literature

Dimensional Shift: Chapter 2

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Vera walked with Kolton the rest of the way to the village. Almost forgetting that the place was magically hidden, she nearly jumped out of her skin when the grassy surroundings suddenly burst into motion with a backdrop of tall buildings made of a bronze/gold-ish material she had never seen in her life. Everything was curved and seemed to be moving.

She stopped short in her tracks. Staring with her mouth wide open. She wasn't even conscious of Kolton grinning at her as she took in the "village" he mentioned. It was no village. It was a grand elaborate city. She was interrupted by a whirring sound above her head. She glanced up to see a balloon propelled faerie-like creature hovering above her.

"Look at the Contagion Scanner." He said calmly as one floated over to him as well.

When both of them were looking directly at them, a red beam moved over their faces before two beeps played in unison and the faeries floated away, almost seeming to patrol the edge of the village.

"Just in case someone decides to hide the fact that they were bitten. We only made the mistake of letting that happen once. The scanners were created long before the villages were." He answered her unasked question. She was too busy marveling at the city once again.

Above her were two floating bronze lines that held up a bronze cylindrical train that had a smoke stack on both the front and back. Puffs of dark air burst forth from the depth of the train only to dissipate into the otherwise clear air. The sound of fans hinted that perhaps there were invisible constructs designed to keep the air in the bubble that was the village clear. She watched as a couple, walking arm in arm and laughing together, stepped on a bronze platform beside her. The platform was pushed upward by a pillar that brought them to train level and they stepped onto the magnificent mode of transport. After a moment that train began to putt away, moving quickly down the curved track.

To the sides of her were buildings of non-transparent glass and bronze that towered over any building she'd ever seen, including the castle in Ilia. Small encased platforms carried people to the upper levels of the buildings. There were a lot more people than she had thought she would see.

Kolton eased in beside her again. "Most of the apartments are still being built and empty. But we wanted to get a head-start on building so the next generation of us would have room to live. This is the only city-type village in existence. We specialize in developing the tools we need to survive and re-take our land. We are in Hyview, the village dedicated to science and engineering. Everyone here serves one of those jobs completely. Either studying to be in those fields, or expanding those fields. Children under eighteen born to us in those fields also live here, but even they pitch in by helping put together simple things, the older kids cook for the people working here. We are responsible for building bigger and better transport systems, tools, weapons, farming equipment or whatever else is needed – such as creating medicines. We do have an institute that is dedicated to finding a cure for the mix of magic and viral infection that caused the zombies, but it's not located here." He pointed to the north where she could just make out a large gold building that was shaped like a zeppelin aside from the tall towering dome on one side of the building. It was beautiful in its asymmetry, with it's flat balconies wrapping around at every floor, which it must have had eleven of. "That is the main science building. It's where they come up with new things to help the survivors. We'll be heading there. Aeryn is helping Nikki out with some things."

"What about the other villages? How many are there?" She was wondering if maybe there were more survivors than he had her believe.

"Aside from us here, there are four others – not nearly as highly populated. There's Laguna, the medical village. That's where the biggest hospital is as well as the institution working on the cure. They make the more in depth medicines and grow medical herbs. There are a few healers throughout all the villages, but the majority and most talented reside in Laguna. Then there's Ferrick, the farming village. It's the biggest in acre of all the villages, but the least populated. They grow the crops and animals herds used to feed all of the survivors everywhere. Mateo works over there, lending his magic to the growth of crops so it takes a fraction of the time to grow fields of food. Corwell is the Military village. There we have our army. We train mages and mundane fighters alike there. Mostly trained to take down the zombies. We haven't needed to train them in anything else because… there's really no one to fight against but the zombies. There are no more entities or kingdoms it's just the living and the dead. Even people likely to commit crimes behave themselves. It's not tolerated and anyone caught is exiled and left to deal with the zombies on their own. Some of the fighters have had their emotions completely removed so they can fight on instinct which helps when fighting against zombies that were already supernatural in life. You can find grandmother and the Darksydes there. Finally, there's Zythra. Kali is there. She outfits the people who live there in enchantments when they go out. Because the weather here can't be manipulated on a higher scale, not everything we need for our medicines and inventions can be grown or created here. Those things we need the scavengers for. These people, usually accompanied by one Empty Soldier, a soldier who's been drained of all emotion, and one Battle Mage go out on missions to scavenge things from our old lives. Fabrics, crops, metals, herbs, whatever they can find. Sometimes they'll find things that aren't on the list and bring it back with them, like trinkets of lives that had to be left behind. Pictures, bronzed baby shoes. If the family the item belongs to is no longer with us, we have a memorial service for them, burying their treasured belongings in their name. We call Zythra the scavengers village. The population there is pretty low and the village is a bit shabby looking. Many of the inhabitants there are a bit... odd. They say it's because each of them is so exposed to the dangers of the zombies so often that they've become almost tainted with it without actually succumbing to it. Most are injured in one way or another."

She listened quietly and followed as he walked down the cobblestone streets between the fantastic buildings and buzz of the population. Her head was swimming. "So there's nothing else? What about Ilia?"

He kept his eyes staring straight ahead as they went. "When the last survivor of Ilia was turned we destroyed the portal and left it to the dead. There is no realm connected to this one that has survived. The survivors here? We are the only ones left in the universe. Because the nature of the majority of the population of Ilia was supernatural, we will never be able to return because there will always be a threat. The portal will never be reopened."

She could understand why he would be so upset about it. They had grown up in Ilia. Sure, not all of it was rainbows and puppy-dogs, but a lot went down there that they could never imagine living without. As she looked around she saw some shocked faced in the crowd of mostly white lab-coat wearing people staring her way. She could imagine that with so few survivors left in the world, everyone knew everyone else. If she had really been gone for long, people would be very shocked to see her again. Living outside the village limits for any length of time must have been unheard of.

When they were only several feet from the large golden building he had told her they were going to, a child ran out. She knew instantly who the child was. Long brown hair fell in waves around cheeks that were still puffy with baby weight. Dark, intelligent brown eyes were wide with hope. Her heart felt just about to explode as she watched the girl burst into tears and run toward her. She knew there was no way she could have amnesia at that moment. She knew that there was no way she could have forgotten the child. This was definitely a possible future or an alternate reality. A very cruel alternate reality.

None-the-less, her actions came as if they were the most natural thing in the world. She fell to a knee and when the child crashed into her, she wrapped her arms around her and held her close. Whispering gently to her that it would be alright. She kissed the top of the child's head.

She would have liked to think she was being so maternal simply for the benefit of her counterpart in this world, but that wasn't it. She was filled with an instant love for the child as if she had given birth to her herself.

Vera felt the tears on her cheeks and couldn't help but think just how little her counterpart was different from her since Kolton had the good sense to not point out she was crying.

It didn't matter anyway because the tears stopped and her look turned back to shock when she saw the next person walk out the front door. It was unmistaken-ably Nicole. Half her face was just the same as she remembered it, if a little older. She saw the girl had decided to make the blonde permanent as well. But the other half of her face looked like a robot. A glass case covered that half of her skeleton but the top was completely missing and she could see the juices in the brain flowing from sector to sector. Flashes of light, she could only assume were sparks, glittered around the case. One of her arms was completely mechanical, having a clockwork feel to it. Whatever had caused it, she knew her sister was lucky to be alive. A god himself must have kept her safe as her body was rebuilt around her.

"Nicole?" She sucked in a breath of air. She was this tough warrior elder and looking at her cousin rocked her to her very core. It was gruesome and terrifying and amazing. It took her almost a full five minutes to realize Nicole was smiling. Vera couldn't figure out what in the world a woman that had been so torn apart could have to smile about.

"Vera, I'm so happy to see you're alive." Nicole's voice was just as sweet as ever. Pure. Like whatever had handicapped her hadn't changed anything else. "Kolton here lost faith forever ago. I told him you'd be back." She watched her little sister smirk at Kolton. "I told ya so, dimwit."

"Hey, now! Not in front of the midget!" Kolton protested.

Aeryn seemed to not care at all about the good natured teasing going on. Her face was buried in Vera's neck, and she could feel the little girls breath starting to normalize from the sobs.

"I…" What the hell was she supposed to say in this situation. Nothing in the elder training prepared her for this! She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to focus. When she opened them she realized Nicole was frowning at her. She opened her mouth to say something, but Kolton spoke first.

"She's got no memory of any of this. I believe she had an encounter with the Banshee of the Rails."

Vera remained quiet, wondering what would happen if Nikki said there was a cure for the amnesia they suspected she had.

Instead, Nicole sighed. "No one can get close enough to her to get me some skin cells to make an antidote. So for the time being, let's get her set up in the room. We've got a train going out to Laguna tomorrow. Maybe Fortune has made some progress in that area. Never know, just taking the trip there might tug at some memories."

Nicole didn't sound hopeful. Vera didn't ask why. This seemed like a world where hope just wasn't the smart road to take.
Still trapped in a horrifying alternate reality, Vera learns about the fate of her homeland and the structure of this new one...
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