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RETURN TO ABRAS
By Daniel D. Mickle
Chapter One – Alien Dreams
"Wake up Kevin! You don't dare sleep; Patty's dying. It's draining the life out of her," his friend, Billy, gasped while shaking him. "If she passes out, we all die."
Beyond the purple glow of the energy shield, produced by Patty's magic, Kevin Wells saw little but blackness in all directions. He and his three friends floated in airless space, far from any visible planets or other places of refuge. Kevin knew with fearful certainty that they were going to die. "We're running out of air and I can't even stay awake," he thought as he closed his eyes, perhaps for the final time.
The dark void disappeared. His friends were gone as well and he saw a planet that could have been Earth, yet somehow he knew wasn't. What he could see of the sky above looked unfamiliar. The stars looked strange. No, not Earth. Large planets and three moons hung frighteningly close, as he had never seen such things before. Was he dreaming? If not, the alternative was too terrible to contemplate, because he could no longer sense his friends nearby.
"Yes, I'm dreaming." Looking around, he spoke aloud with certainty, trying to take comfort in his own voice. "This is definitely not Earth!" Wherever he now was, the stars were not tiny dots of light, but bigger, as though they were all much closer, –much larger than any stars he had seen before. Could that truly happen?
He remembered floating in space with his friends about to die. This planet had to be a dream. Lack of oxygen must have affected his brain and put him into a final sleep from which he would never awaken.
Taking his eyes off the sky and glancing around the building, he noticed a large group of people nearby. Because they wore robes, Kevin thought they could have been from the magical community, but these were hooded robes. There wasn't a pointed wizard-hat amongst them. He was on an alien world, without knowing how he got here. "I'm sure this is a dream," he thought, and yet, even in the dream-strangeness, Kevin felt he had seen this place before. Another dream perhaps?
The nearest one of the ominous figures spoke to him with a voice like a human girl. From the tone, he felt she was close to his age, but he could not see within the hood. He remembered having seen this hooded figure before, –the same decorative filigree design, –but he was certain that she had not previously spoken to him. "Kataska rohanoren iô mejasemu nurehşa bawee."
"What? What are you saying?" Kevin urged the girl in the hood. "I can't understand you."
"Brahmana makane Abras azzabua. Iô lauo Abrasax." She reached out towards Kevin, and he saw pale delicate human hands emerge from the robe. They held an amulet. With both her hands, she placed it over Kevin's head lowering it until it rested on his chest, as did her light, delicate touch.
Kevin gasped, but this time it was not from lack of air. There was something pleasant and exciting about that gentle touch.
"This place, this world, is called Abras and I am Abrasax," the girl said.
"Hey, I understand you now." He said, almost relieved when she lifted her hands away... –almost.
"Ishtar smiles on you. Now that you have received this gift of speech, be happy at your good fortune."
"My name is Kevin. What did you say your name was again, –Abrasax?"
The girl giggled. "No. My name is Ishtaree. I am Abrasax. What are you?"
She didn't ask 'who'. She asked 'what'. Suddenly in a flash of understanding, Kevin knew what she meant. "Oh, this place is called Abras and you are Abras-ian, –or Abrasax, –You are from Abras?"
"Yes. What are you?" She drew back her hood and he saw the alien looked like a human girl, but with brilliant golden hair. He had never seen golden hair before. Each strand sparkled like his mother's and father's matching wedding bands when sunlight caught them. Her radiant smile distracted him from everything else, until his gaze shifted to her eyes. The dazzling golden irises hypnotized him as he noticed how they matched her hair in peculiarity of color. They held tiny sparkles like the twinkling of distant stars, or like paint, sporting flecks of pure metallic gold, poured in circles on the surface of two deep dark pools.
"My name is Kevin. I am…" he wanted to tell her he was from Earth, but somehow, sudden understanding made him say, "–I was born on Earth, but I am Abrasax, also. I am magical."
"My name is Kevin. I am…" he wanted to tell her he was from Earth, but somehow, sudden understanding made him say, "–I was born on Earth, but I am Abrasax, also. I am magical."
"The Abrasax draw on the universal forces that you call magic. That force shows me visions, and I have seen you in my future through such a revelation. I must tell you something important. You must remember this word for it will help you when all looks bleak. In the face of ill fortune, say once, 'Chahthrah.' Once you have said it, the universe will cooperate with you in what you seek."
Was she teaching him a magical power-word? She spoke so cryptically.
"We stand here at a crossroads, you and I. Through that same force, I sense that in the place-time you live, we… my people… will have gone on. Of those who remain of our people, their ways will be different. I see you playing an important role in that future. Even though a great gulf separates us, I see my own future, and you are in it." She smiled a glowing smile. "I do not know how that is possible, for we are separated by over seventy thousand years. For it to happen, one of us must travel through time, –you backward or me forward."
What she said was confusing. "To meet us, you have already crossed the great void in spirit form. This is good, for I desperately need your help. You have made a giant leap in your abilities to control the quantum force you know as magic, but I feel within you a struggle. You are of two minds trying to sort out who you really are. On one side, you are Nivek, descended of Enlil of Abras and controller of the force, while on the other side you are Kevin…"
* * *
"Kevin… KE-VIN…" someone was calling his name, but it wasn't the alien girl. She faded away. "Kevin, come on. You have to get up now or we will miss breakfast!" The voice was Billy MacDuff, his roommate, and one of his closest friends.
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