"Paradox (story 1): Destiny Revealed (Chapter 3)" by Steven P. Love

Chapter 3

         “Did you have any trouble with that scum,” Jon asked as he and Clyde sat down across from each other in the living room.

         “Nothing that a stun gun couldn’t handle,” Clyde replied with a chuckle as he accepted a can of beer from Jon. “But he kept rambling about being possessed by the Devil.”

         Jon let out a short laugh before he took a sip of his own beer. “I’ve heard that before.”

         “In any case, I wanted to thank you again for helping us,” Clyde told Jon. “This one might have gotten away again if you hadn’t been waiting at the Agua Caliente turnoff.”

         “I’m more curious about the tip that alerted you,” Jon said as he put his beer down on the wooden coffee table that lay between them. “Any idea as to who made the call?”

         “Not a clue,” Clyde replied while shaking his head negatively. “The only thing we know is that it was a woman.”

         “No caller I.D.?” Jon asked.

         “That’s what’s strange,” Clyde remarked. “The call source was unknown.”

         “I thought that the new system unblocked all calls that had blocking ability,” Jon said.

         “Yes, even cell phones are supposed to be unblocked,” Clyde told Jon.

         “What about a scrambler?” Jon asked.

         “Could be,” Clyde concurred. “But what would be the point of scrambling a 911 call?”

         Jon sighed. “Someone who wanted to remain anonymous really bad, I suppose.”

         “Well, phantom phone calls aside, at least we got the bad guy,” Clyde stated happily as he raised his beer and lightly knocked it against Jon’s raised can in a toast to their good fortune. “Maybe we should not look a gift horse in the mouth.”

         After reminiscing a short time over the so called ‘good old days’ of when Jon and Clyde were partners in the Sheriff’s Department Clyde eventually bid his farewell for the night and departed. After watching some late news on the satellite TV Jon then decided to call it a night and prepared for bed.

         After a quick shower Jon opened the bedroom window to let the fresh air from the desert night breeze inside to stir up the stale air of the room. It was a cool night so there was no need to run the air-conditioning. Being isolated from the main road on the ranch he had inherited Jon had never feared intruders. With the main entrance to the property being almost a mile from the house no trespasser could approach without being spotted long before hand.

         Jon stood naked in front of the window and breathed in the cool crisp air confident that no one would ever see him. But he was unaware of other prying eyes that were observing him by other, more unearthly means.

         Using a round mirror-like plate made from the same material as the Great Crystal Eckara watched a holographic image of Jon as he slipped into bed unaware of the Vyan surveillance. The viewing plate stood on its end in the center of an octagonal granite table with Eckara and Vahlaria standing on either side of it.

         Vahlaria waved her right hand over what appeared to be a control crystal embedded in the table in front of her. The crystal glowed yellow as the perspective of the image changed so that it appeared that they were peering down at Jon as he lay peacefully in bed.

         “It is time,” Vahlaria declared. “Are you ready, Eckara?”

         Eckara took a breath of nervous anticipation. “Yes.”

         Vahlaria noticed her granddaughter’s unease and went around to her side. “It’s natural to be nervous. First mating is always a time of uncertainty in a Vyan’s life. Just remember what I taught you and you’ll be fine.” Vahlaria then put a comforting hand on Eckara’s shoulder.

         “I’m curious, Grandmother. Why did you select this particular man for me?” Eckara asked.

         “Like I told you before, he’s perfect.” Vahlaria answered. “I hope that you haven’t changed your mind because of your desire to find the fabled Avatar.”

         “My desires don’t revolve entirely around the Avatar, Grandmother.” Eckara replied with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

         “You’ve been taught from childhood how our species procreates,” Vahlaria reminded Eckara. “I chose him because he met all of the criteria to be a mate for a Vyan. You know this. I think that something else concerns you about this man. Am I correct?”

         Eckara sighed. “I just found it strange that you chose him because he was one of the men who arrived to help the girl I saved earlier today.”

         “I’ve actually had him under surveillance for the last several weeks,” Vahlaria told Eckara. “His arrival at the crime scene was just a coincidence.” Vahlaria noticed that Eckara didn’t seem satisfied with the explanation. “Is there something else on your mind?”

         “It’s more of a feeling,” Eckara admitted. “I can’t explain it, but when I saw him for the first time I had this strange sensation that I’ve met him before. Why is that?”

         “I don’t know,” Vahlaria told her. “Perhaps you were picking up my stray thoughts since I have been observing him for a significant period of time.”

         That hypothesis did seem plausible to Eckara. “Perhaps you’re right.” Eckara then had another thought that was so outlandish that it made her chuckle. “Grandmother, what if by some chance this man is the Avatar?” Eckara asked with a sound of hope in her voice.

         Vahlaria chuckled. “Then that would be a miracle.”

         Eckara smiled in acknowledgment as she turned to leave.

         “Don’t forget to bring back a souvenir,” Vahlaria called out as Eckara was nearing the doorway of the Viewing Chamber. Eckara looked back at Vahlaria with an expression of curious puzzlement.

         “Souvenir,” Eckara asked.

         “It’s tradition to bring back something that is meaningful to the man you have mated with. Or have you forgotten?” Vahlaria reminded Eckara.

         “For the Vault of Memories,” Eckara remembered. “I’ll be certain of it.”

         As Jon lay in bed trying to fall asleep he couldn’t help but wonder what his life would had been like if he had found the right woman and settled down with a family. But work and his choice to live near the remote town known as Agua Caliente made it all but impossible to find ‘Miss Right’. And on top of that he wasn’t even in the town itself but rather 15 miles north east of it near the boundary of the federally controlled ‘Lower Gila Resource Area’. His nearest neighbor was almost 5 miles away. Not exactly a prime location for finding a prospective mate.

         But it didn’t matter now. Nearly 60 years old, Jon had all but given up on romance. He had become resigned to living the remainder of his life alone. Jon let out a sigh as he closed his eyes and began to drift off to sleep hoping to dream of that dream girl that would at least make his sleep pleasant.

         As Jon drifted into a light sleep he didn’t notice the air shimmering at the foot of his bed. The temperature change of the local area caused a convection current of air that created slight warmth to flow over Jon’s sleeping form. He reacted to the warming breeze by unconsciously pushing the covers off of his nude body. It was at that moment that Eckara appeared within the shimmer. She smiled with anticipation at the sight of Jon’s sprawled form lying in bed illuminated by the pale glow of the full Moon.

         Eckara would have preferred to wait and test to see if this man might be the Avatar that she had been looking for, but her Grandmother was correct in that there was simply not enough time to determine if the Avatar was real or just a wishful legend. If she was to conceive her first child it had to be now fore within 6 more days she would become infertile and would have to wait 100 years for her fertility to return again. Eckara was somewhat surprised at how youthful Jon appeared. According to Vahlaria he was nearly 60 years old yet he appeared no older than 35.

         ‘At least he is a handsome specimen’, Eckara thought to herself as she silently stepped over to one side of the bed and looked more closely at Jon’s sleeping face.

         Eckara then quietly slipped out of her leather halter top and battle skirt and let them softly drop to the wood floor. Her sky-blue skin sparkled with iridescence in the Moon-light like the crystals of new fallen snow as she moved cautiously and gently onto the bed next to Jon’s still slumbering form. While carefully straddling Jon’s hips Eckara leaned over his smooth skinned chest and placed her hands gently onto the temples of his head. She then telepathically linked with his sleeping mind so that she could look for a memory of a past sexual encounter that he had earlier in his life. She would then bring that memory to the surface of his dreaming mind. This was necessary prior to the actual mating because it was imperative that Jon be kept in a blissful dreamlike state until the mating was completed. That way when he awoke later he would only remember that he had a vivid and sensuous dream. According to Vahlaria’s teaching this method of Vyan procreation was a reliable and time tested way to keep the human race oblivious to their existence while perpetuating their own kind since Vyans could never have sons, only daughters. Eckara recalled when she was younger asking her Grandmother why there were no male Vyans. The only answer she received was that it was the trade off of being a half human hybrid race, hence the Vyan’s manifest destiny to protect humans from the evil beings in the Universe that would seek to change humanity for the worse. For without human men the Vyan race would be doomed to extinction. Despite the Vyans’ immunity to aging and virtual immortality they would eventually be whittled away by the Dark Forces that they continually fight against.

         After several seconds of telepathic probing Eckara finally found what she had been looking for; a memory of Jon losing his virginity when he was merely 17 years old. It was one of the most pleasant times of his life. Eckara focused on that memory. She drew it up out of his mental archives and initiated the memory in his dreaming mind. Eckara then assumed the role of the girl that Jon was seeing and feeling in his dream. That way she could experience the same pleasure as Jon. Satisfied that Jon would not awaken from his slumber Eckara began to make love to him just as the girl from his youth had so long ago.

         The pleasure Eckara was experiencing was so overwhelming that she had actually begun to forget about her quest for the fabled Avatar. For the first time in her life she was feeling the same bodily pleasures that ordinary mortals felt.

         ‘It’s a shame that the two of us can only experience this pleasure once,’ Eckara thought to herself while giving Jon a gentle kiss on his lips. ‘If I had but one wish it would be to make love with you for all eternity.’

          As if by some unconscious instinct Jon embraced Eckara tightly and rolled over so that now he was on top of her. Eckara could have stopped it then and there, but she was now in the throws of the passion and was enjoying it too much to prevent his taking control.

         ‘Grandmother never told me that it would be anything like this,’ Eckara thought while in a state of passionate ecstasy.  

         But then something strange occurred. Eckara began to feel a burning, almost electrical sensation coming from within her. It wasn’t painful but it was frightening and unexpected. Eckara tried to push Jon off but in his current semi-conscious state of mind he did not want to let go of her. Eckara struggled but Jon’s strength was greater than hers.

         “This can’t be possible,” Eckara said frantically aloud as she continued her struggle to push Jon away. She knew instinctively that no ordinary human could be stronger than a Vyan. And it was impossible for a demon to trick a Vyan into mating with him since she would have detected any demonic presence during her telepathic link. But what was he? How could he be stronger than a Vyan? Then it dawned on her. Jon was what she had sought out her whole life. Jon was the sleeping Avatar.

         With this realization Eckara stopped struggling and embraced Jon tightly. She closed her eyes as an aura of bluish green light began to form around both of them. Electrical-like arcs of energy began to emanate out from their joined bodies. Particles of light swirled all around them like a vortex of glowing dust. Then suddenly, an intense burst of energy illuminated the whole house so brightly that from the outside it appeared as if the Sun had risen inside the home and then gone Nova. An explosive-like force separated the two of them with such energy that Jon was hurled off the bed and against the wall several yards away. The impact cracked the old plywood veneer. At the moment Jon fell to the floor he was fully awake.   

         Apparently in a kind of daze, Jon shook his head and coughed as he slowly got up off of the bare wood floor.

         “What the hell,” he muttered as he saw what seemed to be glowing wisps of mist floating about the room. Jon blinked his eyes several times thinking that maybe it was some kind of fog in his vision. But the mist was real. He reached out and waved his left hand through it. Its faint greenish glow was almost hypnotic. But then he heard the rustling of the bed sheets and the sound of a woman exhaling from exhaustion. He cautiously went over to the side of the bed. Through the faint green mist he looked down and saw a nude, blue skinned woman with black feather-like hair and pointed elf-like ears.

         “Holy…...” Jon exclaimed in a shocked but subdued voice. He was then startled when the woman opened her emerald green eyes and stared up at him with apparent shock of her own. She gasped with terror when Jon seized her upper arms. “Who are you?! What are you?! What did you do to me?!”

         The woman tried to pull away but she seemed weak and apparently drained of strength. “Please, let me go.” She pleaded.

         “Not until you answer my questions.” Jon told her in an angry voice.

         “I’m sorry,” she apologized as she closed her eyes and grimaced in apparent pain.

         Jon was about to lift her up out of the bed but then, to his shock and amazement, she started to physically distort. It was like her form had become liquid and was rippling like the surface of a disturbed pond. Jon suddenly felt a sharp spike of heat from her skin. He instinctively let go and then just watched with awe as the mysterious blue skinned woman vanished within this heat-like shimmer. Jon then gasped with shock as he reached down and patted the area of the bed where this woman had been lying. All he could feel was residual warmth of where she had been.

         Jon blinked his eyes and shook his head in disbelief at what he had just seen. He sat down on the bed still unsure as to whether or not what he had experienced was real or just a nightmare that he had just woke up from. But then he looked down and saw what appeared to be garments lying on the floor near the foot of the bed. He reached down and picked them up, staring at them in the dim moonlight. It was then that he realized the experience and the strange woman he saw had not been a dream.