Destination Starlight (21)
“What are you on about, Joe?” Cmike asked, putting his hand on Joe and Chelle’s shoulder. The group peered at the couple in silence, seeing the overwhelming emotion in the young woman’s eyes, and even Joe’s. They walked toward the locker room. “We’re going to get changed, and get something to eat.” Joe said matter-a-fact and took up his new fiancé’s hand. He smiled, realizing that she still the spectacular gown from Saint Brigid. Chelle glanced at him and nodded slightly, acknowledging the expression on his face. The others walked behind them, but remained silent, stunned by the silence of their friends. They apparently had been somewhere but were not sharing or letting them know what happened for the week they were away. They suspected they were holding back and wondered what it was the couple was withholding. Joe and Chelle opened their lockers, in the separate locker rooms, and they quickly changed, leaving their gear in their lockers. Anna had joined Chelle, as did a few of the other women of the BBS. Anna was first to realize that Chelle was not wearing the costume that she had been in when she had disappeared with Joe. Chelle stripped it off, and to Anna's surprise, she was nude under it. Anna gasped as Chelle dressed in the twentieth century garb, putting the gown in the locker. Anna slipped off her costume, putting on her street clothes as well, and followed Chelle out to the other side of the locker rooms with the others. When they met up, the group paused, as they stood together. “So where do you want to eat?” Monte asked, and Joe grimaced. It had been a while since they had their usual food groups found in the future. He managed a grin. “How bout McDonalds…?” Joe suggested, “I feel like a Big Mac.” His fiancé managed a loud laugh, and nodded. “Mmmm, also very large milk shakes too.” Joe took up her hand, leading his fiancé toward and through the maze toward the entrance of the partition maze. As they all stepped through the entrance, sliding their cards to logout, they exited the maze. Joe and Chelle led the others as they walked toward the entrance of the shop. A wave of conversation and the crowd of people overwhelmed the couple's senses. The couple both grimaced at the people, the noise and the bustle of the mall, suddenly unnerved by it. To the couple, it was certainly not like the village of Saint Brigid where it was quiet, loaded with nature, clean air, and nice people. A relaxing environment compared to the world they lived in. It was a simpler time for the couple in comparison to their own, having experienced it. Joe glanced at Chelle, who had stepped back, instinctively into his arms. "Don't worry honey, this is not Saint Brigid, I know but we will surely return there." He whispered to her, kissing her neck. Anna had been close to them, and had heard partially his words, frowning at the strange behavior of their friends. The couple exited the shop into the main indoor section and turned, followed by their friends, chattering and carrying around them. He held his now fiancé’s hand tightly, their relationship becoming much closer after literally having hopped timelines. They went to the McDonalds on the upper floor. Chelle thought of Charity the young woman in Saint Brigid, beautiful, fair, and mysterious like Roxanne, who the elves called Sana. She wondered if they had been immortal and if any of the elves were alive, living somewhere unseen among the human race. She almost expected to see Roxanne and Charity some place in this century. As they sat together and they ate, the group laughed, and carried on. Anna and the others still wanted to know where they had been for a week, incommunicado with them and noted their friends seemed completely different to the group. The couple was very subdued compared to what they usually had been. It had the others in the group staring in wondering, as they continued to ask questions trying to find out where they really were for those many days. They were not getting any results or evasive answers. Joe shook his head, the whole experience a whirlwind in their heads, and the best time he ever had with Chelle. Despite they found Nathaniel, somewhere in time, alive, well and very different, living his new life happy. “We should have such happiness, compared to Na… er Rijiin.” He thought and leaned over to his fiancé whispering in her ear. “How would you like to try to find that portal again?” Joe whispered to her, making the young woman gasp. The others stopped and stared at the young woman’s astonishment. Anna had seen him whisper to her, and the expression on Chelle’s face as her head snapped around to face him. She was smiling, and blushing as she touched his face, to kiss him. She nodded formally to him. “You bet I would Joe.” She replied, smiling and laughing as he grinned at her. “You bet you would what?” Lith asked, glancing at Cmike, Cheshire, Anna, Monte and the others present with them. “Come on, spill, we want to know where you guys were, damn it.” “You guys are really acting strange and so different.” Anna said, perplexed by the couple’s strange attitude. “We should tell them.” Chelle said, “I know we promised Rijiin we wouldn’t, but eventually they will find out.” “Who's Rijiin?” Cmike asked, hearing the name, and a strange feeling of curiosity overwhelming his senses. The others nodded, looking at the couple. “Alright, you actually all deserve to know.” Joe said, “It’s going to sound crazy, but we kind of took a trip, one that is not really normal like every day.” “To Vegas…?” Monte spouted off, “Wait you guys are already married?” “No on both counts.” Joe said, making the buzzer sound, “It was in the shop here at Eastridge. We kind of stepped through a gateway and ended up in another time.” “Huh?” Mike, Cmike and the others asked, simultaneously, “What are you talking about.” He told them what happened, the whole story, and described the forest, the city of Hypperex, with real castles, the guards, the people and the surroundings. They listened in astonishment at his descriptions of the interior of Hypperex and the three on the stake burned as Heretics. Here, Joe paused, closing his eyes, trying to fight to blot out those images in his brain, the deafening screams of the people on the stake and the smell of burning flesh. Chelle put out her arm, as she remembered those haunting images too and put it on her fiancé’s arm. Joe continued his tale as he described the soldiers who they had fight with their blades, at this moment still stained with their blood whom they had to kill to survive. He also, despite Chelle’s look, had described Rijiin and Natil. Where they ended up, calling the villages of Saint Blaise, and Saint Brigid by name and describing them, the people and the surrounding beauty accurately. The group gasped the whole story and stared at the couple like they were crazy. “No way, bullshit…!” Lithium had said, and he peered at the two and their expressions, as they glanced at each other. “No bullshit.” Joe said, and Chelle nodded. “I knew they would never believe us or understand Joe.” The young woman said. "Well if they ever found that portal, they'd certainly be amazed and have a blast there." Joe said, grinning. "Where is this portal?" Cmike asked, and Joe motioned to the door of the locker. "We found it in the game area, and it seems to be intermittent Mike." Joe said, "I don't know if it is there or not right now…" “You guys are so full of it.” Lithium said, and Monte nodded. "Stop bullshitting and tell us the truth." Joe grimaced at Chelle, and both realized it would be a mixed reaction as Joe had suspected would happen. Half believed it, realizing something was amiss by the descriptions they were told about the towns. Joe and Chelle did not and could not provide any more information other than what they had seen with their own eyes. They did not dare show them the gold coins, the map and the pouch that they had brought back from the past. “I guess we should take them through the show them ourselves.” Joe thought, grimacing as he shook his head. “But it’s getting late. We should do this on a weekend.” He thought again, glancing at his phone in his pocket that read 20:00 hours. The mall would be closing soon too, and they would be going home. Joe realized that both he and Chelle would be returning to their daily life in the century and place they called home. The couple wondered if they could really fit in again with their daily routine, after having seen the past that had peace, and a taste of a relaxed life there. They went to the parking lot, and they hitched a ride with Cmike and the others who drove them home. Chelle and Joe slept together, and the next morning, gave the young woman a ride to her job. Both were greeted with surprised gasps and many of questions. Joe and Chelle both came up with an alibi that spoke of them being stuck in the mountains after someone stole their vehicle. It had taken them time for them to hike out and found their truck a few miles down the road, abandoned. Back in the fourteenth century, Rijiin and Natil sat together in the cavern together. Together the Elven couple peered at the fire that crackled, making dim shadows on the wall. The Elven couple both relaxed, finally at peace, holding each other tightly and glad to be home after their travels to the north. The couple had also been glad to meet Joe and Chelle again, escorting them to portal yesterday that returned them to the future. It had been so strange for the couple to run across them in the north, and to rescue them from being taken to the dungeons of the Inquisition. Also showing them a small portion of Adria where he now lived in his own private reality. Rijiin managed a quiet gasp as he sat there, and he thought of the couple, managing a smile as he took a sip of his wine from the cup in his hands. “By our lady, that was so strange.” The elf thought, and even stranger, they wanted and stayed a week with the elves here in Adria, instead of returning to the future quickly as he had planned. He wondered if he would see them again, somewhere in time and space, as time progressed forward for them and the elves that lived here in this century. “Are you alright, Rijiin?” Natil asked, and he turned his head, seeing the frowning face of the young Harper, his kinsman/semi-lover that he had taken here. He nodded his head, grinning at the beauty of the young maiden beside him, as he took up her hand. “I’m fine, beloved.” He replied, “Really.” “I know. I miss them too.” She replied, “I can sense your apprehensiveness over the last week we spent with your friends.” He frowned in surprise by the young maiden’s intuitiveness, and his mouth had dropped open, showing his surprise. “I just have a feeling we are going to see them again.” Rijiin told her and the maiden showed a look of surprise on her face. “Wouldn’t that be something?” She said, “I think it is nice to have friends of yours from the future here, it helps you cope with the solitude that you have outside of our group.” “I don’t and I am not secluded, I have you and the others.” Rijiin replied, “Although, it would be agreeable to see them again, at least under different circumstances.” He paused meeting her astonished gaze, which made him smile. “I am where I want to be, with good people and solid friends, also a wonderful, beautiful maiden. It is my home.” Rijiin paused before managing a laugh. “It’s funny, I was a writer in the future for fun and I always believed time is fluid and will repeat. Somewhere in time, I will be born again and have the same mundane life I had before, out there, and maybe I will find the portal or not, or even be in the same circumstances as I was before. I will probably meet Joe and Chelle again. Who knows?” “Yes.” Natil replied, “Not having to rescue them from the soldiers and clergy of the Inquisition.” The elf laughed as he embraced the Harper, and held her tightly as his laughter became solemn. He peered at the young maiden who was inseparable to him and wondered what the future laid in store for them and the others. He kissed her passionately, in love with her, as he had a few years before while in High School, in a different time, a different time-stream and place. The only difference is time would be rewritten as he lived in this time ahead, for all times with the others and his beloved Harper. Rijiin held her in his arms, as they peered at the fire and occasionally playing music between them. They were starting a new relationship together, unaware of many adventures to come for them. Still the Elf wondered if he would see his friend again, or even run into Mimi and others somewhere in time. After all, he was an immortal for all times, and he managed a grimace. Natil caught him at it. "Beloved?" Rijiin waved his hand casually, "Be at peace beloved." "Are you alright?" "Just wondering where things will be leading us." He mused, "And thinking of the Goddess' words. She said I would be all living for all times, but I just keep wondering… If I will see Joe, Chelle and others I have known somewhere in time out there." "Perhaps…" Natil replied, "But only time will tell." "That is will beloved Harper… That it will…" He replied, holding her as they peered at the starlight together, in each other's arms. End. WC: 63,329
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