he did or thought about had to do with his goal of becoming a millionaire before he was forty. When he had chosen to attend university and get a degree in administration, it had been in his mind that such a degree would greatly increase his chances of earning that first million.

He had started his own business in the import-export sector soon after he graduated and women had no place in his life since he was much too busy taking care of his growing business.

It was therefore a tremendous shock to him when he found himself completely ruined one day. Before that fatal day things were going very well, he had twelve employees working for his company and he was almost half way to his first million dollars. Beside the fact that he owned a big mansion in a well-to-do district of Montcalm, he had a country cottage in the Adirondack Mountains. Of course, he didn't go there very often since it meant being away from his business, but when he did, it was mostly for hunting and fishing. Since his summerhouse was over 150 miles from Montcalm, when he went there to rest, it was for a few days at a time. Vincent did enjoy living in nature; he especially loved the tall trees of all kind on his land. Had it been at all possible for him to live in his cottage while at the same time being able to take care of his business, he would have gladly done so. But his export-import business had to be situated in the city since the money there ; he therefore had no choice on the matter of where he had to live.

Before the incident that took away his business, he had a very high profile in Montcalm. He was a member of the local Chamber of Commerce and he also sat on the board of directors of the Montcalm’s General Hospital.

Yes life had been sweet for Vincent until that day when they found over two pounds of cocaine in some of his imported furniture. From that day on, his luck changed for the worse. In less than six months he lost everything he owned except for his cottage and a few thousands dollars in the bank. Even then, he had barely managed to escape from serving time in prison. It was only because of the fact that he had hired the best lawyer and that he also paid the stiff fine, that kept him from spending a few years in jail.

Of course, he knew nothing about the drugs. But still someone or a group of persons had been using his business to get the stuff into the country without any risk to themselves. Being the sole owner of the company, he had been held responsible for the trafficking and also he was suspect number one.

When everything was finally settled, and after paying the hefty fine plus the court and lawyers fees, he was left with five thousand dollars and his country cottage. Everything else he had owned was now gone.

On the verge of depression and broken in spirit, he packed his used car with foodstuff and the few possessions he still owned and he drove north to his cottage in the Adirondack Mountains.

The stone house was situated three quarters up the crest of a tall peak and to get there he had to travel on an old gravel road for five miles after the getting off the paved road. There were no neighbours for at least five miles and he had refused to pay for the installation of the phone poles since it would have cost over ten thousand dollars. Even his cell phone did not work there since he was too far from any large town. As for electricity, well the electric line did not go that far into the wildness so he had installed a generator and he was happy with that arrangement. Once a year he would have the fuel truck drive there and fill his five hundred gallon tank with fuel for his generator as well as heating oil for his furnace. Whenever he was there he felt like a different man. In other words, he was in his ‘milieu’, and he often wished that he could remain there forever.

He had been living as a hermit in his cottage now for over a week and he was still very depressed. Whereas before the unfortunate incident that had ruined him, his only goal in life was to get rich very fast, he no longer had such aim. The events of the last six months had taught him the futility and fragility of his old ambitions.

So, it was while he was in his usual depressed state of mind that one day he went for his daily walk on his three hundred acre property. Upon returning to the cottage that day, he observed a fox running into a bush at the foot of a vertical rock formation not far from his house. The rock wall was part of an extremely large bolder; such a rock wall was very common in that part of the mountain.

He was an expert hunter and even though he was not in a frame of mind to engage into such a sport at that moment, curiosity got the better of him. Therefore, he went to investigate the bushes where he had last seen the fox only a moment before.

As he approached the spot where it had last been seen, he saw the grey animal dive away on its right and run away into the edge of the wood, but at the same time he noticed a small opening or crack-like fissure in the rock wall. After stepping on the lower growth and bending a few saplings, which were growing everywhere and were still hiding much of the hole, he was soon standing next to an almost circular opening through the rock.

He bent over and touched the edge with his hand. It was a hole indeed but judging by the discoloration of its sides and also by the moss growing over the rock all around it, he could tell that it had been there undisturbed for a very long time. No animals were living in there since the constant rubbing against the side would have scraped away the moss and there also would be a visible trail leading to it.

He got on his knees and he looked inside. He couldn’t see much except that it went into a sort of cave-like opening. He threw a small rock inside, judging by the sounds it made, and also from its echo, he was able to tell that there was a large cavity inside the rock wall.

Having nothing better to do, he went into the house and got a flashlight. When he sent the beam of light into the hole, he was able to see the interior of a large cavern and where the light fell on the opposite wall, the beam was reflected on something very shinny. He could tell that it was something either metallic or even made of glass.

Judging from the reflection of his light beam, it was a half-circular band of polished material embedded into the rock wall. It was about seven feet in diameter and didn’t seem to have been affected by the humidity inside since Vincent couldn’t detect any sign of rust on it.

There was no way for him to enter through the hole since it was much too small for his body to squeeze through. The following day, he returned with a metal bar and he began to chip at the rock to enlarge the hole. He was able to break away a few small rocks at the base but still the entrance was not wide enough to let his body through. With another hour of hard work, he managed to dislodge and roll away a large stone that was part of the circular hole. Once it was well off the side of the opening, he was finally able to squeeze himself inside.

The interior of the cavern was cool and very damp. He immediately went to investigate the cause of the circular reflection that fascinated him so much. It was some kind of archway that had been smoothly cut from the stone. Deep into the rock and going all around it, was imbedded the circular band about three inches wide and made of a silver-like metal. The metal band went from the rock floor on one side in an almost circular pattern back to the floor again with a height of at least seven feet in the middle

Someone and taken great care to carve the rock wall for a depth of about two feet past the silver band of the portal. For from all evidence it was a portal.

Where could it lead? Nowhere it seemed, since after a depth of a couple of feet there was the rock wall. The same rock that made up the rest of the cave.

Who would go into that much trouble to built an archway leading to a flat wall? Though Vincent.

On closer inspection, he discovered that the floor under - and also a few inches in front of the arch - was some kind of synthetic material. It had all the appearance of hard rock but when he actually placed his hand on the smooth surface, it felt like some kind of hard rubber.

After deciding that it would indeed support his weight, he stepped on the rubber-like material so as to get a better look at the flat stone wall, which made up the wall of the arch.

The instant that his feet touched the floor plate, he felt a numb sensation throughout his body and the next instant the wall in front of him was gone. He was now facing a doorway where just a few seconds earlier was the wall of the cave.

Of course, he remained frozen on his feet for a time. His mind had great difficulty adjusting to the impossible feedback that his eyes were registering. What was happening to him was something impossible. The flat wall of the cave that had been just a few feet ahead of him was now gone and in its place was an opening. He could not believe what his eyes were telling him.

As soon as the initial shock was over, he began to look beyond the newly created opening. He could tell that there was another cave on the other side of the opening, a cave much larger than the one he had been in just a few seconds earlier. Straight ahead, into this larger cave, he could also see daylight filtering through some kind of break in the far wall. Partly covering the break, he saw plants growing there, there were vines and small trees also and the light from outside was filtering through the abundant leaves.

He was still greatly shaken by what had just happened but still without thinking any further, he stepped ahead and entered into the large cave. After walking straight ahead until he reached the spot where he saw the daylight, he pushed the vines aside and he looked outside.

He was stunned and frighten at the same time with the sight before his eyes.

From his position, he could tell that he was high above a grass-covered valley. Far below on his left he could see a river that curved here and there until it disappeared in a luscious forest of tall looking trees. There was no river on his land and furthermore the closest river was at least fifty miles away. Vincent kept telling himself that he was dreaming and that at any moment he was going to come out into reality.

But after many long minutes examining the scenery below him, he finally had to admit to himself that he was not dreaming and the landscape below him was quite real. Still, this was not the land around his cottage and that grass valley didn't belong in the Adirondack. Where was he? More important still, how did he get here?

These thoughts soon made him panic and he ran back into the large cave. The silver half-circle on the archway was still there and the rock wall blocking the way he had walked into the larger cave was also there. His way back was now blocked.

His fear began to increase and in desperation, he once again stepped on the rubber-looking plate under the archway. Again, there was the same numb sensation throughout his body, next he found himself facing the small hole, which was the entrance of the smaller cave. The same hole he had work on for over an hour to enlarge so that he could get into the cave.

The familiarity of his surrounding didn't help a great deal to calm him down and he got on his hands and knees and crawled out into fresh air. As soon as he was on his feet again he hurried to the cottage and he poured himself a large drink. Then as he sat in his favourite armchair, he reviewed in his mind the events of the last hour.

He remained in the house for the rest of the day while the events of the morning went on playing back again and again in his mind. Still, the more he thought about it the more he felt himself the victim of his imagination. For one thing there was absolutely no explanation whatsoever to justify what had happened. Worse still, even if there was a possibility for him to accept what he had witnessed it meant that there was practically no possible limit to what could be out there.

The following morning, even though he had slept just a few hours during the night, he finally made up his mind to prove to himself that he was not going crazy. He still had a lot of doubts about what he had seen and in the back of his mind, he partly believed that the tremendous strain of the loss of his company was responsible for the visions he had seen the previous day.

When he squeezed himself back into the hole early that morning, his eyes rested on the same silvery metal band and he was both relieved and a little distressed at the same time. The fact that he was once again seeing the same things as the previous day meant that he was not going out of his mind. But at the same time accepting what his eyes were registering implied such a gigantic possibility that it was scaring him.

More than once, as he stood there in front of the arch, he came close to leaving and forgetting the whole matter. But curiosity plus the fact that he wanted to prove to himself that he was not going crazy drove him on and he finally stepped again on the circular plate of the arch.

There was that same numb feeling for a few seconds and as he expected, as soon as he opened his eyes he was facing the entrance of the larger cave. Even though he was not as shaken as the previous day, he was still reluctant to step off the plate. It seemed as if his mind didn’t want to accept what his eyes were registering as facts. At last, after willing himself to step off the plate, he slowly walked toward the daylight which he could see coming through the dense vegetation partly shielding his way to the outside world.

With his heart was beating very fast, he stopped just behind the curtain of vines and small trees that were hiding the entrance. He pulled aside the vines as he had done the previous day but this time he noticed that on them were hanging great quantities of big green grapes. Never before in his life had he seen grapes of thit size. They were as big as golf balls.

He did pluck one and he took a small bite in it, being ready at the same time to spit the content of his mouth out if it turned out to taste bad. The grape tasted a little sweeter than he expected but it was delicious. So he took another bite and soon he had eaten half of it.

With the grape still in one hand, he pushed the vine further aside until he had enough room to step out into the open. Once again, he examined the winding river on his left and the rich plain slopping down toward the river. Everything was as he remembered from the previous day, it was quite evident that what he was seeing was not the product of his imagination.

Because of the series of strange events that had just occured, his legs began to shake and he went to sit on a rock that was on his left just outside the entrance. He remained there a long time, thinking and looking around. It became clear to him now that all of this was very real even though his mind couldn’t explain any of it. One minute he had been standing in a cave near his home and the next minute he was somewhere else. Some place that he couldn’t even begin to guess where it was. The mental pressure on his mind - which had to accept the inexplicable - was once again getting to him and it was also sapping his physical strength.

When he felt strong enough, he got up and went inside. Without any hesitation whatsoever he stepped on the plate and he was soon in familiar surrounding within the small cave near his cottage. He slowly walked back to his house, walking without thinking. Then as he entered the house it occurred to him that he had used the power of the arch to get back to his own world without any second thought. He now knew what stepping on the plate implied and there was no use in trying to explain to himself how it could be done. Vincent had used the power of the arch as it had probably been done for countless years before this day.

That night while in bed he once again thought about the events of the day. He came to the conclusion that the plate and the arch were some kind of transportation device. A doorway to another part of the world or more probably to a completely different world. The latter was probably the case because of the existence of the large grapes he had found there and also because of the strange landscape, which he felt sure, was no part of his world. Nowhere on earth were there grapes as big as those he had seen in front of the entrance, of that he was certain. As for the river, the tall grass plains on both side and the dense forest farther back were too exotic to be sceneries on Earth. He had never seen the like of those before either on television or in magazines.

Once again, he was back in the cave the following morning. He crossed over to the other world with no hesitation whatsoever, as if it was the most natural thing to do. How surprising he told himself - as he stepped on the plate - that he wasn’t afraid in the least now.

Much to his surprise, he found himself in complete darkness. With the help of his flashlight, he got out of the cave. It was just beginning to get brighter in the sky on his right, so he sat on the same rock he had sat on the previous day, and he waited. While he sat there he examined the stars overhead and he tried to identify some of them. But they all looked strange to him and even the constellations were unfamiliar as each and every formation of stars was new and unknown to him. This only helped to reinforce his theory that he was not on Earth.

As soon as the first rays of light began to fall on the valley, he got up and proceeded to look around once more. After a couple minutes of carefully examining his immediate surroundings, he noticed a path leading downward and away from the ledge on which he now stood. The trail-like pathway was covered with all kinds of growth but if he was careful enough he could easily walk on the five-foot wide trail. He thus slowly began his decend down into the valley. The trail went winding downward and the further down he decended the less steep it was. Finally, after almost two hours of descending he was standing at the foot of the mountain peak from which he had arrived.

The land ahead of him was still slopping down but it was grassland now and there were no more rocks to be seen anywhere. He was standing about half a mile from the river and he was exausted. Having not done much exercise in the last couple of years, his body was not in the best of condition, he had to sit in the tall grass so as to catch his breath. Except for the twice a year hunting trips that he went on, he had been most of the time sitting behind his desk, being in his early forties he no longer had the vitality of his youth. Beside he was at least twenty pounds overweight and even though he was still in fairly good health, he certainly was no longer the young man he used to be.

The river was wider than it had appeared when he had examined it from the ledge in front of the cave. As far as he could tell it was about four to five hundred feet wide on the average and the flow of its water seemed fairly slow. It took Vincent another twenty minutes before he reached the closest bank, and once he stood on the shore of the river he noticed that the water was extremely clear and deep. On closer inspection, he was able to see a few fish swimming in it, some small and some quite big.

He raised his eyes toward the horizon and he saw on his left the end of the grassland and the edge of the dark forest. He did some quick calculation in his mind and he figured that he could walk to the forest and then return back home without putting too much strain on the muscles of his legs. Of course he had to get back to his home before nightfall since he had no intention of spending the night in this strange place. Even though he hadn’t seen any animal life yet, there was no way for him to know what kinds of predators were living in these fertile grasslands. Without a rifle to defend himself, if he were to encounter something like a cougar or a bear he would have no chance at all.

He was too much of an expert hunter to take things for granted, and spending the night on this plain could lead to all sort of unpleasant surprises. Had he been armed it would have been different, but when he had crossed over that morning, it had only been his intention to have a closer look at the base of the solitary peak.

Walking was now relatively easy in the knee high grass. When he was a few hundred yards from the first trees, he suddenly heard shouting and strange squealing noises coming from the direction of the forest ahead of him. He couldn’t understand any of the words neither was he able to see anything, but prudence told him to hide himself in the high grass and to wait. He remained lying flat on his belly for a couple of minutes then he made up his mind to turn back and not let his curiosity control his actions.

As he walked back toward the solitary high peek, he had the feeling of being followed. Then he was once again standing on the bank of the river. Suddenly he heard the voice of a woman. He turned just in time to see her. She was almost naked and she had both of her arms waving high over her head trying to attract his attention. The cause of her great agitation then became clear to him. She was trying to warn him about the charge of a strange animal that was coming straight at him.

Vincent remained frozen for a few seconds as he watched the beast running straight at him. It seemed to be a cross between a pig and a rhino and although it was running on short legs, its speed was incredibly fast for its great mass. It must have come out of the grass somewhere between him and the woman, and for some reason that he could not understand she must have been following him after he had turned back at the edge of the forest.

At last, the urgency of the situation hit him. He looked on his right and on his left for a place to run. On his right was the strange mountain, which was his way back home, but there was no way for him to outrun the beast coming after him. On his left was the river while straight ahead was the mile long bank of the river.

He looked again at the woman; he saw her running straight into the river. Could it be that she was trying to tell him where to go? Could it be that this rhino-pig beast would not follow him in the river? There was no more time to debate, he accelerated as fast as he could and he threw himself into the river just as the beast reached the spot he had been standing just a second before.

The water felt very cold as he swam away from shore. At last, after a couple of minutes during which time he did manage to swim to a good distance from the bank, he looked behind him and he saw the rhino-pig animal still on the bank of the river and watching him in anger. Its pink eyes kept staring at him and he could see the long teeth and dripping saliva from its mouth as it watched its meal escape in the river. It was much bigger than he had first judged it to be and he was now most grateful for the warning of the woman.

Now his thoughts returned to the woman, he began searching for her. There were no signs of her, not in the river and neither on its shore. It was as if she had never been there.

The water felt very cold and he remained in it long after he saw the creature turn around and walk away. As soon as he was back on the embankment of the river, when he felt safe enough to walk again, he began to look for signs of the woman. But nowhere could he see her. Carefully he went to the spot he had last seen her and when he looked in the wet clay of the bank, her naked footprint were very visible.

It was getting late now judging by the height of the sun in the sky and he decided to continue to walk back home, he wanted to get to the cave before it got dark. It took him over three hours to climb back to the ledge at the top of the peek and when he entered back into the cave it was almost completely dark outside. He came out of the cave in his own world and it was after midnight there. After a good meal - he hadn’t eaten for the whole day - he sat in his favourite chair again so as to think. After much reflection on the matter, he promised himself that he would return back and try to find the girl that had saved his life.

( end of chapter 1 )