“What offer?”
“Shelter, food, companionship. In return, you work for our community. If need be, you fight for our home. I’m aware of your plan to break into 34, but I beg you to reconsider. Even if you make it out alive, where will you go?”
I don’t know about this. Something about him doesn’t feel right. We stare at each other for a few minutes while I try to decide if I’m angry with him or not.
My eyes lock with Jacee’s. She’s excited, hopeful even.
The larger of the masked raiders makes an odd gesture. They briefly communicate with each other, seems like a disagreement between the two of them.
“Everything okay?”
“The choice is yours Palin, but we don’t have much time. We need to go. It’s not safe out here.”
“Okay. Let’s do it. We’re in.” What do we have to lose?
The phantom in front of me raises his staff to his waist with both hands, the electric tip right in front of me.
“Don’t take this personal,” says Xander before his creature zaps me with his prod. A hundred volts of electricity surge through me. I’m sucked out of my reality before my head hits the sand.
The void captures me.
From the edge of the darkness above them, I watch.
They drag my unconscious body further into the Outlands, away from 34.
Where are they taking me?
I’m locked away, helpless, and…
stuck.
Cool water washes over my face soothing my every inch. My body is absorbed by it. I am as weightless as the clouds beneath
me. I actually feel relaxed. Refreshed. Surprisingly, the soreness has left me as my arms cut freely through the water. I feel myself smile.
My eyes open to those of a beautiful woman looking down over me. Her golden hair is silk and braided down her spine. Her
freckles pepper the smoothness of her skin. She has Kalli’s innocence and a smile of her own.
“Where am I?” I ask in a voice of heavy-eyed confusion.
She stares at me silently seemingly amused at my state of disarray. Something about her feels inviting.
My head rises from her hands on the brim of the water. The room’s dim. There are stone walls all around me, a dark stone ceiling, a corroded metal bench by what appears to be the entrance that feels out of place. As I float in a pool of glowing turquoise water, I ask the stranger, “Have I died?” despite assuming she doesn’t understand me.
Her soft, garnet lips part as she smiles at me.
Swimming to the rock floor at the edge of the pool I lift myself out of the water. A gripping chill shoots through me. Looking down, I realize I’m completely naked. My cheeks only warm from embarrassment. I can imagine my face glowing the brightest shade of red.
Her eyes read every inch of me.
“There are some clean garments for you in the next room,” she says with a look of excitement written on her face. She nods at a carved opening in the stone wall to the left of the pool.
Still lost in disorientation I trek across the smooth rock floor through the opening into the next room and dress in the clothes she laid out for me. They aren’t anything special – pieces of old linen and clothing hand-sewed together, but they are better than the ripped and blood-stained gown I presume I was wearing when I arrived at this strange and mystical place.
“Nice birthmark. It kind of looks like a spade.”
I turn around and she’s standing directly behind me wearing nothing but a devious smile.
Something about her is enchanting.
My eyes take everything in.
I suddenly yearn to be the water dripping off her golden, wet skin.
This is insane. I must be dead.
She steps closer and gazes deep into me.
Her eyes are green, marble-like, vibrantly glowing from the reflection of the pool. So full of life… And lust.
My mind resists her, but my body betrays me.
She leans in, still smiling.
She can probably hear my heart slapping my chest. I’m trapped. I don’t know what to do.
Her lips softly meet mine for the shortest of seconds before I jerk away.
She pushes me against the wall, stronger than she looks.
With a quick duck under her arm, I evade her attack once more. I know nothing about this woman nor her true intentions.
She strikes again, going for my neck, my weak spot.
I throw her off me a little more dramatically than I needed to, but she didn’t care. It only fueled her fire.
She grabs my naked dick.
“I’ve seen you met one of my wives, Hera,” interrupts a deep voice from behind me.
The mysterious woman unhands me.
I snap around to find Xander standing in the opening. Everything begins to spin. Nothing is making sense to me right now. “Where am I?” I ask distraught. “Where’s Jacee!?”
“You’re in our home, the Outlands is what I believe you city-people call it. We call it Elysium. Welcome to our cave,” he replies with both palms up in front of him. “Jacee is recovering finely in the dining hall. She is safe. Shall we join her?”
“You fucking zapped me! I’m not going anywhere with you!”
“Oh, come on… We can’t let just anyone know where we live. You have to prove yourself first,” he chuckles. “I’ll be happy to answer any question you may have, but first we must eat. I’m starving.” He casually walks past me, grabbing the back of his wife’s head, kissing her with force.
I’m lost. The immediate awkwardness overshadows my gut-wrenching hunger. My stomach is either turning from the excitement of the sound of sustenance or from the nervousness of still being unaware of what the fuck is happening.
“I’m sorry.. about that.. with your wife; I tried to stop her,” I confess with confused sincerity as my eyes cut towards the woman who violated me. I feel taken advantage of, used, a little bit guilty.
Xander laughs. “Hera has a way of doing that, doesn’t she? She’s a little aggressive.”
Hera clasps her hand in his while continuing to smile at me seductively. Her long,
