The Mirror

Chapter 8 – Kidnapped.

Orgasms distort time. They also distort reality. Most people don’t really understand this principle because most people have never been held in a state of bliss for more than a few seconds. I was dragged down into the depths of pleasure and held there for a very long time. Too long. Even through the fog of ecstasy, I knew that something was wrong… something had changed. I was far too distracted to think, but I was aware of a change. It was as if someone had opened a door in another part of the house and the pressure changed. I felt it mentally as well. It wasn’t until later that I understood what it was, and even then It was strange. It was surprise.

The tentacles of the Galotha pulled me downward for an indeterminate time. In the real world, I would surely have suffocated for lack of oxygen. The warm flesh of the creature that was even still torturing me to endless sexual extremes, was all around me. I didn’t at the time, think of Ariel. I simply existed… experienced… tried to fathom and control the pleasure I was feeling.

Finally, I was suddenly dangling in the air. Then, the alien tendrils wrapped around and in my body, set me on the “ground”. A few moments later, they slid out of me and untangled from my body then were gone. As I said before, I was too fuzzy to know what was going on, and it took me nearly five minutes of panting and moaning to get any clarity in my head.

To my credit, and Ariel’s, my first thoughts were toward my fairy friend. I rolled over onto my side and called out her name softly. To my surprise, she feebly answered back. I nearly cried with joy. I had known that death was not possible for myself, but I was by no means certain of anything where Ariel was concerned. Scrambling, I slipped and sloshed my way toward her voice (for it was nearly dark) until I felt her hand bump my hip. Despite the goo that covered us, we hugged and kissed and laughed until we were both breathless again. Finally, it was she who spoke.

“Rachael, I feel funny…”

I looked at her in the dim light. I couldn’t be sure, but something was indeed different. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but she was somehow not quite the same as she was before.

“Are you hurt?” I asked, feeling her arms for bruises.

“I don’t think so…” She replied.

“Perhaps you’re just feeling the effects of the Golotha.”

“Perhaps… I thought for sure I would pass out. I couldn’t breath!”

“Me neither,” I agreed. “But we’re through now,” I said, holding her hands and smiling. “And I think I might know where we are…”

“Really?” She asked incredibly.

“Well, in my earlier journeys, I passed through a place I named Pore. It was much like this, only…”

“What?”

“It was never dark. And the ground was all fleshy. This actually looks like moss or something.”

“It is moss,” she replied with certainty. “Even in the dark I can tell that much. I am a creature of the forest you know. Strange though… I can’t identify the exact type.”

“I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore, Toto…” I said smiling into the dark.

“Huh?”

“Sorry. It’s an expression to mean that we aren’t anyplace we’ve ever been before.”

“You can say that again. Is that water?” Ariel was pointing off to our left, where even in the dim light, I could see what appeared to be a smooth reflective surface at the bottom of a depression. Water was as reasonable a conclusion as any.

We crawled over the the small pond and Ariel dipped her finger into the liquid. I was about to caution her when she popped her finger into her mouth and made a contemplative face.

“It’s a little stale, but otherwise tastes good.”

“So it is water,” I asked.

“Of course!”

“Of course, nothing… Look, Ariel, I don’t want to scare you or anything, but you’re kinda new at the traveling between worlds thing. Hell, I’m pretty new! The point is that the rules that apply in your world, don’t necessarily apply here. What may look, smell and taste like water here, could be just about anything, and I mean ANYTHING.”

“Oh…” she said realizing her error, and the risk she had just taken.

I hugged her, then realized that something was different again. I looked around trying to tell what it was when Ariel gasped. She was staring into the water of our small pond. When I looked, I gasped too. It was Michael’s face staring back at us.

“Michael?” I said with surprise and happiness.

“Hello Rachael,” came his voice like a soft collection of bells.

“Why are…”

“I’m sorry. I don’t have much time, and I need you to pay close attention.”

I felt something grab my guts. It was fear. How could it be that Michael didn’t have much time?

“Alright…” I said with intrepidation.

“Ariel, you should come closer. This concerns you too.” She looked surprised, but scooted over so that she could hear clearly as well.

“Something has happened that is very difficult for me to explain to you. The best I can do is to say that you have been kidnapped.”

“Kidnapped?” I asked, my eyebrows rising.

“It’s much more complicated than that, but yes. You have been pulled from my world, into another world created by another of my species. To get right to the point, I don’t have control anymore.”

“Oh my god…” I replied, my mind whirling with the implications. Ariel didn’t seem to understand. Why would she? From her perspective, things had always been the way they are. Just because her world exists within the mind of another entity, doesn’t make it any less real to her.

“I’m working on getting you back, but it’s very difficult. It takes a great deal of energy just to talk to you now.”

“If you don’t have control, then who does?” I asked, fearing the answer almost as much as the question.

“His name is Kyle. He has created his world at the perimeter of several of our own. We don’t like him, but we have no way to… kick him out.”

“What’s going to happen?” Asked Ariel.

“I’m not exactly sure,” he replied. “But it will take him a while just to find you. You see, he lost a great deal of energy when he brought you to his world. He’ll be quite anxious to find you two so that he can recharge a bit.”

Something in my mind went “ding”, but I didn’t catch it.

“Is that why it’s so dark,” I suggested.

“Yes. As it grows lighter, it’s an indicator that his energy is returning. I suggest that you don’t help him any…”

“By creating any sexual energy,” I finished.

“That’s right. Lay low for as long as you can, and um… that means with each other as well. Either one of you having an orgasm would be like sending up a flare.”

“A what?” Asked Ariel.

“I’ll explain later,” I said to her and touched her hand. Suddenly, Michael’s words caught up with me. “Either of us?!”

Ariel looked at me, surprised.

Michael was silent for a moment.

“Yes.” He said at last. “When Kyle transferred you two to his own world, he didn’t know which one of you would come through the Golatha first. In his haste, he accidentally gave permanence to you Ariel.”

“Permanence?” She asked, not having any idea what Michael’s words meant.

“Oh my god…” I said softly. “But that would mean… she can leave the mirror!!”

“Yes.” He replied. “And she can generate energy for Kyle. His theft left him very weakened, but he now has two, not one, new entity to build it back up.”

“This is wonderful!” I all but yelled. “Ariel, you can come with me back to my own world!”

“Really? Michael, is it true? Is that what I feel that is so different?” She asked, incredulous.

“It is. Permanence.”

“I have so many questions…”

“Ask them of Rachael, for now. I must go… Look for this symbol to guide you…” Suddenly, a glyph of sorts floated on the surface of the water, then was gone. A cold chill ran through my body with the realization that we were alone again. Then I saw that Ariel was staring at me. I reached out and gathered her up in my arms, kissing her.

After a few moments, she smiled, and we both rolled over onto our sides. Our kiss was quickly building into something much more, as our hands groped freely over each other’s bodies. I felt hers slip between my thighs, and I broke the kiss, gasping.

“W-wait…” I said panting.

“Why? I-I want y-you NOW!” She said in desperation.

“I want you t-too… But remember w-what Michael said.. mmmmm… We can’t have an orgasm, or Kyle will be able to find us.”

Her hand slipped away, and I was both relieved and deeply saddened.

“I have a sense of being that I have never had before, and I can’t use it!” She said frustrated.

“You will… I promise!” I let the fingers of my left hand brush over one of her nipples and her breath caught. Her smile told me that she would be okay.

We decided that it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to stay in one place too long, so we set out across the dawn, carefully making our way so as to avoid anything that looked like it might be… too friendly.

We seemed to be at the bottom of a low depression at the top of what looked like a huge boulder set into a hillside. As the light slowly grew, we could see a fairly large expanse of green grass and trees that extended in all directions. Ariel first noticed the telltail line of chimney smoke, and together, we decided that people would probably be safer than the open forest, so we gathered ourselves together and headed off towards the source of the fire.

As we walked, Ariel asked me questions about what it was like on the outside. It was hard to answer her, but as a journalist, it’s my job to be able to describe things. She seemed frightened, but excited to venture out of the mirror. I told her that it was safer inside until she got used to being… alive. I couldn’t say human, because Ariel wasn’t human. She was fairy folk, constructed from magic and the forest itself. The fact that she had been given life by a quirk of fate, didn’t change the fact that she was basically, a somewhat short, sexy as hell female with pointed ears and eyes that luminesced in the dark. Fairies have abilities that humans do not, such as very keen noses. I had no idea how these abilities would translate outside of the mirror. It was something we were going to have to ask Michael the next time we saw him… If we ever saw him again.

We came to a small white house that reminded me of Hansel and Gretel, but we stopped there only long enough to swipe some clothing from a line that was stretched out between two trees. Ariel pulled on a one-piece dress which was a little baggy, and I snatched a pair of pants and a loose shirt. Neither of us was wearing shoes, but as long as no one else cared, we certainly didn’t.

Garbed in our best, we headed for a small village that Ariel assured me was right up ahead. She said she could smell the baking bread and the general stench of people. Still, not knowing what the “people” of this world looked like, we moved cautiously. It appeared as though the inhabitants were human as we came closer. Before we stepped out into view, however, I fluffed her hair over her ears. No sense in making a panic if they had never seen a fairy before.

I need not have bothered. The people of this village were about as interesting as a pile of rocks. They were almost like robots, scurrying about, hardly making noise or conversation. It was almost as though they too were afraid of something or someone, and I wondered about our kidnapper, Kyle.

I was just about to ask Ariel if she felt we should move on, when it began to rain. We happened to be under the arch created by a natural canopy of trees when the odd lumps started dropping from the sky. It certainly wasn’t water, but rather a semi-clear goo that splattered around us. Immediately, I thought of Pore.

My fears were quickly justified by the reactions of the townspeople. At once they began to run for cover, the females all but screaming in terror. In a few moments I saw why.

A young woman in a dress similar to Ariel’s was running for a building nearby. Before she could reach it, a medium sized blob of the goo about the size of my fist, landed on her back. She shrieked and dropped the bundle of blankets she had been carrying, desperately trying to reach behind her and brush off the substance. I was only half surprised to see the stuff move on its own, as if it were alive. As if drawn to her, puddles of the stuff was creeping toward her along the grass from every direction. If she had simply made a dash for it, she might have been able to avoid them until she could get to safety, but instead, she choose to deal with the one blob on her back, first. That bit of panic cost her.