The Fantasy Trove

The air and world around them went up in flames. A building off to their right exploded as something slammed into it. The shockwave made her head ring and her eyesight blurry. Debris rained down around them before they could try to dive back into the building they stepped out of.

The rude man that’d directed them out here tried to shove them back into the building. The act to save their lives cost him. Something sharp and flaming impacted his leg and he collapsed, screaming.

Shelly looked at Becky and Jessica, though she still couldn’t see Jessica’s face through the tinted helmet. She didn’t know what to do. It was too late to warn their rescuers about magic being severely weakened, and too dangerous to go out there to make their escape.

“Don’t just stand there like a girl,” the rude Paladonic Knight screeched through gritted teeth. “One of you, get me a bandage for my leg. The other, keep your weapon on the Betrayer’s Bitch.”

Shelly looked at her girlfriend again, for the moment having forgotten that they were disguised as guards. Despite the tense situation, Jessica burst out laughing and lifted her visor.

“You stupid ass-hat!” she scolded him. She stepped up to where the man looked up at her in total shock. “It’s not nice to call women bitches. Maybe in your next life you’ll treat people better and live a little longer.” Shelly realized what she was about to do a moment too late. Jessica’s foot connected with the man’s head, and despite the noise outside, there was no mistaking the sickening sound of his neck snapping.

Shelly struggled with Jessica’s violence. She couldn’t believe her girlfriend had killed him in cold blood. Sure, the man was their enemy, but he wasn’t completely bad. Hadn’t he tried to save their lives? She understood that he hadn’t known they weren’t his comrades, but the callous way she’d killed him was hard to deal with. Shelly was used to death, and had helped deal it on numerous occasions, but something felt wrong about Jessica’s behavior.

“Come on,” Becky called to them even as more explosions rent the air outside. If she was bothered by Jessica’s act, she didn’t show it. “We can’t get out that way. Let’s head back and see if we can find another way, or at least somewhere to hide until this bombardment is over.”

“Good idea,” Jessica agreed. She grabbed Shelly and dragged her after. “We need to get back underground as soon as possible. Those missiles will kill us as soon as them.” As if to emphasize her point, the floor shook and a few ceiling tiles collapsed to the floor as something struck close enough to make Shelly’s teeth rattle.

Shelly was speechless as they backtracked down the hallways. She’d seen death before, so why did that Knight’s death bother her so much? She couldn’t remember ever killing someone defenseless, or hadn’t been in the middle of trying to kill them. Was that it?

“I’m sorry,” Jessica told her as they ran. “I can see that bothered you. I just can’t handle people who act like that. Besides, he was a Paladonic Knight. If he’d known who we were, he would have treated us differently.”

“But…” she trailed off, unsure what to say. Jessica was right. Had the man known who they really were, he wouldn’t have tried to save them. He was their enemy. She shouldn’t feel sorrow for his death. She hadn’t cared about the guard she’d killed down in their cell. The only difference between the two were the circumstances.

They found a stairwell leading back down and dashed through the doorway. The white walls turned into grey brick as they went deeper into the building and Earth. They could still hear the explosions, but they were muffled now, like a noisy neighbor with their bass set too high.

Their flight came to a screeching halt as they hit the next landing. Armored men carrying machine guns surrounded them. Footsteps behind them alerted her to more Knights back the way they came. There was nowhere to run.

“While I commend you on your attempted escape, I’m afraid your run ends here,” a tall man stepped out from the others. He easily stood over seven feet tall, and Shelly wondered if he had a little giant in him. His shaved head reflected the thin fluorescent light from above. His burnished armor gleamed, but didn’t hide the massive frame it protected. A bleached white cape flowed from his broad shoulders. All these details flew from Shelly’s mind as she met his eyes. Ice cold, and just as blue. There was pure hatred in his gaze. He would almost be beautiful if not for the malice she felt flowing from him.

Jessica sneered and placed herself in front of Shelly. “You won’t take us alive!”

While Shelly didn’t mind her girlfriend stepping up to protect her since she couldn’t protect herself, she wished she hadn’t said something so melodramatic.

“Believe me, bitch,” the man responded in his deep baritone voice, “you won’t be burdened with life any longer than necessary.”

“What are your plans for us, Grand Meister?” Becky asked from next to Shelly.

“The betrayer’s bitch has no right to speak to me,” the immense man said to one of his subordinates. “Silence her, but don’t kill her. She needs to die at the Betrayer’s feet.”

Jessica launched herself at the man, but was struck down by the butt of one rifle. Someone shot, and only then did she remember she was carrying a weapon. It was too late, and they were outnumbered, but she wouldn’t give up without a fight. She would rather die by her own actions than be humiliated and murdered at their mercy.

She tried to bring her weapon up, but something was wrong. She couldn’t breathe. Her knees grew weak as she struggled to stay standing. The landing spun around her as she tried to focus on the men coming up to her. What was wrong with her? She needed to fight back, but couldn’t find the strength.

More shots rang out, but she barely noticed them. Why couldn’t she breathe?

Her legs gave out as the hallway tilted and she crashed to the floor. She struggled to sit up, but it took all her strength to lift her head. That’s when she finally noticed the growing spot of red from her stomach. The agony followed a split moment later, radiating from her wound and stealing what little breath she still held. She tried to gasp, to scream, to do anything but lie on the cold concrete floor, but she was too weak. In desperation she tried to shift into a shield, but nausea swamped her, and she gagged, doubling the pain in her abdomen.

“You idiots!” Someone yelled. “That’s the Betrayer’s daughter. I wanted that bastard to watch his loved ones die. Fuck! Someone grab her and stop that bleeding. Make sure the others don’t have any weapons. If nothing else, we can throw this one at his feet. She’ll already be dead, but what can you do?”

She was going to die. She knew that, but there was nothing she could do to stop it.

“Like hell there isn’t anything you can do, young lady!” that strange male voice from earlier screamed at her. “Get your pretty ass up and fight! You’d better not die. It’s been over twenty years since the last time I got any tail, and I’m not going to die in your head!”

She tried to rally behind that command, but oblivion took her first.

*    *    *    *

“Dammit, what do you think you’re doing in my home?”

Shelly opened her eyes to the angry voice and looked around. She didn’t recognize her surroundings. She was on a hard bed with off-white coverings. Yellow flowers spotted the wallpaper, reminding Shelly of something from the last century.

“I thought I told you not to die. Or did you come here for the other thing?”

With a gasp she remembered the last few seconds and looked down at her stomach. She had to move some lacy pink cloth out of the way, but her stomach was smooth. There was no wound. She still felt a plug of pain from the spot, but she was otherwise unharmed.

“Yes, you have a beautiful stomach. Perfect for kissing, though I prefer to use ones as smooth as yours as a path down to greater pleasures.”

Shelly looked up to see an older man leering down at her. He looked familiar. He was the same man that she saw after Marchosias attacked Jessica and her. The familiarity went beyond that, but she still couldn’t place him. She couldn’t think of anyone with long stringy gray hair, but those eyes… Gray eyes just like her father, brother, and her. Was this man related to her somehow?

“Last time someone looked at me like that, they were getting ready to kill me,” the man chuckled, but she could see there was stress around his eyes.

“You can’t be,” she mouthed as she stared at the man. “Dad… said he destroyed you.”

“Dad?” the man took a step away from her. His brows were furrowed as his gray eyes took her in. “I didn’t have any daughters. Least, not so far as I know. As for being destroyed, it takes more than you can know to destroy Shemhazau Encantado! I’m one of the Firsts, you know.” He winked at her in a way that left her feeling filthy inside.

“But that’s… You became Murasame. My father said that he accidently destroyed you when he killed one of the Outsiders.” She was trying to wrap her mind around this man being her grandfather, but it was impossible. Lyden Snow didn’t have many regrets in his life, but destroying the father he barely knew was one of them. Her father’s anguish had been real when he told them the story of how he obliterated the first Outsider. It was anguish enough to smother his disappointment at the anticlimactic death of the being made of light.

The man grimaced at her. His sharp gray eyes examined every line of her face before he shook his head and sat down. Shelly had to admit that he collapsed onto his hind quarters more than sat down. He burst out laughing. Long guffaws of merriment surrounded her as the man buried his face in his hands.

Shelly let him laugh, not sure how she should feel. Her grandfather was before her, and as near as she could tell, had lost his sanity. Where had he been for over two decades, and why was he here now? For that matter, where was here? She glanced around, but still didn’t recognize the place. Light shone down from all around, but she couldn’t identify its source, almost as if she were back in the Shadow World. The room was indistinct beyond the garish wallpaper, as though some guiding hand had yet to give it substance and form.

Then she noticed her clothing. She was wearing a frilly pink negligee. She might as well be naked for all the good this outfit was hiding. As soon as the thought struck her, she was naked.

“Ahh!” she screeched and covered herself with her hands and arms. How had that happened? She tried to think past her thundering heart. She was somewhere where thought held sway. She was stark naked in front of her grandfather! No, don’t think about that! she chided herself. She struggled to think, but a few things started to fall into place. She knew about Mens Mundis, but she didn’t think she had one. Did that mean she was in Shemhazau’s mind scape? But how could that be? He’d been sealed into a sword and… No, that wasn’t right.

She tried to think, but the memory was slow to rise. She could think more clearly if she were clothed. As soon as the thought crossed her mind, she was dressed in full battle armor. It resembled what the Paladonic Knights had worn, and made her feel wrong just having it on. With another quick thought, she was in a light-blue blouse and dark blue jeans. Her feet were adorned with supple sandals, with a piece of leather looping over her big toe. She didn’t have to look at herself in the mirror to see a matching blue ribbon holding her dark tresses back.

She move to the edge of the bed and put her mind back to her other problems.

With one crisis covered, she turned back to the man either laughing or crying on the ground before her. Her surroundings were still indistinct, so she created them with another thought. The front room of her home sprang into being around her. She sat on her couch, no longer a bed, and examined the wiry old man.

Now that she was clothed and on her home turf, she could think. Shemhazau hadn’t been sealed into a blade, but into a pearled gem. When her father fought the Outsider, he destroyed the blade, but the hilt had remained. Shemhazau must have survived in the gem, unbeknownst to her father.

Hadn’t Marchosias attacked them with a sword that had a gem in the hilt? That blade was dull gray, but if the hilt was the same one that made up Murasame, then Shemhazau could have been part of that blade. But how had she come to be in his Mens Mundi? Had everything that’d happened since then been nothing but a dream? Was her brother really whole and healthy out there in the real world while she slumbered? Was she having a nightmare about being captured by the Paladonic Knights? Where had reality ended, and dreams began?

“You’re Lyden’s daughter,” Shemhazau said, startling Shelly from her thoughts. “Most likely from one of his human women. You don’t look like that mermaid… No… I don’t sense any of Angela in you. As nice as your chest is, it’s nowhere near as monumental as that security guard’s awesome boulders. As long as I’ve lived, I’ve rarely seen a pair of tits to match the sheer magnificence that she carried on her. It was like two mountains sitting on her chest. What was her name again?”

“Jennifer,” Shelly muttered, not wanting to hear any more of her grandfather commenting on another woman’s chest. Jen was well known for her impressive melons. Whenever they visited Angela, Sheldon couldn’t keep his eyes off of them. Jen liked to tease Sheldon, but as far as Shelly knew, nothing ever came of it. Shelly’s chest wasn’t nearly as impressive, but she wouldn’t have the back problems Jen likely already was. “Her name is Jennifer. My mother is Sheila Lance.”

“’Is Jennifer’?” he repeated part of her words. “So she’s still alive? Oh, what I wouldn’t give to gaze on her chesticles again!”

“Shemhazau!” Shelly snapped, losing some of her patience with the man.

“Oh, right. Sorry. Your mother is Sheila. Let’s see… I didn’t know her too well. She was the slave, right?” His eyes sharpened as he looked at her. “You don’t seem very submissive yourself. Such a shame, really.”

“That’s not important,” Shelly said. “How are we here? How did I get into your Mens Mundi?”

“My Mens Mundi?” the old man gave her an odd look. “Young lady, we’re not in my Mens Mundi. I assumed we were in yours.”

“But I’ve never had one,” Shelly retorted.

“Everyone has one,” Shemhazau’s eyebrows drew together. “Not many can access theirs, though. Tell me, does Marchosias still possess me?”

She knew he didn’t mean possess in the biblical sense. “I don’t know. He attacked me and Jessica. I became a sword and she used me to fight him. Something happened when I cut his flesh, and that was the first time I saw you.”

Shemhazau got to his feet and started to pace about her living room. “Interesting…. Are you some sort of soul stealer, by chance?”

“Excuse me?” she snapped, not liking the sound of that term. “I assure you, I’m no soul stealer!”

“Calm down, young lady. I meant no offense. Maybe you are a bit like that mermaid. She was always a touchy one.”

“I’m not a soul stealer,” she repeated trying to keep her voice calm but firm.

“It doesn’t matter,” he waved his hand and continued pacing. “What happened after you fought? Did he leave me behind? Marchosias is a powerful demon. The other woman must be powerful indeed to fend him off.”

“I don’t know,” Shelly conceded. “After I cut him, I met you. When I woke up, he was gone.” She grew uncomfortable, realizing she still didn’t understand how Jessica had fought Marchosias off after she’d passed out. Jessica had stated that he ran off, but Marchosias wasn’t a coward. Why would he flee when he had them cornered? If only she hadn’t blacked out, and knew what had happened.

“Yes, you mentioned that before. The cutting him, bit. Tell me, what is it you can do?”

“I…” she trailed off, growing self-conscious for some reason. She realized she was being foolish, and powered on. “I can take the form of anything inanimate I have touched. My brother, Sheldon, can take the form of anything living.”

“Your brother? How many grandchildren do I have? Cross-breeding can be dangerous, and there wasn’t another generator in the world that I knew about.” He stopped and grimaced before shaking his head. “Never mind. That’s not important right now. You say you can take inanimate object forms, and you had an issue after cutting Marchosias. Was he in his wolf form when it happened?”

Shelly nodded, remembering the teeth biting down on her steel blade.

“I wonder how your talent would react to a living inanimate object.… It might be what caused your issue, and allowed me into your Mens Mundi.”

“But I’ve never been able to access my Mens Mundi before, and I’ve tried!” she protested, not liking this situation at all. There was still too much she didn’t understand. Could that be why she had such a hard time changing forms as well? Or was it due to the weakened magic in the Knight’s fortress?

“Some people are able to access theirs with ease. Others require being near death. Even then, most people never realize its full potential. Lucid dreamers can touch on the barest outskirts of it, but aren’t strong enough to pull others in.” Shemhazau grew somber as he turned to face her. “I’m afraid you may be the near death type. If that’s the case, then we might not have very long before you—”

“I’m not willing to die yet!” Shelly stood and stamped her foot. “Jessica and Becky are in trouble, and my dad is walking into a trap.”

“Lyden’s in trouble?” If Shelly had thought the man was in any way serious before, she was wrong. His gray eyes burned with intensity as he faced her. He stepped towards her, and she sat back in fear.

“We need to have sex,” he stated as though it were obvious.

“What?” she gasped, shocked at the notion. “No! You’re my grandfather. I won’t do that!”

“So what?” he asked, still serious. “It’s the quickest way to heal you and get you back on your feet.”

Her mind raced, running from the very notion of having intercourse with this old man. It wasn’t that he was ugly, because she had to admit that he wasn’t, but that he was her grandfather. The thought didn’t appeal to her. If anything, she felt her crotch dry up at the notion.

But if it let her get back to the real world and fight…

No! She didn’t know everything about the Mens Mundi, but she thought she recalled hearing that intimacy wasn’t required. Simply being here with someone else was enough. Did Shemhazau count? If he didn’t, then having sex with him wouldn’t either.

“No,” she stated again, with all the authority she could put into her voice. “That’s not the only way to heal my body back up while we’re here.”

“Well, damn!” he grimaced and shook his head. “Can’t blame an old man for trying. It’s been so long, too! Sorry, sorry!” he backed away from her as she stood up, anger blazing in her eyes. “Okay, so what happened that landed you here?”

Shelly was still wary of the man, but she told him what she could.

“So, you’re having problems with your abilities. Curious. Usually when magic is blocked over an area, it blocks external magic, not internal. To block internal magic the way the Daughters of Respite do, it has to be cast directly on the individual.”

“So you’re saying my run-in with Marchosias is what’s causing my issues, and not what the Knights did?” She didn’t like that idea. It meant that if she got out of here, she still wouldn’t be able to change.

“Maybe,” he conceded. “It would help if I knew more about what they’d done. You need to get back out there.” He paused and looked at her for a moment. “Sure you don’t want to—”

“No,” she cut him off. “It won’t really speed things up, and we don’t know if this is helping anyway.”

“You were close to death when you came here, and you haven’t died yet,” he replied. “We’ve been here for some time, though that doesn’t always translate evenly with time in the actual world. I’d be willing to guess that my soul here is enough to help you heal, though we don’t really know at what rate.”

“No sex!”

“Fine, fine. How did my son raise such a prude? Nevermind. Put your fist down. You’ve got real enemies to fight when you wake up. Have you tried waking up, yet?”

She ground her teeth in frustration, but lowered her arm. Who knew her grandfather would be such a creep? Smothering her anger, she focused on her awareness. Could she wake herself up? If she did right now, would it be too soon? Would she end up killing herself? She didn’t know how long she’d been here in real-world time, but knew she needed to get back to Becky and Jessica.

With a bit of concentration, she forced herself to wake up. She commanded her real body to move, and her eyes to open. Her living room faded around her and it felt like she was floating through water.

“Just out of curiosity,” she heard Shemhazau’s voice from a distance, “try changing into my sword form. You may fin…” He faded away before she could hear the end of his advice.

With a gasp of pain and shock, Shelly opened her eyes.

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From the Author

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