The boy sat contentedly in the plane's cargo hold, wrapped in a blanket to keep warm, his sword on his back as always. He knew that if he had tried to get on a passenger plane, they'd keep him separated from his sword, and that wouldn't do. But he could easily use his speed and cunning to sneak under and aboard one, no ticket needed, so all was well.
"Who are you?" barked a miniature poodle, trapped in its pet carrier. "You smell bad! Go away!"
"Oh, shut up," he hissed back.
The dog backed off, perhaps surprised that it'd get a reply.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" it whimpered.
"Well, you should learn how not to treat strangers, fuzz-butt."
"Why you here? Most two-legs in place above."
"I'm afraid I'm a stowaway."
"Are you a pet? I am a pet. Two-legs say I am a pet."
"No. I'm no one's pet."
"Then why you down here?"
"I have to kill someone."
"Kill? For food?"
"Ha. You're such a simple-minded doggy. I have to kill someone just because I have to. It's that simple."
"Why kill for no reason?"
"There is a reason, little pupper. I never kill without a good one."
"We should get out to the Sahara as soon as we can," Garder said, wiping sweat off that had been spawned by the heat. "This place isn't exactly the safest city in the world from what I've heard."
"Anybody speak Arabic?" Lechi asked. "I think French helps, too."
"It shouldn't matter," Jeryn said and adjusted his sunglasses. "We're just looking for a pilot—the universal language for aviation communication is English. Let's focus on finding an embassy here and go from there."
"We should stay out of the markets, if we can…" Milla noticed the busy streets further below. "We really don't want to have our bags stolen. I don't know… what should we do, Jeryn? Maybe we should go back to the airport and see if someone can help us there."
"Algiers doesn't look that bad," Lechi said as she leaned over the parking lot's cliffside railing. "I'm sure someone can help us down there."
"We have a language barrier, Lechi—that's the problem. Even if one of us had learned it in the past, we can't recall it now."
Garder sighed. "I didn't really think about us getting stuck like this. Well, what do you want to do? Get a cab and go to an embassy, or what?"
"You guys in need of some help?"
The four turned to see a young man about Jeryn's age. He had smoothed out dark brown hair over light brown skin, a layer of stubble on his face, and glasses a bit thicker than average. Around him were a battered green jacket and an expensive digital camera secured with two straps.
"Yes, you could say that…" Milla replied.
"You tourists? It's the busy season, so I thought that'd be the case with you. And, um, sorry, but I kind of followed you from the terminal."
"Yeah," Garder said. "We just got in and are at kind of a loss where to go. We need to get to somewhere a bit out of town."
"Hey, don't sweat it. You're not alone. I've seen plenty of your type come and go. If you tell me why you're here, I might be able to help you."
A large plane landing at the airport roared overhead. Milla waited for the sound to pass before answering, "We kind of wanted to see the Sahara."
"Thrill seekers. Yeah, people love those orange dunes at sunset. You can hire a charter pilot, or for a bit cheaper, wait for a tour plane. It already left for today, though."
"You sound like just the man we need," Jeryn said. "Where do we get a charter pilot around here?"
"Easiest place would be the airport, where you guys just left. It'll take some asking, though. You'll probably have better luck out on one of the smaller airfields. I can bring you to one if you want."
"We have a problem, though."
"What'd that be? Money?"
"Well… we need to land at an airstrip in the desert."
"Um… You must be confused. There are a few towns out that way, but an airstrip in the desert itself? Are you sure it exists?"
"Yes. But publicly, it wouldn't. So that's the problem."
"Y-yeah, that is a bit of one. No charter pilot is going to risk searching for an airfield that might not even be there and run out of fuel above the desert. I mean, really, that's a bit of a tall order, you know."
"Then I suppose we'll have to hire a private pilot."
"You're really set on this, aren't you?"
"It's something we have to do. We have orders, and money to help see them through—we're not actually tourists."
"Geez… You like, spies or something? What about the girl?"
Lechi, a butterfly on her finger, looked up at Jeryn.
"She's with us. Do you know any pilots?"
"Well, sure, I mean… I'm a licensed one. That's why I'm here—I help tourists here for some extra cash."
"Then let's keep it simple. We'll pay you to fly us out there."
"Normally, I would, but an airfield in the middle of the Sahara seems a bit… insane to me. I mean, think about it."
"I have the charts to prove it exists. I already have proper headings and other alignments," Jeryn explained and took out the maps.
The photographer and pilot scanned them over quickly and looked at the group with a curious look. "Okay, these look legit, but this still isn't a very good idea. My plane can just barely—barely hold enough fuel to get us there and back. I'd have to follow the routes exactly."
"I understand the risk, and we will offer you three thousand now and another two when we get there."
He looked over the group again, unsure of just what he could be getting himself into.
"Jeryn… that's almost all of our money…" Milla nudged him.
"Once we get there, our mission is essentially complete, remember?"
"How long… do you guys want to stay in this part of the desert?"
"As long as we need to. And it may also be that we have no choice but to return immediately."
"You're offering me a lot of money. I could use it, but…"
"It's either going to go to you, or someone else."
"You're really that determined? Well… Oh, hell, I guess today's your lucky day. Not like I had plans, anyway."
He extended his hand, which Jeryn shook briefly. The twins looked at one another and smiled lightly in relief. Everything seemed to be proceeding smoothly again.
"Name's Simon. Simon Thalst."
"I'm Jeryn. This is Garder, Milla, Lechi."
Odd names… Simon thought. And odd people. Maybe they're Scandinavian? But money is money.
"Hope you're a thrill seeker yourself, Simon," Garder said.
"Why's that?"
"Oh… you might end up seeing something crazy."
"Anyway, my plane's at the other side of the airport. It's a bit of a drive. Follow me, I'll introduce myself on the way there."
The four followed Simon to his parked black Hummer. Jeryn got into the passenger seat, while Lechi took a spot in between the twins. The vehicle was quite a mess, and Simon had to shove off several food wrappers to make room, exposing the stains under them. Garder almost felt like he was an Earthen again, but Milla rather detested Simon's lack of cleanliness and found herself wondering if they couldn't have found someone else.
"Sorry, I haven't had passengers in a while," Simon explained as he removed his camera and placed it in a bag near the rest of his equipment.
He started the car and began the drive down to the private pilots' area of the airport. Sputtering and trembling, his vehicle sounded as if it had needed to be tuned up for months now.
"Anyway, I'm not really a professional pilot—it's more of a hobby. I'm more of a photographer and humanitarian. Just got out of college and was thinking of eventually joining the Peace Corp. Right now, I'm on an Africa tour and working up an exhibition and perhaps a book about the continent. A lot of the world doesn't know that much about Africa. But there's a lot of beauty out here, and a lot of needless suffering. I dunno, I guess I just want people to understand how the rest of the world is."
"Sounds like good, selfless work," Milla said over the engine. "Where else you've been?"
"Oh, all over. I just got out of southern Asia after spending a few months there. My photos from that adventure are up at my dad's gallery in Toronto. It's what I like doing, and I also do a lot of aerial photography using my old plane. People love bird's eye stuff, but I try to put my own spin on my shots. It's hard to make it look different from everyone else's."
"You're Canadian?" Garder asked.
"Kind of. I mean, I grew up there, but my dad's African-Canadian, and my mom's South Korean."
"You're quite the mutt, aren't you?"
"Got that right," Simon said with a laugh. "And I went to Oxford for my college education, so I like to think I'm fairly well-versed in the world, and open to everything. What about you guys?"
"Ah… We're from here and there," Milla answered.
"Hey—you two look so much alike… are you siblings?" Simon questioned, looking into the rearview mirror.
"Yeah, we are. Twins, actually."
"Wow—that's cool. Your appearances and accents though… Hm, a bit Cockney with some Irish mixed in, but I can't be sure. I'm usually good at pinning people's cultural backgrounds, though."
They didn't know how to answer. In Aurra, ethnicity was varied and without bounds—there was no telling where each person was from.
"The four of us are from all over, kind of like you," Garder said.
"Anyway, we're here. Don't forget your bags."
Simon pulled into the parking lot near a few large hangars. Most of the private planes in view were fairly old and clearly out of shape.
They followed Simon to his plane, at the back of the hangar. Its two engines were open for repairs, but he quickly checked and closed them.
"I'll get someone to bring it out and refuel it. It's a bit retro and there's not much room, but you get what you pay for…"
"What kind of plane is this?" Jeryn asked as he looked it over.
"Cessna 421—a Golden Eagle. It's from the 80's, but it still runs great. You know anything about planes?"
"I… I've flown a few."
"Really? What kind?"
"Varying Tupolev."
"Tupo… Russian planes, huh?"
"Yes."
Simon scratched his head and contemplated whether or not to ask Jeryn his age. He decided not to, and then called for a truck.
"You must have some degree of fortune to own a plane this big," Garder mentioned as the five tagged along with the thirty-seven-foot long bird as it was being pulled out onto the tarmac.
"Well, I'm still paying this one off."
"This one?"
"I got a Piper Cub back home. I've been flying since I was thirteen. Flying and photography are real passions of mine. H-hey, if you want, I'll give you guys a link to my blog. I get a lot of hits, and it's a good way to keep in touch with all the friends I make."
Garder looked at Milla. She shrugged, neither of them understanding what Simon had just told them.
"Uh, sure…" Garder replied.
"Anyway, this is going to be quite a long flight. I have turboprops on this thing, but it's still a distance to… wherever this airfield is. And I know there can't be a town out there, so I hope you are prepared for that."
"We've got supplies," Jeryn assured.
"If you say so. I'll go make sure everything's running. Come over to the tanks in about… two minutes. By then, I'll know if we can fly or not."
"Okay, Simon," Milla replied.
He adjusted his glasses and followed his plane to the fuel tanks. The Aurrians looked at one another, knowing they had a few things to discuss.
"I hope you're all fully aware that we may have to bring him with us," Jeryn said. "I'm not sure how many Earthens have been to Aurra. It's such a strange idea—I don't even know of any laws concerning it."
"We could just leave him at the airfield…" Garder suggested.
"That's terrible!" Milla replied. "There's probably nothing out there, and who knows how long we'll be in City C? He might have to come with us. And… we'll just have to explain everything."
"Garder—remember that there's a good chance he's not a newsoul. If that's the case, he should be able to recall past lives just like we can upon going into Aurra. So, it's likely that we're not actually doing anything that troubling. And if that's not the case, then… Well, we'll worry about that when we get there. We could always find an eraser."
"If we get there. The portal might be down, right?" Garder noted.
"I'm not keen on tracking down an eraser. They're illegal," Milla said.
"If the portal doesn't work, it'd mean that the people at City C would be trapped there completely. So that's not exactly to their advantage."
Garder looked at the sky again as Simon prepared the aircraft. Lechi noticed his eyes darting about.
"What are you looking for?" she asked.
"I don't really know. Just wondering about something."
"Yeah?"
"You believe in demons, Lechi?"
"Well, what kinds?"
"Any kind. Sometimes, I've had thoughts about them."
"As in, demons that can supposedly live in Aurra's environment?"
"Yes, exactly."
"I don't know, then. But just because such a thing might be possible, must they be called demons? Maybe there are just some kinds of animals that actually call Aurra their home. Ever thought about that?"
"They're just age-long legends, anyway.
"If they exist, I'd like to meet one."
The plane's engines began spinning, the left followed by the right.
"Guess that means we're ready," Jeryn said.
Simon ran out suddenly and started heading back to his car.
"You four get on. I'm going to grab my equipment—be right back."
"Simon, maybe I should be your copilot?" Jeryn shouted back.
"Uh—sure, go ahead. Be right with you."
They each got onboard—Jeryn taking the copilot's seat in front, and every one of them once again bothered by the passing thought of what would happen to them if the plane fell apart or otherwise crashed. To disappear completely. What kind of existence would that be?
Simon secured his bags as Garder, Milla and Lechi found the only three seats with working belts. He closed the door, got in his seat, and checked everything once more before pulling out and requesting clearance. Ten minutes later, all five of them were in the air and heading south.
Four hours had passed, and the sun was beginning to set, casting long, wavy shadows across thousands of the desert's dunes. The twins and Lechi had never felt so cut off from civilization. There was nothing out there but millions of square miles of sand.
Luckily, Simon was a decent pilot. With some assistance by Jeryn, he had kept the plane on a steady course towards the supposed airstrip. The Cessna was now on autopilot, and Simon was filling up his camera's memory card with shots of the landscape. Lechi and Milla kept themselves busy by talking about what little they could remember from their past lives, while Garder read through the book he had bought at the airport. Unfortunately, he had unwittingly grabbed a romance novel that made him feel more and more uneasy with each page turn. He pondered practicing his alchemagi some more, but didn't want to cause any damage to the already fragile plane. The constant turbulence from the desert's updraft kept him on edge, and he wanted to get on the ground as soon as possible.
To everyone's relief, the faded airstrip was spotted at the exact spot where it was supposed to be. It lacked any communications network, so Simon—with further aid from Jeryn, took the plane down very slowly and carefully on the long, sanded-over concrete runway.
They landed on the outskirts of Algeria right around twilight, the desert's temperature dropping quickly as night approached. There was no control tower at the strip. No fences, no sign of life, minimal markings on the runway. A single, rusting fuel silo rested at one end of an empty gravel ramp. The one hangar was sealed shut, but didn't have any locks.
Jeryn got out first and with some effort, pushed and pulled open a hangar door. The two planes inside were old—neither produced after the 1940's. The desert's heat and their lengthy stay had taken its toll, and Jeryn couldn't tell if they were still flyable. After Simon's plane slid inside, he shut the hangar door again, and everyone got out to observe their surroundings.
"Well, there was an airfield out here, surprisingly…" Simon said. "I wonder where we are, or what this place is. Old military outpost?"
The five looked and walked about. They came to the edge of a shallow cliff and followed it around. They were on a buried stone mesa. At the moment, a large sandy incline provided access to the bottom, but it could shift and vanish easily with the winds. Surrounding the long plateau were jagged rocks, and beyond them, only more sand.
"So, uh, if you want to get back, we'd better get going before it's completely dark again."
"We have to find something," Jeryn said. "Give us a few minutes."
"If you say so." Simon took out a small tripod from his backpack and began taking pictures of the dark blue horizon.
Sticking together, the four scoured the rock for anything resembling the portal entrance. Eventually, Jeryn had to summon a bright flame so they could still see at all. After the sun finally vanished, they at last found the portal markings at the end of the mesa, on a point jutting outward. Just a few feet on either side kept them from tumbling down to the rocks below.
"This is it, right?" Garder asked.
"It should be," Jeryn replied and took out his portal key. "Well… here goes nothing."
He thrust it forward into thin air and gave it a twist. Nothing. He tried again, close to the center. Nothing. He tried a third time, a little higher, and hit the right spot—a glow surrounded the key's edge. He ripped the entrance open a little, enough to peek in. On the other side was a high-tech room similar to the Stonehenge facility. He closed it and faced the others.
"It's still working. We can go right through. But what about Simon?"
"I feel bad forcing him to come with us… but we can't keep him out here," Milla said. "I guess we should just explain everything."
"Okay," Garder said simply. "Simon! Come over here!" he yelled out.
He came jogging over. He stopped short after seeing the bright ball of flame Jeryn had in his hand, upon realizing it wasn't a flashlight.
"What the hell… is that?" he asked and instinctively took a picture.
"Ah, never mind that for the moment," Milla said. "Look, Simon… we, ah, we found what we needed to."
"Um, okay." He couldn't keep his eyes off the fireball. "Now what?"
"We need you to stay with us, so… We need you to come with us."
"Come with you? Where? There's nowhere to go out here."
"Actually, there is," Jeryn said and tore open the dimensional gate.
"A-ah… What is that…"
"Um, Simon…" Garder coughed. "You see… we're from a world that runs parallel to Earth. This portal here, it leads us to it. In our world, though, the city behind this portal is isolated. Practically the only way to get to it would be through here."
"Y-you're kidding, right? A world in another dimension? But you look just like humans—"
"We are," Jeryn said. "All of us have lived Earth lives. Behind here is the world you go to when your Earth life ends."
"What is it, hell or something?"
Milla laughed. "No. It's okay—we all go to this world. It's a perfectly natural cycle. Only, when you're here, on Earth, you don't know about it."
"Okay, okay—I've read a lot of science fiction, but this is… this is way too heavy. You really expect me to believe this?"
Jeryn closed the portal again and replied, "If you don't come with us, you'll stay out here. We don't want to do this, but it's our only real option."
"You want me to go to this… after-life world?"
"Yes. And it's likely that once you get there, you'll remember any past lives you've had and you'll become fully aware of where you are again."
"This is crazy. A world you go to when you die? That you can get to so easily? Show me some proof, or… I'm going to fly back without you."
Not wasting time, Jeryn raised three fingers to his mouth with his free hand, and then shot out a pillar of fire into the air. Simon had to take a step back and turn his head as to not blind himself.
"W-what the heck was that? What did you just do?"
"It's called alchemagi. We can all do it to some degree. Even you—it'd just be impossible to learn on Earth. It'd be buried too deep inside you. What I just did is normally more powerful, but the worlds' physics vary. Alchemagi is based on power of the mind, which is more tenuous here."
"That was like a sorcerer's magic. How'd you do that?"
"We call up a chain of words in our mind based on the spell."
"That's it?"
Garder answered, "Well, we have to memorize the words, and like everything else, we get better with practice. Jeryn is an alchemagist—he can do level three spells. As knights, Milla and I have access to level two spells."
"This is like… something out of a fantasy story."
"Um, sort of," Milla said. "But this is real. It's part of life on Aurra—our world. We're reborn there when we die on Earth. And when you die on Aurra, you come back to Earth. It's a circle of all life. I'd give you more answers, but most of them would come to you when we arrive. If you've actually had past lives, that is… but there's no way for us to tell here."
"Okay, let's assume this Aurra place is real. Can I take pictures?"
"Take all the pictures you want. But we can't let you leave Aurra with them," Jeryn replied. "We're already risking upsetting the balance enough."
"Right—the balance… Hey, um, idea. If Earth is more physical or whatever, maybe try saying the words instead of just thinking them," Simon suggested casually, as if he still didn't believe any of what he had been told.
The Aurrians looked at one another. They hadn't even considered saying the words aloud. All of this time, and it never crossed their minds.
Jeryn again raised three fingers, and said, "Corona—Fusion—Corona—Flame—Hydro—Fusion—Carbon—Flash—Scorch—Flash."
This time, the pillar or fire he shot out was at least three times larger. When he released the spell, glowing embers drifted down all about the mesa. Simon was speechless, as were the twins and Lechi.
"Amazing," Jeryn said.
"Lemme try," Garder replied instantly as Simon's mouth and eyes opened further. "Arctic—Chill—Breeze—Droplet—Droplet."
A few small icicles formed in front of him and fell to the ground where they shattered. Milla and Jeryn looked less than impressed.
"Huh…" Garder sighed. "I guess it's the lack of moisture in the air."
"Actually, that would be true…" Milla agreed. "Ahem… Alpha—Gamma—Gamma—Gamma—Theta—Sigma."
A dozen separate vector rays formed overhead. With vector being so dangerous, she quickly released them back into the air as to not cause harm to anyone. Milla smiled wider than usual at her success.
"Tin—Copper—Iron…" Lechi said quietly.
She formed a small ball of iron, moved it around a little in the air, and then released the spell. For an entire minute, Simon could only stutter.
"Y-yeah… okay," he finally got out. "I guess I believe you. Another world, huh? The one we go to when we die? And where you can do… ah, magic? Sure. Why not? I'll accept all of that. Uh… so should we get going?"
"We have to change into Aurrian clothing," Milla said. "We should have something left to fit you, too. You don't want to look out of place."
"Okay—sure… whatever you need to do. But really, why take me to this world at all? Why tell me all this?"
"You're a good person, Simon," Milla replied. "And you seem pretty level-headed; someone we can trust. You like discovering new places."
"We can always just find someone to wipe your memory of Aurra, anyway," Garder assured. "It's not quite a lobotomy."
"Y-yeah… I'm hoping that won't be necessary…" Simon mumbled.
They returned to the plane where their suitcases were waiting. Using the aircraft's interior lights, each took a turn to change into the Aurrian clothing—Jeryn replacing his sunglasses with his tinted goggles.
Simon could barely recognize them at first. He went in last, his mind drawing a blank on just what was going on. Garder had a vest he normally wore underneath his other clothing that he let him use, and Jeryn had a second pair of shorter alchemagist robes. The end result was a bit odd with Garder's vest over Simon's green jacket, which in turn was over a gray robe. But he would at least fit in more in Aurra now then he would have before.
Without any further words, Jeryn ripped open the portal completely, and the four Aurrians, along with their new Earthen friend, slipped through to the other side.